Way too busy to blog today!!!

(yet here I am out of habit)

SO... because I'm guessing you need to read SOMETHING if you're here, I'm sending you elsewhere to read...

Non-beady sites that I read almost daily. Some of them visually inspirational, some of them thought-provoking, some just entertaining.

Here's my required reading list....

Daily Art Muse
A little of this. A little of that. Artistic inspirations

Colour Lovers
A great collection of color swatches. A page FULL of inspiration.

Confessions of a Pioneer Woman
(also Pioneer Woman cooks...see link once you get there)
Just plain good reading.

Small World Reads
(looking for additions to your "To Be Read" (TBR) stack? This is where I'm finding mine lately. Sarah and I attended college together for a couple of years. I didn't know her, but have recently found her site through another friend's blog.)

There are TONS of great beady sites out there, but I thought I'd send you to some non-beady ones.

tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - CDL - thank you mom!!! I love my birthday!! :)

music - Sylvie's Long Mellow List - currently playing Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes

Deep Thoughts Friday...

(ok, if you know me well you know that's probably NOT going to be the case....and if you don't KNOW me, then this post is sort of for you.)

I was getting ready to write my entry about creativity because after having dinner with my friend Marcy last night I really had a lot more to say about the creative process. Marcy's work is so fun and she's such an insightful person... I enjoyed bouncing ideas off of her and just hanging out with a friend. So.... shout out to Marcy!!!! (go check out her site. She has the cutest bobble-head glass sculptures!! OMG i LOVE the American Gothic couple!!! And she's doing some great coaching sessions on her blog for beadmakers. Here's a link to her website, you can pick which way to go when you get there! http://www.studiomarcy.com/


Well... I just wrote a long post and erased it because it didn't make sense. But then again, I don't make sense a lot of times!!!.

I'm curious about why people read my blog that aren't beadmakers, beaders, or friends. I love my website stats because I know how many people visit every single day. It makes me laugh that there are people that sit down at their desk and have their coffee "with me" every day. I wonder about the people that don't really KNOW me KNOW me. They don't know my sense of humor so the fact that I write pretty much like I talk is lost on them.

I've said something before about people from my church reading (hi friends from church!!) A lot of my friends from church read this, but they KNOW me. I'm sure that some of the people who linked here from the other church blog sites only know me as "the girl that sits on the left hand side." They're most likely NOT beady people, so are they bored to tears with all the art talk? They might have enjoyed getting a glimpse at a person they didn't know all that well, but I'm pretty sure they're not the ones reading every morning while they have their coffee. I seriously doubt it. There wouldn't be a reason to. I'm not THAT interesting.

Do people in foreign countries who read this (hi people in Denmark!!) have trouble with all the "sylvie-isms" that are here? I'm sure there are HUGE translation issues! They're beaders or beadmakers I'm sure, so the content would probably make sense, although the "fluff" around it might be lost on them. I think it would be funny if they're the ones having their morning coffee with me... I'll have to see what time "coffee time" would be in Denmark! :)

As for other people who aren't beaders or friends.... just curious people whose lives intersect with mine somehow.... like neighbors. When my neighbors that don't really know me (hi neighbors!) read this because they saw the link from my website and were at my website because they had my e-mail address with my URL and were curious what @sylviebeads.com was. Do they get a completely different picture of me than they had before??? Does it make the girl who reads at the pool more of a real person to them? I think that's sort of fun and that's why I'm ok with having a blog that's available to the public... I think people who don't REALLY know me get a glimpse of the real me that they're missing.

I'm a fun person. My beads and beadwork are fun. I would even say that I'm a SILLY person a lot of times. I would hope that when people visit the website and blog, that I make them smile either through my work or through my words. (and I've been told a lot lately that people do come here because it makes them laugh.)

SO...if you read this with your coffee and you're NOT smiling.... find something else to do. I can e-mail you links to some funnier blogs if you need suggestions. Life is too short to spend your coffee break on a website that doesn't make you happy!!!

So get going!!!!!! Enjoy your day all you people in... 15 countries and 41 of the 50 states!!! (we need to fill in that map, so find some readers for me in Iowa and Idaho!! We'll work on those 2 states first.)

Shout out to.... People in China and Singapore!!!! And a local shout-out to Norcross, Decatur and Marietta!!!!! Have a great weekend!!!!!!!!


tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - Cinnamon Dolce Latte made by Alex the barista (and neighbor)

music - 80s playlist. Right now I'm listening to Bananarama "Cruel Summer" but I'm looking forward to "My Sharona" next!!!

what I'm reading - should be what I'm NOT reading!!!!! I left my book "New Moon" at the doctor's office the other day and I haven't had time to go pick it up! aaaaaaaahhhhhh! I'll never know what happens with the werewolves and vampires in Forks, WA!!!!!

Thursday Thursday Thursday...

Supposedly "Stress Free Thursday" (says a friend) I'm questioning that and thinking of re-naming this day since I think we're jinxing it by calling it "stress-free".

I know people are waiting for me to say something witty or thought-provoking or whatever... but I just don't have ANYTHING to say today.

