New Giveaway Starting ... Now!

Hi there! Just leave a comment here for your entry! We will be choosing a random entry number next Tuesday evening. Up for grabs is this very pretty focal bead made by Guy.



He used a clear, light purple glass for the first layer of glass. He shaped it into a nice bi-cone shape then added lines of opaque ivory and turquoise. Lovely pools of clear purple finish off the design. He flattened the bead to about 7mm thick.


Kiln annealed for strength and durability. You could loop it onto some leather or hemp for a simple look or wire wrap it into a funky pendant. It is very pretty in person!


Thanks for stopping by today! Good luck!

Winner of this week's giveaway: Paxye!

Congratulations Paxye! You are the random winner of this week's giveaway! Thank you to everyone who visited and commented on our blog this week! Check back tomorrow for the next lampwork bead giveaway from Blanche and Guy Designs!

Here are some pictures of a gorgeous, fresh and colorful bouquet Cathy and Guy cut for me in the garden. These are Bleeding Hearts in case you were wondering or haven't already had the pleasure of seeing in real life:

Aren't they adorable? So precious and pink!

These are a fantasmical variety of Daffodil's.

And lastly, a cute little nest they found on the ground in the garden. It's an old one so don't worry. I don't think they'll use it again anyways. It's amazing to see the creativity of the creature that put this nest together. He/she even used the warning sticker from the back of a lighter! Maybe we should put a few little froggy beads in there for a photo shoot!


Lights out here soon. We're getting up at 5:30 in the AM to go horseback riding! Yee haw!

Have a great evening!

- Blanche

Spring Chicks Have Arrived!

Our first spring on the ranch ... and we now have CHICKS! Cathy discovered them today. They were all alone. I guess they hatched and mommy left them alone. Or maybe they hatched alone! Cathy heard them chirping today as she passed by the hen house. She was throwing hay out to the all animals. One chick was up on a steel roof (and it was a hot day here today!) so he's a bit dehydrated and sluggish.


We hope he can pull through and grow strong like his mommy and daddy, whomever they may be! The other chick was down on the ground and is very lively so hopefully no worries about him/her. They are so darn cute.


Guy's back was killing him this afternoon so he went to lay down while Cathy and I fed the animals and stood staring at the chicks. Cathy had a great idea: let's bring the chicks over for Guy to see. And so we did.

Of course with his goofy antics, I had to go and grab the camera.... There are a ton more pics of the episode over on our Flickr page. So go and enjoy. Have a laugh with us! We laugh entirely too much for one couple so go ahead and share!

And by the way - we are giving these lovely earrings away on Tuesday evening! Be sure to leave a comment on the post below for your chance to win them.

Thanks for stopping by today. Hoping you enjoyed this gorgeous weekend as much as we did!

Tweet! Tweet!

This Week's Giveaway!

Hello everyone! I'm so sorry that it has taken me so long to put up this week's giveaway! But here it is now. Hope you will like these cute little earrings I made.

The glass beads are clear and burgundy swished together in the flame. Guy shaped them into a semi-flat shape.

I wire wrapped them and added a gorgeous Swarovski bead to each earring, along with some gold-toned spacers and sterling silver chain to dangle them from your ears.

They are 2.5 inches long from top to bottom. They look very flirty on!

All we ask you to do - to enter this fun giveaway - is leave a comment here on our blog. We will accept entries until next Tuesday evening, when we draw a random number. If that number matches your comment number, you win! Feel free to spread the word on your own blog, twitter, facebook, myspace or in real life, with your own friends and family. Be sure to mention our Etsy shop to everyone, too!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Take care,
Blanche and Guy

The Slow Movement

As I was browsing through Etsy's front page today, I noticed this wonderful article in The Storque. It's about slowing down and how the world can benefit from demanding less efficiency out of our days. It's a hard thing to get our heads around but I think it's a great idea. Check out the article and the book for yourself.

What is this weeks giveaway? I think I'm going to photograph a lovely pair of earrings now and post them. How's that sound?

Another Treasury!

I happened to be sitting at the computer at the right time - about an hour ago - and the number of Treasury spots read: 337! I couldn't believe my luck. So within a minute, a bunch expired and there it was, that empty box at the bottom of the screen, just waiting for me to fill it in! Since I had about an hour before snatching my other treasury the other day, I had time to do a poster sketch of it. That was fun. I love mixing up all the colors. The other day I focused on Turquoise and today I focused on Magenta. I love Magenta! Hope you can all take a look. The other one made it to the front page. Could this one, too? That would be super-duper-cool! Here it is! There are so many wonderful items on Etsy, I could make Treasuries all day long.

and the winner is...

Digital Misfit! You are the lucky winner of this week's giveaway!!!! Congratulations and thanks to everyone for playing! I'll post a new prize for next Friday night's giveaway!

