I just listed this dynamic set of beads in our Etsy shop and I feel compelled to blog about them simply because they are just so beautiful and I am hoping that more people will see them over here!

Tell us what YOU think about them.  What do they remind you of?  What would you do with them?  How would you use them: all in one piece of jewelry or as a bunch of separate pieces?  I know our readers and admirers have lots of their own creative ideas so tell us what you think.  

 I think that Guy did an awesome job on these!  I don't think he made them all in one sitting and in fact, now that I'm thinking of it, when I showed him the set I had put together, he smiled because he didn't realize he made so many beads that were somehow similar and actually go together.

He's not one of those glass bead artists that can sit down and pump out a perfectly matching set.  It's just not how he works.  Everyday he sits at the torch is different.  Sometimes he makes a few beads, thinking he's just warming up, then suddenly those beads spur him into creating something he hadn't planned on so he pauses to make some stringer (the skinny mini rods of glass that he uses for most dots and lines) to use in a creation he has in his head or to grab some more rods.  

Of course, like any other artist, there are times when he sits down with a great idea and nothing seems to be working so he turns off the torch, turns off the kiln, turns off the lights, leaves the room, closes the door and goes outside to play with the horse!  Or something to that effect.  It just goes to show you that sometimes the best laid plans are only that - plans.  What happens when you sit down to carry out those plans can often be a totally different story!

You can find these lovely beads up for grabs in our Etsy shop.  We're having a 25% off sale this week, too, so go shop and take advantage of the lower prices!  Use coupon code 'Ribbitt' at checkout to receive the discount.  Did you know we offer free shipping to anywhere around the globe, too?!

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day.  It's 9:45pm here in Israel so I think I'm going to go scoop two bowls of ice cream for me and Guy and vegetate in front of the television for a bit before bed!  

Good night!  Lila tov! 

Blanche 

Chalupa

Chalupa, a photo by Blanche and Guy on Flickr.

Just looking through old pictures on our Flickr account and found this cute one of Chillum from six years ago. She looks so young! She's now 12 years old! I love my dog!!!

Just sitting around, gestating!

Ok.  Enough with the skin cancer photos and drama!  My scar seems to be healing just fine.  I was at the doctors office on Tuesday and he took a quick look at it, saying it's still a bit red, still a bit swollen but it's coming along and in 12 to 18 months it should be a very light line, barely noticeable.  A year to a year and a half, eh?! Wow!  Ok.  I guess I can deal with that.  I have to deal with that!  Let's hope I don't have to have more of these darn basal or squamous cell carcinoma's removed anytime soon.  Well, aside from the one on my lower cheek that the doctor already noticed and plans to remove a few months after we have our baby.  Sigh.  Oh well.  Definitely won't be leaving my house anytime soon without a huge, wide-brimmed hat!

So lately I've been just sitting around, gestating.  I don't have any kids to take care of full time anymore like I used to.  I miss having them around but it's kind of nice not having to be responsible for other people's children everyday!  But really, I do miss having them here.  The other day, after some rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel, our local town decided to shut down a few day cares for the day, just to be safe.  So my friend asked me to watch her little boy for a few hours in the morning.  It was nice to have a baby in the house again!  Here are some pictures I took of the cutie pie.  It was a chilly morning, so he had one of his lovely hand crocheted vests on!

  Obviously you can see that Guy likes having kids around, too!  I'm glad he is here to help me when I need him.  Of course there was only one little boy here that day, so no big deal - and he left after 2 hours!  So it was easy .. but after we have our baby we hope/plan to look for 4 or 5 little kids under the age of two to take care of 5 days a week.  I don't know how difficult it will be with our own little boy here, too, but that's the plan I have in my head.  It's a nice small number of kids and we are able to give them good, quality time here at our place.  We have a really big yard and lots of room to roam around.  I know people don't always like to put their kids in daycare too young, I totally agree, but I also know there is a need out there for people to have small, happy, friendly, safe places to leave their small children at.  So we'll see how it goes.  I don't think I would attempt to do such a thing if Guy wasn't around to help me, though!

Now for some glass beads!!! Guy has been making lots of cool new beads lately.  I've been listing them in our Etsy shop almost on a daily basis, trying to drum up some business.  Here are some of the latest pieces:

A set of pastel toned hollow beads

I love the colors in this bead set!

A very colorful and busy glass focal bead

Another angle of the same bead.  That's silvered ivory stringer in the middle. 

Guy has been making these glass beads since about 2005 and keeps getting better and better, from what I can tell anyways!  But it is still an exciting moment when he comes out of the studio with a new batch to give me, to make jewelry with or to simply photograph and sell as is.  I never get tired of it!  And I don't think he's getting tired of making the beads, either.  Of course he'd love it if he had a huge collection of every colored rod in existence but as it is, he has a lot to play and experiment from.  Here are some more.  What do you think?

Set of flat beads in opaque purple and red

Buster the purple glass frog bead pendant on pink suede

A big, clear green hollow focal bead

Pretty blue dotted glass bead earrings

Robin the green frog bead

Marty the brown glass frog focal bead

Fisher the green glass frog bead pendant on salmon suede (named after my friends new baby boy!) 

A dotted off-mandrel pendant

Khaki, orange and black bead set

I love this set of wild and colorful hollow beads!

A close up of one of the floral hollow beads from the set above

Another close up from the hollow set above

Another close up.  I love these hollows! 

Shelby the frog .. on black organza ribbon!