Cat Helps with Laundry

Okay, so I warned you there would be some random bits of our lives thrown in here...and today is that day!  This past summer, a neighbor friend of mine called me to see if I'd want to take in a stray kitten she had found.  We had just lost an outdoor cat of ours, so we thought it was probably a good idea.  That was how Anela (uh-nay-luh - the name is Hawaiian for "Angel" - she is anything BUT...lol) came to live with us.  To say this cat is precocious is an understatement!  She's nosy, like all cats...but she has an affinity for the strangest things.  For instance, everytime my husband makes himself a drink and she hears the ice clinking into the glass, she bolts into the living room and waits eagerly on her haunches for him to arrive.  He chews the ice into little pieces, then tosses them across the living room floor for her to pounce on and then eat.

Last night, I walked into the kitchen to get a snack and was startled when I saw a head pop up above the rim of my kitchen sink.  You guessed it...weirdo cat. lol

But one of her absolute favorite pastimes is "helping" me do laundry.  Heaven forbid I should leave a pile unattended and come back, because inevitably, there will be a little something extra in there that I don't expect:

Ha!  She definitely keeps us entertained...what a nutcase she is! 


Dana :)

The Untold Story of the Unsold Beads

I'm not sure if this is true of all beadmakers or not...I've never asked anyone before...but usually when I make a set of beads, I not only visualize the design of the beads themselves, but how I would use them in a piece of jewelry.  Maybe that's because I started out making jewelry before I took a class to learn how to make beads, and I know Gloria began the same way.

So, if our beads don't sell, we usually have a plan for them.  Ever wonder where they go?  Well, here are some places they don't go, although...hmmm...it might be kinda fun to try some of these!

1) Deep sea diving
2) Teleporting to other dimensions
3) Space: The Final Frontier
4) The litter box (okay, NOT on purpose, anyway!)
5) The North Pole to wrap presents with Santa and become honorary elves

They also don't lie in a pile of dustbunnies to be forever abandoned and forgotten!  (That is true, isn't it Gloria?  Or maybe some of them lie in a pile of moss under your deck? haha - wink, wink - nudge nudge)

This weekend, both Gloria and I had jewelry shows.  She went to a new venue, and I hosted an open house at my home.  We both had a really nice time and very good sales, and Gloria said that her new venue is a keeper...which is always a plus!  I've already shown you some of the pieces I made using my beads for the open house...but you really need to see some of the gorgeous work Gloria did at her show!

So, without further ado (I just like saying that word...any excuse will ado...ha), here are some beautiful pieces that Gloria made with the unsolds:

Unleashing the Creative Beast!

Gloria and I are both in full-on create mode right now!  Like many of you who buy lampwork beads from us, we are also both jewelry designers...and this is the season for shows, craft fairs and even gift making!  We have been working diligently on jewelry designs while at the same time trying to keep up with listing our lovely beads every day. 

Throughout the process, we've been talking to each other about how it's been going, and gradually both of us were getting more and more stressed.  Gloria had a brilliant idea.  She said, "let's slow down."  Hmmm...sounds simple enough, right? ;)  Why is it always the simple ideas that take so long to realize?!  So we mutually agreed that, FOR NOW, we are going to back off on listing our auctions daily and just list 4 times a week. 

It's amazing to me how taking it down a notch creates such enormous freedom!  Suddenly, I am revived!  Instead of stressing over how I'm going to "get it all done", I'm simply enjoying the creative process again.  AND, I'm very pleased and excited with the jewelry designs coming out of this new, relaxed me. :)  In fact, I'm so excited that I'm going to post a few pictures of some of my favorites that came off the bead board so far!  Hope you enjoy them too...and if you're a local...hope to see you at my open house next weekend!  I can't wait!!!

Dana :)

Contest Winners ROCK!

We were so happy to have all the participation we had for this giveaway...especially since it's our very first post on our blog and our first contest as Happy Bird Glass!  Thank you all for making this fun!!!  Now it's time to announce our lucky winners:

Jael won bead #1 - "Cosmos" by Gloria
Valerie won bead #2 - "Delphinium" by Dana
Mallory (Rosebud101)won bed #3 - "Netherworld" by Dana
Marilyn N won bead #4 - "Heart of the Jungle" by Gloria

Congratulations to all of you lucky ladies!  Hope you enjoy creating with your new beauties!

Hope everyone had a terrific Halloween!  My boys are 10 and 11 years old, so Halloween is always a big deal around our house.  My oldest, Cohen, wanted to be an African Witch Doctor, so I had to get really creative and make him a costume complete with shrunken head!  GROSS! lol  The head turned out pretty creepy, so I asked Cohen if he wanted to sleep with it on his pillow.  For some reason he declined.  Hmmm.

Aidan was a pirate...or Juan Ponce De Leon...depending on when you asked him.  While he was in pirate mode, though, he came out and stood with his hands on his hips and legs slightly spread and announced, "Are ye lookin' to do some swashbucklin' but ye have ye no ship?  Then come over to Ye Olde Pirate Shoppe right now!  We've got portable ships for all yer piratin needs...for the low, low price of 10,000 lbs of gold!"  Needless to say, his little informercial antics had us all laughing.   A short while later, Cohen was walking around in full Witch Doctor garb, and pointed at his shrunken head, then pointed at Aidan's head.  No surprise he'd threaten to shrink his brother's head! ha!

We took them both to their first "haunted" experience...a "haunted trail" that was set up at a local park.  It was so much fun.  Of course, all the ghoulies targeted the woman and child at the back of the group...AKA...ME and Cohen.  So everytime I turned around, some THING was jumping out at me.  I screamed.  ALOT. hahaha

My youngest said we should never, ever do that again.  He's not a fan of being scared.  But my oldest was hilarious.  He kept asking the masked actors if they were free and wanted to hang out on Saturday night.  Then, at the end, when the psycho with the chainsaw came after us, he looked at the guy and said, "Hey, while you've got that fired up, could you make me some sushi?"

Oh...my...word.  My kids are a hoot!

Hope you all had a wonderful time...and are enjoying the chocolately goodness that is Halloween!
Dana :)

First Blog Post and Giveaway!

Hello everyone!  We are delighted to start up our blog and we hope you'll enjoy all the fun we have in store!  We're sure to have a random mix of glass news and other tidbits to share with you...and of course, best of all...CONTESTS and GIVEAWAYS!

So to kick things off right...we're gonna have our first giveaway right here, right NOW!  Here's how it will work:

Leave a comment on our blog to let us know you've stopped by to read it.  If you are not a member of our newsletter distribution, please be sure to include a way for us to contact you on your comment post.  Your comment will count as an entry in our giveaway.  ( By the way, if you are not a current newsletter subscriber, be sure to sign up by clicking our link below...our newsletters will keep you updated on all the latest bead listings, specials and giveaways like this one!) 

On Tuesday, November 2nd, we will put all of the names from our comment section in a hat and draw four random names.  Each of the four finalists will receive one of the focal beads below absolutely FREE!  How awesome is that?! :)

Here are the awesome beads up for grabs:

Thanks for reading and good luck everyone!!!

Dana & Gloria :)