My Newest Beaded Bottle!

★★★★★
Don't forget to enter my blog giveaway. There are only a few more days left to enter. The lucky two winners will be announced on September 1st!  Click HERE to enter!  
★★★★★

 As you know I've been really trying to push myself and try new things.  A while back I made a little beaded vessel.  It was really fun to make.  I enjoyed making that little guy a lot.  Well my next project was to bead around an object.  I searched a house for a little bottle that I could use, and well we have a bunch of these little guys around (J plans on using them someday).  And I just sat down with my bead soup and started beading.  After many, many days (granted I was working on numerous other projects also) here is the finished product. 

I really think it looks cool.  I worked on it at the last few art shows, and people were really excited to look at it.  They seemed to get a kick out it.

Even though I really love the outcome and enjoyed beading around an object, I probably won't be trying this again for a little while.  I have a bunch of other projects that I need to work on first before I can start experimenting with patterns and other objects.  But I will bead around more things, it's fun and the end product is so much fun. 

★★★For fun, the first person who tells me what kind of bottle I used to do this product will be entered in my blog giveaway.  We have a winner to the trivia question!!!!!!!  Bobbi of The Bead Goes On won with the answer of a Tobasco bottle.  She will be entered in my blog giveaway.  Didn't win, that's okay, there are five other ways to enter.  Click HERE to enter!!  ★★★ 

An Update and New Ideas

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First off I want to thank everyone that has entered my blog giveaway so far.  If you haven't don't worry, you still have time.  The giveaway is open until August 31st.  One lucky winner will win a pair of beaded earrings and one lucky winner will win beaded butterfly cuff.  Yes, that's right, two winners, two great prizes.  

So please stop by HERE to enter (there are 5 possible ways to enter). 

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I made it through my last show of the summer season.  I luckily felt pretty well.  I even ate some cheese bread and part of a calzone.  I know, there's nothing like being sick for a whole week and then jumping right into some calzone, buts that's what I wanted.  At least I didn't go for the bbq calzone.  Hehehe, oh that sounded so good.  The show was okay.  There were a lot of talented artists there and a lot of lookers, but not a lot of buyers.  I did meet a nice woman that holds home shows and she told me that she features local artists at her shows and said that she would be interested in featuring me if I would like.  So I think I might go to her next one and I might take her up on that offer.  That's a pretty awesome offer.  I'll keep everyone updated on that.

I've been spending a lot of time with J's band mates and I've been thinking about offering a few music related things.  I've been playing with all the guitar strings I've been collecting from J over the years and I think I have a few good ideas down.  I made myself this bangle with some leftover beads and some strings (I know the picture is awful).  I love how it looks and I have a few other ideas I'd like to try too.  I'd like to try braiding the thick wires, I think that will look great.  And we have a few different ideas for adding clasps. 

I have also been thinking up a few different beading ideas and I think I'm going to get a loom to try out these ideas on.  J has promised he'd make me a loom, thank god for engineers, right.  So he's been looking at different looms and planing mine out.  I can't wait for it to be finished.  Hopefully I can figure out this whole loom thing.  I tried it once before and it didn't go over so well, so I'm hoping it will work better this time.  So I'll have to post some pictures as soon as I try my newest "experiment."  
So I'll keep everyone updated on my latest ideas and post some teaser pictures soon. ☺

Blah!

Momma, I'm glad you've decided to stay home with me forever!

That's how I feel right now.  I have been sick with gastroenteritis (that's a fancy term for "you have some sort of stomach bug").  I'm not as sick as a few years back when I got norovirus, oh that was a bad couple of weeks, but I'm just not feeling good at all.  I have no appetite and food just doesn't want to stay in my system.  But I have been showing signs of improvement and luckily I work with some of the best people in the world, so I don't have to worry about the lab too much while I'm home.  The down side is that even though I've had the last few days off, I've been too sick to do anything, even bead.  I even tried playing Lego Starwars last night, but about 30 min in I had to stop.  Too Bad, being this sick is awful.  But Yoda is really loving it.  She's having a great time with me home.  I think she's off her normal schedule now, so next week when I go back to work might be a little challenging, as she likes to sleep in now.  Spoiled little brat. 

