Great day with Laura....

Its not often that one comes across a really decent nice person, Laura Sparling is truly a kindred spirit, never mind she is one the best glass bead makers I have seen in a long time...I met her yesterday at her home & we spent a very short 5 hours or so chatting about everything from beads to me falling in love with her guinea pigs...The girl fed me a very nice lunch, we talked about all things glass beads, we spent some time on the torch making beads, we found out we had so much in common from bead making to the people we knew in the industry, down to our favorite color, purple...she is truly a delight, I am just sad that I get to meet her only a few weeks before we leave England...but I intend to keep in touch with her.

She is a great bead maker, a true artist at heart & a crazy perfectionist, the combination of which makes for awesome beads...you can find her beads in her etsy shop here like many a great bead maker she has been selling her beads to a very lucky group of people for years on her site & before that on ebay...

I loved her work space, her dad and I fell totally in love with Brenda one of her guinea pigs, at the end of the day I was asking if I could move in...it is always nice when you find a new friend...thanks Laura for a great day...

Jelveh

Peace

The Tough Go to Paris & Beads...

What is it they say? When the Going get tough, the tough do XYZ...Hi all, as you have guessed by now, we went to Paris over the weekend...I know, life is just so good & we are so grateful to have the opportunity to travel to all these fun places right before we come home...We took the train on Friday, stayed about a block from Arc De Triomphe , went up to the top of the Eiffel Tower Friday night, spend 7 hours on Sat roaming through the very large Louvre Museum, to see it properly one has to spend a few months there, then a quick trip on the metro to Notre-Dame just in time for evening mass which was kind of cool, with the choir singing & the incense smell. On Sunday we walked the Champs-Elysees before our train trip back to London.

It was a great little trip, both hubby & I had been to Paris before, both of us when we were 12 years old, although I was 12 years old about 4 years before hubby...so this was all new to our adult eyes...we saw so much art, I will show you more photos of these and stories in the coming weeks...we loved it all, life is GOOD...We are almost done with the packing. I have a date with the lovely UK bead maker Laura Sparling on Thursday to chat & maybe torch a bit. I have a bunch of beads made for the weeks to come, so I will be listing a few new items every week or every few days, you have to check back in the shop for new items...

How do you like the new look of the blog? I thought it was time for a change. Also on the right side I have posted a poll about bead colors, please vote for your favorites when you get a chance.

I have a ton of yummy new beads for you today in the shop, you can also click on the bead photos on the right side to get there...

Sandi R. of TX wins the yummy landscape bead for last week. The ultra yummy bead in the photo above is for this week's bead giveaway...what can I say, it came out so good, very peacock. you can win it by commenting on this post. winner picked at random in about a week.

Thanks for stopping by, have a great rest of the week & make sure you think & feel good things...

Jelveh

Peace

Queen & Yummy Beads...

Or I could say I am the queen of yummy new beads, Hi all, hope you are doing well below is a quick look at our busy life...

Packing (mostly hubby & Penny, a bit me),Walking, Hubby sick with Cold,I pamper Jelveh Sick with Cold,Hubby pampers,lymph node mad & in pain at the back of my head,Packing, walking,working on the computer(both of us),working out shipping issues.

Sammy the Hamster is going to America,Packing, giving away stuff,Making Beads,Fun,talking to family & friends on skype,Valentines Day, cards presents, sweet love,Dinner,A Night With Queen at the New Oxford Theater

Dancing in the living room,Life is Good,Hubby Birthday,Dinner & Movie,Happy,Hubby is awesome

Making Beads,clean beads,take photos,Packing,Life is Good

Got Dates & Tickets to go back to California,Will miss England,Can not wait to get home,Life is good,More Beads for later,Movie He's Just Not That Into You, Good

So I did make some yummy beads this for this week, I have listed them in the shop click here to see, or to the right of this posting...

The winner of last week's beads is Ginny...I think the girl has a secret thing going on with my hubby, since he has picked her name more than any other in the random drawings that i have had for about 6 years now, Congrats girl, here is to the power of creating our own universe...now On to the new bead above, love the way it came out, the mix of colors is amazing, a yummy landscape measures 33mmx28mmx7mm...to win it, all you need to do is make a comment on this blog, tell me about your happy busy lives...& have a thing with my hubby...lol

I am selling my Oxy Con, you bead makers out there who live here in the UK, let me know if you are interested...it wont work in the US due to power issues.

Thanks for stopping by, Life is always good...

Jelveh

Peace

Beads and a FEVER???

Hi all, hope you are doing well...this crazy weather of Oxford finally got to me too, well it does not help when hubby has had a cold forever!!! and I did kiss him, so I guess it is my fault...I have a cold, I am not very good at being sick, I find it difficult that a person is expected to be good at something that feels so bad...anyway I have a fever and I am late with the beads, so without too much more talk here is the deal...

I listed a whole bunch of new bead I made in the last week...they are yummy if I say so myself, check them out here in the shop...all together there are 17 items, most I have had in weeks...enjoy

Oh the winner of last week's bead is Ricki, thanks for all the entries, send me your address girl...

