Genea Beads

Meet Heather Powers, my BSBP Winter 2012 Partner!

2012-01-24T15:04:00.000-08:00

Hello friends!

I would like to introduce you to my Bead Soup Blog Partner, Heather Powers. You may know her from a number of wonderful places as she is a huge force in the bead world. You may recognize her from her shop Humble Beads or perhaps from The Art Bead Scene Blog. You can read more about Heather and what inspires her in her bio.

Here are some of her works you may recognize as well! I just picked a few from her www.humblebeads.com site to share with you here :)

Here are some beads from her "Art Inspired" section. I just love all of the colors and lines in this set.

She even does cute little woodland creatures like her "baby hedgies" . I am particularly in love with these just because I used to own a couple of hedge hogs. They really are such remarkable little creatures!

and I am totally blown away by this style bead she does called "Wishes and Starfishes". I am totally amazed by the techniques being done with polymer clay these days. When I was into polymer clay at age 15 it was all about cane work pieces. I really love the wonderful painterly style of these beads. They are like tiny little 3 dimensional canvas'. They have wonderful raised textures along with hand painted on colors. Wow!

I was so excited to get picked to be partners with Heather. She is so creative and I just admire her incredible skill in clay! I can't wait to see which of her treasures she sends to me in my soup!

Here is a little teaser image of the soup that is in the mail on it's way to her as we speak!

See you soon!

xo Genea

NEWS and a SALE!

2012-01-23T10:57:00.000-08:00

Hello friends!

Well I finally have some news for you. I've been lying low for awhile so you haven't read all of the things going on in my life at the moment. Who wants to read about all of that crap all the time anyways? :( So first off I will tell the news as I have just posted about it on Facebook.

I will be going back home to Kansas City for a few months due to some family things. I just need to be home with my mom. I know that's pretty vague, but the full details aren't mine to share so that will have to suffice. I will be staying with mom for a little while while Ricky stays in Portland. So I guess that is about as much as I can tell for now.

Ok so we aren't really going by wagon, but I couldn't help but add a pic of Oregon Trail into my blog for some comic relief. We will actually be traveling by car.

I will be taking myself and the dogs to KC so I need to drive back since it's too cold to fly all of us and probably just about as expensive. We are leaving on the 28th of this month! I am thankfully traveling with my friend, Holly from Kansas City! I am looking forward to our girl cross country road trip. I'm hoping not to hit some bad weather as we pass over the mountains. KC really hasn't gotten hammered with crazy wintery weather yet much this year so I am hoping it will hold off until I make it home safely.

THE SALE...

So where is the sale info on this thing?! Ok well here we go. Traveling costs have SKY ROCKETED so to help with traveling costs I am having a sale! Who doesn't love a sale?! So from now through Tuesday at midnight I am offering 30% OFF STORE WIDE with the coupon code "TRAVELKC". Enter this code at check out for the discount to be applied!

Thanks for checking up on me! See you soon!

xo Genea

More Jewels from the desert- Shop Update

2012-01-19T14:27:00.000-08:00

Hello friends!

I suppose you are wondering why there hasn't been more content on my blog recently other than shop updates. Well the reality isn't so amazing so I've been keeping it off of here. I do have some news I will be sharing early next week, but until then I will just get to my shop updates. They really are the bright spot in my day :)

So a few more goodies in the Desert/Midnight theme and a little twist...

"Desert Serpent" these are back in the shop! I just LOVE this style I created. So natural with a burst of rainbowy goodness. I would have liked to have made more especially some in a focal size, but I ran out of IVORY. Wa, wa, wa...

"Onyx Rainbow Sands" a little sampling of everything awesome in the way of this deserty theme.

"Painted Desert Pods" maybe you remember seeing a few of these that I sent to Staci of Artisan Accents for our swap. Well now how about some for EVERYONE?! :D

Tornado Candy Ruffle Button "Midnight Jewel"- so you remember that new focal kick I got on? How about these colors?! I originally made this to match these mash up sets and the headpins(they sold, but I'll be making more ;)

Desert Serpent "Just Rust"- so you all know how I LOVE red roof tile, right? Well I figured I would give this style I came up with a try on it. WOW! Aren't these awesome? So why aren't there more matching beads to go with these?(I ran out of this color too! More on the way though ;)

I even named these beads after a Fiona Apple song .

Well that concludes my update for now. We actually had a snow day here in Portland the other day. Ricky and I ventured out and took some photos. I will get those edited and up here in a few days :D

See ya soon!

xo Genea

Metamorphosis of Design "Tornado Candies" and Shop Update!

2012-01-12T13:46:00.000-08:00

Hello friends!

Do you remember me talking about these beads? I kinda got off on a tangent after creating them and created my first FREE tutorials(on my left side blog bar) with one of the focal beads. I got all of these babies photographed inbetween passing clouds the other day. Just got them all edited and up in the shop today.

So before moving along to the listings I want to talk with you about the designs. You know how I am about the process :D So I guess I just kinda kept going with the lime greens, teals and aquas. I did that run of Vortex Flowers and it was just easy to keep working in the same colors.

I decided to SUPER SIZE my "Tornado Candy" design. This came about when I did my trade with Staci Klinger Smith from Staci Louise Originals. When we did our trade she had asked if I did the "Desert Serpent" style beads in a focal size. Hmmm.. no I didn't, but sure could! I was really pleased with the results so I decided to do the same with the "Tornado Candy" style.

As I create I kinda get side tracked sometimes. I keep getting ideas like "Hey, what if I did that? or What if I add this"? So that is EXACTLY what I did!

Here are the focals. They are kind of in the order they were created except the transparent daisy topped one was the last one. So the large Tornado Candy was first, then how about a ruffle? OOoo pretty! How about a ruffle and a bubble button? SWEET! How about a daisy?! Maybe opaque and transparent? Hmmm... kinda cool, but the transparent rakes on top(which you cant see) didn't quite turn out right. Ummmmm FRIT, YES FRIT. Oooo schweet! It kinda looks like tye-dye! Oh, what if I did ALL transparent?? SUH-WHEET! It's so SHINY!

So there they were. I had them sitting on my bead table when I made that tutorial for Holly so I just scooped up one of them and made the finished piece.

So inbetween there, I just made a TON of these little "Dizzy Daisy Discs". They work up pretty fast and they are so pretty. Instead of creasing them all the way down to the bead hole, they are only creased through the outer transparent layer leaving a spiral disc in tact for the middle.

Well you know me, I just can't leave things simple, so I had to make some "Tornado Pods" too. Especially after making the swirl pods. I used transparents this time. They are really pretty except you can see the whole headpin wire through them. You can't really tell that I used the yellow green and pale aqua inside 2 of them since they are SO pale, but they are there!

Pretty sweet eh?! So I suppose you want some links huh? ;)

NEW IN THE SHOP....

"Dizzy Daisy Discs"

Tornado Candy Ruffle Button "Green Hairstreak"

Tornado Candy Ruffle Daisy "Liquid Daisy"

Tornado Candy Ruffle Daisy "Tye-Dye"

Tornado Candy "Aqua Whirl"

Tornado Pods "Patina" glass headpins

I hope you enjoyed reading about the story behind these beads.

Have a fantastic rest of the week!

xo Genea

Wire-Wrapped Spiral Bail Dangles Tutorial(Part 2)

2012-01-06T12:43:00.000-08:00

Hello friends!

After some consideration I decided to create Part 2 of the "Wire-Wrapped Spiral Bail" tutorial!

Through this process I also decided to offer a kit as well so that you can complete your very own "Tornado Candy Ruffle" pendant/necklace !

Just a quick note on the tutorial. I didn't have a tripod so in some photos where you will need both hands I had to picture the plyers just displayed with the instruction. ;)

Wire-Wrapped Spiral Bail Dangles

Supplies

Supplies for part 1

1 ruler

19 gauge dark annealed steel wire

A pen of any kind(think of how large you would like the hole of your bail to be)

Round nosed plyers

Nylon Jaw Flat nosed plyers(photo shows regular flat nosed)

Chain nose plyer(optional)(not pictured)

Cutter

2- gun metal 3mm round beads(not pictured)

Genea Beads-"Tornado Candy Ruffle" focal(not pictured)

Supplies for Part 2

Ruler

Round nosed plyers

Flat nosed plyers

(or 2 sets of plyers for opening jump rings)

Bent chain nosed plyers

Cutter

"Tornado Candy Ruffle" Kit

"Tornado Candy Ruffle" lentil focal-28mm w/ 3/32 bead hole

"Spiral pod" glass headpin-15mm tall by 7mm across on 22 ga dark annealed steel wire 5"(not including glass pin)
"Swirly Spacer" 7mm w/ 1/16th bead hole
"Swirly Ruffle Daisy Disc" 18mm w/ 1/16th bead hole
18-20" black adjustable necklace cord
4-mini leather crimps
4-4mm aluminum jump rings
3-7mm aluminum jump rings
1 1/4" of electroplated gun metal chain
3-3mm round gun metal beads
2-Chameleon 6mm rubber o's
1-Sky 6mm rubber o
1- Light Grass Green 6mm rubber o
1- New Sky 10mm rubber o
2- 2" .05 turquoise leather
1- 1 Ft. 19gauge dark annealed steel wire

dry cloth or paper towel (optional)

First grasp your already made bail loops in one hand and firmly hold. Grab your bent chain nosed plyers and grasp the bottom loop. Turn the loop sideways.

Pick up your 7mm jump ring and open the jump ring side to side with your flat nosed and bent curved nosed plyers. Sorry for the fuzzy photo, this was so hard to do w/ no extra hands to photograph.

Attach your 7mm jump ring do the bottom bail loop.

Slide on 10mm New Sky rubber O. Grasp the jump ring with your flat nosed and bent chain nosed plyers and close the jump ring by moving your plyers side to side again to close the ring.

Take another 7mm jump ring and add it to the bottom of the 10mm New Sky rubber o and close the jump ring.

Take a 4mm jump ring, open it and attach it to the center of the bottom bail loop, adding the length of gun metal chain. Close jump ring.

These pins do leave a bit of black behind so you can put the pin in a dry cloth or paper towel and run it through a few times to remove some of the black. Pick up your "Spiral Pod" glass headpin and with your round nosed plyers grip the wire a little space above the glass bottom.

Bend the wire at a 45 degree angle.

Push the wire over the top of the plyers.

Adjust your plyers so they lie flat and push the wire back to complete the wire-wrapped loop.

Attach the "Spiral Pod" glass headpin to the bottom of the 7mm jump ring.

With your round nosed plyers grasp across the loop you made(not through it) and wire wrap down until you touch the top of the glass headpin.

Now wire wrap the wire back to the top where the loop you made is.

**This part was a bit harder with the steel wire since it's quite a bit stiffer than other metals. You can skip this part if you wish and continue back up and down the lengh of wire wraps making a "messy style" wrap.**

With your hands thread the wire back through the jump ring to make a double loop for the "Spiral Pod" dangle.

If you get a bit of black from the wire on the rubber o, you can wipe it off with a damp cloth.

Pull the wire tightly to make the second loop the same size as the first. You may use plyers to help you along if it is easier.

Grasp both wire loops with your round nosed plyers and wire wrap down to the top of the glass headpin.

Now coil the wire around wider to fit the base of the glass headpin.

Cut off the excess wire.

Take your bent chain nosed plyers and "tuck" the end of the wire wrap.

Pick up your "Spiral Ruffle Daisy Disc" and slide a length of leather through the bead hole. Center the leather.

