1000 Facebook Fans Celebration ~ Giveaway!

A few days ago I hit 1,000 fans (or "likers") on my Maybeads Facebook page. I couldn't be happier to have this many people following my work. Thank you! And what better way to celebrate than to give away a bead! Here it is, fresh from the kiln:

It's an owl wearing the latest in feather fashion - layers. I've been experimenting a lot with this style of chest feathers, and I was quite pleased with this color combination of blue, green and orange.

So here are the rules:

You have to be a Maybeads fan on Facebook to enter. After that, just leave a comment below about anything (beads, glass color combos, the weather, the holidays, your pets, etc.). Also, be sure to leave an email address or a way to reach you.

For an extra entry, share the post I put on my Facebook page about the giveaway. Then leave me another comment telling me you did so.

I'll pick the winner Wednesday night (12/7/11).

That's it! Thank you so much for your support!

Lauren

Grinning Beads ~ teeth and all

My poor beads must only eat jello because none of them have teeth. I've given an occasional tooth to a gator, but that's really about it. Teeth are a rare feature on my beads (almost as rare as tongues). My beads are awfully jealous of the toothy grins they're seeing on other lampwork critters (and I'm awfully jealous of their creators' mad skills).

Until I can figure out how to make turtle teeth, my beads will have to keep on gumming it. And I'll keep on grinning every time I see beads like these:

This Patriotic Big Hole Cat Bead Set by PuddyTatGlass just cracks me up. The expressions say it all.

This whimsical brooch by PattyLakinsmith features one of her very own "Meanies" beads - teeth and tongue! Bonus!

Cuteset Porkchop evah! This little piggy is made by Gelly, who must keep extra floss on hand to keep her beads teeth so clean.

One World One Heart ~ Winner!

Ibis the fish will likely keep one eye fixed on Abner, who is flying on his magic carpet to Lea's, of LAJewelryDesign.

I've been sick, so I'm a couple days late announcing my One World One Heart Winner. I used the random number generator and it picked #173. So with 208 comments, I counted backwards (who wants to count up to 173???). And boy was I surprised! The winner is a lampwork friend of mine, Lea of LAJewelryDesigns - what are the chances of that? Um, 1 in 208? Lea is one of the administrators on the Fire Divas Team, our new Etsy team that started on Facebook. I'm thrilled that my little alien bead will be headed east to NY and can watch Lea at the torch. Maybe he can send me back some pointers. :)

Abner will feel right at home with these shiny orbs from Lea's shop that are out of this world!

Lea also has a shop on ArtFire, and her Boro Glass Bead Skeleton Key can be found there.

Lea's items are marked down 20% until the end of today. Search Fire Divas Sale for more fabulous sale items from my teammates!

Caught in the Act

Up until just recently, I've had a little routine for listing my beads. I'd bring my beads to my computer and keep them in front of me while I wrote my listing. I keep my ruler handy near my computer, so I measure the beads there, too. Then I usually keep the beads under my computer for a while. They keep me company while I blog or surf the net. If they don't sell right away, they get transferred to the bead box, unless they are a new favorite that I just like to keep nearby. At times I have 8 to 10 beads lined up watching me from under my computer.

But, as you may know, things have changed around here lately. We adopted two very rambunctious kittens (an oxymoron, I know), and they are wreaking havoc on my routine, not to mention my beads. It didn't take them long to discover the little critters sitting helplessly under the computer.

Ernie the kitten is caught in the act taking a swipe at the poor doggie, while the turtle and puppy cower together, frozen in fear.

Here Ernie sneak attacks from behind, knocking the poor turtle off his perch.

Now I can reassure you that all beads have been swiftly transferred to a safe spot, out of the reach of kittens. No beads or kittens were harmed in the making of this blog post.

Frogs on Beads

One bead I haven't quite been able to pull off is the "frog-on-a-bead" bead. There are some really sweet ones on Etsy, so I rounded up some of my faves.

Meet Arancio the Orange Glass Tree Frog Bead from guymelamed - don't you just love the toes?

And here's Sweat Pea from redhillbeads - total cuteness!

The frogs in aardvarkartglass's shop cling to all sorts of things. This one is holding on for dear life to a succulent ham - can you blame him?

And here's my little frog. The other day she taunted me and my lack of frog-on-a-bead making skills by bouncing up and down on our exercise ball and saying, "Look Mom! I'm a frog on a bead!"