Holiday Sales, Coupon Codes, and Giveaways!

Hello friends!

Ok *whew* looks like I finally figured out the details of my sales and connected with our friends at Love My Art Jewelry for their Cyber Monday sale! 

Ok are you ready for the sales and giveaway?!  Let's start out with the giveaway....

My Shop links- Genea Beads, Genea C-K.

There is a lot of info for these giveaways and coupon codes, so PLEASE READ VERY CAREFULLY!

BLACK FRIDAY GIVEAWAY AND COUPON CODES....

On Black Friday in my Genea Beads shop I will be giving away one of 2 wonderful prizes! The first prize will be a $30 gift card for my shop(For in shop purchases. If whole amount is not used it will remain as store credit until the card is empty.) The second thing I will be giving away is this wonderful collection of beads made by yours truly, and some wonderful goodies from My ELEMENTS along with some silk from Golden One Too.

HOW TO ENTER- Each purchase made on Black Friday will count as an entry for the giveaway. So the more you buy, the better your chances will be do win! I will select 2 winners using random.org. One will win this fabulous selection of beads and supplies and the other will win the $30 gift card to my shop!

COUPON CODES FOR BLACK FRIDAY....

I will be offering up discounts in BOTH of my shops! The Black Friday coupon code for my Genea Beads shop is- GBBLKFRI - Discount is 40% off!!

The discount code for my Genea C-K jewelry shop is- GCKBLKFRI- Discount is 40% off!!

SALES WILL START AT 11PM CENTRAL TIME(Thursday 11pm)( so that our friends on the east coast can enjoy starting the sale at Midnight their time ;) Sales will end at the end of the day(12am SATURDAY).

CYBER MONDAY COUPONS AND GIVEAWAY....

On Cyber Monday my Genea C-K shop will be giving away one of 2 wonderful prizes as well! One lucky person will receive this amazing necklace and earrings and one person will receive a $30 gift card to my Genea C-K jewelry shop(For in shop purchases. If whole amount is not used it will remain as store credit until the card is empty.)!

HOW TO ENTER- Each purchase made on Black Friday will count as an entry for the giveaway. So the more you buy, the better your chances will be do win! I will select 2 winners using random.org. One will win this fabulous jewelry set and the other will win the $30 gift card to my shop!

COUPON CODES FOR CYBER MONDAY .....

Coupon Code for my Genea Beads shop is- ARTBEADS30- Discount is 30% off! 

Coupon Code for my Genea C-K shop is- ARTJEWELRY30- discount is 30% off!

SALES WILL START AT 11PM CENTRAL TIME(SUNDAY 11PM)( so that our friends on the east coast can enjoy starting the sale at Midnight their time ;) Sales will end at the end of the day(12am TUESDAY).

JOIN OUR FRIENDS SALES ON LOVE MY ART JEWELRY!

You can check our our amazingly creative friends sales on their blog HERE

We can't wait to see you for our sales and giveaways! 

Happy Holidays from Genea Beads & Genea C-K!

xo 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

Genea Beads- Love My Art Jewelry- Inspiration blog post

Looks like somewhere in the shuffle my blog post for Love My Art Jewelry got a little jumbled. Here is what the post is supposed to look like ;)

Hello friends!

I must say how flattered I was to be asked to write a guest post here in this lovely community. When asked to post I really had no idea where to start so Izzy suggested I write on what inspires me.  Well I would have to say what inspires me is everything around me really....  especially COLOR.

 Color spectrum chart.

My "Wing Ding" style beads in a rainbow of colors.

I think artists are given special eyes to view the world closely, differently than the average person.

I heard that people perceive color differently. I never realized I had a knack for picking colors until I had a friend that didn't have that same gift. I guess sometimes we don't realize certain things we have are gifts and don't realize that not everyone has them. I feel I get my artistic gift and color sense from my mother, whom is an artist as well.  Here is a picture of one of her paintings she made me for Christmas. I look at it every day since it hangs just above my computer. It is no wonder I had the idea to see how it translated into glass!

Here is a picture of mom's painting and my bead inspired by her work.

I took this bead a step further and created a pendant so that my mom could wear my interpretation of her painting around her neck.

Sometimes I am inspired by scrapbook paper. A certain color palette or pattern might catch my eye. I generally pick up the paper and stick it on my studio wall for inspiration or maybe just walking past it will inspire an idea right away.

I saw this paper at Hobby Lobby and picked it up since I loved the colors. This design and color palette turned into my "Retro Daisy" design! Aren't these colors yummy?!

Sometimes my own work inspires me to move in different directions. For instance I created this set of "Tornado Candy" beads back in 2009.

In 2012 I decided to re-visit this design only I started out by making a large focal size.  When starting the new design in a focal size, I kept getting ideas so I pushed the design a little further each time until I had created 3 new styles from just a single idea !

From Left to Right:"Tornado Candy", "Tornado Candy Ruffle",  "Tornado Candy Ruffle Button", and "Tornado Candy Ruffle Daisy".

I truly love bright colors, so naturally that is my color palette of choice. My very favorite colors are lime green and aqua. So sometimes when I have a design idea I start out creating them in my favorite colors. I then like to add in some other favorites like coraly pink or orchid purple. See how well they seem to complement each other?!

I also enjoy working in more earthy colors as well like in my "Desert Serpent" design. Earthy ivory with a smack of rainbow colors. 

My newest inspiration comes from one of your very own Love My Art Jewelry artist and designer, StaciSmith!

We recently did a bead swap and I received these amazing beads from her.

I was so inspired by them I began to color match my glass to her work and create a special bead set!

We were both so excited about this idea that we are doing a very special project together that we will be revealing  on our blogs soon!

I hope that reading this post helps  you put on your "artist eyes" so you can  take a deeper look at the world around you and be INSPIRED!

xo 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

Fall walk at Waterfront park Portland, OR

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