Week in Review- A little bit of everything

Hello friends!

Well here it is, the crazy blog where "everything else" goes! lol. I had some other pictures I wanted to share, but on their own they weren't much. I also figured before we got snow DUMPED on us I should post the pictures of the last crazy snow we got on the 25th!

Ok well I hope you already ate or drank before you read this, if not you will be starving and thirsty by blogs end ;)

Visiting with Ricky's parents.....

We were actually supposed to see Ricky's parents over New Year's Eve weekend, but they ended up getting snowed in, in Colorado. So we got to see them over the weekend of the 21st.

I was excited to give Malina(Ricky's mom) the bracelet I made for her. 

 

This bracelet style is similar to my "Flying Gobstopper" style bracelet I offered in my Etsy shop awhile back. Incase you missed it, here is a picture. My friend Holly ended up snatching it up for one of her birthday presents. It was pretty sweet 'cause you can either wear it as a bracelet or asymmetrical necklace :D The wing dings, rubber o's and soldered rings with crystal dangles are all "floaters".

 Sweet idea eh? Yes, I know, I should make another. I need to add that to my "to-do" list.

 

This bracelet was called "Green Horizon". 

 

We ended up going to a few of our favorite local places including, Tea Drops in the Westport area of Kansas City. Here you can see Ricky, his mom and his dad working on a puzzle they had on one of the tables. 

 Here is the bubble tea I got. It was coconut, rose and green tea. YUMMY! So delicious!

 The morning that they left we went out for breakfast at another "down home" cooking style restaurant. They sold these KILLER cinnamon rolls! Above you can see Ricky's mom with our cinnamon roll.

 Mmmmm I totally took this picture to tease you. Doesn't it look YUMMY? Well it totally was just as delicious as it looks!

While the Knable family was in town we stopped over at Costco and picked up some groceries. Rick and Malina thought the dogs needed a dog bed too :) As you can see Leeloo is happily laying on top of me on the couch. I had to convince Kayla she wanted to lay on the bed. She kind of did. I guess the side was as good as I was going to get. I guess they are kinda sketchy about the cedar smell of the bed. I think it smells fantastic, but what do I know? Apparently I'm not a spoiled dog. *rolls eyes*

HOLY SNOW, BATMAN....

Can you believe this snow we got?! This was taken the morning after it finally stopped. This was just last week.

 Here is the side of the house. Crazy huh?!

 The front from the street.

 Some WICKED icicles. I knocked them down after photographing them. They could seriously impale someone. The dogs were happy to crunch on them so at least someone enjoyed them ;)

Yummy snacks....

So Ricky and I have discovered the joys of stove popped popcorn. Not only is it delicious, but it's low calorie and way better for you than microwave popcorn. Did you know that not only do microwaves heat up your food, but the COMPLETELY change their chemical make up too? Ewww...

So to enjoy this tasty snack of awesome and win  you will need the following ingredients:

Bragg's Liquid Aminos, Bragg's nutritional yeast, Bragg's sprinkle, sea salt, cayenne pepper, organic popcorn, and vegetable oil, oh and olive oil(not pictured). 

So here's the secret to awesome popcorn. We read this somewhere on the net, but since I can't remember where I will just have to tell you here.

So first you set your stove to 7 heat. For one serving of pop corn you need 2tbs popcorn and 2tbs oil. Don't freak out, you only get half of the oil in your popcorn. The other half of the oil kicks it on the lid and pan bottom ;) 

Ok so you heat your stove to 7 and put the oil in the pan with 1 kernel of popcorn. When that kernel pops you remove the pan from heat, add the rest of the kernels, cover the top with a lid and vent one side of it and shake back and forth across the stove burner until there are only 1 to 2 seconds inbetween popcorn pops. This will help you judge when the popcorn is done cooking. 

 Next you will need large bowls. What is the crappiest thing about getting popcorn out besides the fact that it tastes like styrofoam, the seasoning not being on ALL of it. So divide your freshly popped pop corn into 2 bowls. Do the next steps in both bowls.  Add a squeeze of Bragg's liquid aminos around the rim of the bowl, next a dash of sea salt, a few dashes of nutritional yeast, sprinkle, cayenne(if you like it hot, if not, omit), and a teeny mist of olive oil.

