Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Good Times






Monday, I went to the pre-op appointment at Stanford. They did about a million scans of my eyes and I am all ready to go! My surgery is scheduled for January 8th. I can't wait! I have just about gone nuts having to wear glasses every day and not being able to torch. Today I have contacts on again!!! YAYYYYYY!!!!


This morning I got to sleep in until 10 am. OMG. You have no idea how good it felt. Desiree got up early and fed the pets for me so I could sleep in. *love*


We went to her school and picked up her official diploma today and I have mailed out her application to take the state board exam. All we can do now is wait. Well, practice and wait. :)


Thursday, December 13, 2007

Hiatus

I'm on a beadmaking hiatus right now. I still have lots of beads to list but I'm not making any new ones for a while. Why? Well, actually, it's quite exciting. I'm getting LASIK eye surgery! I have my pre-op appointment on Monday and I haven't been able to wear my contacts all week. Ugh. I hate wearing glasses. Also, since I don't have Rx flameworking glasses, I can't torch until I have surgery and my eyes are done healing.

I figured it might be good to have some time away from the torch since there is so much going on around here. Desiree graduates from cosmetology college tomorrow. FOR REAL!!! I can't believe how proud I am of her. She has worked harder on this than anything else...ever! She has studied, practiced and stuck to it through thick and thin.

I am just overwhelmed with pride at how much she has matured in the past year, the past six months in particular. There have been the regular young-adult blips in judgement here and there but, finally, she has been learning from them and making changes accordingly.

Next week, she has her driving test scheduled so if you could light a candle for her or whatever you think seems appropriate, please do. We need all the good mojo we can muster at this point. She's a great driver but a lousy test taker.

Well, I wish you all a happy Chanukah and a Merry Christmas! Take care all...

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Just pictures again





I'm doing my books this week and I don't want to kill your holiday mood with my grumpy rants about how much I hate paperwork so just look at the pretty beads and I will be back next week in a much better mood. :)

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Festive!


I've been making holiday beads!

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Moral of the story: Simple doesn't always equal easy.

Ok, so, my friends are a wonderfully wacky bunch of gals. Kim is world famous for her "How hard can it be?" approach to life. This little project was the one Linda, Kim and I tackled on Friday. Cute, huh? Well, it took ALL DAY and three soldering irons. Seriously. Three. The first one Kim had ordered online with the glass slides, solder, and copper tape. It was D.O.A. so we hopped in the car and took a trip to Michael's (and Starbucks...mmmmm) and got another soldering iron-like device that was actually more of a wood burning device, as it turns out. Well, we managed to burn through the tip after only a few passes through the solder.

Off to the hardware store! (And another trip to Starbucks....mmmmm) We got an actual soldering iron this time and *bonus* it was also equipped with a tip meant for jewelry making! YAY! Well, yeah...not so much. The tip managed to crap out on us before Linda had finished making hers.

How hard can it be? Pretty fricken hard, aparently. LOL! Still, we had so much fun and laughed like idiots all day long. I love my friends. They are the best.



More owls at Etsy!

Monday, November 26, 2007

A happy thanksgiving was had by all...


Ahhhh, hubby is finally back from the UK. Two weeks is a long time to be gone and I miss him when he's not around. Most of all, I like that he does all the heavy lifting around here. A week after he left, the tire on his Honda went flat. Argh! I don't like dealing with that kind of stuff. Blech. Anyway, he said to just leave it until he got back - YAY! Well, it's all fixed now, thank goodness. They found two nails in two different tires. We must have been driving in Nailville!


Last week I took Desiree out for a celebratory dinner at the Sundance restaurant in Palo Alto. It was so yummy and the food was so beautiful, too! She had a great time. We were celebrating her passing the 'baby board' exam, which is basically the final exam for her school. Whoooo hooooo! She has a few more weeks of school left and then she is done! YAY!


I've been busy making gift beads so things might be a little sparse for a while in my Etsy store. When I'm done making gifts, I will be back, full force.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Owls!

I have been sick for a week. Blech. Yuck. Do not like.

Anyway, I was trying to gather some inspiration to get me out to the torch when I came across someone on LE making owls! No, I didn't copy. I did my own spin on them. They are so cute sitting here on my desk, staring up at me with their big ol eyes. Anyway, thanks goes out to Georgie for making owls and inspiring me to make some too.


Friday, November 16, 2007

Monday, November 12, 2007

BABEs and beads


Here are my partners in crime, Kim, Sarah and Linda. We went to the BABE show together on Sunday. BABE is the Bay Area Bead Extravaganza, by the way. Linda's birthday was Saturday so Sarah brought a champagne lunch for us to eat! Awesome!! By the way, two dixie cups of champagne makes me tipsy. I will take note of that for next time. LOL!