My brain is tired.

Hopefully, I'll find the picture that I need to complete my creativity sermon series on my home computer tonight. Then I can get it loaded on here and finish my soap-box speech on the topic of creativity in glass beadmaking. I know that you are DYING to find out the ending!!!

If you are a facebook person, please go to this site and verify that I am indeed the person who writes this crazy blog.

http://apps.new.facebook.com/blognetworks/blogpage.php?blogid=41552

Thanks bunches!!


tiny blah blah blah (look! we have a new feature!!!)

coffee today - Starbucks Cinnamon Dolce Latte from a different starbucks than my regular one. I'm not thrilled w/ it. It's already cold because I didn't drink it fast enough.... it was THAT not good. (but not so "not good" that I threw it out!)

music today - Dave FM again. I left my ipod SOMEWHERE at home, but not sure where!

I'm reading (this is the new feature) - Stop in the Name of Pants by Louise Rennison. It's written for teenage girls, but I love it. Sheer hilariousity. As Georgia, the main character would say, "fabbity fab fab" reading!! (It's a series, so don't start with this one!!)

Wednesday....

We've made it HALFWAY through this week. This has not been a fun week for SO many reasons... mostly because it's crazy busy and I need a break.

Calgon take me away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, there is NOTHING beady to report and I am SO ready to talk beads. I have stuff to talk about bead/beadmaking-wise, but I just am not in the mood to do it today.

SO instead of my regular blog entry, I'm going to talk about OTHER PEOPLE's blogs.

I'll start with Jen Geldard. Jen is someone who makes beads that I LOVE. When I talked in one of my "sermons" on creativity in beadmaking and said that art is when you can look at a bead and see the emotion in it.... well Jen's beads are TRULY an example of this. I can't explain it, but they definitely evoke emotion and every bead that I've ever seen of hers just "sings" to me. I wish I knew Jen better to know the person behind the beauty that she creates.

I was on her site today - glassgirl.com (long story, but I got there because I was playing an online game MOUSEHUNT on facebook and she seems to ROCK at this game) ANYWAYS, I was on her site and I saw that she had a blog called "Torch Songs" which is SO witty. I thought she had always had a blog, but for some reason this one looks like a new blog. I'm looking forward to keeping up with what she's making, so I'm going to bookmark it for myself.

ANYWAYS (why does it take me so long to tell a story??!!) while I was there, I looked at the links to the other blogs she had listed and saw this one called "Confessions of a Pioneer Woman" - Of Mike and Firemen. Well, to be honest, the "firemen" thing caught my eye. I have a thing for firemen. SO I decided to check out the pioneer woman/firemen blog! I didn't expect the poignant story about the blogger's brother Mike and his love of fire Stations. It was beautifully written. (and you should go read it, go to Jen's site and then follow the link on her list of blogs she likes)

Leave it to Jen, whose beads really really make me FEEL something, to bring me to a site that does the same.

Thanks a BUNCH Jen!!! You've got my mascara running!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


tiny blah blah blah

coffee today - Starbucks Cinnamon Dolce latte with 3 pumps of Dolce syrup, stirred and topped with Whipped cream. (they had to make it twice because the new barista, for some reason mis-read the 3 pumps and instead made it a triple shot. I do NOT need the extra caffine, so he had to make it again. Pauvre Barista. he'll learn.

music - forgot my ipod, so I'm listening to Dave FM. I'm not liking the song that's on now, but Mercy by Duffy was on a couple of songs ago and I love it. I miss my ipod.

It's Tuesday and I've been thinking... (uh oh!)

I don't usually think about what I'm going to say in my blog before I write it (big surprise... if you've read this before you know that!) Today is a little different. I thought about this a lot as I drove to work this morning, for several reasons.

Yesterday I realized that my blog is being linked to from a few different places (one that I put out there , but others that I didn't know about) and it kind of freaked me out a little. I don't usually expect anyone to read this except a few friends and some of my regular customers, so the public nature of the blog never effected me too much. I always figured that if someone who didn't know me (like those people who I've referenced before who were looking for information on flying hampsters or poison ivy and found me in a bizarre google search) would take one look at the blog and quickly click "back" to where they came from.

But what if they don't??? What if they are people who knew me in high school, but haven't seen me since or people from my church who just know me as the girl that sits on the left hand side of the room that they've never talked to? What if the people who mis-spelled hamster (see side-bar) ended up here, but stayed??!!

I can usually guess by how many hits I have who came to read... but yesterday was different because there were so many more of them. I had no idea who all these people were and suddenly it hit me, that PEOPLE might actually be reading this! (that sounds silly, I know!)

My friends and customers know the "me" that's writing these rambling thoughts and can put it into the context of my personality. Most of them say that they can hear me saying the words... that I write just how I talk, so it all makes sense to them. But what about the people that don't??? What does all this sound like to them and should it matter to me?

I had a friend use the word "authentic" to describe me yesterday. I really think that's true. If you have read my blog before, you know that I'm pretty much myself all the time. I do censor things that I say here because it's such a public forum and there are other people involved in my life, but what I DO say is totally "me."