This weeks giveaway is made of of two beads, the one focal flat tab on the right is just yummy and fine, but the one flower bead on the right was fine when I took it out of the kiln, but maybe it was the fever, I kind of injured it with my dremel tool when cleaning, it has a bit of abrasions around the hole, its perfectly fine and no one will ever see it, specially if you use a bead cap with it...it is large, about 1 inch diameter with lots of purple flowers encased deep inside, enter to win them both by posting a quick hello, or "don't be such a baby about your cold" message here...you can enter every week to win, even if you have just won last week...

Thanks for stopping by, keep warm...

Jelveh

Peace

Movies and more movies...

Hi all, this past weekend we saw the movie Bolt...it was very charming...we liked it...

it seems in the past few months we have seen a ton of new movies...I love movies in general, I used to work in Movie Theaters, run them and such for over 15 years, so it was a big part of my life at one time & award seasons were a huge party time for the folks in my industry...one particular party I always liked to go to was Show West in Los Vegas where the Distributors (the people who make the movies) wine and dine the exhibitors (the people who show the movies, movie theater owners and such)...I got to go several times, it was really fun...each studio would put on a dinner or a party of some sort, we would show up in this large rooms with big round tables all set up for dinner, on each chair there was a bag full of goodies from the studio...only a select few got to go, like 5000 of all the people who work in the movie industry...I had so much fun at these events...

like peacocks the studio would not only show us all kinds of short bits of their movies coming in the next year, they would also parade in front of us their brightest stars, so at one dinner I could be sitting 20 feet away from Whoopei Goldberg at another 20 feet away from Tom Cruise...course the stars would change as they got more famous...there was no need for them to show up every year, which was good since it left room for new up and coming stars to come...

a little bit of my life in the movies...there are so many stories, so many stars, so many promotions, I was the queen of promotions, I had a great time promoting them, oh the Oscar parties, at home and at the theaters we held...by the end of my movie theater career I would go from place to place and open large theaters, staff them, train the folks, set them up and move on...loads of fun and never any time to myself...

my favorite movies come in all kinds genres, this past few weeks, I have seen the following: Revolutionary Road-----Awesome, The Reader-----Sad but awesome, Doubt----Awesome, Curious Case of Benjamin Button----Awesome & eye opening, Wall-e----Great, Vicki Christina Barcelona----Awesome funny, acquired taste, I've loved you for so long----Awesome, Milk----Awesome & sad, Slum Dog Millionaire----Awesome, Yes Man----Funny & good, The day the earth stood still----not so well done, Tropic Thunder----Awesome & so funny...this is the first time in a long time that I have loved so many movies in a row.

have you seen any good movies or bad ones lately...? last night I saw the BAFTA awards here in England, and last month the Golden Globes, Oscars are next...do you have your favorites picked out...? Do you Care? let me know...

Thanks for stopping by, hope your weekend was good too...

Jelveh

Peace

Amsterdam & Snow...OH & beads...

Hi all, hope you are doing well in your world…things are great in my world & the landscape is ever changing...Over the weekend we made a quick trip to Amsterdam, I have always wanted to see this city, hubby had been before, he has traveled the world over...I am just catching up. The bikes & the architecture stood out most to me in Amsterdam...it is a lovely city, with its old and new buildings & there are more bikes than people; we could all learn a few things about life & saving the environment from the Dutch.

The very libertine atmosphere of Amsterdam is a bit different & distinctive from what we are used to...we did take a walk through the Red Light District & blushed as we watched the girls sell their wares..but most of our time in Amsterdam was spent checking out the amazing Van Gogh Museum, the Rijks Museum, the Amsterdam Zoo “The Artis” & a few glass galleries...At the Zoo, most of the animals were much smarter than we, they stayed inside during the cold temps. At this zoo however they have inside exhibits for most of the animals as well, so you can go inside & see them, it was really cool, I particularly liked the butterfly exhibit, not only it was warm in their tropical forest, but you could walk among them, it was magical, I see some beads coming from that experience...

The Van Gogh Museum was awesome too, I learned a lot about the artist, I was amazed to see how many different styles of paintings he had actually done in less than 8 years...you can see the evolution in him & his art..just amazing... Most of the Rijks Museum was closed due to remodeling, but we did see the Philips wing which houses most of the important collections while the museum is under going renovations, & this is where I met Rembrandt & fell in love with him.WOW...I feel so fortunate to have been able to his & Van Gogh’s art...life is good...

On the way home Sunday night, our flight was delayed out of Amsterdam due to snow fall in London, turns out, our plane was the last one that landed at Heathrow before they shut it down & cancelled some 600 flights...Of course the airport was not the only mode of transportation that was shut down, the buses and most of trains followed, by Monday most of England stopped, schools closed & the news went around about the worst snow storm since the 60s...Tuesday & Wednesday brought some sun & it all melted, only to wake up this morning to 5 times as much snow as what we had a few days ago...I have included all kinds of photos from both our trip & the snow for your viewing...if you click on the slide show it will take you to a larger version of the photos...

