lo and behold

This lovely group of beads  - made by me!! – is a gift, going into the mail today.  Will say more after it arrives. 

I’m very proud of these beads and how “professional” they look as set.  Yay!!!

EmandaJ of Artemisia’s Studio wrote a lovely post recently about mentoring a young girl at her church who has shown an interest in jewelry making.  She encouraged her blog readers to do the same:  find a young artist and gift her with something that would inspire and support her growth.  EmandaJ is going to give away a bracelet to reward the mentoring artist and also to celebrate her 100th post, whenever it comes.   

I was really touched by this idea.  I am amazed by the many creative and fun ways that bloggers find to connect with each other and “pay it forward” as EmandaJ says. This giveaway by Heather Powers at Humblebeads is another example.  She’s calling it the Sisterhood of the Traveling Beads, and I could see it becoming an ongoing karma builder for months to come - though I’m afraid if the box of beads lands at my house, it would stay here for months before I got it out the door again. (Not really - I would totally honor the process and keep it going. Adrienne Campbell and Kate of Organic Odysseys, I have not forgotten you!  Packages will come soon and they will be a lovely surprise when they do!)

I like these two giveaways because they feel authentic to me, like they are motivated truly by wanting to give.  I’m getting tired of the giveaway that has you jumping through five hoops before you can play along.  Oh, here’s another one , even though it’s over.  I like that Gardanne asks readers to respond to real questions, questions whose answers mean something to her.

But, I digress.  My intention today is to pay homage to a young artist who I am mentoring.  It may not be exactly as EmandaJ intended, but I think  it counts. 

This lovely bracelet was made by my daughter Isabel.  When I went bead shopping in Florida, she came along – with her own money.  She picked out the peace signs, among some other things.  Then when we got home, we went to our local bead store Webs and she used up a gift card we gave her for her birthday to get the red crystals, the word charms, the sterling chain, and the clasp.  When she got home, she built the other dangly charms with silver accents from my collection and hers.  Did you notice?  Each one is different.  And did I mention that Isabel is 11 years old?   

I’m happy to share my tools with her, my big spools of wire, my glue – whatever she wants.  I did not intentionally invite her into beading, but I am go glad that it’s something we can share. And this is not her first project – by a long shot.  One day I will show off her many earring designs, her bead weaving, and what the heck, her cooking, too. 

Buying the beads together for this project was really fun.  She asked my opinion about things, but she definitely had her own vision of what she wanted.  I was not nearly as confident and secure in my creativity when I was her age, but that’s another story. I am so happy I can pay if forward with my daughter.  How long do you think until she totally passes me by??

P.S.  If you are visiting my blog for the first time, I invite you to join my RSS feed.  I’d love to “see” you again!

Congratulations, Ruthie - you are the winner of the Happy Friday giveaway!  Please get in touch, and I will send you these beautiful lampwork beads made by Beverley Hicklin.  They came all the way from England to me, and now they’ll travel from New England to where??  If only beads could tell stories . . .actually, they can.  

I’m starting to think that in the spirit of spring cleaning, giveaways are a great way to de-stash some of my loot.  It won’t always happen on Fridays, though, so check back often!

Happy Tuesday! 

Snow Farm started offering open studios recently, and finally, I was able to go this weekend for three hours of torching! It has been four months since I closed down my torch for the “season” in early November.  I felt as excited and nervous and giddy as someone going on first date.  Would I know what to say?  What to do?  How to hold the mandrel?  Is it like riding a bike – hop on and body memory does the rest? 

Turns out I was fine, well, not exactly fine, but surely good enough. My first few “one wrap spacers” were wobbly, but yes, body memory kicked in.  And in the process, I remembered one of the things I love most about melting glass in open flame:  YOU HAVE TO GO SLOW.  You have to be right there in the present moment to make it work.  For me, at least, making beads with melted glass is like a meditation.  It’s repetitive, quiet, and in the moment.  And it works much better with my personality to come out of a meditative experience with a product that I can hold in my hand (that’s probably totally against the point in REAL meditation) than to just benefit by peace of mind.  Torching gives me both:  a product and process. 

As you can see, I was trying some color experiments with the rainbow.  More on that soon.  And, it’s almost 60 degrees today.  That means its practically torching season again in my own little corner of the garage.  YAY! 

You can enter my Happy Friday Giveaway until midnight tonight.  Take a minute more and check it out.

I love all the creative energy in the world these days about making old things into new things. I save old things all the time, because one day, I’m sure I’m going to make something wonderful from them.  So far, my record is one creative project from an old thing – wait, I’m wrong, last year we made coasters from leftover bathroom tiles. But no pix to prove it.  Still, not a great record. 

And when I see the great stuff that other people make, I always think:  Wish I had thought of that.  Here’s one from this book, 62 Projects to Make with a Dead Computer. 

A totally cool wall hanger picture frame thing from old floppy disks.  I have at least one box of such floppies because, well, you know, one day I’m going to make them into something.  Now I know what.  I didn’t think of it, but a great idea.  You can download a free PDF of the instructions for this project and enter to win a copy of the book here.

My daughter Isabel reached into the hat and pulled out a name: 

Adrienne Campbell  - Yeah!  You won the surprise giveaway.

My daughter Rachel reached into the hat and pulled out a name: 

Kate from Organic Odysseys – Yeah!  You won a bead crochet bracelet. 

Please get in touch, and we’ll work out the details.  If the bracelet I originally posted isn’t the right size or color, there are lots of options. 

Special thanks, too, to everyone who entered by adding my RSS feed to your blog reader.   The best part (for me) is that hopefully we’ll stay connected and a bloggy friendship will grow.  

This was the first give-away I’ve done on my blog, and I liked it!  I want to do it more; I’m thinking maybe once a month.   One blog I follow, The Vintage Pearl, gives things away all the time, and I love the spirit behind it . She says, “Let’s give one away!” and I hear the generosity and fun in her voice.  I’ll take her as my model. 

And, I’ve been reading about all that One World One Heart stuff. WOW!  I thought about participating in the event, but it seemed overwhelming.  Next year, though.  Talk about giveaways! 

Happy Tuesday!