Thursday... "stress free" Thursday, the day that makes you look forward to the weekend because it's usually so NOT Stress Free!!!!!!!

I have so much to say, but I've been typing all day and don't feel like typing anymore.

What I WILL say is that Starbucks has NOT discontinued the Cinnamon Dolce Latte!!! There was just a shortage of the syrup and none of the stores could get any. WHEW!!!

That's about it on the positive stuff to report today.


tiny blah blah blah...

Coffee - substituting temporarily for the Cinnamon Dolce Latte we have...

Vanilla Latte (3 pumps) with whipped cream and dolce sprinkles. It wasn't TOO bad for a substitute. :)

Music - Sylvie's Groove Tunes playlist, which I turned off for most of the day because I couldn't dance and type simultaneously. Some days I'm more coordinated than others.

Happy Wednesday world!!!

(and Happy Birthday Keith, if you're reading this, which you sometimes do)

I posted a note on my facebook page and then thought... I should post it on my blog too!



I'm figuring that all my friends (and random readers in countries across the world LOL) are out there wondering... what should I get Sylvie for Christmas ... so I thought I'd make it easier for all of you. (hopefully you know I'm kidding)

I always figure that if I say things like this publicly then maybe I'll get sponsorship from one of these companies and I'll get free products!! ;)

1. A Garmon portable GPS so that I don't have to mapquest things all the time.
2. Chanel Perfume - Allure or Coco the small refillable spray version.
3. Fiestaware Red Service Pieces
4. Almost anything fun from the Mac (cosmetics not computer) counter... lipgloss is always a good idea!
5. LOTS of things from Sephora - I like all the Fresh (brand) bath products and love Philosophy skin care.
6. Fuzzy Nordstrom brand socks - I'm picky on this one. Questions? Please contact Jenny or Denise.
6. Gift certificates to:
Macy's
Sephora
I-Tunes,
Target,
Zappos,
Nordstroms,
Starbucks,
Barnes and Noble,
AMC Theaters,
California Pizza Kitchen,
Ted's Montana Grill

(both of those last 2 you can get bonus gift certificates for yourself if you buy them for others... just a little 411 for you all)

In addition... because I'm trying to stay on subject, I will add a couple of glass beadmaking items...

CIM glass - I don't own any of this and the colors look REALLY cool!!!
Any of the new Silvered Glass colors that mimic borosillicate glass. I've had a couple of samples, but I don't REALLY own any of these... would be a very nice Christmas gift indeed!!!


and last but not least...

I wish for Starbucks to BRING BACK MY CINNAMON DOLCE LATTE!!!!!!!!!!!


tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - NOPE! I'm drinking iced tea from Chick fil a in protest of my missing coffee drink

music - Jason Mraz and Colbie Callait (just finished Colbie's playlist as I wrote this, so moving on to Sara Bareilles)

It's Tuesday.....

and I'm at the car dealership waiting to get my van fixed. :(

Nothing exciting or beady to report. I NEED to be reporting on getting Christmas presents made (because it's a homemade Christmas around here... my kids are going to LOVE that!!! I'm crafting my own beaded video games for them. LOL)

ANYWAYS... I don't have anything beady to talk about, so I'm making this short.


tiny blah blah blah...

Coffee - MAJOR disappointment for me... Cinnamon dolce latte has apparently been taken off the Starbucks menu. NOT a happy camper here. I'm having a mocha instead, but I will be giving up Starbucks for a while. MIGHT have to even e-mail someone important at Starbucks to voice my unhappiness.

Music - I'm at the car dealership and am listening to some sort of ESPN channel about football. Could be worse.

Monday Monday...

I know I'm SO far behind in my blogging, but that's just life I guess.

Thanksgiving has come and gone and Christmas will be here before I know it!! I have a LOT to do between now and then and some big goals to conquer between now and then.

This past week...

I learned to use a power drill!!!!! I know that sounds lame and that most of the world has probably done that before, but I hadn't and I'm really proud of myself for it. I decided to hang some shelves and they are a type that my ex-husband always hung for me, but I needed to learn to do it for myself instead of asking for help from my neighbor or dad... and I did (learn... not ask for help).

I got new shelves hung for my craft room!!! YAY!!!

I also purged some stuff that needed to be purged... including a bed (although it isn't officially being purged until later this week when the new one arrives)

In addition... I drove downtown at night to somewhere I've never been all on my own (a concert venue), parked, walked in the rain and really did something that I normally would have been a little intimidated by. I had done stuff like that during the day, but not at night. I'm not saying I felt totally confident, but I did it.

These are tiny things I know... but they are meaningful for me and I NEED to see the positive sides of me learning to be on my own a little more.

I rock. (or at least I keep trying to tell myself I do!)

Goals for this week... decorate for Christmas. This is no small task either. I haven't decorated the outside of my house since becoming single, so it's a little daunting to me (I know I sound totally lame... as lame as I sounded for having never used a drill) BUT I'm determined to figure it all out and get my house Christmasy by this weekend. SO... hopefully I'll have an "I did it!" report for you next week!

nothing beady to report for right now...


tiny blah blah blah...

No coffee today - Chick fil A tea instead (but coffee would have been a better choice. It's COLD!)

Music - Jason Mraz on ipod. I went to his concert on Saturday night and it was... just... WOW!!!

It's Friday!!!!!!!

YAY!!!!!

I don't have anything new and beady to report. I've spent a lot of time this week cleaning beads, but that's not really exciting or blog-worthy.

I WILL say that I waited a long time to get my new bead cleaning tool thingy and I went and bought a dremmel to use with it and I am NOT impressed. I wish I could say I was... but I'm not. :(

I'm going to have to go back over all the beads I've cleaned again. ugh. My old method of just using the mandrel to clean little beads seems to be JUST as effective as this expensive tool. I wish it wasn't so.... but that is MY finding (please don't try to debate with me about it... if you're having good luck with the tool. Hooray! I'm happy for you!!!!)

In other beady news... well, there isn't any... so we're moving onto non-beady things...

Cake Wrecks!!!!

I hope this ends your week with a laugh. I found it thanks to my wonderfully amusing cousin Emilie (who writes a fantastic epicurean blog called ifagioli - I have no idea what that means, so don't ask me... just check it out sometime.)

http://www.ifagioli.com/

ANYWAYS... thanks to Emilie, I laughed my butt off at these "cake wrecks" today!!! My favorite ones are all the mis-spelled ones or misinterpreted directions by cake-decorators. Hooray for Cake Wrecks!!!

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

so... happy Friday to you all!!!

no music
same old coffee...

no tiny blah..... oh, I guess that was tiny... oh well!

Quickie catch-up blog posting..

Life has been, for the most part, busy and happy. Beads have been made, but nothing huge and wonderful as I had hoped. I did make one really interesting bead on Saturday... it was a 2 hour project and just as I was finishing I heard that awful "crack" sound that makes a beadmaker's heart sink.

I went ahead and finished the bead because I wanted to see how it looked finished, but was disappointed, both because it cracked and in the way the colors reacted with each other (you don't always know until you try though).

I spent the rest of my beadmaking time making little simple beads. It seems that my hands are shaking again. It's SO weird how I now that I know what causes it... it's SO obvious. I wonder why I didn't figure it out long ago. At least I know now. It's nothing I can remedy, but at least I know why it happens. HOPEFULLY it will subside soon and I can get back to what I love.

In the meantime, it's little basic beads for me. It does mean that I can't participate fully in my own workshop which is a total bummer... but that's just the way it is. There is SO much more I'd love to say here, but I'll save it for conversations with friends (sorry, dear readers who aren't my in-person friends... you'll just have to be out of the loop on this one).


tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - same old same old. I'm in a rut. Need to change things up, but haven't found a drink I like as much as my Cinnamon dolce Latte

music - listening to the radio today - Dave FM. Right now it's Gavin____ Gwen's husband. It's a beautiful song, but I can't remember his name or the name of the song! LOL

FINALLY Friday!!!!

We made it! (well, close to, anyways!!)

As I was driving into work this morning, I was thinking (something I do in the car quite a lot). For me, driving down Lake Forest (a tree-lined back road) always puts me deep into thought and I have no idea why! Some of my best ideas/epiphany moments occur when I'm on that road. Weird, huh? I don't think I have the same sorts of ideas on other roads... wonder why.