I was scared about that yesterday, though. Do I need to change my tone because other people are suddenly reading this? Do I need to try to make sense? What about all those extra punctuation marks???!!! Should I always make sure to spell-check (often I don't because I have a mom who will e-mail immediately if there IS a mistake) so that I don't talk about hampsters when I mean hamsters??? I thought about it a lot and came to this conclusion as I drove to work...

Even though it's a little intimidating and freaks me out a little that "other people" are here, I'm going to continue to be myself. It's a little scary to be this open and "authentic", but I don't know how to be anyone BUT myself. In my regular life, I have slowly over the years, especially the last two, become OK with who I am. I love this blog. I love the outlet that it is, so I'm going to just take a deep breath, not freak out and just continue to be me.

So back to our show....

Tiny blah blah blah

Coffee today - (maybe this explains things) I've already had 2 Cinnamon Dolce Lattes from Starbucks. I got caught in a really bad storm and ducked into Starbucks to wait it out. HAD to order something, so I got a 2nd latte of the day.

Music - I'm currently enjoying Corinne Bailey Rae on my ipod. I LOVE her version of "Sexy Back" (which I have to admit I downloaded from someone's website... probably illegally because it sounds like it was recorded at a concert. It's not available for sale anywhere but was on her website playing when I looked at her concert schedule and I had to have it!!! I promise that if it ever IS published, I'll pay for it!!!!!!!!)

Friday Friday Friday!!!!!!!!

WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ok... that does it for today's blog entry. I have NOTHING real to say today. Lots to NOT say and let's just leave it at that. I'm on a roll, though and didn't want to neglect my blog just because I'm holding my tongue.

(I know this makes absolutely no sense, but remember it's MY blog and I'll be confusing and vague if I want to!!!)

Hey! It's sort of a Seinfeld episode... a show about nothing... a blog entry about nothing... YAY!


Have a great weekend bloggy world!!!!!!!!!!!


tiny blah blah...

coffee - Starbucks (the usual) but evidently not enough. I need to make another stop. I'm dragging!

music - NONE! Here is the problem!!!!!!!!! Must fix immediately. I'm voting for the Newest "groove tunes" mix with a little Beyonce!!! Perfect for a Friday!

True Confessions Tuesday....

NO! Not THOSE kinds of confessions! I'm not airing any dirty laundry here.... but without really meaning to make that segue this post IS about laundry!!!!! Not kidding!

Here's my confession... I did NOT make beads yesterday. I did NOT clean my studio yesterday. I did laundry. :( Lots and Lots and Lots of laundry. Apparently my children had been hiding lots of dirty clothes in strange places all over the house! Suddenly there were NO clothes to wash and NO clean clothes for them to wear.... so I went on a HUNT! (and found about 4 loads of laundry among all their hiding places!!) If only I could find where they are hiding the socks and underwear!!!!!!

SO, I got all excited for nothing... just laundry. :(

Today is full of other kid-related activities, so it won't be a beadmaking day either (unless I do something nutty and make beads at midnight... which i really don't think is a good idea since I have to get up at 6)

Sorry dear readers that I don't have something exciting to tell you on the beady front, but this is the "blah blah blah-og of a single mom" and her crazy life... and laundry is sometimes a part of that.

My other non-beady activity today involves getting a kid with poison ivy to stop itching!! That reminded me of a blog entry I had a few years ago where I said the phrase "poison ivy still itches" and when I checked my website statistics to see how people found my site, that was one of the google keyword searches that a lot of people had used!!!!!!!!!! They were looking for info on poison ivy and chose the "sylviebead blog" as a site that might have info???? Crazy!

I can't see those stats the same way now that my blog is here on blogger.... which is ashame. That was always funny. So if any of you came here looking for a cure for poison ivy that still itches... i'd suggest going to a REAL medical site OR visiting your local physician. If this is an emergency, please dial 911 or report to a local emergency room.

now back to our "show"........

Tiny blah blah blah...

No coffee this morning! (gasp!!!) I had a Dr. Pepper from the grocery store instead. I had to stop and pick up a prescription for Harrison who has poison ivy (that still itches! LOL)

Music - listening to Dave fm (per Harrison's request) and right now they're playing "There She Goes Again". I haven't heard that song in a LONG time. That's one of the reasons I love that station. (that and because my kids are "radio personalities" on the Mara Davis radio-free lunch show)

Happy Friday to me!!!!!!!!

Nothing beady to report, but hopefully I will soon. The plans are this... go into the studio tomorrow and get setup for making beads by Monday afternoon. THEN Monday afternoon, get home from work, walk the dog and then go to work in the studio for at least 2 hours. I plan to work longer on certain days when the boys are w/ their dad. (I DO plan on enjoying our pool for the next few weeks though while it's open, so maybe no longer hours until after Labor day. We'll see)

I'm getting excited about it, but like I said before still nervous. I was working on the website last night and like I mentioned in another post, re-read some (ok, a lot) of my blog. It's weird to go back and read something that you wrote in the past. I was never a journal keeper before I did it online, so I haven't really done that a lot in my past and I've never really taken the time to go back and read things I wrote online either.

