calling all bidders!

to grace and cmd-- you bid on my necklace but didn't leave any way to contact you! please leave a comment on this post with your email. thanks

Artists Helping Artists

Artists Helping Artists Silent Auction

Once again, several artists in the blog community have decided to come together to help a fellow artist in need. 

Auction now closed
it affects us all when one of our company is visited by tragedy. i have never experienced anything like what our fellow artist is experiencing, but i want to help anyway. so i am putting up two things to bid on. sorry about the photos. it was late by the time i was able to take photos yesterday and the lighting is a bit wonky.

the first piece is entitled 'soaring', reminding the wearer to fly with your heart open, or as my niece would say, "bloom your heart open." the chain is antiqued copper, the wings are from PalomaAntigua, and the heart is Swarovski. it is 18" long. the heart is about an inch long. the wire is Parawire, antique bronze. all findings are antiqued copper. the wings in person are a bit whiter, the heart a bit lighter--more of a siam than a red magma. let's start the bidding at $15US.

the second piece is a component i made. it's copper with a lovely los patina that you can't really see in this photo. the stone is blue lace agate and the words are 'love will find a way', from one of my favorite songs. the pendant is 1 3/8"x3/4". i see it layered with a ceramic piece or a lillypilly mother of pearl component. let's start the bidding at $8US.

this auction is not available to international bidders.

the auction runs from today, december 22 to december 28 at midnight.

Would you like to be the winning bidder?

Please leave a comment along with your bid, stating 'soaring' if you want to bid for the necklace, or 'love' if you wish to bid for the pendant. If you are the winning bidder, you will receive an invoice after the close of the auction. There must be a way to contact you. If you have email preferences turned off in your profile, please leave your email.

Many people are auctioning items to help out! Please visit these other artists below and place your bid!

List of participants:

Patti Vanderbloemen

Lori Anderson

Lana Kinney and Marie Cramp

Beth Emery--you are here!

Diana Ptaszynski

Terri Wlaschin

Andrew Thornton, Nan Emmett, and Maria Richmond
www.mairedodd.blogspot.com

thank you so much for taking the time to visit my little slice of blogland. thanks for your consideration in this matter.

uninspired

i have been feeling terribly uninspired lately. haven't made hardly any jewelry... and my beads call to me but... i don't know. i think it's because i've been so sick for so long. medical bills are rolling in and i'm at a loss. without my job (i had to quit because i'm so sick) i don't know where the money is going to come from. and they still don't know what's wrong with me. i'm so... frustrated, i guess. and that does not bring out the muse. i've even been having trouble reading. can't get into how their life sucks because there is too much suckage here. i hate being negative here on my blog, so i haven't been posting, but then that wears at me with guilt. argh! poor, poor bethiboo. that's what it feels like. a pity party of one. and i hate it when i get down. so. that's all i'm gonna say about it and i hope you'll forgive me for indulging. let's move on, shall we?

becca and i made a record amount at the farmer's market bazaar! and then a week later a wonderful lady who bought one of my necklaces at the watershed bazaar called and wanted to get two more necklaces she'd seen at the farmer's market bazaar! omg! so it was really great to end the season that way.

this is a piece i made in metals last year. it's sterling silver, copper, and the stones are labradorite. love that stone.

The Rabbit Muse: Time for a giveaway! Woo-hoo!

The Rabbit Muse: Time for a giveaway! Woo-hoo!

i sold this necklace at the watershed charter school bazaar. i thought for sure it would never sell 'cause it was really expensive. but i made it myself. cut out the sterling silver with a jeweler's saw, soldered the bezel, made the little round sterling ball, set the stones... which are dendritic quartz (the bottom stone) and prehnite. i loved this necklace! excited to sell it but sad to see it go. i can see all the little mistakes but overall i was really pleased with how it turned out. and that quartz is *amazing*, don't you think? minerals inside make the little tree. and that chain! fab chain.

can't believe it's been almost two months since i've posted. naughty, naughty me. i really enjoyed deryn's class. it's all pretty basic stuff, but i love seeing how other people do it. and the design talk was great. she had a totally different way of wrapping briolettes that i'm desperate to try. picked a pendant this morning to work with today that has a convenient spot for a drop. yay!

