Fresh Glass

I got to torch a bit over the weekend. I'm loving most of the new stuffs!

Cupcakes to Go

The Fire Divas have a special project for May. Instead of our usual monthly Bead Challenge, we're doing something special for Beads of Courage. Each participating Diva had to make two similar bead that kids would like. Naturally, I made some chocolate cupcakes:

The Divas will be blogging more about this project in a week or so.

No secret sale this week....busy with a custom order and still in some pain from my surgery. I did make a handful of beads  that I'm kinda excited about and will be getting them up on the glass bead website over the weekend.

Ya'll have a wonderful weekend!

Twitter Karma

This is a pre-scheduled post as I'm having oral surgery today.

I really hate twitter...but I find it DOES make a difference in my business. It gets me views and I know from Marketing 101, unless they know about it, they won't buy it.

That being said, I really despise the folks on Twitter who only follow you to get you to follow them and then in a few weeks, they unfollow nearly everyone. Sneaky eh???

To be honest, I'm not on Twitter enough to follow anyone. I never remember to tweet anything personal but I do link to my blogs...which is personal enough. When I want to celebri-gawk or read the news, I log into my Hoot Suite account which clears out all the clutter of folks (like me) who just want to promote. I have columns for my news feeds and my celebs and I read it there and leave. No way I could do that on Twitter... Twitter really is not set up to be user friendly!


I like to know that people I follow, follow me in return. I support you; You support me. Unless there's something in it for me - like coupons or deals, I  prefer some reciprocity. And I know I'm not the only one!

So I signed up for Qwitter which is kinda nice but I get really pissed off at some of their emails that read: Since our last email to you, Joe Blow, Suzy Q, John Q Public and 17 others have stopped following you on Twitter.

HUH??? This is all to lure you into paying for their service which will give you the 17 other names. ARGH! Everyone wants money from me but no one wants to give me any.... UGH!

After some searching I found Twitter Karma. I love love LOVE how easy it is to use and now it's bookmarked for periodic checking! You simply log into your Twitter from the Twitter Karma page, whack the user button and you can see who you follow and who follows you back.

 

The green arrows are the ones you follow; the red ones are your followers. There are handy dandy "follow" and "unfollow" buttons below. 

 

Who doesn't love the most famous bestie in the world??

Finally, an easy way to see who I follow and who returns the twitter love. My twitter list is all clean now and I can get some rest! ;-)

Kimberly Affleck Has Invaded My Brain!

I just took a class with Kimberly Affleck at The Mandrel over the weekend. And my head is just spinning. I'm not good for much today!


Kimberly is a most excellent teacher! She shared every secret, every color combo. The strangest thing was... we all sort of think of her as "the seahorse lady." But, she is oh-so-much-more! We learned so much! I feel like my head is gonna explode!

And I have to share one thing about glass teachers in general... Glass classes cost a freaking fortune and you go there and you take frantic notes so you can remember what you learned because...so few teachers give you a hand out! I've been teaching since I was 17 and write VERY detailed instructions for my students complete with photos because I want them to be able to duplicate what we did in class. But that is not the norm. My community college and retail students alike all complain that so few teachers do hand outs.  Because I do it and all of the fabulous rubber stamp teachers I knew do it...I'm always shocked that  I'm spending so much for a class and yet there is no handout.

Large Lentel by Kimberly Affleck

Of all the glass classes I've taken, two have done handouts to take home and Ms. Affleck is EXCEPTIONAL! It was a full book with every demo and then some. Color combos, silver glass hints, tips on heat control and volume control... you name it! The book was in black and white but with it came a full color CD-ROM!

This freed me up in class to PAY ATTENTION. I got to be in the moment without worrying about every little detail! I think I took a whopping one page of notes on things that were asides... Not planned but extra demos!

I spent so much time ooh and ahhing over techniques, I was just dumbstruck with gratitude by the end of the class. I am truly grateful for the opportunity.

I hope you will take a moment and visit Kim's Etsy. And don't just linger over the amazing seahorses!!! Her focals are stunning!

I'm having oral surgery tomorrow morning. Things may be a bit quiet here this week depending on my recovery.

Help! My Computer Has Taken Over My Life!

I'm still dealing with computer issues. Now, I can't upload my photoshop brushes... The transfer from CS2 to CS5 is a freaking nightmare.

I had planned to show off a new set today... but I can't....

I'm teaching or taking a class all weekend so... I'm just going to share this week's "Secret Sale"

This adventurine set is $15 off. I adore this set... but then, I always love things that sparkle. The photos do NOT do them justice.

Coupon Code: SPARKLE. And... fan page members get free shipping! Secret Sale price valid TODAY ONLY!

Have a good weekend!

Spring Beads

I'm S L O W L Y getting all my programs installed and  getting the big beast back online... what a waste this week has been!

In lieu of beady news, I can always count on my fellow Fire Diva's to provide some gorgeous glass bead eye candy in stunning spring colors!


This is actually and old favorite of mine. I just love the colors in this vessel shaped glass bead.

My friend Rose of Spawn of Flame has this bright and oh so pretty lampwork set in her shop:

Our fearless co- leader Lori of Ashlyn Design has this breathtaking lampwork glass bead set in her shop:

Talk about ready for Spring! One of our newest members Abbie of Abbielyn actually makes real terrarium necklace pendants from glass!

But enough with all this spring green! I always need a little pink and purple to boost my spirits! I can always count on the super elegant Lara Lutrick for that! Check this baby out:

If that's not good motivation for some spring jewelry making...nothing is!

I will be back tomorrow with a GIVEAWAY and... maybe a secret sale item ;-)

Have an excellent Wednesday!

