Speed Linking today...

A smorgasbord of great posts for you to nibble at on this glorious lazy Sunday.

Best Things to Eat and Drink in Vancouver

A small clip from the Hermitage to tantalize and engage:

"Welcome Travelers. If your feet are weary, be cheered, for your road is nearing it's end. Follow the sign to the Hermitage. A phantasmagoria of fancy..."

Notes from the voodoo cafe....creativity 'personified'

some great photogs found here..Lettuce eating

A Study in Contrasts

Turkish Knitting blog

An excerpt from "Imagine the North" :

"It's a photoblog. I take photos with my phone. I send them to my blog. They appear. You look at them. You leave rude comments. It's almost a relationship."

Hopefully your Sunday is a laze around relaxing day ~ I'm off to work...enjoy it whatever you may be doing!

Canadian snowboys

Too small to be a full grown snowman, these little guys are just the right size to dangle on your cell phone, your car mirror or simply add to a plethora of other charms and wear as a pendant. Each measure roughly 4.5-5 cm (including the brass or sterling wire) and are dressed in warm winter attire.. matching toque and scarf.

These boys tend to sell fairly fast in real life so I don't take photos of all.

While yours may not be the one photographed here please be assured that the boy that is sent to your home will be just as sweet..:)

Genuine Canadian SnowBoys
or
send me a color request

Lampworked set of glass beads..

This set of 5 rounds and 1 squeezed cylinder pendant was created with moretti pale gray glass, splashed with warm rosy pinks and corals. The pendant was wrapped with a skinny avacado shard and decorated with a delicate daisy vine...is there such thing? daisy vines~ hmmm.

Available on Etsy

Back to Glass

As I mentioned I've been on a rather forced sabbatical from the glass for at least 3 months now. I've been looking at some work from the past that I enjoyed making..especially sharded beads. Love blowing the shards and watching the flow and join of glass and color to create one...and I'm feeling the stirrings of love again. ~whew~

I did make some wee little snowboys the other day..no pics yet though. (the one in the image is from last year) I've got one tiny one dangling from my cel as we speak.
I plan on having enough of those finished to fulfill a gallery shop order and have one or two up on Etsy by next week end. Promise.

!Contest results!

Thank you all for your kind words and for your participation on my blog...you all are some very fine peeps out there. :)

The names were submitted to random.org and here are the results...Congrats Miss Melanie-pearl. :) email me your address at imake(at)handmadeglassbeads(dot)ca and I will have your bead on its way to your house as soon as I hear from you.

There were 13 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1. melanie
2. creativequeen
3. tale
4. teresa
5. duni
6. hotrocks
7. swapna
8. willoaks
9. pricilla
10. marsha
11. fishhawk
12. zizba
13. marianne

Win yourself a handmade glass bead!

I'm feeling a little guilty for being so completely absent from you all for the last couple of months... the above focal bead is my way of winning your hearts back. ;) ♥ Leave me a comment and you'll go into a draw for the above bead. I will announce a winner in a week or so~ ♥

It seems my marriage has gone the way of many before me and we are now struggling with the transition of becoming single people. (Notice how I've avoided the d word? I'll tackle that one another day...:)

I've had to supplement my glass with a more regular pay cheque and my balancing time skills have been put to the test.

So...that's the reason for my sketchy, delayed, absent minded, half hearted and bemused posts lately. And while some things may be taking a back seat for a time..(for instance this blog will be lucky to get a weekly posting! although I do pop on to read all of your comments) I will find my way through this and be stronger..

musings

"I've always liked the time before dawn because there's no one around to remind me who I'm supposed to be, so it's easier to remember who I am "

so says the Story People

Sculpted Lampwork focal bead

Song Bird

splash!

~back into the Bay once more...

a couple of sets and a focal

click here to visit the auctions

blog hopping..

A couple of sweet blogs for you to check out ~

My Gypsy Goods

Split Rock Ranch

Theresa's Treasures

Enjoy your week!

the beauty of words~

...a spark, kindled by thought
Set fire to memory; thus it was that poetry,
Longing and imagination came together
Gifting me a kind of liberty.


Copyright: Rani Turton

Elite Blog Artist Award...

and thank you very much! from the creative Duni at Lovely Purses.

I love her bags ♥ Colorful happy bags...go visit her shop and see for yourself

Passing the award along to some of my favorite stops in the cyber world:

the Many Roles of Mom

Candles and Ghosts

Superb artists!..

Enjoy your week!!

Dryad series...tree beads~

I do love trees..scrawny skinny trees, massive glorious wise trees. They're all beautiful~
I've started sculpting them on beads and because I've got a few of them now, I'm calling it a series.

