Pigs and Elephants!

It's strange the way my mind works sometimes...ok, if I'm going to be honest it's strange the way my mind works MOST of the time, but here is an example. I've been going along working happily on disk beads and flowers and some big hole beads when all of the sudden I decide to try my hand at making a pig. He didn't turn out too bad, I named him Percival; here he is.

Somehow from that I thought, "Hey, why not try and elephant?!" I know, strange order to work in but it worked out ok and I named here Eleanor; here she is.

I also made another set of green beer mugs, some big hole beads, and some exchange beads for the "Twigs and Berries" exchange on LE. (I'll spare you the pics of those!) :) Like I said, my mind takes me strange places sometimes! :)

Finally Something NEW!

Yep, you read right! I finally got some new things listed in my Etsy shop! I have had a few custom orders over the past couple of weeks, one a very large one. That, along with my full time job has made getting new beads done to list a bit difficult. Not that I'm complaining at all, the custom orders were fun and turned out nice. But sometimes it's nice to not have any clue what I will be making when I sit down at the torch! Over the past few days I have managed to create a new frog bead (see below) as well as an elephant and a pig which have yet to be cleaned or have pictures taken yet.

I have also been looking at going back to school to get my bachelors and then masters in nursing with the ultimate goal being getting my family nurse practitioner licence. I know that will take a lot of time and effort, actually it kind of already has just looking at programs and pass rates and tuition and scholarships and all that goes along with that, but it will be worth it in the end. If I can't be a full time lampworker, this will be second best. :)

My husband and I have also applied to become foster parents (insert look of shock here for all who know us and are saying "Why don't you just try and have your own kid?!")....and the rest of that sentence is for dachshunds. Yep, you read right, foster parents of dachshunds. We have been approved with the All American Dachshund rescue! As some of you may have read from previous posts, we have a mini dachshund named Bobo, and we just fell in love with the breed when we got him so we wanted to be able to help out where we can. These dogs come from kill shelters, or abusive home environments or puppy mills and the like for the most part. I'll keep you updated on how that goes and if/when we get a foster pup I'm sure there will be plenty of pics to post!

Ok, now on with the beads! You can find all of these in my Etsy shop! :)

Custom orders

Custom orders are not something I do a *lot* of, but I do tend to like them. They often push me in ways I may not have gone otherwise. I had a request from a repeat customer for some "flat flower beads" to use with these fantastic little felted containers that she makes. I had never made any flowers like these before so it took me a bit to get the hang of it and the first one turned out....well, not really looking like a flower! I worked at them for a few days and finally learned what I was doing wrong and the ones that followed turned out much better. She also wanted some "large" (2") ones which I had a bit more trouble with but, like anything else, they just take some practice as well.

New stuff

Well I managed to get a few new things put in my shop over on Artfire and got one new listing up on Etsy (see below). I have been working on some custom orders which have kept me happily busy! I did manage to get a few other things done tonight, hope they turn out as good as I think they might! Today was a good day to just stay inside and torch, it has been raining/sleeting/snowing for the past several hours. :( And in the spirit of that, here is the set I put up on Etsy this week; Winter Wonderland!

Again with the artfire...

Ok, I know I have written about this for three days now, but I just wanted to add that I just listed a second item there and after I got the hang of it, I find it to be easier than Etsy (no, I'm still not leaving Etsy) and if the no fees and the easier to use site aren't enough reason for you to check it out I just found this link I will list below because this computer is giving me trouble, that says they (artfire) is going to plant a tree for every member in an area of ecological distress with a goal of one million trees in 24 months~! How cool is that?!

http://www.killerstartups.com/Site-Reviews/artfire-com-handmade-interactive-artisan-marketplace