Bead Soup Blog Party- Sign-ups Aug 1-3!!

Hello friends!

Just wanted to remind you about the Bead Soup Blog Party! Sign-ups are JUST around the corner! This event was SO much fun last time, I can't wait to join in the fun again! Hope to see you there.

xo Genea

BIG HUGE GIVEAWAY by HUMBLE BEADS!

Hello friends!

Did you hear about Heather's give-away? Well she is doing a studio purge and giving away some fabulous beads! Want to find out how to enter? Check out her blog for details by visiting here Big Huge Giveaway!

Good luck!

xo Genea

Genea Beads- LAST THURSDAY on ALBERTA- JULY 28TH 6-9PM ACROSS FROM RADIO ROOM

Hello friends!

Just wanted to remind you all that we will be doing our FIRST, Last Thursday on Alberta event on JULY 28TH FROM 6-9PM,  across from Radio Room in their artist reserved spaces! Stop on by and say "Hello"!  

Radio Room 

1101 Northeast Alberta Street

Alberta Street Arts District

Portland, Oregon 97211

We can't wait to see you there!

xo Genea

WING DINGS are back from their travels!

Hello friends!

Well I hadn't really expected to stock the shop today. Infact I really had planned on playing with my new glass from Bullseye(stay turned for that post and more on color)! BUT... then I got the mail and the Wing Dings have returned home after their show tour with my dear friend, Yvonne.

So what do I have in store for you today? How about a little bit for everyone? You like bright colors? I've got your order. You like classic black and white? Got that too. You like earthy? Yep, got your colors covered!

 

"Clearly Black & White"- Yep that about sums it up! You know what would go great with these? Yep, these!

 

"Desaturate"- Ok so these aren't new this week, but they would be perfect together!

 

"Moss & Sand"- Yep, earthy people, these are yours. Sandy brown, rusty red, avocado green.

 

"Pool Side"- Don't they look refreshing just like a pool with the sun gleaming off the surface of the water? This is for the rest of you dying of HEAT this summer. You will probably hit me, but it's sunny 73 and breezy here! So at least if you can't cool off outside you can feel like you can with these colors ;)

 

"Rainbow Party"- fitting huh? There are those BRIGHTS!

 

"The Other Berry"- You know all of those funky fake berry colors they give us like "blue raspberry". Yeah, I guess this is kinda like those ;) At least they don't turn your tongue blue! :P

SO WHAT ELSE IS NEW?...

Well if you missed it above. I visited Bullseye Glass Co finally! I can't believe it took me over a month to finally get there. It may have been the empty pocket book for glass supplies ;) Thanks so mom and dad's birthday gift I stocked up on a few colors I will be sharing with you all later!

SHOW AND TELL....

 

Not sure what to do with your Wing Dings or glass headpins? Check out these babies I put together for a friends gift. Oh, yeah those SWEET rubber o's. You can find them in My ELEMENTS shop ;)

 

Here's another one. No, I didn't make the bead. It was created by Sue Stewart. I was asked to assemble it into a pendant for a friend. That SWEET chain, yep, from My ELEMENTS too ;)

 

Oh I have been meaning to show you my outside studio. Here is what it looks like.

 

Here's the view behind me. So why aren't I facing that way? Well I need the wall to protect me from gusts of wind. It has a way of blowing your flame all over the place yanno ;)

Well I hope you are staying cool where you are this weekend. It certainly is awesome weather here!

See you soon!

xo Genea

Hot Connections Jewelry- GIVE AWAY- Pretty Things Blog!

Hello friends!

Just helping Lori spread the good word about her give away for a "Hot Connections Jewelry" book! Want to know more? Go check out her post for all of the juicy details! Pretty Things Book Giveaway

Good luck!

xo Genea

Birthday hapenings and show prep

Hello friends!

Yikes I can't believe I am 32! Scary, I totally don't feel like it. I still feel twenty something for sure. My birthday was this past July 11th and my first birthday in Portland!  I thought I would share some pictures of my special day with you :)

 

Ricky and Me at Pok Pok(a Thai restaurant in Portland) with my gluten-free b-day cupcakes :D My super sweet roommates went up to the restaurant before we ate and dropped off my special cupcakes before hand so that when dinner was over they could be brought to the table! AWWW! What a thoughtful gift! 

So what goodies did I get for my b-day?

