Job update

So I posted a while back about some things that had happened at my old job and how much I hated the tactics of my former boss. Well, I have been at the current job for just over three months now and so far things are good. Every job (at least all of them I've had) has drawbacks and things that could be better but overall I am happy. The best part? The boss is realistic, understanding, and has COMMON SENSE! Three of the main things that the former one was lacking. I haven't had much time for beads of late with different hours and school, I just don't have the time or the energy right now. I have a couple of projects in the works but it will likely be a couple of weeks before anything new hits Etsy. I still do check there almost daily and look at what others are doing and also on Pinterest...maybe this is why I don't have the time to actually MAKE the beads??? Nah, didn't think so! :)

What's with this SRA business??

You may or may not have noticed the Self Representing Artist badge on my blog there to the right but chances are if you are involved in lampwork or jewelry making you have seen the logo many places though you may be wondering exactly what it is all about. I could go into detail about the benefits of buying from SRA artists and what that means, but I recently read another blog post with just that information so I'm just going to give you the link to go check it out yourself! It's a great blog anyway, one that I follow and you will undoubtedly find vast amounts of useful info there! ;) So to check it out, click here.

Castles of Courage

Many of you know that I, among other great artists, donate beads periodically to a program called Beads of Courage. It is an amazing program and I never tire of reading stories by anyone involved with it. I am always looking for new ways to make beads that I think the kids would like and while shopping the other day I came across some great little punches in designs I had not seen before. Particularly a castle. Immediately I thought of the castle nestled into a pink and purple bead, so here are my first two attempts that will go out in a box next week! :)

PS: You can also find Beads of Courage on Facebook where you will read some wonderful stories!

Moving on and beads

So on the job front, I'm jobless. Yep. Really have nothing else to say about it; just going to move on and hope that the next job will be with people I can respect and who are not so threatened by someone who is going to stand up for what is right.

Anyway, I have spent most of the day back and forth between looking for a new job and working on my Etsy shop (see the shop mini to the right). I have neglected it for sometime as well. Because of that I have a PILE of beads that need to be listed. I know that sounds like a simple process but is really isn't. First they all have to have their pictures taken at least twice. Once I do that I put them in separate little baggies so that if there are several that look similar I can make sure that the buyer gets exactly what is in the picture (unless it is a made to order listing). Once I have a good bit of them packaged up this way, I get the pictures loaded into my computer. From here on out is my least favorite part of the process! I have several different places I use for photo editing, but I will be honest, I really don't know much about it. My main goal is to make the subject look as much like it does in real life as possible. Sometimes that isn't exactly easy. Once the photos are finished, then it's time to write the description. I'm not very good at that part either, but alas, it must be done. I always write my descriptions in Word fist one, to make sure I don't lose it and two because it has spell check! ;) When this is done, it is finally time to actually list the bead. This process takes some time but it is worth every step of the process when someone stumbles across something I have made and "hearts" it, or better yet buys it! If you haven't already, please check out my shop and let me know what you think!

Here is a pic of my most recent listing.

Work stuff

I don't remember if I talked about my newest "real" job task or not but I'm going to for a bit now as a bit of explanation why I haven't been blogging much lately. I am a nurse in my "real" job, lampwork/jewelry/craft stuff are hobbies for me, a sort of stress relief (very much needed most of the time). For the past year or so, I have switched from working with developmental disabilities to working in home health and I really enjoy it. However, we have a "new" computer system that isn't exactly user friendly to say the least. The agency took on this system before I started and were to start using it the day I started. To make a long story short(er) it has needed some...tweaking for lack of a better term, to get it to work for us. For whatever reason, I picked up on the system fairly easily so I have been assigned to rebuild this computer system. As I said, I am a nurse...they don't teach software programming or whatever this would be called in nursing school. Not that I don't sort of like doing it, just that it isn't what I was trained to do. And sitting in the office, at a computer for 8 hours a day for the past 6ish weeks has made me not very interested in having much to do with computers when I get home. On top of all of that, we have had 3 new directors in the past year, each with different expectations and quirks that have made all of us in our very small agency a bit....edgy...ok, we are just plain bitchy! The most recent of the 3 started this week and seems like he is going to work out well, he has a lot of knowledge and common sense, not a combo you normally see in upper management, at least not in Small Town USA.
Ok, now that I got all that off my chest, I do have pictures of the beads I made with the Devardi glass, but I don't have them edited yet so maybe this weekend (hopefully) I will get them done and uploaded so you can see the pretty colors. I have been very pleased thus far with the results of the glass especially one of the bright pink shades (I forget the name of it, but you will see.)

Glass!

My new Devardi glass arrived today!! Super fast shipping, only took it 3 business days to get here. Packaged really well and, while I have yet to melt any of it, I am excited about the small selection of colors I ordered. Here are a couple of pics both of the packaging and of the glass. The tubes were inside a medium sized flat rate box.

This is the $5/lb of shorts and a ring mandrel.