SO... I'm driving down Lake Forest and I'm thinking about my online class and life. I'm reading a book that's making me a bit teary at its ending (which I'm sort of avoiding because I don't feel a happy ending coming on) and it's too long to go into, but it's sort of about the twists and turns of life. The story is about a man who time travels and his relationship with his wife. He knows his future, but can't change it and at this point of the book, he's sort of wallowing in a bit of self-pity, knowing what’s ahead. Not that I might not do the same thing... not sure.

Since I was thinking about the book and then thinking about my workshop, I sort of had some "hmmmm...." thoughts about beads and life.

The saying "when life hands you lemons make lemonade" seems kind of flippant to me when people are going through real hardships, but it is sort of an attitude that I encourage in my creativity workshops... making the most of the things you create that didn't quite turn out the way you'd planned... embracing the mistakes for the opportunities they can offer... doors they can open to explore new ideas.

How does this fit with life??? Well, I was thinking of the last 10 years of my life and all the things that have happened in my life that were NOT things that I wanted to happen... but how I dealt with those situations was up to me.

No one ASKS for a fire... no one wants a diagnosis or a failed relationship... but bad things happen in life and where you go from there is up to you. I had the choice of how to react in all these situations - sitting and feeling sorry for myself, blaming God, myself (I’m bad at that) or others for the places I'd ended up or just saying... ok, what do I do now???? Looking back, I’m really proud of how I’ve handled things. I’m DEFINITELY not perfect, so that’s not what I’m saying, but looking back over the last 10 years, given what I’ve been dealt… I can say that for the most part, I’ve weathered the storms and come out a stronger person because of them.

In beadmaking, it’s sometimes really hard for me to look at my work without that inner critic telling me everything that’s wrong about a piece. But for some reason, in my life, I don’t have that same pessimistic attitude. That’s not to say I’m not hard on myself (because I am) and that I don’t get sad… I’m real… I hurt and I don’t mend easily, BUT I try not to live in that place… even though, in some of these situations that would have been very easy to do.

SO, as I teach people to see the possibilities in every piece they create… I need to remember to use that same attitude myself more often. It’s easier to do in the context of the class where it’s SUPPOSED to be an exploration than it is in the studio when you have something you wanted to make and it doesn’t go the way you want. BUT I need to remember to apply my attitude towards life to the studio as well.

I’ll be in my studio this weekend and I plan to make some REAL beads this time… not just the assigned ones for my class, but some real artistic expressions of things that I’ve been mentally brewing for a while now. I have no idea if I’ll be successful or not, but it’s time to try… and not to beat myself up if they don’t go as planned… embrace the possibilities of the positive that can come from imperfection…. and the hope of something wonderful on the other side.

tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - Cinnamon Dolce Latte

music - more of the playlist "Chick Flick or Should Be" Right now it's playing John Waite "Missing You". For some reason, that song always reminds me of driving down the highway when I was in High School. I'm not sure why that's the memory that's triggered, but I'm glad that's what I associate with it. I know people who associate it with a person... I don't. OOH! And now it's playing Sade's "Maureen" which is a song I LOVE!

It's STRESS FREE THURSDAY!!!!!!!! WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!
Good Morning World!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(and I DO mean world...)

• United States
• United Kingdom
• Denmark
• Canada
• Australia
• South Africa
• Switzerland
• Italy
• Germany
• New Zealand
• Singapore
• Turkey
• Unknown (scary!)
• Netherlands
• Hong Kong
• France
• Hungary
• Israel
• China
• Ireland
• Russia
• Belgium

TOO CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Someone or someones in all these countries read my blog. That just blows my mind!!! The internet is such a cool cool thing. I was talking yesterday to someone about my online class and how I have people in 6 different countries participating. That's crazy isn't it???

In what other workshop could people be around the globe and STILL in the same class??!! I think it's super cool that I'm uniting the world (ok... I'm being silly here, I KNOW I am not personally responsible for any form of world peace. LOL... I'm just saying it's cool that people geographically far away can participate in something together all at the same time that I'm responsible for.) Very cool indeed.

That said... my workshop needs tweaking. <--- that reminds me of a scene from You've Got Mail when Tom Hanks tells Meg Ryan that he's been away because he has a project that needs "tweaking" (when he's figured out it's her-his rival that he's been e-mailing and he's trying to figure out how to win her over even though she hates him) ANYWAYS, I digress... I have 4 groups of people participating in the workshop. Each group has 10-12 members. I have a waiting list of 17 people waiting to start when I'm ready for them.

My challenge is that not ALL the members of the other groups are participating. All for different reasons... some people have busy schedules and can't do their assignments every week... some have just not participated, but I don't know why... some have family things that have come up unexpectedly. I have to figure out how to deal with this. The classes NEED a good number of people participating to make it work. Right now I've got about 1/3 of the people in each group doing their work regularly and a few others in each group doing something sporadically. (I do have one group where 75%ish are participating every week... I THINK it's because a lot of them already know each other, so there's sort of an accountability factor there)

No one is paying for the workshop and I'm sure that's part of it. We tend to commit to things that we have attached monetary value to... sort of like going to the gym for me. I really do love going to the gym, but a lot of times I get busy and it's easy to put that on the back burner. If I've PAID the trainer, however, I always show up... even if my schedule is crazy busy. I didn't PLAN on charging for this workshop, but should I consider it... just to get people committed??? I hope to charge for it someday... but I wasn't going to yet because I wanted the positive word-of-mouth advertising from those who participated in it with these groups first.

And do I EVER want to charge for it anyways??? If I do it online and I can get it fairly self-sufficient... shouldn't I just be proud that I'm helping people develop creatively and let that be its own reward??? I am truly proud that I help people find those "aha" moments every now and then. What if I could be partially responsible for a whole group of beadmakers descending on bead-world with such wonderfully unique work that it really mixed things up???!!

ok... I'm talking too much today. I'm just thinking 'out loud" and have to figure out how to "tweak" the classes... put people together that are actually participating. But how to do that without offending those who aren't??? hmmmmm.... more to think on.

tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - yummy cinnamon dolce latte made by Omar the genius barista

music - my ipod playlist "Chick Flick Songs (or should be)" Right now it's Kelly Clarkson's "The Trouble With Love" which IS from a Chick Flick. Love Actually which is one of my very very favorite movies. It's just about the time of year that they play it on TV since it has a holiday theme. YAY!

Happy Wednesday World!

I am ONE step closer to world bloggy domination!!! I have added more countries to my map! woo hoo!!! (hello to all you people out there having your coffee with me that I don't know. And hello to those of you who I do know too)

I'm in a good mood today and it's not just because of my readership boom. I'm just in an overall good mood which is nice for a change. I hesitate anymore to say that because I always feel like I jinx things... but I'm a logical person and know that I DON'T... it just seems that way sometimes.

ANYWAYS... I'm in a good mood. A productive mood. A creative mood.

I'm sure someone will try to "step on my buzz" today because that's just how life goes sometimes, but for now, I'm feeling very upbeat.

I didn't get to make beads last night as I had hoped, but I'm hoping to have more time to devote to it this weekend. I'm working on organizing crafty stuff in the meantime.... that I can do in a more stop/start manner than I can beadmaking.

I've always had one room in my house that was specifically my studio, but I have other pursuits that aren't necessarily bead-oriented that need some space too and I'm working on making a new place for that... which is a cool thing. Little by little it's happening. I'll keep you posted.... about my organizational progress AND my beadmaking.

Hi to my frequent Atlanta-area readers and hi to Israel!!!!! WOW! isn't that crazy??? That I have people reading this in Israel???


tiny blah blah blah....

Coffee - Cinnamon Dolce Latte (do they have Starbucks in Israel??? For some reason I think they might!)

Music - Corrinne Bailey Rae. I just love her music. It's so upbeat and perfect for a day like today. I wish she would release a new album though!!!!

Scattered Tuesday

I feel like my thoughts are all over the place today, so I'll make this short (hopefully) and just do some quickie bullet point sort of things...