Fold up the two ends of leather into a mini leather crimp. You will hold the leather pieces in the crimp with hole end of the crimp. Leather will stick out of the crimp on top. **When placing the leather in the crimp you want to make sure not to place the crimp too close to the top of the daisy so that it may move freely in the loop you create.**

With your other hand you can fold the crimp into a "tee-pee" or triangle shape(where each crimp side folds up and touches in the center.**(I give a second fold over crimp technique below if you prefer one over the other. Skim down to the addition of the spiral spacer part to see the other technique.)**

In this photo you can see the leather sticking out of the top of the crimp as explained in a few steps earlier. Your other hand will actually be holding this part as you take the bent chain nosed plyers in the other hand and squeeze the crimp flat.

Take your cutters and snip the excess wire that sticks out of the top.

Take one of your Chameleon 6mm rubber o's and slide it over the crimp and onto the leather.

Pick up a 4mm jump ring and slide it through the crimp hole.

Attach the daisy to the bottom of the gunmetal chain and close the jump ring.

Pick up your "Swirly Spacer" and slide a 2" length of leather through the hole. Center the leather.

Fold up both ends of leather in the mini crimp.

**This is the other way to crimp the mini crimp as mentioned above.** With your bent chain nosed plyers fold over one side of the crimp.

Fold over the other side of the crimp on top of the first part and squeeze flat.

Trim excess leather that sticks out of the top.

Take your Sky 6mm rubber o and string it over the crimp and onto the leather.

Finish stringing on other 6mm rubber o's, Chameleon, and light grass green.

Open your last 4mm jump ring and put it through the crimp hole and attach it to the bottom bail loop. Close jump ring.

Your "Tornado Candy Ruffle" pendant is completed! Hooray! :D Slide the pendant on the 18-20" adjustable necklace cord and wear!

Here is what the pendant looks like worn. **Colors are slightly off due to lighting. **

I hope you enjoyed these free tutorials!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

xo Genea

Wire-Wrapped Spiral Bail Tutorial(Part 1)

2012-01-02T16:10:00.000-08:00

Hello friends!

Yep, it's a FREE tutorial!

So a little back story on how this tutorial came to be. When I was creating my caged heart design that I posted on Facebook.

My friend Holly Bailey was enamored with the bail saying it looked so complex. I laughed and told her that it was actually quite simple. I told her I would snap some pics for her so she could learn how to make it. I actually learned this bail from my friend, Melissa Fortner.

So before going on to the tutorial, this was a quickly shot tutorial. I did do a few switcheroo things and didn't include some things in the photo. I will tell you where... I decided to not only do the bail part, but later decided to add a bead and finish it off to complete the tutorial.

Wire-Wrapped Bail Tutorial

Supply List

1 ruler

19 gauge dark annealed steel wire

A pen of any kind(think of how large you would like the hole of your bail to be)

Round nosed plyers

Nylon Jaw Flat nosed plyers(photo shows regular flat nosed)

Chain nose plyer(optional)(not pictured)

Cutter

2- gun metal 3mm round beads(not pictured)

Genea Beads-"Tornado Candy Ruffle" focal(not pictured)

Cut yourself one foot of wire.

Take your piece of wire and place the center of the wire over the pen and fold down(this makes a hair pin shape).

Take one end of the wire and coil it around the pen again completing the second loop of the bail.

Take the longer wire and coil it around the base of the pen again making 3 loops to the bail. This should also keep your wire ends pretty even(see photo).

Take your round nosed plyers and pinch the ends of the wire together.

Take the shorter length of wire(unless both ends are even) and wrap one wire around the other securing the bail loops. Continue coiling 2-3 more times making nice wire-wrap.

Measure aprox 1" from the top tail of wire with your ruler and cut with your cutters. This will leave a long tail on the bottom to string on your bead.

Take your round nosed plyers and make a coil at the end of the short tail to start the bail spiral.

Take your nylon jaw flat nosed plyers*(photo shows regular flat nosed plyers, but with the thicker gauge metal, the nylon jaw plyers work best) and grab the coil. Curl up the coil until you reach the bail and bend into shape against the bail til look is desired.

Your finished bail should look like this with the long tail hanging out the bottom.

Yay! You have just created the spiral bail!

String 3mm gun metal round, lampwork focal, 3mm gun metal round.

Hold the bail and beads tightly in one hand and with the other go a little bit above your bead with your round nosed plyers and bend a 45 degree angle(this gives the wire a slightly bend angle, don't get our your protractor! ;P) When making this loop be sure to make an adequate sized loop since it will need to fit 3 jump rings for the second part of the tutorial. **Start your wire wrap a closer to the middle of the round nosed plyers to insure a larger wire-wrapped loop hole( a little bit further right than the photo).

Now take that wire and bend it over the top of the plyers so it touches your bead.

Now adjust your round nosed plyers so that they are flat. Continue pushing the wire around the end of the plyers to complete the loop.

Now take your plyers and hold across the loop you just made(not through the loop like you did for the wire wrap). Coil the wire around until you reach the lampwork bead.

Cut off the excess wire. You may take a chain nosed plyer and "tuck" the wires end, but this is not necessary.

Here you have your finished wire-wrapped spiral bail with focal bead! Woo Hoo!

Tutorial Bloopers

Ok so now do you want to hear the bloopers that I didn't tell you about? After later deciding to finish up the design by adding a bead instead of just making the bail loop, the rest of the supplies weren't in the photo.

I started taking the other tools out of the photos so you just saw which part of the tutorial you were on, but decided that I liked seeing the tools in the backgrounds of the photos as it gives them more life :D

So now you may want to know where the hell that awesome bead is for sale, right?! Well you'll have to stay tuned for this weeks shop update where I will talk about the design and offer this and some other designs of this nature for sale!

See you soon!

xoxo Genea

"Vortex Flowers" blooming in the shop!

2011-12-27T14:24:00.000-08:00

Hello friends!

Well it might be winter, but "Vortex Flowers" are blooming in the Etsy shop today!

So just a few notes on today's listings before going ahead. The sun was NOT cooperating today so I do wish I had gotten some better photos of these beautiful beads. To those of you who own some you can attest to their beauty ;) Did I mention that under lights the colors change making them a PITA to adjust?

Also some of the newer photos show two beads. I don't normally like to do this because I find it to be deceiving when the listing only says one, however due to the gravity shaped nature of the beads I would have to take a bagillion photos for just one bead. Sooooo hopefully that doesn't piss anyone off . So you will actually receive one of the beads pictured, it just depends on which one you get ;P

Lastly, these VF's ended up smaller than the last time I made them so they are listed as: Large, medium or small.

Vortex Flower "Sea Breeze" - These babies have a grassy green center, a super pale aqua inner ring and a nice medium lime outside ring.

Vortex Flower "Sea Foam" - Medium aqua center, pale yellowy green inner ring and light aqua outer ring.

Vortex Flower "Sea Grass"-

Teal inside, olive green ring, pale yellow green outside ring.

Vortex Flowers "Sea Green" - The best photos today taken under lights since the color stay true! Grass green inside, yellow green rings, and olive green outer rings.

Vortex Flower "Sea Splash" - Teal inside, dark aqua and pale yellow green outside.

Vortex Flower "Sparkling Crest"- This one has to be my favorite with it's color and shape. Bullseye glass, of course! Streaky lime green, light aqua, light cyan, glittery green, and soft teal.

Thanks for stopping by!

I hope you are recovering from the Christmas craziness!

xo Genea

What I've been up to- Story in images

2011-12-22T14:29:00.000-08:00

Hello friends!

Here is what I've been up to lately. My story in images....

Bead-inside-a-bead-hollows.

BIBH's and Vortex Flowers

Recycled Scrabble tile Dog and Cat necklaces.

Caged Heart

Thanks for stopping by and visually catching up :)

xo Genea

Collaboration- Second Surf and Genea Beads

2011-12-17T11:37:00.000-08:00

Hello friends!

Remember my and Barbara's trade? Well she has gotten some WONDERFUL earrings created and listed in her shop Second Surf! She is even offering a discount on purchases!

"Grass Stains"

"Sedona"

"Pipeline"

Do you make your own jewelry? Well you can even go to her shop for components and create them yourself with her tutorial she just posted on her blog!

All you need from my shop is some Wing Dings and then you are well on your way to those amazing last minute handmade gifts!

Happy Holidays!

xo Genea

Need a cup of coffee?

2011-12-14T10:42:00.000-08:00

Hello friends!

I have been getting a few things done around here! I got some more coffee themed goodies back in the shop! Here's what is back in stock...

"Spotty Droplets"

"Coffee Bean Blend 2"

"Coffee Bean Blend"

"Coffee Beans"

xo Genea

Still alive and catchin' up

2011-12-12T17:55:00.000-08:00

Hello friends!

Yes, I kinda did drop off the face of the earth,( or well it felt like it) but I'm back! It's been a crazy last few weeks! I whirl winded for our black friday/cyber monday sale, then tied up loose ends until mom arrived, hung out with mom for a fantastic 6 days, was sick for the last 3-4 and here we are. I guess that would sum everything up, but I'm not known for my short blogs or lack of pictures, am I?! So what did this look like with images??....

Well mom came in town and we took her to some of our favorite places. I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I would have liked to, but we were literally running around town for 6 days straight and then off she went on the morning of the 7th back home to KC.

So before you laugh and notice that most pictures involve food, our family loves to eat ;) I took mom to my favorite Thai food cart, Run Chicken Run for some pad thai.

In this same pod of carts there is this amazing cart(pictured) that is the solar powered Vegetarian cart, Off the Griddle . Mom got a yummy drink from there and to my surprise my darling husband got a veggie burger! He's normally a carnivore so I was shocked that he was feeling like something vegetarian.

We took mom to Voodoo doughnuts, as you know it's a "must see" when you are in Portland! I didn't take more pictures since I already have tons from my first trip there in my facebook album. I did click this one of a painting they had inside. I love it! I love the style and that the Voo Doo guy is making the doughnuts get inside the box.

We took mom to Saturday Market since they were having their "Festival of the Last Minute". This is where the vendors are open every day(instead of just saturday and sunday) all the way up to Christmas for people to purchase their last minute gifts.

I was excited to have located the "Portland Oregon" sign at the Saturday Market. You always see it as you are crossing one of the city's bridges, but I didn't realize it was right here. It's a little hard to see from the angle, but the deer has a red nose for Christmas! I thought it was pretty darn clever!

As you may remember Ricky and I are gluten-intolerant so there is no just walking up to bakeries and scanning the case for a tasty treat, but we were in luck when we stopped at a bakery Ricky used to pass while living in SE Portland.

Here we had some sort of GF chocolate and passion fruit treat. It was incredible!

We also got a GF chocolate coconut macaroon :D

Mom got some sort of pastry with Marion Berries, for which this area is known. Marion berries are kinda like long black berries that are more tart just incase you have not heard of them. I didn't until I moved here ;)

One evening after mom was pooped from our entire day of trekking around town, we met our friend Nick and some other friends to celebrate the December birthdays this month. Here you can see Nick with his flight of sour ales, which are f*ing amazing! I do wish they didn't have gluten in them! They are some sour beers blended with all sorts of amazing things. The first one was a ginger lime. I forget what the rest were, but they were really fantastic!

This is part 2, but since I am too lazy to make multiple blogs, this portion is called "BETTER BEAD MAKER THAN BAKER"....

One of the things that was really important for me to do with mom while she was in town was to bake Christmas cookies. My mom is a baker and bakes all sorts of amazing tasty treats. So when she visited I got some GF stuff for us to bake.

The first recipe we made were my version of GF peanut butter blossoms. These are pretty much peanut butter cookies with hershey kisses pressed into the top after baking.

My little tweak in the recipe was using the GF recipe with crunchy peanut butter, not smooth and using dark chocolate covered peanut butter cups instead of Hershey kisses since they are crappy chocolate and the Trader Joe's PB cups are f*ing amazing!

