Archives

March <                                                                                                             < May 

Saturday ~ April 1st

We're off on a cruise to Mexico tomorrow.  We'll be snorkeling, riding on an old pirate ship, visiting a small Mexican fishing village, drinking a few margaritas & soaking up the sun!  I'll be back in just over a week & should have some photos to share. 

In the meantime, I drew a name for the March contest - congratulations to Sandi Miller!  I'll be working for 2 hours making her Princess Sadie beads, once I get home. 

And since I don't have any beads to show you at the moment (still working on the blue & green color combo), I thought I would share some other art forms that I appreciate:

Chris Bliss - who needs chainsaws & flaming torches when a little Beatles will do!

Daryl Benson is a seriously talented photographer that shoots a lot of photos around Alberta (my home). 

Les Stroud makes an art form out of survival.  Have you ever seen his show Survivorman?  He goes out for an entire week to some remote area & lives with nothing but his camera gear and a few odds & ends.  The entire time he shows you how to get by if you were in the same scenario.  Very informative & entertaining!  

Christina Rosalie  of My topography is such a gifted writer, check out this quote:

   "Sometimes it feels impossible to make words describe the things my heart needs to

    say. Sometimes, barely, the right ones arrive on the page in the nick of time to save

    me from the heartache of knowing but not being able to explain."

And Andrea Scher is my superhero when it comes to the art of advice - she is wise beyond her years...

Monday ~ April 10th

We've been back a day & I'm still rocking from the ship, what Chris calls "Stillness Illness".  I've even stumbled a couple of times walking around the house ~ weird.  I've unpacked, finished the laundry, went through all my emails & I've gone through my photos so I have lots of pictures to show you.  Click on the mermaid to see.

It's good to be home - while lying in bed this morning, I could hear the robins singing!

Monday ~ April 17th

                                 Butterfly Beads                                  

Sorry for the silence ~ I was working on a project for the Cross Cancer Institute last week.  They commissioned me to make 70 beads for the "Look Good, Feel Better" program volunteers.  Each woman will be making a bracelet with one of these beads in it as part of a celebration to thank them for their work with helping other women deal with the temporary changes that occur due to cancer treatment. 

I was honored to be a part of this program & as a special nod to my dad, who passed away from cancer 4 years ago, I made butterflies.  The summer that he died, we saw more butterflies then usual & we would think of him when we saw them.  Since, they've become a special reminder of his spirit.

Hope you had a wonderful Easter - we spent the whole weekend with family & friends & the Easter bunny came!  He brought me lots of chocolate & wine (what a good bunny!). 

This week I'm working on more orders.  I do have some green & blue beads I would like to get up here soon, just need to make a few more before I can put a strand together...stay tuned!

Tuesday ~ April 18th

Images from the weekend ~

Thursday ~ April 20th

Check this out ~ pretty cool!

Saturday ~ April 22nd

Happy Earth Day!  Here's a link and another link for information on how to be greener.  And my favorite organization, check out how you can help here.  What commitments & changes have you made to celebrate & respect the earth?  What's your government doing to make this world a sustainable place to live for your children?  This is as good of day as any to ask these questions.

Monday ~ April 24th

I'm back, recovering after a wild & crazy stagette in Calgary on the weekend. 

My friends Tricia & Mike are getting married in Costa Rica on the 3rd of May & asked me to make the wedding jewelry for Tricia, her 2 bridesmaids, her mom & her flower girl.  Thought I would share the results with you:

This is Tricia's wedding bracelet.  The lampworked beads have silver dichroic glass centers with white flowers on top.  Mom added swarovski crystal cubes & doughnuts along with sterling silver "disco balls" & a beautiful heart & arrow clasp for a nice romantic touch.

These bracelets were made with Tricia's mother's dress in mind.  She's wearing pink & black so I made several styles of beads in that color scheme.  Tricia ended up picking the bracelet with the dark pink frit glass & roses.   I really like the outlined lentil look so I think I'll make some more today.

