GIVEAWAY starts TODAY for our LIMITED EDITION SETS on our COLLAB BLOG!

Hello friends!

Just a quick "peek" of our Collaboration set we are GIVING AWAY on our blog Inspiration & Collaboration; The Social Artist! For the complete rules please VISIT OUR OTHER BLOG.

Here is the GORGEOUS set we are giving away! The LUCKY winner will receive this special set BEFORE  they are released to the general public!

Now run on over to find out the details and WIN! 

Good luck!

xo Genea

Reduce, Reuse, Recycled... BEADS & Headpins!

Hello friends!

Yes, I am still alive. I bet you may have noticed the dust around here ;P Well it's been hectic to say the least. So I guess before I go into my topic of today, I will fill you in on what you've missed in my personal life(I won't be offended if you skip this part to get to the beads) ;P

Ok so it's been hard to leave everyone in the dark about what's been going on. So in short here is what you have missed. Remember me coming home for a "family thing"? Well that family thing was mom having some surgery. She went through her surgery and is recovering well *whew*. Then dad ended up having a visit in the ER. He is doing fine as well. *double whew*. So through that all I have been super busy caring for them and doing the normal house duties for their house and on our basement floor along with caring for our dogs and theirs. I am POOPED to say the least. I didn't get much work time in, but am slowly getting time to create and blog.

Ok other big news, so with me coming back "home" to care for mom after her surgery, we decided to move back to Kansas City, Missouri. Yep, you heard it. We loved the PNW and Portland, OR for sure and miss it, but we really did miss family and friends as well as feeling like I should be home with mom for her surgery. So Ricky transferred his job to the 24 hour fitness in Shawnee Mission, KS(about 30 mins from us). He also got a teaching job at the school in which he graduated(Pinnacle Career Institute, North Campus)! So we are really excited about that! 

You know moving back to the midwest we don't have transit like the Northwest, which is a total, 

bummer, BUT.... we got his amazing little 2011 Kia Rio! 

It's actually a compact car, but in this shot it looks kinda big. It gets 36 highway and 27 city. We are pretty stoked since Ricky's trip to work for training is 50 miles! Yikes! 

Ok so about those recycled beads...

 

I took these...

 

and did this...

 

and this...

 

and this(yeah takes longer to melt the glass down than make the beads ;P)

 

and made THESE!

Here's what I have to offer YOU...

 

"Spiral Earth Coins"-Ice Aqua 

 

Earth Droplets"Ice Aqua"

 

 Spiral Earth Coin "Kelly Green" 

Earth Droplet "Kelly Green"

 

Spiral Earth Coin "Olive" 

Earth Droplet "Olive"

 

Spiral Earth Coin "Root Beer"

 

Earth Droplet "Root Beer"

Now how about some inspiration? Remember this bracelet Staci Smith created for herself with my beads? I absolutely LOVE it!

 

Are you drooling over her jewelry? You can collect some here :D

Want to see my latest treasures from Staci? They just arrived in the mail the other day!It was such a nice surprise to have these gorgeous beads in my mail box!

 

Don't worry, we are also working on our collab beads while we are away from our blogs. Staci even took some amazing pics of our beadies happily hanging out together. You can read about it here on her blog !

Have an amazing day! See you soon!

xoxo Genea

The spoils from Staci and Karen+Super *Secret* news with Staci Smith REVEALED

Hello friends!

Well the time is finally here for the super *secret* news you have been hearing about!  But first, I want to share some of my goodies with you. Don't worry this is like the pre-story for the main event ;)

So let's start out with my friend, Karen. I had the extreme pleasure of a trade with the amazing, Karen Totten of Starry Road Studio! Wow did she SPOIL me!

 

Just look at all of these AMAZING BEADS! If you don't have any of Karen's beads in your stash, you totally need some! Not only is her work amazing, but the details, and skill in her work are just outstanding! Did I mention the packaging as well?! Wow, she has literally given me the BEST packaging I have EVER received! It's such a treat to open her packages!

