Headed to Beads of Courage

Beads of Courage is planning a BEad Inspired fundraising event October 20th in Paducah, KY. Their most recent event in Katy, TX sold every piece of jewelry available. So the BoC team put out a call for handmade jewelry pieces for the event in Kentucky.

These two pieces are headed there... I'm in a rush to get them in the mail so these aren't the finished versions:

This tiger key has been strung on ribbons.

And this ghost has been threaded on a friction clasp chain.

If you have jewelry you would like to donate to the Paducah event, please get in touch with Ashley (at) beadsofcourage.org

Showoff - Wire Wrapped Suvivor Goddess Bead

I wanted to show off the Breast Cancer / Survivor Goddess Bead I made for my sister. I normally don't use butterflies but this little pink one jumped off the table at me as I was wrapping this bead! I love the way it turned out.

My sister rarely asks for beads... so I was extra flattered when she asked for one of these. I think she wants it to wear during her chemo sessions in the coming months.

Winner Winner!

NOT a chicken dinner! The winners in the Fire Divas Bead Challenge "Say It with Words" was... ME! Whoo Hooo! And I'm giving away the prizes!


The team had some very creative entries, all very colorful and expertly crafted. Thank you to all who voted in the contest. I promise to tell you the long story on the JOY bead later this week.


And the winning commenter is last but not least, #17, Pat Haight! She won a $50 Gift Certificate to Holly’s Folly Shop.


And now let’s look once again at the rest of the gorgeous entries in this month’s challenge:
Entry 1: Amy Sims of Amy Sims Designs


Entry 2: Sarah Klopping of  Aloha Beads
  

Entry 4: Lara Lutrick

Entry 5: Susanne Folin of Babs Beads and Design

Entry 6: Rosemarie Hanus of Spawn of Flame

Entry 7: Michelle Veizaga of Sundoor Beads

Thanks to everyone who voted, and for all of your wonderful comments!

++++++++++++++++BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!!++++++++++++

You may remember I had a side contest called "Name That Diva."  Would believe, I  only had four entries!!! And out of four entries... the most Divas correctly guessed was THREE!!!

Michelle of Pocketsful won a $25 Gift Certificate and  Carrie of Upzndowns won a $15 Gift Certificate to my glass bead shop.

New Teaching Session | Last Weekend to Win!

I completely forgot about the blog yesterday! I'm getting ready for my first wire wrap class of the fall and it's a big one!

And I have a few jewelry projects I'm working on... Trying to get my sister's breast cancer goddess finished but looking for the right crystals.. OY! It's always something!

Since it's the same old same old here... I thought I would remind you of the Fire Divas Bead Challenge where you could win a $50 Gift Certificate just for commenting and voting. And I only have FOUR entries in my Name That Diva side contest... so GUESS!!! Your odds of winning are really good!!!!

I'll leave you with a new end of day bead...one of my favorite beads EVER... I would keep it save for the fact it's too tiny for my tastes! It's only an inch long. I will get this up on the glass bead website later today.

And this set sold as soon as I posted it to the fan page... you ARE a fan, right??? You miss a lot of good stuff if you aren't! ;-)

Have a wonderful weekend... but vote first!!  ;-)

Presenting TWO DAY Glass Beads!

I don't know what it was about the Fire Divas last bead challenge... (you HAVE VOTED, haven't you??) ...(and surely, you've entered my contest???)... but all the Divas found it... challenging.

Writing with hot glass is no easy task! I made two beads I hated before I made the actual bead I entered... No, you don't get to see that yet and it looks NOTHING like the two I'm showing off here!

With each of these, I made a frit back ground bead and squished it flat for a bigger writing surface. I wrote my chosen words and annealed them... and hated it!

So the next day, I heated the kiln up slowly with the hated bead still inside. I worked a bit and then reintroduced that hated bead into the flame. I heated up the words and scraped the writing off. What I couldn't scrape was melted in and covered with more frit. And what do you do to cover stuff you don't like on a bead? That's right! Surface decoration.  So I added some flowers and annealed it all again and... the beads you are looking at took me two days! Talk about a challenging Challenge! OY!

They are both now on my glass bead site.

New Halloween Set

 I set out to challenge myself to make a large spider on a piece of candy... and ended up with a Halloween set. As you probably know by now, sets are a happy accident in my world!

I love working with the darker, more muted shades of orange I used in the pumpkins... they say "fall" more than "Halloween."

That glass appears way more striated to my picky camera lens then it does to the human eye...

I also wanted to see if I could make a small (for me!) witch's hat. It was really fun using layers of glass to create the quarter moon bead and the spider legs.

I love sets where I feel myself growing... in a good way! This one is available on Artfire.

