Ombre- variegated color hair

Hello friends!

I am super stoked about my new hair! Back when I was in high school I always wanted purple hair. My mom always told me how pretty my red hair was and that I shouldn't dye it. Well I guess it must have stuck because I have only dyed my hair 3 times in my life(hard to believe huh?). The first time was blondish highlights(wish I could find a pic). The second time  I had high lights  and  low lights put in my hair with 2 shades darker underneath. I really loved it!

1 shade lighter, one shade darker, and natural hair color.

2 shades darker underneath.

Over the years I have just cut my hair. The first daring one was really short. I had always loved the look of the reverse bob hair cuts, but never thought I could pull one off.

Front.

Side. I love the look, but short hair is pretty high maintenance. I am not really a high maintenance girl. As I have aged I get bored with spending hours in the bathroom getting ready ;p

So I let my hair grow out.

... get really LONG. 

Then this year I decided to just do whatever I wanted with my hair. Just be myself. It' is *just* hair and it will grow back.  I now know that I can rock my hair short, so if I get bored, off it goes! 

I blame, well not really blame, but I guess thank, Lemonade Mantras for letting me get in tune with my greatest self. In part of the process you need to do some meditating and visualizing. This is really hard for me cause I can barely sit still and just relax. So to help myself I made a Pinterest board to help with my visualization. Here is my board My Style.

So I really contemplated this hair thing. At first I thought well I could just dye the tips right? I could always cut them off when I get bored and won't have to wait forever to grow them out. I talked with my friend Virgil that works at Blo salon in downtown KC.  He suggested I get an "Ombre". It is color variegated hair that fades from your natural color to other natural hair colors or wild ones. Well you know how much I love color, so this was my chance for that funky hair I had always wanted. 

At first I wanted "my colors," but lime green and aqua wouldn't fade quite right with my red.

So Virgil suggested: red, purple, or pink for a better fade.

So I chose pink and purple. So I guess for these to do a nice fade you start with the first color and then progressively fade into the next ones. So on with the PURPLE!

So before you can apply the color you need to STRIP off the natural stuff. Onto the bleach. Is it bleach? Well whatever it's called that they use to strip off your color to blonde.

WOW! Look at how VIVID that color is! :D The dark in the bottom of the bowl is the dye and you can see the color from the swipes of the brush against the bowl.

This is how it looked in my hair! I LOVE it! 

Glad I got brave and just jumped in! Here you can see me wearing my LOVELY Maku heart :D

I hope that maybe this post will encourage you to just be yourself and do those things maybe you were too afraid to do in the past. Its such a wonderful feeling to start becoming your best self!

xo Genea

The Magic of MAKU- Beads arrived from Maku Studio!

Hello friends!

Wow, I have just been SHOWERED in beads this week! I was so excited to receive my beads from Marianne Kasparian of MAKU Stuido! I have been lusting after Marianne's hearts for awhile now! You may remember that I had sent her some of my lampwork head pins that I made especially to match her work. Now I get to see just how well those matches are since I have some of my very own MAKU beads on my bead mat! :D 

Here is what was inside of the envelope :D

WOW! Aren't these incredible?! Just look at all of that color and texture on the barrel bead! Isn't my little birdie sweet too? :) 

WOW! Check out the color on these "Galaxy" beads! Aren't they just amazing! They are definitely cosmic! 

Look at this button! I just love these wonderful quenched earth looking crackles with the rainbows on top! 

... and THESE.... I am speechless! They are even more beautiful in person if that is even possible! Marianne is just so incredibly talented! She just makes that raku SING! I am so excited to get this on my neck and in my ears I can hardly stand it! They are just so beautiful!! Looks like I am going to need some of those matching headpins from my shop to add to my earrings ;) 

Marianne, thank you so very much for your generosity and sharing your wonderful art with me! I am so grateful to own (and soon wear) this amazing little works of art! You are truly gifted! 

Thanks for stopping by to oogle my beadies with me! 

So what are you waiting for? Go run to her shop and get one for yourself! 

