Oaks, acorns and leaves

"The oak sleeps in the acorn, the bird waits in the egg, and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of realities.” - James Allen

 "The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower." - Albert Camus

Trees are the best monuments that a man can erect to his own memory.
They speak his praises without flattery, and they are

blessings to children yet unborn.

- Lord Orrery, 1749

It's been an autumn inspired week as I whipped up some new creations.

I would love to walk in a forest,

Feel a crisp chill in the air,

listen as leaves crunch beneath my feat...

You can find these lovely bits in my Etsy shop.

I mentioned a contest - I'm still working out the details - check back on Monday.

Happy Creating!

Fall Colors

I've been enjoying studying the Pantone Fall Color Forecast. I love pouring over it when it first comes out and as the season approaches I turn to it again for inspiration. I wrote an article with tips, samples and a printable worksheet. You can find it here, on my website.

A Humblebead Palette:

endive - green nest pendant

woodbine - acorn beads

golden glow - golden branch bead

lagoon - teal willow branch disks

living coral - pink dogwood pendants

purple orchid - mulberry wildflower pendant

lipstick red - mushroom bead

chocolate truffle - harvest dandelion bead

rose dust - barn owl bead

oyster gray - sparrow's egg bead

Here are some color combinations I worked up using the printable worksheet.

Join me tomorrow for the launch of a new contest and color challenge!

Growing

So I had to do something with that silk cord, it was just begging to go into a design!  I wasn't quite sure how to piece things together, until I saw Shannon's tutorial on the Art Bead Scene showing how to use cord and an art bead button to create a textural closure.  The focal beads are brass leaves, a Green Girl Studio owl, a vintaj key and a word bead by the lovely Diane Hawkey.

The accent beads include ceramics by Earthenwood (first purple), Diane Hawkey's faceted ceramic beads, an Elaine Ray round bead, an acorn and disk beads by me and the glass lampwork bead is from Melissa at Sea of Glass.

I didn't have one of Shannon's buttons on hand, something I must remedy - but I did have a Mamacita Beadworks button.  I don't feel like I've even touched my Bead & Button stash yet.  I need to work on making more jewelry.  I should look into selling at a few artist's markets this fall.  I wish there were some really good ones here in SA.  I'm sure there are, I haven't had good luck finding them.

Okay, so here is the deal with my Etsy shop.  I don't want to sell my regular line items on Etsy any longer, I want my website to be the 'go-to-place' for Humblebeads with my Etsy shop offering new items, very limited editions (as in test market) and jewelry.  I had almost 100 listings in my shop when I went on vacation and I can't just let them sit in 'inactive status' until they expire.  That just seems like a shame.  So I'm having a sale to clear out the old items in my Etsy shop.  I have a category in the shop called "Leaving Etsy" and these are the beads that once they sell, they will not be relisted.  Instead you can find them at anytime on my website.

Buy two, get one 1/2 off.  

The 1/2 off item will be the lowest priced one. 

Complete your purchase but wait for an updated invoice before you pay.

Sale ends Monday and includes everything in my Etsy shop.

A few fall finds...

A few new things today:

Above is a pendant from my Bead & Button inventory, it's been sitting in a box and now it would like to travel!

There was a bead show here in SA. I'm think I'm ruined for local shows. After going to Bead & Button and seeing what is really out there one can only scoff at $3.00 dyed strands of stones and Chinese crystals. Doesn't mean I won't pick up a few, (cough, cough) but it's not as exciting or inspiring as the big guns. Cool eggs, eh?

And they would look so pretty with these: Harvest Treats Bead Set or...

This Pumpkin Spice Latte Bead Set.

(It was a 102 degrees today - you better believe I'm over here dreaming about fall!)

Oh and isn't this pretty? Silk dupioni cord that my friend Angela gifted to me. We were brainstorming Etsy ideas for her and selling silk cord could be one of them. It's luscious, earthy and elegant.