So, it was sort of a surreal thing reading things I'd written. Some of the entries were things I remembered clearly, some not at all. Some made me really blue, but some made me happy. I'm really glad that I wrote a travel-log from my trip to Canada though. It totally cracked me up reading about our trip. I also liked my followup about people moving to Canada. I know I'm the only one who knows what I'm talking about here, but hey, it's my journal.

ANYWAYS, reading what I'd been doing in my studio in the past really lit a fire under me. Made me remember what I've been missing and helped get me in gear. Hopefully this energy will continue as I do my least favorite part of beadmaking... cleaning off my glass table! Oh for the "glass fairies" that used to come do that for me!!

ok... must get to work at "real job"!!!

tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - Bad Sylvie did not have coffee setup last night so that she could just hit the button in the morning when she's a walking zombie. Instead, had to stop at Starbucks. Mmmmmm. Love my Cinnamon Dolce Latte

music - Sylvie's Groove Tunes - Was just listening to Kayne West's Golddigger. right now listening to Jackson 5 - I want you back. It's a very fun playlist of songs that make me want to dance and GO OUT! Perfect for a friday!!! (will try to add it to the sidebar later) OOOH! Now it's "I will Survive" by Gloria Gainor! PERFECT!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is my 2nd post of today.

I was taking a break from working on bead website stuff (I do my own site and if I'm making a comeback, I've got to get the site ready) and decided to take a look back at the past for a minute (or 20). Some of it made me laugh, some made me sad BUT this post, that I referred to the other day cracked me up. Here it is...

Monday, February 24, 2003

A new week and I'm back to making head over heels kits...heads and feet heads and feet heads and feet. I'm still working on the future project(s) and took some time tonight to do some beading on those. Someday.....

In other music news...Coincidence or not...you be the judge...

Sylvie listens to Pink...Pink is nominated for a grammy

Sylvie listens to James Taylor...James Taylor is nominated for a grammy

Sylvie listens to the Dixie Chicks...Dixie Chicks are nominated for a grammy (are you following the eerie coincidence here yet?)

Sylvie listens to John Mayer (sp?) ...John Mayer is nominated for a grammmy

Sylvie listens to Nora Jones...Nora Jones is nominated for a grammy

Coincidence or do I have a strange voo doo like power over the music industry???

Whose career will skyrocket this year because I listen to their music in my studio????

Tune in tomorrow when we discuss the possibilities of Sylvie controlling corporate america...

Is Sylvie solely responsible for Starbucks being the multi-million dollar corporation that it is???


coffee today - Sylvie continues to support the Barrista movement by ordering a venti frappucino w/ almond syrup. and Lane Bryant by ordering a molasses cookie

Music today - no...I'm waiting to see whose career I should launch next. I think it's time for a Crowded House reunion tour, so I might listen to them tomorrow.<

I thought that was pretty funny. Sometimes I crack myself up!

more tiny blah blah blah

Coffee - broke down and stopped at Starbucks on my way home from work. They missed me and were happy to make my Venti 3 pump Cinnamon Dolce Latte with Whipped Cream (if you're gonna be bad be bad!!!)

Well, here we are... full circle. I'm at a point where I'm really ready to blog again. It was just about 7 years ago I started this thing. I know!!!!! I can hardly believe how time has flown.

So, since many of my readers might be new due to Facebook (ok... mom and Angie and Blair... I know you're probably the only ones reading this, but my site stats say differently). ANYWAYS... for any of you who wandered in here without knowing what in the heck is going on. Here's the recap...

I'm a glass beadmaker. What this means is that I take rods of glass, melt them in a flame and sculpt them into something that has a hole going through it (which makes it a bead). Most of the pieces I'm known for (pretty cool that I'm "known" for something) are my whimsical girly sculptures of mermaids. These pieces, although they can be used in jewelry designs are usually bought by collectors OR used as ornaments. I also make more basic beads to be used in jewelry.

For those of you who need a bit of a beadmaking education, google "lampwork glass beadmaking" or something similar. I'm sure you'll find some sort of info. You can also look at the books "How to Make Glass Beads" by Cindy Jenkins and her follow up book (that I'm in!) "Beads of Glass" or ISGB.org which is the International Society of Glass Beadmakers.

Wikipedia has a very basic explanation of lampwork glass beadmaking. Click here to read it.

The main question that I hear all the time about my own work is "so when do you paint the glass?" My work is not painted. Every bit of color is applied with molten glass. For lack of a better explanation, I "paint" with molten glass... mixing the colors in the flame ahead of time, making thinner strands of glass that I can use as my "brushes" when applying. This might not make sense, but hopefully it does... a little bit, anyways.

In addition, I design jewelry and beadwork projects which incorporate my glass beads. If you're not a beady person, this probably will bore you to tears... I'm just letting you know that now. Sometimes I have funny stories to tell and I almost always have music to talk about or coffee drinks to review, but the majority of what I talk about is "work" oriented.