....Mistake #1. When it calls for creamy peanut butter there is a reason. Just because you like chunky better(which I do) doesn't mean it's a good substitute. There is a reason Betty Crocker was known for baking....The nuts make the cookie not stick together as well.

Mistake #2, just because Hershey kisses are nasty and Trader Joe PB cups are better doesn't mean they make a compatible substitute! The cups got super soft when the chocolate and creamy peanut butter inside melted. As you can see they slid off the cookies making an ugly mess.

After this first instance mom and I were laughing hysterically saying we were going to open an Etsy shop called "Ugly Cookies" our tag line would be.. "Guaranteed to look HANDMADE"! LOL.

Although these cookies looked awful, they were AMAZING!

This disaster continued onto the next cookie we made, another Ricky family cookie, Kolacky(Co-lot-chee), a Polish cookie. Ricky's nana made these so I thought they would be a nice addition to our baking since I had a recipe for them in the Gluten Free Bible.

For some reason I don't have a picture of them :( Anyways, Mistake #1 was not having a rolling pin! I had to roll the cookies out using my misto olive oil sprayer bottle since it was cylindrical. The dough, eventhough chilled in the fridge stuck to the damn thing and it was a PAIN IN THE ASS to roll out! After awhile I just mashed in my hands until it was relatively thin and cut out the squares with a pizza cutter. lol.

Again with the not so perfectness, but they were delicious!!

Here is a pic of mom balling up the Buckeyes.

While our family traditions didn't include making Buckeyes, Ricky's family always did. This is an Ohio state thing as buck eyes are some nuts or seeds? that fall from some local trees. The "cookies" are made to resemble them. They are a chocolate and peanut butter treat.

Here are the buckeyes cooking after being dipped in chocolate.So what may look like a success was a DISASTER. What you didn't see was that the shitty $7 mixer I got from Walmart DIED while trying to mix up the buckeyes. The beaters overlapped too much and would stop spinning and just make noise. This rendered them useless and luckily this was the LAST thing that had to be mixed. If only my kitchen aid would have fit in mom's luggage!

This cookie is supposed to be an easy recipe, but as you have read, it wasn't. Unfortunately I did botch the ingredients as well. In the chaos of the mixer dying I added an extra cup of powdered sugar so they cookies tasted like YUCK and we threw ALL of them away :(

So on to the final cookie. This one was the most special one because it was a tradition for my dad. My Aunt Rosie used to make Rum Balls for my dad for Christmas every year. I remember the smell of Rum wafting from the cookie container as dad excitedly opened the metal tin. A few years back she stopped making them and I remember how disappointed my dad was. This year I contacted my Auntie Annie to ask her if she could get the recipe from Aunt Rosie. Luckily she did and my aunt was very excited that I was carrying on the tradition for my dad :D

Now since all of these ingredients are blended up in a blender and then rolled in the powdered sugar and cocoa you would think I couldn't have messed it up, right? Well... I kinda mixed everything together instead of leaving the powdered sugar and cocoa out to roll the balls into after forming. Luckily for me, they were still just as dad remembered them!

Well I hope you made it through my LONG blog update and I hope you are keeping all of those Christmas tradions and family get-together's going where ever you celebrate this year!

xoxo Genea

Introducing Barbara Bechtel

2011-11-30T16:29:00.000-08:00

Hello friends!

I would like to introduce to you my friend, Barbara Bechtel of Floridity and Second Surf! Barbara is really amazing! She is so sweet and talented. I have really enjoyed writing back and forth with her during our trade. So speaking of talented. She does it all! Yep, from her packaging, to her beads and even her prints!

Here you can see her lovely stamped cloth bags and her super cute 2S tag. I love that the bag is hand stamped with this aqua glittery paint? Everything is carefully packaged with detail and care!

Here is a close-up of the wonderful little print she added to my package! I was super excited to not only receive beads,but some of her artwork as well! It even came in one of those wonderful shiny bags, which I really think showcase stuff so well ;)

So Barbara and I got a little carried away in our swapping and it had that extra element of surprise because I didn't know exactly what I would receive from her when I opened the package. I was FLOORED by it's contents! Everything was carefully labeled with it's name and price all in their own little bags. Can you believe ALL of this was in that little cloth pouch?!

In the box I received these AMAZING items! I was really excited that Barbara sent me so many of her little treasures! She even sent things that all went together :D

I LOVE everything she sent, but thought I would take a few close-ups of things so maybe you could get a better idea of the details that go into her work...

Just look at her "Carved Rainbow Nuggets". They are so colorful and "painterly". They look like little water colors carefully faceted. The wonderful rainbows contrast well against the white facets!

I especially LOVE this new style she is doing. They have this wonderful "scratchiness" to them. They look like the are dry brush painted, but they also have these teeny tiny scratches in their surface as well giving them this wonderful visual appeal.

You can't really tell without holding the pieces in your hands to inspect them, but all of the pieces are very carefully cut and beveled. The edges are smooth and the holes are perfectly cut. You can tell each piece is lovingly detailed through each part of the design process.

I hope you enjoyed getting to know Barbara a little more through my post and that you will stop on by her shop and pick up some gifts for the creatives on your list this holiday season!

Thanks for stopping by!

xo Genea

And the winner is............

2011-11-30T13:09:00.000-08:00

Hello friends!

We have a WINNER!

The winner for this amazing focal is......

Literally picked from the hat by Ricky....

Debra Beach!!!! Congrats Debra! We will get this out in the mail to you!

A HUGE Thank You to everyone that stopped by to enjoy our holiday sale!! You all are AMAZING!

xoxo Genea

CYBER MONDAY SALE- 40% OFF- code "cybermonday"

2011-11-28T01:02:00.000-08:00

Hello friends!

Today is our Cyber Monday sale in the shop! For all of you that didn't make it on Black Friday we also decided to give the same amazing discount on Cyber Monday for all of the online folks since this is the biggest internet shopping day!

Use the code "cybermonday" at check out to receive your discount of 40% OFF! Each item you buy will also put your name in the hat to with this focal bead ($65 value) so that's an extra bonus!

Happy Shopping!

xo Genea

WEEKEND SALE 25%OFF- code "shopweekend"

2011-11-26T00:47:00.000-08:00

Hello friends!

Thank you to everyone that made it to our Black Friday sale! We are very excited and honored that you shopped with us and supported handmade!

Our weekend sale promo is 25% off by using the code "shopweekend" at check out! Genea Beads

Stay tuned for our Cyber Monday sale as well! Stop here to get the code!

Happy Shopping!

xo Genea

BLACK FRIDAY DISCOUNT CODE "blackfriday" 40% OFF!

2011-11-24T22:17:00.000-08:00

Hello friends!

We decided to post the discount code on our way home since it was already midnight for our East Coast friends!

Use the code "blackfriday" at check out to receive 40% off your purchase in our shop Genea Beads!

This discount is ONLY good through MIDNIGHT! Then our other sale promos start!

Happy Shopping!

xo Genea

BLACK FRIDAY/ CYBER MONDAY SALE! 25-40% OFF! Plus a GIVE-AWAY!

2011-11-22T12:34:00.000-08:00

Hello friends!

It's that time of year again, can you believe it?! I can't hardly believe it myself! Infact, we just figured out what our sales would be the other day! I guess working at home and mostly making trips to the grocery store or gym you get caught up in what's going on in the studio more than the outside world.

So if you want to avoid the chaos outside the safety of your home and want to shop in your pajamas you can shop with us right here!

We have decided with the busy season we are going to keep the shop "together" until after cyber Monday for easier shopping for our customers!

We are offering 40% OFF on BLACK FRIDAY(Nov 25th)/ CYBER MONDAY( Nov. 28th)and 25% OFF on Saturday and Sunday( Nov. 26-27). How do you receive this discount? We will be posting COUPON CODES HERE the days of the sales! There will be DIFFERENT CODES for Friday, Monday and the weekend! These codes will expire at the sale days end. YOU MUST ENTER THE COUPON CODE AT CHECK OUT TO RECEIVE THE DISCOUNT. We will be checking EVERY transaction to make sure that you receive your discount, but making sure to enter the code will keep things simple ;)

BUT THERE'S MORE.... Every person that makes a purchase this FRIDAY-MONDAY will be put in for a drawing to WIN this AMAZING FOCAL BEAD!

Each item you purchase will put your name in the "hat". So if you buy 5 items, that's 5 chances to win! So what happens if you don't make jewelry and you win this bead? We will make it into a pendant for you and send you an adjustable black 18-20" cord!

Happy Holidays from Genea Beads!

xoxo

NEW focal and Bardara Bechtel bead swap REVEAL!

2011-11-18T15:24:00.000-08:00

Hello friends!!

It has been so hard keeping my mouth shut and pics off the net about this NEW focal I created especially for Barbara Bechtel of Floritidy and Second Surf! It all started with our bead swap.(yep! Another swap, I sure am a LUCKY girl indeed!!) I kind of knew what Barbara wanted, but I got a few more quick ideas from her before beginning on her piece.

One of the things she wanted was some wing dings. So I thought to myself what colors would I use for ocean water? I pulled out rods and rods of color. I had so many in opaques, opals and transparents.

So here are my oceany colored wing dings! Wonderful aquas, teals, sea foam, and turquoise!

I knew Barbara really loved my "Desert Serpent" style focals. She said to me that they reminded her of tide pools.

Here is an image of one of my Ancient Tablet series called "Desert Serpent Corazon".

So I sat down at my bead table and pulled out all of my goodies for this style focal except I wanted to create more of a sea themed bead. I wanted a really amazing "tide pool" look to it. I worked and worked and added glass, pressed, twisted, raked. I made cane and added sparkle. I finished and I just about cried! OMG look at this AMAZING BEAD! My God I hope it makes it in the kiln. I always have this fear when putting a bead with lots of layers of different glasses in the kiln that somehow it might come out broken.

The annealing cycle was done. I RAN to my kiln and anxiously opened the door. I flipped on a light and brought the bead into it's glow....

This might be the most AMAZING bead I have made yet! I turned it's every angle and inspected it carefully. I was amazed by all of the little details, color and sparkle!

Here is the back side.

I LOVE the way the dichro glitters through the layers, the spots of rainbow raku, the little barnicles, the starfish, the look of sand from the silver leaf, the amazing webbing of dark ivory glass!

Some more shots of the angles.

I needed to make another! After making the first I had to try another one right after with some slightly different colors....

OMG another amazing bead! Look at all that shimmer!

Just like the glittery ocean!

Then spacers, yes, SPACERS!....

Two different styles. One to match Barbara's focal and then some slightly different ones to match the other focal. If you click on this photo to enlarge it you can see these amazing spots under the layer of tealy water colored glass. It is such an amazing effect!

AND look at THESE! OMG, watery and amazing on a wonderful sandy ivory base with gorgeous dark webbing!

I must make ANOTHER!

This time with some wonderful lighter seafoamy opal and glitter!

I just LOVE how this looks with the webbed ivory and the glittery opal glass half and half like that. I accidentally did that on Barbara's focal and had to mimic the effect on this one. This time I added a few little ivory shells to the bottom of this one as if they were gently layed there by a gentle wave from the sea to the shore. Lovely treasures washed up for the beach comber to find :D

It was such a pleasure to create such wonderful beads for Barbara! I was so excited to be so inspired by this new style. I hope you enjoyed seeing the beads I sent her for our swap and the inspiration that was born from it!

Thanks for stopping in again this week!

Have a wonderful weekend!

xoxo Genea

What do wings, eyes and hearts have in common?

2011-11-17T14:22:00.000-08:00

Hello friends!

