Something old, something new...

Hello friends!

Brrrr is it COLD! I had just posted in my shop about how listings would be slower as I stock pile for Bead Fest Philly in August this year. Ha ha, so much for that! It is SO cold out I couldn't dream of opening the windows today to lampwork. So here I sit bundled up at the computer typing to you ;)

I re-listed some "old" things, finished up some "old" things and listed a few "new" things. You will see some of your favs appear back in the shop finally and some things you didn't see that I had started and didn't finish til now(the soldered charms).

"Winged Electricity" Man was this hard to photograph! These bright colors and transparents really flash off the camera lens. 

"Flight of Electric Vision" this one was also really hard to photograph.

"Chocolate Bloom" Remember this? I made them after that one comforter I got from mom. Well I had actually been working on several charms to make a design. As you can see I never got to it. They were so pretty I thought I would offer them up in my shop. This one is pendant size(the others were bracelet size).

"All you need is LOVE"- Wow! Now that was  feat to get all of those letters in one charm, but I did it! I must say I am pretty impressed ;)

"Tea Stained Rose" One that I started in the beautiful "City of Roses," Portland, Oregon. I loved the rose image. It's very vintagey looking to me. 

"Hugs and Kisses, "X" and "O"s" named after a Black Eyed Peas song. I used these awhile back and made some cute earrings. I made an extra pair so here they are :)

Here are the earrings  :D

"Sea Limes" Wing Dings - finally back in stock! I was actually pretty embarrassed with how long these were out. Well at any rate a few sets are in the shop and a few stashed away for the show ;) 

Desert Serpent Jewel "Mermaid"- UM, YUM! I just love this combo! Matte and shiny! Mmmm. 

Ok so I didn't re-make these yet, but the dogs on the new focals look more like these than the one in the top photo. Just never know what rainbow color you will get with Raku, but it will be gorgeous! ;)

Well I suppose I should get to it. I already have some sale packages to wrap up and have to tag all of the new stuff from today ;)

Stay warm!

xo Genea

Something out of Nothing- Few Ingredient Food

Hello friends!

And now for something completely different! No, this post is actually NOT about beads, but before you click away... You do eat right? and you do like food right? Well this may be of interest to you! ;) So those that know me well know that I am a foodie. As you may have seen  I like to take photos of what I eat. I enjoy eating, and enjoy sharing amazing thing throughout my day. 

This was one of my crowning moments and I would like to share it with you. As you know, I create. That is just something I do. My husband on the other hand also creates, only his medium is food(LUCKY ME! :D) Ricky(DH) is the master of "throw it together" cooking. He can take ANYTHING and make something amazing. Me, well I am not so lucky(although I have been told I can do it too, but I don't really believe him...). BUT... Today... I DID IT! 

You know those days. The days before payday when you have odds and ends and you are wondering what the hell you are going to make. Now for me since I am gluten intolerant and have found I am also having issues with some dairy that makes it a bit tricky. 

So here is what I had. Chicken breast, bacon, and 4 very sad willty looking mushrooms. I saw that mom and dad had some kinda wilty looking lettuce in the drawer as well so I snagged some of that.  That is a LIFE SAVER when you can't just put stuff between bread or make noodles. Oh I forgot when looking for lettuce I also found a little bit of onion. 

So I thought to myself hmmm....what can I make. Well bacon is always good, right? I mean it's BACON. So I cut up my bacon into pieces and added some garlic(we always have a big tub from Costco, thank God!), cut up my onions and my sad little mushrooms.  I added all of that to the pan, but then realized I should have started by cooking down the bacon to make it crusty(and garlic and onions were caramelized) and release it's oil. So I scooted the other ingredients to the side of the pan and let my bacon cook down. 

When my bacon got pretty crusty I moved the rest of stuff in the man back in the middle and mixed everything together. Next I cut up my chicken and added that to the pan and cooked it until the chicken was done(It turns white, for those of you that don't cook much ;) I grabbed a pinch of kosher salt and a few dashes of coarse ground pepper on top.

Then I had this GENIUS idea. I would need some sort of topping right? So I think to myself, what would taste good with bacon and chicken. HONEY MUSTARD! So I dig in the fridge and find some Dijon mustard, and grab the honey out of the cabinet. I do a drizzle of both(more mustard than honey) across my stuff in the pan until it's mixed in. 

Next I removed my pan from the heat, put lettuce on a plate and added the pan contents on top. I then grabbed some more Dijon mustard and honey and drizzled those over the top again(more mustard than honey again). 

THIS, is what I had for lunch when there was SQUAT in the fridge!

Um yeah, it was quite delicious, if I do say so myself! So today, I had my "Ricky moment" and created this amazing dish out of "nothing"! Yay!! 

The ingredient list so you don't have to scroll through the blog...