• found my camera charger! YAY! Need to upload all the good pictures to facebook and snapfish to get prints for scrapbooking (this only SORT OF has to do with beads. There are a few beady pictures, but most of them are family/friends. I'm really happy having my camera back again!)
  
• 
  
• Need to scrapbook the pictures I already have! (this has nothing to do with beads, but I'm writing it here anyways)
  
• 
  
• Need to make some weekend plans (for beadmaking - hey, I'm TRYING to stay on topic! I might be making other plans too though)
• 
  
• Need to start making Christmas presents (this IS beady, but i'm not going to give specifics because gift-recipient people read this blog sometimes)
  

• Need to make a hair appointment (I've cancelled 4 times due to "stuff" so she's probably getting a little miffed! - again, nothing to do with beads)
• 
  
• Need to reorganize the groups in the online workshop. One group is thriving, one group fizzling... needs tweaking. It's all experimental, so I guess that's bound to happen. (OOH! actually on topic again!)
  

ok... that's all the "need tos" that I'm going to post for today, lest I feel overwhelmed.

tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - for the first time in 3 days, I'm actually drinking a Cinnamon Dolce latte. 2 days in a row I ordered a drink and they got it wrong AND I didn't notice until I was driving down the road. ARGH! Made me very unhappy. I miss Omar when I have to go to other Starbucks!

music - Today is a Bob Seeger day. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's the weather. Maybe it's reminiscing about high school. Not sure, but I love "Against The Wind" this time of year.

books - I haven't had this one in a while, but I'm reading a really cool book, so I thought I'd include the info here. I'm reading The Time Traveler's Wife which is REALLY interesting and intriguing. Hard to describe, but it's one of those books that i have NO idea how its going to end, but I'm enjoying it as I go along, not racing for the finish like i sometimes do.

Hello world! It's Wednesday!!!!!

WOW! This week has flown by... because it's' just been an abby-normal one.

I took a few vacation days (which meant vacation from the blog too) and had fun with friends/family/people in line at the polls.

I don't have anything real beady to report, so this is a short one. Things are still very topsy turvy in personal-life-land and that has made it hard to focus on anything else. My online classes are rolling along and have gotten a lot more self-sufficient, so that's a good thing.

I did find a little time on Saturday to make beads. Not anything huge or wonderful, but it was good to just sit down at the torch and make a bead or two. I have GOT to get focused soon and go at it from a more professional stance. We'll see how that goes.

In very happy news... I found my camera!!!!!!! Not my bead camera. I've had it in the studio the whole time, but my fun camera that I carry all the time to take pictures of the kids and friends, etc. I hadn't seen it since the end of summer and it was really bumming me out! I had a couple of days worth of pictures on the memory card that I would have been sad to have lost, BUT it was more the feeling of not being able to "capture moments" when I wanted to.

I had last seen it at a pool party and was worried that it had somehow been lost at the pool (even though I'd looked there over and over). For some unexplainable reason, I put it into a drawer in the house... one that I never look in! I have NO idea why... but that's where I found it. At least I found it!!! YAY!!!

Now, I've just got to figure out which outlet I last had the charger plugged into and I'm good to go!! YAY!!!


tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - a not very good cinnamon dolce latte. I think they put peppermint syrup instead of cinnamon! It just does NOT taste right!

music - James Taylor. I need to decompress a bit

Friday Friday Friday Friday Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


that just about covers it. :)


Happy Halloween everyone!

I'm going as an angel tonight... but that would have been the obvious choice, right?????


tiny blah blah blah...

starbucks coffee - the usual

music - Dave FM, which I turned off a little while ago to answer the phone and forgot to turn back on! I just realized I've been IMAGINING the music that's in my head... Jason Mraz

It's Thursday... FINALLY.

It's Stress-free Thursday... and it BETTER really be or I'm going to start asking for a refund!!!!


I'm a little more settled than I was yesterday. It doesn't mean that the things that were bugging me yesterday are any more solved than they were... I just am feeling a little more settled about them. (this makes no sense... I know)

I have a weekend to myself and plan on decompressing... hopefully that will help too.

TONIGHT, however, I am with my "G" just the two of us. I'm going to see if he wants to make beads... he might, he might not... you never know with him. Just depends where his mood lands. I think it would be fun since it's just the 2 of us and he wouldn't have to share torch-time w/ his brother... but we'll see.

My weekend plans are changing a bit, so I'm going to see if I can sneak some beadmaking time in where I might not have had some before... we'll see.

If nothing else, I need to get my photography stuff set up!!! I need to find a place for it that's sort of permanent so that I don't have to put it up and take it down all the time. I'm not sure where that will be yet... but I need to get it done because as I'm making beads, I need to take pictures and get them posted to the net.

tiny blah blah blah...

coffee today - Cinnamon Dolce with all the toppings! I deserve the whipped cream!!!

music - listening to Dave FM and they're playing really really good stuff today. Thanks Mara Davis! (right now it's Matthew Perryman Jones - "Save You"" great song!)

Topsy Turvy Wednesday

I'm having lots of days like this lately... where things just aren't as they should be. No explanations necessary (or going to be given) but it just is NOT normal around here lately and I don't like it. It effects my mood, my work, my art.

I'm longing to make beads this week and I really haven't figured out how that is EVER going to happen mid week, unless I become a night-owl (I think I said this yesterday... so you can tell I'm really struggling with it). And it's not just for financial reasons that I'm thinking of this. I'm really feeling the NEED to make art... not just make things like jewelry, but make ART.

I have wonderful ideas swirling in my head and no time to explore things.

(I found it necessary to erase a lot of stuff I felt like writing today)

The more I lead this workshop, the more it reminds me of my capabilities and gifts and how a lot of them are being wasted right now which really sucks. For the last year and a half-ish, I was so focused on non-beady things that required ALL my focus... it was totally fine with me to bottle my creative side. But now it's starting to bubble up out of the bottle and it's very difficult to keep a lid on it. And I hate wasting the bubbles!!!!

I'm so glad that I have the opportunity to help other people grow creatively... but I really need to also.

ok... this posting is not nearly as optimistic as yesterday's was. I'm just really frustrated.


tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - same ol' cinnamon dolce latte

music - Dave FM who changed their morning show... HOORAY! More music less talk!!! Right now I'm listening to John Mayer's "Daughters"

Happy Tuesday to me!

And it really is pretty much a happy Tuesday. I don't know that i could have said that much in the last few weeks, but I do feel a little more on an up than an "aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh" today. Not that things are DIFFERENT... just that I'm feeling a little less on edge. But enough about that...

let's talk beads!

How in the WORLD am I going to find time to make beads????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My schedule is totally topsy-turvy now due to family stuff and I have NO clue how i'm going to find time to make beads... and I DESPERATELY need to make beads... for the creative reasons AND financial ones. I have absolutely NO idea when I'm going to be able to do this... do I treat it like an after-hours job and START at 10:00 at night when my son is in bed??????? Work until midnight??? And what can I get done in 2 hours anyways???

I am TOTALLY stumped as to how I'm going to do this, but I have to. I don't want to be an absent single mom who goes to work instead of spending time w/ her kids... but I totally understand the necessity of it for so many people in my position. I'm stumped, but will have to figure it out. I don't really have another option.

Online class - wow. just wow. I can't BELIEVE the incredible stuff that's being made. I'm posting a link to the collection of beads that have been created as of today. I'll be adding more as the class progresses. The group is also posting their follow-up creations as they use these beads as inspiration for future work. If I can, I'll post some of those later.

In the meantime... Here is a collection of fun work from beadmakers from around the WORLD!! (isn't that too cool???!!!! I have participants from as far away as India and South Africa!)

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=66791&l=43028&id=683356612

And speaking of far away... I'm up to 22 countries for my blog! Look out Pinkie... we're taking over the world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

tiny blah blah blah

coffee - cinnamon dolce latte (I need another one)

music - listening to Dave FM... a great collection of music today. Thank you Mara Davis DJ extraordinaire !

It's Monday and it definitely feels like one.

I was listening to the radio and they were playing Jackson Browne's The Pretender this morning... which was the perfect song for a day when you've got to just...

"get up and do it again... amen"


I'm dragging... both physically and emotionally. I'm not going into it, but stuff is really getting to me and I'm SO glad I have the distraction of my online class. I'm really feeling good about what's happening there. It's exciting to see the things developing through the activities. It makes me smile and makes me feel good about what I'm doing.

