Murrini Monday - Big & Little Hooters

A few weeks ago I told you about the awesome little Hoot murrini I got from Lori and Kim. I'm finally posting pictures of the beads I made with it. All of these beads have flown the coop already, but I will make more! This murrini is super fun!

For the owl above and the owl below, I just placed a sweet murrini owl in a contrasting color on their chests. So now they have a mini version of themselves with them wherever they go. 

For the elephant above and below, I placed a murrini owl in their trunks and called them "Horton Hears a Hoot.

How much more fun can I have with this murrini??? I bet lots! But now I also have a new blend called Bikini Bottom and it is filled with bright and cheery flowers and SNAILS! Next murrini Monday I'll show what the snails are doing.

Thanks for visiting my blog and HAPPY MURRINI MONDAY!!!

My Dad as a Bead

My dad's birthday is today! On Halloween! So when I was a kid, we had lots to celebrate on this day. We ate candy AND cake. My dad's birthday cake was usually a Halloween scene, but one year my mom ordered a cake of his head. He has a very recognizable look, one that translated well to a cake. As kids, my sisters and I were also experts at drawing my dad's face.

My dad also is an ophthalmologist. When I was little, I imagined that he had a box of spare eyeballs. You know, like a shoebox filled with them. I figured that if someone hurt their eye so badly that it no longer was useful, my dad could pop out the bad eye and let his patient pick a new one from the shoebox. This turned out not to be true (bummer, right?). But being an eye doctor and having a Halloween birthday works out very well for gift-giving. We love to find him eyeball-themed birthday presents and there are lots of them out there this time of year. One year I got him eyeball soaps, and this year I found some eyeball post-it notes. But I also was delighted to find some gory eyeball murrini (made by Lori and Kim). I used some of the eyeball murrini on various animal beads, but I saved one for a bead for my dad. I thought and thought about what to make with it. I couldn't come up with anything quite right. Then a couple nights ago I thought, "I should make a bead of my dad!" How could I not? I had drawn his face so many times, why not make it in glass? So here is what I made:

This is my dad as a bead. He's wearing his light blue lab coat with yellow index cards in the pocket (he always has those there for taking notes and making lists). He's also holding a gory eyeball (probably freshly removed from someone's face). His face is pretty spot on, if I do say so myself (and if you can't tell, he's smiling under the beard). The only thing that's not quite accurate is his hair color - it's not exactly black anymore. But this is how I picture my dad. :)

Here is my real dad with his bead. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

AND

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Murrini Monday - I can see it in your eyes

It's no secret that I love murrini. I especially love using perfect little slices of murrini for owl eyes. Certain pieces just jump out at me and beg to be turned into owl eyes. 

As soon as I saw the murrini slices I used in teh above bead (from Lori and Kim's Fun Dip blend), I knew they would make perfect owl eyes. But I think I could have shown them off much better than I did. I wish I hadn't used turquoise for the owl's chest feathers - see how it blends in to the blue on the bottom of the murrini? Not good, in my opinion. I should have used green as the chest feathers, or maybe pink. Then the murrini would stand out much better.

This owl has successful murrini eyes. Even thought there's a good deal of blue on the inner part of the murrini, it's bordered by silvered ivory, so the blue of the bead doesn't blend in with the blue on the murrini. The contrast works much better. 

I still have two more slices of that awesome murrini from the Fun Dip blend, so I will give it another go. This time I'll make it work. :)

Happy Murrini Monday!

Sneak Peek Tuesday ~ What a Hoot

With the holidays on the horizon, I want to have more "ready-to-wear" options for my customers. So I'll be making more earrings in the coming weeks. Earring pair beads are some of the hardest beads for me to make - unless they are mismatched earrings. But not everyone is into those, so I'm trying to make several pairs where the beads match. It usually takes a few tries to get a good match, but yesterday it took only three beads.

I think the two middle owls will work well as earrings. The little guy on the right is a good match size-wise, but his eyes are a little crazy. The larger owl on the left is a new design I'm working on - adding a little heart to one side.

So watch for the little blue and raku owls to be hanging out on sterling silver ear wires in my Etsy shop. The larger owl will likely be listed as a focal bead.