We had a great time but it went by way too fast. I miss them already!


Here are some tube beads I made with a new tool from StacyLynne Russom. I used the Back to Back tool to make them. I love the tool!!! I can finally make tube beads!!! YAY!

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Busy Days

Yesterday was crazy busy. Desiree woke up with a sore throat and a stuffy nose so, naturally, we decided it was a good day to go to the museum instead of school. We went to The Tech museum in downtown San Jose to see the new exhibit, BodyWorlds. It was incredible. Absolutely incredible. They allowed NO photography so I couldn't take any pictures of exhibits but the whole thing was amazing.


After the museum, I took Des to the doctor just to make sure the stuffy nose wasn't turning into a sinus infection and that the sore throat wasn't strep. She got the all clear from the doctor so we went off to meet a gal who is going to teach her welding and sheet metal cutting and all kinds of cool stuff in exchange for some help making jewelry.


A few more errands later, I rushed home to make a bunch of beads for a friend who needed them ASAP. When I finally crashed into bed last night, I was POOPED.


I have a few sets of beads to put up on Etsy today but I need to photograph them first. Until then, here is a photo of my doctor's office lobby. Pretty posh, eh?

Friday, November 2, 2007

Muses wanted.

Over the years, I have gotten a bit of flack from my fellow beadmakers for taking special orders. Many won't and I totally understand why they don't want to. It can be a chore to make the same bead over and over, especially if it is a bead you don't enjoy making. Even my muse is finicky and likes to pick and choose which which projects to embrace and which ones are better left alone.

On the other hand, someone else's muse can be a welcome guest here in my studio. I enjoy having a guiding hand every now and then. Here are some beads I made this week with the help of my customer's muses. I thank them for visiting and would welcome them back here anytime. :)





Monday, October 29, 2007

Check out the hair!





I helped Desiree with her Halloween costume this year. We went to Beverly's craft store and got different colors of wool roving and made cartoon character dreadlocks! I think she looks like some kind of anime superhero pixie fairy. Her skirt is completely adorable, too. Check it out!



See? It matches her hair. I love it!


Ok, yes, she is a bit too old for trick or treating. She's worn it to an event in San Francisco and to a local party so I'd say it was worth the effort. She's had a great time!
I kind of thought my time for making costumes for my child would be over but I guess not. LOL! She's only 20. Inside, though, she still thinks she's seven and should still be able to do all those kid things...as well as all the fun things you get to do as an adult. She certainly is enjoying a last hurrah before she graduates and has to buckle down and get a job, responsibilities and all that.


On the bead front...I am finishing up a few special orders and making lots of beads this week. Last week I was really feeling the change in weather and just wanted to stay huddled up under my blanket all the time. I think I may have had a small tummy bug or something because I really slacked off! I'll have to make up for it this week, for sure!!! These will go in my Etsy store this week:

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Goodies for Etsy this week

I just thought it might be nice to post some pictures of what will be in my Etsy store this week.




Thursday, October 18, 2007

Hmmm...let's try that again

I couldn't get the pictures to load yesterday so I will give it another try...




Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Busy. Crazy Busy.

It never rains but it pours. I have been crazy busy for the past week. A good busy, though. I have been torching for many hours every day and loving every minute. I've plowed through a bunch of items on my 'to do' list, too! YAY!

I have my very last PMC class this Thursday and that makes me all wistful and sad. I've really enjoyed meeting all the ladies in the class and the teacher is so funny and fun to be around. Spending time with all of them has been a great investment in my overall well being. I keep forgetting to take a picture of the stuff I've made. Nothing spectacular, you can really tell I'm a rank amateur at this. I haven't had any moments of epiphany, either. I go in with no idea of what I want to make. I think maybe that's a sign that this particular art form may not be for me.

I've been making lots of puppy beads. Pictures later. Now I have to go to another appointment in order to cross off another of those to do items. Fun, fun, fun.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Beading Daily part deux


Ok, I am once again super excited about being mentioned in Beading Daily. This time, Michelle Mach put in a paragraph about inspiration and who could be more inspired by something than I am from my beloved dachshund, Puppy?

Monday, October 8, 2007

Beading Daily

I am super, super excited!!! The free project featuring my beads is up on www.beadingdaily.com !!!! Beading Daily is a cool site and I highly recommend checking it out. They have lots of free projects. Most are of the jewelry making variety but they also have a lampwork bead tutorial on there and lots of other great stuff.

Tomorrow the Easy Wire magazine comes out!!!! Whooo hooooo!

Sunday, October 7, 2007


The countdown continues...

Thursday, October 4, 2007

The Countdown Begins!

