Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Marble Crazy Show this weekend

Ready to head to Kansas for the annual Marble Crazy at Moon Marble Company!  Want more info?  Here is the link: Marble Crazy

Here is a little taste of what we will be bringing!







Hope to see you there!

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Bead Soup Ingredients Simmering

Wow, been a couple weeks since my last blog post!  Life is such a whirlwind for all of us, isn't it?  Our past two weeks have included parent-teacher conferences, working at several jobs, prom dress shopping, a blizzard that dumped a foot of snow on us (but that wasn't all bad, we got to be home snowed in a bit), making a tiny beaded couch for a juried art exhibit at Graham Gallery (which contains more than 1000 3mm Czech glass beads), submitting applications for new art shows, and most of all prepping for Marble Crazy at Moon Marble Company in Bonner Springs, KS this weekend.  It is our first show of the "season" (which runs from now until the early part of December...can we say exhausting?).  Chris has around 100 marbles made and I have been furiously putting lampwork designs together for the show.  We will leave Thursday and the show is Friday and Saturday.  Thursday night we will get to visit with my brother, Mark, who lives in Gardner, KS which is south of Bonner Springs.  I had a phone call a bit ago from him, and apparently during a bout of mental insanity, he was out sledding (which I am sure involved 4 wheelers) and hit a tree and now has a spiral break in his leg.  He will have surgery on it tomorrow morning.  Fun times ahead for him! 

Any whoo, I am lucky enough to participate once again in the Bead Soup Blog Hop coming up at the end of March and into April.  I am partnered up with Tari Kahrs, her blog is Pearl and Pebble, and this is what we sent to her:

Chris made the gorgeous spring lampwork beads for her focals, and I put together the rest of the ingredients from my bead horde (yes it has been upgraded from a stash to a horde).  A cute porcelain owl, silver plate chain and flower toggle (my favorite style ever), Chinese and Swarovski crystals, fresh water and Swarovski pearls, Czech glass (beads, flowers, and leaves), a silver branch, plus a variety of other goodies.

This is what I received from Tari yesterday and I AM THRILLED!!!

Sari silk ribbon, a honey bee ceramic focal with matching spacers, lampwork irregular nuggets, ceramic rounds, bronze clay toggle, matte finish Czech glass beads, and gorgeous stamped tile beads.  I am a lucky beader!  Gotta love a bead swap partner who loves Art Beads!  Our reveal date is in the second round of the three reveals.  We are just two of the FIVE HUNDRED people signed up to participate!  I love the Bead Soup Blog Hop parties (invented and hosted by the fabulous Lori Anderson), they are a whole bunch of fun!  You meet other bloggers and beaders from all over the world and are often presented with beads you have never worked with before!  I can't wait to play with them!

Friday, February 8, 2013

Getting ready for Marble Crazy!!!

Hi there everybody!  Guest blogger Chris here.  I have been spending the last couple of months trying to get ready for the Marble Crazy Show at Moon Marble in Bonner Springs Kansas.  Last year, I decided to participate with one month to prepare for the show.  As soon as the show ended last year, we decided to be there again this year.  And to that end, I have been spending part of our down time (mid December through February) getting ready.  Here are some pictures of some of the marbles I will be bringing along. 
Sonoran Eye

Experimental Flower

Green, Purple and Lutz

A fun green marble

Purple Swirl

Multicolor transparent over a white core
Pretty cool, don't you think?  The photos were taken for me by a very talented local photographer by the name of Jason Jilg.  Here is a link to his website.  Be sure to check it out.  He does awesome photography of a variety of subject matter. 

I plan on posting more pictures as the show gets closer so be sure to check back!

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

New Spring and Summer 2014 Swarovski Colors

Innovations Spring-Summer 2014

I love when Swarovski releases their new crystal colors and shapes each spring and fall!  I always try to share them here in case you have missed them elsewhere on the internet.  Here they are (photos and info from Merchant Overseas).

 Light Silk Light Silk

Crystal Rose GoldCrystal Rose Gold

Crystal Rose Gold Pearl Crystal Rose Gold Pearl

There are also a bunch of new shapes pieces which you can read more about here.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Going Hi Tech

I am posting this using my new Bluetooth keyboard I purchased today for my iPod mini. Yikes! Very hi-tech! Chris and I also purchased a new camera for taking jewelry and bead pictures, which he has been playing with since we got home this evening. Wow, what a zoom! Chris took a picture (very clear) of my eyeball from the kitchen, a room away! Nice! He also took a nice picture of Suki, who spends as much time as possible with her "Daddy".  Nice to be able to update the blog without being on the computer in our cold bedroom!

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