Updated Shops, New Inspiration Board & Designs

Hello friends!

Wow, it's been a weird week. Ricky has a crazy schedule at the gym now that he is a sales manager. I have been flip flopping days around so we can spend time together. I have so many things I am juggling and all the sudden I began to PANIC about the holidays! I was like OMG... I have to stock my shops, I have things to make, beads to make, projects to do.. AHHHHH. Is this happening to anyone else??

I have even finally completed a small run of special things for my collab with Nellie(Karen's daughter that makes fiber wire). So here is a quick sneaky peeky of that...

So this is the "handle" for the orifice hooks. The bottom is a little hook that is used to pull the spun fibers through the spinning wheel. I had a lot of fun creating these :D 

I had also had a convo with Karen about business stuff and we were talking about niches. Then I had a convo with one of my new customers and "wing dings" and "weeny dings" and I got to thinking, Uh... DUH. I need to make a Pinterest board to show people what to do with them right? I mean we are all artists and visual right? It only made sense. So me being a CRAZY person, I went to work creating this board of jewelry and other things to make with "Wing Dings" & "Weeny Dings".

Here is a new GORGEOUS necklace Lorelei created.

I just love this design! It's so fall(my very favorite season)!

Speaking of Lorelei, I got one of her AMAZING tin snippet toggles! 

Oh I just LOVE my toggle! I can't wait to design with it :D Here is her gallery of tin snippet toggles on facebook.

So now what about those shop listings??

So I updated both shops. A few things I thought you all might need for some holiday jewelry for your designs. I got a few new pieces in my jewelry shop too for people who don't make jewelry ;)

"Desert Serpent Jewel" - so this beauty is like the "Desert Serpent" lentils only this is a focal size with a "Jewel" dot in the center. I don't think I actually sold this one. The very first one went to Staci in a trade, so technically these are still new ;) 

Here is how big it is. I believe it's 1". I forget, but it's in the description ;P

Swirl Spacers "Bold Rainbow"- Mmmm pretty huh? Every color you could want. So you are looking at it wondering why it's "rainbow" with no purple, right? Well the purple glass in this style rod is only a kind of lavender. I wanted a bold rainbow so I used these colors :D

Swirl Spacers "Island Punch"- a bit of brights for fun!

Swirly Spacers "Swirly Sea Garden"- I used these little beauties in my "Vortex Flower Garden" necklace that was in Bead & Button :)

Pretty huh? I love this necklace :D

So speaking of jewelry... Here is what I added to my jewelry shop.

"Galaxy Key" necklace with my hand forged copper pendant. the little rainbow bubble button is actually melted directly onto the wire. I just love this piece! So simple and perfect! This necklace even has one of my hammered patinated clasps :D

Here you can see the necklace worn and the earrings that match :D

"Silver Thread Nebula" earrings. Maybe you remember seeing these on the Inspiration & Collaboration blog.

So speaking of photos....

Guess who ordered new MOO cards?! I just loved my fall photos with the leaves so I thought I probably needed some new cards. The holidays are coming up, and one needs to stock up for the holidays, right? Right!

So here is a screen shot of the cards with the leaf photos. So pretty!

Here is the front. Looks simple, right? WRONG... Seriously everything that should be short and simple for me becomes a horrendous MESS. So it literally took me HOURS to get the top image right. I had to create the image so that the text sat right in the middle. I wanted recycled looking cards, but there isn't an option for one. So I took my cardboard image and made one :D In order to make this image it has to be really tall on the top and bottom and the image part has to sit right in the middle. Such a PITA, but OMG it looks f*ing SWEET! I can't wait to get my new cards :D  

I already have a collector of my cards(you know who you are ;D)

Anyways, I suppose I should move along. It's already 4pm here and I still have  a LIST of things to do before going out with some friends today!

See you soon!

xo Genea

Genea C-K jewelry shop update! Breast Cancer Awareness jewelry.

Hello friends!

I am excited to FINALLY be updating my Genea C-K jewelry shop! I even spend a good chunk of the day yesterday creating an awesome banner and avatar :D I decided to divide up my Etsy shops to better accommodate my customers. I have SO much stuff to add to the shop it's not even funny! Can you believe the holidays are RIGHT around the corner??!

This post will also help give you some ideas of what to create with my breast cancer awareness beads as well :) I even made another collage with pic monkey! 

Here is a collage of all of the jewelry I just listed. Isn't it so pretty in it's nice little pink template :D

"Boobies" earrings. I must say I was really excited to make these. They are simple, but so cute. I wore some out the other day and I was surprised no one said a thing! Dang! Well maybe you will be more lucky when you wear yours out on the town! ;)

"Pink Ribbon Boobies" bracelet- This fun little bracelet has some wonderful accents: a boobie dot headpin, a pink ribbon headpin, some super sweet pink weeny dings and a spiral pink ribbon spacer :D 

"Pink Ribbon Boobies" necklace. I really love this piece. It's super simple, but just a perfect design. So comfortable to wear. 

Here you can see how you can adjust the necklace to be longer or shorter with the adjustable chain in the front ;) I wanted to add this element to the front to show off the clasp and the sweet dangle at the bottom really just finishes it off.

"Pink Ribbon" earrings. Just a nice little simple pair of pink ribbon earrings. Not too fussy and not too long. Perfect for every day wear ;)

"Pink Ribbon Pixies" Just a little twist on the pink ribbon design with a few extra pinks and a little bit more dangle. super cute! 

To finish off some amazing jewelry an equally amazing wrapping! Each piece will come in a larger box like this or a smaller size box with pretty pink tissue and a pink tied ribbon :D

Now how's that for service?!

Thanks for checking out my new jewelry!

