New Tools!

ZOOZII'S BUBBLE PRESS

I was fortunate to be able to attend the International Society of Glass Beadmakers Gathering this year.  It was an amazing experience!  I learned so much and met so many great people.  And of course, I also did a LOT of shopping! Thankfully Dusty went with me and not only carried everything, but even encouraged me!  

One of the purchases I made was the Zoozii's Bubble Press. 

I was a little intimidated because it looks so difficult to use, but it made such fun beads I couldn't resist! Amy even showed me how to use it during one of the open torch sessions,

I've made about 15 of these so far, but I already only have these few left at the house.  

I swear the only thing happier than bubbles is bubbly beads!

More of these will be turning up in my Etsy shop in the days to come and of course you can always find them locally at The Sun Dog Bead Co.

Happy Beading!!

Just for fun ~ here's a little music that always makes me feel bubbly!

Richie Spice - Yap Yap

Bead Inspiration ~ Tropics

Once again, I am dreaming of some tropical location and wishing I lived under a palm tree!  I think this week I will focus on all things tropical ~ palm trees, the ocean, sea creatures ~ you name it, I'll be trying it on a bead!

Here are a couple of things I'm going to use for inspiration this week:

And I think I have a really interesting idea for this:

This week I'll start posting pictures of what I made based on the inspiration.  I promise I'll share the good, the bad, and the ugly ~ as long as you understand there will probably be more ugly than anything!

Since it's on my mind again ~

Two Tickets to Paradise by Eddie Money



Have a productive week!

MONDAY?!

Ouch!  Looks like I fell off the blog again.  I think I may have skinned my knee this time ~ they ought to make training wheels for these things!! 

Okay, today's motivation ~  hmmm....  Flowers!  I've been working on improving my flowers lately, and I've come up with quite a few things I like.  But I think I'm ready to up my game!  Let's try something like this: 

Or this:

These might be wishful thinking, but I have to keep pushing myself!

I guess a little music about flowers is in order :)

Scarlet Begonias by Jimmy Buffett

Have a great week, and stay motivated!

Motivation Monday - More Cupcakes

I'm not sure why I find cupcakes so inspiring for beads.  Maybe just because they are round?  In any case, I'm always finding the cutest cupcakes on pinterest and thinking I can make them into beads!  Here are a couple I think I'll try today.

And I'll be listening to some of my all time favorite music ~ it is most definitely "Good To Be Me"!

Happy Monday and Stay Motivated!

Motivation Monday - Orange

  CIM Pimento 

I have a new orange to play with! It's such a bright color and I'm really excited about it!  

I see this mixed with a whole lot of other bright colors in my beads today!

And since we're talking orange, I think this is an appropriate song... 

JJ Grey and Mofro ~ Orange Blossoms

Have a great week, and stay motivated!

Motivation Monday

                                     Motivation Monday

Things that inspire me, color combinations I love, the music that rocks my studio and anything else that makes me want to jump up and make a bead!

I've been hanging out on pinterest again ~(imagine that!)  and I'm finding manicures surprisingly inspiring. I totally wish I could do my nails like this, but I suck at nail polish; so I'm hoping for beads.  :)

I'm actually pretty excited to try these this week.  I'll make sure I share pictures (good or bad) next week.

Enrique Iglesias  is rocking my studio this week (between Spanish language instructions) thinking I can do two things at once, but we'll see! :)

Thanks for stopping by and stay motivated!


If you still need more motivation check out all the pretty flowers in KTBelleCrafts garden!

What's Up Wednesday

Another regular feature on my blog?  YES!  What's up Wednesday is where you will find upcoming events, news, and interesting tidbits. 

So what's up this Wednesday?   I'm attempting to make a major overhaul in the way I manage my time.  Until last week I managed my time by making a daily to-do list.  Totally sounds like a great idea.  It's not. My list included everything, everyday, and I do mean EVERYTHING! 

Here's a sample:
Make beads,
clean and photograph yesterday's beads,
deliver beads to Sun Dog,
list on Etsy,
Flikr update,
blog,
fan page update,
tweet,
post office and/or bank,
make jewelry
(plus housework, dinner, laundry, grocery shopping, dishes, etc., etc., etc.)

See what I mean?  Basically, I always felt like I was behind, then overwhelmed, and then in need of a nap. Not to mention the guilt over whatever didn't get done.

So my new program is to make a list of everything that needs to get done in a week and assign tasks to specific days.  Many of these things could be done once a week. I don't have to clean and photograph beads everyday; if I do it once a week I only drag out all the supplies for those jobs once (saves time and since it's not on the list every day I don't feel like it's overwhelming me).

Many of you are probably thinking "well, duh!".  But believe me, it's huge for me to tell myself it's ok to put something on the list for Tuesday, and then only worry about that thing on Tuesday.

This is my first week, so I'm still tweaking my schedule - but I see this working really well for me.  The goal is to eventually get everything done, AND be less stressed, and (slightly) less neurotic ~ Wish me Luck!

Motivation Monday

YAY it's Monday!  Ok, that was probably overly enthusiastic for a Monday, but hey, it can't hurt to start the week off with a positive attitude! :)  Motivation Monday will now become a regular feature on my blog. Here you'll find the things that inspire me, color combinations I love, the music that rocks my studio and anything else that makes me want to jump up and make a bead! 

Like many (many) people, I have become addicted to pinterest.  I've found it's a great place to find color, shape and pattern inspiration for beads.  This week I've found cakes particularly inspiring ~ somehow they all look like beads to me!  Here's a few to show you what I mean:

This one is from Project Wedding

and here's one from Party Inspirations facebook fan page:

For some reason cakes really speak to me as beads. Perhaps because the color palettes are similar, or because the process of applying frosting is similar to applying layers of glass.  Either way, there is a wealth of inspiration out there in the cake world!

And lately Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers have been rocking my studio!



 
See you all next Monday ~ and until then Stay Motivated!