I'm in major anticipation mode right now. I have a few major things in the pipeline and I'm so excited I could jump right out of my skin.

  • www.beadingdaily.com is going to have one of my beads featured in a jewelry design by Sandi Wiseheart. Sandi is the editor of www.knittingdaily.com but is an avid bead lover as well. I was contacted today by Michelle Mach, the BeadingDaily editor and she let me know that my bead will be in her online publication next week! Whoooo hoooooooooo!
  • Easy Wire Magazine http://www.interweave.com/bead/beadwork_magazine/special_issues/easy-wire.asp is also going to feature the same project and it will be out in the newsstands October 9th!!!
  • The Gahanna Bead Shop http://www.gahannabeadshop.com/ is going to host me as the featured artist for the month of November so I am frantically making beads to send to them. YAY!
  • Finally, I am hoping to schedule some evening classes soon at www.temperchi.com and I hear that they are working on updating the website to include pictures of my beads as well.

All in all, some pretty exciting things are afoot here at Loribeads central. I'm feeling very excited and a little amazed at the recent developments. I guess all it took was for me to stop dabbling and put that wish out into the universe...

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

My blog, my rules


These are the beads I taught at my mini-class this weekend. We didn't get enough people signed up for a full weekend class so I just taught a couple people for a few hours. I think it went pretty well but I haven't gotten any feedback from the studio guy yet so ... we'll see, I guess. I was supposed to do the mock mini-class for a couple of the other studio teachers but something must have changed at the last minute. Anyway, I am hoping to change the scheduling of the classes to one evening a week since that works so much better for anybody with family commitments.

Ok, so in other news...

I am going to be a featured artist for the month of November at a bead store in Gahanna, Ohio! Here's a link to their website: http://www.gahannabeadshop.com/
I am going to be VERY busy making oodles of beads for them to hopefully sell for me. This is the very first bead store to sell my beads. Big day for me! Well, big month. I would love to have my beads in a local store but the last one in my general vicinity just closed it's doors, sadly. It's hard to crack the Michael's nut around here.

Oh and I am clearing out my bead box again. Gotta finance that PMC class I'm taking. :) Check out the bargains in my Etsy store.

Friday, September 28, 2007

Booty, Brains and the Beasts



Here's a photo of the booty I hauled in at the SGB (society of glass beadmakers) meeting on Saturday. The large blue tab bead is from Haley. It is stunning and shiny and everything I love about glass. The puppy bead is by Mary. It reminds me of my own lovely Puppykins and is so cute I want to hold it always. The olive shaped organic bead is from Aja. It is complex and gorgeous and dreamy. Bead people are the best. Getting together is like being in a room with people who totally 'get' you. They understand my jokes about burns, scars and general glass mishaps. Normal people look at you in horror when you talk about how you lit your bangs on fire. These people laugh. How awesome is that? Normal people won't show you the nasty scar they have in between their boobs. Glass people will. We all have scars and all the scars have stories. It's good to be part of that crowd.

For about a month, Desiree has been obsessed with reading. She has finished one book and is nearly done with the second. If you knew what we went through when she was in public school, you would know what a miracle this is. She has never, I mean NEVER, read for pleasure before in her life. She has dyslexia and reading has always been a challenge for her. Suddenly, or maybe not so suddenly, her whole outlook on reading has changed. I attribute a lot of this change to video games. Yes, you read that right. Video games. She is a gamer. Not just an average gamer, either. She finishes games. More and more of the games she has been playing have immense amounts of text to read. Over the years, she has slowly stopped asking me what this word is, what does that word mean? Her vocabulary is now noticeably larger than that of her friends. When she does that text-messaging thing, she refuses to abbreviate anything. She's slowly learned to read and spell proficiently through the use of technology. Who knew my kid would become a brainy book worm?

I got some requests for beads this week. Take a look:



Monday, September 24, 2007

Bead Buddies


I went to my local SGB (Society of Glass Beadmakers) meeting at Sharon Peters' house on Saturday. That's her bead cabinet (WOW!) that my friends, Linda and Tom, are pretending to look at in order to avoid my paparazzi photo hounding. I had an incredibly fun time. I got to meet a bunch of local gals that I hadn't met before and got caught up with some I hadn't seen for many moons. Getting together with them is like being in a space ship with all your fellow aliens. They all "get" me. I love it. There was much bead swapping going on and I got a couple SUPER awesome beads. One from Mary, another from Aja and another from Haley. They are all beads I will treasure. I will have to take pictures later of my booty! And by booty, I mean beads. Not my badunkadunk trunk with too much junk. :)

I made a couple dog beads that I am REALLY happy with. What do you think?