Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to take a moment and wish everyone Merry Christmas and for those that don't celebrate Christmas, Happy Holidays.

Be kind to one another and have a wonderful holiday.

I will be back with you in the new year!



Jesus is the reason for the season!

I Lost A Friend Today

I lost a good friend today. He was a family member since he was a puppy. Max was my parents dog that they got right after I graduated high school. I inherited the two Bostons after my parents moved and we took the house. He was the sweetest animal. So good natured and gentle. He loved to be scratched and when you would stop, he would use his paw to ask for more. He was a great companion. My dogs are my kids.



There is just something about dogs and their unconditional love. Fat, skinny, black, white, rainbow colored, disabled, grumpy, well you know what I mean, they don't care. Feed them, scratch them, love on them and they are your friend for life.

In his old age, Max had lost his hearing and early this year the vet said she believed the tumor that was growing was cancer but there really wasn't anything that could be done without getting a second and third mortgage on our house.. He lived a full life filled with love. Mark, me and his best friend Buddy (our other Boston Terrier) will miss him greatly.. Although our chihuahuas are secretly rejoicing as there will be less food stealing.. :-) I can only hope that there is such a thing as the Rainbow Bridge and we will get to see him again. Rest in Peace my gentle giant Max.

The Rainbow Bridge

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

--Author unknown...

Flaming Hot - Getting it Done

This weeks subject on Flaming Hot is how you Get it Done!

The quick answer is - I don't!

I lay in bed at night with pen and paper and start lists. Then I wake up in the morning and expand the lists. I give lists to my hubby to get done. A majority of the time I get about 1/3rd of the things done. There just never seems to be enough time or energy to get in all done in a day. But I do manage to get the important stuff done.

Since I started working outside the home again, I come home pretty exhausted. I never realized how exhausting it is. On top of the 20 hours working, there is the 20 minutes to work and the 20 minutes driving home, 90 minutes before work getting all the dressing, breakfast stuff done, and lunch breaks.. So instead of working 8 hours, you are actually working over a 10 hour day. I much prefer my leisurely mornings I had before I was working but I do like the regular paychecks.

This is one of my new year's resolutions.. To take on only as much as I can handle in a day, make realistic daily goals for myself, and get into a routine.

Think I can do it? Only time will tell..

:-)
Megan

15 Days Until Christmas!!

I hope everyone is getting their shopping done. This is such a crazy time of year. The last couple of years I have done all my shopping online.

Do you have your decorations up? We are procrastinating this year. Our tv broke, so we have an extra TV in the living room right now until it gets fixed and its where our tree would go.. Crossing my fingers that the tv will be fixed on Wednesday.

I have been at the torch a couple of times last week. Been working on some custom orders and working on my encased florals.

Anyway, I just wanted to give a little update. I will give a better update this week. Show some new pics..

:-)
Megan

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is always my most favorite time of year. The house is just smelling so good with tasty treats cooking. We just finished with some sausage balls and lemon bars are just about ready to be popped in the oven. I also just listed some new beads on etsy..

I just remembered I hadn't updated my blog with the photos of the frog, lizard, and dragonfly from the other night.. Take a look... The dragonfly needs some work but I really am in love with the two others.





Anyway, I better get back to work. I hope you have a wonderful day and remember all the things you are thankful for.

Mega

It's All In Your Head!

Do you ever have something in your brain that you have thought about forever and finally after months or years, you are able to accomplish it??

Working on different techniques is finally paying off for me. I am sitting here patiently waiting for the kiln to cool but knowing in my head that I won't be able to see the beads until the morning. Finally have three years, I have made some beads that I had never been able to make before - A dragonfly, a lizard, and frog beads. I had gotten the frog down last week but the dragonfly and lizard I finally tried tonight. Sculptural beads were never really my thing but they are fast becoming an obsession.

I had gotten a sketch book and sketched out the beads earlier in the week and rehearsed the beads over and over in my head all week at work. Kinda like a surgeon does with an operation, I saw my hands making the beads and the steps I would take. My adrenaline was going just hoping that they wouldn't crack on me from the cold but I was able to keep them nice and toasty. They went into the kiln just beautiful. I sure hope they come out that way too.

So I sit and wait....
:-)
Meg

Inspiration

This weeks blog topic on Flaming Hot has to do with Inspiration - what inspires me when I just run out of steam or ideas.

