20% Off Moving sale! The next chapter....

Come help us pack up our beads and jewelry! I'm moving to the heart of Kansas City, Missouri in "Midtown" to write the newest chapter of my story. Check out our 20% Off Moving Sale February 19-21. Use coupon code "FLY FREE" at checkout to receive your 20% off discount. The sale will begin at Midnight CST Thursday night/Friday morning and run until midnight Sunday CST. www.genea.etsy.com and www.geneack.etsy.com

The Awesomeness of Pinterest and Gift Giving Ideas

Hello friends!

I thought you might like to benefit by something I figured out the other day. So this time a year you may be wondering what to get those special people on your gift giving list, right? Well the same went for my sister, Nina. She has asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I had to think about it for a second. I had NO idea?  I mean when I do spend money normally it's on business supplies and things like: glass rods, beads, business cards, packaging etc. I don't really do a ton of shopping lately(but I sure do love to go buy things! I even enjoy buying groceries and silly things like toiletries! So yeah I like the act of spending money on SOMETHING). She said mom had told her to check out my Etsy favorites, but she said most of what I liked sold. So I went to look through my favs and decided it would be a good idea to create a Pinterest board of some handmade items I would love to receive for Christmas! Genius, right?! 

Here is a screen shot of my board, but you can see the entire board by visiting here(just incase you wanted to be nosy and see what I liked. I always thing it's interesting to see what people like, personally ;)

You can create your board on Pinterest first. To add an pin to your board simple go on Etsy. Click on the item you like and in the right hand corner (by my black arrow) you will see a "pin it" button. Click on it and it will post it to your board. Be sure to choose the correct board when adding your pin. 

 So this is my great idea for you! It's so easy! So when people ask you what you want for Christmas you can just refer them to your board via Facebook, e-mail, twitter etc. The price is even on each item when you pin your item from Etsy to Pinterest! So your purchasers even know how much items are so they can shop in their budget! Oh and the even better part? Your purchaser doesn't even have to leave the house and fight crowds! They can click on the image on your board and it will magically whisk them away to the shop of the item. They click and purchase... DONE! Easy Christmas shopping for them, and an amazing gift you want from them! 

I hope you enjoyed my quick little tip!

What are you gifting people this year? What are you creating for handmade gifts this year?

xo Genea

Genea Beads and The Art Bead Love Tour-GIVEAWAY

Hello friends!

Wow, I am still in shock that I won the giveaway to receive this magical necklace full of arty bead goodness!  So let me start out by telling you that we will be having 3 GIVEAWAYS on my blog. 

FOLLOW THE RULES AS POSTED FOR YOUR CHANCES TO WIN THE GIVEAWAY. 3 WINNERS WILL BE PICKED. 2 WILL RECEIVE ONE OF THE SELECTED LOTS OF BEADS BELOW AND THE OTHER WILL RECEIVE THE ART BEAD LOVE CHAIN. WINNERS WILL ALL BE RANDOMLY CHOSEN. BE SURE TO POST EACH TIME SEPARATELY FOR EACH PLACE YOU SHARE.  WINNERS AGREE TO PAY POSTAGE ON THEIR PACKAGE($2 for bead lot winners and $6 for the Art Bead Love Chain).

Here is a pic of the Art Beads Love Chain as I received it. 

Here are the beads I chose on the left and the beads I am adding to the chain on the right. The art beads I chose were: Frog bead- Green Girl Studios

  Blue stamped stars- Indian Creek Studios

 Bronze sea urchin charm- S L Artisan Accents

 Pink heart charms, butterfly, sunburst pendant and earring pair-Summers Studio, lotus charm, stamped flower petal pendant and matching earrings- Chinook Designs

Flower etched brass pendant- Patricia Gasparino 

 Ceramic tear drops- Elaine Ray

 Om brass pendant- Mary Jane Dodd

 Enameled eye charms- Barbara Lewis

Starburst metal pendant? I am not sure who created this lovely piece, but I did see that it was tied to a ribbon in Alice's post here. 

Is it crazy that I was just as excited to add my beads as I was to remove some from the chain?! I wanted to add a nice collection of my beads so I added more than what I removed. Those that know me well know how much of a gifter I am so I couldn't help it! I even had a little extra fun by adding my pieces "artfully". I used enameled chain and rubber o's from My ELEMENTS, and some black chain from Vintaj. 

I have also included a special gift bead to the next winner! I was told by one of the original creators of the chain that one thing that they did in the beginning was to have the winner send along one special bead just for the next winner. I decided to pick that tradition back up. So the next lucky winner of the Art Beads Love Chain will receive one of my beads too! Hooray! 

