Ho Ho Ho BOGO SALE

That's right, we're having a buy one get one (of equal or lesser value) 1/2 OFF sale until Nov 30th! There are at least 24 of the Etsy Glass Artists participating. I've added about 35 new jewelry items to my shop yesterday and still have more ready to list. Click on the sale image for the list of glass artists to choose from.

Project Overload

When we married my husband had a coffee cup with a cute drawing of a beaver on it that said "Its just one damn project after another!" That sums it up pretty good around here except it seems that many of my projects start before the previous one is completed. I'm into a woodworking project now that I foolishly thought I could do over last weekend...lol. Hopefully another day or so and I'll post it here.

Been putting more up on Etsy every few days. There's one bead that the more I look at it, the more I really, really like it. It is simpler in design than most of what I make. The shape is a bit chunky too. Take a look...

Etsy Glass Artists Holiday Gift Guide

The Holidays are right around the corner! The EGA (etsy glass artists) we have put together a gift guide in the spirit of giving well-crafted handmade gifts this year. There are dozens of artists offering fantastic items!

Choosing a special handmade gift means so much more than grabbing a mass-produced item from the mall. You'll be buying American instead of from an overseas supplier. With the rash of lead tainted toys being sent to this country I'm afraid to buy my grandkids toys in the stores!

There is actually a movement going on here where you can pledge to buy handmade this Holiday Season and request that others do the same for you.

Wouldn't it be nice to have a simplier less commercial Holiday Season this year, sort of a back to basics? With the focus on the birth of Christ and spending quality time with family and friends.

I've Been Featured!

Jennifer from Laughing Rat Studio has featured my work in her weekly "Seen Around Etsy" article. She is both a fiber and paper artist who has an etsy shop here, http://laughingrat.etsy.com. She has the most beautifully dyed yarns!

Here is the article she wrote about my work. Thanks Jennifer!

Going in the shop tonight...

Adding to the glass shop.

A pretty quiet day today, bit on the chilly side however it is Fall and we've been spoiled by the record temps we've had this month. DH is working on his latest project (one of many, lol) fitting a meat smoker with stainless racks. I've been busy adding stock to the store.

I love these silvered river rock lentils!

Did a couples roses too!

The rest can be viewed here, giapet.etsy.com

Tonight we're taking my folks out for dinner. They spend the winters down south and will be leaving in a week or two. It's such a blessing that they are in good health and have the means to travel however it always saddens a little to see them go.

New Poll Added

Good morning! I just added a new poll to the sidebar on the right. Never know how many beads to put in a set. With ebay larger sets went better, then when I switched over to etsy the smaller sets of just 2 or 3 beads were the ones moving. I've noticed too that people are mixing up their jewelry creations with many other components and not strictly making a piece with several of the same beads in it. Or is it only because the smaller sets are less expensive? Hopefully getting some new input on the matter will help me better serve my customers needs.

I'm off to the torch! Its early so I'll probably being listing today too. Have a great Sunday!

Fall is here!

My first sale as part of the Etsy Glass Artists street team went well. Didn't get much time to sit at the torch, was too busy adding inventory left from the show I did in Grand Rapids earlier this month.


Thank you for your appreciation of my glass work!

I caught a nasty cold (from my daughter) last week too. Just now feeling better, don't have to have the kleenex box within arms reach today, yah! Helped that my DH was up north working on the new barn and doing a little hunting. I was able to totally veg out when I felt like it.

As I type this, my girl is in town getting tickets to her very first rock concert. Not sure how I feel about that, she's 17 now so guess we better get used to not having too much say anymore. Nothing against concerts, did my share of them. Just the maternal part of brain thinking here.

Recently joined some picture & blogging sites to try and get my Etsy presence out there a bit more. Much to my surprise I was contacted by a person who does a weekly feature on her blog about different shops on Etsy. She wanted to feature my shop and asked to use a couple of pictures in her article. Her blog is wonderful, I'll certainly post a link here if and when the piece is up.

While loading an old disc of pictures I came across a lovely set of beads that at first I didn't even remember making! They have great silver reactions that are all the rage these days. Wish I knew what glass the scroll work was done with, can't imagine its one of the $100 a pound silver glasses out today. These were made before that glass was on the market.

Etsy Eye Candy

Just some of the new things I listed today in the etsy glass shop.






Just some of the new things I listed today in the etsy glass shop.

20% Off Sale In Etsy Shop!

In celebration of Etsy Glass Artists street team's 1st birthday we are having a 20% off sale until Oct 14th.

The EGA site below has a list of participating artists here.
http://etsyglass.com

My Esty Shop, Fire-n-Sand can be found here. Fire-n-Sand Glass Shop

I had a show last weekend and have many more items to list this week, be sure to check back often!

Karen

West Michigan Bead Expo

It's time for the Best Bead Show on this side of the state! This Saturday in Grand Rapids MI. Hope to see you there!



So many of us that do this show are friends who meet up on a regular basis. It makes the day really fun. Actually it is the only show I've done in the last few years. If they were all run this well I do many more, lol.