 

Here is my booty from the bead show that was in town. I was kinda bummed about the selection. Lots of booths with Chinese Lampwork, cheap stone strands and necklace cords. In this photo I got some Hilltribe silver beads, bone pendants and a hank of what looks like bamboo tubes with a daisy cut out burned into the wood. Just a few little goodies is all I picked up.

 

SUPER cute birthday themed treat bags and cards from World Market. My family in law's got me a World market gift card so this was one of the things I bought there. SO if you end up purchasing from my shop and its' a b-day gift, be sure to tell me so we can wrap it up in this SUPER cute packaging!

 

So you remember my ideas that I need tools for right? Well I found some super sweet Vintage bottle caps on Etsy from Burnt Offerings . So why did I want bottle caps? Well they are colorful and I have this strange love for vintage things lately. Maybe it's getting older, I dunno, but they sure did make super SWEET stuff in the 60's and 70's!

 

My roomie Michell and me at a bar getting a b-day cider since I found out I am gluten-intolerant ;)

 

Beadies my hubby bought for me :D Isn't he darling?! He got me Hilltribe silver beads and this cool eye pendant.

 

A super AMAZING re-print from this darling hippy girl, Jenna! This print was originally done with gouache, water color, and pen. I'm not usually into cats(eventhough I have a Cheshire Cat tattoo!), but I really loved this picture. You really should click on the photo to see it larger. So much beautiful color and detail!

It reminded me of Alice in Wonderland with the kitties, cup cakes, and tea and I just LOVE the detail and colors! 

Do you LOVE it too? I thought some of you might, so I got Jenna's info. Her name is Jenna Odhner and the ONLY way to contact her is by e-mail, she doesn't have a shop either. Her e-mail addy is jennaodhner@yahoo.com if you want to get a hold of her about getting her work. This is one of the amazing things about Portland. There are SO many artists that just travel with the wind selling their wares!

 

Here is a photo of Jenna. Isn't she darling? I asked if I could get a pic of her with her work. I wish you could see the detail of her other prints better, but trust me, they are AMAZING!

 

Ok so I might get shot for this photo. It's Stumptown Coffee(one of our awesome local coffee shops) and a Starbucks mug. Ok so you know technically they are both local to my new location just fyi ;) Anyways, I was excited to find the city mugs Starbucks used to make. They stopped production for a long while. I just HAD to pick up one for Portland :D

 

New mini cards! Yay! These are always hard to find so I always get excited when I find cute ones in my travels :D

 

Ok so this one I will just consider my b-day gift. This beauty is Sakura("Cherry Blossom" in Japanese). It's super special since it was given to me by a good friend and it's the  ONLY batch of this color out there! THANK YOU!!

 

It doesn't get much better than this! An Andy Warhol pop art sticky not booklet! I LOVE sticky notes and pop art! I got this at a super sweet local book store called Powell Books.

 

Here's what it looked like inside.

 

OMG one of my fav things our roomies bought me. These flip flops are from REI and they are made out of recycled yoga mats! They are by the brand Sanuk and they are SOOOO comfortable!

PREPPING FOR THE SHOW....

Last Thursday on Alberta

I will be located at the Radio Room and be set up from 6-9pm July 28th.

So you know with moving and all I had to leave ALL of my little stash of show stuff behind. So I had to get a few displayish things for the show and here is what I got....

In this photo I got 2 cute sarongs to use for my table coverings. It's hard to see in this small of a photo, but there is one on the back edge of the table that is lime green too. I really love the eyeish pattern and colors in the top one.

The chip bowl and 2 side bowls are from World Market. I am going to fill those with rice and lay my beads on top of them. 

The little squareish bowls are from Target. I have always loved the square bowls and was so excited when they made them teeny! No idea what I will use them for yet, but bought them anyways ;)

I am still working on how I will display everything, but those were a few things I got for now.

 

Here is one of the things I made especially for the show! Super CUTE daisy cake cuppy cake neckalces for $18 each! I wanted to have a nice range in prices so these are one of my affordable finds :D

 

I also sat down and cranked out these earrings! Sorry for the crappily lit photo. I don't really have a great photo set up area for inside. I just wanted to click a quick pic of the earrings.  The earrings range from $12-$35, $35 for the most detailed ones. Most in this photo are $15-18, which I thought was also a nice affordable find as well.

I will be taking my entire Etsy shop along with some other stuff I don't have photographed as well. I am taking more jewelry stuff and finished pieces than beads since this is more of an art type show and not everyone makes jewelry.

Well that concludes my update for today.

I hope you are staying cool this HOT, HOT summer!

xo Genea

Glassy headpin goodness and some organic and glittery focals

Hello friends!