 Combine both bowls together and scrape the empty bowl with a rubber scraper to make sure you get all of your seasonings :D Enjoy! You will be totally addicted, promise. This recipe is only like 156 calories and 9 grams of fat(from the oil). 

Gluten free goodness....

This was my breakfast the other day! HOLY CRAP, was it good! Ricky breaded the potatoes with gluten free bread crumbs. They were corn based so they were super crusty! Yes, that IS a good thing! The rest is eggs with broccoli, onions, and feta! I love that my hubby cooks me delicious things to eat :D

Incase you missed it on Etsy....

 

"Double Love" Watermelon adjustable ring.

 

Love Daisy "Aster"  adjustable ring.

 "Hugs and Kisses" mixed-media earrings.

 

"Love You" mixed-media necklace.

Collaboration!...

Awhile back I asked a few people if they wanted to collaborate after the first of the year. One of the lovely people was Amy Freeland of Copper Diem! Here you can see the complete blog post and reveal!

I made the lampwork beads and she designed the necklace. We are going to be offering it up on Etsy and donating to a charity. I believe it will be going to My Mom Pattie, but I need to double check with Amy. You all should totally check out the shop! It is run by the very talented, Marsha Neal. She dedicated the shop to her mother and they have some amazing pieces to offer! Also be sure to check out Marsha's work! She makes GORGEOUS clay pieces among lots of other lovely things!

What to expect this week....

I have some SUPER sweet stuff in the kiln today! I can't wait to see how everything turned out! :D

I took some pictures for my Etsy listings for the week. I tried to take them outside, but the sun wasn't cooperating with me so I had to shoot them inside. I got some KILLER photos! So be on the look out for some new stuff.

I just got the proof for the "Jaw Breaker" hollow tutorial from The Flow magazine! It looks SOOOO AMAZING! I can't wait for you all to see it. They informed me that it may get in this month's magazine, but if this issue is too full it will go in the next. I am crossing my fingers that it gets in the most recent issue. I will totally keep you all posted!

Here is the bead in the tutorial incase you missed hearing about it. I LOVE making these style hollow beads. I just plain old LOVE working with cane glass period. You can make so many awesome things!

Well that wraps it up for now, but I'll see you soon!

Much love,

Genea

Topsy Turvey- A week in review

Hello friends!

Today has been a crazy day.  I realized it's been just over a week since I have last posted. I have been BUSY per usual. 

Before I get into my crazy day I would like to take a moment to thank all of the lovely people out there that have stopped by my shop to pick up some holiday items this season. You all are AMAZING! Thanks so much for supporting me!

World turned upside down...

Ok, where to start... Well I woke up and checked my messages over my morning cup of coffee. When Ricky got home he was distraught. After a few exchanges of words back and forth he had pretty much told me he had decided it would be best for us if he dropped school. If you didn't already know my hubby was working on his massage therapy certificate.  After the school giving him the run around and with finances being what they are, he thought it would be best for him to focus more on his training job and maybe getting a second job. He has been gone for endless hours in the day and felt like his candle was burning at both ends. Our end goal for this upcoming year is our move to Portland, OR and it seemed with this new plan put into action that we would better be able to achieve that goal by mid summer. So that certainly spiraled my day around.

I think it will be better too especially if that gives him more time home and to really get his focus in the right place. I also wouldn't complain if I got to see him way more often than I do :)

Happenings of today....

It's just been crazy around here. Sometimes it's hard to figure out what is the best plan of attack for all of the many things I have going. I feel like the state of my desk is what the state of my life feels like at the moment.

Yeah, nuff said huh? lol.

So I spent the beginning of the day getting together a few packages that needed to go out in the mail. Next I got my sale banner up for the December 1-7th sale I have going on in my shop for 20% off lampwork beads.I liked the sale banner so I decided to make a new one for here too. Then I went off to pick new fav's for the shop and edited some pics. When I logged on to upload the new banner I was checking out some of the new blog posts from my list.

I first saw Amy's blog Copper Diem and I was like "hey those look like my beads, wait THOSE ARE MY BEADS" :D Amy is so sweet. She just received the wing ding beads she purchased and took some photos :D

I bounce back and forth all over the internet many times a day and read on Lorelei's facebook that she was participating in a Secret Santa Exchange with Lillyella. I am a gifter so you know I was all over that!

