My New Studio (Before)

Today my husband said, "We really need to get that workshop finished so you can get back to your glass. You just don't look right without the little band-aids on your fingers." He's such a sweetie--and he's right, I don't even feel right without the little band-aids on my fingers. I use the colorful ones, so it's almost like wearing temporary, disposable jewelry.

We're fixing up our garage to be the perfect little studio, but as you can see we have a lot of work yet to do. We've been having a difficult time getting written estimates from electricians. They tend to say things like, "it will cost about (insert random amount of money here), do you want me to put this on our schedule?" Umm, no--if the guy is standing in the middle of the garage while I'm pointing to where the new outlets and the special wiring for the new kiln will go, there should be no guessing about the cost, right?

So next week I try to find an electrician I'm comfortable with, and then a plumber. Then we can put up insulation, and walls. . . .

Lucky Girl's Mother's Day Giveaway!

In honor of Mother's Day I'll be giving away this beautiful fused dichroic glass pendant to one lucky reader! It's approximately 5/8" wide and 7/8" long, plus a bit for the bail. The dichroic glass is a deep glowing red and orange at the bottom, and lightens to gold and yellow at the top--but if you look at it from different angles you can see bits of blue and green. There are bits of black glass fused into the glass above the dichroic layer that almost look as though they're floating on top of the pendant.

How do you win? Take a look around my Etsy shop, pick out your favorite item, and post a link to it in the comments on this entry by April 28, 2008. Make sure you also include a link to your blog or email address so that I can contact you if you win! On April 29, 2008, we'll print the comments, cut them apart, and have a good old-fashioned drawing for the winner.

Good luck--and I'm excited to see which items you pick as your favorites!

A Pretty Rock

I wish more jewelry artisans would create jewelry for your hair. I feel lucky to have found A Pretty Rock! Not only does Yazmin Wickham create beautiful one-of-a-kind and limited edition jewelry, she also makes stunning adornments for your hair. I've included a couple of my favorites here, but make sure to take a look at her beautiful rings, earrings, necklaces, and bracelets too.


Carved Mum Mother of Pearl Flowers, Flora - Hairpins, $4


Pink Shell Flowers, Flora - Hairpins, $3


http://aprettyrock.etsy.com
http://www.aprettyrock.com
http://www.aprettyrock.com/blog

Need More Traffic? Get Some Blog Buzz!

I was visiting some sites with Entrecard advertising widgets today (if you're unfamiliar with Entrecard there's an ad widget at the top left side of my blog), and found a blog about web marketing that's just my speed. Not too basic, not too technical, and it doesn't assume I already know a lot of stuff about marketing. Buzz My Blog seems as though it were written just for lucky me! The articles in the building traffic and community buzz categories have plenty of tips and links to keep me busy, but the thing that really made me notice is the Weekly Buzz: each week a different blog is featured, and it takes less than a minute to sign up to get your blog in the running for a feature. I like nice--and this is an extremely nice and generous thing this blogger is doing.