Incredibly Easy Glass Head Pins!

Gizmo says, "Happy Mother's Day!"

Good thing I look in the dryer before I throw clothes in!  Gizmo  and I say, "Happy Mother's Day!"

New work!

While Jim has been in Maryland for the week, I decided to stay at the apartment over the store.  I wrote about setting up a workspace in the apartment in a previous post.  If you're coming late to the party, you can read about it here.  

I'm really bearing down on the book projects.  When I awake, the studio is in the next room. So, I bound out of bed, anxious to get started! The convenience encourages me to work later.  I was joking with the kids yesterday that little does their father know that he'll be staying here with me when he returns to St. Pete on Sunday! Ha, ha! 

But, it's nice and cozy.  David is across the hall from me.  When we keep both apartment doors open, we can talk, I can watch the Washington Capitals hockey game while I work on projects.

Here's a photo of my perch this morning.  The weather is beautiful!  I don't feel guilty gloating about it because most of the country should be having good weather by now, after finally putting Old Man Winter to bed!    

At the end of the block, we have an incredibly cute store called "The Iron Pelican."  They specialize in, well,  I don't think they specialize in anything which is what makes the place so friggin' awesome!  Let's just say, they're "purveyors of the unique and incredibly irresistible." But, they always carry a great selection of antique furniture that they've painted in gorgeous colors.  

 I walk in there and I see an old Mediterranean-style dresser that I swear they stole from my teenage bedroom, and now I want the thing!  Color, color, color ...  They have an eye for it! 

So, I have easy access to The Iron Pelican.  It's only a few doors down.  At Christmas, when my family gave me a gift certificate to The Iron Pelican, I nearly cried!  Look at what I spent it on! I know this doesn't look like much ...

But, does this help?  Yes, these are vintage watch crystals.  I have over 1000 of them!  They came in 3.5 rusty cabinets with lots of drawers.  These G-S watch crystals are cast plastic crystals and made for many watches that are no longer in production.  

When I saw the crystals, I thought, "These have to be good for something.  Hmmm..."  Boing!  Remember all of those stamps you got from your husband's aunt?  Aunt Monie worked for diplomat, Charles Ball, who had a career that included serving as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Under Secretary of State in the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations.  He was the one dissenter in the Kennedy Administration who was against the Viet Nam War.  

This comes from Wikipedia, Ball is quoted as saying to Kennedy, "Within five years we'll have 300,000 men in the paddies and jungles and will never find them again."  In response to this prediction, "JFK laughed and replied, 'Well, George, you're supposed to be one of the smartest guys in town, but you're crazier than hell.  That will never happen."

Interesting stuff, huh?  Anyway, back to the stamps.  Here are some of the results.  There was quite a learning curve, but I found a system.  I used Lisa Pavelka's UV resin, which I absolutely love.  I bought the UV lamp, using my Michael's coupon, which cured the resin in 5 to 10 minutes.

Here's a pair of earrings I made with some of the smaller crystals.  I also made a project for the book, but you'll have to wait for that one.  

So now that I've showed you my "booty" from The Iron Pelican, I'd like to introduce you to Hillary and Daniel. Aren't they cute?

They're not only very nice, but generous, too.  Hillary gave Laura and me a big bag of vintage jewelry to pick through for Laura's wedding bouquet.

Here are some of the temptations I face everyday when I walk down the street! 

Couldn't you think of a million ways to use these suitcases?  They were called "suitcases" back then, not luggage! LOL

I swear we had once of these ice chests (not a "cooler") back when I was a kid!  

 They have some cool ... and reasonably-priced ... jewelry!  Hillary and Daniel make it look so inviting!

Don't look at the lady in the mirror ... I dare you not to look ... it's a ghost! 

Too bad this keg isn't full, but it is cool!

Thanks for spending so much time with me today.  Do you have any "special or serendipitous" finds?  I'd love to hear about them! 

A busy Winter and Spring!

I'm finally home, sleeping in my own bed, with the furry four-legged creatures of the Lewis family.  Maybe this is why we really travel, so that we can breathe in the bliss of being home!

February started with twelve days in Tucson, which was wonderful, of course!  I love meeting people, especially ones I've talked to in cyberspace and now can put a face to the name! I know we all have facebook avatars, but I find that few really look like "us!" We taught 85 students while we were there and came home with an order for over 900 beads for Lima Beads.

Two weeks after we came home, we celebrated the marriage of my daughter, Laura, to Matt Albright.  The wedding was held on the rooftop of Painting with Fire Studio and officiated by Linda Champagne, a customer and friend. It was beautiful.

