I wrote a big blog post about Now Showing Studio for Art Bead Scene's Studio Saturday today, complete with a giveaway of the three pendants shown above to one random winner. Want them? Click on over and tell me about your favorite movie snacks in the comments and you will be entered to win!
As I wrote over there a little bit, I am a bit torn with this new line. It is just like what happened with Earthenwood in the early days... beaders and crafters have been asking for the pendants not as finished jewelry, but as supplies to make their own jewelry with. While we intended this to be a finished jewelry line, and will continue it as such, I am thinking of adding some simpler pendants like the ones shown. I think I might offer them for sale with a simple piece of black cord, so it can be sold as a simple-to-make necklace or just as parts. I would love to hear your thoughts... both from the beaders and crafty types and those of you who read this blog who have been wanting me to sell finished jewelry.

I had a delightful weekend for my birthday celebration, and it has taken me a few days to get back into the swing of things. I am keeping busy with orders and getting ready for holiday sales, but I wanted to take a quick break to write about a new book that is on bookshelves. Cynthia Thornton's Enchanted Adornments has finally come out! I have been eagerly awaiting this book release, and not just because I was fortunate enough to have my Queen Mab necklace below added to the gallery section of the book. That was quite an honor. I knew this book would be great, knowing Cynthia and her magical work. And it certainly is great... it is absolutely gorgeous! There are all sorts of enchanted sketches and drawings throughout it, and the projects are wonderful! I was definitely inspired to want to try new techniques after just a quick flip-through. Just like Cynthia's delightful Green Girl beads, the book is full of fantasy and steeped in traditions of fairies, stories, and magic. It is a breathtaking journey through her creative process, and I think that readers of this book will be in for a fantastical treat!

You can enter to win a copy of Enchanted Adornments and a selection of my new beads! They are some of the prizes offered in the Art Bead Scene challenge this month. Create your own enchanted fairy themed jewelry using some art beads, and enter to win! Details over on the Art Bead Scene.

I wrote a big post for Art Bead Scene today all about the Fairy Feller painting, so I think I will keep today's blog here short. I wanted to show some of the new small dragonfly charms and links alongside the big ones. I am really in love with both of them, and I am dying to play with them! I have ideas for bracelets with the links and the charms. Maybe today I will get a chance to play!

The links, charms, and pendants with holes (instead of wire loops) are sort of new for me. I designed them so that I can put holes in them this time. I have to make that consideration in the design, so it doesn't look like the hole interrupts the design. The wires are less conspicuous, but they have their own design and construction problems, so I figured I would give this a try. So my questions to the beaders out there is: Which do you prefer? The wire loops for charms and links, or holes. Also, I would love to hear what you would make with these little dragonfly links with two holes. Do tell!

I promised yesterday that I would show the prize for one random winner who enters the Art Bead Scene November Challenge using an Earthenwood bead or component. Here it is! It is a selection of four of my newest beads, all in a pretty peacock color. The small Dragonfly Rising link is about an inch round. I love this new design and can't wait to do some beading with them! I also made a smaller version of the scarab, and made that a link too. I think it will make a cute bracelet, or a necklace with a little charm dangle. And this is the first time I have shown the new Heartkey and Heartlock pendants, which I really adore. I think they would be fun for a pair of friends, with one of each of them getting one and making matching friendship necklaces!

Tonight, I edited all my pictures and listed a bunch of new Dragonfly Rising pendants on Etsy, both small and large. I also listed the Spiralling Mayfly pendants. Whew that was a lot of work. I have pics of the new hearts to list next, but I am starting to fall asleep at the keyboard here!

All this hard work is leading up to my upcoming newsletter. I have my annual big sale planned, so I hope you will sign up for the newsletter to get the news! I only sent one or two emails a month, so it is a good way to keep up with me. To sign up, you can use the form on the homepage of my website.

I am honored to have been given the opportunity to choose the source of inspiration for November's challenge over on the Art Bead Scene. It is the painting shown above, The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke by Richard Dadd, which is one of my favorite pieces of art. I hope it will inspire others the way it has inspired me. It is full of very detailed imagery, with many fairies and flora and fauna. I will be giving away the prizes below to the winner of the challenge, and will be popping in as a guest blogger during the month!