Unfortunately I have an art show tomorrow in Wales, WI.  I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to pull that off.  I guess I should be okay as long as I don't try to eat anything.  I'm not really looking forward to tomorrow at all and I'm hoping that they will be understanding, that if I need to leave, I'm going to leave.  I'm hoping that J will help me out as much as he can, so I can just sit and rest.  Then hopefully the day won't be too challenging.  Fingers crossed.  So I guess if you are in the Milwaukee, WI area tomorrow, Saturday, August 21st, you should stop by and say hi or just check to make sure I'm still alive.  Don't worry I'm not contagious, I can't get you sick ;-).           

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Also don't forget to enter my blog giveaway.  To celebrate three years selling on Etsy, I'm giving away a pair of blue earrings and a blue butterfly cuff.  

Stop by this blog post to enter for your chance to win one of these great prizes.  You have up to five ways to enter. 

Click HERE to enter today.  This giveaway will be open until the end of the month, so you have plenty of time to enter.  

Oh My Arms

So Sunday was the 6th annual Craftacular in Madison.  It was a fabulous collection of artists from WI.  They had some really cool things.  J had a great time walking around finding different things he wanted.  I unfortunately didn't get a chance to walk around.  I wish I could have.  I would have liked to meet some of my fellow Wist team members.  But, alas I had to hold down the fort, literally.  I was outside, right next to beautiful Lake Monona.  Which sounds like a beautiful place to be, except for the gale force winds that were whipping through my booth.  I spent the day holding down the wall that was helping to reduce the amount of wind that was blowing.  So now my arms are in so much pain I can barely hold them above my head ;-)

Despite the winds, I had a pretty good day.  I sold a few cuffs and quite a few beads.  I also gave out almost all my cards.  I even got a custom order for a couple little bracelets for a woman's two little granddaughters.  So even though the wind made it tough at times, we had a pretty good day.  And now I have a list of things I can get J for Christmas.

So it's on to the next show this coming Saturday.  This one will be in Wales, WI.  I attended this show last year and had a great time, so I expect it will be just as fun this year.

And don't forget to enter my blog giveaway.  I'll be celebrating three years with Etsy this week, so I want to share the good times with all of my readers. Click HERE to go to the post to enter.  Just leave a comment and you can be entered to win this great pair of earrings or this fun butterfly cuff.  This giveaway will be open till the end of August.

A Blog Giveaway

So I haven't done a blog giveaway in a long, long, long time.  I think it's been about a year, yup like I said, a long time.  So I think it's time for a little giveaway.  Next week will mark three years with etsy and I'd like to thank everyone that has made it a wonderful experience.  So time for the giveaway.   

So what exactly is up for grabs here?  Well let take a look, shall we.

First up is a pair of blue dangle earrings.  These are fun bright blue earrings made with tiny little silver lined beads and then accented with glass bicones.  I have a pair of gunmetal ones like this, and I get complements everywhere I go.  But these earrings are not for the weak of heart, they measure in at 3 inches in length.

I'm also going to be giving some lucky person a beaded cuff.  Yup a really cute blue butterfly cuff.  It's fun and playful with two light blue butterflies dancing around your wrist.  It measures about 2 inches wide and has an adjustable wrist size.  


So what do you have to do?  There are a few simple ways you can enter.  

First you can leave a comment on this blog post.  It can be anything; you can tell me what you would do if you won or just say hi.  Any comment will equal one entry.

You can tweet about this giveaway, don't forget to add #threefates to the tweet so I can find it.  Then come back here and let me know you tweeted the giveaway.

You could blog about this giveaway.  Just write a short blog post describing the giveaway and link back to my blog.  Then don't forget to come back here and leave a comment to let me know.

And finally you could make a post about it on Facebook.  It can be a post on your personal page or your business page, it doesn't matter.  And like before, just come back here and leave a comment letting me know you did it. 

**I've also decided to add a 5th way to enter my giveaway.  If you are not already a fan of the Three Fates Design Facebook page, become a fan and leave a comment here letting me know you did.  That will give you a 5th chance at winning one of the fantastic prizes.**

Each one of the things above will count as one entry, so you could have your name entered in the drawing up to five times. 

