Can you Believe what she said...?????

Hi all, dont you love email marketing? now that I have your attention...I just wanted to say sorry for the silence, been busy getting ready for Turkey & fighting a sinus cold thing...its the weather I tell, its cold one day, sunny one day & wet the next...I am confused, its the end of May already....where is my sunshine...ok enough weather talk, life is good here, lets get to the beads...

I made tons of beads, all kinds of beads, big ones, little ones, fishy ones, flower ones, you name it, I made it, I even made a shirt & a skirt bead...more on them later...I have listed many of them in my etsy shop...some are sample beads I am taking to my class in Turkey...so they will not be listed, not yet anyway...so below is a photo of most of them together...

Beauty Contest...some of you may remember that I used run a beauty contest every few months, where you sent in photos of jewelry or art pieces made with my beads & then I had Fire Mountain Gem vote on the best one, so we are doing it again, this contest will start sometime in mid to late June, I will post photos on to the blog as they start arriving, & it will go until the 15th of Aug...Rules are simple, the piece has to included my glass beads or bead...1st place will get a $100.00 gift cert. to my etsy shop, 2nd place will get a $50.00 gift cert. & 3rd place will get a $25.00 one...please make sure your photos are nice and clear...after all your name will be on them...you can start sending photos in now, but officially the contest will not start until mid June...

New Tools, ok as you know I dont talk about a tool unless I love it...last week I ordered and got in the mail very fast a disk shape bead roller from Donna Fleckner of CGBeadRollers I got the disk one and she kindly sent me a sample one to take to my class in Turkey, which I am giving away to one of my students as a gift in one of the bead challenges that I do in class...now mind you this tool is not new, Donna has been selling these for a few years now, but its new to me...I love love love using these rollers, there is a set that I have listed today that was made entirely with the sample bead roller which Donna gives away monthly to one of her lucky buyers...check it out when you get a chance...

Last week's two small focal beads goes to our own Brenda H. Thanks for palying all...for this week, I have this yummy new focal bead made with some silver glass & my new frit Tempest Rain (which will be available for sale in my shop soon) enter to win this bead by making a comment on this post...

Thanks for stopping by, life is good, my brother is doing well...oh yeah I forgot to mention I turned 46 wow 46, getting awfully close to that 50 mark...hubby got me an Ipad for my birthday, took me to Monterrey to the beach, there is also a message scheduled, he is so very cool...thanks hubby...on the way back, I had to stop by the studio to pick my beads from yesterday & share with Grace yet another new tool I got in the mail yesterday (which I will share next time), I walk in to the studio and all these people say Surprise, Grace had gone stealth & put together a great party with all kinds of Glassy friends & A strawberry short cake "cake". Ice cream, a banana cream pie, candles & champagne, she is so so sweet...I could not ask for better friends & family like these in my life, I am such a lucky girl & all I have to say is I am thankful for all the love in my life...you are all the best... oh yes forgot to mention, very soon, you will see more yummy tools from Graceful Customs...in the next update I will explain more...

Jelveh

Peace

Mother's Day Blues & New Beads...

Hope you had a great Mother's day...we missed seeing all of our mom's today...for one thing I have been sick since our last adventure this past Mon to Wed to Los Vegas...Hubby had some work to do, I went along for some fun...my sister reminds me that if I listened to her I would not get sick every time I fly...something about airborn....I did call all the mom's however & made plans to make it up to them...
oh yeah trip to sin city was fun, we stayed at the brand new very modern Aria Resort & Hotel with views of the strip...

I did had some fun making some beads before we left, below is the group shot of what I am listing by 7pm Monday night 5/10/10 in my etsy shop...check them out...already listed few of the Tempest Rain beads, the Bird Nest, the Lady Bug, Flower implosion & I forget but there is more...

A few of the beads I made this week have my brand new, possibly someday for sale, yummy frit which I call Tempest Rain...oh what a fun she is...the lucky students in my class in Turkey will all get a bag of this yummy frit among other goodies, don't forget the dates are May 30 to June 12, Glass Furnace...I will be teaching two 5 day classes...each will be filled with a ton of new information & detailed design ideas for making yummy glass beads...I wish I had been able to take this class a few years ago when I was just new at bead making...well enough about how great this class is going to be, see you there...

Speaking of seeing you there, this coming Friday we will have our monthly get together MGT at Graceful Customs, make sure to go past the calander on the blog to see the post about this coming Friday...and yes its true Grace has been practising her bead making, she is doing, I dont know about my being patient however, I can be a real task master when it comes to teaching, but I am fun, or at least I have been told I am fun in class...anyway come join us for some fun at the torch, wire wrapping demo by Jen, fused glass groove maker demo by Grace & I will make a few vessels & blow some shards, you can play on a torch too, bring your art to show, share & sell...drawing for a gift at 6pm or so...oh yeah Frank is working on some yummy new tools too, come see the new Squeeze-Me-Right-Masher in action...it may not be sexy, but it works like a charm, plus sexy cost more money & this tool is functional, clean, small, nice to hold, great to mash with & did I mention at $28.00 its a steal...& yes its not sexy...IMHO.

Last week's yummy pink focal goes to Penny...please send your address, also Nikki, I did not get your addy yet for the week before...for this week the giveaway is made of two beads, I was testing some new colors & frits with older ones...the results are very yummy, the cone is about 25mm long, the tab is about 23mm which I made with my brand new Frit, Tempest Rain...love them both, enter to win them by making a comment on this post...

Well as always I am sure there is more to tell, like how I am going crazy packing & getting ready for my big trip to Turkey...but will catch up later...