I am primarily a left brain person (analytical, logical, a thinker), although my family would tell you I have right brain tendencies. I struggle with creativity. The arts that involve making wearable, useful art like sewing projects or jewelry projects I have always been good at. I think it speaks to my sensible side. Set me down with a basket of fabric and tell me to make something with it and it will take me weeks to come up with something. Tell me to make something to hold this, this and that and I will solve your problem and sew something right up! Beadmaking is the same for me. I sit in my studio and look at my 100 pounds of color and wonder what I can do. I have to have something that inspires my creativity.

When I first started, I used magazines and fabric to get me going. They are really great for picking out color combinations. My favorite was Martha Stewart Living. I am a huge fan of Martha Stewart and her magazine has some of the greatest color combinations. Very fresh, light and airy. Oprah Magazine is another good one for fresh color combos. I would rip a page out of the magazine and pick the three or four most predominant colors and use those colors to make a set. It was kind of cool to see how the colors moved from the page to the beads.

Now, a lot of the time, I get inspired by a new toy whether it be a new tool or a new press...Maybe it was a new shipment of glass that I just got in or some new silver. I love to shop and play with new things. When I finally found my muse again after a long hot summer of barely beading, the thing that got me going was glass. I have a large drawer of very expensive, rare, odd color glass. Some that has been gifted to me and some that I purchased myself. I put the glass in the drawer and oogled over it but never used it. Some of the colors I had never even used before. I just decided what good was it doing sitting in a drawer. It was really inspiring to melt it for the first time. See the new colors bloom. Try different techniques. It was very uplifting and I got a huge amount of satisfaction from it.

I just finished beading this evening and what has me inspired right now is becoming a better beader. I am really not trying to focus on anything but techniques. Taking one thing and focusing all my energy on it during the beading session. It really has me going right now and I think I will run with it until I get inspired by something new.

:-)
Megan

We have a new winner!

Happy Tuesday night.. I just got done watching The Unit. Boy I sure didn't see that coming. I liked him. Why do they kill characters off? I will never know. Anyway, we have a new winner for Sept-Oct. Freebie! Bobbie from Holly Hill, Fl.. I have posted the net freebie for November-December.. Since it is the holidays, I am going to do another two month freebie set as its pretty busy here.. Here is a pick of the new freebie set.. Made with lots of yummy, $$ glass.. Opal yellow, EDP, Copper Green, and Rubino Oro..

Anyway, I have a bunch of new listings on Etsy.. I am running a sale for the next week or so on all my new listings.. I have already sold out of a few of the items but I have losts more to list. With this cool weather, I have been extremely busy on the torch. I just can't resist the nice cool air. If it could only be this temperature all year round. I barely can bear sitting in my chair to do transcription on my work days. I just want to grab that computer and run to the parking lot and type in the great outdoors (or not at all)..

I hope everyone had a very happy Halloween and you are starting to settle into the fact that Thanksgiving is in a few weeks and Christmas is just around the corner. Time to get busy at least thinking about Christmas gifts. How many shopping days do we have left? LOL

Night everyone,
Megan

Happy Halloween!

Good Evening Y'all,

Just finished watching The Unit and Bones.. Time to update the blog. I just won a press from Mikes Brass for Glass.. How exciting is that.. I picked out the Drop Focal press so be on the look out for a new shape. A girl can never have too many presses.

Speaking of a new shape, I have had the Top Hat press sitting on my workbench for about 6 months because I had gotten it for a steal but I never picked it up to use it.. I am in love with the press. It is absolutely so easy to use and it makes a great foundation for a lot of other beads like the bubble flower beads below..

I also have a ton of focals that I will be listing. I have finally now been making sets but there for a while, I was focal crazy so I have lots of sheilds to list and quite a few Goddess beads.. Just have to get listing.

Anyway, I better get working. The weather has been pretty crazy lately. Internet keeps going on and off with each storm. Got to work while I can.

Hope y'all have a Happy Halloween!
Megan

Creative Admiration!

So as you can see, I have changed my blog template again. I just wasn't feeling the new background with my standard blog template, so I am going with this. We will see how long it lasts.

I joined a collective blog called Flaming Hot where there are weekly topics and each of the individual artists blog about the topic.. I haven't really had a chance to write in a non-stream of consciousness type writing in a long while.. So here goes (go easy on me). This weeks topic is:

Who do you admire? Aspire to emulate? Look to as the artisan you wish to be? In setting goals and reaching higher where do you find your benchmarks?

