Almost Holidays

1 more day to go and then I get 2 weeks of comparative peace (no students at least, even though I have a pile of admin work to do). Jason and I are thinking of heading away for a few days, but as its the middle of winter, nothing has sounded terribly appealing so far. We are thinking of spending the money a hotel or B&B would have cost, and doing day trips into the city - maybe go and see Wicked one evening, go to the markets or do a food tour or something during the day - basically play tourist in our own city.

So, I just need to survive one more day without murdering any of my students, and then I can spend some time having fun, and the rest at the torch stocking up on new bead sets! Speaking of which, here is my latest offerring on Etsy, Mauve Garden.

Back in the Market

I have been waiting for the magazine article to come out to launch back into internet sales, hoping to use my website as my main venue, rather than auction sites etc. My wonderful brother has been working hard to help me get my online shop working, but as there have been some unforseen delays I was given the idea (thanks Suzy!) of using an Etsy 'mini' on my webpage as a sales portal. So, for now, my new beads are going up in my Etsy store, and they can be seen there, or the top 15 are visible on my webpage. I'm also going to pop the small Etsy window back in my blog sidebar.

Here are a couple of new sets which are up on Etsy at the moment (edited to add: Well they were, the purple ones have sold already!)...

It's Finally here...

My Artists's Profile in the Creative Beading magazine finally came out this week. It is very exciting, not only to have work published for the 2nd time this year, but to have a 4 page magazine spread is more than I could have hoped for. The article looks great, I am thrilled with how it has turned out. Depsite finding some of their editorial decisions a little odd, its still a great article, and I cant stop grinning whenever I think about it. My new online shop should be up and running in the next week or so too, so guess I better get torching!!

General Ramblings...

It's a bit of a shame when you are too buy living life to blog about it. :) Life continues to be hectic - I think it's a permanent state of affairs now, and I just need to adjust.

I have managed to fit in a tiny amount of torching, since the kiln was fixed, but I don't have a whole lot to show for it yet. I did take some quick snaps yesterday - not my proper photos, but as it's so long since I've posted any, I will put some up over the next few days. I think today I'll start with a floral focal I have made this week. Florals aren't really my thing, but I'm quite happy with this one. And I love the shape. It's hard to describe - its the shape I generally use for my aquarium beads. I start with a large barrel bead, and use my BBQ style lentil mashers to slightly press it in 2 directions - which makes a sort of square, but with curved sides.

On a totally different note, a dear friend sent me a cute email this week, filled with photos of baby pandas. Very cute pics, which I had originally seen a few years ago (I think all those babies are probably quite grown up now). But they reminded me of a video I found when I was originally exploring the site for this Panda breeding centre in China. Check out this video - it's a series of outtakes from a news report at the centre. Very funny, and very cute - you'll find the link over on the right of the page, under the image...