LOOK at that PINK!!

I am lovin' this green too!

Will be back when I have some test beads made!!

New listings!

Two new listings today! I spent last night taking pictures so I plan to have a few more up tonight if I can get the pics edited and descriptions written. Sometimes by the time I get through that whole process I forget what I have. For example that first picture was made a while back and I just found them on my bench last night, just sitting there all ready to go! :) Anyway, you can find these two in my etsy shop now.

Still no puppies.

Well, looks like we will have to wait until next weekend again for our foster dogs to get here. They are having some trouble finding enough volunteers to get them from a to b. It probably worked out better for us this way anyway; it was 73 degrees earlier this week and right now there is about 3 inches of snow outside! That is Missouri weather for you!

Maybe this will give me a chance to take some pictures of all those beads that I have piled up in my studio just waiting to be listed in my Etsy shop! I have some lovely big hole bracelet beads that I am really tempted to keep for myself if I don't get them listed soon! I have been having so much fun with silver foil and frits and heavy encasement on them and most of them have turned out just beautiful!

I talked a bit before about my nurse practitioner prescribing me a new medicine for my migraines and being afraid to take it, well I finally did and it worked with no side effects which was great! Unfortunately I was still having headaches almost daily and it had been going on for almost a month even after adjustments from my chiropractor and a round of antibiotics and trying some medicine for allergies so she put me on a daily medicine for the headaches now and it seems to be helping with very few side effects but right now it makes me sleepy still so that is another part of the reason you haven't been seeing very many new blog posts or new beads or anything from me for a while, I am just trying to get back to a good working rhythm. I am getting there, it's just taking a bit longer than I would have liked. But I'm feeling better and the sleepiness is less and less each day so hopefully things will pick up again soon! :)

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

Well, some of you may have noticed I've been absent for a while, seems that post-Christmas things got more hectic than pre-Christmas! We did get to go to my brothers house on Christmas Eve, and even though we didn't get to stay as long as we would have liked, we enjoyed being able to spend the time with family. I will try to put up some pictures later of my beautiful niece and oh-so-handsome nephew. :) Lately I haven't felt like doing much of anything, started out with a headache a few days after Christmas that would come and go every other day or so. Finally on Wednesday I made an appointment with my Nurse Practitioner because by then I had had a headache everyday for the past 6 days straight. She put me on an antibiotic, thinking as I did, that it was probably nothing more than a sinus infection; but she also thinks I may be having migraines as some of the headaches cause nausea and dizziness as well as sensitivity to light. She prescribed a medicine that I can take when I have a migraine, but I'm sort of skeptical about taking it. So today is day three on the antibiotic and the headaches are better but I still don't exactly feel well. I did decide to go back to work today and I may even fire up the torch tonight. I have some beads made that I should be getting listed, and more ideas than I can keep up with which is unusual. Next week is my birthday and a friend of mine and I will be making a trip up north, Kansas City area and try to find some lampwork supply stores, there has to be at least one right? If we find one, it will be the first time I have gotten to buy glass from a person rather than over a computer, I'm very excited about that! :)

Busy time of year..

Well, I am 95% finished with the quilt I have been working on so I'm excited about that, but I realized today, Christmas is really creeping up on me and I have several other projects I have yet to complete! I need to make a batch of candles and some tarts, I have a few pieces of jewelry left to make, some beads that need cleaned, photographed and listed, cookies to make, house to clean, presents to buy, presents to wrap....does it ever end?! I really do love Christmas, mainly getting together with family and friends, but I always push myself so hard to have everything perfect that by the time it actually gets here I'm overwhelmed to say the least. There will be things on my list that don't get done, and it WILL be OK... :) This year we are having people over to our house though, and that is a first for us because this is the first time we have had a home big enough to accommodate people so that adds a little extra stress, but also a sense of pride because we have worked so hard to get to this point in our lives and it will be nice to share that with our families.
OK, enough typing, I have work to do! :)

Finally a NEW Listing!

I finally got some pictures taken of some of the beads I have had laying around here for weeks now; I even managed to get one set listed! :)

I had a decent time at my Granny's yesterday, but the drive wore me out (couldn't have had anything to do with only 4 hours of sleep the night before!) It is a bit frustrating to spend much time there though for several reasons. My grandpa was diagnosed with Alzheimer's a few years ago and has had a stroke as well, but for some reason my Granny still seems to believe there is nothing wrong with him and that he is "faking" and only does the things he does to irritate her. She on the other hand, is severely depressed but refuses to acknowledge it or be put on any medication for it. It all just makes me sad. As I said though, yesterday really went pretty well all things considered. She made a peanut butter pie for me (my fav!) and she is the ONLY one who knows how to make it right! We visited for hours and ate till we felt we would bust and then visited some more. I left home at 9am and got back a little after 7pm and it really did make for a very long day, but well worth the trip!

Well, off to edit more pics and maybe list something else in my Etsy store!

Oh, and here is a pic of the set I just listed!