1 chicken breast

2 handfuls of lettuce(spinach or whatever you have as far as greens. Enough to cover your plate)

2 slices of bacon

handful of portobello mushrooms

A TBS of garlic or so( I love garlic so I just grabbed a spoon and dumped a heaping one in)

1/4c or so of onion

Pinch of kosher salt

a few dashes of coarse ground pepper

2 drizzles of dijon mustard

2 lesser drizzles of honey

I hope you give it a try! I was so excited to whip up something so simple and tasty!

Enjoy!

xo Genea

Bright Earth Series- Shop Update

Hello friends!

Well I got busy jiving on this "Bright Earth" palette of mine. I decided to make some more beads like the ones in my necklace since they were so well received. I also even made some tabs! Yay! So now it's YOUR turn to do some designing with my beads!

Here is the whole collection(well most of it besides the Vortex Flowers ;) All together along with one of my necklace designs!

Bright Earth "Bubble Sprees" Um YUM! Couldn't you just eat these?! I mean don't cause well you can't digest them and well you know how you would have to get them back if you did. Uh... yeah. Lol!  

Big Hole Flower Connector- Bright Earth My first attempt at adding to loop holes for connecting as not to disrupt that beautiful negative space in the center of the flower. I love how it worked up in my necklace!

Bright Earth "Tornado Leaves" Ok it took me a few combos to get colors that POPPED. With this design you have to have enough contrast when layering the colors. NAILED IT! :D

Bright Earth "Tornado Pods"- Great for earrings, flower centers for Vortex Flowers, you name it! Oh so BRIGHT!

Bright Earth "Bubble Buttons"- Wing Dings- Um if they weren't amazing enough just by their color, they are now with their color fading bubbles. I am quite enamored with fading each color to the next. It tickles my fancies. I hope it does for you too :D

I don't know about you, but I love seeing these pop up on my screen! It's such a great sense of accomplishment. I guess it just makes them "real" yanno? 

I hope you find something you can't live without ;)

Happy Hump Day!

xo Genea

Listing EXTRAVAGANZA- Vortex Flowers and S-Clasps

Hello friends!

Ok maybe it wasn't a listing extravaganza, but it felt like one. I ended up getting my butt in gear and listing some new S-Clasps since there was a mention about them in our Bead Babes group on Facebook. They had been sitting here waiting to be listed so I got those done real quick like. I had originally planned to list more Vortex Flowers, but got a few up before I tuckered out ;) So here is what is new in the shop....

"Red Rainbow"- Schmedium clasp So again, red doesn't happen often in my world so if you see it, you may want to grab it cause I have no idea when I will feel up to making red again.

Recycled Bottle Glass "Olive" Schmedium s-clasp This one doesn't have a ball at the end of the swirl like the others incase you were wondering what the difference was ;)

Recycled Bottle Glass "Olive" Schmedium s-clasp and Small S-clasp. Same style just different sizes. I would love to make more of these in my other recycled bottle glass colors. So eventually....

"Red Rainbow Tiger" Schmedium S-Clasp and Medium S-Clasp. So again, red doesn't happen often in my world so if you see it, you may want to grab it cause I have no idea when I will feel up to making red again.

Vortex Flower "Bright Earth". Just like in my new necklace! :D

"Bright Earth" Wing Dings- I had one set up for grabs for now. I had hoarded it for my necklace design, but since I made the bubble buttons I can part with this one ;) I will make more eventually....

Vortex Flower "Lagoon"- My dreamy lime, aqua and teal color palette. So refreshing! 

That's all for today's update.

Have a wonderful hump day!

xo Genea

How to get out of an Artists "Funk"

Hello friends!

Did you get bombarded with the crazy holiday rush? Are you STILL feeling tired and uninspired? I was too.. .. That is one of my least favorite things to have happen! There is nothing worse than getting into a FUNK with a capital "F"! I had wanted to make some more hearts for Valentine's Day, but nothing else was turning out.  So the big question is how to you get out of a funk? Well I usually start out with my favorite colors(lime green and aqua). I pick a design that is comfortable and easy to achieve. 

Here was my first batch of Vortex Flowers in a year! Wow I can't believe it's been that long since I have made them. 

Often times while I work my mind tends to wander. I get ideas as I am making other things. I had some curved pieces of wire sitting on my table for a heart design I wanted to create so I grabbed them and put them to work here.

Ok awesome, new ideas, right? So things turning out is good... 

Next I began looking for new color palettes as I tend to go for the same things. I hopped on over to Design Seeds for some color inspiration. I picked quite a few palettes which I saved on my Pinterest board for later. I kept browsing until I cam across this palette. I thought "Hmmm.. these are colors I don't normally use and I totally have some matches in glass!"

