3 Beautiful Things

This week has been particularly challenging. As I've mentioned in a previous post, our dog, Winston, has been and remains to be sick but there has been small improvements. All of this has been an emotional rollercoaster ride for us. But, when you stop and look, beautiful things remain to be found. Here are 3 from yesterday:

1. A kiss. When I returned from work I could tell that Winston was feeling a bit better since I was greeted with some wet kisses.

2. Dinner. My husband made us dinner last night and allowed me to take a break by relaxing on the couch to take a breif nap.

3. Snow. The ride home from work last night, although difficult, was actually very beautiful. On my way home I drive along the lake shore and then thru a park.....the fresh snow covered scenary looked like a painting.

Enjoy your beautiful day!

Whack Your Head Wednesday

See the Obvious

#16 "Only the most foolish of mice would hide in a cat's ear," says designer Scott Love, "but only the wisest of cats would think to look there." Don't miss the obvious. What are you overlooking? What's the most obvious thing you can do? What resources and solutions are right in front of you?

~Taken from Roger von Oech's Creative Whack Pack

Sometimes Something Nice Happens Right When You Need It!

Yesterday I was sooooo surprised to find that someone, I'll tell who in a minute, nominated by blog for a Sunshine Award. I had a challenging day yesterday since my beloved dog, Winston, who has been very sick for sometime, really took a turn for the worst. I had just returned from visiting hours at the dog hospital where I had been crying my eyes out when I read this wonderful nomination on my blog! I caused more tears but ones of happiness. I truely feel luck to have been nominated and by such a wonderful bead artist to boot! I hope you will visit Vicky at Ruby's Shoes and tell her I sent you :) Thank You Vicky.....you made my day!

The Sunshine Award is awarded to bloggers whose positivity and creativity inspires others in the blog world. Well, it's quite an honor and I thank Vicky so much. Now, as I understand it...

The Rules for accepting the Sunshine award

~ Put the logo on your blog or within your post
~ Pass the award onto 12 bloggers ~
~ Link the nominees within your post ~
~ Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
~ Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

Here are my nominees:

artdogblog

gaffergirls

threebeautifulthings

kannaglassstudios

fortheloveofbeads

thealteredpage

spiritworkblog

funwithfire

Michelle My Belle

Judith B Designs

My Crazy World

The Garden of Leah

Magic Carpet Ride~ One World One Heart

I am once again part of the One World One Heart Giveaway! Its a magic carpet ride where all passangers meet & visit other creative blogs. Each member of this great caravan is giving away a special item so please be sure to visit as many blogs as possible. All you need to do to be eligible to win is leave a comment on this post. You will be entered into my drawing. THEN visit other blogs on the Magic Carpent ride list (click the link above or the Magic Carpent image on the right) and leave a comment. On February 15th, a winner will be picked! I hope its YOU :)

My giveaway item is all about Hugs, Kisses and sweet things. I hope you like it and leave a comment :)

Bead Soup Ingredients

I just received my bead soup mix from my partner Lisa a.k.a. Joolz by Lisa. I love the colors and that butterfly clasp is wonderful. A package of sparkly things to think about and create with! I really like these elements and can't wait to see what my muse guides me to do with them.

I believe I have finished making MY bead soup mix to send to Lisa. Today I made additional beads to go along with the focal and clasp I made. Gosh, I hope she likes them. I'll photograph them tomorrow and show you what Lisa will be using to create with.

3 Beautiful Things

Chain reactions are great. I just visited my friend Mallory's blog and discovered that she frequents a blog titled, Three Beautiful Things by -- This blog lists 3 things each day that are good, beautiful, meaningful and positive. I like that. All to often, the news of the day is bleak, sad, negetive or hopeless. People get stuck in the grind of the day and neglect to notice everything that is right. So I am inspired to list 3 beautiful things too.

1. A smile. During my last class of the day, one of my 6 year old students was complaining about something someone else did to him. Really, it was a minor thing- so minor I don't quite remember what it was. After he was done lodging his complaint, we just looked at each other for a momentary pause...I gave him a smile and he gave a big smile in return. The complaint was forgotten.

2. Eating with children. Today I chose to eat lunch with dozens of 5, 6 and 7 year olds rather than in the faculty room. Such a different energy. The children are truely excited to see you, they want to show you their lunch, they want you to sit with them and they are compelled to touch you. All smiles. Lots of love.

3. Imaginations. Watching children imagine & play with just a simple felt puppet body that has no head yet.

Gosh, all my beautiful things revolved around my job. Home is good too. I have a great husband and family. I have nothing to complain about.

Additional Work Space

My additional work space is coming along. I've moved some things in and we are finishing painting the fireplace & wall. My back is killing me from all the lugging, bending and packing. This should be a great place to construct jewelry, work with pmc and all my other creative endeavors. To bad I didn't take the hideaous before picture and then reveal the transformation. I'll post some pictures as soon as I'm a bit more settled.

Whack Your Head Wednesday

Listen to That Hunch
#47~ Your subconscious mind constantly records and stores unrelated data from the outside world. Later, it combines this data into good answers- hunches- if you simply ask, trust, and listen. These hunches, for example, can lead you to taking a spontaneous vacation and away from making a bad investment. What hunches have you had lately? How can you apply them to your idea?

