Art Glass My ^$$

While I was actually in a retail store over the holidays, I stumbled on these bottle stoppers. Art glass for a whopping $4.99! Yeah, right! Pick them up and they have hardly any heft. I seriously think they are plastic! And yet I'm sure people fall for this... I saw one gifted to a friend. ICK!

Nothing like the serious beauties I made for the holidays!

 

It just makes me sick that people fall for this stuff! 

The Trunk Show is OPEN!!!

The Trunk Show is open!!! Come on over and take a look!!!

This Snow man mini is a 99 cent auction today!!!

Even a hammered silver focal!!!

Come on over and do some holiday shopping!

The Trunk Show Is Coming Up FAST!!!!

OMG! The trunk show is in a few days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am FREAKING OUT! I don't feel like I have enough "stuff"...I'm not nearly as organized with folders and folders of pics and descriptions ready to paste.... Heck, I haven't even taken pics in days!

And I wasted a huge chunk of today on a job interview. Wasted? Yes, I NEED a job but... the person who wanted to interview me didn't show up! And now our weather is getting COLD... highs in the 40s are NOT conducive to the giganto beads I like to make! GRRRRR. So, I'm stressified!

I did finally get some artwork up and invite my friends to the show... Stupid Facebook won't let me invite my fans.... grrrr. So if you are interested, PLEASE JOIN!!

Here are some of the bottle openers I will have in the gifts category to wet your whistle!

Happy Thanksgiving

I wanted to take a moment to thank all of you that have supported my work. I so appreciate it!

 I'm still working on stuff for the Trunk Show. I have a little album on my Fan page where I'm sticking stuff until I start loading the show albums. If you click the trunk show link, you can follow along on Facebook.

In the meantime, here's a few of the Wine Stoppers:

Beading - Not Making Beads

I've been a busy beading maniac. So why no new beads??? I haven't been making any! I've been working on my niece's wedding projects and I'm sure in the coming month there will be a slew of wedding posts here. So if you find wedding bling and how to save lots of money on a wedding interesting... do check in!

This is one of our latest projects - a work still in progress. The niece is the only girl with lots of aunties who love and spoil her and she is SO not Bridezilla. She just trusts us! (Silly girl!) Seriously though, her aunties are all very talented and creative and one (our fearless leader) has a background in fashion and graphic design.

Since we may have a limited load in time at the location and we are doing all of the decorating ourselves, we are building vignettes for each of the tables (Candy, Sweethearts, Memorial, Guest check in) and taking pictures and storing everything for one table in a box with the pictures so that any "elves" (i.e. cousins and bridesmaids) that show up to help and look and the photo and set up the table.

This piece is probably going on the candy table as it has such a girly sense of whimsy! We found the ballerina on sale at Ross. It had hideous pink plastic drops with large brass split rings dangling from the skirt.

I removed those and started making heart shaped drops with Swarovski crystals...which got a little complicated. I shape one side of the wire in a swirl, hammer and texture with both side of a chasing hammer, add an 8mm crystal, round the top of the other side of the heart, more hammering, add another crystal and wrap onto the skirt. I quickly decided to do every other loop of the skirt!

 The bestie had these plastic (but adorable) red drops from the cake stand project she did. I added them to every other loop of the skirt in both the large and small sizes.

Finally, I could NOT leave the bodice plain! I'll be filling that in with more Swarkies. I have my work cut out for me!

Holiday Gifts

I'm kind of a day late and a dollar short with this post... but such is life! I wanted to share the matching Christmas Tree necklaces I made for my mother and sister. I forgot to photograph mine...which is lavender and white so... I'll be even later with that post! ;-)

Mom's was traditional:

 My sister's favorite color is chartreuse or, as I call it, Grinch Green! Still her's is my favorite!

The Busy Elf - Part Four

I've always loved taking pictures and with the high heat decals out there, it's so easy to combine photos with glass in the kiln.