Ok... back to the recap...

2001- I start an "online studio journal" to document the things that I'm creating in the studio. Mostly because I was getting e-mails from customers who bought pieces from me in person that were different from others that I was selling online. There were a lot of people who thought there were 2 "Sylvie Elise Lansdowne"s. Crazy, but true. I was getting several emails asking me if I knew there was someone else making beads with my same name!!

2002 - Due to my housefire, I lost the first few months of my blog (by then I knew that what I was doing was called a "blog") and started the new one. It's archived, but not on blogger. For someone feeling the need to catch up with my life (and needing to be put to sleep) there is a link on the right.

2002-2006 - I made beads and blogged about it, along with random entries about my life. At some point, I moved the blog to blogger and the look is a little different, but the substance the same. (It does make it easier!)

2006 - I had some health issues that made making beads very difficult due to tremors and I had to take a break. The leave of absence extended due to my becoming a single mom. I needed some time to devote to things at home.

2008 - I miss beadmaking. I'm ready to come back!!!!!!!!!!!!! (but I'm scared at the same time. It's been a long time in bead-years!!) I plan on setting up my studio again this weekend when my kids are away with their dad. I thought a good way to MAKE me get started would be by making a fresh start with my blog.

So, here I am. I'm taking the blog off "private" again and just putting myself out there.

I'm excited about what's to come!!!!!


and for you newbies... here's the deal with the coffee and music...

I once figured out that i had a horrible day in my studio when I didn't have coffee, so I started always noting whether I'd had coffee or not when I talked about my day in the studio. I also noticed that my work changed depending what sort of music I was listening to, so I decided to document that as well.

So... here's the little blah blah blah of today...

Coffee - made it myself for the 2nd day in a row!!!!! I'm letting go of my daily starbucks habit and have started making coffee in my very own kitchen!!! I'm thinking about getting some of those starbucks paper cups though... so that I can write my drink on them when I "order" and put my name on them in case I get confused which coffee is mine! Today's drink - Coffee with LOTS of milk and a bit of Tiaramisu Coffee Mate creamer.

Music - actually listening to a book on the ipod right now. It's "The Secret" which is a little new age-y for me BUT is full of some really good concepts for positive thinking. I think it's actually made a huge difference in how I'm looking at things right now.

I'm back. All out. Full force. No holds barred. Ready to take on the world AND I have absolutely no one but myself to "report to."

Nothing that's happened to me in the last 2 years has been really what I would have asked for in life, but I really think I'm a better person for having been "annealed" this way.

The goal for the week...

Get the studio ready for action.

Get the glass OUT of the drawers.

Make beads.

Kick butt.

Take names


coffee today - Cinnamon Dolce latte w/out whipped cream. Not as good. But I tried!!!
music today - listening to a book on my ipod while laying out at

Hello whoever you are!!!!!!

So, I'm noticing that people are coming and reading this... WHO in the heck are you guys??!! I'm not asking for a "roll call" or anything, but it's funny knowing that people are coming and reading every day (and I know you are because I can read my site statistics and know there are a certain number of hits happening just about every day... it's just funny to me for some reason).

I don't have a LOT of beady things to talk about today, but I do have a few. I'm going to make beads again this coming weekend while the boys are with their dad, but I'm not sure how much time I'll actually get in since I'll also be going to spring football scrimmages.

The boys will be gone for the next 3 weekends in a row and will be gone the entire week after Memorial Day, so that's a LOT of time to myself to get things done. BUT.... I'll have my new puppy by then, so I'll probably be spending more puppy time and less beadmaking time.

I'm SO excited about my new puppy. Here's his picture...


He doesn't have a name yet, but he will! We have a lot of possibilities, but haven't totally agreed yet. I'd love an art name, but that's not gonna happen. Looks like he'll have more of a standard DOG kind of a name. I don't want anything too silly. I loved the name Einstein because he's going to have crazy hair when he gets older (he's a Goldendoodle) but one of my boys vetoed that one. Too bad! :(

ok... gotta get back to work. Just wanted to check in with my "faithful" readers... whoever you are!!!

the daily blah blah blah...

Fashion report - nothing bizarre seen today, although my 10 year old looked SHARP in his suit he wore to school today! (which is bizarre... he's never dressed up!) He was giving a speech since he's running for school council president! We're not expecting a win since there is only one girl running and 3 boys. The boys will probably split the boy vote and the girl will get all the girls, making her win by a landslide. He knows that already, so it won't be a big let down. But he's got a great slogan! "Don't be Trippin' Vote for Griffin!!" (cracked me up when he told me that!

Coffee - Venti Cinnamon Dolce Latte - which is NOT good today! They forgot the cinnamon syrup and I swear they put in an extra shot of espresso, so it's really bitter without any sweet to balance it. PHOOEY!

Music - Sylvie's New Groove (will have to post a link to those songs later) and now Sylvie's long mellow list

Flight of the Hampsters.... the mystery continues!!!!!!!