Happy Friday!

xo Genea

Art Bead Love Tour is on the move again!

Hello friends!

The Art Bead Love Tour is on the move again! Here is a pic of the necklace!

Stop on by Chinook's blog for your chance to snag  some wonderful art beads from this chain! Here is the link to the post.

Good luck on being picked! Help spread the word to get  your chance to win!

xo Genea

HOORAY for BOOBIES! Breast Cancer Awareness beads and clasps!

Hello friends!

Who doesn't love boobies? Well I decided to do a last minute run of breast cancer awareness beads because I wanted to make some gifts for friends. I decided that everyone might want some of their own boobies to play with(LOL) so I made extras!

We will even be donating 10% of sales of these beads and clasps to the Susan G. Komen foundation! Hooray!! 

So if you are offended by the woman form and boobies, you may want to avert your eyes and stop reading this post.

Here are some of the bead photos from the process...

It's a parade of BOOBIES! From A cup, to DD!

The DD cup boobies have pink ribbons on the back side :)

Here are the glass pins before they were made into clasps.

All of the "Ta ta's" clasps drying from their lacquer bath.

The size of the boobie beads- A(10mm), B(12mm) and DD(16mm).

Boobie A Cup. If you are part of the itty bitty titty committee this may be the bead for you! Maybe you just like the size of the bead. They are perfect for earrings! 

Here is a photo of the simple earrings I made. I will be getting these up in my jewelry shop soon.

Boobie- B cup. The universal size. A nice medium size for designing.

Boobie- DD cup. This mamma jamma is the regular size lentil, but the biggest of the bunch. You can even see the pink ribbon peeking out from the back. 

"Pink Ribbon" spacers. Wonderful for earrings or to fill in a design. Super awesome with the boobie beads :)

"Ta ta's Swirl" s-clasp! My most exciting design! I had the idea to put a teeny boobie in the middle of the clasp and it worked out PERFECTLY! So much fun! I can't wait to use it in my design!

Here is a pic of the clasp in my hand. This is the small size clasp like the "Rainbow Swirl" clasps.

Well I hope you enjoyed my ode to boobies! 

Thank you for your support( he he).

xo Genea

New in the shop- "Bright Earth" Weeny Dings and "Rainbow Spiral" S-Clasps!

Hello friends!

I was really excited to update the shop today! I cranked out some more wonderful weeny dings in your favorite color palette, "Bright Earth" and got a wonderful selection of S-LG "Rainbow Spiral" s-clasps in the shop!

Since it's been awhile, here is a refresher of the size of "Weeny Dings". 

"Bright Earth" Weeny Dings. I just LOVE this tiny size in my(and your) favorite color palette! Perfect for so many things like earrings, dangles or whatever design tickles your fancy!

Check out this GORGEOUS design by Lorelei! I just love her tin focal with the weeny dings! Here is a link to the bracelet.

Here are the "Rainbow Spiral" S-Clasps. Sizes are from left to right: Small, Schmedium(what else do you call an inbetween size?!), Medium, and Large.

Here is a look at the sizes in my hand .

"Rainbow Spiral" S-Clasp Large.

"Rainbow Spiral" S-Clasp  Medium

"Rainbow Spiral" S-Clasp Schmedium.

"Rainbow Spiral" S-Clasp Small.

So you know the whole reason I had an idea to create this clasp was for a new design, right?! Here you can see the clasp in action! Patinated chain is by Karen Totten.

Here is my new design that will be going in my jewelry shop soon(www.geneack.etsy.com). You can also look forward to seeing my NEW "Ocean Serpent Egg" focals in the shop coming soon!

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a fantastic remainder of the week!

xo Genea

Rainbow Spiral "S-Clasp"- the REVEAL

Hello friends!

Well I have dipped my toes into the pool of glass and metals. Now mind you this is just the beginning. Staci was kind enough to walk me through some of the tools I would need to do some simple soldering and metal work.I have only collected a few pieces, but this is the start.

I was actually inspired by make this new clasp by a design I was creating :D I needed a clasp and I was going to use one of my FAVORITE Spiral "S-Clasps" from Staci, but then I had the idea to make one with GLASS on it! I came up with this idea as I was laying out my design on my bead mat before bed. I scribbled down the idea and then went to sleep. 

So upon waking I had to try out my new idea! I was pretty certain it would work. I actually took step-by-step photos and think maybe I might turn this into a tutorial. For now I will just fill you in with some of the steps so you can really appreciate the process :)(you know how I love my process!) I even did a short VIDEO of the glass part of this process. You really can't see the detail, but I had some friends tell me I needed to do a video of me lampworking ;) Luckily I jerry rigged my broken tripod enough to do a quick video. 

So here we go...

So first you need to "draw a bead" with some copper wire.

Then it has to be wired up to work the glass onto them. 

 

Here is the video of me putting the glass on the wire :D

Here are all of the glass pins waiting to be made into clasps. Aren't they PRETTY?! They are like my little soldiers <3 p="p">

Next the clasps have to be bent into shape.

Hammered....

The run of claps waiting to be patinated.

Cleaned.

Patinated.

Dried.

Buffed(like the boob shot? Lol. I had to rest the camera under my chin and on my chest to get both hands in the photo!)

Lacquered(twice. This takes 2 hours to dry each time).

Drying.

FINISHED!

Just a really cool shot of my table while I was working. It was very picturesque so I had to click a pic.

Here is the link to my quick Cleaning, Patinaing and Coating Copper Wire Tutorial!

I can't wait to show you the BEADS and DESIGNS I am working on for which I made the clasps! :D I will also be getting some of the finished clasps up in my shop soon!

See you soon!

xo Genea