Here are the pieces I made:
On the left is another gift for Mom...red, white and blue this time. The photo is one I took about four years ago. My mom has a very special relationship with her great-nephew...he reminds her so much of her dad. This photo was taken after my mom arrived very late to her own 82nd birthday party. I had made this big cake and had our family and my cousin and his three little ones over to celebrate. But Mom was otherwise occupied (code for hitting big at the casino). We ate. Still no Mom. And these little faces were staring at that cake. So we lit the candles, sang happy birthday (stretching....) and cut that cake....and, in walked Mom! In this picture, she's teasing my little cousin about cutting her cake. I know she will love this piece when she sees it!

The one on the right is one of my favorite dogs in my extended hiking pack. Her name is Sue and she always smiles at me. You should have seen the look on her mom's face when she opened it!

And the bottom on...well, that's the photo of my dog Mabel in my original Creekhiker logo (replaced with an ocean photo this year). Mabel hated getting her tummy wet as a pup and would do these fantastical leaps to avoid deep spots in the creek. To get a photo of her doing this meant sizing up the creek for deep spots that Mabel MIGHT jump over and pray my timing was right! In eight years, I've taken exactly two decent shots of this!

Adding decals to glass fusing is a wonderful way to personalize a gift and I hope to do more in the future! Tomorrow, something else I made for me!

The Busy Elf - Part Three

I have a lot of dog lovers in my life. One of my closest friends has everything imaginable but dogs and cats just make her melt. And then there is the waitress at my favorite breakfast joint. She actually saves food for my pup! Poor Mabel rolls on her back and rubs her own tummy after breakfast there!

So, the dog folks got charms this year as well:


I always try to make my dog paws look heart like. Years ago, my sister brought me a t-shirt from Westminster (King of the dog shows!) that read:

When I look at a paw print, I see an upside down heart with four arms reaching out to embrace me. Awwwwww.... I can see a paw print without seeing that.

The bone charms were a big hit!!!

Tomorrow, something for the fusers! See ya here!

Gifts Ready to Go!

I've spent the better part of the last week getting all kinds of new goodies up on the Holly's Folly site. And not just beads!

I've added several sets of cell phone charms from my show stash:

And this little guy? He's part of a cheese knife set with a matching plate.



But that's not all! I've added a bunch of my earring and pendant kits from my holiday earring classes I've been teaching. You have the choice of buying the kit (instructions included) or I will make them for you!



These kits are from my popular tassel earrings. L@@k at all the colors!

And there's a few new pieces of jewelry. Wouldn't this be pretty on a ribbon?
The site is chocked full of goodies but...I'm going on vacation beginning Monday and won't return til after Christmas. So if you want something for the holidays, order early! Thanks!

Changing My Stripes

I always love coming up with new ways to use beads. When I found some beadable serving implements in stainless, I just had to give it a try.

I found a cool, sebra-striped plate at a store and then made a bead to match it. The bead is zebra-striped with metallic, high-silver capped ends.


I've added a gift page to the website for items that are not beads or jewelry and I plan to add more of my own work as well as some collector pieces from my days on the Carol Duvall Show.

See you tomorrow on http://hollysfollybeads.blogspot.com.

Holiday Project: Neckwarmer with Lampworked Button

Being sick and having time to curl up by a fire lent itself to some holiday projects. This is a little neck warmer I made for the BFF. She's very cold natured and wears her coat all winter. I thought this soft, fuzzy neckwarmer in her favorite colors of blues and browns would be just the thing.


I picked out the yarn and then picked out my rods. I do apologize for the photos...I've yet to find a camera that photographs cobalt blue well... The button is heart shaped on a two-hole lampwork button mandrel with a cobalt center, dark brown and transparent cobalt on the outer edges.

The scarf was worked on the largest Knifty Knitter loom. You can't really get a nice scarf that doesn't curl using only a knit stitch so I had to teach myself to purl! It's a great little piece that worked up in around six hours (not counting the handmade button).

The BFF loved it!


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The sales is still on over at Holly's Folly. Check it out.