OK... after yesterday's post, I, being the Nancy Drew kind of girl that I am, decided to go do some research and find out WHY someone who did a search in google would find MY blog by typing the words "flight of the hampsters" in the search. WELL... what I found out FIRST is that I spelled Hamsters wrong!!! SO, once again, people found my site by doing the same mis-spelling that I did. BUT there were over 368,000 entries for "flight of the hampsters!" So, what made this crazy person say "hey... sylviebead blog. THAT sounds like where I'll find information about a video game!" (I also found out that Flight of the Hamsters is a video game).

BUT I didn't find out HOW my blog is connected to this at all!!! I found an entry in my blog where I refer to a book that my kids used to have called "10 minutes till bedtime" and it had cute little hamsters in it. BUT there was no "flight" involved.

So, the mystery continues...

That's it for today. No beady news to report. Will not be a beady weekend either. I'm with my boys AND cleaning house, puppy-proofing it (like baby-proofing) for our new arrival. He comes home at the end of May. HOORAY!!!

big news... I know you're on the edge of your seat waiting to hear the daily blah blah blah...

Coffee - nope. Chick fil a sweet tea with 3 lemons (I'm picky)

Music - nope. I forgot my ipod!!!!

So, it looks like I'm a blogger again, huh? I'm not sure why I'm compelled to spill my guts to the internet world, but I think I just need to write every once in a while and this is a good format to do it.

Nothing real beady to say today. I haven't cleaned out my studio from seed-bead mania (more on that in a second), so there were no beads made this weekend.

Seed bead mania - While I was stockpiling beads for my mermaid kits in 2005, I realized that I had almost as many, if not way more seed bead colors than most bead stores. That led to my selling packaged seed beads by the gram on my web-site in addition to the kits I was selling. This was a big venture and I invested more money in it than I probably should have (though I made the money back).

It was VERY time consuming, however and when I took a break from beadmaking, I tried to keep up the seed bead end of things for a little while, but my heart wasn't in it, nor did I have the time, so I closed that portion of my store as well.

The point of this is that when I had stopped making beads a couple of years ago and continued to do the seed bead merchandising, the seed beads took over my studio. So, right now in my studio are BOXES of seed beads and they are all over the place, including in my glass area. In order to make beads again, I have to clear out those seed-beads and get organized. I HATE getting organized, as anyone who knows me well can attest to.

In the past I'd barter with people to come organize for me.... trading classes or beads for cleaning/organizing. Right now I don't have the means to do that since I'm not teaching and I don't have any beads to trade (other than seed beads which I have TONS of), so I'm going to have to get motivated and clean my own studio!!! UGH!!!!

At least I have motivation now... I know I can make beads again. I spent 2 years not knowing if I could or not. I didn't talk about this in my earlier posts, but I had something going 2 years ago that made my hands tremble and shake to the point that I couldn't make even the simplest of beads. It was SO frustrating because they couldn't trace the cause of it. It eventually got a bit better, but at the same time other life events took the forefront, I took a full-time "real job" and beadmaking just became something that I "used" to do.

In the back of my mind I wondered if I could return to beadmaking, if my shaking had subsided enough to try, but I was afraid. I really really didn't want to sit down at the torch and find out that I had lost the ability forever. I had people say "oh, you could make organic beads, things that don't require as much control," but I didn't want to. I wanted to make what I wanted to make... girly, detailed beads. And if I couldn't do that, it was going to be a big disappointment. And I'd had too much disappointment last year. I didn't need something bringing me down, reminding me of my weaknesses when I was fighting so hard to be strong and independant.

So I didn't even try. I hate to say it, because I'd never want my kids to have that attitude, but I didn't want to try something that I wasn't going to be totally successful at. People said "do it because you love it, not because you're perfect at it," but that wasn't working... I WANTED to be perfect or not to do it at all. Thinking of not being able to make beads was depressing, so I didn't think about it at all.

A month or so ago I decided that it was time to try. To at least see if it was a possibility. I'd spent more than 10 years of my life as a beadmaker and I didn't like the idea of just disappearing off the map because of something that wasn't my choice. But I was really afraid of failure. My hands still shake, (not nearly as much though) and I didn't know if I'd be successful or not. I had no idea if I'd be able to make a dot bead, let alone a bead with a lot of embellishment like most of my beads were. I knew I'd have to clean my studio before I tried, so I kept procrastinating.

I finally decided that I'd have to go about it different route. I'd rent studio time through the Southern Flames (local glass bead group) and since I was reserving space and paying for it, it would make me go, the same way that having a trainer at the gym makes me show up. It gives some sort of accountability, no procrastination allowed.

I called and reserved a space and found out that there wasn't torch-time that weekend, but Beads by Design, the beadstore that hosts the torch-time, generously let me use their space for the day and let me try making beads again. YAY!!!!

I tried little beads first... just dots... and I could do it with no problem!!! My dots were as straight as they ever were and even though I was shaking a little, it wasn't really an issue. I moved on and decided to go for it and make a fairy. I got my stringer colors mixed and just went for it! YAY! It worked... no problems!! So then I tried a mermaid... and again, no problems! I was on auto-pilot and was able to do all the same things I used to do.

