As a kid I liked ice cream, every kid likes ice cream. But I didn’t love it, I merely liked it. Several years ago my like for ice cream became a raging LOVE. It was all because of some boat work done in 100 degree heat. Others would crave a cold beer at the end of the day, not me, all I wanted was ice cream or popsicles. Delicious popsicles, orange of course, they’re the best. An orange popsicle to me is the definition of summer.

This month I’m giving away one of my Summer Popsicle Mini bead bracelets, because even though the weather has been cool and wet, it’s summer and summer means popsicles! A winner will be drawn at random on September 1.

To enter the giveaway: leave a below and tell me your favourite popsicle colour. Or maybe it’s ice cream you crave.

For more chances to win, tweet this giveaway and email me the link to the tweet.
Post this on Facebook and email me the link to the post!
Blog it and email me the link to the post.

O Canada!
In these interesting times that we live in, I am so grateful that Canada is my home. On July 1, 2017 I shall raise my glass and celebrate the 150th birthday of this large, tolerant, gun-free, tree filled and glorious land I call my adopted home. A land of opportunites, freedom, landscapes and most of all, Canadians. Oh, and snow, too bad about that part.
While celebrating I shall wear a piece from my O Canada collection, a limited collection just for this special day. Happy jewelry for a very happy day.

The collection can be found right here.

Here’s a quick look:

Every day for one week I will post new jewelry using only beads I currently have on my bench. Some days I’ll make one piece, some days I’ll make 10 pieces. They will be random work, all one of a kind. Priced very attractively. Some of these are ideas that I decided not to pursue further, some will be from collections that are now retired. I wonder what I’ll come up with …

All of them are available in my online shop.

Every day for one week I will post new jewelry using only beads I currently have on my bench. Some days I’ll make one piece, some days I’ll make 10 pieces. They will be random work, all one of a kind. Priced very attractively. Some of these are ideas that I decided not to pursue further, some will be from collections that are now retired. I wonder what I’ll come up with …

All of them are available in my online shop.

As I ran into my studio the day after returning home I had one focus, make new work!!! I have a sketchbook full of ideas and 3 shows in the next 3 weeks! Make new work! Make more beads! Find where all my beads are! And I looked around and realized, heck, I have a LOT of beads on my table! Like, an insane amount of beads. Except that I want to make new ones. After 13 years of beadmaking I have a boatload of beads. And jewelry. Except that it isn’t new. So what do I do with it? I strive to constantly have new and exciting things for you to see in my booth every year and making new work keeps me fresh. I produce work in collections each based on a storyline from my life. A lot of the beads on my bench no longer fit my current collections and look out of place in my booth. Hm. What to do, what to do. 

Introducing the Wonder Week. 

Every day for one week I will post new jewelry using only beads I currently have on my bench. Some days I’ll make one piece, some days I’ll make 10 pieces. They will be random work, all one of a kind. Priced very attractively. Some of these are ideas that I decided not to pursue further, some will be from collections that are now retired. I wonder what I’ll come up with … 

The very first Wonder Week begins on Saturday May 27 and continues to Friday June 2. All pieces will be posted here on the blog, on Facebook and listed in the online shop.

Oh boy!!!

They stood there, giant mountains of teenage boy hulks casting a shadow over the booth.

Teenage boys on their own are an uncommon sight in my handmade glass jewelry booth. They are not my usual customer and on day 6 of a long show I am perhaps not as patient as I should be. I’m thinking “move along now”.

“Can I help you?” I ask Hulk 1 briskly.

There’s a shuffling of feet, a dropping of head and then a squaring of shoulders. A big intake of breath before a tiny whisper in a shaky voice.

“Need a present for my mom”.

This stops me. I assumed they were on a school trip and hiding from a teacher. Who’s going to look for 2 teenage boys in a bright coloured jewelry booth?

He’s stll looking at his feet and his friend is looking at the jwelry.

“What about this one?” asks Hulk 2.

“Dunno,” replies Hulk 1.

“Or this one?” asks Hulk 2 holding up a $450 statement necklace.

“Dunno,” replies Hulk 1 before visibly recoiling when he catches sight of the price tag.

“Maybe I can help,” I say. “What’s her favourite colour?”

“Dunno”.

“Does she wear a lot of jewelry?”

“Dunno”.

More squirming. Then he looks at me and in a barely audible voice he blurts out, “She doesn’t live with me. I haven’t seen her in a year. She’s coming for Christmas. I want to get her something really nice”.

“Oh.” My heart breaks just a tiny bit for this giant boy.

Together we look at some options. I point out some of the most popular colours and styles steering him to the less expensive pieces. When I hold up each option I ask them “What do you think about this one?”

Grunt. Hulk 2.

Shrug. Hulk 1.

After about 15 minutes I leave them to it. For almost an hour they stand there whispering to each other. Between them them take up at least a third of my booth speace. Ladies wander in and out, there’s laughter and small talk. It’s all light hearted fun. Many a glance is shot in the direction of the intense cloud of concentration the 2 boys are surrounded in.

He choose a small Snow Queen pendant. It told him it was a great choice. He like it because of the simple elegance, like he remembered his mom.