I hope that the people participating are feeling as good about it as I am. It's not an easy process, challenging yourself, going outside your comfort zone... but it's good for us.

I've got an assignment bead to work on this week and I'm hoping to find time before Friday. I'm out of town for the weekend, so I need to make sure that I've got it done before I go. It's a really interesting assignment (if I do say so myself) and I can't wait to see how people interpret it. It's more esoteric and emotional in nature than the other assignments, so it's either going to be a hit or a bomb. I've not done this one before in one of my classes, so this is a test. I think it could be really cool though... so hopefully it won't be a bomb.

ok... need to go "struggle for the legal tender" in the words of Mr. Browne.

tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - no, but I probably should have. I'm trying to eliminate starbucks from my daily routine to save money and just prove that i'm stronger than my habit... BUT it's not going so well.

music - no... I turned it off after Jackson Browne was on. I like that song and it's sort of haunting, so I've just got it on "repeat" in my head.

It's "stress free thursday"

Boy... I sure hope so. I neeeeeeeeeeeed a stress free day.

Lots of beady things going on, but no beadmaking. Bummer. I wish I could say that I've been making tons of beads and doing all sorts of creative things myself, but I can't.

My tremors are back. :(

I had figured out some time last year that they were stress-induced, but boy, I can really tell that this week. A lot of the stress had disappeared from my life in the last couple of years, but the events of my life recently have multiplied that stress times a gazillion (yes, that's mathematically possible) and my hands are back to shaking again.

I'm hoping that life finds a new normal and the stress lightens so that I can do what I love.

In the MEANTIME, I'm thrilled with the online workshop. Everyone seems to be really enjoying it (or pretending to anyways) and I'm loving watching people have "aha" moments that I helped them to find. That is SO rewarding.

It's hard to watch everyone else get to make beads though... I'm dying to. I'm actually going to give it a try tomorrow, but I'm not going in with too much expectation because lately, I'm having trouble even typing. We'll see.

Back to the class though... one of the people participating suggested that I think of writing a book about the process. I really never considered anything like that and it did make me wonder if people would read something like that. Not sure.

I've always believed that the same processes could be translated to other mediums, but I think if I did write a book it would focus on beadmaking. Still... I don't know how many people would actually be interested in something so esoteric. It seems that a LOT of the beadmaking world just wants "how to" and not something so crazy as I'd be offering.

something to think on anyways...

tiny blah blah blah for today...

Coffee - maybe later. I'm having iced tea with lots of lemon this morning

Music - random stuff on my ipod. I found a playlist called "recently played" and I have NO idea how it collected the songs it did because these are NOT recently played songs. I'm liking it though. So far it's been a cool collection. Right now I'm listening to Jason Mraz sing "At Last" (the etta james song) which is a really cool cover of that song.

quickie post...

My quest for world domination is closer to reality!!!

(very Pinky and the Brain of me don't you think?)

ANYWAYS... we now have readers in 44 of the 50 states (plus D.C. and some "unknown"... not sure what that's about... do we have a state called "unknown"??? Is it close to Montana???) and 20 countries!!!!! WOW! That's crazy!!!

(Kentucky, West Virginia, Delaware, Vermont, Alaska and Hawaii are the non-sylvie states. I wonder what color those would be on the big election map...I'm not sure I could be represented by just one color (the Republicans and Democrats aren't very creative... obviously... red states and blue states... BORING) I think MY states would be "purple and green polka dot states".

ok... I have nothing really beady to talk about today, but had to share that little factoid/silliness.

And tomorrow night...

"We'll take over the World!!!!!!!!!!!!" (and if you haven't ever seen the cartoon Pinky and the Brain... that was just totally lost on you. oh well)


tiny blah blah blah...

Coffee - being delivered by my dad (who I work for... he went on a Starbucks run). I TOTALLY need some. Chick fil A tea just wasn't enough.

Music - Sylvie's long mellow playlist - Norah Jones "Don't Know Why" is playing now (I'm on my 2nd time through today)

Hello beady/bloggy world!

I've missed you!!

Unfortunately, until things calm down in my non-beady real life, things might be quiet here.

My online workshops are rolling along and I think everyone is enjoying them so far. We're still in the "forced experiment" stage, but some of the people are using the ideas and moving in new directions with their own NON-forced work. That's the exciting part to watch. I hope more people post pictures for everyone to see what they're doing (if they're doing something) with the inspirations from the group.

I have people on a waiting list for a 5th group. I really am not sure if I can do that or not. I'm going to wait and see how these 4 groups go first. I MIGHT do it, but I have to make sure I'm not taking on too much. Once things calm down in REAL LIFE, I'd like to get some beads made myself!!!

So much for marketing a Halloween Head Over Heels, huh???? Maybe I should shoot for May Day!!!

ok... time for the Tiny Blah blah blah

coffee - SO needed this morning. Cinnamon Dolce Latte and I'm predicting there will be more than one consumed today.

music - my long mellow list. We just switched from Jack Johnson's "better together" to Corrinne Bailey Rae's "Breathless" which I absolutely love. YAY for my ipod!

It's Friday.

That should come with a huge sigh of relief, but it's not. This is going to be a challenging weekend (those of you who know what I mean know what I mean) and I don't have that "whew! the weekend!" feeling that I normally would.

In beady news... the creativity class count is now up to 36!! OMG! And that's with 2 people that had to drop out!!! Crazy! And exciting.

I'm happy for the little bit of distraction that it is. The beads for this week's challenge are beginning to be posted and I'm already WOWed. It's SO cool to watch this process happen. It's too hard to describe, and it would start me on a long rambling dissertation again, but I really do love seeing the "aha" moments that it brings. So, even though personal stuff is crazy, this is a good thing.

It was my intention to participate in the workshop... not just moderate. BUT I'm not sure if I'm going to get any torch time this weekend. We'll just have to see. I might see if Griffin wants to make beads with me for a little while on Saturday morning. Of course, that would probably mean that Griffin makes beads and I sit there wishing I had the Y connector so that we both could!!! LOL

ok... going to run and get through this day. I feel like I have lead feet and I keep having to remind myself to BREATHE.

tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - Cinnamon Dolce Latte from a foreign Starbucks. I like Omar's better.

music - My chick flick playlist (right now it's Elvis Costello Allison)

quickie Thursday post.

Stress Free Thursday?

I sure hope so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not going to talk personal-life other than to say, I'm taking a deep breath for a minute. I'm appreciating the small things. (that makes sense to only a few people and that's ok... it's MY blog!)


beady things...

My class groups are started. People are working on their assignments. It's funny that each group sort of has its own personality already. They're all doing the same thing, but there is a different vibe in each group (all good... just all different which I think is cool). The first assignment is due Monday and I can't wait to see what everyone has made.

I have 3 people on a wait-list for a group. I need about 8 to form another group. It's not fun with just a few people. I'm still not ready to say "open call" on Lampwork etc. because I think i'd get TOO many people and I wouldn't be able to handle the work... especially since this is a volunteer thing. I'm hoping that I'll have one evening a week of REAL work on this and the rest will just be monitoring/moderating a little. BUT I didn't expect to have 33 people either!!!

ok... must get back to real job and real life. I've just missed my blog this week.


tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - nope. Chick fil a tea

music - Sylvie's "Chick flick soundtrack or Should Be" playlist

As you can see I've taken SEVERAL personal days. I'm hoping to find a new sort of normal, but it might take a while.

I'll keep you posted on beady things if they develop. No beads for now....

Hi all....

It's Monday night and I'm just now sitting down to blog. Life is totally crazy right now and it's not the type of stuff to blog about, so I'm not going to.

BUT just know that if I'm not here for a day or so... that's why. No need to alert the media or send out an all-points-bulletin like you sometimes do. I'm just doing

taking a personal day...

no beady stuff is as important as family.

Thursday!!!!

We're almost there... the week is ALMOST over!!!!!!!

I have a lot of personal junk going on today, so this is short and sweet.

Very excited about the workshop. TONS of people are signing up. I don't know most of them, so it's kind of crazy. I think it's going to be a good thing.