I didn't try anything huge like one of the mermaid torsos for Splish Splash. Those took SO much time and energy and control, I didn't want to risk it when I'd had such a good day. I can't even begin to tell you (whoever you are) what a big deal it was that I could make beads again! It changed my outlook on life SO much. Not that I was moping around... I definitely haven't had a moping year. BUT I hadn't felt like an artist and this let me see that there was that possibility still out there.

SO, this is what brought me back to my blog. The hopes that I'll be beadmaking again. The accountability of saying it "out loud" with the internet universe listening. I updated my website so that there might be people that looked at this blog and said "so where are the beads??!!" at some point. I'm hoping that saying I'm GOING to make beads will make me clean up my studio and get busy!

I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, I'll just check in and talk about whatever floats my boat and keep everyone informed what coffee I'm drinking and music I'm listening to!

Stay tuned....

Beads Made - Zero
Coffee Today - Venti 3 pump Cinnamon Dolce Latte with Whip (which I really need to give up!)
Music - NOTHING! aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!! I forgot my ipod, so it's way too quiet!

WOW! 2 days in a row??!!!

Maybe I AM blogging again. I've been working on formatting the blog today, so I'm on my way towards it anyways! YAY!!!

A lot of my recent bead-related energy has been directly related to e-mails that I've received from customers/students who were either looking for beads or patterns that they weren't finding on my website OR were asking when I'd be back OR just checking on me. I've put these e-mails into a file on my computer called "fan mail" (which sounds vain and probably is) and when I'm having a down day, I look at those to remind myself that I have (and still can) make things that bring happiness to people... even if just in a little way.

And this brings us to James Taylor...

Mr. Taylor has a song called "That's Why I'm Here" that talks about his doing the same thing (singing Fire and Rain) again and again and again, year after year for people who come to his concerts and "That's Why I'm Here" is his response to this. I totally get it. I'm not an international super-star like James, but at times I felt like I was singing the same song "again and again and again" making my cute-sy girly things, but they DO make people happy (and me too), so maybe "That's Why I'm Here" too.

I think it's "time to make the donuts" again. (I used to refer to this old Dunkin Donuts commercial all the time on days that I didn't really feel like making beads). It might not start because it's something I completely WANT to do right now, but it's something I NEED to do on several levels. I need that positive affirmation that I make something that makes people happy, I need the camaraderie that exists between beaders, I need the ego boost that selling things brings, and there are other positive benefits that come out of it too.

Are you ready for a big teaser???? A certain bracelet which was retired might be making a return... just because it would be an easy way for me to make a "come back." Something I'm used to making and might not have such a challenge conquering. (I guess I'll have to talk more about why I'd have to "conquer" ANYTHING later... but not today.) SO, that might be news to some of you... the return of ___ over ___. But don't tell! It's not a sure thing yet. Just gossip.

The big question now is WHEN can I make beads?? My life is already SO full (as my battered Franklin Planner can attest to) right now. I'm just going to have to find some time to add this element back into my life. I'll keep you posted (excuse the bad pun!) as to how the juggling is going.


Beads Made Today = ZERO
Coffee Consumed Today - Starbucks Cinnamon Dolce Latte (3 pumps with whip)
Music - Sylvie's Long Mellow List (see newly added playlists on the right hand column)

Could it be? Am I ready to blog again? Am I ready to make beads again is the BIGGER question. The title says “the blah blah blah-og of a Beadmaker.” I think that would necessitate my actually BEING a beadmaker to have this blog. Since this was my studio journal, my way to vent about my creative process and keep people up to date on what I was doing in the studio, I abandoned it when I stopped making beads. I wasn’t sure if I’d return to beadmaking, but I didn’t take down the blog. I still get e-mails from people who, who knows how, have found my blog and read the entire thing and want to know “what happened next??!!” (as if my life is so exciting that people would be on the edge of their seats waiting for the next installment.)

I had one friend who told me he read my blog because it was like passing by a car-wreck… he really didn’t want to look, but couldn’t help himself. Thanks a bunch!!!

I have another friend who seems to think that I’m an I Love Lucy episode and that my day to day life would be a great sit-com. I don’t know that I see myself as Lucy, but sometimes I do think I’m sort of like Grace (from Will and Grace) who had some Lucy-esque tendencies, but was a modern girl (and artistic). Maybe people just read for the comedy of errors that I often am. Who knows why, but my silly ramblings seemed to have a following (and apparently, you, if you're reading this had some sort of inclination to read).

So ANYWAYS… here I am again, pondering the idea of blogging and beadmaking.

Am I ready to divulge my every thought to the universe? Hardly. BUT I am sort of ready to talk about my creative process again. I know there were people who really enjoyed reading my day to day ramblings about whatever was going on with me, sometimes bead-related, sometimes just to get new music or coffee ideas.

Without publishing a novel of my past 2 years, let’s just say that my "pseudo-real life" took some REAL LIFE turns and became the forefront for a while. I didn’t really make a choice not to make beads… life made it for me. But, now for various reasons (some of which I might discuss… some of which I won’t), I find myself being pulled back towards beadmaking (and blogging) again.

