Motivation Monday - Kalypso

DH Kalypso

I realized I have a lot of special glass sitting in my stash collecting dust because I didn't feel I was "good enough" to use it.  DH Kalypso is one of those colors.  It's expensive and I'm frugal, so it's hard for me to risk making ugly beads with it.  However, I just accidentally ordered more last week, so I felt it was time to use some of it!

It doesn't look very special in the rod:

But I made this bead with it the other day:

and I'm really excited about it ~ I'm always looking for pink!!

I think I'll do several experiments with Kalyspo this week,

and I think I'll do them to the sounds of the Carribean and this beautiful steel drum soundtrack!

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 - Pantone

With Spring around the corner I think I'll see what I can do with this year's Pantone Spring palette.  It could be very interesting to see what comes of this in bead form!

I found this in my bead inspiration file today too.  Funny that it looks like it has all the colors!  Wonder if I can do this in a bead?

And the motivational music for the day has to be Zac Brown ~ much like every other day, I'm ready to go to "Where the boat leaves from"!

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What's Up Wednesday - CONTEST!

It's time for a contest!! 

My 400th Etsy sale will be coming up soon and I want to share the love!  The prize will be a set of chunky squares like this:

in your choice of color. All you have to do is guess what date I'll reach 400 sales.  

I'm pretty sure that short of winning the lottery, free beads are the best contest prizes!

So here's the rules:  "Like" my facebook page HERE then post your guess (i.e. Feb 28th) ~ that's it! (If you already like me just guess) :-)  If you want more chances to win ask your friends to do it too (then knock them down and take their beads if they win!)  lol!  If multiple people guess the correct date, the winner will be selected by a random drawing.

I only need 37 more sales, so what are you waiting for?  GO GUESS!!

Motivation Monday - The Ocean

Dusty has to go out of town for work and he invited me to go with him.  *smiles!*  Because spending time with him and being near the ocean are two of my favorite things, of course I said yes!!  It really doesn't matter that it's a 4 hour drive and a ferry ride, or that the water will be freezing cold, it's the ocean!

I'm sure this picture was taken in the middle of summer and it won't look like this while I'm there, but it is beautiful ~ and it is salt water!!

And we'll need some driving music!

Happy Monday ~ Stay Motivated!

What? It's Tuesday? Where Did Motivation Monday Go?

So yesterday I completely forgot it was Monday.  But the good news is I was extremely motivated!  I think I had double the number of beads in the kiln this morning than any typical day in a long time.  I'm up really early this morning, so I'm going to make this post quick and get straight to work.  Watch for lots of new Etsy listings today!

For some reason I've been thinking about birds lately.  I have no idea why since I typically steer clear of sculptural work.  But I'm going to see what I can do with these little guys as inspiration:

and I think it's a Traveling Wilburys kind of day:

Happy Monday (Tuesday)  Thanks for stopping by and stay motivated!

What's Up Wednesday - Murrini

upcoming events, news, and interesting tidbits

The good, the bad and the ugly.  Sometimes you have to share them all!  I tried making murrini for the first time the other day.  I have a new appreciation for those that make these little guys! I've always been impressed with skill required to produce those tiny works of art.  I tried the simplest one, and this is what happened:

Teeny, tiny little things!  And using the glass nippers had these things flinging all over my studio!  I was down on my knees under the table trying to find them and wound up with 8. So I tried incorporating them in a bead.  This has never been my strong suite, which is actually what made me want to make these in the first place.  I figured if I practice the application with murrini I made, I wouldn't be wasting the fancy ones I've purchased!

This one turned out ok ~ if a little bland:

Now for the real fun.  (fun?)  Trying to encase the little guys.  

Oh look ~ little red bats!  So not what I was going for! 

And so I head back to the torch for more practice.

Have an absolutely fabulous Wednesday!!