See you soon!

xo Genea

Marsha Neal Studio- Bead Box Arrived!

Hello friends!

YAY!! My box from Marsha arrived today! :D:D:D I always love receiving bead boxes from my artsy friends!

I was really excited to get a box today with some bad news I got when I sat down to work on some color testing today.

So yeah that little curly q wire back there. Um... it's pretty important. It's the heating element and it crapped out today! Luckily all of your wonderful ladies that are participating in my sale helped me pay for the new $70 part! *whew* So yay for sales and getting my new element ordered. If you are EVER in the market for a glass kiln, I would highly recommend The Glass Hive! They are amazing! I have had my kiln for over 4 years with NO problems until today, and the elements only have a 4 year life anyways, so I would say that's a HIGH QUALITY kiln. Did I mention that they are super nice and helpful as well? So awesome all around!

Ok, now back to the BEADS!

Yay! Here is my box! No peeking! 

Here is what the inside looked like. Don't you just love the pretty tape and tissue?

If I had to guess, I would say Marsha likes purple and pink ;) Isn't this wonderful? I just LOVE opening up packages and having things in pretty boxed with pretty tape and tissue! It's such a gift to open up beads when they are wrapped up like this!

Yes, this is *just* a box, but look at it! Deep down I *am* a girl and I like little and cute things(shhhh don't tell anyone! I have a reputation to uphold!) I am just in love with these little boxes! I need to find out where Marsha got them ;) Moving on...

Oooooohhhhh! Look what was in the purple tissue! Some of Marsha's new disc beads! On the left are the "Garden Succulents" and on the right are the "Rustic Patina's. I just LOVE the rainbowyness and really digging on this rustic stone/matte thing! These are REALLY amazing!

Here is a size photo. Look how BIG these are! Aren't they wonderful! As you may know when buying beads photos don't totally show you just how big or small things are. I mean it's in the descriptions, of course, but it's always exciting to see just how big or small they are in your hands :D

Mmmmm look at the glaze on this one! Isn't it beautiful?! It's SO me!

Mmmmm look at these discs! AWESOME! Just my colors! I LOVE this tanzanite purple too! So pretty!

Look how teeny the "shards" are :D They are so gorgeous too! I love this half dipped look to them. The dark matte clay with the matte glaze! So dreamy! These are the Choclate somethin' somethin' ones, I forget the exact name.

YUM! Limey, greeny, aquay goodness! I just love this 2 tone glaze and these wonderful twist beads in "Bright Green Blue".

OMG it has just been so wonderful to do so many trades with so many talented artists! I am so excited about these beads I want to sit down and start designing something(just as soon as I am done posting my blog ;)

Marsha, thank you so very much for all of these wonderful beads! You just spoiled me with so many beautiful pieces! I just love your wonderful beads and mad glazing skills! 

Thanks for stopping by to check out my loot! 

I hope those of you that are at Bead Fest are having a wonderful time! 

I hope those of you(like me) that aren't are having a good time checking out our other beady friends sales online!

Have a fantastic weekend!

xoxo Genea

"Bead Fest Pity Party" SALE- 20% OFF- Use code "bfetsy" at check out!

Hello friends!

Well sadly we will not be joining our other beady friends at Bead Fest Philly this weekend, so Heather Powers of Humble Beads decided to get some wonderful artist together for a "Bead Fest Pity Party" Sale!: http://humblebeads.blogspot.com/2012/08/pity-party-bead-sale.html

We will be offering 20% OFF all weekend long(until 5pm Sunday the 19th) by using the code "bfetsy" at check out ! Just check out our shop!

Please do stop by Heather's blog(link above) to check out all of the other wonderful artists that will be participating in this sale!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Shopping!

xo Genea

Busy, busy, Beader!

Hello friends!

Do you ever have trouble transitioning from one thing to the next? I do. I switch from bead making to jewelry making. So this week I had some glass testing and some designing to do. I have already been busily creating some AMAZING jewelry for Staci and my limited addition collab sets! I am SOOOOO excited about how well my designs turned out. Unfortunately you will have to wait to see those particular designs, BUT I do have some wonderful designs to share!