We're gonna get "maverick-y" on the bead world!!!!!!!! LOL

ok... wish me luck with my day. NOT going to be a fun one. At least I have art-stuff to think of when things get wacko... and they're getting wacko FAST today.


tiny blah blah blah....

coffee - OH YEAH! Totally having my starbucks today.

music - Norah Jones - the starbucks of music. Trying to decompress with her. Not sure how much good it's doing, but it's better than other choices.

Wednesday - Half Way Through The Week!!!! WOO HOO!!!

I don't know WHY this week is getting to me... it shouldn't be. I'm in a really good mood, but BOY am I living for Friday!!!!! I just keep waking up in the morning SURE that it's the weekend. That's the problem!!!

I'm very excited about what I'm going to talk about today. More musings on the creative process. I had 14 people sign up yesterday for my online workshop which is great, but too many people for one class in this format, so I'm going to have to split things.

I didn't expect a lot of people I didn't know to request membership in the group, so it grew faster than I was ready for AND I can anticipate it continuing like this once word gets out. Because it's SUCH a great thing... seeing people develop creatively. (I know that might sound stuck up since it's my workshop, but it's not ME that makes it exciting... it's seeing people find inspiration and develop creatively and have "aha" moments. THAT is what's so much fun!!!

I want to share my own creative development here today and if it gets too long, I'll continue it tomorrow (or another day... we know how that goes!)

When I taught the "creativity class" (as it was first known) the first time, I participated along with the students and one of the beads I made in the class spurred my work in a WHOLE new direction and is really responsible for the whole tone of my work now. This will be funny, but it's all from THIS bead.....

Hard to believe, huh??? That this WEIRD bead could be where my WHOLE body of work today comes from!!!

That THIS bead
<----- led to THIS bead --->

And a whole lot of other things along the way.....

So... How did that happen??

You KNOW I'm gonna tell you!!! (and it won't be short, so non-beady people might want to "fast forward")

Here's the story. In the class, I gave the assignment to make a bead based on a black and white photograph by Karl Blossfeldt. I picked one at random, so my personal preference did not come into play.

<---- this is the picture I also had the parameters that it had to be done in 4 colors... and only those 4. AND if those 4 colors weren't available in the glass I had, I had to do my best to replicate the colors using other materials (such at enamels).

These were the colors (i forgot to add the green square...oops) ----->

So, that's what I had to go with and the funny bead at the very beginning of this post is what resulted from the assignment.

The class met together and gave each other ideas for future beads, based on the bead that they were looking at (they didn't see the photo or the colors). One of the class participants said "it looks like one of those crazy cool cakes where all the layers are different colors" (think "Ace of Cakes" because even though this was way before that show... that was what she was talking about)

I went home from the class and had this bead sitting around and thought... I'll try to make one of those cakes as a bead!!! (it's funny... I just realized that this beadmaker made cake beads herself!! Never thought of that till this moment. Melissa... do you remember this at all??)

ANYWAYS... the bead inspired me to make a crazy cake bead, so I did. I made a funny birthday cake bead. UNFORTUNATELY that bead was in my old house and didn't survive the fire, so I don't have a picture of it to show you. Let me tell you, however, that it was HORRIBLE!!!!!! It wasn't cute AT ALL. BUT it sat around on my table for a while and made me think of something else...

Girls with birthday cake hats on!! I have no idea WHY I thought of that, but i did. SO, I made a bead like that. And it too was HORRIBLE and didn't survive the fire. (be glad... it was truly tragic... very scary to look at!!) BUT it sat around on my work table with all the other bead castoffs that I just couldn't bear to toss.


And one day, after taking a Sharon Peters class where I learned to make multi-bead sculptures... I came up with this ------->

The birthday cake hat made me think of crazy tall hair... very B-52s or Marge Simpson. The candles caused me to make the raised dots on her hair. She was wacky and honestly... her face is pretty scary. BUT I learned something and THIS set of beads was a springboard taking me to the next thing...



My Head Over Heels Project which was a beaded version of the multi-part bead made with seed-beads. Because it was made of seed beads, she was a lot more flexible and could bend over backwards to be a bracelet!!! And my beadmaking life changed right then and there. I won't give you the long story about that. I think I've told it here in my blog at least once.

And Head Over Heels was a springboard to 2 other big projects... The Clothesline and Splish Splash (but we're not even talking about those here... so WOW that cake bead did a LOT!!!)

Head Over Heels led me to doing other things... more "big haired girls" and I started making these fun drawings which were sort of interpretations of my head over heels girls. The pink picture here is an example of this.

And THAT led to something else...

The Halo neckpiece.
<----- In the drawings, the faces were more subdued, so I made beads that were faces more along those lines... angelic. Inspired by those drawings AND by renaissance paintings where the angels have halos that almost look like big hats (or gilded "big hair"), I created these new face beads. I turned them into a necklace.


THEN that piece took me back in a different direction.... making little beady versions of my older fairies, but with big hair. I call them Fairy Godmothers.



THEN I looked at that pink drawing and the halo faces and thought that I could make a vessel where the hair was the vase.... or maybe it wasn't even hair anymore... it was just a face peeking out of the patterns... sort of Gustav Klimt-y....
And the vessel up at the top was born. Taking us to where I am today as a beadmaker!!!

SEE??? One thing led to another. ALL because of that ONE crazy "cake" bead that was an assignment from this class COMBINED with an idea from another beadmaker. THIS is what is possible!!!!!!!!!! And even though it's sort of "tooting my own horn." Not a ONE of those pieces looked like ANYTHING else that was out there in bead-land at the time.

THIS is why I'm teaching this class!!!!!!!!!! and that is the end of my long long story. It made me happy to see how far I've come. :)

Thank you again Melissa. I don't know that I ever realized until this week what a PROFOUND influence on my beadmaking your ONE little "crazy cakes" comment made.

tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - Starbucks Mocha - I needed some chocolate today. Some days are just that way.

music - OMG. I was just in a store and they were playing a DANCE version of Total Eclipse of the Heart. That song was BAD the first time around. WHY would they re-make it with a dance track???!!!!!!!! And I have NO music with me here at the office today to get rid of that horrible memory!!!! "turn around bright eyes....." AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!

It's Tuesday!

And I'm excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I started my online workshop yesterday. It's not really STARTED. I just formed the facebook group, invited the first round of people and got things structured and ready to go. (if you didn't get an invitation and you wanted in on this workshop, let me know as soon as possible because we're getting full. Go to facebook and look up the group "Finding Your Voice as a Glass Beadmaker" and request to join. If you would include a note saying you read about it here that would help.)

I was going through my photos to show how my own participation in the course caused such a big turn in my work and DID bring me to find my voice. It was very exciting to re-live that. AND very exciting to know that I might be the catalyst for other people to make those leaps as well. (I think I'm going to share the pictures here of my own journey later this week... if there's time)

Without starting a big argument... I was REALLY discouraged when I was on Lampworketc.com the other day. I had REALLY hoped (although I shouldn't have) that the whole "what's copying/what's not" discussion would have gone away by now. UGH!!! This is EXACTLY why I need to teach this workshop.

ENOUGH of people saying "well, if so-and-so posts a bead online isn't it free game??? Can't we all do our own interpretation of it without being in trouble??" OY!!!!!! (that just made me think of a funny Gilmore Girls line... "oy! with the poodles already" <--- I have no idea what it was about, but it made me laugh)

ANYWAYS... back to the subject... When I read the posting about what is public domain - I just wanted to post... BUT WHY DO YOU CARE???????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT would you want to do that for???? Sure, you can learn a technique by looking at someone else's work... figure out how they've done what they've done... what colors they've used.

But WHY would you want to spend your time making beads that someone else is already making????!!!!! (ok... I KNOW the answer to this. I just don't want to know it. They're doing it because that's what SELLS OR because they love those beads and don't really want to PAY the person who thought of them first so that they can have some.)

i KNOW I'm stepping on toes here, but it's really how I feel and this IS my blog after all. (and if you're not a beadmaker... just fast-forward through today because I'm on a roll...)