Your goodies from Karen will arrive in some of these pretty recyclable textured craft boxes.

Upon opening them you will see this.

Under this, you will see this.

 

If you ever wondered about the scale of her work this shot will give you an idea.

Karen's work is so masterfully detailed and tiny. She told us she has little elves that come help her do her work. There were 3. I can't think of their names at the moment, but they sure do a good job, don't they?!

Here is another shot of the beautiful oil lamps Karen makes. You can find them in her shop here I just love this awesome black clay with the glaze at the top and the bottom left "raw"!

 

See! Look how teeny he is! This is one of her infamous whale beads, if you have heard of their legends. I think she will be making some more soon if you don't see any in her shop. If not you could always send her a nice little message to see when she will have more in stock ;)

 Not only is Karen, super amazingly artistic, but she is probably one of the NICEST people I have ever met as well! I have enjoyed getting to know her so much, and I am so grateful to call her my friend :)

Here are the GORGEOUS spoiles I received from Staci, whom is also one of the most amazing people I have met. I am so happy  and honored to call one of my good friends! She is such an amazingly talented and super sweet person! I don't think I can say enough nice things about her!  If you have not seen Staci's work, then you simply must run over to her shop and familiarize yourself!

Aren't the BEAUTIFUL?! I just LOVE everything she sent! Oh, did I mention she SPOILED me as well? (A girl could get really used to this spoiling business! Being the oldest, I normally get shafted! ;P )

Wow, well where do I begin? Staci makes some amazing bronze clay pieces and patina's them. You can find them in her shop here.

She is also doing some AMAZING new painted polymer pieces. OH the HEARTS *swoon* All of the colors and texture in them. They remind me of beautiful batiked fabric! Some even have these little kinda barbell guys sticking out of them. They kinda look like they have little piercings ;)

I made some matchy wing dings(more about this below).

She even creates these wonderful nautilis shell connectors and such with this amazing crackle finish!

So just one more thing before I deliver the news.... Staci ended up picking up some of my recycled glass bottle beads and created this amazing bracelet I want you to see.  I take the bottles and simply melt down the glass to work them into beads. Here is a quick photo I took from my phone as I was making them :)

Here are the finished beads  and glass headpin from this photo. These are in the hands of Miss Karen Totten, but don't worry. I will be making more soon. Stay tuned for updates on those ;)

So about that bracelet....

 

This is the bracelet she just "whipped up" LOL. I was like just "whipped it together" huh?! This is AMAZING! Don't you LOVE it?! I think it's absolutely fantastic!!

So speaking of inspiration(this is the part you were finally waiting for ;) So When I received Staci's package I was so INSPIRED by her work I just HAD to match some beads to her wonderful pieces(You can read about more of my inspiration in my LMAJ Blog post here).

You know how much I LOVE color and I have such an eye for color matching, it's retarded ;)

 

So off I went, matching, and matching and making, and making. WING DINGS galore!

I was so excited about it I came up with this wonderful idea and ran it past Staci.

So here is the BIG BIG NEWS... I am excited to announce that Staci and I are working on a collaborative project together! We will be making some LIMITED ADDITION beads to offer up together complimenting each others work!!

 

Here is a little teaser! Staci will be creating some of her beautiful hearts and I will be making matching wing ding sets! We will only have a LIMITED amount of these color sets and focals available so when they are gone, they are GONE. 

In the coming weeks we are both busily creating this special collection for our friends and designers out there! We are SUPER excited about this wonderful project and can't wait to see what you all think!

As we get further on this project we will be updating everyone on our blogs(here((If you are reading this then obviously you know my blog address ;P lol)) and Staci Louise Originals) and facebook pages Genea Beads and Staci Louise Originals)so do check in to see how our project is going!

See you soon and thanks for stopping by!

xoxo Genea

Trade with Staci Louise from Artisan Accents

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