Thanks for stopping by...life is good, save for this nasty oil in the gulf business, my heart goes out to the planet & the animals & all the folks who live in the affected areas...I hope you all have a great week...
Jelveh
Peace

New Beads, Rain & Sunshine....

Not sure what the weather is doing anymore, on Friday when we had our very successful March Get Together at Graceful Studios it rained forever...All kinds of new folks showed up & we shared some food, beads, Jewelry & silver soldering...it was a great mixer...the next meeting is Friday April 9th, my next class is scheduled for Sunday April 11th & don't forget on the weekend of April 24th we are having are great Rock Carving class with Carmen & Ron Martinez from Arizona  click here from some information about their last class at our studio...

On Sat when the sun was out for a while, we went to Monterrey for some fun, we saw the very cool Alice in Wonderland with my in-laws & had dinner at the very yummy LALLA Grill...on Sunday I had a class with a very nice student named Jill, she was great at the torch & made some cool beads...

I did manage to make some fun beads this week too...I will be listing them from now until Friday at 12noon California time in my etsy shop...photo below if you like any of them let me know & I will reserve them for you...

This past week's landscape bead giveaway goes to....Joy F. send your address please...ok for this week I have two very yummy beads to share with you, one is a encased flower bead with a Dichro base & the other is an ellipse shape bead which is feathered on both sides...both very yummy, I made them both while demoing on Friday during our March Mixer...enter to win them by making a comment on this post...

I am conducting a color survey on the right side of this blog for the next few days, please stop by & vote...your feedback on colors is always appreciated...

Thanks for stopping by...life is good & not only because our taxes are done with & its still March...
Jelveh
Peace

New Beads & Rain...???

Hi all, hope your weather & days have more sunshine in them than our weather has had...This Rain stuff is getting really old...the big storms have left, or so they say, every day I wake up thinking we have moved to a cold forest like area, there is dense fog & rain...its not like me to complain two weeks in a row, but hey a girl on fertility drugs can getaway with a few cranky moments...lol...
I think we got spoiled with the sunshine in Mexico over the holidays...although we managed to get a bit of sunshine both Saturday & Sunday we went to the park & had a bit of picnic, our favorite thing to do...that was nice...oh & we saw the Book of Eli...the movie left me unsatisfied...wait for it on DVD, although I must say the color of the film was amazing, a few times I remember thinking I wish the rest of the movie (like plot, acting, editing) was this good...
I had Lani & Pat my new favorite studio mates in for classes this past week, they say they are having a ton of fun learning how to make encased flowers & hearts...they are much fun to hang out with...
I made some yummy beads this week too, trying a new frit that is so awesome, I listed a set of the last night with another new set in my etsy shop, it sold this morning, before I got a chance to get this post up...will make more today...photo of the new beads & buttons below the rest of which will be listed in my shop by later today...if you see anything in the photo that you want & it not listed let me know & I will list it just for you...

I also got a whole lot of shipping done this week, so if you had won beads in the past few weeks, your beads are in the mail...thanks for all the fun...speaking of bead giveaways, last weeks yummy bead goes to Melissa M. Please send your address...This week's bead is a yummy bicone focal I made with that new frit I was telling you about...enter to win it by making a comment on this post...

In other news, as you may remember last week I told about a new tool The Hold Me Tight Rod Holder, made by Frank the in house amazing engineer, who is half of the Graceful Customs, Grace's hubby, my friends & creative studio partners...well the tool has sold over a 100 already, it is such a needed & cool tool, by the way I am not getting any royalties for telling you about the tool, its just that it really is the best rod holder I have ever had...when you get a chance go check it out here & if you already have gotten yours, let me know what you think of it...

Thanks for stopping by...life is good & much less busy this week...
Jelveh
Peace

New Beads & SO MUCH RAin...

Ok, I know its winter & we are meant to have rain, but lets face it, its been over 20 years since we have had these kinds of storms, day in & day out its been raining here, today there was 75mile an hour winds & even a tornado warning right in my town, the hail was so huge & went on for so long I thought the sky light was going to break...maybe one more big storm on Thursday & then we are done for a while, I hope...

In Bead News...I have listed a few yummy sets & new focal beads in my etsy shop...

In other news, over the weekend I went to Arrow Springs for the January NOR CAL ISGB meeting & a glass buy for the studio, my friends Garnet & Corina Tettinger went with me, Corina was in town visiting Grace & I for a few days...we had so much fun, the photo below is Corina, Sharon Peters, me & Corina's cute dog Bonsai...

On Sunday we had a great wire wrapping class with Jennifer Le at Graceful Studios, I missed the morning part, but showed up for the second part where we wire wrapped some rings, below is a photo of our fun...3 of the rings in the finished picture below are made with my beads, which one of them do you think I made?

I am also very happy to introduce you to the first of (I hope, I hope) many awesome tools from Graceful Studios, this one is an awesome short rod holder, the best one of its kind I have ever used...The Hold Me Tight Rod Holder is so strong & so great to use, & with some glass costing one hundred dollars a pound or more who wants to lose even an inch of it... You know me well enough to know I would not back a tool unless I loved it & I just love love this tool click here to check it all out & purchase one...

Last week's bead goes to Jane who likes to email me her entry...Send your address Jane...he yummy bead above is this week's bead giveaway...she is so very yummy & about 18mm along the hole...enter to win it by making a comment on this post...

Thanks for stopping by & reading this log post...life is good & very busy...I did not even tell you that in the past week we have had dinner with my in-laws 3 times, went to see Avatar for the second time, had a big party for my parent 47th wedding anniversary or that I had several fertility related Dr's appointments...

Jelveh

Peace