And this is EXACTLY why I am teaching this workshop. To STOP the insanity of beads inspired by beads. It's just plain BORING!!! I was looking through the galleries (postings on lampwork etc. NOT a real gallery) the other day and saw these beads and thought "OMG! I have NEVER seen beads like that before!!! Those are SO SO SO cool!!!!" But then started to page down and low and behold.... there were at LEAST 5 posts (if not more) of beads that looked just the same... only different colors. I was SO disappointed!!!! It was only because I've been out of it for 2 years that I didn't know that these beads were all the rage and that EVERYONE was making them. BORING!! It totally ruined those gorgeous beads for me. :( And maybe it shouldn't.... but it did. The beads that had been so special when I first looked at them became common-place because they ALL looked the same!!! Beads inspired by beads inspired by beads... blah blah blah.

SO it's time for me to shake things up!!!!! I'm REALLY hoping that the people who participate in this workshop will leave with the knowledge of how to take themselves to the next level. To be the beadmakers who inspire the boring beadmakers who have no source of inspiration other than other beadmakers (ouch!) I can't WAIT to see what happens!!!!!!!!

(I am back and adding this... My mom just read my post and e-mailed me to ask if I'm channeling Sarah Palin today. She was looking for me to add the word "maverick-y" and "you betcha" a few times in my "gonna shake things up" rant. Very funny.)

tiny blah blah blah

coffee - Cinnamon Dolce Latte (YUM! and I'm wondering if they put extra shots in there because I do admit that I am a bit wired... but I'm also excited, so hard to know if it's the caffine or the inspiration)

music - NO!!!!!!!! aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!! I keep leaving my ipod at home!

Monday Monday Monday.......

I need it to be Friday... ALREADY!!!!! And I've barely started my week!!


I had a fairly quiet weekend, but not a very beady one. I DID spend a lot of time yesterday cleaning beads. YUCK. I hate that part of beadmaking. I had mandrels full of beads piling up and needed to make some head-way on cleaning them, so I did that for a while. Now I have a slew (is that even a real word??) of clean mandrels ready to go!! YAY!!!

I wish I had more beady news to report, but it just wasn't one of those weekends. I knew I needed to catch up on some rest, as well as see friends, so I concentrated on that instead. Hopefully there will be more beady news later!!! (once I clean all these beads I've got to do SOMETHING with them, so hopefully the news will have to do with that!)

tiny blah blah blah...

coffee today - Cinnamon Dolce Latte of course

music - it's very quiet again... I forgot my ipod! If I DID have it, I'd be playing something upbeat to wake me up!!!!

FINALLY Friday!!!

YAY!!!!!!!!

I am REALLY looking forward to this weekend. HOORAY, it's almost here!!!

I am finally feeling better and have a whole weekend to myself with no big plans, so I'm going to spend time relaxing and doing beady things (in addition to some normal "gotta do" weekend stuff)

I didn't have a beady day yesterday, but knew it wouldn't be. Some days are just about being a kid-taxi and that's what it was. That's ok.

But, no beady stuff means no long beady entry here, so that's it for today!! I'll hopefully have lots of beady news on Monday after spending some quality time ALONE with no junior beadmakers hogging my torch!!!!

Happy weekend everybody!!!

tiny blah blah blah

coffee - the most WONDERFUL cinnamon dolce latte ever (I'm not sure why, but it was even better than usual... so thank you Omar, my favorite barista!!)

music - absolutely nothing! My son stole my ipod from my purse last night and I forgot to ask for it back this morning!!! Must do that before he goes to his dad's for the weekend!!!!

Stress Free Thursday?

Really???? I KNOW that's what my friend calls it, but it's SO not been stress-free lately. No details, but it's been hectic and today will be no different.

SO I really doubt that there will be any beadmaking today. I'm basically just a children-taxi today.

I did make a few beads yesterday and I think they turned out pretty cute. I didn't look at the beads when I turned off the kiln, so I'll find out when I get home! :)

I made a couple of little witches for Head Over Heels and one Bride of Frankenstein (ish) cutie.

Can't wait to see them. NEED to get pictures taken!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


ok, that's it for now.

tiny blah blah blah

Coffee - totally changed things up today and got a mocha. Omar the barista was floored!!! really!

Music - nothing. I'm just enjoying some silence.

Worn Out Wednesday

I'm still feeling yucky. I tried to work in the studio for a little while yesterday, but my hands were shaky, so I didn't get much done. I did play with a few new color ideas and got some cool effects.

I also made a really pretty encased bead. Those usually take a lot of concentration, so I was surprised I was successful. I just knew after a couple of bigger beads that I wasn't going to do much good because I couldn't hold my hands steady and focus the way I need to. Cold medicine and beadmaking = not good. I hope I'm not shaking for other reasons... but that's always possible.

I'm going to give it another try today.

I DID finish my Halloween Head Over Heels though!!!!!!! WOO HOO!!!!

I need to setup my bead-photography stuff and take pictures of things. Must do SOON!!!


tiny blah blah

coffee - nope. still doing iced tea

music - nope. forgot ipod.

Tuesday Takeover

It's a quiet Tuesday because I still don't feel great.

In bead news... there has been a coup in the studio. It's been taken over by junior beadmakers!!!!!! I met G at the bus stop and he immediately said "I want to go make beads." I told him "you have to do homework first" (thinking this would give me a little time in the studio myself) and he said "already finished it" DRATS! I should have said "you have to do your chores" FIRST!!!!!

SO I let him make a few beads in the studio while I worked on my Head Over Heels sample (more on that in a minute). He seemed to get it a little better today, but is still really stubborn and impatient. He wants to do it HIS way and I'm trying really really hard not to correct him too much. I'm used to correcting students who WANT to be corrected, so when I see his bead getting too hot or too low in the flame I REALLY want to say something, but have to hold my tongue because he won't hear it as helpful, he'll hear it as mom telling him what to do. (this is why I didn't want to be the one who taught them and found someone else to give them lessons. They listened to him WAY better than they would have me.)

While he was in the middle of making his 3rd bead, H came home, came straight to the studio and said "when is it my turn?" I said the same "when you finish your homework" and found out that HE didn't have homework either!!!!! This is rare. They ALWAYS have homework!!! So, G finished his bead and H got to make beads for a while.

H is really really patient and his bead shapes are really pretty good for a beginner. He wants to be corrected so that they'll be better, so I'm a little more vocal when I see him doing something that's easy to correct. It's mostly the difference between being 13 and 10, but also a little bit of their personalities.

I don't have aspirations of my kids becoming beadmakers, but I'm happy they are having fun at it for now. They just have a bit of a skewed view of beads... beads are money to them. They grew up in an environment of "if we want to go to Disney, mom has to make enough beads." (There was also the "if we want to pay the bills......mom has to make beads" part, but the fun stuff like Disney was what would have been important to them!)

So they understand beads as currency. My favorite mothers day card was one that Harrison made in pre-K. It cracked me up. It was one of those fill in the blank things that the teacher had made and the kids filled in the answer. It said...

I love my mom because.........

She makes beds to get us money.

(beds=beads. The teacher thought I was a maid I think.)

That was exactly how things worked at our house, so he was quite observant for a 4 year old. I'm wondering if they are learning to make beads because they see it as a way to make money OR if it's just fun for them. Hard to know.

guess it's the same question I ask myself a lot. Am I doing it for the love of the art or for the money??? What money????? Guess I answered that! LOL


In Head Over Heels News - I finished the bracelet... of course I'm still embellishing. I tend to get a little carried away with that part. If I didn't embellish it, I would have been done on Sunday!! I just started decorating it before it was all the way assembled. I couldn't resist!!! She's SO SO SO cute!!!! And it's inspired me to do some follow-ups! YAY!!!


tiny blah blah blah

coffee - nope. Still on an iced-tea thing. Feels better in my throat

music - I'm in a rut!!! 2 days of Corinne Bailey Rae!!! Going to make her the song of the week for that reason.

It's Monday and I'm STILL sick. :(

My kids are back at school and I'm back at work, but I feel LOUSY. What's this got to do with beads???? When I have a cold, I just can't make beads. I've done it in the past when I HAD to, but it wasn't easy and beadmaking needs to be fun now... so no beadmaking for me until this allergy stuff clears up!

