New in the shop…

A week of new beads and new listings in the shop coming to an end today. Here's a bit of what's available now.

More new beads next week… including a couple dragons!

Have a lovely weekend!

Rediscovering my love for bead-making…

It'd been so long since I'd made beads simply for the love and enjoyment of bead-making. I think I'd nearly forgotten what it was to create just because I wanted to. For the past few weeks I've been taking time out of my schedule to create for that reason only.

There's a thrill of working with only my imagination to guide me. With no list telling me what I had to complete during a day. No real planning is involved or designs drawn out.

Some things don't turn out like expected… but the joy comes from seeing that what they do become is even better…

Yes, I do really love bead-making!

Some of my latest NEW creations…

Horses, I can never resist them!

Tiny painted details are always my favorite!

Here I used cane scraps to make some fun and colorful beads instead of just mixing them all together to form bead cores. Check out my post at Art Jewelry Elements blog to see a peek at how I made them here.

New ponies. These were made with the left-overs from creating the faceted beads just above.

More scrap turned into something new.

Texture and paint.

And finally one last look at what was once scrap clay.

See them all in my shop in the coming week!

A furry little visitor

Back last summer I saw a cat in my front yard. I didn't think too much of it since living in the country often brings animals of all kinds into the front yard. But then I saw it again a few days later and then again the next week. It started coming around at least a few times a week. I noticed it hunting occasionally and started wondering if it had a home. It continued coming and going. And then late one night during a snow in February I found it on the front porch sitting huddled up as though it was waiting for the snow to stop falling. I put out some dog food (I didn't have any kitty food) and a few hours later the snow had stopped and the cat was gone and so was the food. The next day I got some kitty food and every day I'd put a handful on the porch… some days it would get eaten and some days it wouldn't. But I never actually saw the cat eating and although I did see the cat more frequently, I actually began to wonder if maybe I was feeding a skunk or a rat instead!

But then on Saturday I saw him (or her)! I had just put the food out like I've done every day before going out to feed my horses and when I came back, there he was relaxing on the porch after eating his dinner!

The little guy is not too sure of me yet, but was nice enough to let me snap these photos to share with you.

A beautiful kitty! And what a sweet expression! After this long of coming here, I think he must be in search of a forever home… :-)

In studio news, I'm nearing completing the restocking—most of the sleepy critters have been restocked and next up I have turquoise ponies… and I've finally narrowed down my list of what new beads to make next! Sometimes there are too many ideas—settling on just a few is so hard!

And in puppy news, I'm still searching for my next little puppy girl…