WHAT YOU WILL WIN IN THE GIVEAWAY...

Remember this giveaway will have 3 winners. Two winners will receive one of the sets of beads below and one lucky winner will receive the Art Beads Love Chain! 

Did I mention that I will even be adding some wing dings in the special collaboration colors?!

Bead Lot #1- Raku Leaf-Jessi, gold leaf lampwork ?, brown speckled clay-Kelli Pope, copper textured charm- Moobie Grace Designs turquoise glazed bead-Keith O'Connor, Wing dings- Genea Beads.

Bead Lot #2 Wing Dings- Genea Beads, purple dragonfly-Bead Freaky, purple flower bead- Moobie Grace designs, textured clay bead-Mary Ann Carroll, stamped star pendant-Suburban Girl Studios, enameled butterfly- Gardanne Glass

CONTEST WILL CLOSE NOVEMBER 15TH 12AM.

The Art Bead Love Tour is an ongoing project to spread the love of handmade to new and exciting places.  It's a way to reach people who may have never stumbled upon your blog on their own, and give them a chance to share the love of handmade.  A chain was chosen to link beads as a symbol of how this project links us all together ~ in our unity to stand behind handmade. 

The winner of the chain will be allowed to take up to 30 beads from this chain. They will then replace each bead they took with another handmade bead, charm or pendant of equal Quality.

(SO  Remember-----You're NOT winning the ENTIRE CHAIN---Just a chance to take some beads from it.)

PLEASE READ THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW

I know there's a lot to read, but it's really important!!!

It is so important that the quality of the beads be maintained, so we can keep the Art Bead Love Tour alive.  We want to share consistent quality with the next winner.  If you make your own handmade beads or components, it's a great way to get your beads into the world for people to try them out, or, if you hoard collect art beads it's a great way to share your collection and get some new additions as well.

(Art Beads should be handmade by an artist, and not mass produced, such as Hill Tribe Silver beads or others like them.)

Remember, the focus is on creating handmade with handmade and beads/components taken should be replaced with beads/components that are made by an indivdual artist not an organization.

Here's where the chain has been:

Love My Art Jewelry

Lorelei's Blog

Shaiha's Ramblings

Jen Judd Rocks

Silver Rose Designs

My Life Under The Bus

Ex Post Facto Jewelry

Beading Mommy

Alice Dreaming

Pretty Things

Moobie Grace Designs

Suburban Girl Studio 

ferrarioriginalbeads 

Baublicious 

Devine Designs Jewelry

Chinook Jewelry Designs   

Genea Beads         

Here's how it works:

(Please read the entire post before entering.)

1. The winner of the chain will be allowed to take up to 30 beads from this chain.  They will then replace each bead they took with another handmade bead, charm or pendant of equal quality.

2. The winner will post pictures of what was taken and what was added, in order to keep an account of the chain's progress and to keep our followers drooling.  Please be sure to give credit to the bead artists as well (if you know them). 

3. The winner will then have a giveaway, just like this one,to keep passing the chain on and on.  Rules can be copied and pasted from here.

4. When you repost your giveaway (remember you can copy and paste from here)-a list should be added to show where the chain has gone, with links to each previous blog.Ultimately, this will end up a very long list!

5. Chain must be shipped to its new home via Priority Small Flat Rate box with delivery confirmation. Please package it carefully.

6. There will be a button on the Love My Art Jewelry website that links to the current blog and giveaway-so if you have the chain, it will link to your blog, that way our followers can have another chance to win it.

7. You MUST exchange your beads and have your giveaway completed within two weeks of receiving the chain.

(Please, please, please, if you can not adhere to the above rules, do not enter the giveaway at this time.  It will go on and on and you can always enter at a later date.) There will be a button on the side bar of our blog so that you can track where the chain currently is.

Here's How to Enter:

1. You must have an active blog to enter.

2.  Leave a comment below (make sure your email is linked to your blog or leave it in the comment.  Entries without emails will not qualify)

3. Share on Facebook, Twitter or your blog for extra chances to win. Leave a comment for each way you share, with a link if possible.

4. Winner will pay shipping and will be billed through Paypal-small priority flat rate box with delivery confirmation, $6.00.

5. Open only to our readers in the United States-due to problems with tracking and shipping overseas (sorry).


Best of luck to you all!

xo Genea

Some of my FUNKIEST most CREATIVE designs yet!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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