I have been beading though. I've almost finished my Halloween Head Over Heels sample and she's ADORABLE if I do say so myself!!! Hopefully I can get her finished tonight or tomorrow night and take pictures. I want to have the kits for sale by the end of the week!!!

I did go out and have lunch with friends on Saturday who gave me a tiny bit of a lecture about my NEED to jump right into the bead business again. I'm not going to go into my whole inner dilemma, but there is one and it's a difficult one... and I'll maybe discuss it at a later time.

It just stinks that I have to think of beads/art as money right now. Phooey... I already started the conversation that I said I wasn't going to have. My friends disagree and think making beads HAS to be connected to making money... but they do unfortunately. It's either that or a part-time job at Starbucks. I'd rather make beads than make coffee. We've seen how successful I am at MAKING coffee. Although I would get free lattes... or do they??

I'm not going to finish this "conversation" today... maybe not ever. We'll see.

In the meantime...

tiny blah blah blah

coffee AND tea this morning - Starbucks Cinnamon Dolce Latte AND Chick Fil A Sweet Tea with lots of lemon.

music - forgot to put any on!! I'll play something. I think I'm in a quiet mood, so I'm going to pick Corinne Bailey Rae and Colbie Callait

Funhouse Friday (NOT!!!!!)

EVERYONE is sick!!!

Both boys have strep throat. I don't (as of yet... they sent my test out to the lab to see if it develops over the weekend) but I feel wrotten!!!!

Will not be a beadmaking weekend I'm predicting. Will be a recovering weekend. Hopefully the boys will let me get some rest. Now that they've had antibiotics, they're on the mend. Me... not so much.

I hope that everyone else has a great weekend though!!!

tiny blah blah blah...

no coffee - iced tea instead.

no music - watching old movies from bed (about to watch Charade with Audrey Hepburn)

Strep Throat Thursday. :(

I'm home for the 3rd day with a sick kid. That's kind of put a monkey wrench in the beady progress... but that's also part of being mom. Bad thing is that once they told me it was strep throat, MY throat started hurting. Hopefully it's just something that's in my head and not real. HOPEFULLY.

I have been working on my website though! I have things in my store now!!!!! And I've got more stuff on its way. I've been taking inventory in the studio and then editing photos to make things fit the etsy format (etsy.com is the website where my stuff is listed. I'm adding a link in the sidebar here.)

So even though we're home sick, there is still beady news. I even did a little beading last night, working on my Head Over Heels revival sample. It's cute. :)

tiny blah blah blah...

Coffee - nope. It's a tea day. We stopped on the way home from the Dr. at a place that has great iced tea because that was the request of the sick child.

Music - nope. We're watching re-runs of The Big Bang Theory on Tivo. He seems to appreciate the smart boy humor.

Quickie Wednesday posting...

(I know that sounds impossible... I'm always long-winded in my blog postings!!)

I had a fun, but short beadmaking day yesterday. I made a couple of little witchy faces for my new head over heels Halloween version AND the cutest little candy-corn fairy godmother!!!

It was Griffin's idea (or harrison's??? or both??? I'd better get my story straight!) and it turned out SO cute!!!!!!!!!!!! I need to get a picture and post it here. It's going to go on etsy.com in my store for sale as soon as I get it photographed. Cute cute cute!!!!!!!!!!

I'm hoping to have a little beadmaking time today, but I'm not sure if I will or not. It's kind of crazy around here.

I'm a little overwhelmed with working 2 jobs and being single mom. I have no idea how people balance it all. I'm feeling like things are more on the teetering side than the balanced side right now. I have no idea if that made sense. I sort of see myself as a waitress with too many plates right now... thus the teetering. I'll figure it out... I always do! :)

(insert "I am woman" song here....)

back to work... See??? Told you it was short!!!

tiny blah blah blah

coffee - Cinnamon dolce latte WITH whipped cream!!!

music - Sylvie's mellow side - another "mellow" playlist... not the long one listed to the right. I need more words than "mellow" to describe my playlists. I have about 4 of them that have "mellow" in the title and I never remember which is which!!! Right now I'm listening to Kelly Clarkson's "The Trouble With Love" which was in one of my favorite movies Love Actually.

TRAFFIC Tuesday

Traffic was terrible terrible terrible this morning. I hate wasting time sitting in my car. I've got too much to do in my day to sit still in a car!!!

I did work in the studio for a little while yesterday. I worked more on the beads for the Head Over Heels revival (there... I said it. That's what I'm working on... Head Over Heels, but with a twist).

If you don't know what Head Over Heels is, I'll post a picture later right here...

This is not the original one. Sadly, it was shoplifted at a bead show. :(

It was a project that I designed originally just for myself in 2001. It was a crazy time in my life and I used it as kind of an escape. I was just learning to do beadwork (info for non beady people - I had been a beadmaker, but had never done beadwork which is done with tiny seedbeads stitched together) ANYWAYS I had just learned a lot of techniques and created this "doll" (I didn't call it a doll at the time, but that's really what it was) that was also a bracelet as an experiment to try a lot of the stitches PLUS I was entering it in a contest at Beads by Design.

That's sort of how the whole thing came about.... through the rules of the contest. You had to make a bracelet, but it could only have a certain number of larger beads... the majority of it had to be made in seed beads. SO I had to figure out a way that a bead could be a clasp... and that's how the unique shape of the bracelet happened. (and just for the record... not only did I find a way to engineer something that fit the rules but still have my glass beads as a focus...I won!!)

I had it at a show in early 2002 and a well known bead artist NanC Meinhardt saw it and said, "this is what you do now!" I thought she was off her rocker and said, "uh huh....." not really sure how to react. After all... I was the mermaid girl of glass beads!!!

Well, she was right. By the next year I had written it as a pattern and had taught it as a class. The FOLLOWING year, I was making kits, selling them at shows and online and teaching it all over the US. It was a big hit and it paid our bills for quite a while. I created other projects after that, but none of them has been the "big deal" that this project seemed to be. I loved it, but got burned out on it after a while, so I retired it. This was also a big deal because there were a lot of people who still wanted it. I just had started feeling like the old dunkin donuts commercial where he says half asleep "it's time to make the donuts." I'd been making THOSE head/hands/feet donuts for 2 years and was just over it.... so even though it really upset a lot of customers (truly, I got LOTS of disgruntled e-mails about it), I retired it.

Well, coming out of "retirement" myself, I was thinking of how I could bring that project back. It's sort of a financial necessity right now to make things that are marketale and THAT, I know is. So, I'd been thinking how I could do it without compromising myself... make it something new and different and fun for me.

And on Saturday I came up with it.... which is why I was so excited in my journal post. Now I'm doing the "so, how do I DO what I want to" sort of beadmaking. It's lots of trial and error, but I'm getting it and am REALLY happy with what I'm making. I can't wait to introduce it. I'm in a time crunch because... well, just because... so I need to figure it out QUICK and then get to work, get things made and get them out there to sell.

I've got to put together new bead kits too and that takes time. PLUS I think I need to make 2 samples and that will take some time.

HOW am I going to do it all?????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I guess you'll have to stay tuned.


tiny blah blah blah...

Coffee? - nope. It's a chick-fil-a tea day. My throat hurts.

Music - Sylvie's long mellow list. Right now I'm listening to Maroon 5 "Better That We Break"

What I'm reading - I WAS reading New Moon by Stephenie Meyer, but I left it at the Dr's office last week and haven't had a chance to go get it. I'm planning to swing by there this afternoon though. When will I have time to read is a WHOLE other question!!

Happy Monday World
(and I do mean world!!!!! We're still at 15 countries, but we've got Iowa joining us now and that makes this blog one step closer to world domination!!!!)

I don't usually blog on Sundays, so any of you that were concerned (mother) about what I did or did not do... I'm about to tell you!!!

Saturday was SO exciting and really could have kept making beads for HOURS more because I wanted to start on my fun new ideas, but I had a puppy to take care of and a party to go to!! Of course, when I got home from the party I RAN to the kiln to pull out the beads I'd made that afternoon and think more about my new idea.

Sunday was church and it was a LONG day at church for me because I worked on the A/V team for 2 services. I love doing that job. Not sure why, but it's really fun. Now that we have 2 services it does make a LONG day when I'm "on duty."