Saturday is Catterday!

Today I'm introducing a new feature - Saturday is Caturday! But I probably should spell it Catterday, or it could be read as "cat turd day" and that's just not what this will be about. I hope. What it will be about is cats! We have two cats - Ernie and Bert. We still call them "the kittens" and they are almost 3 years old. But we got them when we had an older cat, so they were and still are the kittens. They still act like kittens anyway. So on Catterdays I'll post an adorable picture of one or both of our cats or I'll post some cat bead pictures. This being the very first Catterday, I've got both! Bonus! 

Here we have Ernie (the ginger) and Bert sitting on the kitchen table watching a little bird on the back patio. I'm no cat mind-reader, but I can guess that they're thinking mmmmmmm. 

 Here is Bert, again on the table, demonstrating that he can sit in the weirdest positions and still act like he's comfortable. He looks like he has elbows. 

And looky here! Cat beads! I put a group of my cat beads together (they all behaved for the picture, but you don't want to know what went down afterward. Lots of hissing). I've been experimenting a lot with cat bead design and I'm still trying to figure out my cat style. The two kitties on the left in the picture are standing, and notice they both have those classic cat "cheeks." The two on the right are a little more artsy(?) - just the cat face and body and tail - no cheeks or even feet. They can't go anywhere or even mew. They've even been mistaken for owls (with tails). Poor things. The kitty in the middle is sitting and seems to have it all - the cat cheeks and all four legs. 

What style of cat do you like best? Cheeks or no cheeks? Do you like the little spots on the orange cat's cheeks? 

Thanks for your input! 

Happy Catterday!

Hooter GIVEAWAY!

I'm giving away this petite blue fritty owl. 

Here are the rules:

1. Share this post on Facebook. I'll post it first on my Maybeads page, then all you have to do is share it.

2. Come back here and leave a comment saying you shared it. Also - be sure to leave your contact information so I can find you if you win. 

Easy as pie. 

Thanks for entering! I'll draw a name on Thursday night.

Art Imitates Art Imitates Art

I've said it before, I'm inspired by stuffed animals. I've often used my daughters' favorite plush toys as inspiration for my beads. Now I've used a recent Etsy purchase (for my daughter's upcoming birthday) as the model for my first lemur bead. When I first laid eyes on the huge eyes of Leonardo the Lemur on Raven's Craft Creations Facebook page, I knew I had to get it for my daughter. She is an Etsy fanatic and always asks for "Etsy money" for her birthday so she can pick something out. She has a thing for koalas and chickens (she adds them to my favorites a lot), but I just know this lemur will find a prominent place in her stuffed animal pile. 

The lemur arrived recently and it is sooooo cute! Raven, of Raven's Craft Creations on Etsy is so talented with amigurumi animals! Once I saw it, I knew I wanted to turn it into a bead. The eyes may be what caught my attention, but the long ring tail is my favorite part. It bends! 

Here is my glassy version of Leonardo the Lemur. He was very fun to make! You can get your own Leonardo the amigurumi Lemur here. But that's not all Raven makes - baby beanies, dinosaur hats and totes are also available. But the amigurumi animals are my favorites. :)

Here are Raven's latest little critter creations ~ octo-squeedles. They come in just about any color combination you can think up, and they are so flippin' cute! Raven actually modeled these little octopus toys after another glass artist's creations:

At Everything Squeedle, proceeds from every purchase of these adorable Squeedle beads go toward funding research for Type 1 diabetes, a cause I am personally behind. See the little red spot on the far left leg? That's to show he's tested his blood sugar (something diabetics have to do about 10 times a day) to make sure he's in the safe range - good Squeedle! These are charming and unique little creatures that I'm sure bring comfort to kids with Type 1. 

Once again, it all comes full circle. :)

Turtle Bead GIVEAWAY!

Time for a giveaway!!!

Here are the rules:
1. Leave a comment after this post - it can be about anything. Also, make sure there's a way for me to contact you.
2. For an extra entry - like Maybeads on Facebook and share my giveaway post there. Then leave a separate second comment on my blog saying you shared it.
Easy Peasy right?

I'll draw a name tonight, May 6, around 9pm Chicago time.

Thanks for playing!