can't wait for christmas! i finally started my christmas shopping. i spent way too much money on beads for  the girls, but it was so much fun! i hope they will like them because that's all they're getting from me this year, i think. yep. way too much money. and i know what i'm getting for everybody else, just have to make it all. which i will have plenty of time to do after our last bazaar of the season, this weekend. it's traditionally our best bazaar; farmer's market. but we're in a different spot this year so i'm really nervous. what if we're stuck in a corner? or out of the flow of traffic? the first year we did this bazaar that happened to us and we did terrible. i know our customer base has increased dramatically since then but if they don't see us... i need to chill. whatever happens is okay. it's not the end of the world if we don't do well. we'll survive and it will be okay. needed that little pep talk.

so i hope this post finds you well! happy holidays!

it hurts to win

in a last minute flurry of an online giveaway i entered, sure that i wouldn't win. couldn't win. i mean, seriously, i never win anything. but fairies and moons aligned and by golly, i won! i didn't win a trifle, which would have been much appreciated. i won BIG. i won deryn mentock's build zone e-course! we're talking the mother of all giveaways; three free spots in her course. i haven't been able to start the course yet, but it's waiting patiently for me. well, maybe not too too patiently. it's calling my name! and i can't quite get to it just yet. but i'm super excited and can't. hardly. wait.

andrew thornton's september reader's challenge

when i saw this month's challenge i knew i had to participate. lavender is my absolute favoritest color in the whole wide world. and twilight, andrew's inspiration, is my favorite time of day. perfection! and i'm keeping this one for me.:)

it also has some of my favorite bead artist's; c-koop enamel, humblebeads polymer, and swoondimples polymer. so much candy goodness!

as soon as i got the kit, i sat down and sketched. it took a couple tries but i got it hammered out. i'm really pleased with this design. i hope you like it, too.

twilight garden-ey goodness!

for the complete list of participant's, visit andrew's blog.

you are beautiful

for the bead soup blog party go here
*     *     *

so i wrote a poem the other night for my nieces. thought i'd share.

you are beautiful

you are like a perfect pearl,
started from a bit of dust.
and then God lavished upon you luminous layers,
polishing you until you stood before us,
so amazing in your beauty.
you take my breath away with your beauty.

so when someone tells you
you're not pretty enough or smart
enough or whatever enough,
remember,
God built you cell by cell
millimeter by millimeter.
and sweetheart,
you can tell by nature's beauty
that God does beauty like nobody else.

you are beauty personified,
honey-child.

bead soup blog party reveal day!

i am so so so thrilled to be participating in lori anderson's bead soup party for the very first time! this is my second challenge ev-er, but i'm not a newbie to beading. i got my first beads in sixth grade from my dear mama. she was garage saleing in coos bay, oregon and came across a box of beads and brought them home to me. why me and not my sister? i was into crafts and she wasn't. all my life i've tried to get my sisterinto beading, and it never took till eight years ago when she was put on bed rest for the last trimester of her first pregnancy. i was in alaska and she was in seattle and i went down to keep her company and brought along some of my beads. we're both readers but there's only so much reading you can do before it starts to pale. so she tried the beads... and loved it! yay! my favorite person in the whole wide world joined me in my love and now we own our own business selling our jewelry in fairbanks, alaska. you can visit her here. she is also in the party.

so now that you have a little history on my beading, let me introduce my soup partner, cassie donlen. she is a dear woman who is fabulously talented. she is a lampworker and metalsmith who has been published and who's site is here. her main store is here and her little store on etsy is here. she sent me these beads. aren't they completely a-maz-ing?!? she made the lampwork, the toggle, and the focal. the rest of the soup are all vintage czech. the cones are pewter.

without further ado here is what i made---

i just love how they turned out!

this was so much fun! lori worked so hard and made this a wonderful experience. i hope i'll get to do it again.

to visit the rest of the blogs visit lori anderson's blog here. have fun perusing everyone's blogs!

keys and birds--yummm

i love keys. there's something magical and mysterious about them. what will they unlock? will it alter my life forever? and skeleton keys are the best. just the name of them! fab-u-lous.

i don't believe i've spoken about my obsession with birds. i've mentioned my owl thing. but not the bird thing. it's hard to put into words. but birds... birds mean freedom. they stand for the soul. they are perfection. wings... i just adore wings. they are the epitomy of everything that is good and right in the world. i have a phoenix on my left breast. it was my second tattoo. it is my heart and my soul.

