GGM Holiday Party!!!

 

2011 GGMs 

(plus one... our host at the after-party... 

because every star-studded gala has an after-party, right??)

Reposted from 2011...  (because tomorrow night is THE party and I know you care!!)  

GGMs

Yes... it's that day of the year... the day that I blog about the subject that my mom says you readers don't care about....  The Girls Gone Mild Christmas Party!!!!!!!!!!  As you know, if you've read this blog for any longer than a year, I love love love this day.  My 3 best girlfriends and I (a.k.a. the GGMs) throw ourselves a swanky Christmas party that only WE are invited to (ok... we do make exceptions and invite friends to the party now and then AND we have been known to take our party of 4 TO other parties, combining the celebratory powers) but it's OUR party...thrown by us FOR us!

 Girls Gone Mild Christmas Party 2010

Tomorrow night is THE night.  I'm so ready to sit and talk to my girls... all 3 of them together.  We don't get to do that often enough and we need it!  Once again, it's been a YEAR to talk about... for some of us more than others.  For me, tomorrow night is a celebration of friends who supported me and cheered me on through a "leap of faith" kind of year.... REALLY cheered me on... like called and made sure I was still alive when I was so busy I could barely breathe... called while I was on the road to cheer me up when things didn't go my way... met me for "OMG I'm going crazy" dinners now and then (which they sometimes COOKED to order) when I needed it most.  They are THE.BEST.FRIENDS.  So for me, my year is all celebration...  For others, we're just celebrating that the year is OVER (it really has been quite a year).  No matter what, we're celebrating and we're doing it together..... FABULOUSLY!

SO... because I know you love to hear it... here is the story of the Girls Gone Mild... the very best friends a girl could have!  (it's kind of like when Linus tells the Christmas story on the Charlie Brown Christmas special... only not)  Click on the image to read...

So if you are with your friends this weekend... drink a toast to friendship...the kind that lasts a lifetime.

To being fabulous and being fabulous friends!!!!!!!  Cheers!!

------Looking forward to tomorrow night with my girls.  Reading this post about 2011, I'm thankful that 2012 was NOT my year to be the one who needed shoulders to cry on and prop me up, but to be the one who did the propping-up, listened, encouraged and sometimes rescued.  That's what has been so great about this group of friends... we are all that for each other at some point.  Thank you for indulging me my annual posting about the best friends ever-----



Here's today's tiny blah blah blah....

music - nothing yet, but I'm sure my kids will have some input since we're spending the day together!
coffee - YES!  And it was made by my very own at-home 15 year old barista!

... and I feel fine!!!

Having survived the end of the world, I figured I should post something on the blog to let everyone know that we're still alive here at Sylviebeads studio. 

I have a few days without kids to get work done on beadwork projects, glass projects AND artsy craftsy things that are required for Christmas gifts.  I've been doing lots of online research for one of my gifts and I need to go out and buy the supplies to finish it this morning.

It's totally out of my normal ballpark of craftiness, but I'm willing to do just about anything to make my kids happy and this one is a challenge, but I'm up for a challenge.  It will be good for my artistic soul to work in another medium for a while.

And in other artsy-craftsy news...  I dyed my sofa chartreuse.... well almost.  I'm about 1/2 way there.  It requires more than one dye-bath and I have the base of it done, but not all the cushions (besides the fact that I've misplaced one of the cushion covers in another laundry basket and I need to find it before I can finish the cushions since I'd sort of like them all to match.

not the actual sofa, but the actual color.....

If you're my ex-husband and reading this, then you should know.... yes.... it's the really expensive cream colored sofa that I dyed chartreuse.... because I can.  You always said that it's a "neutral" in my wardrobe.... I decided that applied to furniture as well.  (besides the fact that 10 years of kids and pets on a cream colored sofa was requiring a makeover that was a few shades darker than creamy white)


My resolution for 2013, is to live in surroundings that look like ME... that are bright and fun and happy and not vanilla.... because I'm pretty much anything but vanilla.


ok... off to Christmas shop for crazy stuff for kids that I don't even know what they're talking about, but I'm adventurous and brave and will tackle this list!


tiny blah blah blah...

coffee:  It's cold cold cold outside and I'm pretty sure Starbucks will be my first stop

music:  DUH!  It's the Christmas channel on the radio!!!

