Beads of Courage Program

Beads of Courage provides Arts-in-Medicine for children with serious illness.
This is a picture of some of the beads I've been making for the Beads of Courage program. This wonderful program was started by nurse Jean Baruch in 2005 and has spread to 60 hospitals.

I've linked the picture to their about page so you can read more about what they do for the kids and families who are going through so much. They even have a Beads in Space program where beads are selected to ride the space shuttle and then return to earth and the BOC. How cool is that!

Many artists also donate their work for auctions and web sales with the money going directly to this cause. The artist site can be found here http://www.artistsgive.com/

The Fire Divas, an Etsy Team I belong to is having a sale for the next week. There are 16 of us participating with varying discounts and coupon codes to apply them. You can read more about it and see the list of shops on the Fire Divas Blog.

Gotta run and get ready for work. Next up here is another freebie drawing as soon I make a piece for it. Get on the mailing list (right hand column) to be entered for a chance to win!

Until then, Think Spring!

Customer Appreciation Sale!

Having a 20% Off Sale to say "Thanks" to all of you who have made it possible for me to continue to work with glass all these years. I appreciate you as a customer and will continue to treat both you and your information with the utmost respect.

Now for the sale info. You'll need to use the coupon code 20PERCENTOFF during checkout and the 20% off should be applied to the cart. The code is good in both my Etsy and Artfire shops. The sale runs now through Sunday night, April 3rd. If you do happen to run into issues on either site please contact me and we'll figure it out.

Here's a couple new items from me.

Budding Tulips

Classic Ribbed Rounds

That's it for now, I have more beads to make!

Cabin Fever & the Winter Blues

It's here. I'm restless

Cabin Fever has set in a little earlier this year (seems to that every year now)
The older I get the less I like the cold weather and snow. There are days I don't notice whats going on outside because I never look outside, how sad it that? Do love a good snowstorm though and we have plenty of them living close to one of the Great Lakes. The promise of spring emerging in just a few short weeks (keep telling myself) helps me keep the faith, lol.

The iced Chapel Hill shoreline picture above is a photo sent to me via email with a bunch of other beautiful shots from MI. I'll be posting them on this blog over the next several weeks until spring catches my attention. I don't know who originally took the photos, if I find out credit will be given to them.



In the meantime my 20% Off Winter Sale is still active until Tuesday Midnight. Use code WINTER2011 during checkout in either of my shops, etsy and artfire

THINK SPRING!

Winter 20% Off Sale

Having a Winter 20% Off Sale! For the next week or so I'm having this sale in my Etsy Shop to raise money for taxes. Etsy has a cool coupon feature now so you'll have to enter the code WINTER2011 at checkout for the discount to apply. No more waiting for refunds from paypal!

I'm going to run the same sale and same code to my Artfire Shop too! I've added a few new things there and hope to add many more in the next week.

Edited to add...
Artfire is doing unscheduled maintenance right now, I won't be able to add the code there till later today.

Cleaning Beads

When you're a bead artist one of most dreaded chores you have to do is clean your beads, often dozens of them at a time. Ask most bead makers and they'll say this is the chore they like doing the least. This and dipping mandrels.


Recently I saw a post on LE (Lampwork Etc., the best lampwork forum there is) about cleaning out big hole beads, specifically pandora style ones made on a 3/16 mandrel.

I had completely forgot that I have a large stash of diamond coated bits just the right size for pandora and other euro style beads. When adding a sterling silver core to these beads you need a 5mm hole for the tubing. The bits I use are 5mm and have a pointed end which helps to center the bit when cleaning.


I also use these for cleaning vessels and dread beads since they work much faster covering a larger area than the small bits. If you haven't tried these I encourage you to do so, at $3 they won't break the bank and you'll have those bracelets beads ready to core in no time. These are in both my Artfire and Etsy shops.

Black Friday/Cyber Monday ... and Tuesday!

Running late as usual, seems to be a theme with me lately. Couldn't drag myself to the computer after eating turkey yesterday to post my Thanksgiving weekend sale so here it is.

10% off in both my shops.
Etsy Shop
Please use this coupon code at checkout, BLOG2010THX
Yes, Etsy has the coupon feature now!

Artfire Shop
Please use this coupon code at checkout, BLOG2010THX

Giveaway Item


And since the Fire Divas just did a breast cancer research promotion I thought it would be nice to do a pink heart for the giveaway. Everyone on my mailing list has a chance to win this beauty! Sign up in the right column of this blog...there's still time. A winner will be chosen next week after the sale is over.

Here's the list of Fire Divas current sales too.

Karen - Friday - Tuesday, 10% off in both shops, http://www.etsy.com/shop/giapet and http://www.artfire.com/users/Fire-n-Sand

Holly - 20% off my shop http://Hollysfolly.com or Artfire shop http://www.artfire.com/users/HollysFollyGlass or my Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/HollysFollyGlass - use coupon code THANKFUL upon check out. Addition savings for fans.

Lori - 10% off my Etsy http://www.ashlyndesign.etsy.com/ and ArtFire http://www.artfire.com/users/AshlynDesign shops from Friday to Monday

Kathleen -10% off http://www.etsy.com/shop/UglyDucklingBeads

Sonja-10% off http://www.etsy.com/shop/SilverRiverGlassWork and http://www.artfire.com/users/SilverRiverGlassWorks

Lara - 10% off at Artfire and Etsy + free shipping
http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&seller_id=22129
and http://www.etsy.com/shop/Lutrick

Janel 20% off at Etsy from Friday to Monday http://www.etsy.com/shop/JanelDudleyBeads

Patrice - 20% off my ArtFire shop: http://www.artfire.com/users/shepherdcreations : Use coupon "FIREDIVASTHANKSGIVING2010"

Barb - 15% off on my AF shop from Friday-monday http://www.artfire.com/users/riversedgeglass

Melanie - 20% off on ArtFire http://arensea.artfire.com/ or Etsy http://arensea.etsy.com/

Amy 20% off on ArtFire shop coupon code TURKEY: http://www.artfire.com/users/AmySimsDesigns


Theresa - Free shipping on all items in my Artfire shop until Monday:http://www.artfire.com/users/teasebeads

Lea - 20% off my Artfire http://www.artfire.com/users/LAJewelryDesigns and Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/LAJewelryDesigns from Friday to Monday - use coupon code HAPPYTHANKSGIVING upon check out.

More goodies coming soon...but running late for work now......poof!

Bug Bitten

I've been bitten by a new bug! More like a few bugs that go hand-n-hand. This coming Feb it will be 3 years (yeah I know it's embarrassing) since I bought an electroforming kit. I had the solution and everything needed to play with it but just never got around to it. Not surprising since I once kept an unfinished macrame wall project almost 20 years, lol. Hey...those wooden beads I salvaged from it are vintage now!

Anyway, this electroforming stuff is pretty cool! It is like electroplating except it deposits a heavier layer of metal on the pieces you have in the solution. Once they come out of the chemical bath you can patina them to different colors using homemade recipes or pre-mixed ones.



I've always loved the green weathered look copper gets when exposed to the elements. There is a copper domed roof on a church in Grand Rapids, MI that you can see from the highway... I just love the color of it. Last time I drove past it they were putting a new roof on it, it was bright and shiny again.

This process adds all kinds of possibilities for my glass work. Some of the above pieces came from nature like the mini pine cones, twig, acorns, and leaf. The ones in the photo are in various stages or being patina-ed or sealed to hold the color of the patina. Having a blast finding things to use.

Trying to decide to what to use for the blog giveaway, glass or metal? I'm way overdue for a drawing so stayed tuned to see what it will be.