My 1st Harmonic Heart - using Lydia Muell's Tutorial

Not long ago I was gifted a tutorial, Harmonic Hearts by Lydia Muell, from my friend Holly!

This was a joyful surprise! I couldn't believe how lucky I was!

Even though it took me almost 3 hours to make my 1st one I had a BLAST and can't wait to try another!



Thank you so much Holly! You are always inspiring me!

Sprouts - Growth

A week before the "Growth" blog was due for the ABS Blog Carnival, I was in a panic because I still had to come up with an idea of what to write about.

With my mind whirling, I tried to picture what "growth" meant to me.

After a brief mental struggle, an idea for a new style of Art bead grew!


Everybody, these are "Sprouts"!







Thanks to the ABS Blog Carnival the "Growth" topic has done just that! It helped me and my creativity grow!!

Treasury Surprises!

I just came home to find out that I'm in 2 treasuries!

The first one is this wonderfully diverse treasury made of Fire Divas beads!

Divas on Fire made by Emakaye!



Here is something new that Ema's been doing!

Monarch Butterfly by Emakaye



Sticks and Stones is a beautiful earthy treasury made by Fivelittlegems!



There are the most elaborate beaded pieces of jewelry her shop!


Purple Flower Beaded Necklace on Twisted Wire with Freshwater Pearls and Swarovski Crystals in Emerald Green, Ivory and Antique Gold
by Fivelittlegems


Thank you so much ladies this is such a wonderful surprise!

Results of the Fire Divas Quarterly Jewelry Challenge!

There where so many beautiful pieces of jewelry made with the Fire Divas lampwork beads! I had a really tough time voting, I'm sure you all did too!

To see the results CLICK HERE!

Treasuries East and West

I've been featured in a couple different treasuries!

Here's the Treasury East curated by BrightCircle



Here's something eye catching in BrightCircle's Etsy!

Dragon's Treasure Shimmerstone Necklace






Here's a Treasury West curated by MayBeads a fellow Fire Diva!



She always has something fun and new going on in her Etsy!

Boston Terrier




Surprise Kangaroo



Thank you so much ladies!!

I had fun checking these out, I hope you all did too!

Winner of the Skeleton Key!!

I wrote everyone's name down on bits of paper and wadded them up.




Maynard had just woke up so he wasn't quite as interested in picking a winner just yet.



It took some coaxing and play to rile him up!



He sniffed at them a bit, then made his decision!





Then he kicked it around a bit until it went under the couch!



Silly Kitty! The winner of the skeleton key is..........



.... ANKLEBITERBEADS!!!! I will be contacting you this morning!!!

Thank you for playing everyone!!! I hope you all have a beautiful day!!

Skeleton Key giveaway!

Just leave a comment below to win! Make sure there is some way for me to reach you in case you are the winner! Cut off date to enter is this Wednesday, April 21! Winner will be chosen by kitty randomness!

The bead was made using some of my hand pulled millefiori and is 9x14mm

The key is an antique and made with steel. 1.5 in long

The necklace cord is lightly waxed black cotton and has been fashioned to be adjustable in length. 6 3/4in - 13 1/2in



Good luck everyone! Thank you for entering!

Vote for April Showers theme!

Every month the Fire Divas have a themed challenge! It's always exciting to see what the Divas have entered!

This month's bead challenge theme is April Showers! Take a close look below at the entries, and when you've finally decided on your favorite, vote for it on the right side of your screen. Polls will be open for a week, and then the winner will be announced!

Entry 1:

Entry 2:

Entry 3:

Entry 4:

Entry 5:

Entry 6:


Entry 7:

Entry 8:

Entry 9:

Thanks for voting, and thanks to all the Divas who entered the April Showers Monthly Bead Challenge!

There's still time to enter the Fire Divas Jewelry Challenge

There have been some beautiful entries for the Fire Divas Jewelry Challenge, here's pieces that have been submitted! Only a few days left till the entry deadline, there's still time for you to submit your jewelry design made with Fire Divas beads! Challenge ends 4/15!

GlassEyeButterfly's charm bracelet incorporates RiversEdgeGlass' lovely beads.

Scoots61 submitted a wonderful wire wrapped pendant necklace with TeaseBead's focal.

Another lovely wire wrapped piece, this one submitted by NightingGayle using beads by Amy Houston.

Rhamesses' lovely submission is made with swarovski crystals and bead from Amy Houston.

Smisuraco made this lovely amethyst and brass piece using a focal from Magikalglassworkss.

ClarindaSmith created this adorable whimsical bracelet with Maybead's focal kitty.

Splumb1us submitted this lovely beaded spiral necklace with a focal bead by LA Jewelry Designs.

If you make jewelry featuring Fire Diva Beads, we would love to see it! There's over $200 in prizes to be won and the deadline is April 15th! Click here for more information.

Pressing Advice

A couple months ago I bought a brass bead press, after trying it a couple times I got frustrated due to user error. So I didn't use it until my friend and fellow Fire Diva, Holly at Holly'sFollyGlass told me the trick was to press gently!

Her advice was what I needed to get me to try using my press again, and it worked!!



I am now so excited to use it and can't wait to get back up to the shop to use it again! Thank you Holly, yet again you have given me such useful advice!

Family , Friends, Food and Glass!

This last weekend my honey and I had to go to L.A. for his work. Even though work, smog and nasty traffic was involved, we did get to have some fun!

While we were out there I was going to be able to meet a glassy friend! A fellow Fire Diva , Holly at HollysFollyGlass I adore Holly and I am so glad I finally got to meet her! She's the best!

It only made sense to invite her to join us for lunch at honey's 1st job site!

The first site we had to go to was Xai, an old church that had been renovated into a wonderful tea house and restaurant. I drank a tea called Jasmine Ancient Beauty, it comes from thousand year old trees that are in a protected forest reserve on the Jing Mai Mountains!

The food was delicious! We had ordered the appetizer combo which consisted of Hummus, Baba Ghanoush and Tabouli pomegranate salad!

Here's what desert looked like!




Not only did we have an awesome lunch but Holly gifted me this beautiful handmade lampwork bead that she made! I am so in love with this bead! I really admired how she was able to get such defined cuts into it while still having graciously smooth corners, and the color rocks, too boot!





After lunch we had plans to go to a flameworking studio & supply
shop, The Mandrel owned by another fellow Fire Diva, Donna at PrimaDonnaBeads !



It was the first glass supply shop I had ever been to! It's so cool! There was a flameworking class in session, there's about 8 or more torches set up, lot's of lampwork beads, tools and a wide variety of glass! I found some colors I needed and wanted! And you know what? Donna is even cooler than her shop!





After that we went to the beach!





I just had to put my feet in the sand and water! I miss the ocean terribly and wish I could live by it for the rest of my life!


On Sunday my honey and I met up with family and went to a bike race!





After the race we went to our family's house which was just 1 block away from the ocean!



They made us a yummy BBQ dinner!




The next day honey had to work, so Holly and Mabel (her dog) kidnapped me and we went to lunch and did more glass stuff!!

Later that day though we had to head back home. We has such a wonderful time in L.A. thanks to our family, friends, the delicious food and of course, the glass!!