When Inspiration Strikes...

Inspiration can strike anywhere, anytime. For this reason, I "try" to have some semblance of a sketch pad with me most of the time. But when I don't, I've been k nown to sketch on napkins, scratch paper and even my arm!

A few weeks ago, I had to be the substitute host for my friend's karaoke business because her regular host was sick. And suddenly, I "saw" a necklace in my head (two variations even!) and HAD to sketch it out. So there amongst song titles is my would-be necklace.


So what to you do when inspiration strikes? What's the strangest place you've written down those visions???

Well, it's been an interesting 2009 ( the most polite thing I can say about this year!) and I for one can't wait til 2010. Check back next year - er - week for a recap on the ABS projects I did all year long!

Etsy Treasures

I found myself in THREE treasuries this week! A first!!! Mallory put my Silvered Ivory focal in her Winter White Treasury.... I just love this one... Aren't all these beads just elegant together????
I love these pretty white sand dollars in Mallory's shop!

Fellow Fire Diva Janel Dudley put my Sunny Day at the Beach focal in her Flaming Hot Treasury.



I think this focal of Janel's is FLAMING HOT!

And another Diva friend, Lauren included my Green Santa Snowman Set in her Fire Divas Treasury. Her six year old daughter helped choose these... I think we have a SERIOUS bead collector in the making!!!



Lauren, known for her critter beads, has been on a murrini kick and just doing incredible stuff with it. I'm lusting over this heart....Can you read the message???

Give these treasuries some love as they will all be gone by next year!!!

Diva Holiday Challenge Winners Announced

The votes are counted, and the results are in. The winner is.....Lauren of Maybeads!


In second place we have this from Lara of Lutrick:


Congratulations Lauren & Lara! Thanks to all the Fire Divas who entered.

Fire Diva's Holiday Challenge

To celebrate the holiday season, the Fire Divas are hosting a Holiday Challenge! We have lots of wonderful beads to choose from; see them below, the go to the Diva blog, pick your favorite to vote for on the right. Happy Holidays!

The Busy Elf - Part Five

The thing I hate most about shopping for the holidays is that, because I don't go to malls all that often, I suddenly want stuff for myself! And this year, making so many gifts, I suddenly had the urge to make something just for me... a rarity considering I don't wear jewelry all that often!

So this is what I made:
I taught so many earring classes this fall, I had the idea to try one of those Swarovski trees in glass. I love how it came out!

I'm heading back to Cali tomorrow and will be back here on Monday! Merry Christmas!

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!

The Busy Elf - Part Two

I actually knitted something! I found this luscious suede yarn at JC Penney Outlet and I knew immediately, I would make something for my mom.

Mom is really active in the American Legion but she's not always red, white and blue. So I made a little heart button with red, white and intense black:
- It ALWAYS starts with a good piece of glass, right?

Then I did the knitting on the yellow Knifty Knitter. (K1, P1 for those of you who speak Knit whit.) Since the knitting is so loose, I didn't even bother to drop a stitch for the button hole!

I just wrap it around my neck to get a feel for where the button should be and sew it on. It slips right through the knitting and now Mom will have a really pretty neck warmer for winter!

Here's the whole thing:

Fire Diva's Jewelry Challenge - PRIZES!!!

The Fire Divas First Jewelry Challenge is underway. We have some lovely entries made with artisan lampwork beads already and more to come, I'm sure!

You may find a few Diva jewelry pieces in there. Those are only there for inspiration. No Diva will be in the final voting pool. This is strictly to encourage the use of artisan made beads and expose work of talented designers out there!

There are also several bead photos in the gallery. Why are there just beads in there??? They are some of the fantastic prizes!!! Let's take a look at what the designers are playing for:

Lea of LAJewelryDesigns has donated a $50 Gift Certificate. Winners choice!!!


Lara of Lutrick has also created a stunning focal. I think that's the chalcedony glass that she makes sing featured on this bead:


Our sweet Janel of JanelDudleyBeads is a dichro master! Check out these pretty fireballs:


Lauren of MayBeads is donating one of her famous turtles. Just check out those toes!


Theresa of TeaseBeads is offering one of her "Everything" focals in a rich color palette:

Barb of RiversEdgeGlass has a whole set of her wave beads in gorgeous cool colors:



Jamie of GlasstasticTreasures has created one of her adoreable squiggle focals in purple and pink:

I'm offering a gift certificate for $50.00 to Holly's Folly to allow the winner to pick something they would like.
Ema of EmaKaye has created one of her intense and precise dotted focals.



With all these fantastic beads for a prize, I hope we'll be seeing even more entries before our 1/01/2010 deadline.

See you here Monday with more holiday Elf tales!

The Busy Elf - Part One

I thought I would show you what I've been up to for the holidays...Good thing NO one on my list reads this blog!

My day job is manufacturing food safe rubber stamps so that bakers can get neat images onto pastry. And one of my biggest client is an international pastry chain.

With the economy being what it is, it felt very hollow giving gifts to corporate clients this year knowing that some charities are really hurting. So... I decided to make a nice bead donation to Beads of Courage this year (through the real life bead group I belong to, The CA Flame Surfers) in lieu of sending a nice, pricey gift.

But I didn't want my clients to not get anything at all, so I sent them these:
donuts on a charm.

I also created a card based on the Beads of Courage logo, explaining what the charity does for kids:



I'll share more of my holiday prep next week... and there will be a rare Friday blog post tomorrow! See ya here at http://www.hollysfollybeads.blogspot.com