the shibuichi bird in this necklace is a green girl piece. you know how obsessed i am with green girl studios. the patinated chain in both pieces are miss ficklemedia, as is the toggle in the key necklace. the box clasp in the bird piece is a nina designs. the circle link is from dragonfly findings. the stones are aquamarine, crystal, agate, freshwater pearl, turquoise, peruvian opal, beach glass, gaea ceramic, and mother-of-pearl.

end of summer dragonflies

i took this photo at farmers market and then altered it on my phone in photoshop express, which is a terrifically fun app. totally recommend it.

gidget

we lost our girl today. she was sick with fatty liver disease and so in pain from her arthritis. she was a good kitty.

flooding

nancy schindler of round rabbit studio is in the flooded area of the midwest. i feel so bad for her! i've slowly been collecting her work and have always loved the pieces i see. she makes gorgeous porcelain pendants. i know i'm far away and can't really do anything for her but i'm praying for her.

what i should have said to my ob/gyn

so what you're saying is that the nausea/vomiting is related to the happy, horrible stabbing cramping pain? it's all connected. why didn't i think of this?

adam young

if you've never heard of him, you're in a very sad place. owl city has got to be my new favorite. i don't know how to embed video, so you must travel to youtube and type in 'owl city'. start with fireflies and just keep going. then head on over to amazon and buy some albums and read his bio. and cry because life just got better.

classes and abigail

classes start tomorrow and i'm so nervous! i'll be attending full-time and i really want to do well, you know? wish me luck!

and today is abigail's sixth birthday. it seems to go by so fast. i'm so glad the girls are living with me, and relieved at the same time that i'm not in charge of them. i'm fine watching them for a few hours, but i'm just not ready for little ones of my own. will i ever be ready for that? maybe it's a good thing i had a hysterectomy.

andrew thornton's reader challenge

aargh! i posted last night in order to get the early risers and then checked andrew's site this morning and the post wasn't there so i thought i got the date wrong so i deleted it. but i was wrong! oopsy.

but here i am, now. i had such fun with this challenge. it's my first, and i'm so glad i did it. i challenged myself to use all of the artisan-made components and something of everything else, which i managed to do. i added the leaf chain, the c-koop toggle, and the greengirls pewter bird.





i so loved the color and andrew's mystery sun component. it's very summery.

go forth and visit everybody else's blog!

Andrew Thornton
Jessica Nelson
Leslie Todd
Holly Westfall
Alice Peterson
Christine Altmiller
Cilla Watkins
Sally Russick
Beth Emery
Patty Gasparino
Jeannie Dukic
Rebecca tAnderson

oops!

i posted this post last night in an attempt to get it done so the early risers would see it but apparently jumped the gun. so. my bad.

changes

i quit my job at judie's yesterday. i've been thinking about it for awhile. i've just been feeling overwhelmed. i don't know what i'm going to do, really. classes. etsy. i don't know what lies ahead, but i feel like i'm on the right path.

bead soup!

look what came in the mail today from my bead soup party partner, cassie! is this not *gorgeous*, *yummy*, and oh. my. god. FABULOUS!!?!?! i think i died and went to heaven and it's all beads up there!

the strand of beads over on the left were made by cassie, as well as the enamel focal and the toggle and the green spotted cabochon. the mix of beads on the right are all vintage czech. the silver cones at the back are pewter. and the chain! just look at it all! delicious!

thank you, cassie! thank you, thank you, thank you! i feel so spoiled.

and now for the wonderful playing!

the long goodnight

i can feel it in my bones. in the fireweed almost gone. the leaves curling. the v's of cranes and geese.

god, i hate winter. it's just so cold in alaska! and it stays so long... the dark doesn't really bother me that much. it feels like a cocoon, kind of. embracing and gentle. but the cold... so unrelenting. so harsh. so bitter. it's painful to go outside, and that's just not right.

meet my bead soup blog partner

lori anderson paired me with cassie donlen, an incredible lampworker and metalsmith. cassie has been published (!) and is a super nice lady. i feel totally lucky getting her, like i won the jackpot. i sent out her packet of beads earlier this week, so i'm hoping she got it yesterday or today. mail takes so much longer to and from alaska, and she's all the way in missouri. my half-sister lives in branson, so i have a soft spot for that state. this is one of her bracelets. gorgeous, right? lucky, lucky me!

