Almost Time for Gnomes!!

It is beginning to feel like spring is really coming soon! It's actually 50 degrees at almost 11pm, yay!

It will soon be time to get all our gnome friends out of hiding!

They've been secluded in the garage for the winter except for a couple who seem to love the snow.

Sometimes all we could see was a pointy hat sticking through the snow.

They all seem to have unique and fun personalities :)

I did a gnome photo shoot a couple years ago when I was working on book projects.

I was determined to come up with a way to incorporate a gnome into a piece of jewelry for the book.

Above are a few of my first ideas. If you have the book, you know my little friends ended up there.

And....I've decided that the gnome project will be the next one I share here in the Spring, yay!

I can't wait. So, for any of my fellow-gnome loving friends, please stay tuned!

In Search of...

Have you ever bought a special bead and down the road wondered WHY DIDN'T I BUY MORE THAN ONE???!!!

Well, me too! I have been searching online for this butterfly bead and found just about every other butterfly bead except this one!! I did find it on Ebay in a piece of jewelry made by another jewelry designer...

I suppose I could try contacting that person, but I'm thinking that might be a little rude.

Hmm...

You might be wondering why this bead has to be EXACTLY the same. The answer is, I guess it doesn't, but for some reason it seems to have more meaning to me. I made this bracelet when I was doing a book signing at a bead store last year.

It was such a GREAT day and I was hanging out with the owner, staff and customers and one of them was making a chakra bracelet.

The theory is wearing these specific gems in this specific order can help to align your chakras.

Of course, I found it necessary to make one of my own!! Any opportunity to bead with others makes me very happy!

This bracelet has a great vibe and I would like to make more of them! I did discover that the swarovski bicones need to be switched out with real crystal gemstones, so I'm getting ready to restring this one.

So, if you happen to see this butterfly bead, please let me know!! THANK YOU!!

Peace, Love & Bead Bloggers!

It's Sunday and that means it's time to check in with all our bead blogger friends to see what they have been up to. My favorite part of the week...just wish it was Friday all over again!!

HAVE A WONDERFUL NEW WEEK!! Here is a shrinky dink bracelet message to keep things moving in a positive direction! :)

About.com Jewelry Making
Celebrate National Craft Month with jewelry and all kinds of other interesting crafts to try.

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles
Melanie shares her Bead Soup project, made with a shimmery upcycled key and keyplate from her new Earthen Oxide website mixed with some wonderful lampworked glass by MJRbeads

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Jean reviews STEEL WIRE JEWELRY by Brenda Schweder and is totally wowed!

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Andrew sits down with the fine folks of Beadaholique to answer a few questions. Check out his interview!

Cindy Gimbrone, The Lampwork Diva

Come see "what matters most" on Cindy's bead table this week!

Beads & Books
If you make earrings, you'll want to read Michelle's review of the Easy Earring Cards Punch Kit

Art Bead Scene
Take a peek at what's on the bead table each week - it's Bead Table Wednesday!

The Bead Dreamer
Charlene reviews the book Creating Glass Beads by Jeri L. Warhaftig. It’s a wonderful book for ambitious beginners and intermediate glass bead makers. Charlene – she just wants the beads!

Carmi's Art/Life World
A lovely piece of paper inspires a new red necklace!

Beading Arts
Since there were so many participants, The Bead Soup Party is still in full swing, thanks to the efforts of the fabulous Lori Anderson!

Winner Announced

THANK YOU ALL so much for stopping by and leaving a comment on my giveaway post in honor of my sweet dog who happens to be featured in the book. You are all so kind and your comments have really helped me through this!!

I just used random.org to select a winner and had a chance to email Norma of the blog, "Beads and Moonlit Fantaseas" to let her know she WON, yay!!

I also couldn't help but share her recent Bead Soup jewelry project that she titled, the "Bling Thing"!! Is that just too cute!! :)

Thanks for your comment, Norma, the book will be on its way very soon! Have a great weekend everyone!

Stick Figure Whimsy & Giveaway Reminder

Happy weekend!! YAY!! We made it and I am so grateful!! :)

I wanted to share these whimsical doggies that I made quite a few years ago while playing around, I think I made them before I even had doggies of my own!!

I just love the stick-figure quality of these doggies, they make me very happy!!

Thanks for sticking around for what seems to have turned into whimsy-week!!

I will be announcing the winner of my beading book tomorrow, so if you haven't already left a comment here, please take a moment to do that. :)

Have a great weekend!

Whimsical Recycling

I didn't want to disappoint and since I was on a whimsical roll, I wanted to find something unique, different and whimsical to share tonight!!!

Check out these recycled jewelry pieces!!

WOW! I love great ideas and all of these fall under that heading!!

Seriously!! How great are these?!

The simcard earrings are perfect, the ruffle-step-cake earrings and paper bead bracelet

are.....FABULOUSLY UNIQUE AND WHIMSICAL!!

The designer's etsy site is called "hippiekingdom"! Oh my goodness, that name alone brought tears of joy to my eyes!

I love that and I wish there was a hippie kingdom that I could actually get to and set down roots!!

Maybe it exists, here where Devi Chand created it, in India!! Enjoy!!

Need a Little Cheer?

Oh my goodness! I had a great time sharing some whimsical beads the last couple of days and wanted more!!

I did a quick search at Etsy on "whimsical lampwork" and found these seriously fun and cheerful beads by "Puddy Tat Glass".

Please join me in smiling, laughing and head shaking over the whimsy here.

Hopefully if you needed a little cheer, this did the trick!! :)