The Chatter Box 4/06-6/06

Wally's been doing a lot of fishing lately and this is a picture he took while on the lake.  

I'm pretty proud of this so I wanted to share it with you guys.  When I make my lampwork beads I use a brass press to make the beads into different shapes.  When I started using presses I had a few from different companies.  Then I soon realized that my Zoozii presses were by far the best and I sold off all my other ones.  Now I use Zoozii exclusively and I'm a big Zoozii cheerleader always telling everyone how great the tools are.  Oh, and the owner's name is Amy too!  Well, she contacted me recently and asked if she could use a picture of my beads on her website's home page...how cool is that?!!!  Take a look and make sure to put your mouse over the top center picture (my beads) after the page loads up:  Zoozii's  ....I won't even tell you how many presses I own!

I just spent about 20 minutes chasing this butterfly around.  I must have taken 50 pictures and lucked out with these two.  Sorry, I just couldn't reduce the size anymore...I wanted you to really see this guy...he's gorgeous! 

Here's another sneak peek at some of the new images.  Below is the ad I just did for the Sept/Oct issue of RSM.  The ad was due today and I got it to them 3 hours before the deadline.  They must love me.  Anyway, the sun is an older image but the cows and the blackberry branch are new.  I just love the blackberry branch...how about you Randy?

Not a whole lot has been happening around here lately.  I've just been enjoying being at home, making beads, filling orders and working on new images(!).  There's a little sneak peak at one.  Anyone know what kind of plant this is?  I have a customer that's an expert on identifying plants but I just can't remember who right now!  Hopefully she'll see this.  I'm thinking maybe a Clemantis?  Anyway, it fits perfectly on the #A-2 notecards.

I also wanted to say thank you for all the emails I've been getting.  I usually don't have time to answer when you let me know you received your order and how happy you are.  But I did want to let you know the emails do make me smile!  I love happy customers!

Check out this gorgeous flaming rainbow!   Anyone see this and take their own pictures?

I'm home and trying to play catch up on orders now.  The 'dorables are very happy I'm home too.  Misha wouldn't let me sleep last night.  He kept trying to nest in my hair and then slept right next to my face and kept tapping me for some attention.  Yes, it's good to be home and loved!  Wonder what Wally does while I'm gone?  Just look to the right!  Well, I do leave him a Beeswax list to do but when the fish are waiting he can get that list done in record time!

Mark Roseboom, one of our gallery artists, has started a blog of his own.  I just went over to take a peek and what did I see?...some artwork using Beeswax stamps!  Also, he has his own artwork website too:  Mark Roseboom

I got a wholesale order from a store in Japan this week.  They don't speak English and I don't speak Japanese so they use translation software to change my English to Japanese and their Japanese to English.  What a mess!  It usually takes us about 10 emails to get everything straightened out.  Translation software does it's best but it can really change the sentence structure and some of the words and make the whole email very bizarre.  Here's one strange sentence "It consented to the matter of the carriage".  That means they were fine with the shipping charges.  Now try deciphering an entire email like that!  So anyway, it reminded me of a website that I had meant to show you guys.  It's full of Japanese products that have been "translated" to English and it's pretty funny:  Engrish

BTW, Japanese is one of the languages I don't have a translator for so if anyone reads and writes Japanese I would love to add you to my translator list.

I'm in the last phases of getting ready for the MA show this weekend.  I'll be so glad to get home from the show and spend some time at home not worry about any upcoming shows.  And of course making beads and new stamps images too!  I still have 5 new images that I haven't even released yet so I feel like I have a bit of a jump there.  Oh and here's that new Kugler pink called "passion pink".  It's the dark salmon looking color which really isn't that salmon colored in person.  It was a hard set to photograph.  The picture will take you to the auction:

That's Misha being a very "Lazyboy" and utilizing the recline feature of Daddy's chair.  

I spent about 3 hours the other night scanning in 40 ATC cards.  That's the easy part too.  When I get home from the MA show which is next weekend, I'll get started on the ATC gallery.  There are a lot of really nice cards!  Anyone going the the MA show can see an art board of ATC cards that I'll have displayed.

Anyone wondering how the beads turned out that I made with the new Kugler pink...they are just FAB!  They'll go up on ebay Tuesday but I'll put a pic up here once I get some taken.  

Hope you're all having a great long weekend!

I'm not really sure how many bead people come here but it may be more than I think.  Anyway, I started a new email list for my bead customers.  This way I can let everyone know when a new auction is listed and also if I ever get around to putting up any specials.  Well I'm off to play with the new Kugler pink and I can't wait to see what I come up with.  I did list a new auction last night and the color combo is just to die for!  

