Friday Night 2/29

Happy Leap Year Ya’all!

Just a quick post tonight as I am frantically trying to prepare for the big Spring Fling Sale that starts in my shop tomorrow morning. The sale continues ’til the end of Monday. What a time-consuming thing, having a sale. I worry that the wording isn’t so understandable for instructions. I just hope people will send along their email addresses because I didn’t know until tonight, that Paypal sends the invoice directly through email. SHOOT. Hope that’s not gonna be a problem. I figure people will just convo me if they have questions.
I made a few pair of earrings to list today, and worked on a custom order for one of my repeat customers! It was a fun day in the studio. Off to make some more!

Monday Feb. 25

Just a reminder of my big fat sale this weekend! Starts March 1 through March 3
BUY ONE ITEM, GET ONE HALF OFF (2nd item must be of equal or lesser value to the 1st!)

Just remember Don’t pay via Paypal, I will send an updated invoice with corrected total!!

Sunday night Feb. 24

Ahhhh. Sunday night. Work tomorrow. Blah.
It was a good day today. Did lots of laundry. Made some jewelry. Joe painted the newly hung trim in the dining/living room. I even bagged up some lots of beads to sell in the Bead Pod. Took lots of photos. Did more laundry. Made dinner. Stir Fry- inspired by the Macrobiotic fried rice dish that I love at this local Japanese restaurant. I’ve made it before but tonight it seemed to come out really starchy. Maybe because the liquid hadn’t all been sucked up by the rice beforehand. It was still pretty good regardless.

Yesterday we went and picked out and actually PURCHASED a new dining room set. Well, just the table and chairs. I wanted the Buffet too but that’s the next on our list. The table is pretty, dark brown, long rectangular. Like a table should be, duh. 🙂 The chairs are kind of rustic, upholstered seats, with a gold paisley pattern.
That’s my weekend in a nutshell.

saturday Feb. 23

Holla!
Well, after several attempts to upload the video I took today of my Wire-wrapping technique on my digital camera, and miserably failing, I’ve given up. It really is too bad, because was kind of a cool video. If you know how to do this, and you can explain it to me, please comment this post. I am so frustrated. I even tried uploading it to YouTube and it told me it was the right kind of format. The extension is like vido.m3u….I have no idea what this means. I don’t know what the format should be and have no idea how to convert the video to the right format. DARN!!
Well here are some pieces I made this afternoon. Nothing fancy. I got the Brass floral pendant in the mail today from BrassBouquet. Even though I somehow threw my back out, I still managed to sit and bead! I twisted the wrong way and my left shoulder blade has been hurting ever since this morning.

New work

After my big sale, I plan on listing some new Spring collection pieces in my shop. I don’t typically work with pastel colors but for some reason, have Spring Fever so badly I can’t think of any other color combinations! ha ha!
My husband and his friend Larry are hanging some new trim in my living room today. There is a lot of noise, banging, and nailing going on, which is making the poor cat a little frantic. I took some pics of her as she was completely impeding the beading process this afternoon.

I did have a little trouble with this green and yellow piece. The earthenwood butterfly link keeps spinning and facing the wrong way. I attached a few jumprings off of it that attach to the toggle bar. I thought I had added enough, but it’s still spinning. If you have any advice to how to fix this issue, please comment this post!!

Etsy Artisan Feature no. 4 (?) I lost count

One of my FAVORITE Lampwork glass artisans agreed to do an interview for my blog. I am so excited because I cannot get enough of this husband and wife team! They are completely self-taught and work very well together making beads and then turning them into little works of art (jewelry!)
The Orange Bell, Kevin and Robyn


1) Tell me as much or as little about yourself as you feel comfortable with… We are Kevin and Robyn Olson (of the Orange Bell). We have been married for 10yrs (wahoo!) and have 3 kids ages 5, 3, and 10mos. They are awesome and adorable and loving and just plain wonderful…Oh ya, and challenging, whiny and demanding! Just in case you were wondering if we were totally delusional and were living in some kind of fantasy! haha. Kevin is a MRI tech and Robyn is a homemaker. We also have a cat named Henry…he ROCKS!

2) What inspires you? That’s always a tricky question, hmmmm. After discussing your question we decided it basically comes down to a NEED to create something more than a “specific” thing that inspires us! That being said we fee like inspiration comes constantly through music, art, color, people…nature…or cat!!!