I thought I would just continue in Vortex Flower designs since I do need to stock up for the show this August(I think I forgot to tell you I am attending Bead Fest Philly this year in August with Staci!)  

I was quite pleased with results even thought this is totally NOT my color palette choice. I'm sure it's someones favorite. Infact I was pretty surprised you all liked them very much on Facebook. Who knew? :)

I ended up making this little Vortex flower in: black, ivory and raku and it just jumped together in this design with some "Falling Leaves" Wooly Wire! I just LOVE the way the wooly wire feels when your fingers run over it. Love those little flecks of sparkle too! Now we are ON to something. Beads turning out and a finished design! Woo Hoo! Genea-4, Funk-0!

Then I thought to myself how sweet it would be to make some Vortex Flowers in my "Bright Earth" Palette.

"Wing Dings" in my "Bright Earth" Palette.

Vortex Flowers in "Bright Earth" palette. Oooo yeah!! *fist pump* 

Here is the doodle for my design. Don't mind my TERRIBLE handwriting. You would think being an artist I would pretty handwriting, but NOPE. lol.

After making my necklace design above  the idea just STRUCK me for another design! I got to work the next day creating a collection of beads in the "Bright Earth" palette. 

Vortex Flowers, Bubble Button Wing Dings, Big Hole Flower Connectors, Swirl Leaf Glass Headpins,  and Swirl Pod Headpins! It was exciting to not only work in this palette, but to try out some new designs!

The new flower connector and wing dings attached with some "Bright Earth" Wooly Wire(not available quite yet, but soon.), and a wonderful flower connector and leaf from Karen.

The very FIRST part of the design on which I worked. I thought about the design a lot the day my beads were in the kiln and as I was falling asleep trying to work out how I would assemble it. I am SO pleased with the design and how it came out EXACTLY like it looked in my head! 

A close-up of the Vortex Flower pendant and Lorelei's Tin Snippets toggle!

The finished necklace worn. WOW, huh?! I can't wait to ROCK this at Bead Fest Philly this year! 

I hope this blog helped dig you out of your rut and get you back on track! See you soon.

Happy Creating!

xo Genea

Review on Wooly Wire(Fiber Wire)

Hello friends!

This blog is way over due, but at least I am here posting it now. As you may have seen over my past blogs, and posts I am ENAMORED with Wooly Wire to say the least!  I have nothing, but great things to say about this amazing new product! You may remember my past blog tutorial about how to Finish the end of Wooly Wire. Wooly wire is SO easy to use and easy to end as well. Wooly Wire is that perfect element to add to any project that you would do wire-wrapping techniques and beyond!

Wooly Wire comes in 2 different gauges, 24 and 22. I personally prefer the 24 ga myself, but I also create work on a smaller scale. I like that their is more fiber than wire with the 24. If you do larger chunkier pieces you may like the 22 better. 

Here you can see some AWESOME negative space earrings.

A super sweet woven pendant.

A necklace using the Wooly Wire for connecting as well as simple wire wraps.

For a simpler design just around the front.

Around chain for an amazing textural look.

A more intricate design with simple wire-wraps and some coiling around fiber. I LOVE this necklace!

Even wine charms! 

The sky is the limit with this amazing new mixed-media art wire! 

For more ideas and inspiration, check out the Pinterest board Wooly Wire! 

If you weren't sure about Wooly Wire, I hope this gave your the courage to dive on it!

Enjoy!

xo Genea

Hearts, Hearts, Hearts, and Love.

Hello friends!

I had an impromptu listing go on today. I did this for a few reasons... 1. I got a great response on the photo I posted of my first run of Valentine's Day hearts 2. It is my 7 year wedding anniversary(so it seemed fitting) 3. Valentine's Day is JUST around the corner ALREADY(can you believe it?!).

So without further adieu, here are my lovelies!

"Ammonite Jewel Tribe" -OMG.. pretty sure this is my FAVORITE heart! I love how tribal it is and the rainbow ammonite and jewel dots! Wow! :Love the pointy wings too!

"Ocean Serpent Egg" Heart- So if you loved the "Ocean Serpent Egg" design in red, you will LOVE this heart! I tried out this design on a heart for one of Karen's xmas presents :D I know you all LOVE red even though I hate it so I went ahead and made one for ya ;P

"Electric Lime" Spiral Earth Stone Heart- If you loved the "Electric Lime" Earth Stone beads, you will LOVE this heart! I thought it would be awesome to make a matching heart focal and I was right! :D

"Storm Cloud Silver Lining" heart.  So this design was inspired by another design I made for *someone's* gift(she hasn't seen it yet) except I used a gorgeous charcoal gray base instead. I love how this heart turned out, stormy witha silver lining :D

Well I hope you enjoyed my first run of hearts. I hope to make more this week :D

See you soon!

xo Genea