No, it's not some riddle like the ones you hear in movies with no answer. It's my NEW Ruffle Ribbon Eye Hearts! You may have remembered the black and white design I posted first just before my move into the new apartment. I expanded this design with some layers of transparents to give them more color and depth!

Here is the one you might recall seeing "Escape" .

If you remember awhile back you might recognize my "Rainbow Ruffle Ribbon" hearts. This design inspired the "Ruffle Ribbon Eye Hearts"! I wanted to add an eye on top of this design a LONG time ago, but just finally got an opportunity!

So how does this new design look in color with more layers under the eye? Like this!!

Ruffle Ribbon Eye Heart- "Sea and Earth". Wonderful turquoise, teal and milk chocolaty brown. Lots of layers and transparents for amazing depth!

So what makes these even better?(besides more color, of course!) the new "eye" pins that come along with them as an extra bonus! As you know I have been loving creating funky glass headpins. This is no exception. So for now you can only get one of these special pins with the heart focal!

Ruffle Ribbon "Fuchsia Vision"- Pink and purple are always pretty together! Layers of lilac, lavender, and light rose with a bright fuchsia to make things pop!

Here is a shot of the awesome "eye" pin that is included!

"Starry Eyed"- another crying eye inspired design in some of my favorite Bullseye odd lot colors. I am so sad I am out of this amazing violet! You can see the lovely streaks in the base and if you look closely you can see the amazing "water color" look in the lime dots. They are greenish, blueish, whitisy with whispys. So awesome!

Here is a shot of the star back. It has a little green flatttened dot on the back. It's very pale against that vivid yellow, but lovely none the less ;)

Yep, that is it for today. I have some other things that need to be photographed and some other wall art and jewelry that I need to list, but that requires getting the other shop up and running! ;)

WHAT ELSE IS NEW??....

I was surprised and somewhat relieved to find out that I'm not the only one with anxiety about getting all of my "i's" dotted and "t's" crossed. It seems like a handful of you are in the same boat I am with getting ready for the holidays, daily life and just keeping everything in order and moving in the right direction.

So what's on my list? Well I need to get things organized in the new shop, photograph glass tests, make Christmas presents, make new work, get some things made for the PDX Etsy team event at West Elm(which I am really excited about!!) and uh a bunch of other stuff that is bouncing around in the empty hallways of my mind that I can't remember at this second! lol.

So what's going on with the Etsy group? We are making some sweet promo buttons. Members have been asked to create some 1.5" images of their work ! How cool huh? West Elm is putting on an event with our team on December 1st! So if you happen to be in Portland, stop on by from 6-9pm to check it out and meet our creative collective!

Here is Brooke Weeber's images for the buttons!

Aren't they amazing?! You can check out Brooke's shop here!

I'm really excited to go through my images to choose which photos of my work I would like to include. What's the most amazing thing about the event on December 1st? My mom is flying into town to visit so we get to go together!!

Well I suppose I should get going to work on my button designs. Any suggestions of my work that you think I should use??

See ya soon!

xo Genea

Need these necklaces! Know where to get them???

2011-11-16T12:24:00.000-08:00

NEED YOUR HELP: Anyone know where I can get some of these cords ASAP and relatively inexpensive??
I ordered cords like this from a vendor on Etsy from China and it's been 15 days since I ordered. Normally international takes 10 and I have just seen lots of negative feed back on her(it was all positive when I ordered). I NEED to get some of these cords quickly as I have an order for a client that NEEDS to go out.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as this is the FIRST business transaction I have done with this company and the tardiness of the shipping makes me look bad :(

Thanks all!

xo Genea

Trade with Staci Louise from Artisan Accents

2011-11-15T17:01:00.000-08:00

Hello friends!

I'm SOOOOO excited to share my treasures from Staci Louise of Artisan Accents! Staci wrote a wonderful article on bartering at the Love My Art Jewelry(which is a fabulous blog btw). So would you like to see the amazing things I received from my new creative friend?

Here is the entire collection of beads that I received! Aren't I just the luckiest girl EVER?! Please do click on the images to make them larger so you can get a better feel for all of the love and details in her wonderful work!

From Left to Right and top to bottom: Semi-precious stone earrings with copper patinaed caps, a collection of semi-precious stones, "Earth, Sun, and Stars for you", "Night Flight", "Give my Heart Wings", "Tentacle," "Man on the Moon," "Marissa Night and Day" wings, "Yellow Ocher Sea Thing," "Lichen," and "Turquoise Sea Thing".

Some things you never really think about when you buy things is how big are they? They always look huge in photos, but you never really can tell the size unless you read for it in the details. I thought I would take a photo of one of Staci's amazing hearts in my hand so you can see what a wonderful sized focal it is.

You may not know that I used to be OBSESSED with suns, moons, and stars. I do wish I had a photo of my family room from when I was about 19. It had these short black toppers(curtains) with suns, moons and zodiac signs on them accented with gold, a gold star garland stapled, coiled on the wall(it wasn't as tacky as it sounds ;), and some sun watercolors I painted.

So what does this have to do with her beads? Well I just have that wonderful memory of my room and love for celestial things which in turn gives me a special connection with these pieces :)

I just LOVE Staci's new "Man on the Moon" design. I was so excited that she slipped on into my package! I love that if you look closely you can see little bits of her finger prints, which I find to be fantastic! That little bit shows me that someones artful hands created this beautiful little masterpiece :D

One thing I was surprised to find out about Staci's polymer designs is that she works in all WHITE clay! All of that amazing color and layering you see is done masterfully with paints! Wow, huh?! I love the wonderful sepia color of this sweet little moon face and how there is a dark edging in the texture of the stars :D

If you know me(which I'm assuming you do by now ;) I LOVE color and lime green and aqua. I just LOVE these amazing patina's Staci gets on her pieces. The bases are copper or bronze. She patina's the metal several times, sands them and then seals them! Wow! I didn't realize how much work goes into patinaing metals!

I'm so glad to have learned more about Staci's process. It really gives me even more of an appreciation for her art and style! She is such a sweet, sweet girl! I have very much enjoyed our conversations back and forth and the excitement that came with creating pieces for our trade!

Stay tuned to see the beads I sent to Staci! Hop on over to her shop and nab up a couple of her pieces for yourself!

xo Genea

Moving SALE! Nov 4-6(Now- Midnight on Sunday)

2011-11-04T12:34:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

So it's official! We're moving on Etsy. We are dividing up Genea Beads into two shops! Help us pack up your goodies with our sale! Use coupon code "etsymove" to receive a 25% discount at check out!

We are super excited about our upcoming changes and we think you will too! Stay tuned for more details.

www.genea.etsy.com

Happy Shopping!

xo Genea

Why the BIG paws?

2011-11-03T17:02:00.000-07:00

A bear walks into a bar to order a drink.

The bear says to the bartender "I'd like a gin and........................................................................................... tonic.

The bartender says "Why the big pause?"

The bear says "I dunno, I've always had them". :D:D:D

This was one of those old silly jokes I heard from my sister. I guess my mind is a lot like Bumble Bee from Transformers. My mind works in clips of videos, music and silly things of that nature.

So what does this have to do with my post? Well if you remember I am working on the paw print jewelry and keychains for Advanced Animal Care of Colorado. Well as you may know I am quite particular about the quality of my beads, right? So since I am such a harsh critic of my work I decided to let my husband critique the paw print beads I made thinking he wouldn't be as picky as myself.

Want to see the ones he rejected?

Yep, ALL of them. Every last one! So you are wondering to yourself. How did these get rejected? They look like paw prints the hearts are pretty. I'm confused!

Ok so here are 2 more paw prints. On the right you have the one that "failed" on the left you have the one that "passed". So why did one pass and one fail? If you look at the bead on the right Ricky didn't like the more "horse shoe" shape of the dog pad and the fact that the dotted toes were so close to the top of the bead. Did your heart sink? Mine kinda did too.... BUT, he was right about some things....

I do really like the more "heart" shaped pad on the left paw print and making the paw print smaller and more centered did make it look better. I guess the right paw print is kinda big and looks maybe more like a bear paw(hence the opening joke).

So back to the drawing board I went and made all new ones!

The order will resemble these two prints. The pendants have the red hearts on the back and the keychains have polka dots.

So where are ALL of those "rejected" beads going? The landfill? HEAVEN'S NO. I can't hardly throw away anything I could think about recycling! After all there really isn't anything wrong with them perse, they are just different than what our idea for them was. So yes, beads are rejected from the studio based on FUBAR results AND design "mishaps" if you will.

These beads go to the place all rejected beads go, my mom's bead box ;)

These beads enjoy a happy "second life" in her bead box to be made into whatever else she thinks up. Why don't I sell the "seconds"? Well quality, of course! I want only my very best work out in circulation! Something we can both feel happy about :D

Now on to finish up the order....

WHAT ELSE IS NEW???....

Still working on getting the new jewelry shop up and running and everything in it's proper order. Listings to come soon....

Working on some glass testing and prepping for the holidays!

Are you ready for all of that Christmas shopping yet???!

See you soon!

xo Genea

Vintaj GIVE AWAY!!

2011-11-01T10:44:00.000-07:00

All you have to do is post this>>>>> I want to win the @vintajco & @beadaholique Crystal Copper Giveaway! #ilovevintaj and then go back to their site and tell where you posted media sites!

xo Genea

Too many facets

2011-10-31T12:15:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

Do you have too many facets too? I have come to realize that lately I do so many things that I have too much variety in my business. Strange problem to have huh? I guess I just never want to get bored or feel trapped by just doing one thing. I have SO many great ideas and it's like each one of them could be it's own business!

Learning this about myself makes me happy because it means I am very creative. Instead of being able to work in just one medium I can work in many and surprising to me I am quite skilled at it as well. I do excel more in some areas than others for sure.

So where am I going with this? Well I will be sort of doing my first business related project. By business I mean I will be creating something in glass for another business in their theme!

So what is this new project? I am creating some pet themed necklaces and keychains for Advanced Animal Care of Colorado!

So a little side story on how we got hooked up... Ricky's mom works for Dr. Steyn at the clinic. They were brain storming what item they could give to their clients that had lost a beloved pet. My MIL suggested that they contact me to do some pet themed items. I was very excited to be asked to create a special piece for their clients!

So to begin I created a variety of designs for them to choose. So off to work I went and these are the ideas I came up with...

With my love of mixed-media elements I chose to use some Scrabble game tiles. I did my first scrabble style game tile in this fashion for my design in this years BSBP Sept 2011 . This first design is a "C" for Cat and a "D" for dog. I sealed images on the back sides where the larger paw print is on the dog keychain and the smaller prints are on the cat keychain.

The next design was the same cat and dog theme, but with distressed tiles and different images. The dog pendant has a fire hydrant and the cat pendant has a cartoon kitty.

Next were my glass pendants. Since dog and cat pads are the same these designs worked for both. Paw prints on the front and hearts on the back.

Finally I created some simple designed keychains geared more for male clients. Paw prints on the front and simple polka dots on the back side.

What are other facets in your creative business?

xo Genea

Fall walk at Waterfront park Portland, OR

2011-10-27T14:46:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends!

It's that time of year again, FALL! My very favorite season of all! On Ricky and my days off together we enjoy doing things around the beautiful city of Portland, OR. A few days ago we went down to Waterfront Park

to get some exercise and enjoy the beauty of the city with the leaves changing colors.

We start our journey by public transportation.

Here is a view of the Trimet Rail System map(sorry for the blurry photo). This map shows you the different colored lines of the MAX(Metropolitan Area Xpress). This is our light rail/train(same thing) that takes all over the city along with buses. Since our move to our apartment we live right off a MAX line so we get to enjoy speedy transit through the city most places we go.