Three Chances to Win!!!

The Fire Divas Bead Challenge "Say it with words" is going strong!! I have to say there was lots of chatter about how difficult we all found this particular glass bead challeng!!

But still, we have some great entries and a great prize for one lucky voter! Make sure to leave a comment on this post below after you vote, and you could win a $50 Gift Certificate to my glass bead shop! Voting ends at noon on Sunday, September 25th.  You can find the poll on the right hand side of the Fire Divas blog.

But that's NOT your only chance to win!!!   First let's check out those fabulous beads!!!

Entry 1

Entry 2

Entry 3

Entry 4

Entry 5

Entry 6

Entry 7

OTHER WAYS TO WIN!
I also have a side contest going on and as of this writing we only have TWO entries!!!

There will be a $25 and $15 Gift Certificate to my glass bead shop up for grabs. Simply copy the list below, examine the entries on the Diva's blog and compare the entires to the team... determine, if you can, who made EACH bead!!!  If no one guesses right, I will give the prizes to whoever has the MOST correct, so even if you get a few wrong... YOU COULD STILL WIN!!!


Entry #1 -
Entry #2 -
Entry #3 -
Entry #4 -
Entry #5 -
Entry #6 -
Entry #7 -

Here's how to play along with both contests!

1) Vote on the Divas Blog
2) Comment there for a chance to win a $50 Gift cert
3) Examine the beads and determine the makers
4) Email me via the contact link above left with your choices to be entered into the drawing here!

So get busy checking out those beads!!! You gotta enter to win!!!

Front Page Feature!

I never EVER go into Artfire from the front page. But for some reason yesterday afternoon, I apparently hit the wrong selection on my autofill and ended up there...and found my bead on the front page! Whooo Hooo! That's a first!

I was going to mention this treasury this week anyway...for another first. The creator, ShanghaiTai, found my bead and made the collection to go with it! How flattering is that!!!?????

Here's the whole collection:

Koi Oh Koi!

Curated By: ShanghaiTai

ArtFire.com

And Please check out the curator's shop. She has some lovely jewelry cool fused glass!

Old Finding for a New Look

Unless you are into wearing pearls - and I'm NOT - you may not be aware of what a pearl shortener is. It's a great little finding, usually sterling, that can turn a long strand of pearls into a shorter necklace.

My Whole Lotta Love Big Hole Bead Pair strung on a cathedral length silver beaded necklace

Since I'm always looking for a new way to wear a fantastic big hole glass bead, the pearl shortener allows me more options and styles! Remember all those natural stone twisted necklaces from the 70s??? I still have mine!  And I frequently pick up a long cathedral length seed bead or silver bead necklace.

Close up of the Pearl Shortner

To wear, simply thread a big hole glass bead over the folded end of your necklace.... center the bead and take the two ends and clasp it in the pearl shortener. Viola! A new necklace every time you change your bead!

The whole view... I would wear the shortener in the back....

Name That Fire Diva - Side Contest!

So the lampwork glass bead promo team I belong to, the Fire Divas are having their monthly bead challenge right now. The theme is say it with words. I would LOVE it if you popped over to the Diva's Blog and vote.

While you are there, be sure to leave a comment after voting as there will be a drawing there and the winner will get $50 to my glass bead shop! But that's not your ONLY chance to win. I am having an additional contest here called "Name That Fire Diva"

Some of the most peopular posts I've ever written here were after the Fire Divas' Challenges where I explained how I knew certain beads were made be certain Divas... So, I was wondering... do you have those skills??? Can you spot people's beads??? If yes, this is for you! If not, enter anyway, cause someone's GOTTA WIN!

All you have to do is look over the entries in the Say it with Words Challenge, and try to guess which Diva made which bead. There is a handy dandy list to all the Diva's shops on the Fire Diva's Blog. When you have your list,
email me using the contact button on the top left of this blog. Paste the list below in the email, adding the Diva shops or artist names and send it.

After the Diva's announce the bead makers next week, I will post winners here too! There will be a $25 and $15 Gift Certificate to my glass bead shop up for grabs. If no one guesses right, I will give the prizes to whoever has the MOST correct.

Entry #1 -
Entry #2 -
Entry #3 -
Entry #4 -
Entry #5 -
Entry #6 -
Entry #7 -

One more look at all those fabulous word beads:

Entry 1	Entry 2	Entry 3
Entry 4	Entry 5	Entry 6
	Entry 7

In Summary:
Your mission, should you choose to accept it:
1) Vote on the Divas Blog
2) Comment there for a chance to win a $50 Gift cert
3) Examine the beads and determine the makers
4) Email me via the contact link above left with your choices to be entered into the drawing here!