3) How would you describe your craft and style?
We make Lampwork (correction Kevin makes lampwork) beads, and then “we” create jewelry with them. Our style has been changing and evolving as we hone our skills (as with any artist). Not sure exactly how to describe it though. Kevin is drawn to earth tones and Robyn loves color and we both really like incorporating silver into our pieces. Pretty sure that did NOT answer your question…hahaha, sorry.

4) How long have you been creating?
We have been creating Lampwork beads and jewelry for 2yrs this month! Of course like many others we’ve been creating since we were “young”! We both got the “crafty” gene and now our 5yr. old daughter has gotten it too 😀 It’s so much fun! Except when the laundry piles up and the house explodes…then we wish we were accountants and highly ORGANIZED! haha

5) Is this a job or a hobby?
This is definitely a hobby….BUT, it’s a hobby that requires work…so it’s kind of a job too!

6) What are your Etsy goals?
To be repeatedly featured on the main page! hahahaha….that would mean people like our stuff (and sales would definitely go up, wink-wink)

7) What advice do you have for fellow Etsians
Advice: Hone your photography skills! Your pictures sell your work and it’s the biggest impression of your talent. Without good pictures you limit your ability to represent the quality of your art! PS. dig out your camera manual…then start experimenting!

Wed. Feb. 20

Oh My Gosh, Spring, GET HERE ALREADY!! Sorry I’m a little ornery lately, I have had just about enough of the cold and snow. I’m done, really. All set. No need for it anymore!!

Ok, I’ve decided to have a big sale in the shop. HUGE! SPRING FLING SALE!

WHAT:Buy One, Get one HALF OFF
WHEN: MARCH 1-3
WHY: I’m Cleaning Up the Shop
HOW: On Etsy, convo me before purchasing, I’ll send a revised paypal invoice!
WHO: DESIGNS BY LORELEI
Write it on your calendars. Tell your friends! Don’t forget! Hopefully I won’t forget.

Tuesday feels like Monday

Since I haven’t really had much time to make
jewelry during the week I’ve tried to stock up over the weekend. These are the pieces I’ve come up with. I was excited to start using my new stash of Gaea pendants.

This is my creation using my bead that I received from Humblebeads. I have another one that I will probably try to do something totally different with- maybe something vertical instead of horizontal.

I was loving purple over the weekend. Reminds me of spring, and lilac trees. I am definitely going to miss my lilac bushes that my husband and I planted at our old house. We’ll plant some here at the new house, but it will be awhile before we get any flowers.

I’ve been Tagged

I’ve been tagged by Ginger

Here are the rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people* at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

7 facts about myself:

1. I’m afraid of the dark, but I can’t get enough of these Ghost shows such as Paranormal State, and Ghost Hunters!

2. When I get nervous, my head itches.

3. I hate shopping if I can’t buy anything. I am addicted to shopping on Etsy.

4. I secretly hate my nose, even though I inherited it from my Grandmother, who came from Greece!

5. I think I could seriously be a vegetarian. Sometimes I cannot handle meat of any kind.

6. My favorite movie as of this week is Marie Antoinette with Kirsten Dunst. But it made me very sad when I found out she just checked into Rehab. I’m addicted to Celebrity gossip.

7. I have officially hit a Beader’s brick wall and am having serious trouble coming up with new jewelry designs. Shhhh, don’t tell anyone.

I am tagging the following people:
The Lola Collection
Jellybeans Art
Jade Scott
Cicada Daydream
The Lonely Octopus
Dharma Designs
Strands

feb 14 Happy Heart Day

Happy Valentine’s! My husband gave me the cutest card this morning with an owl wearing heart boxers. Well it WAS really sweet of him, he knows I love owls. The boxers, I’m not so sure about that. And what he wrote inside made my heart melt. We went out to dinner last night to avoid tonight’s restaurant chaos. I think we’ll make a nice meal at home.

So on to jewelry. I fell in love with a new ring project in the Project Gallery at Vintaj.com. So I wanted to play around with it. I ordered some Vintaj lovebird links and this is what I came up with. It might be a little over the top. The original design used a much smaller pearl and you can see the birds on the front of the ring more clearly. On mine, you can’t see them at all.
Hmmm. Might have to play around with it again later. I do like the white with the red Swarovski crystals. I think it’s appropriate for Valentine’s day!