It's for real!!!

(wow!  2 blog postings in one week??!!!  You'd think it was the end of the world or something.... oh wait... that's next week.)

SO guess what's online now??!!!  The Bead and Button Show Class Catalog!!!!  WOO HOO!  And you know what that means??!!  MY CLASSES are online and have big pretty pictures and great descriptions and you can read all about them before you register in January!!!

What it means for me is that IT'S REAL!!  I know that sounds crazy, but after trying for so many years, I felt funny talking about being accepted because of the "what ifs" going on in my mind... What if they didn't REALLY accept me and I just imagined that e-mail?  What if I mis-read the e-mail????  What if they change their mind???   Well, those are no longer issues so I can say really loudly...

I'M TEACHING AT BEAD AND BUTTON IN JUNE 2013!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

(trying not to let the "what if no one signs up" voice in my head have any volume)

But just to show it's FOR REAL...  Here's the link to my Steel Magnolia class.  I'm SO proud of this class in particular.  It is a REALLY cool and different project and fun to make too!

link to the class website...

http://www.beadandbuttonshowstore.com/b131437.html

The sample pictured is monochromatic and not very traditionally "Sylvie" BUT the kits are going to be available in lots of color choices and there will DEFINITELY be some sylvie-brights in the mix... regular customer/students never fear!  ALSO there will be some options for both classes that use my lampwork beads, since that has always been a trademark of mine.  They'll be optional, so people can decide to go with a crystal rivoli OR a lampwork cabochon for the ring.  Y'all know I love choices... probably too much.


ok.  More to talk about later (like the SylvieLansdowne etsy site being full of really cool glass for the first time EVER!!!)

time to let the dog out...

tiny blah blah blah...


coffee - yes, but it was not Starbucks and it really wasn't very good.
music - bad muzac in said coffee place while I waited for a friend.

Art is a Battlefield

Warning:  Somewhat whiny post ahead....

I try really hard to have a good attitude as much as I can, but some days it's just tougher than others.  I need some CPR for my artistic spirit and I'm not sure what the ticket is for that, so bear with me as I talk it out with myself and whine a little.

This has always been a place of honesty... where I write my thoughts about art and the work of making art and whatnot... but I haven't blogged truly honestly in a long long time.  I felt a little too exposed to people who I didn't really wish to expose myself to.

But those people will read the blog or not read the blog... whatever their motive, it is what it is, so this is an honest blog posting about being down in the dumps artistically.  Some times it's just harder than others to be inspired... and I'm feeling a little UNinspired and a lot defeated.  I'm about to enter some heavy production-mode times getting ready for the Tucson Whole Bead show, so I don't really have time to be TOO creative, but I DO have some time this week and all I can think about is money for art NOT art itself.... and that bites and is not inspiring at all.

I was laughing on Facebook the other day about something my son said.  I was totally stressing getting ready for a show... just the "am I ready? do I have everything I need? will I sell stuff?" kinds of things that I always go through pre-show.  My son sensed the stress (like it was easy to miss?) and said.... "it's OK Mom... you've got this."   and then he started singing "Ain't no Mountain High Enough" and I had no clue why he chose that moment to break out into a Supremes song, so I said "that's a love song... you know that, right?  It has nothing to do with this situation."  To which he responded, "no... it's about climbing mountains and going through hard stuff that makes you stronger!"  To which I replied, "no.  That's the Miley Cyrus song you're thinking of... The Climb."  He argued that it DEFINITELY wasn't that song he was thinking of then started singing again.  This time Pat Benetar's "Love is a Battlefield."  I said to him, "why are you singing THAT song???  It has NOTHING to do with anything!!"  and his response was... "well, art is a battlefield."

Word.

Art IS a battlefield.

It's a war of what sells vs. what makes you happy... a war of no money = low self-value, which really really sucks, but it's a reality that I battle DAILY to overcome.  Sales are NOT what make me a better artist... they're just what pay the bills.  So, I need to stop beating myself up over not having the sales I need to have right now and just keep busting my butt to find customers who want to buy what I'm making.

and while I'm singing Pat Benatar I will remind myself of this quote...

and I will keep on keeping on.  Because baby there ain't no mountain high enough.... it's the climb!  (or whatever.)


tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - yes and more please.
music - Christmas movies!