My muse knows no seasons

One direction I'm working on is creating beads that compliment items already in my line, so thinking along those lines I wanted to create a mushroom to go with my little gnome.  I had a few ideas sketched out and decided to try the mushrooms in a several different ways.  Above are tiny charms.

This one is hand-sculpted and painted, much like my acorns and would actually look pretty cute on a charm bracelet with them!

A larger bead with the mushroom motif.

The other pendants I created to match my egg beads.  So in the same color schemes of the eggs, I revisited my nest design. 

Looks like Spring around here! 

(Of course in Texas it will be summer until October.)

TMI?

Okay, no bodily function stories will be shared in this post - but I am sharing maybe a little too much information. But I thought it might benefit someone, so of course I have to share!

Uh, the camera Heather? Yes, this is a post about cameras - I know you were scared right?

I bought my first digital camera about 7 years ago and paid over $600 dollars for it. It was an amazing beauty, I loved that thing. But it didn't last and would cost over $200 to fix. I was upset, put off by how much money I had spent and expected that thing to last a lifetime, really I did. So in a fit of cheap, which I have often, I headed to the local pawn shop and picked up a handy little point and shoot variety for under $100. It worked like a charm and was my best bud for almost 3 years.

That little guy didn't survive my trip to Michigan. I don't know what happened, but it was on it's last leg before I left - running through batteries too quickly and looking like a wreck after a few years of abuse from me. (Note to self - be nicer to your new camera!)

So when I got back from vacation, I decided to try my luck and see what was at the pawn shop again. Now before you imagine some gritty place from a Law & Order episode - the pawn shop is decent, it's a big chain store and they have several in town. I've bought a microwave from there that has lasted 7 years!

So I went it and lucked out with the the Sony Cyber-shot that you see above. The camera looks brand new, had everything you need with it - battery, charger, memory card, cables, etc. For a few dollars more I was able to get 6 months of buyers protection. And the best part? I paid way less that 1/2 price for this find.

So if your budget is an issue and you need a new camera - don't be afraid to check out your local pawn shop - you might just find a treasure. (I don't know how it is for smaller cities, but here in SA pawn shops are required to check with the police for serial numbers of reported stolen items. It made me feel better to know that!) And a tip for shopping for used cameras - do your research - know the going retail prices of camera, know what kind of camera you are looking for, how many mega pixels you want, etc.

The test run!

Ohhh - I opened my etsy shop - I wimped out and couldn't stand to see it closed. Remember only limited editions are now there - everything else is available on my website.

The long road home

I left for LA on July 28th and have been gone since then. First up was a week of illustrating and writing inspiration. How charmed is my life? Then I was home for one day, long enough to pack for two weeks in Michigan.

If my soul has a home, it's somewhere near a lake. I'm never more happy than when my feet are in the sand and I can hear the sound of the waves hitting the shore. The sunset - do I spend enough time enjoying the end of each day? Something I hope to fix soon. It's like the most amazing show happens every night and I miss it most of the time! We live near a lake too, I should make a mental note to enjoy more sunset walks.

Okay, so I even like the weeds better in Michigan. Everything is so green and lush. Texas is a wild, twisted and gnarly landscape. Funny how much I miss the trees from my home. But I'm happy here too. I missed my husband, my home and my studio. I'm looking forward to jumping back into things and working on some new ideas. I'm also heading toward the home stretch of working on the book. It's due in December. I hope you all love it, it's packed with inspiration and goodies.

I have 3 weeks worth of ideas in my sketchbook, a renewed spirit and now some free time as I have made some adjustments to my schedule.

What you might notice? My Etsy shop is going to stay closed for a few more weeks. I will be focusing more on my website, adding new work on a regular basis and making sure my website is the best place to find my beads. Etsy and I will still be best buds, but with more limited editions and jewelry. While my website will be filled with my best-selling beads, so be sure to stop by and see what's new!