Breast Cancer Awareness Challenge

I am a new member of the Fire Divas! A group of lampwork bead artisans promoting the use of artisan made glass beads. The belief is that, by promoting one another's work, we all benefit. :-) What an organized, talented bunch! I'm proud to be a part.

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Fire Divas are having a Breast Cancer Awareness Challenge! Several of our members have made wonderful pieces for YOU to vote on. First, you can feast your eyes on these beauties in big, clear pictures. When you're done savoring them, please vote for your favorite in bite-sized images on the right side of the Fire Divas Blog . The voting will stay open for one week - then the winner will receive a really cool prize!

You can also find us on Facebook at the
Fire Divas Fanpage

It's all new to me so I have yet to get myself completely emergered, but I really look forward to being in the group.

And for other news...my fall shows are over. It's usually kind of sad, but I did four in a row (and one I helped at in between!) so I was kinda of ready to get home and CLEAN the house I guess! ha. No really, I did clean the house. I don't remember the last time I did that! No more shows coming up until Feruary--which will be here soon enough.
Well, off to get the kids ready for school. Have a great day and don't forget to vote in the Fire Divas Challenge!

I love My Customers!

Two of the latest installments of works by my talented customers!

These wonderful works above were done by Linda Jones of Wild Wicked Beads. Her Etsy shop is definately a treat for the eyes! I have admired her work for quite a while and was so honored to have her work with my beads!

These super-fun pieces were done by Gergana Todorova of Geri Jewel Art. Check out her Etsy shop for wonderful, wearbale art!

Birthday Sale

It was 20 years ago today...
In honor of my daughter's 20th birthday (No, I am NOT old enough to have a child that old! ha) everthing in my Etsy shop is 20% off today! That includes the sale stuff and everything! :-)
Here's my shop ------------------------------------------------------->>>

It's Almost the End of July!

I haven't posted for such a long time! I guess my life is just really BORING! Wow.
I guess we HAVE been painting the house. What a long drawn out process THAT has turned out to be! Can you say "vinyl siding"? My husband says we'll never paint again. We'll see. Here's a preview--we started with the shed:


No shows this summer--kind of depressing. Can't wait for the fall shows to start. The weather is making it FEEL like fall, however!

I've been listing as much as I can in my etsy shop, you can find new things there. I also donated some "swag" for an event call the Des Moines Swap-O-Rama .
Swap-O-Rama-Rama is "a clothing swap and series of do-it-yourself workshops in which a community explores creative reuse through the recycling of used clothing." Sounds cool huh? August 1st. You should check out the website. I'm also working on some things for the Iowa Shakespeare Experience . That should be a good time for all!
Well, that's about all the new news that I have for now. Hope summer is going well for everyone. It's going FAST, that's for sure!

Bead Blast 2009

I'm so excited to be doing the Kansas City Bead Society Bead Blast . I've never even been to this show but I've heard very good things and there are a lot of fabulous vendors!

It's coming up next weekend:

Saturday May 2nd 10am to 6 pm
Sunday May 3rd 10am to 5 pm

Cost : Adults $5.00 Children 12-6 $3.00 Children 5 and under are Free (There's a $1 off coupon at the website)

Kansas City Market Center
6800 W. 115th Street
Overland Park, KS 66211

Check the website for vendor and class lists, coupons and directions. In the meantime, everyone stay healthy and dry (not possible in Iowa this weekend!!) and I hope to see you there!

Wow what a whirlwind it's been since last I updated! It was great having Grandma Lorna here!
Thanks to all of the people who came out to the Twin Cities Bead Bazaar in Hopkins, MN. It's always great to put faces with names and meet new beady people! I think we may have even born a couple of new bead people at the gas station up from our hotel! We left the two young cashier men with some beads for thought and I have to say they seemed very intrigued! :-)
I'm getting ready for the Omaha Bead Bazaar which is April 4th at the Westside Community Center. If you're in the area, this is a really great one-day show with many fantastic vendors!
Check my "Upcoming Events" for more information.
I'm going back to the torch, then to the nursing home with my grandma and then tonight is "Fun Night" at school. Whew. I need a clone!
Talk to you soon!

Grandma's Coming!

Of course, as always, it's been a long time since I've updated here. I've been doing more of the Twitter and Facebook thing. Now that I've been doing that, I feel like I have more to say than just 140 characters will allow, so maybe I should do my babbling here! :-)
Anyway.... Grandma Lorna is coming from Colorado tomorrow. I think I've told you before that she's somewhat of a celebrity around here. Today we will spend the day cleaning and telling anyone who will listen (even strangers at the store!) "Grandma Lorna is coming tomorrow!". Tomorrow will be hours of, "How much longer?" and "Is she here yet!?" until finally after ten long hours of driving, Grandma will arrive to a barrage of, "DO you want to play hide and seek!?' and "Can we go to the park!?" and "Do you want to use Mom's bike and we can go for a ride?" and and and....
That will all be before she even walks in the door! Once in the door she will not be allowed to use the bathroom privately and she will be instantly obstacled with pictures and projects from school, toys from Santa that she's hasn't seen yet, and anything else that can be quickly carried out and placed at her feet to see. It happens pretty much the same way every time. I guess that makes it somewhat of a ritual. I hadn't even thought of it that way until now.
It's always exciting when Grandma comes!

To You

To all of my wonderful customers, I would just like to say a big: !!!

Thank you for allowing me to do what I love! It's important for me to be able to create in my life and without your support of my beadmaking, I probably would have just kept creating more children!! haha!
Have a great Sunday. We're off to the Kiwanis club pancake breakfast and then to the Pinewood Derby races for Boy Scouts. I'm sure you'll wanna see pictures of that! :-)

Second Sunday

Hello! Happy New Year! Geeze, hard to believe that as a child (and even into high school) I thought I wanted to be a writer! Now I can't even seem to keep up with a blog!
I hope everyone had wonderful holidays. They were fast and furious for us but the weather did do its part to slow us down! With 4 new inches of snow yesterday, it's like Christmas all over again! The kids love the snow of course and even my husband secretly can't wait to get on the tractor and plow our mile-long driveway! It's not REALLY a mile long but...I wouldn't want to clear the snow with a shovel. Actually, I wouldn't want o clear the snow myself at ALL! :-) That's what I have all these kids for--haha.
Anyway, I just wanted to say Happy New Year before it was Valentine's day! I've got several shows coming up that I'll update soon on the "Upcoming Events" section.
Take care and stay warm!

P.S. I know I'm not supposed to mess with Texas...but for my southern border friends (and my little brother too!) we Iowans don't have much sympathy for your 53 degree days in the middle of January. Sorry! As you're walking around in your sandals and short sleeves, think of me here with my four layers of clothes and wool boots. At least I work with hot glass and not ice sculptures! :-)