Anyway if you get a chance to drop by ... do it! They have demos and door prizes going on most of the day too.

Oh, and check my etsy shop on Sunday for a surprise there too!

Dang Computer!

Yesterday I decided to reboot my machine (about 1 pm) since it had been awhile since I had. Boy was that a mistake! It would not reload WIN XP, couldn't even get it to start in safe mode for several hours.

I found my way into the set up and turned off the multi something on the hard drive (read that on a blue screen error, least that what I think they meant). Got it up in safe mode but didn't really know what I was looking for, lol. I know just enough about PCs to be dangerous! Next time it rebooted nothing would load again, couldn't even get into system restore or safe mode.

Let the dang thing endlessly loop while it would attempt to open windows, would stop and start over again and again and again and again....you get the picture. Went and took a bath. Later got back in safe mode long enough to set it back to a different restore point but it still wouldn't boot up right again.

Called around to see what the geeks are getting these days. Talked to who I believe was the guy's dad. This one sounds reasonable, lives close by and does house calls. Figured I'd call back first thing this morning and catch him before he left the house.

Well, around 8 pm Sara and I are eating dinner and I hear windows open music and all! Amazing! I'm still going to call this guy in a few weeks (if it lasts that long) and have him give her a once over. As long as no one turns it off we should be ok for now.

We don't have a land line so can't hook up the ol' dinosaur either. I sure hope & pray that this thing keep running until I can take the time (& money) to get it tuned up.

Tag I'm It?

I've been tagged by Chickadee Buttons & Beads!

I must reveal 8 things about myself.

1) I'm really not as ditzy as I might seem, lol.

2) I'm a coffee junkie.

3) My art teacher once told me I had more natural talent than any of his students but failed to use it.

4) I am one of the newest members Etsy's EGA Team.

5) I'm an insomniac at times who can also fall asleep almost anywhere.

6) I didn't walk until 18 months of age.

7) I work better under pressure.

8) I was a wild child in my youth.

According to the rules of this blog tag game I am suppose to find 8 (yikes) people to tag.

Here are the rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. List eight (8) random facts about yourself.
3. Tag eight people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving them a comment on their blogs.

People I tagged.....please don't flame me for this, light your torch instead.
Seriously though....participation is purely optional.

Bolimasa
Lori Greenberg aka Beadnerd
SFD Hot Glass Designs
BOSPHORUS GLASS
alilsumptinsumptin
JC Herrell
Josephine Brooks
psodesign

Joined the EGA, Etsy Glass Artists

I'm a new member of a Etsy street team, the EGA. Click on the jpg below to sign up for our newsletter. It's a very talented group of glass artists! As a group our work includes stained glass, fused and slumped pieces, glass jewelry, and lampworked beads.

Too many accounts!

Geesh, just trying to sign into my blog took 10 minutes. Seems I have 2 google accounts now (not what I intended to do) with one only for signing into blogger.

Opening the Esty shop was a good decision, glad I did. First sale took 3 weeks, however I've averaged about one a day since then. So I will be listing much less on feeBay and more on Esty. I can hardly create enough beads to have new auctions up every 5-7 days so putting my work on Esty is much nicer for me. Buyers don't have to wait for a listing to end or get into bidding wars, just click and it's yours! Here's the link if you haven't been there yet.

giapet.etsy.com

Today I'm off to visit the bead gals from West MI. We try to meet once a month. Great bunch of talented women!

New Etsy Shop

I'm jumping on the Etsy Bandwagon! With eBay raising their listing prices once again I've decided to give Etsy a shot. Nice thing is items listed there stay up for 4 months.......wow, that's a long time for the cash involved. Instead of listing $10 auctions on eBay for 5-7 days I'll be putting the more affordable items on Etsy instead and ...... charging less for shipping there too. Won't be adding insurance automatically like I do on eBay.

My Etsy Glass Shop

Had minor surgery on my foot last week and just starting to get around a bit more with this walking boot. Going to try and add new stuff to the Esty site for the next couple weeks. Keep your eyes peeled, lol.

Long Time, No Post

It has been weeks and weeks since I posted a thing here....what's up with that?

Our puppy is growing pretty fast and boy is she a naughty little girl! So far she has ate or tried to eat my slippers, a scissors, 4 of her toys, soft nail file, a hat, couple gloves, the snow shovel, underwear (anybody's will do), cat #2, every pen or pencil she can find, several socks. You get the idea. Her's a picture from last month.


and another with her digging in a brush pile.

Little Sadie

My daughter and I had been watching petfinder for a couple months... Well, she would either leave pics up on the screen of adorable puppies or would print their listings out and leave them on my desk....Hint! Hint! So during Christmas break we set up a couple meetings with local animal rescues, and brought Sadie home 4 days before the new year. She's almost twice this size now at 13+ wks old. Think she will be tall and lean but not a huge girl. Her mom is a hound-rott mix and they don't know what her dad is. Her mom was rescued a day before she was to be killed and fostered in a private home to have her pups. Her eyes are brown, not blue like the camera showed.