~by Roger von Oech. Taken from his Creative Whack Pack

January

This is the image of inspiration for a monthly Challenge hosted by Art Bead Scene. What feelings do you get from this image by Caude Monet? Does this inspire you? I'm going to see what I come up with and if I'm timely, I'll enter it into their challenge.

A Beautiful Bead

This was my Secret Santa gift from Judith Johnston, a fellow lampworker. A large number of us participated in a Lampwork Exchange on Facebook which was hosted & coordinated by Amber Ballard. I absolutely love this bead!! Such depth and detail. Can you find the butterfly? The center of each large flower is accented by a cubic zirconia.....just beautiful.

Please check back soon for an Artist Interview with Judith!

Hot Stuff!

I'm holding true to my goals (not resolutions) for the new year and I'm taking a class with Trey!! His work is awesome and I haven't taken a class with a glass artist in a few years. This will be such a treat. Besides the obvious, you also learn subtle things when working with someone....sometimes these can be just as good or even better than the class content. At any rate....I'm feeling excited and oh, so lucky to be taking a class with Trey!

Encouraging Blog Readership

I'm part of the Bead Soup Party thats in progress right now and our leader, Lori Anderson, sent us an email with important information as well as a few tips on developing followers to our blogs. Her advice, although not new, was good. She gave 3 things, I'll give them to you in a minute, that I've read before but really never put into sustained practice. This year I'm really going to be more dedicated about following these 3 important tips.

1. Post often. ( I make good efforts but slip up time to time)
2. Visit other blogs & leave comments. ( blogging is not easy! I must move from periodic visitor to frequent visitor)
3. Use the Follower function on your blog. (Yippee! I already do this one)

Thanks Lori for a review of this good and important advice. Blogging is hard to keep up with. A schedule helps me stay on task as does creating posts ahead of time....then I can just press the publish key.

Now I must visit some friends and comment. Stop number one: Lori Anderson's blog!

Etsy Blogger of the Month

I'm a member of the Etsy Blogger team and each month we spotlight a shop to blog, tweet and rave about. Please visit Nico Designs. She really has some beautiful custom made handbags & accessories. I just visited her blog and read a great tutorial on making childrens legwarmers. They look so cute....wish I could wear them :)

Being part of a team really is very fun. You meet all sorts of talent people and find some amazing things.

Today I'm working on getting some new things into my esty shop and preparing for Valentines Day. These holidays really keep you on your toes!

Now That 2010 Is Here.......

A new year and a time to reflect and refresh. One of the first things I do to begin the new year is I clean up and clear out my studio of things I don't need or want, I donate old clothing to the Volunteers and I pack away all the holiday stuff until next season. But I also think about how I want to approach the new year. What do I hope to do or accomplish? What do I have planned?

Goals for the new year:
1. I want to take more classes to learn more techniques & develop my skills in my bead & jewelry making. Reading & doing tutorials is great but nothing replaces a hands on class with someone you respect. I actually have a class I'm going to in April......a little nail biting for me since I have to drive to Pennsylvania solo for this. I hate driving alone but I'll do it! Its on my list right?!

2. I plan to improve my upkeep of my website, etsy shop and blogging. Its rather hard keeping all the balls in the air with a full time day job, family and a small business. Each year I actually DO improve on these "business things" but I would really like to feel consistent with it in 2010.

3. I'd like to keep my studio....actually studios in relative good order. I have my glass studio equipped with torches and kilns and I have my everything else studio in a nice big room in the basement. The tidiness of my studio spaces goes in waves. They can be really orderly but as soon as festival season or the holidays roll around, they are in total chaos! I know I can corral this cycle a bit better with just a little mindfulness. Of course I will still have these cycles but maybe not as extreme.

Family Things for 2010:
1. I really enjoy short little vacations during the summer. We plan to take a short 4 day vacation to Cape Cod, one of my most favorite spots to visit. I love the salty air and all the people watching in Province Town.

2. Day trips on the motorcycle.......Oh, I love warm days riding on the back of my husbands bike through the southern tier of Upstate NY. The only downside, I can't shop too much. Not much fits into the saddle bags. I don't have any place specific that I want to go....I just want to go.

Other stuff for 2010:
1. Go on a retreat to take in some yoga and relaxation. I love yoga but it tends to get pushed to the back when things get busy. I have a friend who is frequently taking retreats and always comes home with a great outlook on things. Thats what I want.

2. Take a few cooking classes. There is a great culinary institue near by and I would love to take a few classes just for fun.

3. Finish knitting my many projects that have piled up.

4. Plan more get together with friends! We just hosted 2 parties this holiday season and they were just so much fun that I want to do more!

Thats some highlights of what I look forward to during 2010........I love a new year and a fresh outlook.

A Creative Retreat & More

This winter I'm hoping to plan a retreat with some friends to Kripalu, a center located in the Bershire Mountains that focuses on yoga, creativity and just overall well being. They offer loads of classes and I REALLY want to take one with Julia Cameron, author of the ARtists Way. Check out their site. So many things to choose from....maybe you'll want to go too.

Just one of my many things to do in the New Year!