I'll leave this giveaway up until the end of August.  That will give everyone plenty of time to enter and it will give me plenty of time for art shows and everything else that's crazy here.

I will randomly choose two lucky winners on September 1, 2010.  So don't forget to stop back here and see if you won (please leave a way for me to contact you in one of your comments).

Comments must be in by midnight (central time) on August 31, 2010.  Sorry no choice on which item you win (one person will win the earrings and one will win the cuff).

Almost Ready

I have been working to get all of my stuff ready for Craftacular on Sunday.  I'm not sure why I'm so flighty this time, it's not my first show, I know how this stuff goes.  But for some reason I'm just not fully on my game.  Maybe it's because I've had about a month off from art shows, and I'm just not really back in the swing of things.  I guess I've enjoyed my little vacation too much.

Well last night I finally finished up my 15% off coupons that will go in the gift bags.  All 136 of them finished.  I wanted to try to make something small to put with each coupon, but I just didn't have the time (beaded pieces would take too long and my glass studio is out of commission right now, so maybe next time).  I just hope their not to late to still make it in the goody bags.  It's kinda cutting it close.

I even had time last night to make a couple little invitations for friends and family.  I think they turned out pretty cute.  I should have sent some home with my mom last night, but I just wasn't ready too, next time.

So now I just have a few small things that need to be done.  I need to repack my boxes because I learned the hard way that cheep plastic boxes don't cut it, just pony up and buy the nice ones.  I need to get my new weight bags filled and few other small things.  Looks like I will be ready in time.  I hope as long as I don't get distracted by other things.   

So come stop by the sixth annual Summer Craftacular on Sunday, August 15, 2010 at the East Side Club in Madison, WI.  I will be at booth 77 on the outside lawn.  It will be nice looking out on the lake all day.  Two of the bars will be open and the Tiki bar will be serving food.  There will also be goody bags for the first 50 people to show up, that's worth coming right there.

**And later this week I will be offering an awesomely great giveaway celebrating three years with Etsy.  I hope to have that posted tomorrow or Friday.  You won't want to miss this one**

Getting Ready!

Well as normal, life is just crazy around here.  Can I even consider it crazy if we're so use to it being this way, or is this just normal now?  Oh I really hope not.  I really hope things can become a little less stressful and calm down a little bit.  But I what can I do, oh yeah, I can bead :-D

I have been working on a few new projects as of late.  I'm about 3/4 of the way done with my latest beaded bottle.  I can't wait to finish that one up.  It's gonna look pretty cool.

I also have been working on next month's EBW challenge piece.  I'm really happy with how it's turning out and I think it goes great with the BollyWood theme.  Hopefully I'll have that done by the end of the month and I won't miss the deadline.

crappy picture of 1st spiral rope

I have discovered spiral ropes.  I absolutely love making them.  They are quick to work up and have such a nice delicate look to them.  I'm currently working on my third one.

Here is my first attempt at one. I used black and silver seed beads to create an elegant look.  I then made my stitches larger at the bottom, so that the necklace had a nice lacy, loopy look to it.  I was so happy with this one that I imediatly started working on another.  That one is the necklace for my challenge piece, so no peaking until I finish.

Last night I started on a light blue and white spiral rope.  I'm using a larger white bead to make the necklace more substantial, but it still has a wonderful delicate feel to it.  I should be able to finish that one by the weekend, so stay tuned for pictures.

And if our personal lives weren't enough, I have my next round of art and craft shows coming up.  It was a nice month break, but back to work for me.

This Sunday I will be at the 6th annual Summer Craftacular.  I'm pretty excited about this show.  It's going to be held at the East Side Club, which is a great supper club right on lake Monnona here in Madison.  I'll be at booth #77 outside on the lawn (overlooking the lake).  So if you're in the area stop by and see some the really great artists.  There will be something for everyone.  Both the upper bar and the tiki bar will be open and there will be food.  Fun times for all.  Now I just hope I can get my 15% off coupons done and turned in so that they are in the goody bags (the first 50 people get a goody bag stuffed full of fun stuff).  I better finish those up and get my butt to the post office tonight.

Now I'm headed back to the daily grind.  J and I are hoping to share some exciting news with everyone soon, but we have to wait a couple weeks still to get word back.  It will hopefully bring big changes to our lives (and way more craziness), but it will be worth it.  We're ready to take that next step in our lives (it's not a baby, that isn't on the agenda for a couple more years).  

And while I'm talking about J, the band has a show on August 16th at the High Noon Saloon in Madison.  You should check them out if you're in the neighborhood.  

August Voting Time!!!

It's that time again, time to vote for you favorite EBW challenge piece.  This month's challenge was Gold and Silver, and boy where there ever some pretty entries.  Visit the EBW Blog from now until August 15th to vote for your favorite one.  Click on the mosaic above to go to the EBW Blog to see all the pretties.  

This was my entry; Chrysus - Free form Beaded Cuff.  It's # 37 on the list.   

It's gonna be hard just to pick one of the 50 entries, but what are you waiting for, go vote today!

EBW Challenge Piece

My EBW challenge piece

I know I've shown pictures of this cuff before, but I finally got it listed on etsy, one day before this month's deadline.  I didn't want to miss out on this challenge since I had missed last month's deadline (I forgot that the deadline was the 5th).

This month's challenge is Gold and Silver.  I love this idea.  Just that perfect combination of two extremely classy colors.  I also love seeing all the beadwork made with these two colors, all those little tiny silver and gold beads just shimmer in the light.  Beautiful.  I know voting is going to be difficult this month, there are already so many beautiful entries.  You can search EBWC on etsy to find all the entries and don't forget to visit the EBW blog between August 9th and 15th to vote for your favorite piece. 

Here are a couple of my favorite entries (even though it's hard to pick).

This beautiful cuff, Silver Remake Beaded Cuff,  was created by Beads and Blooms and is just to die for.  I absolutelty love the silver mesh piece in the center of the cuff.  Just beautiful. 

Then I love this necklace, The Sunshine After the Rain, from The Crimson Moon.  It's has a simple yet spectacular feel to it. 

Both pieces are just a taste of some of the beauties that you can vote for this month.  Like I said before, it's going to be a tough decision this month. 

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And I've already started thinking about next month's challenge; BollyWood.  I have a clay cab I made that will just work perfectly, now to decide what I'm going to do and start working on that one.  :-) 

I'm still here

My oh my, it's been almost a week since my last blog post.  Where have I been lately?  Well unfortunately I can't say that I was on some wonderful tropical vacation sipping drinks with little umbrellas in them on the beach.  No, no, I was not on vacation, I've just been without internets for quite some time.  Our internet went out with the last batch of storms, ground lightning knocked out our router box.  So the cable guy finally came out last week to get it fixed.  Now I'm back up and running.  

I've been working on a variety of different projects, that I'll soon be unveiling.  Well hopefully I will, they seem to be taking more time then I thought they would.  I have a new beaded bottle that I'm more then half way finished, I'm hoping this weekend I'll be all done with that.  I also have decided to jump into spiral ropes.  I'm really loving how fun they are to make and I can't wait to make a few more.  

I also received my new business cards last week (top card).  I'm really happy with the overall look.  They are deffinetly a lot more personal then my last cards (the bottom card).  My last cards were a generic design and I just wanted something that was more me.

  I will have to tweak the font size a bit on the next batch because there is a lot of empty space one the right.  J had a few good ideas on how to make the font more interesting.  So I guess back to photoshop for me.  I'm gonna be a pro at this soon.  :-)


I'm getting ready for my next round of shows.  My next one is in Madison on August 15th.  I don't have too much more to do.  I can check new business cards off my list.  I also ordered a few styluses (is that right?) for my iphone.  I had a few people that found it difficult to sign with their fingers at my last show, so I did some research and found a nice stylus that works surprisingly well.  I have all my boxes and bags as well as new display hooks and weight bags for my canopy. 

I just have to get the rest of my 15% coupons printed off and sent out for the goodie bags.  Now if I can just get my computer to cooperate I'll be done in no time. :-D