Okay, now scurry, scurry, scurry to get the Lima Beads order in the mail before we leave for the Glass Craft Expo, where Laura renews her vows in Vegas. This was planned as the "official" ceremony.  It's a long story, what can I say. This marriage should definitely "take."

The flight back was smooth! David sat next to Bobby McFerrin ("Don't Worry, Be Happy") on the first leg of our trip ... Vegas to Charlotte. How cool is that?!!! They talked music ... what else? 

I've announced to the family that I'm going "underground" to finish the projects for my second North Light book,  "Torch-Fired Color" (working title).  I'm not coming up for air unless someone's bleeding!  Along the way, I look forward to sharing little peeks of my projects, which are due on June 3.  However, since we're leaving for Bead and Button on Friday, May 31st, it will be an earlier self-imposed deadline.  

There are still openings in the "Floral Cascade" and "Painting with Fire Workshops" at Bead and Button.  Would love to meet some of you in class. :-)  And, guess what, I've signed up for a class for myself!  What a treat!  I'll be taking a lampworking class with Sally LeGrand on "The Mystery and Reaction of Highly-Silvered Glass."  

Here are some examples of Sally's work ... 

Aren't these luscious?  But tell me, what has your past few months been like? Any good things, bad things, or in-between things?  I would love to catch up with you. :-)  Barbara

My daughter's Las Vegas wedding!

This is Laura at her final fitting of her gown.  I can show you the back, but not the front yet.  The dressmaker designed a French bustle for Laura's train.  Weird thing ... one of the USAirways crew members on our flight to Las Vegas owns three bridal salons! He took the gown from Laura's hands and gave it extra-special care for the flight. 

We're in Vegas.  This is the view from one of the penthouses at the MGM Grand Signature.  Laura insisted that no one go on the balcony.  

The boys didn't obey! LOL!  

David hamming it up with one of the wedding reception toys! In the background, Laura's dress "relaxing!"

Katie, a friend since they were 12 years old, is Laura's Matron of Honor!  

 Matt gave his groomsmen pocket watches.  Since David wasn't wearing a three-piece suit, he got creative and attached it to a belt loop.  At first he thought it was a monocle!  "I always wanted to be the Monopoly guy," he said. But if memory serves me, the "Monopoly guy" also has a pocket watch! 

The groomsmen getting lessons on how to wind a watch.  What's the world coming to? :-)

David converting his pocket watch to a monocle! He's persistent if nothing else! 

Who can resist a candy store?  Not me!  It's about the only place you can find black licorice!

The lovely Aunt Cheryl!

Two of the "ham-sters!" 

The back seat on the way to the rehearsal dinner.  

The bride . . . 

So, I'm waiting for people to reconnoiter and I look in my wallet for a dollar bill.  I only had a five but then I noticed you could bet a dollar a pull at my slot machine.  Good, because I'm cheap when it comes to gambling! I made my money back plus another five!  Know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em.  Ain't no Las Vegas casino getting rich off me! LOL! 

Today's the wedding.  There was so much gigglin' goin' on yesterday, I don't know how we can beat it, but I have a feeling we will!

March Madness Sale on Enamel!

The March Madness Sale on "Opaque" and "Transparent" enamels continues until Monday at 10 am Eastern time. Spoiler alert - stock is dwindling! Prices shown on the website for "Opaques" and "Transparents" have already been discounted.  For instance:  

Original price - $10.15 ... now $8.63

Original price - $10.95 ... now $9.31

 Original price - $17.00 ... now $14.45

 Original price - $20.10 ... now $17.09

Thank you for shopping with us!  Barbara

Bead and Button Show!

I'm really excited about teaching again at the Bead and Button Show in early June!  We've just added Susan's Sunset earrings to the workshop line-up.  It's a great project because you'll learn how to make several different types of enamel head pins, which can be more difficult to make than you can imagine.  Seems simple, huh!  But they crack like crazy ... unless you follow some essential steps.  

Susan's Sunset Earrings

We'll also be working with my "very expensive" Italian press to make these flowers, but I'll teach you a low-tech version using a pair of tweezers.  We'll be using 6/20 enamel, which is a pea gravel size,  to make the glass flowers.  Of course, all of this is in addition to learning the immersion method of torch-firing!  

To find out more, just go to www.beadandbutton.com, find my photo/name in the list of instructors, and click on it! 

Hope to see you there!  

