New Stuff!

I have been working at getting new stuff listed in my Etsy shop in the past couple of weeks. I still have a box full of beads that are ready to be listed but I'm making a dent! I'm also working on my masters degree so that tends to mean LOTS of writing which I'm putting off doing at the moment because the subject is not one that interests me....

Anyway, here is my newest listing!

Ready for Fall

I love this time of year! The air is getting cooler, the days are getting shorter...soon the leaves will begin to change. It's my favorite time of year! I love everything about fall, the crisp air, the warm colors, the appearance of apple cider on the shelves, and pumpkins. I LOVE PUMPKINS! I have been trying to find a way to incorporate them into my home year round, I love them that much. I have some of every shape, size, and color; mostly made of glass. Speaking of ones made of glass, here is my most recent addition to my Etsy shop, you guessed it; a sweet little pumpkin!

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!!

Shoes and Glass

So my hubby and I went out to our local shoe store the other day and we have been looking at the Sketchers Shape Ups for some time now and were thrilled to discover that they were on sale! Typically they are $99.99 everywhere we look but they had select ones marked down to $79.99! We each bought a pair and are excited to see if they are everything we have built them up to be. His aunt has 2 pair and she swears by them. She has some back and knee trouble and says that the shock absorption is great for that. That is the main reason I wanted to try a pair for myself, I have some back issues of my own and when I spend a day on my feet it just makes it worse. They suggest you sort of "build up" to wearing them all day and only wear them for 30 minutes or so for the first few days until you get used to walking in them, there is a difference; sort of like walking in sand all the time. I have them on now and this is day 2. The biggest thing I notice so far is that they do seem to alleviate some of the pain I have been having in my lower back....we'll see how it goes.
Now for the glass....I decided the other day to try some of the Devardi glass that I keep seeing posted on Ebay and discussed over on LE. I didn't order a *lot* but some of the different colors that you don't typically find in soft glass. It should be here tomorrow or Tuesday and I am sooo excited to give it a shot! At $5.99/lb even if I don't really like it, I can't be tooo disappointed! :)

Me, the KLUTZ!

So I have had the last 4 days off because I was walking up the stairs at work last week and had a really sharp pain in my back. At first I thought it was just a fluke muscle spasm or something, I walked around a bit and it seemed fine so the next time I was getting ready to go up to my office, I took the stairs again and got the same pain again. When I got upstairs, I called my chiropractor and made an appointment for the next day and went on about the evening (along with 600 mg of Advil). Went to the chiropractor the next day and had a few ribs out in that area which he put back in and I thought nothing more of it, it felt better so I came home and went back to bed (I'm not a morning person!). When I got up again later and put my pants on, same sharp pain. So, I called my primary doctor's office and made an appointment with the NP on call. I normally don't go running to the doctor for every little pain, but one this was a big pain, two I knew I couldn't work with it (as I have said before I work in a psych facility and you just never know when you are gonna need to run!) and three, I'm still on probation at work so I have to have a doctors excuse if I'm not there. Well, the NP wound up giving me two days off though she really didn't know what was wrong, it really isn't "typical" pain of anything...duh, I already knew that! But she did give me some antispasmodic medication and told me to "take it easy". The medicine knocks me out and today it still hurts. I am starting to think maybe I somehow tore a muscle or something. Anyway, it's back to work tomorrow. To make things even better, today I fell twice and twisted my ankle so now it hurts too! Good thing I'm not as clumsy with glass, I would have already caught myself on fire by now! :)

New Series

A few posts back I spoke about a new series I had in the works. Well, it is finally time to show it to you, at least the first of the series. I got this idea after finding out what the October challenge would be for LEST (Lampwork Etc. Street Team) on Etsy; breast cancer awareness. I have made very few goddesses to this point but the idea of a "Survivor Goddess" popped into my head as I was trying to think of things to create for this challenge. To me, a goddess represents the beauty and grace of the female form regardless of size, shape, age, color...or whatever else. I was so excited about the idea of this that I made several before it occurred to me that some might be offended by this...if you are one of them, I am truly sorry. I didn't create these to offend anyone, the plan is to raise awareness. As part of the challenge on Etsy, the proceeds from anything pink and these goddesses will go to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Please help me support this great cause!

Sponsoring a Giveaway!

Well, our day was pretty good today. We did some shopping (and spent too much $$) and dinner was GREAT but it was a long day! I almost forgot that I am sponsoring a giveaway on Simply Sentimental the Blog this week; click here to go check it out and enter to win this sterling silver necklace with one of my own handmade hollow lampwork pumpkins!

Florals!

I am really excited about a couple of new floral beads I just finished! One even has cz's in it. Why am I so excited? Because these are some of the best ones I have made AND they didn't break! I know it is just part of the process of learning what works and what doesn't but it is so frustrating when you have a bead that you think is going to be amazing, and it is....until it splits right down the middle! :( I also managed to make my first hollow bead tonight....followed by several more once I figured the process out. I think it was hollow beads that first attracted me to lampwork years ago, no commercial bead can even come close to comparing to them (or any other artisan-made bead imo!). My husband even liked the hollow one, which is really saying something for a man who could really care less about beads! :) Anyway, the florals are up in my Etsy shop, here are the pictures.

Now what?

OK, so I get to work today and the lady I was talking about yesterday was sent called into the building supervisor's office, presumably about the issue yesterday; and came back to our area in tears and not speaking to anyone. My boss (one step below the building supervisor) called me later to tell me that she had discussed the issue with the woman and it was determined that she did not need to be written up for anything at this time! And, now she doesn't have to cover that area on Tuesdays (the only day the "new" lady works on our shift)! Now what do I do? I feel like I have been totally undermined. I am not kidding, I have never been yelled at like that by anyone before, and certainly not from someone I supervise! If I had talked to MY boss that way, you can bet I would have been written up if not worse! I don't really care that she doesn't have to cover, but isn't it a bit discriminatory that they are telling her that she can cover for everyone except this person? I feel like now nothing I say to her matters because she can just go to my boss and get whatever she wants...
I swear if I could figure out how to support myself through my Etsy shop or lampwork somehow, I would soooo quit my job right now!

Emperor's Grove



Arabian Night
Col. Mustard the Lampwork Octopus Bead
Peach the Lampwork Octopus Bead Here are some pics of some of my more recent work. I have been working on some new focals, but of course I still love to do the "critter beads" too. I bought some new frits from Candice Mathewson at http://www.beadgoodies.com/ and she was kind enough to post a pic of my "Arabian Night" (named after her frit that I used for the bead) on her site with a link to my Etsy shop. Be sure and check it out, she has some great frit!