This is a hard one. There are so many great lampworkers out there. My thoughts are very different on this now after three years. When I was a newbie lampworker, I admired so many artists. Corina, Kim Neely, JC, Lori, Ever After, and the list goes on and on. I think as a new lampworker, you just can't help but admire and try to emulate other artists. You see their work and want to try to increase your skills, emulate their work, and try to be successful at it.

Now, three years later, I am not sure I want to emulate anyone. I also admire other lampwork artists for different reasons. I have figured out that if you want to be a successful lampworker, you can't make beads just because you think they will sell well. I just have to do my own thing and put it out there for the world. If people like it, great. If they don't, your not sad because your beads came from your creative mind and not a copy of someone elses technique. They are part of me and every bead that goes to a new home, is part of me. I don't think any artist will be successful if they are copycats because there is no replacement for the original.

I admire other artists now more for business sense. The folks that can make a living on their art. That truely is an accomplishment to me. Something I wish that I had the energy for. People that torch every day, clean beads every day, list auctions every day, and get up the next morning and do it all over again.

As for the artist I wish and hope to be, I have thought about this a lot very recently. I am trying to set goals for myself. #1 I hope to perfect techniques. Things that I have partial ability but don't quite do it perfectly. I am trying at each torch session to take one technique and work on it, i.e. dots, scrolls, length in barrells, hearts, etc. #2 To torch on a more regular basis. At least 5 days a week hopefully. #3 This is a big one for me, do shows. Get up enough inventory to do a show and get past my horrible awkward shyness and just do it.. and lastly #4 Promote my website and list auctions/etsy on a more consistent basis.

Anyway, those are the answers to the questions for me. Hopefully I made sense. Time to get to bed for me beadies..

Megan

Any opinions on the new design?

I have really been meaning to do this for a while. I had been told by a few people that my website was a little heavy in color...a little dark. So I sat myself down Sunday and got inspired. I had a bamboo photo for a while that I wanted to play off of and this is what I came up with. I hope you like it.

I would be interested to know what you think. So OLD or NEW?

:-)
Megan

Trying out a new style..

Well I have been able to get on the torch more lately. The weather has changed slightly. The sun isn't as blinding. I finally got a chance to play some which I haven't really be able to do all summer. The bead above is a new one for me. Normally I have a really hard time with non-uniformity but I like the way the bead turned out. I think the large swirls really add to the interest and its a fun bead to play with in your hand.

I also tried out some new nugget frit spirals but just as I was putting the last one in the kiln, my power went out and of course, the kiln turned off. The first set of them are floating in the bottom of the fish tank but I do have 3 from a second torch session.


Anyway, Survivor China just came on, so off I go to feed my reality tv show addiction. I leave you with just the cutest picture ever of one of our long hair Chihuahuas, Pogo. He is just over a year old and one of our momma's babies. We kept three pups from two different litters. He looks just like a little lion.

Have a wonderful night beadies,
Megan

When its not broke, why fix it?

This week its like super big premiere week for a lot of shows that I watch. Thank God for DVR. But I just have to say, The Unit just premiered and they changed the darn intro sequence.. How crappy is that.. I absolutely love that show.. Ya gotta love any man in uniform. It always gives me heart palpitations.

I also love Bones but I really want to see them together..

Anyway, back to my show..



:-)

What can I say....

Hi y'all.. I am not sure what to say about my silence. Between working again, family and friend responsibilities, and the Summer heat, its been crazy. I think that next year, I am going to take the summer off.

I have listed a new Sept.-Oct. freebie and posted two winners for the Summer.

I also have some new beads and some oldies for sale on eBay right now. Definitely take a look.

:-)
Megan

What's Up!!

Bet you thought I had disappeared..  What a month this has been.  I don't get sick often.  I can't tell you the last time I was ill.  I really think it has to do with the fact that I am not big on places with lots of people and I had been working at home for so long.  My germs were my germs and there wasn't a lot of introduction of new germies..  Well, what happens, I start work, get around an enclosed area with lots of new germs and all I have been is sick. 

Around the end of last month and beginning of this month I had a stomach virus, then nearly choked to death one Friday night on some stupid soy crumbled meat I breathed instead of swallowed, then pulled out my back most assuredly from the wrenching over trying to cough up the dumb crumble, then ended up at the emergency room last week with the flu, sore throat so bad I couldn't even swallow my own saliva, and ulcerated tonsils..  I am not sure I want to know what is next.  Hopefully nothing, God willing. 

 

I haven't picked a May winner yet and since its so late already in June..  Here is what I am going to do..