Here is a beautiful little free bike repair station. Portland has a bike map for the entire city of bike only routes!

On our way to the bridge to get to the walking path.

Here is the Steel bridge .

Here is a view from on the bridge walking across.

It's a little hard to tell wha'ts going on in this photo, but there is a little portion of the bridge that raises for boats to go through unlike smaller bridges where the entire bridge opens to allow boats safe passage. We were lucky enough to get to see the bridge raise on our walk!

Here is the little guy that needed to get through. Funny enough it looks like the only thing that didn't clear the bridge was the antennas!

We saw these geese hungrily feeding in one of the parks open grassy areas. In Portland for summer events the grass gets so trampled they actually cage off grassy areas to allow them to re-grow over the winter !

Here is a view of the Convention Center from across the river. I really like the shape of the building.

There is art EVERYWHERE in Portland! This was a sculpture under the bridge along the path.

Here is one of those fountains that squirts up the little shoots of water.

Here is the Hawthorne Bridge.

Here is a much better shot a portion of the bridge raising for a boat. I don't know how we managed to arrive at the bridges as they were letting boats through that day, but it was really cool to see the bridges raise :)

Here is where people wait for the bridge to lower again to pass.

There was this cool boat museum on the water that you could check out. We didn't go inside, but it looked pretty cool.

More sculpture along the walk way. This one looks like a ball inside a net.

Here is part of the path that is on the water. It has these long rusty poles with white pointy tops. I like this view. It think it would be cool if a painting was on the poles where it made an image from this perspective!

Here is another shot of that same walking area.

This was the end of that path. I love the curve of the street above, the brightly colored trees and the covered walk way :)

Another sweet sculpture made out of stained glass .It was all this gorgeous reddish orange color with an iridescent luster!

Doesn't this one look like a tree trunk and roots with the greenery above? I'm not sure what it was supposed to be, but it's some sort of rusty metal.

Some more metal sculptures.

A seagull just chillin out by the water.

The MAX that takes us home. The Blue line that goes to Gresham. This is a city just outside of Portland and the end of the line for this color train.

I hope you enjoyed seeing our river front walk!

IN OTHER NEWS.....

I just wanted to thank all of you that commented on my post about naming the jewelry side of my shop! You all are so wonderful to help me brain storm! I will keep you all posted as we get things sorted. This is also the reason I'm not doing listings today like I normally would. Don't worry though, I have some wonderful beads for the next shop update!

I would also like to share the wonderful post Staci Louise, of SLArtisan Accents did about our bead swap on the Love My Art Jewelry blog! I totally adore Staci and her work! Stay tuned for more about our swap and the beads we received!

See you soon!

xo Genea

A name for change...

2011-10-25T11:38:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

So last night I consulted with a fellow Etsian from our PDX group. Her expertise is marketing so I was interested what she might be able to suggest for my business. I need to make a few decisions about some things and the first of which is what to name my jewelry side of my business. Any ideas? I had wanted to come up with some awesome way to present this as a game with a prize, but alas I have not.

BUT.... How about this... How about if I pick your name idea I will send you some goodies? Sound like fun?! I mean who doesn't love beady goodies?

So what I am thinking of is maybe some sort of fun name, something punny maybe? I love clever things like that. My other "handle" is "Eye Do Glass, " but that doesn't really encompass everything as far as my jewelry is concerned. I figure maybe since you all can see things on the "outside" you probably have some wonderful ideas that I can't see.

My jewelry style is mixed-media and I love to use recycled items to make sweet stuff. I LOVE to use bright colors and use components in surprising new ways.. (does this totally sound like a personals ad?! lol)

So what name ideas have you got for me? :)

xoxo Genea

Some of my FUNKIEST most CREATIVE designs yet!

2011-10-21T18:11:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

Ok so after it taking me almost the ENTIRE day to get going, here we are with some late evening listings! I am really proud of the creativity of these designs and hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

"Crying Spiral Eye"- This ring was SO much fun to make! The center eye is made from shrink plastic and hand drawn by me. The spiral eye is the same eye I doodle with my signature. I gave it a glass droplet tear to be a "crying eye" which was one of my favorite doodles in highschool. I just LOVE this design!

"Green Peace"- a wonderful way to make your peaceful statement. In gorgeous Bullseye odd lot glass. Violet purple and glittery green! Adjustable for any finger size!

"Space Strider"- a wonderful mix of my lampwork beads, and mixed-media materials of: leather, rubber, lucite, enameled chain and fibers! Inspired by the Peter Max image below(one of my favorite artists!).

"Setting Sun"- my WING DINGS as wonderful little stitch markers! Super big and bright to be seen among your stitches for knit and crochet!

"Green People"- Well it didn't get picked for Lark's 500 ring series book, but it sure is AMAZING! This ring is not only made from recycled paper, but it's "green" theme is even accented with all sorts of wonderful shades of green. What makes it so remarkable? Oh I dunno, the fact that it's REVERSIBLE! The droplet dangle even hangs properly no matter which side you wear!

Both sides worn.

Well since I piddled around all day long I am almost late for my work out with Ricky! So I better get movin'!

Have a super fantastic weekend and thanks for stopping by!!

xo Genea

Oh My BLOG!

2011-10-20T17:13:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

Yes, I am indeed still alive.... barely. Lol. I felt like I was in the dark ages for sure moving and not being online for over a week! What did we all do before the internet anyways????

So I just thought I would stop in and let you all know I'm still here! No shop update for today. Don't worry though, everything is back up and running and beads are in the kiln! I have a lot of things to photograph to show you and some wonderful photos of the beautiful city of Portland I took during our river front walk :)

I hope things are going awesome in your neck of the woods and that you are enjoying the wonders of fall!

See you soon!

xo Genea

Shop Update- Wing Ding Waterfall necklaces, Daisy Cake neckalces, Eye Flowe ring and Stitch markers!

2011-10-06T13:07:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

Well today's shop update features finished items. You know it's never too early to start shopping for Christmas gifts for that special someone. It's ok if that special someone is yourself , I won't tell ;)

Daisy Cake"Chocolate"- Ok so who doesn't love chocolate and cupcakes?! I did actually have to make cupcakes once after making these beads because I had a craving!

Daisy Cake "Mint Cream"- Don't you just love these colors?! Thank you Bullseye for making such perfect colors! Oh and mint is pretty tasty too!

"Eye Flower"- Yes, both amazing things in one ring! Eyes and daisies. This ring is SO me it's retarded. I hope you like it too.

Wing Ding Waterfall "Cream on Top"- Ok so if you are on the more meek side this will be perfect for you. Or.. maybe you aren't a color fanatic like myself. This design is "safe" and will match with everything.

Wing Ding Waterfall "Fire Maple"- It's that time of year again.. FALL! My very favorite season! I love watching the colors of the leaves turn and fire maples are no exception!

"Bright Pop"- "Wing Dings" and knitting or crochet? Sounds like a winning combination to me. I was excited to offer these for the first time EVER since I have been enjoying using them behind the scenes on my projects ;)

SO WHAT ELSE IS NEW?....

Well moving again, kids. Yes sir'ree if there was a prize for times of moving in one year, I may have earned a plaque, or a medal or a bozo button or something for sure. Hell I will even take a cookie if it's gluten free :D

So this time we are staying right here in Portland, OR, we are just moving into our own apartment. We have been living at a house with some roomies for the last few months and we are needing a little more space.

We got a cute little two bedroom here at Dalton Park Apartments. The rent is $795 for a 2 bedroom, 2 bath apartment with: w/d hook-ups, a dishwasher, fireplace, and is right off a MAX line(our light rail/train). Did I mention everything is electric too?! No expensive gas! The rooms even have their own thermostat! Pretty sweet! I heard from some of you this is cheap because the same thing in your area would have been way more expensive.

So I am getting ready packing, packing, packing. So on that note, I should get back to it!

Have a wonderful weekend!

xo Genea

Bagby Hot Springs and Mount Hood National Park

2011-10-04T17:49:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

I wanted to share some of my adventure from this weekend with you. The photos don't even do it justice! This past Saturday I visited the Bagby Hot Springs and Mount Hood National Park with my roommate and her boyfriend. It was such an amazingly beautiful place!

Here is a view from a bridge we crossed of a creek below.

More water, trees and fallen trees. Pretty huh?!

There were a lot of these areas where water ran over the rocks and made little waterfalls :)

See that teal spot of water? It really was that color. I don't know if it's a reflection or rocks or whatever, but it sure was beautiful!

Here was a huge tree stump and a huge hollowed out tree. It doesn't look like much in this pic, but when you see the next one you will understand.

This was my standing height tall (I'm 5' 8").

Here is why we traveled to the hot springs! These large wooden tubs are filled with water from the hot springs. It comes out of a spout attached to the tub. You can sit inside here and enjoy relaxing under half covered half uncovered roof. The water was HOT. Wow! We had to get buckets of cold water from the creek to dump inside so we could get in the tub.

This is lichen. It's a fungus/moss that grows on the trees. It's really pretty.

Here is one of the smaller tubs that was private. There were wooden walls all around it with a door.

Here is the spout. When you removed the little board of wood water from the spring would flow down that log to fill the tub.

Here is a photo of the path we took to reach the tubs. Doesn't it look magical?!

This was a pic of me standing looking up to see the tree tops. They are SO tall! You feel so small in a forest with such tall trees! I wish I could show you some better perspective, but trust me, they seemed to go on forever!

Life finds a way huh? These little trees were growing out of a larger tree's stump.

Another one of the pretty little waterfall and water pools.

So don't you totally want to go now? :D I will say the ride there and back was horrendous for me. With the rapid elevation change(about 2500ft) and the cooler weather and allergies I felt horrible. I was so glad to get out of the car. I felt revived and incredible after getting out of the tub!

See you soon!

xo Genea

Etsy Shop Update! Swirl pod glass headpins, winged evil eye heart, and oriental poppy mixed-media ring!

2011-09-29T14:24:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

I was excited to get back to some of the ideas I had from the bead soup bead inspirations with today's post.

Remember these?

Here's what I made...

Swirl Pods "Sod and Sea"- Ok so I was really thinking about calling them "Grass and Sky, " but whatever. Anyways, they are super chubbly poddy and awesome in lime and aqua on 22 gauge black steel wire :D

Swirl Pods- "Fire" - Yep the stereo typical orange and yellow "fire" colors on 22 gauge black steel wire. Aren't they pretty in the sunshine? :D

Swirl Pods "Hypnosis"- ok so these were the hardest to make. Why? Well the white is VERY soft and the cane black and clear are as well. It took me more pods than 5 to get a similar size set ;)

Now these pods will go swimmingly with this next focal! So I took my "Rainbow Ruffle Ribbon Heart" design and added an evil eye instead of a raked heart on the front.

Here are the "Rainbow Ruffle Ribbon Hearts".

Then add a black base and get "After Dark Ribbon Hearts".

Then add an eye and you get....."Ruffle Ribbon Eye Hearts"!

Ruffle Ribbon Eye Heart "Escape"- I have wanted to make this style heart for a LONG time. I just never got around to it until the other day. I had wanted to do some with more color, but black and white was on my table, so there you have it ;) The center is actually a light transparent gray with a black swirl and the ruffle ribbon wings are black, gray and white ;)

"Sunset Poppy"- Here she is in all her glory! I used this side shot so you can see the band as well as the bloom. It really is one of the most incredible rings I have made! I LOVE it!


So you can see what it looks like worn.... Wow, huh?!

Well I should be going. I have a few errands to run so off I go!