Today we have bug pictures.  This new camera just rocks.  I can't believe the image quality and you wouldn't even believe how far away I was from that dragonfly.  And no, this one is alive!  It's the same dragonfly, he's in the same position but I just crouched down a little more for the darker picture and just missed the sun by doing that.  And isn't that the most bizarre caterpillar?  He looks like he has a few Tahitian head dresses on.

Amy Erickson was kind enough to share this with me and I just had to show you guys too.  She made this card for her husband's birthday.  Isn't it just the perfect card for your man?  I love how she did the water from the fountain.

On my way to the Denver airport I passed this long term parking lot...called WallyPark!  I had to pull over and take a picture.  I could just see this sign in the pasture at the end of our drive way. 

5-3-06

Here's a close-up of the beads I made from the hotel colors from Akron.  Below is the bedspread.  I never would have used these colors together but they really work well.  We'll see what Denver holds for me as I'm off tomorrow morning for the show.  The Denver show is at the fairgrounds and they usually have some alpaca show at the same time so I might be able to get some cute pictures.

I just finished doing my listing for the beads below.  They start later tonight.  There are two different auctions and both match the bedspread in the Fargo hotel.  Gosh I'm traveling way too much!  Anyway, I always like seeing where people get their inspiration from even if it is from a very bizarre source.  Here's a link to my auctions if you want to see the full sets when they go up: auctions.

I'm back from Akron and since I don't have anymore pictures from the trip to show you I thought I'd show you Trevor's other favorite place to sleep.  This is usually a nightly occurrence.  My first sets of "hotel series" beads are cleaned and in the dishwasher right now for their second cleaning session so I'll post them in a couple of days after I get them strung and photographed.  Other than that not much is going on around here.  I have a weekend at home, believe it or not.  So hopefully we'll have time to have a little fun.  There is a place nearby called Daffodil Hill that we never made it to last year.  I'm sure it's an amazing site to see an entire hill of blooming daffodils.      

It's late at night and I'm off to Akron early in the morning.  I wanted to show you a picture of Trevor's favorite place to sleep.  It's on top of the entertainment center on the TV's  DVR.  He's pretty smart because it's really warm on that thing!  Isn't this cat photogenic?  I did make beads the last couple of days in the same color as the bedspread of my last hotel.  Enough beads for two different sets and they turned out very pretty.  I'll show you pictures of them along with the picture of the bedspread when I get back.  Don't worry, I'll be checking out the color scheme in the two different hotels during this trip too! 

Here's something else that came from my weekend in Fargo.  There was a coffee shop across the street and I had the best latte I've ever had there.  The name of the place was killer, and then I saw the t-shirts!  I bought two of them.  Being an x-ray tech in my former life (oh how I love phrasing it that way!) the radiation symbol is perfect and the name Atomic Coffee is probably the coolest name I've ever seen for a coffee shop.  I'm so glad to be home but I leave again Thursday for the Akron show.  Today I'm making beads based on the color scheme of the bedspread in the Fargo hotel.  Ya gotta get your inspiration from somewhere!  I've been thinking that I should do a whole series of bead sets based on hotel room color schemes.  Obviously I'm not home enough.

I'm home from the Fargo show.  I flew into O'hare for a layover long enough to find the "Disco Tunnel", as the employees at the airport call it, and snap some pictures.  If you've never seen this it really is kind of a hidden attraction.  It's in Terminal 1, Concourse C.  The different colored neon lights blink on and off at random times so I had to take multiple pictures to get most of them all on at the same time.

A few more pictures from the Allentown convention.  On the left I'm standing with Beverly Shupp and the picture on the right I'm with Barbara Gayle.  Barbara's is the winner of the ATC card contest.  She got a prize package like everyone else but she also got $50 to spend at my booth.  Scroll down and you can see pictures of her entry.  Sorry for the carpet background but I did try to get pictures in different areas with different backgrounds and these were the best.  I just can't do her artwork justice.  She made an accordion ATC holder.  Each ATC is a playing card.  The back is one continuous scene.  It all folds up and ties closed.   She had never stamped a scene before except for the scenic class I taught at the VA Beach convention a couple of years ago.  Gosh, can I take credit for this....hehehe...I don't think so!  See Barb, you can do scenic stamping...pretty darn well too!

I have some more pictures of my last trip to show.   These are all of Steve Vander Meer of Meer Image.  A few of us went out to dinner Saturday after the show in PA and we got pretty lost on the way to the restaurant.  These pictures were taken after dinner while Steve was trying to find our way back to the hotel.  I couldn't stop giggling while taking these pictures because Steve's face was just priceless.  Oh, Carol (Steve's wife who has a very good sense of direction unlike me), we needed you!

Wally just yelled at me for not updating the blog...geesh!  I do have a good excuse since I've been pretty busy trying to catch up on orders and trying to get my booth restocked for the next show which is in one week.  Anyway, I do have some pictures to share but for now I only have time for this one.  It's the view from the plane on my way to the PA show: