Pura Vida!

Home from a lovely break in Costa Rica in time to start preparations for the San Diego Bead Society Bead Bazaar show next weekend!  There's even a discount coupon for admission here.  If you're in the area please come visit!  I'll have special bonuses with purchase for anyone who mentions this blog post.

No new beady pictures to share as I've been busy packing, unpacking and fast-tracking a kiln firing to remake a pendant that went AWOL from an order.  But I have lots and lots (actually 1000 of them) of pictures from my trip if you want to see some!  I'll give you the curated version though! (unless you want to see even more, then you can check them out at my Flickr stream)

Had to get a photo of this pool sign at the Arenal Springs Hotel...I'm concerned about what type of "love scenes" necessitated this regulation...

We went on a boat ride in the jungle, this big boy was on the river bank...he was about the length of my arm!

I managed to get a few shots of Capuchin monkeys climbing in the trees...

The Arenal volcano was in prominent view from the Arenal Springs Hotel. No eruption while we were there but lots of smoke was visible at the peak.

We had the opportunity to visit some artisans at work on beautifully painted trays, chairs and ox carts.

COFFEE!!! (not roasted yet in this case though)

Lots of gorgeous Macaws hanging out at one of our pit stops...

Another iguana...this one was warming up on a tile roof...

Loved this Coati that we saw in the Monteverde Cloud Forest.  Can you guess what he's related to?  Here's a hint...his mask isn't quite as obvious as his North American cousins'.

So many gorgeous hummingbirds...

We saw a few stunning sunsets...

And I ziplined in the cloud forest over these suspension bridges! 

But the highlight had to be my luck in spotting this Quetzal (only rhymes with pretzel if you're using a nice Anglicized pronunciation!) and getting a photo.  He was pretty far away from the suspension bridge I was standing on but was nice enough to keep chirping so I could locate him!

The other thing continuing to keep me busy is the canine version of the Energizer Bunny!  Dude just doesn't stop!  Good thing he's so stinking cute :)

I know blog posts and comments have been quiet but I'd love to hear what all of you have been up to!!

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I'm set up on Bloglovin' so those of you who use Google Reader still have a way to follow :)

Kind of handy, there's an app and you can have a list of new posts emailed to you.  I've always just clicked through to everything from my Blogger dashboard but I think I'm going to like this new system!

Have a fantastic Sunday!

Woof!

So you many remember my post waaaay back where I told you all about the pupper that we thought we'd be adding to our family then found out he was already promised to another adopter?  Well, it's been a bunch more than a year but we've finally become a two dog family!

Of course, he's not the dog we thought we were looking for...we were applying for dogs through the rescue groups who were at least a year old, preferably 2 years.  I didn't think that we wanted to take on the puppy behaviors involved with a younger dog and we wanted to make sure that the new pupper was young enough to have lots of pep for our now 10 year old Golden sweetie.

Maybe not the dog we were looking for but I think he might just have been the dog we were meant to have... Yes, he's a little bit of a stinker, still has the mouthy puppy thing going on and loves to chew (not always items that are the best choice), but he's so quick to catch on to things (maybe too smart??!) and the dogs just seem to adore each other.

However, I've hardly been able to leave the house since his arrival on Friday and making beads has been out of the question!  Luckily he does settle down nicely to let me be on the computer so I should be able to add some of the pieces that came back from B&B to the website this week.


So, no new beads to show you although I can give you a look at how the tray was set up at B&B on The Art Bead's table...

Stay tuned, there will be beady goodness soon and not just flufferness!

UncommonGoods Jewelry Design Challenge

I was recently contacted by a representative from UncommonGoods, an online retailer that offers creatively designed, high-quality merchandise.  If you haven't been to their website before, definitely click on over and check it out.  They have all sorts of fun gifts and things that you don't realize you need until you see them!

Anyway, they let me know that they're running a challenge to find a new jewelry designer!  The winner will receive $500 and a vendor contract.

So, are you in??

Here is the press release they provided to me with all the details:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

UncommonGoods Hosts their Third Annual Jewelry Design Challenge

June 3, 2013 (Brooklyn, NY) - UncommonGoods, an online retailer that specializes in handmade, eco- friendly and uniquely designed gifts and accessories, has just launched their Jewelry Design Challenge, a call for unique, handmade jewelry including necklaces, bracelets, earrings and rings. The winner will receive $500 and an UncommonGoods vendor contract.

Guest judges will provide all runners up with a consultation and critique of their work, as well as tips for marketing and growing your business. Additionally, the UncommonGoods buying team will be happy to review full portfolios in consideration for future work.

After the call for entries, the semifinalist designs chosen by the UncommonGoods buyers will appear on UncommonGoods.com where the online community will vote on their favorite pieces to move on to the final round of judging. The top five voted designs will be judged by UncommonGoods Senior Manager of Etsy Wholesale Vanessa Bertozzi, jewelry maker Etta Kostick, and UncommonGoods Assistant Jewelry & Accessories Buyer Sharon Hitchcock.  A winner will be chosen in mid-July.

Until June 30, 2013 at 11:59 EST, designers and artists are welcome to share their products at http://www.uncommongoods.com/designs/jewelry.

For more information, contact Gaby Dolceamore at UncommonGoods,jewelry@uncommongoods.com.

**Accepting work from U.S. residents only

About UncommonGoods
Founded in 1999 and headquartered in New York City, UncommonGoods is a catalog and online retailer of creatively designed, high-quality products. UncommonGoods works with a growing network of artists and makers to bring unique and special products to customers across the United States.

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Bead and Button!!!

Well, I might not be there, but Chris from The Art of the Bead (previously Foremost Focals) is at Bead and Button in Milwaukee, WI this weekend for the Bead and Button Show.  She's set up at booth #1248 and has ever so graciously crammed in handfuls and handfuls of my pendants and beads on her display!

Stop by and visit her (say hi for me!) and don't be afraid to ask to see more of my pieces if you had something specific in mind...I sent charm pairs, pendants, bracelet bars and even some assorted color bead strands.  Due to space limitations she definitely won't be able to have everything I sent out on display (because I was crazy and sent her waaaaaay more than she bargained for)!

Have the most wonderful time there, wish I could be there too!

Twistie Bead Reveal!

I may have been a bad blogger lately but at least I managed to get my twistie beads out in the mail to my lovely blog partner participants with plenty of creation time before the big reveal!

This is what I sent out to my blog buddies...

Head on over to their blogs to see what Jean Yates, Sue Kennedy and Cindy Cima Edwards came up with!

I have lots of twistie beads up on the website if you're interested in coming up with your own "twist" (snicker, snort) on a design using one. 

There are still some individual twisties in buttercup yellow, rose blush, plum mocha, grape (like the challenge bead) and frosty blue that haven't been added yet so if you have your heart set on one of those glazes just shoot me an email and I'll get it listed for you!

Back with a Bang!

I feel like this is a recurring theme where I come back after a month plus of no blogging and make a comment about how long it's been since my last post... What this means for you is a hodgepodge of topics that have been sitting in mental storage for a month!  The upside is there's a reward in it for you if you're still following my blog so stick around until the end...

I mentioned my Heffalump like running style a few posts back as I was training for my very first half marathon back in January.  I'm happy to say that I completed it and I was able to finish in a respectable time for my first attempt, particularly after the two week illness leading up to the race!  The highlight of the ridiculous distance of 13.1 miles was this lovely pit stop with a sign reading "Pet us you'll run faster!".  I must say that it worked!  Of course as you can see in the photo I appear to be using him as support to avoid collapsing more than petting him!

With that event out of the way, I've been able to go back to my happy little running jaunts of a few miles...much more pleasant!

What else?  Ahhh, way back in February I mentioned that we had our home visit scheduled to adopt a rescue Golden Retriever to add to our furry family... I made the comment (in jest) that it might be easier to adopt a non-furrry, aka human, child...It would seem that what I thought was a joke is actually reality!  We passed our home visit and interview and were approved to adopt from the group.  So, I should be able to show you our new addition, right?  Nope, not so fast speed racer, we've now applied for eight (yes that's 8) different dogs and there is still only the one we started with in our home!  Two are pending right now as the fosters review applications, but I was told that there were over 25 applications for the one dog in just 24 hours!  Crazy, right?!  So, here's the only child all by her lonesome, taken with my new phone's camera as a test...

I finally had a chance to sit down in the studio and make more of my little trinket dishes that sold so well in Tucson.

The little ring dishes and rectangular trinket dishes that also work great as soap dishes are listed in my Etsy shop already.

 

I have some slightly larger dishes that are great for holding keys and those little bits and bobs that collect on the counter or the entry table and I'll be working on listing them this week as well.

They would make great Mother's Day gifts...hint hint...

So if you're still reading, I want to send out a twisty bead for some fun and adventure to a randomly selected blog commenter as well as my blog partners Cindy Cima, Sue Kennedy, and Jean Yates who I selected via random.org.  These are such fun little components but I definitely think that people are going to need to see some ideas to get the creativity flowing so that's where you come in!

A version of the purply blue twisty above will go to the preselected blog partners and this matte peach twisty will go to a blog commenter who enters the rafflecopter draw at the end of this post.

If you have an active blog and can commit to a post on May 31st with a finished piece featuring your twisty, I'd love to have you enter!  Hurry, I'm going to draw the name of the winner on Friday!

a Rafflecopter giveaway Good luck!