Opportunity Cost

I first heard this expression from my daughter in the context of me expressing that I was too tired to go to an art reception.  She threw these words ... "opportunity cost" ... at me and explained the concept.

I linked to this website (http://megansbeadeddesigns.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/how-to-identify-your-opportunity-costs/#comment-4125) through a Linked-In group I belong to called, "Sell Handmade at Etsy."  Rarely do I have time to read the posts, but today was different.  Today I woke up early and decided to visit some blogs because I've been missing my online friends.

I'm not going to go into the meaning of opportunity cost because Megan handles it so well in her blog post, but my husband and I were having a conversation about it last night, except we didn't call it "opportunity cost."  I expressed that I needed help with photography because we have sooo much inventory that is not online because I don't have the time to take the photographs ... or really to do the listings ... but I thought I'd compromise by at least getting someone to take the photos for me.  His response was, "Do we have the money for that?"  My response was, "How do we not have the money for that?"  I'm sure you've had plenty of these discussions with your spouse. :-)

Please read Megan's article and analyze your business.  Are you doing something that might be done better by someone else ... a friend perhaps who's been wanting to help, a family member who will chip in.  Sometimes things seem so obvious to us in our everyday lives that aren't so apparent to us as we try to grow our business.

Have fun reading Megan's article.  It's great.  I need to throw in a photo here somewhere.  It's too much text ...

Laura and Matt's Wedding

On Friday, March 1, my oldest was married! Ideas for a beach wedding had been initiated, when it made a U-turn.  It started with Laura finding out that Jim, David and I were going to Vegas for the early April Glass Craft Expo (which has openings btw!). She said, "Mom, I don't want to plan a big wedding.  How 'bout we tag along and get married in Vegas?"  I said, "Fine with me ... but only if your uncles can all come as Elvis impersonators!"  She didn't fall for it, but still managed to finagle the deal.  Mike, one of Laura's uncles ... also one of Jim's 5 brothers ...  lives in Vegas, so it would be something of a family reunion, too.

So then Laura started getting nervous about getting the marriage license in Vegas because they were only arriving the day before the ceremony.  She and Matt decided to have a civil ceremony at the St. Petersburg Courthouse before the trip to Vegas and we would have a small get together back at the rooftop deck.  Enter Linda Champagne.  Linda started out as a customer who became a friend.  She knew Laura was making her bouquet from vintage pins and earrings. She came to the store bearing a baggie of goodies for the bouquet.  Linda asked Laura how things were going at which point Laura told Linda about their courthouse wedding plans. Linda said, "I'm a notary and I can marry you!"  We jumped for joy!  A rooftop wedding!  Wouldn't that be great! This is the kind of special event the rooftop was designed for. This was two weeks ago!  In two weeks, Laura, David, Jim and I ... with a lot of help from friends ... got a rooftop wedding planned!  

What made the event even more special was that Laura's father and Matt's mother both gave beautiful and meaningful readings at the ceremony.  Jim talked about how we had been infertile for 12 years and then gave birth to Laura.  Her first night away from home, at three month's of age, was at the waterfront "shack" of Uncle Vernon.  Vernon, who passed away 10 years ago, was a retired Catholic priest who would give Sunday Mass on the screened-in porch with his picnic table at the altar.  Of course, the place was physically and spiritually transformed from a crab eating room to a House of Worship on Sundays. We would dress the alter with roses cut from his garden and a beautiful tablecloth. He would dress in his vestments and say Mass with the birds chirping and Dana, the yellow lab, lying on the floor in front of us. He told us that even though he had baptized a thousand babies, he had never been handed one to hold and certainly never had one take a bath in his kitchen sink!  

The wedding ceremony was all about love and those special people who help to shape who we are. It was about the love of God and the love we must have for ourselves so that we can love others.  Here are just a few wedding photos of the hundreds taken by friend, Babs Brant. 

Linda Champagne officiating the wedding ceremony of Matt and Laura

My beautiful daughter on the day she became Mrs. Albright

A tender moment between bride and groom

Laura's size 3.5 finger who's ring size couldn't accommodate Matt's entire message because it was so small.  It simply says "Love always"

"I'm forever blowing bubbles," by Tiny Tim and Barbara Lewis

A feast prepared by Laura's  Dad and a couple of lifelong friends, Jan and Tom

Jim with Matt's grandmother and mother looking on.

The evening couldn't have been more beautiful in so many ways.  The couple left for St. Augustine where temperatures on Saturday were in the low 50's!  Heck, they're young, they can handle it!