Since last we spoke, I became a single mom and am now working a full-time REAL job for my family’s business and if that's not enough, I'm in the process of going back to school to get my master's degree. These circumstances will make it very different for me schedule-wise to make beads than it was in the past and I’m not really sure if I can juggle the life I have and want to have, so that will be one of those things to discuss.

If you are reading this and think “cool! I’m going to get to hear all about Sylvie’s new single social life…or the trials and tribulations of being a single mom.” Think again. Though there might be occasional glimpses into real life (including my addiction to starbucks), I’m going to try to keep my blog focused on the creative me. Real life does color the creative process, so I’m not going to pretend that I won’t talk about other stuff from time to time, but I’ll really have to censor myself since this is potentially such a public forum.

There will be times, like there were in the past, when I say something in my blog that makes no sense to anyone but me (or those who know me really well). It will be just to “get it out” and anyone reading this wanting an explanation for my nonsensical sayings will just have to live with that bit curiosity from time to time.

AND if you are reading this and feel a need to correct my grammar… don’t. (and that means you mom!) Even if it drives you completely crazy…don’t do it!!! I never claimed to be grammatically correct and I like over punctuating AND I make up my own words AND I like run-on sentences and fragments… so there! If you leave me comments concerning my writing style, they will be deleted and I will make mean faces at you through the computer (so don’t even think about it!!!)

Ok… so let’s get down to it… Time to make beads again? Time to blog again??? Hopefully. Like I said in February… Stay tuned!


And because I know you're dying to know...today I'm....

Drinking - Chick-fil-A sweet tea w/ 3 lemons
Listening to - My ipod playlist called "Long Mellow List" (I'll add a link to my playlists later) and it's currently playing a James Taylor song.

Testing Testing... 1 2 3.....

Happy Super Wednesday!!!!

(I'm feeling sorry for the other days this week that weren't SUPER like Sunday and Tuesday)

Is it time to return to blogging?

Maybe.

Stay tuned...

I guess I'm checking in weekly now rather than daily. Guess it's better than not checking in at all.

I wonder why I am still posting my blog since I'm not really doing posting of pictures very often, if at all, of what i'm making in the studio lately.

What I've been making is mermaid torsos...lots of them. I guess they aren't really a "mermaid torso" until they have fins...they could be just girl torsos too I guess. But I'm making them for the mermaid project and have been trying to get 3 or more made per day. These take such intense concentration that I can't do many more than that. I did do 5 the other day, but by number 5, my hands were shaking I was so tired. It's a little crazy seeing that I can make a whole bunch of regular mermaids per day and they're not all that small. Just one of those hmmmmmm things.

In a quick update for anyone reading this who was worried about my work schedule. My long days are not ALL in the studio. The hours I was talking about include the computer grunt work that I do in the evenings. I am just saying that there are few hours in the day that I'm not doing something that has to do with my business...and that's sad. I've tried, but I get antsy knowing there is stuff that really needs to be done.

Not sure how I am going to be an "empire" of girly-stuff-ness if I have these tendencies. And that's what I want to be. The future Mary Englebreit or something like that with designs based on my glasswork and drawings which have that same feeling. I really loved doing the work I did this fall with the greeting cards. I just don't have time to do everything myself and I don't really know about marketing of such things. For now, my dream is still a dream without a lot behind it.

Ok, I'm off to do work in the office of my father (which is my Wednesday job)...

Starbucks today - Cinnamon Dolce Latte - having it until they discontinue it.
Music - classic rock on the new atlanta station...the river 97.1 (said in my best rock n' roll announcer voice)

way behind in blogging and in life.

Had a tough month so far, but seem to be returning to normal.

I'm really really hoping that January turns into a much more profitable work month. I've been working so hard designing and making samples that I haven't SOLD anything!! It's the tough part of what I do. If I was a bead maker, pure and simple again, I would just make beads and sell them...voila a business that lasts all the time without starts and stops.

I LOVE doing the seed bead weaving and project designing, though, so I am just going to have to adjust to the ups and downs OR give up that portion of what I do.

So, am done whining and will now return to work. I am so glad to be normal again and wanting to work. It was just a crazy crazy month and I'm glad it's back to some form of sanity.

Coffee today - mais oui! I had a starbucks venti 2%, 2 pump mocha. My drink of choice lately.

No music. Am listening to the Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd on CD (well ipod really), so no music played today.

Off to bead...

I blog therefore I am? Probably not, but it sounds really important huh?!

someone blogrolled me and it made me so very happy.

All in all a sort of happier day today (is that vague or what!) Am definitely feeling more up and more in control...leaving things I don't have control over alone as much as possible. Today was all about socialization with normal happy people, so that helped muchly.

I know that everything i'm writing here this week is kind of nonsensical (sp?), but it makes sense to me and that's what matters, huh!?

no coffee today, though I'm jonesin' for a latte right now.

am addicted to poppycock stuff with chocolate on it. must say no to popcorn-drugs.