I was asked to assemble some of Sue Stewart's silver glass test beads on the different Creation is Messy blacks. Here is a link to the beads I received to assemble. The beads I used are 3-6 on the right hand side of the tuxedo black page.

Here was my first design. Originally somehow I thought I was going to get all of these beads onto one necklace! Lol. Well that didn't quite work, so I did 3 different designs. For this one I imaged a nice LONG necklace, which generally isn't my style. These beads were so wonderfully long they were just perfect for this style :)

The second necklace is the one I was most enamored with. I pulled out these wonderful metallic leathers I bought and go to work. The cool thing about this design is that I had no idea what I was going to do with it. I just sat down and worked it up. Do you ever impress yourself when you sit down to design? This one really did that for me. As I knotted these wonderful loops around the flattened barrel lampwork beads I just loved the look. At the ends where I finished off the knotting I macramed. Wow, I was surprised at how well the leather not only macramed, but looked! I got JUST the right finishing touches to not only complete the design, but end the work without it looking like you could see the exact spot where I stopped knotting. When I got to the end of the leather I wondered what I was going to do with the ends. 

I dug through my stash and found some sweet little deep blue glittery spacer beads and tied them on!

Um... isn't this AMAZING?! I just LOVE it! It has a fantastic weight to it as well! I, of course, LOVE the negative space! 

Here is the last necklace. There were a lot of really gorgeous blues in these beads so I put them with some Sari silk. I am into these double drop necklaces lately. Not sure what that is all about, but they really intrigue me :D

Designs I can share...

While I was working on our collab designs these beads just screamed at me from my bead box. I excitedly dug out some beads of Staci's I had been sitting on for a long while that I loved. These beads were just PERFECT together along with some of Karen's patinated rings and new textured heat patinated donuts! 

Here is a close up of Staci's "Man on the Moon" focal bead. He has a sweet moon face and the back is stamped with stars and swirls. I just love him! You can also see some of Karen's clay discs and one of Staci's Spiral "S" clasps that I am totally in LOVE with! I have been using her clasps in EVERYTHING and they are the perfect size for these designs.

Here is a better shot of Karen's donuts and my weeny dings :D

BACK IN THE SHOP...

So with everything going on this week with designing I didn't have much time to think up some new things so I did re-stock some favorites that were out. 

Bright Earth Wing Dings

These sweet little babies also FLEW out of the shop! You all are so amazing! I think you will love them just as much as I do! Lagoon Weeny Dings.

So since I can't show you the collab designs for the limited addition sets just yet, how about I show you my KILLER earrings?

I just ADORE them! I used Karen's incredible patinated hoops, and star beads along with my weeny dings, enameled "hair pin" wires and teensy 3mm 2x ab crystals! They are just perfect with the tiny size of the weeny dings. I am also quite in love with all of this wonderful chain from Rings & Things I received from Staci.

Here is what the earrings look like worn. They are surprisingly weightless for the amount of beads on them. It's all of that wonderful negative space that gives them that fullness in their design :D

What are you creating with your weeny dings?? I would LOVE to see some photos! Please send them to me via facebook so that I can add them to the gallery! 

On the subject of mini.....

I just ordered some mini cards from the Etsy+ Moo mini card offer. These cards are FREE with only the cost of shipping. It was $5 for shipping to the US. This is my first time ordering them, but I have seen how wonderful these cards are from ones I have received.

Here is screen shot of my beadies in the shape of the mini cards while I was designing them. Thanks so much to Karen for her help getting these started and to Holly and Brandon for being my moral support when I F*ed up the borders and forgot to go to the Etsy link when I started creating these cards!

Thanks for checking in! 

See you soon!

xo Genea

Trades and Collaborations- Marsha Neal Studio

Hello friends!