Have a great weekend and see you soon!

xo Genea

Glass doodles

2011-09-28T15:42:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

Do you doodle? I do. Sometimes on paper. I used to doodle lots in school on the edges of paper as my mind wandered in class. I would doodle on the envelopes of bills while I sat on hold waiting to pay them.

The other day I "doodled in glass". Yes, you can actually do that. Well... sort of. So what is glass doodling? It's when you just create things. You just sit down and make what comes out. This is kind of hard for a production based person like myself, but very important to the creative process for sure. Generally one glass doodle will spring board another idea and all the sudden you are frantically trying to create this amazing idea that popped into your head. Sometimes it comes out AMAZING and even better than you envisioned it. Other times its absolute crap.

Want to see my doodles? Lol, well doesn't that sound like a proposition? LOL... Anyways...

Pretty nutty huh? I had dichroic glass, silver glass, silvered ivory and kryptonite on my bead table. The sunish looking bead kinda ended up with these funky little tendril looking deals. It was supposed to be more sunrayish, but it sure is pretty.

The hollow bead actually has a dichroic cylinder that goes through the middle. Isn't it pretty? HA! You can't see it! Bummer! I thought the opaly glass would be a little more translucent than it was. It also has these really cool silver glass dots with clear on them. When you turn the bead you can see these sort of labradorite looking "firey" dots. It's a translucenty shimmery blue.

The last one is one of my OLD bead styles called a "Delicous Pod". I called them that because they were so pretty I wanted to eat them. It's a sort of implosionish bead. You can't really tell from the photo since all of the silver glass and clear are very reflective. The outside dots have that really pretty "fire" in them, but the inside ones went hazy brown and kind of disappeared.

So what did "turn out"? This baby below!

Isn't she AMAZING?! I am totally in LOVE with oriental poppies. This ring was inspired by the poppies I see on my walk to the bus everyday. I just love their little stripey centers, their fuzzies around the stamen and their ruffly petals. Their pods even look really sweet too!

I wish I would have taken a picture of their whole yard in bloom! These particular poppies were growing in the gravel in front of their house.

They have this little stone wall with a white fence on it and have raised garden beds with poppies and all of these other pretty flowers.

I actually ran inside during my session to look up a picture of them to get a better idea in my mind. Here is the photo I used for the ring above.

So this one shows some lighter pink and darker pink around the outside. I kinda used my coraly pink instead. 104 glass doesn't really have a dark pink opaque this color, but it would be amazing(hint hint).

Here is the other photo I took with my phone. I ended up using this center with the opaque ring you saw first, but made a new stamen for the transparent one. Now to create another ring!

I hope you enjoyed looking into my brain's scattered mess while designing.

Have a wonderful day!

xo Genea

Etsy Shop UPDATE- soldered charms, BSBP ring, and headpins, blog hopping and knittin'.

2011-09-22T12:54:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

Wow, how is everyone doing on the hop? I am still slowly making my way through the blogs. So far I'm only getting to the blogs of people that have left comments(at my snail pace) so I have not even gotten a chance to visit some of the other artists blogs I like. I figure I will get there eventually! Keep on truckin', right?

Speaking of BSBP, I got my Vortex Pod listed in the shop today and finally stocked some soldered charms. I was looking back only to find out that the last time I listed some was APRIL! Oops, I guess I've been busy! I have lots more started and picked out.

It's been a busy time. I am still getting back to those designs I wanted to get back to from my soup inspirations. I have also been knitting my calorimetries. I got on a kick again since mom sent me some yarn :D You know I have made a few and they have all been DIFFERENT! Yikes, I guess I should have that long of breaks inbetween my knitting sessions!

If you look closely you will notice I ran out of yarn while binding off. Bummer! I will have to ask mom to grab me some more of this yarn I got from Hobby Lobby since there isn't one anywhere close to here anymore :(

The fabulous keyhole....

Oh yeah, I have been getting so many compliments on the keyhole I used in my piece that I wanted to share with you where I picked mine up. I got it at a local Portland, OR shop called 1874 House. They don't have a web page, but they do have a phone number which is (503) 233-1874. They are a shop that carrys parts to repair older homes. They have door knobs, and all kinds of different fixtures. I'm sure that you all should have some sort of local shops that might have some of these things as well :)

Anyways, you were here to see the shop updates, right?

"Midnight Jewel Sampler"- Are you sick of this style yet? I'm not quite yet, but I might be done for now. This set was done on black steel wire unlike the ones I generally make on copper. I also added a pod design to this style that was normally paddles and droplets. Yay!

"Tribal Fork Mandala"- I just LOVE this intricate black and white design I found! It totally looks like forks to me. See it? lol. Anyways, I love recycling too so this charm was made out of recycled magazine images and fashioned into what you see here :)

Here's the back side.

"Water Color Woman"- Don't you LOVE her face? I just think she is so pretty and looks like a water color painting! I was really excited to find her in my stash of older magazine clippings :)

And the back side. Kind of looks like watery smoke. It's nifty anyways ;)

Vortex Pod "Reflections"- All I can say is WOW. So this baby is a "mash up" of my "Vortex Flower" beads and my pod pins assembled into a ring. The flower is made out of AMAZING odd lot Bullseye glass in wonderful watery colors.

Here is what it looks like on. Oh, don't mind the shadow of my camera in the right corner! lol.

Well I must be going. I have been thinking about my newest calorimetry all morning. I got this fabulous new yarn from red heart that is a wool and acrylic blend called "Abstract". I just LOVE variegated yarn and each row is so exciting as you watch the colors change! So I need to get my scrubby butt in the show so I can knit :D

See you soon!

xo Genea

**EDIT** Here is a photo of that yarn I was talking about above in my finished calorimetry!! :D:D:D

Bead Soup Blog Party- Genea Crivello-Knable and Gail Vanderster-Zwang

2011-09-16T23:02:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

Wow, can you believe it?! It's finally the reveal day!! So I will apologize now if my blog gets lengthy. Please feel free to just skim for the photos ;)

Let's start out with what each of us got in our soup.

Gail sent me a fantastic collection of fun Mixed-Media elements from Industrial Chic , some of her GORGEOUS beaded beads, an enameled toggle and flowers, some pressed czech glass rectangles, Swarovski crystals, a super stash of seed beads and raku fired clay beads.

Here is the soup I sent to Gail(You can find beads like Gail's by visiting my shop here). I wanted to know a little bit about her so I could pick something that she would like, but would also challenge her. I snooped through her Etsy favs and asked her some questions to get me going. I created this SUPER set based on some of her and my favorites. Her set included: recycled sari silk, my FIRST ever lampwork heart focal headpins, some of my "Desert Serpent" lentils, some raku spacers, an "Ancient Tablet" style focal, a glass toggle and some droplet style headpins using silver leaf.

Did you know they got LOST in the mail?! Yep, for 3 weeks. We were both extremely heart broken. You can't file a claim with the post office until 21 days. So in the mean time Gail purchased some of the components like the ones in her soup, I sent her the second soup below and Lori sent her some goodies so that she could get started on her designs.

Here is the second soup I sent Gail. This one has my FIRST ever "Ancient Tablet" style heart focal! Didn't it turn out AMAZING?! Gail had bought 2 sets of headpins like what was in her soup and the glass toggle. So I thought I would send some different style clasps. I knew Gail liked winged-hearts so I decided to try my hand at some buttons! I couldn't decide on which to send, so I sent both ;) I also sent another set of spacers and the few other extra beads I had left over from the creation of her first soup.

Before we go on, I would just like to let you know that the first soup ARRIVED! It turns out the package never got "scanned in" in Portland and was a phantom package until it hit Kearney, NJ. It sat there for a few days and then was found by her amazing postal woman, Janet, and Janet's supervisor Darrell!! We were both totally STOKED!! So just had to share our loss and triumph of a happy ending!

So while I created Gail's soup I got so many ideas! I just kept creating, and creating, and CREATING. I thought you might like to see the ideas I had along the way...

So in honor of the metamorphosis of my designs I posted this super sweet art by M.C. Escher called "Metamorphosis"(He is and was one of my very favorite artists when I was in highschool). I thought this photo was a perfect start to my designs.

Well I had an idea for my first bit of Gail's soup, but I needed a pin with some glass on the end. From left to right: a bubble button swirl, a bubble button with a trapped air bubble, a head pin with a bubble button, a headpin with a pod. I did the first two on the end of a mandrel to do a quick experiment and did the last two on wire for my piece. These weren't the colors I used, but I needed to try them out to see if they would work.

Those designs spring boarded me to these: a fire pod, and a flame pod. Then while I was showing a friend how I created beads I did this eye bead for a demo. I did the top eyelashes with a thick line and the bottom, I did with a thinner one. I had been trying to work out a design like this for a long time and just tucked the eyedea ;P away in my mind until this moment.

Some of these ideas I will go back to now that the Bead Soup is completed and I have more time to try some new things out ;)

When I was creating some components for Gail's set I started with the far left bead. This was going to be my toggle bar for this toggle. I then had an idea for another bar(like the one to the left of the ring part of the toggle) where I tweaked the design a little to have pretty bubble buttons on the middle and ends of the bar. HOLY CRAP, are they PRETTY! Not only did I trap an air bubble on the inside(which was one my favorite things I learned when first lampworking), but I also trapped gorgeous rainbows of colors! After creating the toggle bar I thought how cool it would be just as a bead. I decided to call this style "Rainbow Sticks". :D:D:D

I ended up making some of my "Desert Serpent" style lentils for Gail's set as well. I took this design a step further and created the "Desert Serpent Jewel" style by adding a bubble button to the middle! So awesome!

After making those I thought OMG, those would be sweet on a GLASS HEADPIN! So I made one in a tear drop shape and then one in a paddle style! HOLY FREAKIN' YUM! They are SOOOOO pretty! I then got the idea to make these rainbowy heart headpins! I plan on going back to re-create some of these as well. I just kind of physically glass doodled my ideas to go back to when I had an opportunity. This is kind of like sketching in a sketch book, but with created samples :D

MY DESIGNS FROM GAIL'S SOUP....

So what did I created with Gail's soup? Well this first idea I created the same day! I was really excited :D

First I took one of Gail's beautiful beaded beads and did a quick proto-type to see if my idea would work. It did, so I needed to create one of those glass pins I did the experiment for above(the lime green and aqua photo).

I call this "Jeweled Wreath". Didn't it turn out AMAZING?! I made a glass bubble button and strung it through Gail's bead and created a band! :D

Here is that metamorphosis thing again.... I had a pod pin and decided to put it with one of my "Vortex Flower" beads and make a ring in that same style! Pretty f*ing amazing, huh?! I just love it when my ideas turn into just as amazing designs!! :D

So what else did I make? Well I was pretty stumped for a long while. I wanted to make some glass beads to go with my soup, but nothing worked out. I then decided that maybe this design just didn't need any of my lampwork beads(crazy, I know, but what are you gonna do? ;)

So off to the antique stores and thrift stores to look for some goodies.

After combing store after store I returned home with these items: an old dictionary, a keyhole, a key, a printer's key with a "?" on it, and this brass necklace with oval links and tear drop shaped jump rings.

So come with me and take a peek through the key hole of my design.....

Remember that old dictionary? I took a scrabble tile, distressed it and adorned it with some pages from the dictionary! I was so pleased with how this turned out! I even used this same idea for my roommates birthday present!

Here is where my design started....

I was really enamored with this little Witch Hazel tin so I chose that for my focal. I really loved the big flower focal, but it just wasn't talking to me so I based my entire design around this sweet little tin!

I decopaged the inside of the tin with the dictionary meaning for "Tincture," I thought it was fitting since that is what you would do with Witch Hazel to create.