Under the Weather

My computer is sick! I've downloaded a virus! OY....

So instead of stressing about ONE more thing...I'm taking today off.

Is it too daring of me to mention that I could use a donation to my sick computer fund???.... I can send you some pretty glass beads in return!

Hope to be back in the saddle SOON!

Confounding Conundrum

Do the prices of silver - $46 / ounce and rising - have you pulling your hair out??? They have me losing sleep!

As a girl who has purchased sterling by the POUND for my jewelry classes, the thought of buying silver for my students to cut apart is killing me!  And as for jewelry making, I just don't feel I can charge any more for my sterling silver jewelry than I do already. What's a teacher / designer to do???

................. Seriously, I want YOU to tell me!

Calico Kitty - Now in Galvanized Steel! (Snork!)

• I don't like copper unless it's coated and I'm not delicate enough to make jewelry using that anyway.
• I've dabbled with galvanized steel - which will rust eventually. But I figure jewelry isn't going to be left out in the rain! But it is too hard for my students to deal with.
• I actually love the look of anodized steel and made my mouse ear pendants with that.

There has to be something shinier and silver "looking" that holds up to wear and doesn't cost a fortune. 

So what have YOU tried? Have you tried nickel silver? Or Stainless? How does it hold up? Is it easy enough for students to handle?? 

I really need some ideas here and would appreciate your input!

-------------SECRET SALE SHHHHhhhh!-------------
After much research in ebay, I was SO shocked at their fees! I came to a conclusion: I would rather save my customers money than give so much to the ebay crapfund! So, from time to time, I'm going to have a SECRET sale. It will be posted on my Fan Page first (hey, you gotta get something for being my fan, right???) and after a day or so, I will post it here.

I have TWO items marked 35% off on Artfire today ONLY. Together, they would make  an incredible set!
They are both Red White and Blue Sweet Treats:

You KNOW those red white and blue holidays are coming! These are 35% off today only code: RWBfan

Pros and Cons of Moo Cards

Last week Moo was having a sale and I've long wanted mini cards for my Creekhiker blog and since I had a bead show coming up, I thought it would be fun and eye catching to have lots of my bead images on my booth table.

File Tabs

But, largely due to feeling ripped off on the shipping, I ended up with cards for the blog ONLY.

They've arrived and I thought I would write a pro and con for other consumers.

Pros:

• I'm giddy over the little file tabs making it easy to separate my cards from the cards I collect at a show.
• Moo allows you to put up to 50 different images on one side of your cards. The other side must be the same image. 
• Moo can use photos from your online photo albums! They have links to Picassa (Blogger's album), Flickr and more. Or you can upload from your own computer.
• Easy editing. Moo's software allows you to move the pictures to frame each image and flip the cards from vertical to horizontal.
• They have all kinds of accessories for your Moo Cards:

Key chain card holder

• They are darn cute!!!

Just SOME of the 50 images

Cons:

• The cards are pricey at .20 each. My full size, double sided, UV coated business cards are about a penny each (GotPrint.com).
• Software does not allow you to choose the same photo multiple times. I have a logo photo from my other blog and I would have loved multiple duplicates of that. In the end, I worked around this by uploading the photo several times under different names! But I would have loved it if their software would have allowed me to just say...Print more of this one!
• Their access to the online albums only go back so far. I was frustrated that I couldn't access some older photos.
• I was also frustrated that I couldn't combine resources i.e. pull pics from blogger AND flickr or blogger AND my computer. I realized I don't have all my pics in any ONE spot!
• I found their shipping outrageous! To order 300 mini cards and a holder was going to run me 18 bucks! Not in the age of flat rate shipping! I kept playing with different configurations and the price would drop low or go way high. I wrote to their tech support and they openly admitted "a glitch" in the cart calculation. Glitch aside - their shipping costs are off the chart. 
• This is my package - It weighed 9 ounces (2 sets of mini cards and a holder):

This should have cost them 2.73 to mail (actual postage) and around 3.45 to allow for the packaging material, yet I was charged 6.50

Just to compare, all my items would have fit in a priority mail box (the small one!) which is around 5 bucks and the post office provides the packaging: 

I picked up the orange box without moving the green to be sure I could get THREE boxes of cards in there:

It fit with room to spare! This combination - which could ship for $5 - would have cost me $18 at Moo. 

All in all, it really tortured me purchasing because I always felt that the shipping was a HUGE ripoff. If I worked at Moo, this would be Item #1 on things to improve! 

I will say, IF you are photoshop savvy, MyMiniCards.com is a much more cost effective option. 16.99 / 100 and FREE shipping!  The downside is they don't allow you to upload from your web albums. But if you know anything about graphics...this is a good thing! Some of my Moo cards are pixelated from being too small! If I had it to do over, I would download the templates at MyMiniCards, prepare a file of 50 images in one place on my computer and go that route. It's a little more work but... in this crappy economy, I have more time than money! 

A Lot Behind - OWOH Winner!

Do you ever have some little task you should do but you are really busy and just don't get to it? And then when you do have the time...it's embarrassing how much time has past? Welcome to my embarrassment!

One World One Heart - the blog hop event was back in February. You know... the month I lost to commercial advertising and working / commuting 16 - 18 hours a day?? Yeah, that month! Anyway, I was overly efficient in making sure my winners got their prizes - I even helped with the distribution of the Fire Diva's Prizes!

While I helped compose the post about the Diva winners, I've never posted my own!! OMG! [Scrapes egg from her face]

The  winner of this heart was Jodi of Jodeao Design:

Jodi is a multi talented artist who knits and makes hats and beads and works in an art gallery and raises a toddler!

Ok... I need to go wash my face... Or maybe I should post something similar on my OTHER blog!