Forgive me if this is all crazy like. I have so many things to talk about and fill you in. Hopefully you make it through all of it ;)

 Ok so totally random, but if you don't already have one of these little elasticy headbands, you totally need one. Its like a huge rubber band with a little rubbery stuff on the underside so it doesn't slip out of your hair. Pretty nifty huh?

And.. here's my face. I figured I might take a quick snap shot just for "S's and "G's".

 Food porn....

So after all of my crazy photo editing I realized I had many photos to share.  So here are some of the delicious food Ricky has been cooking :D

 Ricky made me this delicious french toast with some cooked Jazz apples on top. OMG if you have not already had some Jazz apples you MUST go find some and eat them! They are some of the BEST apples I have EVER eaten, I might go as far to say as they are my current favorite! They are deliciously sweet and a little sour! Mmmmmm! Doesn't it just figure 2 of my favorite fruits are from New Zealand?! Blood oranges were the second :D I have also been eating my weight in clementines :D

 Here was an Asian noodle salad. Pretty delicious.

 OMG. Have you had this yogurt? It is like the BEST! It's thick and creamy with a tang. It tastes just like an exquisite desert. I would totally recommend it to curb that sweet tooth with a healthy choice. Trust me, it totally doesn't taste like it should be that healthy for you!

 Chicken cooked in orange juice with greek cucumber sauce, feta, caramelized onions, and mushrooms. Mmmm.

 I just happened to notice the awesome way the sunlight was coming in the room so I clicked a picture :)

Ok so this might actually kind of blend a little bit here... lol

Beads & Breakfast....

The other day I had the pleasure of hanging out with my friend, Melissa. I was up ASS early the technical time for that statement is 5:30am(way out of my character) so I started my day after tossing and turning for an hour. I seized the day by going on a walk with Leeloo, showering, and then inviting Melissa over for breakfast. 

 Here is Melissa, our breakfast and her beads :)

 The face beads closest to you were called "Beads Gone Bad". She had a hollow flop(the green face above all the rest_ and decided to make a face out of it. Look what else she created! The small beads in the top right were "production beads". These beads were made 4 at a time on one mandrel to see just how many beads she could make in 2 hours.

 Here are some super dotty masked beads and a large dotty glass disc.

Here are some of the other "whompy" hollow beads Melissa made along with the earrings she will be doing in the Bead Boutique earring exchange.

2 OUT OF 4 COMPLETED!....

So with the craziness of holiday happenings I have a few more deadlines to complete. I got 2 out of 4 done on Sunday afternoon! One was my very FIRST lampwork tutorial EVER! It will be coming up in the Flow magazine in spring. I would love to give more details, but I am waiting to see what little tid bits I can give you before the magazine comes out, so stay tuned for that ;)

My other completed task was doing some bead release testing for Planet Glass Products(coming spring 2011). I had the pleasure of working with founder, Tim Keyzers. I have nothing to say but INCREDIBLE things about his new bead release called "Universal Bead Release". It is amazingly strong, awesomely green and easy to clean out of your bead holes. It is literally the BEST bead release I have EVER used! Here are the test beads I made to put his bead release to the test!

 One of my ornage BIBH's done in gorgeous Bullseye glass :)

 Another BIBH. We had 2 different batches to test.

 My "Jaw Breaker" hollows.

 Wing Dings, of course. One in opaque and one in transparent to test the ease of cleaning.

In the works....

Some new Genea Beads items. The multi-functional Wing Ding has found yet another finished item!

They make perfect stitch markers with their wonderfully bright colors. They are shown here with knitting, but they can also be used as crochet stitch markers since they are attached to a split ring!

 

They can even be added to your key ring temporarily  so that they will be with you when you travel.

They are even fashionable! You can WEAR them when you aren't using them too!  Pretty sweet eh?

 Now what's the only bad news about them? They aren't in the shop yet because I am still wading through tons of other tasks ;P I will get them in the shop eventually... 

Well I'm sure if you did make it to the end you are probably starving by now since it took SOOOO long to read everything. I think I am ready for some food myself ;)

See you soon!

Much love,

Genea