Happy weekend to you all!!

Blanche and Guy

Leona

Hi there! I just placed little miss Leona in our glass bead shop over on Etsy. Isn't she gorgeous?

She's so excited to be a part of the gang over there. She gets into trouble without a job to do!

She was a great model. A joy to work with. I'd write a recommendation for her anyday!

new froggy's in the shop!

i've just added three new froggy's to the shop this morning before me and my guy take off to the metropolis of kingston, ny in a bit... check them out! don't forget to comment on the giveaway post for your chance to win Florencio the glass frog bead! Drawing is next Friday. Good luck.


Hope all of you out there enjoy your Saturday! It's rainy and dark here but we're going to get out and make the most of the day.

See you all later!
- Blanche and Guy, Dino and Chillum
:)

and the winner is....

The winner of our first weekly drawing is .... Sharon!!!! Congratulations Sharon! Take a peek at her beautiful blog! Your lovely bead necklace will be in the mail to you tomorrow. Thanks to everyone else who entered. For next week's giveaway... we have chosen to let Florencio go out into the world on his own. Whoever wins has to promise to take good care of him!




Florencio is a gorgeous pastel lime green frog, perched upon a transparent dark purple bead. Isn't his expression adorable? I wire wrapped him on fine silver, added sparkly purple velvet Swarovski crystals, a crocodile print silver Bali bead and a lobster clasp to the top so you can move him to any necklace you already have in your jewelry box. Purple and green = mmm mmm mmm! To enter: simply leave a kind comment below. Drawing will be on Friday, April 10th. Guy picks a random number from the total comments. He tries to do his part around here - besides making the most wonderful glass beads! For more pics of Florencio, check out our Flickr photostream.

By the way: My flickr friend Lorelei is having a giveaway this week on her blog, too! I guess a lot of us are feeling very generous this spring!

And my friend Sarah on Flickr needs your votes! She only needs a couple more votes to be in the running for the grand prize! It takes just a few secs to register then you get to vote for her.

Thanks for stopping by today guys! Please spread the word about our froggy giveaway this week. We appreciate you stopping by today. Have a great evening! It's FRIDAY!!!!!!!

Rodolfo, Rainbows and Roy...

You'll have to go over to our Etsy shop and take a gander at Rodolfo. Isn't he handsome? He's a chubby, coral/mango/orangish colored little dude: a result of all the fun Guy's been having, playing with all his new colored rods in the studio. I bought some sterling silver ball chain when I was down in the City a few weeks ago. I've been saving to use it on something really special, and turns out Rodolfo was that something special! I love this chain. It's very sturdy and strong. I can trust it to hold very heavy beads. I was hoping I'd be able to pull it through one of Guy's beads but it is a bit too thick. I'll have to buy some of the skinnier stuff next time, or he'll have to use thicker mandrels, so he gets a larger bead hole. I didn't always like the look of ball chains but this one has got me hooked. It's expensive, though! Oh well - Guy's frogs and beads deserve the best to make them shine brighter than they already do.
Just a reminder - we'll be randomly choosing the winner of our first weekly drawing tomorrow evening. Hurry and leave a comment on the giveaway post below for your chance to win! Thanks for all of the support you guys have been showing it! It really helps keep us going in the studio. Yay for the internet! :) Wait till you see NEXT week's giveaway!

On a sad note: Roy the Treeing Walker Coonhound was adopted last week from here at the ranch - which is a great thing. But this morning his owner brought him back due to numerous complaints! One being that little Roy-Boy chewed off the guy's mattress while the guy was asleep! That must have been some pretty sound sleeping not to hear a dog gnawing his way through your mattress!

I'll admit I was glad to see Roy back here - running around like a loony toon's character - but he DOES need a Forever Home. So if any of you out there have the urge to adopt a highly athletic hound dog with a LOUD bark - give me a buzz! He requires ample room to run off leash 24/7! So it looks like the ranch might turn out to be his forever home. My house is too small for the two dogs that I already own but outside they have 10 acres to romp on, plus another 100 or so that belongs to neighbors that don't live here... So he wears himself out pretty good here. But please - we really need to find him a home. Spread the message, m'kay? Thanks guys!

- Blanche

Coral Mango Frog Earrings!

Check out these ADORable little coral mango colored FROGGY earrings! We've just added them to our Etsy shop. Guy is on a role .. making itsy, bitsy little froggy beads almost everyday now! I can't keep up with him. Which is a good thing! It doesn't hurt to have a few extra pairs of froggies waiting around for me.

Please take a look at our Etsy shop. And don't forget to enter to win the gorgeous glass heart pendant in the post below. Drawing is on Friday. Encourage all of your friends and family to enter! We want to give away beads people! :)


Thanks for stopping by today. Hope you have a wonderful day!

- Blanche and Guy