Stone Arch Festival of the Arts

Hello all! I am currently gearing up for what I hope will be my Best Show Ever. At least I am optimistic, right? The show I am going to is the Stone Arch Festival of the Arts in Minneapolis, MN., over Fathers Day weekend. Why Minnesota, you ask? Well, I wanted to get OUT of Arkansas to try new territory and I also wanted to go some place where I have relatives so I can make the trip a vacation as well. That pretty much leaves Florida and Minnesota. Since it's too hot to do shows in Florida over the summer, that left just one option.
I had applied to two shows in the Twin Cities and surprisingly was accepted into BOTH of them. After much consideration, I decided to just do the one show as the other show conflicted with a really tight schedule I have in August. I will be attending the ISGB (International Society of Glass Beadmakers) annual conference, called "The Gathering" with several glass buddies from Arkansas the end of July/first of August. The conference is in Louisville, KY this year and I could not pass up the chance to go, since I estimate that to be an easy day's drive.

After the Gathering, I have another event and just couldn't fit in another big show in between. It was a hard decision to make to click the "decline" on the accept or decline option on the Zapp website, but I am relieved I made that decision. I think it would have been just too much to do that show.

Meanwhile, the Stone Arch show is coming up fast and I have a lot to do to prepare. I've been making a lot of jewelry, some of which I am showing on my website.
Check these out...

Solving the Mystery of Bracelet Sizing

Hi all!  My apologies for my lack of attention here, but it's certainly not for lack of desire...  I've been working on a lot of custom orders lately plus helping my father with some family matters.

A student of mine came to me for some help with bracelet sizing and after helping her, I decided to make this one page tutorial on sizing bracelets for anyone who might benefit from it.

I created a PDF and have uploaded it to Google Docs for your convenience.  Just click on this link!

Hope it helps!  :)

This weekend Iwill be exhibiting at the Christmas Gala in Russellville, AR.  If you happen to be in the area, stop on by and mention you saw my blog and receive 20% off on your total purchase in my booth.

Would love to see ya!

The Odd Couples

Hello all!

For now, I shelved the whole website thing in favor of beadmaking.  I think I've made the right choice, don't you?  Making beads is SOOOOO much more fun than trying to learn a difficult web design program.

I've been listing all my new creations on etsy, so be sure to check it out!  Lotsa different stuff!  I have a trunk show/demo next weekend in Eureka Springs, so it was important that I have some new items to show.  After that, I have a couple more shows next month.  No rest for the weary!

Molly and Zuko seem to have settled into their new home quite nicely.  They play together all of the time, while Phoenix and Fidget just watch.  In a way, it's really neat that Molly and Zuko have a special bond, and Phoenix and Fidget have theirs.  They are like two couples living in the house!

Now that the show season is winding down, I had hoped to use this time to redesing my website - especially since I have discovered that my new computer's operating system is not compatible with the program I've always used to edit and manage my site with.

So.... I purchased Dreamweaver for the purpose of recreating the website but I have found that the program is a lot more complex and challenging than what I used to use (FrontPage).  I then purchased a book, "Dreamweaver for Dummies" and I have found that I really need the "Dreamweaver for Dumber than Dummies" book because I can't make heads or tails out of it at all.

I learn easiest by doing rather than reading, and since the book is so entirely way too confusing, I've just dived right in, knowing full well that doing it this way will no doubt necessitate many mistakes and corrections along the way.  Oh well!

Meanwhile, life, otherwise, is pretty normal.  We have two new family members.  Molly is a golden retriever puppy, about 7 months old and Zuko is a black cat and I really don't know how old he is.  At the moment he is at the vet getting neutured and when I go pick him later today, I expect to get more information regarding his age and such.

Molly was adopted about a month ago from a shelter in NW Arkansas, and Zuko just recently appeared.  He started coming around over the summer and has become a regular entity around here.  He was pretty feral at first, but has really become a very loving cat.  He and Molly have developed quite a bond, so we felt it was time to formally make Zuko a member of our family.

So, now that my pet food and pet care bills have more than doubled, I have found that I need to work extra hard to make ends meet.  It's worth it, though, now that I have three cats and a dog, I am one happy momma!  I love all my furbabies!

Here's a photo of Molly and Zuko, taken yesterday.  Aren't they sweet? 

Leaping Lizards!

Just listed a whole bunch of new lizards for your viewing pleasure.  :)  Hope you enjoy them!

Making Lemonade from Lemons

Hi all,

You know that saying about best laid plans?

We were supposed to go on vacation yesterday.  We had planned to go up to Pennsyvania for a visit with Tim's brother and his wife.  We were really looking forward to it.

Then, Tuesday, out of the blue, Tim suffered an accident at work.  It was not serious but it did render him unable to travel, at least for now.  So... we cancelled the trip.  Actually, post-poned it.  In a deal he struck with his boss, we will post-pone the trip until August and we'll be able to travel longer, since he'll be able to add two more days.

In exchange, Tim will return to work tomorrow for two days, and then have all next week off.  So, we may still do some fun things, maybe visit some friends, splash around in the Buffalo River, or whatnot.

So, at first, we were really bummed about having to cancel the trip, but now we realize we'll have an even better time in August since we'll have more time.  It's all good!

Meanwhile, I figured I might as well work, so I've spent the last two days making lizard beads, which I hope to start listing tonight or tomorrow.  Gotta get them off the mandrels and cleaned first!  Next on the agenda are frogs.  I'm going to be doing a show in Tulsa next month and those two are perhaps my best sellers, so I want to be fully stocked.

Besides, lizards and frogs are just too darned fun to make!  I LOVE them!  :)

New Hollows!

Howdy!  Just listed six new hollow focal beads on etsy.  Each one is encased and etched which gives a glowing appearance.  VERY cool, in my opinion.  :)  Check it out!