Pendants depicting trees and foilage~ created with sage and copper greens and wired in black iron to complete the organic feel. Strung onto hand dyed silk ribbon in shades of fawn.
Number in the series is indicated on the accompanying card and the first is available now in the Etsy shop..~ called the 'Dryad Series'

hear the distant thrum of tree nymphs
haunting sultry summer skies
spilling untold ancient secrets

songbirds in disguise.

Lazy and hot~

and re-visiting old posts.

Are you a Magpie too?

Thanks for stopping by~

Thanks Valerie ♥

Brass wired Flameworked Pendant

Brass wired pendant in one of my favorite mustard shades of glass...love the color.
Silver laden Triton scrolls across the surface. Vermeil and tiny bone discs accent.

In my Etsy shop now~

Blog award

Thank you to Sand and Sea Designs for this lovely blog award...I haven't had time for much blogging these past days so thanks Wendy for giving me a reason for a quick posting!


I've been busily working on jewelry orders and unfortunately my studio is in a bit of chaos, so fresh cooked beads from the kiln are scarce right at the moment.

That will change soon as I get back on track..bear with me and stay tuned!

Passing the award onto these fabulohso blogs:

DigiVickie

WillOaks Studio

Herbs 'n Oils

Showcasing Etsy Artisans

Elvira Design

Rachels Rarities

White Dragon Paper

AMDesigns by Ann Marie

Terraworks

Of auctions and green birds..

Up on Ebay right now is this set of 13 handmade glass beads created with rich silver laden glass that performed beautifully by turning several transient shades of blue and green-y ochre hues in the flame...
I'm feeling the need to mention that somehow that end of that facing bead looks like it may be chipped..Its a change or coloration in the ivory glass that is photographing oddly.

Do you see the magpie in the bottom?

Miss Birdie herself drew me the magpie one day complete with story.

It reads, 'This green bird is trying to fly. And one day he flew.'

I loved it so much I made a brush of the bird with Adobe photoshop. He is now my official Sweetwater Designs mascot and goes everywhere the beads go in some form or other. He's on my carding and my stickers and will also perch somewhere in my listings and auctions..isn't he adorable?

and very fitting for this listing that's up right now since I can see him in the glass..far right of the bottom bead...is that strange or what!?

♫ Summertime ♪♫

Summertime,
And the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin'
And the cotton is high

Your daddy's rich
And your mamma's good lookin'
So hush little baby
Don't you cry

~'Summertime' by George Gershwin

Glorious summer days..lazy hazy crazy days of summer. I adore summer. I try to soak all of the hot sun into my bones and hope it will last far longer than the year before.
It never does but oh the days are beautiful ..we could use more rain but I'm sure it will come.

For now I'm enjoying the sun.

Back in the Bay - Flameworked focal beads

♥ Take a look by clicking on the image ♥

Lampwork bracelet

This artisan bracelet was created with my own flameworked glass beads, a few brass and ceramic discs along with some superb wee 22k gold marbled toho beads. It closes with a sterling silver lobster clasp.
Very delicate and feminine.

Measures 7.5" and can be re-sized for any wrist.

Lovely sea greens and rusty warm ochres...one of a kind. Gift boxed with a small signed artisan card.
Click on the image for greater detail.

Lampwork Contest

A big congratulations to Laura Bracken for the winning bracelet in last weeks Lampwork competition. It's a beauty!
Up next are the necklaces..you still have time to send an entry~

If you're eligible be sure to enter for the upcoming competitions for earrings and anything that can be worn containing your own lampworked glass or another artisans lampwork.

A little friendly competition among peers is great exercise for the muse~ ♥

Mondays smile

Welcoming June!

on all items in the shop for the month of June~

and don't forget about the lampwork designers contest ..enter ~and vote!

Lampwork Jewelry Contest

Are you in the mood for a contest?..how about 5 of them?..Fellow lampworker Laurie Smith is running a series of contests for both lampworkers that design using their own beads as well as jewelry designers using other artisans lampwork beads.

Check it out..and if you design with your own beads or other artisan made lampwork beads please do enter!

Even if you don't enter take a moment to take a look at the beautiful entries, and vote!

High time for a Makeover!

Thanks everyone for playing along and signing up for the newsletter...I promise you won't be inundated with letters..ha. I'll be doing good to get one a month out but I'll make sure they're news worthy.

Here's the list from random.org and Congratulations to Miss Benita..send me your snail mail and I'll have this bead on its way to your house~

There were 9 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1. Benita
2. Nicole
3. Leah
4. Shelley
5. Shelby
6. Tracie
7. Theresa
8. Coleen
9. Laurie

Timestamp: 2009-05-25 13:46:05 UTC

on a side note..as an artist I of course enjoy layouts and graphics and am quickly bored with the look of my own site or blog. I've left my site alone for some time but this blog was due for a shake up don't you think? I found the Cutest blog on the Block site yesterday and couldn't resist.