Wow, it has been such an exciting time! I have been enjoying so many wonderful trades and collaborations with some very talented artists! Marsha, is no exception! I got the pleasure of getting to know Marsha better through our Bead Babes group on Facebook :) 

I forget how we even go to swapping, but Marsha had asked me if I could create her some earring pair glass headpins to be the centers of these new flower caps she had been creating.. She gave me a link to one of her Pinterest boards for some ideas on what she liked. Her only request was BRIGHT. Pft.. got that covered! Well I must say there was so much wonderful stuff on there I wasn't really sure what the heck I was going to make. Luckily for me when you ask for "colorful" you can pretty much hit just about anywhere and get something you like.

Here are Marsha's Flower Cap beads :D Aren't they wonderful?! I love that Marsha takes so many wonderful photos of her process!

Isn't it delightful that her caps fit on her fingers? :) I have been loving photos of artists hands with their work more and more. They are photos of the creator and their art :)

Just LOOK at all of them!!

Here you can see all of them loaded into her kiln.

So off to work I went to create some bright headpins for Marsha.

Here are the designs I created for her. I tried to pick the brightest colors I could think of with some nice textures and shapes.

Marsha snuck off to her studio to try out the new caps when she received her headpins. Aren't they wonderful?? :D

Marsha had just started doing some new glazing and these were some of the new caps. SO my colors! 

Well in the midst of her glazing she said she was inspired to do some matching to my headpins! How exciting is that?! I love that she was so inspired by them she started some test glaze matches and began working!

Here is are her new matching caps glazed.

Here is a photo of her new glazed caps with my headpins! :D:D:D

and HERE are some of the new caps from her next round of glazing!! So exciting! I just LOVE ALL of them! 

Now that you are all crazy inspired, why not hop over to Marsha's shop and load up! Oh did I mention she is having a SALE?!  Actually a lot of your favorite beady artists are! Here is a link to some of the other ladies sales!

Thanks for stopping by! 

Happy Sunday!

xo Genea

Show me your WEENY! Introducing NEW "Weeny Dings"!

Hello friends! 

Well we finally got back to work with the recovery of our oxygen concentrator!

Here you can see Brandon hard at work taking apart my concentrator to replace the new part. Kinda scary that the concentrator just kind of falls out all over the place when you remove it's outer layer.

The cluprit! Here is the resignator. As you can see it's plastic, not really the best material for such an important piece. What had happened is that either the top or bottom little tubey piece had snapped not allowing the oxygen to flow through this piece and come out of the nozzle and into the oxygen hose.

It's amazing how much better my concentrator works now! Yay!!

I have really been enjoying Marsha's process photos, so here is one of my own. Here are the beads soaking in the bead bowl after being removed from the mandrel. The beads are then dremmeled clean, and towel dried :)

The back story....

So how did this new design come about? Well during one of Karen and my late night chats, she had asked me if I ever thought of making smaller "Wing Dings".  As you may know, Karen is a maker of tiny beads with the help of her elves. I forget all of their names, but I know there are at least 3 ;) 

So off to work I went to make teeny tiny wing dings. OMG, it WORKED! Not only did it work, but they were perfect! They were totally "Karen Size"(what I call small sized things since Karen's work is so detailed and tiny)! 

I got to work on a wonderful little run of beads for Karen for some of her creations! Here is the result of combining our wonderful ideas!

Introducing "Lagoon" Weeny Dings! All of those amazing: teals, aquas, deep india ink blue and, of course lime green!

To give you an idea of just how small these beads are here you can see this set in my hand.

Aren't they so precious?! 

Here you can see them in my hand with a "standard" sized "Wing Ding". I just love their amazing teeny shape!

In honor of creating these special beads I used some of my star links and patinated hoops from Karen! I just HAD to use some of our fav colors together! I also created a special super teeny pair of earrings for my friend Kathy's daughter, Zoe :) They were just so sweet and tiny I thought they would be the perfect "my first Genea Beads" earrings for a little girl :D

Here are some of Karen's beads that would be amazing paired with our new weeny dings!

Blue Grotto Gears.

Crystal Aqua Gears.

 Check this out! I even have some awesome patinated metals by Karen from my b-day stash! Woo hoo!

Thanks so much for stopping by to check out our new Weeny Dings! 

Have a great weekend!

xo Genea