I'm excited about what I have to offer to you today in the shop. Some are favorites like the glass headpins, but others are styles I don't frequent. I don't avoid these styles for any particular reason, they just aren't my normal bright colors. I do really enjoy the switch of some earthy beads and organic styles now and again. These different things let my mind drift outside of it's normal box :)

 

"Desert Serpent Sands" You may remember a set of lentils I listed awhile back that were the same style? If not you get a chance to see the lentils here. I had extras from the set and decided to make a smaller set and add a few little bits of this and that! I love the shapes, colors and balance of this set. It would make fab earrings!

 

"Rose Water Beach"- Wow not my normal style huh? I really do enjoy making organic beads as well because they are created with such freedom. You just add a twist here or there and maybe add some of this glass and that and WOW you end up with this fantastic bead!

It's hard to see in this photo, but the pink glass actually has some white "frothy" webbing of it's own like you see on Ivory glass. This "frothy" white reminds me of the foam that washes up on the shore when the waves roll in. So awesome!
 

 

"Turbulent Seas"- WOW have I outdone myself with this one? I LOVE the awesome bicone shape I got and the twists are just perfectly placed really giving it that turbulent feel. You can see some slight lighter hints of blue on the ends of the focal that are really pretty against the darker shades. I love the contrast of the sparkles and ivory on this one!
 

 

"Desaturate"- Yep that's what you get in photoshop when you grayscale a photo. All black, white and gray. I chose these colors because everyone loves that classic black and white. It really does go with everything. I took the fun "cork screw" colors along with opaques and 2 transparent grays including CiM's new "Twilight" glass. Its the far left headpin. A gorgeous "cool" transparent gray!
 

 

"Rainbow Streamers 2"- Ok so what makes this #2? Well the first set only had 7 colors, so for this set I added a nice cobalt blue into the mix! Roy-G-Biv along with pink! Perfect if you ask me!

SO WHAT ELSE IS NEW?...

Well I am getting ready for my Last Thursday event on June 28th! I kinda had this melt down the other day which rendered me useless. Do you ever get that? The "I need to do so many things I just can't function". Yeah, it was one of those days. I was freaking out about my display, and a credit card machine, and does it have electricity? can I bring a tent? Where the hell am I going to get a tent??? How am I going to get my display to the show with no car??? OMG.. *fizzle*

So how did I survive this tragic event? Well my amazing husband let me barf out my stresses. He sat down with me and went over what I had inventory wise and suggested what I should add to it. After laying out all of my finished pieces I realized I really did have a wonderful selection. I have some things that aren't in the shop (well a whole drawer full actually).  

Ricky suggested I make a few more earrings and necklaces in the $18-$25 range as well since it looked like I had the higher end things pretty much covered. He said I wanted to have a nice price range.

I even have some more coffee wall art, stitch markers, magnets, and wine charms to offer the non-jewelry folk. So I guess it's not really a crisis. Besides I get to design more right?

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ON BTW?...

So speaking of designing you might wonder where I have been for BTW.  Well Wednesday is one of Ricky's days off so I usually take that day off in the middle of the week as well. We go around town, go to the markets for groceries or run errands that need to be done on that day. 

The other thing is I STILL have no bead table. With limited space in our room and no table I can only temporarily set up a spot to make jewelry at the kitchen table or on my little breakfast tray I photograph on. I try to be respectful of the common areas of the house. So that set up doesn't lead to much serendipitous designs :( I'm sure I will get something figured out. So maybe I will make that one of the tasks on my list and start posting on Wednesdays again ;)

Well I'm getting pretty hungry so I suppose some lunch is in order! See you soon!

xo Genea

Wing Ding Waterfall necklaces, Tri-Flower Trumpets and some Coffee!

Hello friends!

*Whew* I did it! Can you believe it? Two blogs in two days?! That must be some sort of record for me! 

So what's the news today? Well I added a few more goodies in the title to the shop! HOORAY! I am really excited to be offering a few beads and a few finished jewelry pieces today. So what's new in the shop, you ask?

 

"Ocean Daisy" Tri-Flower Trumpet. I am really excited to offer one of these awesome focals up again. I get wiped out of them before I can even get them in the shop! 

 

"Bright Crayons"- Wing Ding Waterfall necklace. It's been awhile since I have offered these babies up in the shop as well. They were SUPER popular over the holidays and it has taken me until now to catch up on a few. Enjoy!
 