stress

my mom went into the hospital friday morning. she just couldn't breathe. turns out she has pulmonary arterial hypertension, which basically means her lungs are hardening and her heart is working extra hard to get oxygen to her body. she came home this morning. they're treating her with a boatload of meds, oxygen, and a motorized hospital bed. i'm so stressed out that i've been in a terrible amount of pain. and i've got a migraine. sucks to be me.

my mama is 72. she's aging. this time is not forever. and it so pains me to see her in pain. i want her to be with me forever. i so rely on her. she can annoy the heck out of me but i love her dearly. mamas are irreplacable. i hate to see her slipping away. and that's what this feels like.

dream

i'm so pleased with how this necklace turned out. the photo doesn't do it justice, i'm afraid. the owl is from treewing studios, the dream bead is from diane hawkey. the moon is stampt metal. the clasp is a nina designs. the beads are turquoise, rutilated quartz, jasper, freshwater pearls, and swarovski crystal. i'm not sure what the blue stars are, though. the briolette is man-made sea opal. it's all sterling, except for the moon.

never lose your muchness

this is one of my new pieces. i absolutely adore it. i made the pendant in metalsmithing. the cab is a tourmaline. the stones in the necklace are apatite, jade, rainbow moonstone, dragon's blood jasper, gaspite, and man-made sea opal. the chain is bayong wood and the toggle is vintaj. the quote is, of course, from alice in wonderland. "never lose your muchness." *gotta remember that.*

so sorry

oh.my.gawd.

i haven't written since may, people. argh! when last we met i had fallen out of my chair at work because i was so dizzy. turns out i had a sinus infection and my thyroid was all out of whack again. that's all under control. yay!

so today i just signed up for lori anderson's bead soup party. it's my first time, so i'm totally excited. my name's on the list and everything! i'll start picking out my stuff to send as soon as i get my partner's name and check out her blog. i think i'll choose one of my metalsmithing pendants or one of my wood burned ones. can't decide.

we've been busy this summer with farmer's market, work at judies, and mondays at the cabin in pioneer park. fair is coming up. deborah is soooo excited about it. she's so cute.

i got an iphone4 with my tax return money and signed up for square so we can accept credit cards. soooo happy about that! i think our sales have gone up because of it. and i just like my phone. i've never had a cell before 'cause i hated the idea. but i love my smart phone. i can listen to pandora and check my blogs and buy stuff *anywhere*. gotta love it.

still don't have any photos of my new jewelry. it keeps selling and i wave goodbye *with no record of it*. not cool. i just don't have any time. when i'm home i'm sitting in my chair trying to recover from *summer*. but oh, how i love summer. sun! warmth! flowers!

i bought a bouquet of peonies from market on saturday and am basking in the fragrance as i write. peonies are my second favorites, after sweet peas. mmmm. flowers.

sick of being sick

i've gotten everything that has come by the turnpike this winter. and now i'm so dizzy i actually fell out of my chair at work. yes. you read that right. i was leaning down to pick something up and everything went all dark and quiet and there i was. on the floor. huh.

so i'm going to the doctor. hopefully there is a simple answer, 'cause i can't go back to work if i'm gonna continue having dizzy spells. i'm a jeweler, so i work with a torch, chemicals, cutting disks... the list goes on. it's too dangerous, basically, to be falling over.

here's hoping for an ear infection.

chain

i love how this chain turned out. earthy and rustic. but it needs something. don't know what. just.... something. i'll ask becca. she's very good at figuring things out. patina? verdigris? hrmmmm......

classes are over. i'm relieved yet sad. i think this semester was my last, at least for the time being. i just haven't had enough time with the girls and that means they're just a little distant. you know the saying, "quality time"? bull-honky. it's *quantity* time that matters with kids. be there when they need a bandaid. be there for the recounting of the days events. be there. just be there.