If I would have had some resin, I think this would have been a perfect opportunity to do the same page idea, but fill it with resin. I really like how you could add little treasures to your tin while you wear this piece :D

Here is a more close-up shot of the key hold portion of the necklace. I just adore it! It took me awhile to find a keyhole that was small enough to make into jewelry. I really love the ornate design on it as well. See how I used those sweet tear drop shaped jump rings from the necklace to attach them to Gail's beaded beads?! They worked out just perfectly!

Here is a shot of the little wire-wrapped dangles and enamel flower dangles I made. See Mary Harding's flower beads as well? I actually got those from her from my last Bead Soup! I was excited to add her things to this years bead soup as well since she wasn't able to participate. I bet she would be excited ;)

Here is a shot of the entire necklace. Didn't it turn out AMAZING?! I am really pleased with the results! It really has such a wonderful vintage look to it. I called it "Discovered Treasures". I wanted the necklace to have the feel of an old inventor/artists discoveries.

Here is what it looks like worn. :D

I hope you enjoyed reading about my creative process and designs! Please hop on over to Gail's Blog to see what she did with her soup from me :)

Want to see what everyone else created with their soups? Hop on over to Lori's Blog to get the complete list of participants for the September 2011 Bead Soup Blog Party!

Have fun hoppin'!

xo Genea

Bowls of soup in the shop!

2011-09-16T14:09:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

More soup beads for the shop! I have been busily stocking my shop with similar goodies to Gail's soup. It's just easier to make a huge run of beads in the same style while you are vibing. I always enjoy doing a little raku and ivory binge. I am always pleased with the results and it was nice to be inspired to push the designs when creating her second soup!

Here is a photo of Gail's second soup and the inspiration for my new shop additions.

In case you didn't hear, we were lucky to have Gail's first soup show up! We were both so relieved!

Ancient Magic "Heart Spear". Taking the "Ancient Tablet" style and creating a heart focal was SO much fun! I really love the way Gail's turned out so I had to make one for the shop :) There are just so many awesome things going on in these style focals I would have to take like a bagillion pictures to capture everything. You will just have to take my word that it's amazing or just see for yourself ;)

Love's Flight "Cream" button clasp. Didn't they turn out AWESOME?! I was really pleased with Gail's. I love that little bit of webbing you see on the top right cheek and the bit of silver down by the bottom point of the heart.

Love's Flight "Midnight". You know if' it's awesome in ivory, than it must be equally awesome in black!

"Midnight Jewels"- glass headpins. Wow! These are so much fun to make and use for jewelry! I created this awesome bracelet and used the very first one I made for the dangle accent! Holy freakin' YUM!

"Painted Desert 2"- glass toggle. WOW! Gail's toggle sure was pretty and then the next one I made, and now this one! It's pretty exciting to see what colors you will get when working with Raku. I got some really awesome yellows, greens, browns and deep blues in this toggle set!

IN OTHER NEWS....

Is everyone ready for their bead soup reveal? I know I am!! I can't wait to visit Gail's blog to see what she created! I am also excited to share my creations and design process! My blog it set to post at 12am so if you can't wait you know what time you can expect to see it. Just remember I'm on pacific time so if you are east coast that's 3am for you!

Wow, Friday already huh?! I just dropped my baby girl, Kayla off at the vet this morning for her spay. I was excited to hear that her surgery went well and that I can come pick her up after 3:30pm. I'm so thankful my roomie, Jodi is jetting out of work so take Kayla home. You know you forget about those kinds of things when you have car all the time ;) For the most part it isn't so bad. Public transit here totally rocks :D

Well Kayla isn't the only one that won't be having "puppies". I just went to the doctor myself on Wednesday and got an IUC(same thing as an IUD). No kids for the C-K family at the moment. Does this mean we will never have kids? No, not at all. We just wanted to get me off the pill and wait a couple more years before we start out family. Ricky and I are both in the process of building out business' so we want some time to take care of those things first. We are also working on getting in phenomenal shape. We figure if you are in top notch shape before having kids it's best for both mother and child for sure :)

Well I should get going. I need to get my stuff together for our first Orb's lampwork group get together on Sunday! I will be demoing my "Jaw Breaker" bead and showing some jewelry assembly! Our meeting is over at the Aquila Glass school if you are local and want to check things out!

I hope everyone is enjoying this cooler fall weather! Have a wonderful weekend!

xo Genea

NEW earrings and Wing Dings flying into the shop along with some NEW recycled designs!

2011-09-08T12:55:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

I have some new shop goodies for you today! Some new Wing Ding sets and some funky new earrings!

"Flying Raindrops"- WOW, so much fun huh?! I just love this design! I bet you can see why! They are full of wonderful negative space for interest and they are so light weight!

"Rainbow Falls"- SUPER spirally fun and rainbows, of course! I love these swirly spacers. The rainbow colors make it great for matching to every outfit ;)

Wing Dings "Crantangerine"- Yummy pink, orange and coral! I picked my favorites for this set including some sparkly tangerine :D

Wing Dings "Cream and Sugar"- super neutral in wonderful warm ivory tones with a bit of blush.

Wing Dings "Juicy Melon"- Lime and PINK?! What? I know, not my normal mix(it's usually aqua ;), but super BRIGHT and delicious!

Wing Dings"Lime and Apricots"- Remember that earthy brownish, orangish, and limeish set I listed a few weeks ago? Well this baby is it's bright evil twin ;)

WHAT ELSE IS NEW?...

Well I am SUPER EXCITED to tell you that Gail's first soup ARRIVED! It turns out that when we shipped from the postal machine the package was never scanned in. This means our package was a phantom sneaking by under the wire. It showed up in Kearny, NJ for a bit before finally making it "home" to Gail. We are both SO relieved!

WOW! Now look at all of the fun things Gail will have to work with for her soup! I can't wait to see what she creates!!

A NEW RECYCLED DESIGN....

So my roommate, Jodi's birthday is this Saturday. I was trying to think of what to make her for her special day. While creating my pieces with my bead soup, I used one of the elements in her design!

Here were my materials. I took one of her old wine bottles that she had her special wine in(one she created and bottled at a local winery), some of her saved wine bottle corks and some scrabble tiles I had in my stash.

I made THESE along with some wine charms like the cork earrings you see on the left. So from left to right: Wine cork earrings the cool wine stained side of the cork(I used the clean sides for the wine charms), glass droplet headpins made from her melted down wine bottle, a mixed-media pendant with a spiral stamped lentil and glass headpin made from her melted down wine bottle, and a tortured scrabble tile with a decopaged wine bottles image on one side, and a set of spiral stamped lentil glass beads from her melted down bottle with recycled jewelry brass chain :D

OMG, aren't they SOOO cool?! I think I might need to make some of this stuff for my shop!

Here is a close-up of her pendant. I chose a "w" scrabble tile for "wine" and "White"(Jodi's last name). I was really excited to create this new tortured scrabble tile charm! I took the idea from the "U" I made in this sweet "Eye Love You" art frame and took it a step further by adding an image on one side!

Pretty sweet eh?!

Well thank so much for stopping by! I would love to hear what you think about the new shop additions and Jodi's presents!

Well I should be hopping in the shower! We are SUPER excited to be picking up our best friend, Lucas from the airport and going to the Mord Fustang party later! I am totally IN LOVE with his music! Have a listen!

Have an incredible weekend!

Talk with you soon.

xo Genea

LOST BEAD SOUP- Just maybe this will work?....

2011-09-05T10:45:00.000-07:00

Hello friends.

I awoke at 7:25am thinking of Gail's lost bead soup. I didn't post on here about it.

Yes, this is LOST. Doesn't your stomach just turn? It was even insured. It got all the way to Kearny(I think NJ) and got marked "Undeliverable". Gail spoke to her post master and they said sometimes this happens if the ink is smudged. So I think to myself, ok I did write her name in scroll text and sometimes my address labels don't like to stick to that recycled envelope paper.... Then I thought some more. Ok so even if BOTH addresses were gone then the insurance number sticker should still be on it, right?

So if the insurance sticker is on it and I call EVERY post office in Kearny someone is bound to have it, right? Even if the whole package got wet inside the beads are in a bag, in bubble wrap and in tissue and my BUSINESS CARD is in there and my GB tags with my web address. So if they opened it I could tell them the contents of the package verbatim to prove it was our long lost package, RIGHT???!!!

I just can't give up yet. It's my ART! It awoke me from a sleep thinking about it. I kinda feel like my beads are like a horcrux(you know like in Harry Potter.). Each one has a bit of my heart and soul inside. I keep thinking it made it ALL the way across the US to get LOST in a city close to Gail. I imagine our package in the post office on a shelf with the other lost packages or maybe it's in one of those huge white bins. I feel like maybe that's where it goes until it can be claimed? God, do they just throw the packages away? Do the postal workers get dibs on the undeliverable ones???!!

If you aren't aware of the process you have to wait 21 days before you can file a claim on the package. We didn't insure the package for it's full value. I don't want the damn money! I want the beads on Gail's bead table getting made into something amazing! That is what I want!! *sigh*

In the mean time sweet, sweet Gail did end up purchasing some of the things that were re-makes of what was in her soup. I added in these and sent another package out.

A NEW design heart focal in the "Ancient Tablet" series style, NEW 2 winged-heart buttons, some "Cream Rainbow Ribbon" spacers and some extras from the other beads I made, along with another piece of sari silk.

I am happy to say that these beads DID make it! This time around I shipped priority, added insurance and delivery conformation!

Well thanks for listening to my rant. I hope everyone else's packages made it safe and sound.

Have a wonderful holiday!

xo Genea

Etsy shop UPDATE- and other matching beads by Floridity!

2011-09-01T15:35:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

I'm excited about today's shop updates, but I guess when am I not? lol. You know I've been on this ivory and raku kick so I decided to finish up some designs I started when I was back living in Kansas City. Wanna see?

"Green Tea Rainbow Affections"- this baby was inspired by my "What Lies Beneath" beads(picture below). I am all about this wonderful new 2 colored glass that's kind of mint greenish and aquaish all in the same rod! I thought this color would be amazing with some raku and silvered ivory!

The original beads that inspired these designs.

"Green Tea Rainbow Ribbons"- what are beads without some matching spacers? Can you believe all of that COLOR I got in this set?! Wow!

"Green Tea Rainbows"- and here is what that design looks like on a minty greeny turquoisy base! YUMMY!

"Love's Midnight Rainbows" glass headpins.

I'm sad to say that Gail's package with the original set is LOST. I had another alternate that I put in the shop and I just happened to get one more heart to turn out. This might be the last. There is no telling...

And now for a new addition! These just popped into my head so I thought I would share. I don't know if you know Barbara Bechtel, of Floridity(and Second Surf), but she does some AMAZING things with polymer clay! I am really enamored with this new "watercolor" style she has been doing. Some of her new pieces match my new pieces so I thought I would share some of them with you!

Northern Lights- Watercolor Feathers - Earring Pair or Pendant Set

Grass Stains- Watercolor Wafers - Custom Drilled Tiny Charms or Earring Pair

Dark Northern Lights- Watercolor Toggle- Rustic Toggle Clasp or Focal

IN OTHER NEWS...

I was SUPER excited to become part of the "normal" world with my shiny new smart phone, the Samsung Replenish! Not only does it have a keypad and touch screen, but it runs the square and it's an eco phone :D

I downloaded this app for the android called "Pay it Square" you can find it by doing a search in the android market on your phone.

As annoying as it is, I see why everyone has their faces glued to their screens. Am I going to be "that guy," hello no, but I sure will enjoy getting directions, taking payments and doing searches while I'm walking around! ;)

Well that's all for my update today. I hope you are having an awesome Thursday!

xo Genea

Earthenwood beads GIVE-AWAY on Laurel Moon Jewelry Blog!