The Bridesmaids have very summery blue dresses with white & blue flowers & I think these beads were an excellent match to the outfits.  They are accompanied by swarovski crystals, sterling silver spacers & very funky silver clasps.  The flower girl's bracelet is in the picture below with one lampworked bead & crystals on an elastic cord. 

Here's a shot of all of them ~ that's what I was doing last week.  This week, yet more orders & I'm working on some new things for a little mother's day sale we're going to have.  I'll post details of when it will be so if you're interested, stay tuned or email me & I can give you more information.  I gave my mom some beads that I have been saving for a website sale.  When she gets a chance, she's going to string them together & then I can post some specials up here.  Lots of things to do, I better get cracking.  Enjoy your day!

Tuesday ~ April 25th

                                 Pink Panther Beads

I continued on with the pink beads, inspired by the beads I made for Tricia's mom's bracelet.  I really dig these ~ they're very graphic yet quite feminine.  I just handed them over to my mom, she'll be turning them into some beautiful jewelry pieces for our Mother's Day Sale.  We finally set the date, it will be Saturday, May 6th from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. & for those that can't make it on Saturday, we'll be open again on Sunday, May 7th from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.  Just small windows of time as this is sort of a mini sale - originally we were not going to have an open house until November, but we've had a lot of people ask if they could come by before Mother's Day to see the jewelry so we thought we better get something organized.  I will be emailing my "Mailing List" soon.  If you live in Edmonton & are not on the list, just email me at carrie@beadtree.net & I'll get you on it.  For those of you that don't live in Edmonton, what do you think about these beads?  Would you like me to make some beads to have available here?  Let me know at carrie@beadtree.net. 

Wednesday ~ April 26th

                               Centuras A Galaxy

How's your hump day going?  If it was anything like yesterday for me, I hope these links cheer you up.  Yesterday I was trying to make a custom order bracelet with a color combination that I haven't worked with before & it just wasn't working, so I took a break & did a little web surfing.  I found some pretty funny things, including the Tom Cruise snippet on Go Fug Yourself.  Then I discovered this Fish School Site that claims that you can teach your fish tricks!  And I just love SNL Jeopardy ~ suck it Trebek.

Now, back to work.

Friday ~ April 28th

                     New beads ~ silver, lime & aqua

Yippee!  It's Friday & a beautiful Friday at that here.  I'm skipping the gym this morning & instead, I'm going to bike over to my mom's house & go for a walk in the river valley followed by coffee & berries on her deck - how awesome!  Later, Chris & I have appointments with our banker & accountant & then a barbeque with friends we haven't seen in ages so I don't think I'll be making beads, but I have good news!  I will have some specials up by Sunday so come back to check them out.  Have a wonderful weekend!

Sunday ~ April 30th

SPECIALS ALL SOLD - Thanks everybody!

And the answer to the bonus game of what connection do the titles of all the specials have with each other?  They're all foreign words & phrases frequently used in the English language.  Do you know what they all mean?  Heck, I didn't - here's a rundown: 

1. a cappella (It) - in the church style, vocally

2. billet doux (Fr) - love letter 

3. carpe diem (L) - seize the day

4. de gustibus non est disputandum (L) - there is no arguing about taste

5. femme fatale (Fr) - alluring, dangerous woman

6. in medias res (L) - in the middle of things

7. joie de vivre (Fr) - good spirits, exuberance "joy of living"

8. laissez-faire (Fr) - noninterference "let people do as they wish"

9. mazel tov (Y) - congratulations

10. par excellence (Fr) - above all, preeminently

11. raison d'etre (Fr) - reason for being

12. savoir faire (Fr) - social savvy "to know what to do"

13. veni, vidi, vici (L) - I came, I saw, I conquered

14. wanderlust (Gr) - desire to travel

Congratulations to Catherine Danzinger for figuring it out first!  I'm sending her a little bead treat.