Time for a trip

Well, tomorrow is my day off and a week or so ago my Granny called and invited me up to her house for a smallish family get together. My hubby has to work but Bobo and I will be making the 2 1/2 hour trek north tomorrow. It will be nice to see some of the family at least because I have to work on Thanksgiving and won't get to go (one of the many *joys* of being a nurse). I told them I would try to bring some sort of dessert to bring along so I made a batch of Buckeyes that I still need to go dip in chocolate! They are pretty tasty, if you like peanut butter especially! :) Click here for the recipe!
With any luck I will get around to taking some pictures of beads on Monday and get some new things listed, I've been slacking a bit...ok, a lot! ;)

FINALLY!

I have been having problems with my computer for weeks now and I finally figured out what was causing it was a piece of malware known as xp antivirus. It is an extremely smart little bugger! For me, it kept popping up saying that my computer was infected with loads of spyware to start with. I found the program and deleted it...I thought. Then I kept having problems with my home page changing and when I would search for something online, it would come up like it normally does, but when I clicked the website I wanted to see, I got redirected to something totally unrelated! That was all annoying enough, but then it shut down my computer without warning and I could only get it to start back up in safe mode! I did some research and found that a simple "uninstall" will not get rid of this and everything I was reading recommended different pieces of information. I tried several methods of manual removal and still had problems. Then I found a site that recommended MalwareBytes' malware removal tool, but I couldn't get to the website to download it because the xp antivirus is way to smart! So I finally found download.com. I was able to download the program from there and it seemingly removed the rest of the program but my computer still wasn't working right! So I downloaded ccleaner also from download.com and ran it. It also caught lots of trojans and things and fixed several registry errors and my computer was running faster, but still only in safe mode. I was beginning to think I was going to have to take my computer to someone who knew what they were doing when I came across Computer Hope.com and stumbled on to this post which suggested downloading yet another program called SDFix which you can download here. I followed the instructions and finally my computer is fixed! I am so glad that I didn't have to take it somewhere and pay loads of money to get it done! Best of all, all of the things I needed to download were free!
Now I can finally get back to listing some beads! :)

The Bright Side of a Bad Day.

I had to work tonight and it was not a great night. I had to send two of my staff to the ER for tetanus shots after being bit and scratched by the individuals we care for. I still don't really know anything about the whole transfer thing I posted about before other than that it will be at least another 2 weeks before any decision will be made and that now I know they don't have to take into consideration that I already work there because I have been back for less than 6 months (the initial probationary period); they can hire someone from off the street with no experience and throw them over there with the one other nurse who had 4 months of experience there and only psych experience before that in a mostly medical building....makes since right? Well that is the state of Misery (yeah, I know it's spelled Missouri, but if you live here, you know) for ya!

Anyway, I won a bead! Not just any bead mind you a Marcy Lamberson bead! She makes the most amazing whimsical pieces you have ever seen! I have never seen a bead of hers that I didn't like so I am sure I will love what I get! Be sure and check out her blog and her Etsy shop, you will see what I mean! ;)

I have a pile of beads that need to be cleaned so I will have them ready to be able to take pics tomorrow if the weather cooperates, but am I doing that? No. I am blogging, and then I am going over to the abc.com website to watch last nights episode of Grey's Anatomy! It is the only thing I really ever watch with any regularity, but since I work on Thursdays I always have to wait until Friday night and watch it online. It works for me though! Maybe I'll clean beads after that....maybe.

Busy week

This has been a bit of a busy week so I haven't been able to get as much done as I had hoped. Hubby and I celebrated our 1 yr anniversary Sunday, my Dad came down yesterday to take us for lunch, I had to work today which also happens to be my husbands birthday so we just got back from dinner at his parents' house. We have had a good week, just a very full week. I wanted to get some bead photos taken but it has been too cloudy outside and the ones I take inside never turn out quite right...
Tomorrow we are going to a "nearby" big city (about an hour away) to really celebrate our anniversary since he had to work on Sunday. We are going to do a bit of shopping and eat at Outback Steakhouse (thanks to gift certificates)...then back to work on Thursday! :(
I have four or five new sets of disks to put on Etsy once I can get the pictures done, and am still waiting on pictures for the release of my new series; I will get there, it's just taking longer than I had hoped!

My boring life...

So I managed to get to leave work a bit early tonight and what did I do when I got home? Cleaned my carpets. Yep, exciting don't you think? It did need to be done, but it wasn't what I wanted to do. What I wanted to do was work on the "something new" I am sure you are all waiting for. I guess I probably mentioned it was a bead series? I can't remember now...anyway it is. The style though is what is different for me. I know, I don't really have a "style" but I think you will see what I mean when I show you. It will probably be early next week before I am ready, but maybe before.

Tonight my goal is to go to bed "early", well for me anyway. My husband is working nights right now (he is a police officer) and I have trouble sleeping when he isn't here and usually don't get to sleep until around 4:30 am but tonight I'm going to try. So, off I go...