Feeling Bookish....

I'm a book worm. In all the family pictures of picnics or days at the beach or a lazy Sunday afternoon, there I am with my nose in a book.

The first piece of furniture I owned as a young adult was a bookshelf.

Beadlovers, don't hate me but I'll even part with my beads before I'll part with my books.

So this necklace by Margaux Kent of The Black Spot Books had my name written all over it when I saw it on Etsy last Saturday.

Made from an old leather postcard (I didn't even know they made leather postcards!) it's tiny. Just perfect to wear around my neck and show the world just what kind of person I am.

A booklover.

What about you? Do you love books?

New Year's Resolution: Clear Out the Studio Sale

It's time for me to admit it, my studio and jewelry designing area is a mess. My New Year's resolution is to clean it out and I mean REALLY clean it out!

I have alot of old inventory and one of a kind art beads just sitting here waiting to be used in a lovely design. I need to release them into the jewelry making environment! You know what that means....



I'll be having a HUGE inventory clearance and seconds sale on Saturday, January 9th, 2010 from 12am-12pm.

I'll also be online LIVE from 1pm-4pm on Saturday, January 9th.

And to entince you even more, my beady colleague, Melanie Brooks of Earthenwood Studio will be having a seconds sale and be online too! It's going to be so much fun!

I've set up a separate page one the website and have started stocking it. You can visit but you can't buy yet. I'll be re-stocking the ArtFire and Etsy shops too.

I'll be previewing items available for sale next week and explaining more about the sale, so stop by, take a look and make your list!

the bleeding heart

I mentioned a few weeks ago how I was going to a black and white theme and wanted to re-vamp my Etsy. Well, because I wanted a different name, I had to open another shop. I'm calling it the bleeding heart - a play on my political views and the style of jewelry and beads in the shop.

I described my concept to The Teen who came up with the banner.



I like it. Now that the bleeding heart had a shop, she needed a new picture.



I'm going for the edge, have I achieved it?

Sunday's Color Mix...

Playing with color in the Beads to Go! Bead Mixes. Beads to Go! are only offered in my Etsy Shop. Enjoy!

New Spiral: Chakra or Rainbow?

In my Etsy shop, I have an announcement that custom orders are accepted. A couple of weeks ago, I had a potential customer contact me and ask if I could make a rainbow colored spiral. This is a good opportunity to do a brief FAQ on custom orders.

Most custom orders are requests for variations on a bead style I'm already making. So, I don't have to master a new technique to do them. That's good for the customer because it keeps the cost down.

At the torch, I give myself 3 times or 3 tries at making the custom order. I don't usually like the first but generally by the 2nd try, I've made the customers bead. I make one more to allow for the unforseen accident where I may drop or crack a bead.

So, I made this bead for a customer who was a little apprehensive - a yogini who wasn't aware how the bead was made. When she received it, she was thrilled! So was I! I love how this has turned out. So much so, I'm adding the Rainbow Spiral to my regular line of spirals.

15 minutes at a time.....

I read a great tip for those of us with a creative mess in our studios - clean for 15 minutes a day. Taking small bits at a time keeps you from getting overwhelmed. Cool. So that's what I'm doing in my bead inventory. Taking 15 minutes to clean out and put the beads up on Etsy. Here's today's beads - I love the lime-y green with the cherry red - Whee!

Cindy Gimbrone Beads in Jewelry!

I survived the teen party - it was fun actually. I've made a few pieces of jewelry - necklaces with the Heartz n Skullz and put them in the Etsy shop.

Working and Clearing Out.....

I'm lighting the flame and melting some glass today. I'm also clearing out the flocked bead displays from last fall's bead shows and putting the beads up on etsy. Or into the sale available to newsletter subscribers. Lots to do, so no chatting today!

Etsy Showcase

Beads up on EtSy showcase today. I'm having a sale there too - 20% off and free shipping.

Etsy Creative Glass Guild Trivia Challenge

I love glass and all things trivia related to glass. If you're like me, then
the Creative Glass Guild of Etsy (CGGE) has a challenge for you!

BUT FIRST:.... To play, you must join ETSY

WHEN? August 26th at 4pm PST (7pm EST, 10pm UK)

This is a fun trivia contest featuring questions written by CGGE members about the CGGE team and members, it’s kind of a meet and greet, but you will have the chance to win some AWESOME prizes!

We will be giving out a total of 3 glass prize packages! The FIRST place winner will receive a fused glass slider pendant donated by Lisa Hammer




a stained glass butterfly donated by creationsinglass,



AND a fused glass bubble sushi dish donated by glassprimitif , similar to the one pictured below!





WHOA! If that is not enough, the SECOND place winner will receive a stunning pendant donated by Smokeylady54






and the THIRD place winner will receive another stunning pendant donated by Aardvart.






Trivia Game Instructions: It’s easy! I will be posing a series of questions on the to a thread in the Etsy Promotions forum every few minutes. The first person to respond with a correct answer to the thread will receive 4 points, the second person will receive 3 points, the third person will receive 2 points and any other people responding with a correct answer will receive 1 point. At the end of the game, I will tally up the points and announce the top three winners. PLEASE REMEMBER TO POST YOUR ANSWERS IN THE THREAD TO GET YOUR POINTS COUNTED.

**IMPORTANT: Following our first Sunday Street Team Trivia contest, we would like to invite ANY other Street Team to continue this contest each recurring Sunday. Each team, will be responsible for coming up with their own prizes, questions, and administrators of the thread. If you are interested please convo creationsinglass to be put on the schedule! WE plan on working with Sara of EtsyTeams to promote this NEW recurring TEAM EVENT! It’s a great chance to get some additional exposure for your team and make a lot of new friends in the community!

♥A special “Thanks” to lisahammer for helping to organize this contest, blissbyheather for allowing us to modify her original contest, and our talented glass artisans who donated the gorgeous prizes, lisahammer, creationsinglass, glassprimitif, Smokeylady54, and Aardvart. ♥

Sepia Image Beads on Etsy

"Thoughtful" appeared in the the spring issue of The Flow magazine. The image of a young woman deep in thought is painted with enamels on glass and then melted onto a base bead at the torch. The gold was applied after the image was melted onto the bead.

As a beadmaker who paints images on beads, I'm always fascinated with the image-making process for glass. There's a fairly new process in fusing that applies a shellac onto glass. The image comes out sepia toned and is very detailed. I love the look of it! If you're interested in a how-to, here's a thread on Wetcanvas!

There are Etsy glass artists who fuse beautiful images onto pendants. I've listed a few of them and shown some of their pieces. Since I'm a hand freak (i.e., I collect hands in any form), I had to show a hand! I love hands! This one is Heart Line by the Ethereal Girls









PollyFusia's Jolly Roger is a creative twist on the pirate image that we're seeing all over. The color sets off the sepia tone of the image beautifully!






I like to see artists refining techniques to give a polished look to their work. Twenty Crosses by SquidGlass achieves that with a pattern that goes to the edge of the pendant. A nice detail that makes for a sweet pendant!

Panda-Licious!

Inspired by the Amigurumi dolls I've been crocheting and the Anime pandas I've seen, I've been at the torch creating little pandas - some so cute you just want to eat them! Hey! That's a cute idea...Voila! Panda Cupcake!

I've put them up on Etsy and on my website! They're Panda-licious! But you can't really eat them!