Customer Appreciation

Here are some pieces that customers have designed with my art beads.

Broken TeePee Designs paired a few disk beads with raw tourmaline for an organic delight, Patty blogs here.


Dana from DLPom has used one of my disk beads to create an artful zipper pull.

Beakee created this bracelet for herself using some of my favorite tiger lily disk beads. She blogs at Peanutbutterfly.

Rosanne created this rendition of my dragonfly necklace using the Mint Chocolate Chrysanthemum Bead. She blogs at FabFibers. She's also my aunt!

I'd love to feature more of your designs using humblebeads. Send your high quality photos to me. (72 dpi please)

working away

Oh boy, my Etsy shop and I have a hot affair going on. Don't tell humblebeads.com. There might be some jealousy. Why do I love selling on Etsy so much?

1. I get so tired of making the same beads day after day. Etsy gives me a chance to sell those little creative bursts of energy that are my experiments.

2. I love a good party, and isn't Etsy just a fun party? There is no end to the social networking on that site. I love meeting new artists and being inspired.

3. It's a great test market. I can try out things that are limited editions before I add them to my website.

4. It opens up the door for new customers that I couldn't reach, this is especially true for my beads with all of the talented jewelry designers on Etsy.

5. I've been able to sell my jewelry online. I've never had much luck selling jewelry from my website. But earrings and pendants have been heading off to customers all over the country! Which a great because I have a HUGE pile of jewelry just awaiting the next show in October.

6. And the top reason I love selling on Etsy. They give you the sellers' manual, you just need to follow along.

I've been on Etsy for 2 months and have sold 65 items. Maybe that's the real reason I love Etsy.

Free projects

Here are some free projects that I thought I'd point out.

Cuff Bracelet project that first appearred in BeadStyle Magazine, features my cuff beads.

Pull out the stamps and polymer clay! Here is a pendant project that you can easily create.

And a new earring project that I just put up on the Art Bead Scene.

Happy Creating!

Wafer World - New Beads On Etsy

New beads and jewelry up on Etsy!

Siren's Song

This is one of the classes I'm teaching on the Bead Cruise. It happens to match all the jewerly I just sent out for the winter issue of Stringing. Hopefully a few of them make it in there. I have a new line of Branch beads that will launch in August.

I have 3 projects on I'm working on using my new wafer beads. Don't they look good enough to eat? I'm in love with them. I have a whole collection to put up in my Etsy shop today. Look for them!

Bead Cruise registration is now open, I hope you can join me!

Rough Seas Ahead?

Last night I dreamt I was on the bead cruise. I was at the front of the ship and the seas were rough and stormy, I was quite frightened.

After thinking about it today though, I felt like the dream was telling me it's okay to take chances. We never know if life will be smooth sailing or filled with waves and breakers that crash around us. We can weather storms, we can brave the unknown. What I personally can't do is sit on the shore and feel like the ocean is too overwhelming, I have to jump in!

I love reading Andrew Thornton's blog. Jewelry designer, artist, writer, whatever inspiration strikes he chases after it. I sometimes feel like I hold myself back, not sure if I can handle everything I want to do. But there is something about reading his blog that inspires me to push ahead.

So I think I'll take some time this week to think about the big picture again, write up some goals of what I'd like to work on next. I have a bead book that I have been thinking about for a few too many years now, half-finished outlines and chapters scrawled out on notebook paper. And my poor illustration, oh how I've missed you! I really want to create a calendar for 2008 with childhood images of my hometown. If nothing else, I want to do it for myself. I have a few picture book manuscripts that need another round of revisions. I love beads, but they certainly have taken over since March. I need to branch out again and find some creative balance.

Speaking of branches, here is a peek at a bracelet that I sent off to a magazine today:

Street Smarts

Okay, so everything Etsy floats my boat, as you may have read before.

Let me introduce you to my latest love, Etsy Street Teams.

Street teams are groups of Etsy sellers who band together to promote their shops online and off.

Street teams that I belong to:

PCAGOE - Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy. Search for PCAGOE to find what creations members are offering on Etsy.

JET - Jewelry on Etsy Team, use JETT to search for their items on etsy.

Etsy Bead - they have a weekly theme, if you search for EBWT you can see the items that everyone has for the theme and often they are on sale.

Each team has contests, creativity challenges, a flickr group and sales.

So let's talk about the sale. JET is having a Wild Weekend Sale. You can read what discounts members are offering here. I have 20% off my entire shop until the end of today. Check out my new beads and jewelry!

Bead Soup

Elaine Ray had written a great post on the ABS about Bead Soup and that reminded me that I had a heaping helping of Bead Soup to share with you from May!

For Bead Week, I had a few friends over for a Bead Soup Party. I told everyone to bring a strand of beads for the soup in teal, bronze or copper. They also brought focal beads, a clasp, spacers and beading materials to put together their bracelets.

We poured all the beads into a tray and took turns scooping out a spoonful until it was divided up. It was so much fun to see how each person handled the same beads.


(left to right) Juliet's 2 bracelets and my mom's design.


(right to left) Denise's, mine, Angela's bracelet, mom's & Juliet's are in the back.

I'm looking forward to the next bead party, now to just stop making beads long enough to schedule that!

Mermaid's Grotto

Isn't this incredible? This is a bracelet that my oh-so-talented Mom designed to teach on the Bead Cruise.

You can find the beads in my Etsy shop. Maybe you won't do something quite this fancy, but you could make a wonderful cuff bracelet using my Teal Branches 6-hole bead with teals, copper and bronze. Wouldn't that be lovely?

Mermaidy links to know about:

ABS's Mermaid Theme Contest - win over $100 in beads!

Mermaid's Grotto at my Etsy Shop.

The Bead Cruise - registration starts on the 20th.

*Write "free project" in the notes on your Etsy order and I'll include the instructions for my Cuff Bracelet.

New Beads!

I've been listing beads on Etsy like there is no tomorrow!

Van Gogh's Starry Night invaded the studio, they arrived in disks, lentils and focals.

Golden Branch Beads are now available in disks and cuffs. The Cuffs can now have 3 or 6 holes.

Lots of new beads are in the works for my Humblebeads site, in the meantime enjoy some of my experiments and sneak peeks.

My Etsy Shop

Treasuries Galore

Seriously, is there any thing more addicting than the treasuries on Etsy?
I seem to be in a quite a few of them today, so here is the list with my sincere thanks to those who picked me for their treasuries.

First, my Bead Cruise treasury. Filled with items that remind of the Bead Cruise. Speaking of which, registration opens in just a few weeks!

Treasuries that include humblebeads:

Beadaholics by GreenEnvyDesigns.

Do you ear me? by ADORNMENTSBYBJ.

Opps I did it again by JessicaSharrah.

Femininity Revisited by jemsbyjbandcompany.

Clay, Clay, Clay by JanZio.

Don't spend too much time on Etsy today!