 

"Raspberry Marmalade" Wing Ding Waterfall Necklace.

 

"Dark Roast" coffee bean earrings.

 

"Coffee Beans" set of 3 coffee bean beads.

Well I hope you enjoyed the new additions I've added to the store for this week!

See you soon!

Have a fantastic day!

xo Genea

Portland, OR pics FINALLY and an update

Hello friends!

I know I have promised pictures for awhile. So why the heck has it taken me so long? Well I have taken SO many pictures I might crash this thing if I loaded them all! So to keep things tame I will just load a few pics and if you can't stand it you can always drop by my facebook profile to check out all of them. Just be forewarned. My profile is fair game for all sorts of craziness and you will have to send a request to check things out. Unfortunately in the past I had to add that option to avoid some unpleasantries.  Anyways.... about those pictures!...

 

Here is Cannon Beach in Ecola State Park. Isn't it incredible?! The pictures don't even do it justice! These are pics of the Oregon coast.

 

Recognize it? Yeah, I wouldn't have either! This is the Goonies house! It is a real house located in Astoria, Oregon! You can't go inside, but you can walk up to the house and take pictures :)

 

View of the rocks you see in the Goonies from the cliff. The rocks you see in the movie are that string of triangular shaped rocks. We are on the right side of them. They are more obvious when you see them head on. We went to the state park instead of directly on the beach in front of them.

 

We were adventurous enough to find a way down a cliff side to get to the beach. We were lucky too since it appeared the tide must have been low uncovering amazing creatures that are normally covered up by the sea. Here are some small sea anemone. 

 

A green anemone. Isn't it pretty?! I was tempted to poke it's little tendrils, but I didn't know if it would sting so I just touched it's slimy top instead ;)

 

Another view from the cliff at Cannon Beach.

 

LOOK! A starfish! This is the first live one I have ever seen! Isn't he cool?!

 

A cluster of trees on the cliff at Cannon Beach.

 

The doughnut carousel at VooDoo Doughnuts! 

 

Here is the menu and front counter at the original VooDoo Doughnuts. It is open 24 hours and there is ALWAYS a long line to get in!

 

Ahhh the food carts! This is a total Portland, OR thing! There are clusters of food carts all over town with amazing food! This is the one at 50th and Division. The food carts are usually found in clusters all over town. They have a center area for seating and are open different times of the day depending on the area of town. They all have AMAZING food and great prices!

 

Holy crap! Is this awesome, or what? Not only do they recycle at the fast food chains here, but they COMPOST TOO! This is at Burgerville. Their burgers are even made out of grassfed beef! NICE!!

 

The Hollywood district. All the areas of town are broken up by districts. This is the sign over by where Ricky works. 

 

A side view of Jodi's(our roommate) backyard. I love spending time on the deck drinking my morning coffee :D

 

By the side of the deck. My outdoor studio is in that back corner. I need to snap a pic of it all set up for you all :)

 

Pad Thai and Thai iced tea from Run Chicken Run food cart. This meal was $6.50 for the Pad Thai and $2.00 for the tea. What a swingin' deal!! It was delicious too!

 

A view of the river while crossing one of Portlands many bridges. This is the Willamet river.

 

Run chicken Run cart.

 

A super sweet sign that is located at Pioneer Square in Downtown Portland.

TOOL UPDATE....

Ok so I haven't officially purchased tools yet, but I thought you all might be interested in my finds. Many of you suggested Harbor Freight, which looks like it might be my best bet as far as cost and the fact that they have one locally. My other choice was Widget Supply which is also local to Portland and would be free shipping since my order would be over $100. Have a looksy :)

IN OTHER NEWS...

I will be attending the first bead show since I've moved here. It's being put on by Gem Faire. It will be fun to go with Ricky and check things out. I have not heard of many of the vendors so it will be exciting to meet people from this area.

I was excited to be accepted into the Portland Area Etsy group, PDX Etsy! There are currently 821 members! I am excited to meet up with them on July 23rd!

I have also managed to land myself a spot to set up for Last Thursday on Alberta. The last Thursday of every month they close down Alberta street so artists and performers can gather. I had a really wonderful time on my first visit this past June 30th and can't wait to be a vendor at the end of this month! I will be located at Radio Room. I really LOVE this sweet little bar/espresso bar. They have an awesome upstairs outdoor area as well as a downstairs outdoor area with a fire pit!

Well that includes my update for today. I will be busily working to stock the shop and prepare for my upcoming show! 

I hope you are enjoying your summer!

xo Genea