I managed to make some yummy beads, some inspired by our weekend outing, I have listed them in the shop; check them out to the right of this post…

The Winner of last week’s Beads is Suzie from Suzifits...send me your address girl...this weeks giveaway is a lovely large (36x22mm) focal bead, I call is Aqua Tidal Wave...very yum...to win it, enter a comment here in this post, about the bead, how cold it is where you are, say hello or what have you...winner picked at random by hubby in about a week...

Thanks so much for stopping by & all the love...

Jelveh

Peace

New Beads & a MOVE back....

Hi all, hope you are having a good week...ours was awesome, well not withstanding that 2 days after we came back from California, we found out that hubby's job with about another 70 jobs in his company had been re-organized or re-structured out of existence, so for the past month, we have been trying to figure out our next move. Hubby's last day at work will be the middle of March and we are then going back to California...WOW...ok I am calm now, it was just such a huge ordeal to move my entire studio and life here, then only in one years time to pack it all up & move it back is kind of hard on our system...no worries, Life is good...Change is good and going back home is always really good...I mean c'mon, I have not seen the sun here in about 4 months, the English are a fun smart great people & England is full of history & lovely landscapes, but nothing will ever beat California weather...well maybe Florida weather...lol

We will miss many things about living in England, one cool thing is being able to travel so easily to many different countries, a privilege we took very little advantage of, well we barely had time to settle in, for example if we had known sooner about the move, we would not have spent 3 weeks in California over the holidays, we would have gone to Spain and Greece instead, I tell you it would have been a lot more fun...the other thing i love is being so close to London and the theater, this last weekend we saw the London production of Chicago the Musical at the Cambridge Theater, which was an awesome experience, we loved it...

As for beads, I will be making and shipping them as long as I have the studio up, so the next 4 weeks there will be new beads, then there will be beads I have made and not listed yet(again new to you), then there will be no beads for a few weeks (unless I can rent a studio, Molly are you reading this girl?), then there will be new beads again...I will do my best to have regular updates with new beads, speaking of which check out the new beads on the right side of this posting...

As for the winner of last weeks beads, Sandi B. of TX wins the yummy purple bead, this weeks bead is another example of what you can do with silver foil and a lot of transparent glass, love the way this bead came out, it is a large and yummy focal bead 33mm along the hole x 23mm wide, the colors are blues and purples and golds...you can enter to win it by making a comment on this post, about the bead, about easy ways to move 1000 plus pounds of glass rods, or any advise you like to part with, winner chosen at random by hubby in about a week...

thanks for stopping by, Life is good....

Jelveh

Peace

What a Day!! Awesome...

Hi all, I, like many of you watched the inauguration with lots of hope & excitement...it was great to see so many people come together for one cause in such a peaceful way...congrats to the new President & to all of us Americans for having such an awesome system of democracy...it was also fun watching the parties they went to...change is good, life is good...on we go...

Lee from Hawaii is the winner of the flower bead, that is fitting, since the bead kind of reminds me of the time I spent in Hawaii, I loved it there and would love to go back for a visit someday soon...

I have listed a few items for this week, not a lot of beads, but what I did manage to make are really yummy...I love the new colors I used in the two new focal beads...so look over to the right to see them...

The yummy bead above is a really a gorgeous purple wave bead I made with yummy silver glass, the colors are so much better in person...it is about 28mm long, you can enter to win it by way of making a comment on this post, just say hello or tell me what you think of this bead & how you will use it in a design, as always the winner will be chosen at random by hubby in about a week...

As for me, there are some big changes coming our way, we are looking forward to another chapter, when I know more, I will let you know...life is good

Thanks for stopping by...

Jelveh

Peace

Tate Modern & Beads...

Hi all, This past weekend hubby & I went to the Tate Modern Museum in London...I was once again smitten by the surrealists such as Benton, Dali & Miro...I do enjoy Cubism too...such is the life of the artist I guess, a bit of art goes a long way...I made some yummy beads this past few days inspired by our adventure in to London in the middle of snow & 12 degree below weather...life is good...

The winner of last weeks giveaway is Ginny, thanks all for the hellos...the flower bead above is this week's giveaway, I love making these flat flower beads with the hole in the middle, love to see what this week's winner will make with this one, to win this bead just enter a comment on this post, say hello, tell a story about inspiration or what to do with this flower bead or what have you, there are no rules, its all random, winner will be picked by next Wednesday...

oh yeah I have new beads, some already sold, there are more on the right, check them out, let me know what you think...

Thanks for stopping by...

Jelveh

Peace

Happy New Year...

Hi all, we are back...we had a great holiday with our family & as always life is good if not full of surprises...hope your holidays were good too & the new year brings you lots of happiness...

The Winners of the December giveaway where chosen at random by hubby last night and they are Lisa L. and Victoria B. thanks for all the cool stories...

I have listed a few items in the shop, look to the right to see them...

Also the bead above is the giveaway for this week...to enter simply say hello by way of a comment on this post, winner will be picked at random by hubby by next Wednesday...

Thanks for stopping by...

Jelveh

Peace