From Friday, May 11 to Sunday, May 13, use coupon code BIRTHDAY in my SueBeads etsy store for 25% off your order!!!!!!

Today is my birthday and there WAS going to be a sale in my etsy shop.  But considering people are not shopping or selling on etsy tomorrow, it really doesn’t seem to make sense to do this.  So, I’ll do it this weekend.  Keep an eye out!

My friend Kris Kain, from Island Pleasures on etsy, has been purchasing beads from me for a while. She is one of the nicest people I have ever virtually “met!”  One time, she called me because we had been emailing about my little bead funk, just to encourage me to keep at it. She sells her beautiful beach-themed jewelry in New Jersey.  Occasionally this girl takes a vacation, and she takes her work with her. She has little impromptu sales and people just love her jewelry, especially on the beaches! 

She sent me a package the other day, with these gorgeous Sea Stars from Alice Roth, in New Jersey.  She makes them out of recycled glass, sand, and beads.  She fuses the sand into the starts, for a gorgeous little gift from your vacation!  I have mine on my window in the basement studio.  Alice also sells these items, wholesale, and personalized with sand from the beach of your choice!  Wouldn’t these make fantastic gifts if you took a vacation with your family to the beach?  I know many people who take family vacations and rent houses in South or North Carolina, and I really think these would be a great way to remember the fun times!  Another idea is for the bride who is having a destination beach wedding!  What cute favors!

If you are interested, you can contact Alice at P.O. Box 302, Barnegat Light, NJ 08006, 609-494-1011.  She takes custom orders

Speaking of buttons (yesterday’s post) I have a little bit of a button fetish at times.  I know most of you do!  I was in JoAnn Fabric the other day with my mom getting some material for her to make me a valence and pillows for my updated spare beadroom.  I had to slip away to the button section for a quick peek, and found these two sets that I just had to have.  The first colorful set were made in Italy.  They are just so gorgeous – they are calling out to be used in some colorful way.  The second set were made in Poland.  I wanted these because at some point, I want to make one of those cool bead-wrapped bracelets with a button as a clasp.  I have the ingredients, but they are all packed away at the moment.  Hopefully I’ll get the creative bug back and be able to make some of these!  I wonder if there’s a project like that in Lorelei and Erin’s book, coming out this summer?

The lovely Cindy Wimmer is hosting a button swap/blog hop on May 13th, which happens to be Mother’s Day. She assigned us partners and we swapped four buttons, one should be in the category of special. I took special to mean handmade, so I finally got a button mandrel from Arrow Springs and made my lovely partner Rebekah Payne, of Tree Wings Studio, a purple and green button. You can see the buttons I sent to Rebekah on her blog.

The first button here is a ceramic one she got from etsy seller Kelly of Lean Dog Pottery.  It’s pretty cool.

This second one is from her grandmother’s stash. 

And these two are special!  She made both of them!  I love them both!  I don’t know which one to use for the challenge!  I really think it should be one of hers, so that’s what I’m going to do.  The interesting thing about our swap is that we both sent a button from our grandmother’s stash and a ceramic button AND one (in her case, two!) handmade buttons!  It’s like we were meant to be partners!  Come back next weekend to see what I ended up making, and what all the other swappers made!

I made the heart pendant using Japanese washi paper and Amazing Glaze. The chain is a cool purple chain from JoAnn’s. I used swarovski crystals, czech faceted glass beads, my own lampwork beads and my own fluted enameled bead caps.  I hope you’ve enjoyed looking at my creation!  Here’s a list of all the participants – if you get a chance, please stop by and see what everyone else made!

Red

Orange

 Yellow

Blue

 Green

Purple

Brown

Black

I have a variety of bead presses I use to make my beads. Some I use all the time, some I never use. These are the ones I never use. Some of them have actually never been used. I want to buy some different ones, so I am offering them here to any lampworker who might be interested. The prices are all $5 off the price on the Zoozii web site, since they may or may not have been used.  Each one is in excellent condition and if it has been used, it has been like one time!  The shipping for all of these is $10 each, priority.  If you purchase more than one, I will adjust shipping after I mail and then give you a refund.

ZP01 – Chunky Disc Quad – $60 plus $10 shipping.  13×5.5mm; 14.5x6mm; 16x7mm; 18x8mm

ZP02 – Pillow – $40 plus $10 shipping   15mm  (this is not the straight-sided pillow)

ZP03 – Lentil Trio – $50 plus $10 shipping   13mm; 15mm; 18mm  (not straight-sided)

ZP01 – Diamond – $40 plus $10 shippnig – 14mm 

ZP05 – Oval Lentil Trio – $50 plus $10 shipping – 16×13; 19×15; 23×18  (not straight-sided)

Two new bead mixes have been added to SueBeads etsy store – check them out!  AND, I have some spacer sets and some mini sets that you will love, coming later tonight or tomorrow!  Great prices here, as I am in the middle of a house/stash/art overhaul!