so my big project for the summer is to set up a metalsmithing studio in the garage. i think i can do it, with the income from market combined with my job. save and scrimp. no more bead purchases. no more extravagances. big things like torches! ($350) rolling mills ($500)! it would be nice to get another foredom, so we each could have one at our benches. i've figured out what i think will work for our benches. you know the gi-normous drafting table i bought seven years ago? i was thinking i could turn it so the skinny side is to the wall and then becca could have one side and i could have the other... two benches for the price of one! i'm just worried about the height of the desk and what kind of chairs to get. both becca and i have issues with our backs/necks and so the height needs to be *right*..... all the workbenches i've seen are ($350-$500!) are enormously tall with a flat work surface on top and a sweeps drawer where i want the desk top to be... am i spoiled from the desks on campus? why yes, yes i am. wonder where they got those...

i'm excited to begin this next phase. i feel like i'm on the right path. like i'm actually where i'm supposed to be. just a-walking. where is it leading? i'm interested enough to continue.

must get photos of my new work! one of the new pieces sold on saturday, the kylie parry one, with the bird by her and the nest bead by humblebeads. and i have no photo of it! so sad. must. take. photos. this week!

oh, and the sirevaag car died. so we're all sharing the truck. argh! poor becca. taxi mom.

but i've got high hopes. go slow, bethiboo. don't get disappointed. just keep on this path and listen to the birds sing. sing. sing. sing.

'she not only saw the light, she became the light'

i've slowly begun collecting art beads. i need to take some photos and share.

the thing is i've been reading so many jewelry blogs where the artisans use art beads.... and magazines where the published work uses art beads.... and i've actually gotten over not being willing to spend 30 or 40 dollars on a single bead. haven't gotten past the 50 mark yet, though. and with this new art bead passion has come a new style of work. *must* take photos and share. i'm all aflutter with "new", "new", "new". and farmers market opens in a week! yay! can't hardly wait. and all the snow is mostly gone. nothing green, yet, but it's coming! the geese have arrived.... sun stays up later and later and gets up earlier and earlier.... all of which means that summer (oh, blessed summer) is coming! land of the midnight sun, shine bright on me!

when i made these guys i was thinking about poppies. even though they don't look much like poppies, i still love how the turned out. yay, metalworking gods! sometimes they are friendly.

celestially obsessed

i absolutely adore the night sky. moon? oh. my. god. could it be any more *perfect*?!? stars! twinkling planets! wispy clouds skudding across a full moon...

romance.

and something a little nostalgic about it. like a memory of a haunting tune.

i have a crescent moon with a girl swinging from it and three stars tattooed on my left shoulder blade. love it, love it, love it. and a sun on my right hand. which is a daytime thing, but hey. i love the daytime sky, too. not as passionately as the night.

i make it a habit to always look up when i step outside.

i like how these earrings turned out. the moon's stone is much sparklier in person. it's a blue goldstone. the star is amber. the only problem is that they're so freaking heavy. rrrrr. but i still love them.

rings

i *love* rings. love making them. love wearing them. love seeing other people's. this ring is prehnite, which is a new favorite of mine. it's pretty rare, so fairly expensive and rather difficult to find. there i go again, falling for what's out of my reach....

which reminds me of a funny story. embarrassing, but funny. the guys i had crushes on growing up? gay. all of them. i didn't find out they were gay until later, mostly. still. it's weird, don't you think? i'm guessing it's some kind of protection thing. i liked the guys that were unattainable, because they were safe. nothing would ever happen, so i was free to crush on them. twisted little brain of mine.

i paired this kitty in the window looking at the moon pendant with oval tiger's eye and of course didn't get a photo of it before it sold. but i was so happy with how this pendant turned out! all the pierced sawing turned out really good. yay! it's hammered brass with little wire-wrapped links up top.

the earthquake

my heart goes out to japan.

the photos are so unreal. so *horrible*.

my prayers are with you.

rings

this is my chaoroite ring that a wear all the time. i get lots of compliments on it. but mostly people want to know what it is. because it doesn't look real, does it? but it's totally natural! out of ground, this is what chaoroite looks like. it's from russia, and it's only found in one place; the chaoro river. i love this stone, but because it's so rare it's terribly expensive. why do i always fall in love with the stinking *expensive* stuff?! i swear, i go into a store and fall in love with the costliest item. it's a sickness.

i haven't yet decided what i'm going to do with this lovely feather. i made it my second semester of metalsmithing. i was thinking about using it as a pendant, but this puppy is *huge*--like four or five inches long.... maybe on the side as a link? cuff? in the front sideways with danglies dangling?

i don't know! so many possibilities!