2011-08-30T09:21:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

Be sure to check out the GIVE-AWAY on LAUREL MOON JEWELRY for Earthenwood Studio beadies !

Just wanted to share the good news!

xo Genea

We have a WINNER!

2011-08-28T23:46:00.000-07:00

And the winner is...............

SALLY ANDERSON!!!!

Thanks to everyone who helped promote this post and for following this blog! I am SUPER excited at how well this give-away went! You all rock my world!

xo Genea

"Coffee Lover's Cup" tutorial on the Art Bead Scene Blog Today!

2011-08-26T14:47:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

Have you been eagerly awaiting my "Coffee Lover's Cup" necklace tutorial on the ABS blog? I have! I am excited to say it went live today! Just in case you missed it. Here is the necklace that you will create in the tutorial.

"Coffee Lover's Cup" necklace. Coffee Lover's Cup TUTORIAL.

"Coffee Lover's Cup" bead set.

"Earthy Blend" spotty spacers.

"Coffee Bean Blend 2" If you miss out on the first set of headpins, you could use this set. Same styles just different colors on different designs ;)

"Coffee Bean Blend" glass headpins.

I hope you enjoy the tutorial! I would love to hear your thoughts!

xo Genea

Etsy shop UPDATE- NEW jewelry and beads!

2011-08-25T19:29:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

I am excited to have listed some beads and jewelry to the shop today! Remember when I listed those beads for the "Coffee Lover's Cup" necklace tutorial(to be featured on the Art Bead Scene Blog)? Well I have just listed the necklace and of course some matching earrings!

Did you see those awesome wavy vine daisy earrings a little while back? Those are in the shop too!

You'd rather make your own stuff? Well I have some more awesome Raku beads in the shop!

"Coffee Lover's Cup" necklace. I mean WOW! If you LOVE coffee like I do, then I'm sure you will love this necklace! It has all of that funk mixed-media goodness with lots of wonderful materials like: recycled sari silk, chain, leather and rubber and of course, lampwork headpin drops, with a coffee mug and heart focal!

"Coffee Lover's" earrings. What good is a FABULOUS necklace without some equally awesome earrings?! The paddle droplet even has a teeny tiny coffee bean accent and a heart for the other ear!

Here is what they look like together. A match in heaven if you ask me ;)

"Khloris" named after the goddess of flowers. Remember these from my post on Facebook? Well here they are in the shop just for you! I just LOVE how bright they are! I had this idea in my head for awhile before they came to be and I couldn't be more excited about how awesome they turned out!

Here is what they look like on. They are so full of movement and so light!

"Cream Rainbow Ribbons"- a wonderful ribbon of rainbows on a super creamy base of delicious ivory. These would be perfect with the other raku sets in the shop!

"Desert Serpent Jewel Sampler" - a little bit of this and a little bit of that and some NEW designs! A new style "Black Ribbon Jewel" headpin, a "Rainbow Pod" headpin and a "Cream Swirled Sand" headpin. Did you see I even included a black annealed steel wired bail ready for your wire-wrapping finishes? I was SUPER excited about the new tweak on the "Desert Serpent" lentil design with a "bubble button jewel" dot in the center and let's not forget the newest additions.... "Rainbow Sticks" inspired by the glass toggle bar I made for Gail's bead soup!

Here is a closer look at those "Rainbow Sticks". Pretty sweet huh?!

SO WHAT ELSE IS NEW?...

So you may want to know if you won the give-away huh? Well I am waiting for my beady helper(my darling husband) to return home from work. We will be picking a name soon and let you know soon!

Well I better get ready to go to Last Thursday on Alberta street! I can't wait to see the art this month!

Have a fantastic weekend!

xo Genea

GIVE AWAY- CLAY PENDANT, WING DINGS, AND RUBBER O'S

2011-08-22T10:42:00.002-07:00

Hello friends!

Ok so it took me longer than I wanted to get this give-away going. I am totally blaming that on moving! Anyways, here we are FINALLY! The awesome thing is that with the wait I also added some of my "Wing Ding" beads and some matching rubber o's from, My ELEMENTS! So let me refresh your memory of what it was. Remember these FABULOUS clay pendants I got from Cindy Buehler?

Yeah, f*ing awesome, right?!

Ok so what is included in the give-away?

You will receive: One of Cindy's scraffito pendants, 5 of my "Wing Ding" beads and 15 rubber o's from MY ELEMENTS. So what is the big deal with this give-away? Well Cindy wasn't sure if she was going to make more of these, but I think they are pretty incredible! So I thought if we do a give-away and you all LOVE them like I do, maybe we can get her to make more for us beaders!

So how do you win? Well here's what you have to do.... You have 5 chances to win. 1.Leave a comment below tell me what ideas you have for these beads(what you would create with them) or what you like about them. 2. Follow this blog. 3.Post this give-away on your blog. 4. Post this give-away on your Facebook. 5. Post this give-away on Twitter.

PLEASE also leave your E-MAIL address in your post so it's easy for me to let you know you've won!

Just post from now(Monday, August 22nd) to Wednesday August 24 at midnight(pacific time) to enter to win!

Want to see what I made with mine? I had wanted to make a late b-day present for my MIL and just NOW got to creating it yesterday. Here is what I created!

Another close-up of Cindy's wonderful pendants!

Are you inspired?! Go on and enter!

Good luck!

xo Genea

Soup for EVERYONE! - Etsy Shop Update and news!

2011-08-18T13:31:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

Well what fun is amazing stuff if you don't share? How about soup for EVERYONE?! Did you LOVE Gail's bead soup? Me too, so I made more for the masses. Here is a look at Gail's set if you missed out.

So what did I make for everyone else? Have a looksy!

Ancient Tablet "Medusa"- Remember these style focals I made awhile back? They were all gone and with making Gail's set I just had to make another :D So much to see on this baby I couldn't capture all of it's magic in a bagillion photos. I guess you'll just have to see for yourself ;)

"Desert Serpent" style lentils. Yummy! Don't you just love that chemical reaction dark outlining and webbed effect on ivory with bright BOLD rainbowy raku?!

"Love's Midnight Rainbows" a brand NEW style set of glass headpins including a heart focal headpin on thick steel wire! This baby is pretty challenging to make so I don't know how many more of these I will make.

"Desert Sand"- a wonderful earthy and organic sampling of ivory, silver and black!

"Painted Desert" glass toggle. OMG, isn't it SOOO amazing?! I absolutely LOVE it. This one is larger than Gail's with a little bit different of a design.

So where are those spacers? Well funny story.. I was so inspired by the beads I created a bracelet and needed ONE more spacer. I stole it from the set so I need to make one to replace it before listing. So don't worry your pretty head, I will be getting some in the shop soon ;)

IN OTHER NEWS....

I don't know if you read about Andrew Thornton looking for 12 designers for the Allegory Gallery Design Team, but I GOT ACCEPTED to be a designer! I am so honored and excited to be a part of the team. So stay tuned for more on that. I will be excited to share my creations!

Well it's about lunch time so I am off to feed that rumbly in my tumbly!

Have a wonderful day!

xo Genea

My bead soup from Gail and my soup to her

2011-08-15T17:38:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

Ok so Gail and I kind of cheated... She was going to be gone for almost 5 days and would not be in town to receive my package to her. Sooooo we decided to swap pictures of what we were sending :D I have to admit I am a terrible secret keeper when it comes to gifts. My sister and I always end up being so excited about our Christmas and birthday presents we get eachother we usually break down and exchange early. As you noticed there is a pattern here ;)

Wanna see what I got?!

Here is a shot of the inside of my priority mailer. There is a sweet handmade card by Gail of her two sweet pups. A schnoodle and an aussie :D The caption says "All is Calm". So cute! You can also see the pretty fabric bags gently wrapped in tissue.

Of course my own bead sniffers were happy to help me inspect the treasures inside my package.

Here are the bags outside of the box. Each one had it's own little manila folder looking card with Gails beautiful work and a hand written note inside telling me what each piece is :D

Here are those cool cards I was mentioning above. Sweet huh?

Here is a shot of the whole stash. The sun was shining in the window and making the beads look all pretty. For some reason the photo didn't capture the shiny awesomeness, but WOW look at all of these beads!!

I was SUPER excited to get these GORGEOUS stitched beads by Gail. She is so sweet. She stayed up until 3am making them for me!

Here are some Czech pressed glass beads and Swarovski crystals from Gail's personal stash :)

Here are the goodies she picked up for me at one of her local bead shops! It's so exciting to get things from bead shops out of town. Everyone has awesome different things! I LOVE the raku clay spacers and enameled daisies and clasp! Can't wait to work those into a design!

Check these babies out! I had my eye on that little "Witchhazel" trinket box a long while back so I was excited to receive it in my stash. Look at the awesome daisy pendant and the cool book looking pendant! These pieces are from the Susan Lenart Kazmer collection.

A HUGEMUNGOUS stash of seed beads! Gail LOVES seed beads and purple so I was touched she sent her favorites to me :)

I have all of my goodies sitting out on my bead mat waiting for the ideas to come. I am thinking I would like to make some pieces to add to the wonderful selection Gail sent me, but I need to let them "speak" to me first.

MY SOUP FOR GAIL.....

Wanna see what I sent Gail? Don't worry, I am not ruining the surprise here ;) We already swapped beady pics first on Facebook.

Ok so I got a little bit carried away, but I couldn't help it! I'm a gifter if you didn't know that about me already. Gifters are just as excited about giving you the gift as you are about receiving it. It gives us such pleasure to create something special for you and wait to see your excited reaction!

I am also a "Little bits" person. I am the one that likes "little bits" of everything. Like when I go out for breakfast I order the plate with: eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, biscuits and gravy and a pancake(before I was gluten intolerant of course)!

So with that in mind I went to work....

I sent one of my Ancient Tablet series focals called "Dreamer".

Yes, I am aware that there are 4 pictures of this bead, but LOOK at it! You still can't see EVERYTHING there is to see on this bead ;)

Some Ivory, black and silver headpins. I just LOVE the reaction of silver and ivory together! SOOO PRETTY!

My "Desert Serpent" style lentils.

Some rainbowy raku and black headpins. The heart focal headpin was a new design. This baby was SUPER hard to make and shape as you can't put a lot of pressure for shaping on a wire like you can a mandrel. It turned out awesome, but to make more would take forever!

The glass toggle! I was SOOOO excited about this one. Ok, I was excited about ALL of them, but, dude, it's a TOGGLE! The thing you may not know about it is that I had to dremmel the inside quite a bit because when I went to wire wrap the bar the wire wrap and bar wouldn't fit through the hole! Eep! Thank God the crisis was averted! ;)

Again with the too many colors and wanted to capture the feel of the clasp in it's entirety.

Rainbowy spacers. What design is complete without some spacers?!
Let's see YOUR bead soup!!
xo Genea

Bead Soup Partner August 2011 - Gail Vanderster-Zwang and sneak peek

2011-08-14T14:47:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

I would like to introduce you to my Bead Soup Blog partner, Gail Vanderster-Zwang! Gail doesn't have anything in her shop at the moment, but maybe we can convince her to add some things if we post it here ;) Angelmoose

Gail does some GORGEOUS seed beaded designs. Here are a few I stole from her facebook page :)

Doesn't she do some beautiful stitching?!

Here is one of her beautiful necklaces :)

and HERE is a SNEAK PEEK photo of the beads I am sending her :D

I cranked up the filter so there was no distinguishable way she could tell what this was. I think I can see it only because I know what they are ;) I'm SO excited the photos I took of her soup turned out as gorgeous as the beads!

How's your soup coming along?

xo Genea