As I handed him his change he once again looked searchingly at me, “Do you think she’s like it?”

I hope so. Whoever she is, I hope she knows with just how much went into that choice and with what hope and love it was purchased. I hope she know just how lucky she is.

Blink! Where does the week go?

One reason I am doing this weekly diary is because it is forcing me to acknowledge just how much there is to do and that time is ticking. It is really hard to focus on working for the holiday season when it is super nice and summery outside. Every day when I hop on my bike to come to the studio there is the temptation to maybe go a longer route to get there. Or to go and meet a friend for coffee on a patio, because it is SO nice outside and you know it won’t be nice forever. However as of today there are 68 days until the One of a Kind show and I have to get moving.

So what did I get done this past week?

3 days of the past week were spent at the Cabbagetown Arts and Craft show. Although I’m focused on the OOAK coming up there is still stuff that happens between now and then. Speaking of which, although it is 68 days to the OOAK it is only 51 days until I leave for Vancouver and the Circle Craft Christmas Market. Yeah, that timeline just got a lot closer.

One good thing about doing a show is that you can see all your work displayed nicely. I took the time at Cabbagetown to think about what I’m showing at the OOAK this year. I tend to make a LOT of work and there just isn’t space to put it all out. And sometimes work that has been doing really well will all of a sudden just stop selling. There is no reason for it, it just happens. So I thought about which lines I’m showing this season and if I should retire some older stuff. I also went through every little bit of jewelry I have and noted it down.

There were some glaring holes, like I only had 1 pair of my Marvellous Horizon earrings. Huh? Those ALWAYS sell! They are the sort of thing that I make 10 pairs of and then all of a sudden they’re gone. The one pair that I had was gone within an hour of Cabbagetown opening. So this week I made 20 pairs. This is production work. It is very satisfying to make a big pile of something. And I made 20 pairs of Fading Sky earrings. And 10 mini pendants in each design. It is so nice to see the inventory bins start to fill up.

I also experimented with some new pieces. I was so so so happy to make a couple of XL Snow Queen necklaces! Keeping the snow queen beads crystal clear and white (and not burning them) in the XL size is something that has eluded me in the past. I made 4 and they were perfect! I sold 3 at Cabbagetown (yay! I knew they were awesome!) so this week I went to make more. That’s when I made the discovery that I was out of the special glass I use for these. And no one in Canada has it. I have called every glass supplier around. I have tracked some down in Oregon, now there is the issue of shipping it here. And there’s some other great glass that I ran out of however it’s only available in Arizona. Good thing I am discovering this with still 68 days to go!

Since I was making XL pendants I played with some other colours and am very happy with the results. The question is, do customers want the XL size? Should I make all the colours I can or just a few? What if I make 2 of every colour but people only like 1 colour? This is where it can be a bit of a crap shoot. Just as soon as I have cleaned out the beads and made them into jewelry I’ll put them on Instagram and Facebook and try to get some reactions. I’d love to make all the colours however that takes time and a lot of booth space to display them all. Right now I’m happy to have them made, new work is good. I can deal with the quantity issue in a couple of weeks.

I experimented with a few other new colours and shapes. My studies in grey continue, admittedly with not the success that I’m hoping for. Of course I know the best work and most brilliant ideas will appear in about 63 days.

I also used the show to take inventory of all my packaging. I need more of everything. Ordering packaging has gone onto the schedule for Oct 15. Lot of time.

Even though it felt like I wasn’t in the studio much, I have to say it was a very productive week. Coming up is more studio clean up, production table organization, production bead work and continued experimentation. No deadlines this week!!!

68 days to go.

It is still hot hot hot and then more hot! I am so thankful for my excellent air conditioner in the studio! When you sit in front of a torch that is 1700 degrees the air con is a must. And I’m sitting in front of that torch a lot because, you know, xmas is coming. (And because it’s fun and I like it). I’ve been busy making water opals today so I decided that this month I am giving away a Water Opal pendant.

It’s an easy one this month, leave a comment below and say hello in any language other than English.

The winner will be chosen in a random draw on October 1, 2016.

Help me out here people. As much as I love every single bead and piece of jewelry I make I can’t make all of them all the time. So I will continue to make those that others love too. What I am asking from you is to please vote on your favourite piece from this years 30 Day Challenge.

A winner will be drawn at random in early July and will receive one of my Life is a Beach necklaces!

To enter the giveaway: leave a comment below and tell me your favourite piece in the 30 30 Challenge.

You can see all the work here. 

For more chances to win, tweet this giveaway and email me the link to the tweet.
Post this on Facebook and email me the link to the post!
Blog it and email me the link to the post.

At the beginning of May I was starting my 30 Day challenge and I was wondering, what colour combinations were you thinking of this spring/summer? Not surprisingly there was a lot of green in your answers. I get that, it’s all those new leaves showing up. Like me, many of you liked the soft colours of spring, pinks, and purples, like the flowers around us. Here’s a combination I meant to make during the challenge but didn’t get around to, so this will be happening later in June. Nautical navy blue and red with touches of white. Allie suggested this, can’t you just see what great jewelry this will be? Allie wins a pair of polka dot earrings in these colours. I’ll post photos of them when they’re done!