lo and behold

I can’t believe I forgot to include this bit of news in my Report Card: May:  lo and behold on Artfire is now open! 

Isabel took my new camera and did a beautiful job photographing my bracelets, so they are now available for online sale.  I will be adding my glass items soon.   Take a look:  www.lisaoram.artfire.com. 

And guess, what?  I have 500 bubble padded mailing envelopes to safely ship these beauties to new homes!  How’s that for optimism? 

I have lots more to list in the shop, but still, 500 mailers seems like a lifetime supply.  What do you think?  Prove me wrong! 

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!  

While party hopping and sipping soup in the blogosphere earlier this week, I came upon some good giveaways, in addition to my own.  Take a look at this one, and get yourself in before the deadline of February 14.   

Erin from Treasures Found is showing off her Valentines love with these cute necklaces.  Get the details of the giveaway here.  She’s also got a challenge going on until the end of the month, so no reason to be bored! 

Lucid Moon Studio is giving away three things:  a $25 gift certificate to ArtBeads, a darling resin owl pendant made by Lucid Moon blogger herself, and a copy of two different beading magazines.  The details are at the end of her long-ish post, but don’t rush through.  Linger over the story of her experiments with resin and the gorgeous photos of her necklace that is just perfect for Valentine’s Day.  You won’t be disappointed. 

Wait, I just realized if you all enter, I’ll have a lesser chance of winning myself!  Forget it.

Spirit Rattles is giving away a lovely soup cup of beads pictured below.  You have to comment on her blog by Sunday at noon. 

And don’t forget about my giveaway.  Enter by February 15 at noon by subscribing to my RSS feed and leaving me a comment that says “I RSS’d you”.  I’ll have two winners; one will get the lavender and blue bead crochet bracelet pictured (it’s quite a bit more sparkly than the photo shows) and one will get a surprise! 

Good luck - happy weekend!

I’m getting very excited to see all the creations that will be revealed on February 10th at the Bead Soup Virtual Party.  Eighty-four bloggers are playing along; it will probably take me days see them all – and I do want to see them ALL. 

My bead soup came from Mary Harding.  I let the ingredients simmer for a few days and then began to make components -like the way a soup is better if you sauté the onion, carrots, and celery first instead of just throwing it all into the liquid to boil.  I wanted to work Mary’s beads into my style.  I really admire designers like Lori Anderson whose jewelry can range from Goth to romantic to bright and whimsical to organic and subtle.  I am not a designer who is adept at many different looks; rather I am one with a signature style (if I can be so bold as to say that about myself at this point) and I want all of my pieces to be somewhat recognizable within a style.  Right now, I would say that bead crochet is one of my signature components.  So I went at it:

The one in the back is not bead crochet but that piece of rope will be used in a similar way.  That’s all for now!!

I also decided that in honor of my many new blog friends, I am going to do a giveaway – my first ever.  Since I consider this stage of my artistic life to be more about learning and developing skills than about selling, I love to GIVE my jewelry as gifts and surprises.  One gift is the bead crochet bracelet below, and a second winner will get a surprise.  Here’s how you can enter:

1.  Sign up for my RSS feed so we can stay connected after the party ends.

2.  Leave me a comment telling me that you’ve done it. (There must be a way I can see who has subscribed, but I don’t have that piece of technology/knowledge in place yet – so we’re on the honor system!)

3.  I will collect names from the comments and choose one randomly on Monday, February 15 at 12 noon EST.  I will contact the winners and announce it on the blog Monday afternoon or evening. 

4.  Want a second entry?  Blog about my giveaway, leave me a comment with the link to your post, and I’ll put your name into the pot again! 

Good luck everyone!  See you again soon! 

The family gifts included a few extra surprises that I did not mention yesterday.  I called them birthday gifts, but sent them while I was on a roll . . .because despite the best of intentions, all these people have different birthdays and I might remember those dates, but coordinating gifts in the mail, not so much. 

For my mother-in-law Marian, whose her b-day is in February:

For my sister-in-law, Ann, whose b-day is in March:

For my sister-in-law Cathy, whose b-day is in December:

For my niece Lucy, whose b-day is in January:

When is your b-day?  Don’t be shy – you never know what might happen!!

I am really in love with this completed bracelet.  I used 5 shades of darker blue and 3 silver/light blue beads, and I did them in random twelve-bead stripes.  I think this one is going into the personal collection. 

And while I was at it, with all those gorgeous blue beads out, I put together this:

which I also really like.  Full disclosure – I am a big fan of blue. 

This bracelet is made of 16 different beads, including three kinds of drops, five size 8s, one size 11 hexagon cut, and the rest a variety of size 11.  I strung them in groups of six in a repeated pattern order.  It looks random because the pattern is so long.  I love the texture but I think I’d like it better with fewer of the larger beads.  I’d prefer the larger beads to really stand out; instead, this bracelet looks thick the full length, with the smaller beads being somewhat buried.  Not meaning that it’s not lovely, but something to think about next time. 

I was on a roll, and there are more blue beauties on the way!