Combine May and June together and add a random sampling of additional beads..  Enough to make it worth your while for sure.  I am so sorry..  I hope you all will keep voting for me..  I really do appreciate it..

Back to your regularly scheduled program.

:-)

Megan

April's Winner!!

Okay, we have a winner! I totally forgot we had moved into May!  The winner is:

Kathy from ?? (soon to find out!)

I am posting the May freebie beads.  Two matching red beads rolled in raku!  I love the colors in them. 
 

I meant to post the update yesterday but we starting working on the other house at 11 a.m. and we didn't walk in the door until after 10 p.m. but other than a few items that all together will take less than an hour, we are DONE!!  I am so glad..  We basically flipped this house.  I am hoping that we sell it quickly.  My hubby is a Realtor so hopefully that will help us. 

 

Anyway, off to start sorting through the e-mails from yesterday and updating some pages on the website.  I hope you have a fabulous week!

:-)
Megan

My Absence

Boy this working thing is sure for the birds. I am so used to doing my own thing, working late hours and sleeping in.. I haven't quite adjusted to the up at the crack of dawn thing yet. But I am getting there. I haven't exactly had the amount of time I would like on the torch lately. We have been having wildfires down here and the smoke is just incredible. It makes it really difficult to breathe with the combination of the heat and the smoke. I promise this Aprils' freebie winner will get a very nice surprise. I just had not had a chance to get something photographed and posted. I also figured out how to post to the blog via e-mail so I promise more updates! I also have started making Pandora Lampwork beads.. Please take a look below.. They are quite pretty and I am able to make quite a few a session so I will start adding them to my listings.. Take a look..

Anyway, I hope this works and the pictures load well.. Crossing my fingers..
:-) Megan

March Winner of Free Beads and New Update!

Hi, I hope everyone is doing well. I started my new part-time job and its got me running ragged. Not having worked outside the house for the last 7 years has got me spoiled. Its good to get out of the house and talk to people but I have to say that I do prefer being at home. I definitely have become a home body over the last 7 years. Don't get me wrong, I really like being with people but given the choice of walking around a mall or sitting at home curled up on the couch with my laptop or a good book, I would take the latter any day of the week.

I have been trying to get out more. I think its good for me. It can definitely get isolating. My hubby and I went yard saling on Saturday which I absolutely love to do. Picked up some bins to store Mark's paints in for 75 cents, a HedgeHog to cut some hedges for $7, a spice rack for frit for $3, and some random household items. I am not sure where you could go to buy 50+ bucks worth of items for less than $20. You sure see all kinds of people at yard sales. From the poorest to the richest. It always strikes me as odd but I can imagine a lot of the rick folks became rich by pinching pennies. You never know who is living next door, whether it could be a millionaire.. Just like the book says, the Millionaire Next Door.

I started some new items on eBay.. Just some simple sets. Take a look..

Now for what you are waiting for... The March Winner of my Bead Giveway is....

NICOLE S. (soon to find out where she is from)

I will be posting the April Giveaway soon.. Just need to get a photo.

I hope you all with keep voting! I thank ya. Have a great April Fools Day!
Megan

New Auctions! Update

Lots of stuff happening in my life right now. Its been kind of crazy. I accepted a job at my old work doing medical transcription again. Its just a per diem job, just 20 hours a week but it sure is going to interrupt my beadmaking schedule. :-) I think it will be good for me though. Anyone who works at home and for as long as I have, you kind of lose touch with people and the outside world, so it will be good for me to be back with people. Although I am going back to it kicking and screaming. I could use the money though as there are pounds and pounds of glass and presses that I would like to reward myself with.. hehe..

I also opened an etsy store with some of my smaller sets and earring pairs. Take a look:
http://jeweledlizard.etsy.com .

I do have some new auctions for you to browse. I am really excited about the painted bead. It features some of my hubby's artwork. Its a really beautiful focal. The other two are just simple sets but beautiful I think. I really love the way the organic focal turned out. Anyway, take a look..

My New Blog!

Welcome to my new blog! The website blog was just not working for me anymore. I have been having quite a few visitors lately and I really wanted the functionality of y'all being able to comment if you wanted to. I guess if someone actually is reading my blog.. :-)

Seeing as though this is so much easier, I am sure I will likely be posting a lot more often. I wasn't able to link it directly on my site so, all the links on the right will take you back to my website. That should help you to navigate back and forth.

Anyway, I have some new auctions up currently. A new goddess bead set, Barb Wire, Rosettes, and a St. Patty's Day set. Take a look..