After I left, I got a voicemail from my friend Maureen at Flametree glass (www.flametree.com) telling me to "get my butt up there" and see Patti Cahill who was teaching a workshop. I made a detour to their store. Can I say again how COOL it is to have a REAL GLASS DISTRIBUTOR 10 minutes from my front door??!!!

If you're not a glass person, you don't know how HUGE this is for me. I cannot believe how lucky I am on that one. I don't know that enough people in Atlanta who are beadmakers recognize how lucky we are. They have a top-notch studio (the nicest I've ever taught in I'm pretty sure) and I'm getting the same prices on glass that I would have if I ordered from one of the big suppliers on the West coast. BUT I don't pay shipping, I get to pick colors in person (which is HUGE) and I get to talk to fun people!

And the biggest news....... I get to TEACH at a place that's 10 minutes from my house!!!! Of course, I'm dying to get back out there and teach at other studios and I'll have to fly there when I do, BUT for at least these classes... I'll be able to sleep in my bed, play with my dog and cats, and just drive down the road to teach.

SO here is my upcoming teaching schedule...

October 11th - beginning jewelry 101. (make a bracelet & a pair of earrings) If you are reading this and want to try a new hobby... this would be the class for you!!! GREAT for making gifts for the holidays.

November 15th - Halo Bracelet (pictures will be posted on my website soon). This is one of my seed-bead projects and is a quickie that looks FABULOUS when it's completed. It's a great beginner project, but just as fun for advanced beaders because they can embellish to their heart's content on this one. It's a yummy project. (it's also a fun one for glass beadmakers because it allows them to show off their own lampwork in a new way!!)

and finally (and for me this is the big one) Glass Beadmaking!!!!!!!

January 24-25 (2009 - duh) Intermediate Glass Beadmaking - concentrating on sculpture and embellishment sylvie-style! Mermaids, Fairies, Flowers... TONS of embellishment ideas.

I'm very very excited to make those announcements. Hopefully there will be more to make in other places. (if you're in another place and want to take a class... GO to your local studio and ask for them to bring me. I would LOVE to come and teach!!!)

I'm back I'm back I'm back!!!!!!! (has anyone noticed how excited I am about all this???)

I'm running out of punctuation marks! THAT'S how excited I am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and yes, I made beads yesterday. I have also "injured" myself twice now making me a REAL beadmaker again (burned my lips which is a major ouch still and yesterday cut my finger...but only a tiny bit... BUT it's pretty much something that goes with the territory, so I'm officially back! LOL) I do need to go and buy a new aloe plant and some bandaids!!

I worked on the new idea and did pretty good for a first-time. I have a lot of tweaking to do, but I'm on my way. I need to move quickly towards getting it together as there is sort of a time deadline.

AND my etsy.com shop is in progress. This is where my storefront will be now. It's a great site for handmade/art items. I should have clothesline and halo kits up by the end of the week. Hopefully by next week (??) I might have some lampwork beads AND really really HOPEFULLY this new thing will be in there! HOPEFULLY.


ok... time for the tiny blah blah blah-og...

coffee - nope. I'm enjoying an ice cold Dr. Pepper this morning. I passed the starbucks I don't like this morning because I took a different route to work and decided to skip it. It's not worth paying for a drink I don't LOVE.... and for some reason, they're just never as good at that location.

music - Sylvie's "new mellow mix" which really isn't "new" anymore. I made it last summer and haven't made another mellow playlist since. Need to. There are a lot of songs that I'd like to add to it. Right now it's playing John McLaughlin's Beautiful Disaster.

Saturday Studio Excitement!

OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm REALLY a beadmaker again!!! I was going through the motions the past few times... just trying to make what I already knew how to make... nothing new, nothing creative (from my end), just making sure I could DO the work again.

(If you're not a beadmaker that won't make sense, so think of it like playing an instrument after years of no practice. It's SO physical... getting your hands to do what they need to do without your having to think about it. That's what I was working on before.... just getting back into the groove.)

But TODAY... I was INSPIRED! That's what I live for!!! I was sitting there making things and my brain started flying through possibilities.... things I could make today, things I needed to think more about... WAY more beads than I'd ever have time for anytime soon.

THAT was exciting!!!!! I'm back!!!!!!!!


and do I have something cool in store for my customers!!!! woo hoo!!!! I can't WAIT to reveal it!!! (only mom knows.... and maybe Marcy will because I've got to tell SOMEONE who gets it!)

WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!


tiny blah blah blah...

(and this will be a shocker)

NO COFFEE

NO MUSIC

and I had a great studio day anyways!!!!!! (other than burning my lip on a shocky piece of flying hot glass)

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!!!!!

It's THURSDAY!!!

(not Friday...)

I was SURE when I woke up that it was Friday today. bummer! I hate when that happens!! I actually was pretty sure it was Saturday FIRST and then realized when I actually heard the alarm that it was Friday... and then alas, realized THAT realization was wrong too.

oh well!!!

Yesterday I did NOT make beads. But that's ok. I did beady things again, so I'm still on track. I went to the Southern Flames meeting (the atlanta area group of glass beadmakers. I STILL hate the name just because when you say it people don't know what you're talking about and several people in the past have thought it was some sort of gay-pride group... I'm not kidding... SO I almost always say "the glass beadmaker group" right afterwards. Silly, huh?)

ANYWAYS, I'm off track again. I went to the meeting last night because THAT is what local beadmakers do and I'M A LOCAL BEADMAKER!!!!!!!!! WOO HOO!!!!!!

It was kind of funny because I actually was the person who started the original group of glass beadmakers in Atlanta back in 1996. We weren't a formal organization... just a group of beadmakers that got together once a month to talk beads. It then became a formal group in 1998(?) and I was one of the co-presidents somewhere around 2003??? The group meets in the beadstore where my studio used to be (the one with the cool walls) and it's really like my HOME when I'm there, so it was funny when the NOW co-president who was leading the meeting had no clue who I was (of course... I didn't expect him to) and "welcomed" me as a new person to the group. That made me snicker.

a side note... I miss my walls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I really do. When I was there I was in my element. Those colors just make me HAPPY. I have GOT to take the time to pull down all the shelves in my studio (which will be a nightmare) in order to put some color up on the walls.

Someday I'll take a picture of my NOW studio. It's very very different in that I'm also more of a bead-warehouse than I was back then. Half of my studio is devoted to storage of the seed beads that I use for my kits. They consume 2 full walls of the space... so there is not as much room to paint fun stuff, BUT I still need some color in there. It's KHAKI!! How much more boring could I get than that???!!! (my excuse is that it was supposed to be an office for my ex when we painted it... it just became my studio instead and it was a quick move, so there was no time to paint first.... I wish I had though!!!) Hopefully I can find some time to do that this year (or next)

Beady stuff - I did make jewelry last night. Just a small gift for a friend, but it required CLEANING the beads that I had made a few nights ago. UGH. I'd forgotten about that part of making beads!!!!!! I hate cleaning beads!!!!!!!! I miss my bead-fairies/divas that used to come to my studio and do that kind of stuff for me!

(I know I have some new non-beadmaker-y people reading now, so I promise that I will add a link to some basic bead stuff so that you know WHY I'm cleaning beads and why it's such a pain!)

Tonight will not be a beadmaking night either, but I am going to dinner w/ a friend and will most likely talk about beads.... so I'm counting that!!!!!!!


Finally, in other beady news. I have several people who have expressed interest in the online class. It's going to happen and I'm planning it to start at the beginning of October. I haven't FORMALLY announced it anywhere other than here, but I'm planning to in the next 2 days. I think I have 5 slots open right now. If you are reading this and have not said you want to do it and DO... tell me ASAP. If you want to know more about what's involved, e-mail me and I'll be happy to give you the full scoop. (do I have an e-mail address posted over there? -----> If not go to sylviebeads.com and you can send e-mail from there)

that's it for today!!!


tiny blah blah blah...

Coffee - cinnamon dolce latte. yum!

Music - Dixie Chicks - Wide Open Spaces. I was reminded by the word "canada" to the right about them this morning, so I decided it was a good day to listen. (if you didn't know this already, there is a story in my blog archives about how I flew to Canada to see the Dixie Chicks. It's pretty funny if I do say so myself!!)