Bead show freakout!

I have my first BEAD & BUTTON SHOW coming up the first week of June. I was on the wait list for 3 yrs & I was finally called last month to do the show.That's 47 day until I have to be super fabulous! I am trying not to freak out but the sad fact is I am a wreck.
I am so not organized. I am not a linear thinker. I am a ditz. This helps with creative ideas -but not with the nuts and bolts of running your own business.
I am going to try my best to get organized,to make a time line, to make a business plan & all that fun stuff. Damn my head hurts just thinking about it!
I do have an add for the bead & button program finished. Its the first time I designed an add. I know I have a lot to learn but I want to make a great first impression on everyone.
Thank God my friend Melanie (Earthenwood) is such a sweetheart not to mention totally organized. She has been a great mentor & support through all this. She has been doing the B&B Show for many years. I would be totally lost without her! Well I suppose I should stop blogging & get back to work! Yikes!

Bead Show!

7th Annual Fire & Ice Bead Show
Beadmaker Show and Sale
Saturday April 12, 9am to 5pm
Hagerty Center
715 E. Front Street, Traverse City, MI
$2 Admission

I'm busy this week getting read y for the fire & ice show this Sat.
If you are in the Traverse City area please come by & say hello :)
I'll have some new work to show.

Death & Taxes

"In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."

That, according to Ben Franklin.

"Pinky is ded" That, according to my daughter Maura.

This week I have been busy with both.
If you think that being an artist is a romantic way of life, come visit me when I am working on my taxes... Better yet come visit me when my husband is working on his taxes. It is ugly. That is all I will say.
I have finished my paper work & I am waiting for my husband to finish his so we can present it to our preparer.
Needless to say I have not been feeling very creative this week.
To top off this delight I had to plan a funeral for Pinky

Pinky was my daughter's betta fish. it lived at our house for only 3 days before I was awoke with her cries at 7 am.

"Mom Pinky is just floating. Come and see. I think she is dead"

Just so you know, I am not a morning person. This is not a good way to wake me up.

I did get up and do my best to deal with the tragedy. Yep, Pinky was dead. Not much you can do with a dead fish, so I made my coffee and promised her we would have a funeral. She made invitations (see above)and decorated a small cardboard earring box to use as a casket.

We buried Pinky in the backyard in our little pet cemetery.
She is resting next to Lulu our dear cat, Roscoe our other dear cat, Roscoe our dear snail and the too-many-to-name sea monkeys (Just so you know- we had to find this out the hard way, sea monkeys don't drink milk. That is probably why you don't see them in any of those "got milk?" ads.)

So Pinky Rest in Peace.

~:~:~:~:~

I did manage to get a few more things listed on Etsy in the midst of all this tragedy.

Here is a nutty little fellow complete with acorn beads and my new acorn toggle.

Happy St Patricks Day!

May those who love us, love us;
and those who don't love us,
may God turn their hearts;
and if He doesn't turn their hearts,
may he turn their ankles
so we'll know them by their limping.

Happy St Patricks Day!

BEaD ShOw BuSY!

I am so busy right now! I feel like my brain is spinning around in my head like a dust devil. I am trying to get so many things done & so many ideas realized.
There is a bead show this Sunday that I am preparing for & I am trying to stock my ETSY shop. I have a new spring color pallet I am working on, some really lovely new glazes.
I will post pictures soon. I PROMISE!!

OPEN FOR BUSINESS!

HOORAY! I finally did it!

MY ETSY shop is open!

I'll tell you all about it tomorrow!

Tag you're it

Ive been tagged!!

imagine

This pendant is made from ceramic and lampwork glass, reverse painted with vitreous enamel and fused. It is finished with a Hill tribe silver drop bead.

Imagine...
If I close my eyes I can imagine a garden. It is lush and green with the smell of damp morning earth. The flowers are opening to the warmth of the sun. The fragrant air moves quietly with the whisper of butterflies and honey bees. Birds begin to sing in the distance as the sun reaches down to warm my face...

OK Now it's back to reality. SORRY!

I've been tagged by Melissa Lee!
(Melissa Lee makes wonderful pendants & beads from precious metal clay. Check out her ETSY store.)
I'm "IT"
here is how it goes:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people* at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

SEVEN Random Factiods about myself:

#1. Strangers have asked me if I have ever "been in cartoons?" when they hear me speak.

#2. My diet consists mainly of foods that begin with the letter "C"; coffee, cookies, cereal, chocolate & carrots.

#3. I have a large collection of bakelite bracelets.

#4. I have a spinning wheel & I am currently spinning fleece from a chocolate brown alpaca named "Ted E Bear" who lives near Mesick Michigan.

#5. Ok I'm having a hard time thinking of anything else interesting about myself. Hmmmmm...
Alright- Someday I am going to write a novel.

#6. I like to take naps every chance I get.

#7. I am going to open an ETSY store by March 1st. (I just made that up right now. So I guess that means I have to do it!)

Now who to TAG? Hmmmmm.....

Nancy Sells Glass
The Blue Between
Studio Lockdown aka Playtime
Bolimasa
Beadtowne
For the Love of Beads
Shelly in Africa
Labyrinth Beads

OK GALS Now you are it!!!

Baby its Cold Outside

Here we go, another cold, cold winter. I don't want to go anywhere or do anything. I think animals that hibernate have the right idea. Fatten up & go to bed for 3 months. Its a good plan. Wake me up when its over.

The Joys of Motherhood

My friend & fellow bead maker Carla just had the most scrumptious looking baby boy a few days ago. It made me feel slightly sad to see his beautiful picture. I could practically smell the new baby scent coming right off the image of his fat little face. My baby snuggling days are gone.

I made this mother & child bead 6 years ago when my girl was just a baby & I was still filled with new mommy hormones. I am less sentimental nowadays.
This week my whole life has been put on hold. My 6 yr old baby girl is sick. Puking, fever, lethargy, strep throat & pink eye for the icing on the cake.
If you have never experienced a child with pink eye- its very much like the South Park episode where the kids start turning in to zombies & the symptoms are mistaken for an out break of pink eye at the school. (Hell that episode is practically a pink eye documentary film)
Not only is she sick but she shared the fever & puking & lethargy with me. Yep, I said "get your own cereal mommy feels sicker than you do today". I did too.
(I have so far escaped strep & pink eye- but the week isn't over yet.) She was asking for food. I couldn't even think about eating! I think Darwin had a name for this parenting technique.
Luckily daddy stepped in. Yes he can pour a dish of cereal! He is a man of many talents.

I wish they could add those happy new mommy hormones to orange juice, they same way they add calcium & vitamin D. I could really use a glass of it right now.
Although I have to admit the cool thing about being mom to a 6 yr old is they can call you things like "booger-head" & "raisin-eyes" Babies are only thinking those things.