I thought it would be fun to offer a secondary challenge to those of you who enter the Art Bead Scene challenge! I will offer a separate prize of some of my newest works to one person who submits a piece to Art Bead Scene using an Earthenwood Studio bead or component. To be considered for this prize, you must first add your photo to the Art Bead Scene Flickr group, following their rules. Then add your photo to the Earthenwood Gallery Flickr group. At the end of the month, I will randomly choose one piece as the winner! Time to finally get those fairy beads out of your treasured bead stashes and make something with them! Come back tomorrow for a picture of the prize. And also check out the brand new Dragonfly Rising, Lotus Butterfly, and Spiralling Mayfly pendants that I have recently listed in the Earthenwood Etsy shop.

Click on over to the Art Bead Scene blog, where I have written a full tutorial on how I make the Arteria Arcanum pendant shown above. I will also be posting a mini tutorial here on this blog showing a new idea for a necklace design that compliments the pendant.

Another quick post today, as I have been very busy with writing and working and all sorts of difficult real life tasks. I have a big blogging project that I worked on for tomorrow that will publish part here and part over at Art Bead Scene. I am easing back into writing the occasional post over there, it is such a great blog and I am pleased in how it has developed since we started it long ago. Sometimes it seems like I do more writing than making stuff sometimes, but one inspires the other, so I suppose it is all good. Today, a picture of an extra Heart Flutter pendant that I had in stock. I feel like my heart is like this lately, fluttering around, riding the highs and the lows of the atmosphere around me.

This heart pendant is in the Earthenwood Etsy shop and is ready to ship

I wrote up instructions for this quick project using my Steam Stone vertical link components. It is posted over at Art Bead Scene. Check it out! Today, my plan is to make some of these to sell as finished jewelry (*gasp!* I know! How rare!) I have a big show coming up next week (the Potters Market) where I sell jewelry every year, and I am woefully low on stock this time around. I am caught up on my orders, so this holiday weekend will be spent in my usual tradition of assembling and labelling jewelry while surrounded by delicious food, and friends and family. At some point this weekend, I also hope to send out a sale newsletter, the big one of the year, for the last chance to get Earthenwood goodies made in time for the holidays. If you are not on the mailing list, you can sign up here.

How can I explain, when words get broken..."

So this is the fabulous Flower Field bracelet project that is out in Bead Style Magazine right now that I have been hinting about here on the blog. It's by the talented and wonderful Jean Yates, click to see her website

Whoo Hoo! I am blogged out from yesterday's activity. It was quite an organizational feat to get everyone's Ornament Thursday posts all co-ordinated and linked, but we all pressed on and they look great! Go, click on the banner above, and see all the great ideas out there. And don't forget to go see my other project, the Gothic Garden Necklace, posted at Art Bead Scene
I am tired out from the last remainder of my cold, and from Punk Rock Fitness, which kicked me in the butt last night. Whew! I have to run off and work on some earrings today, for an earring emergency, so I will see you tomorrow...

So the newest issue of Simply Beads Magazine is out! I have two projects in it: a pair of earrings and the Brokenhearted necklace you can see under the title in the picture above. You can see a better picture of the necklace on their website. I will soon be listing it as a kit on the website, although I have had to alter it a bit. Seems the cute wavy silver links with the little balls that i used in the project are nowhere to be found now. This happens sometimes, as it is often many months between the time a piece is designed and the time it makes it to print. It's frustrating though...

To celebrate the countdown to Christmas, we are doing 12 days of quick projects with art beads over on Art Bead Scene. We kicked it off today with my project, the Charmed Scarf Pin. It's really easy and quick, and a great way to use odd beads and charms. It is perfect for winter because it can go on those big chunky knit scarves, sweaters, coats and shawls. It was a fun project for me to design, because I wanted to use beads from all the editors of ABS, mixed with my own beads. I made one to match one of each of my favorite scarves, which are shown in the pictures. The pins and supplies are listed for sale in my Etsy Shop. Check back everyday for a new fun project! 

Just a quickie post with linkage for you today. I am swiftly getting things done, and I want to keep on moving! I am just waiting for my pizza to bake in the oven for...Dinner? Lunch? What is the meal called at 4pm when you haven't eaten anything all day but a banana. That's what I am waiting for...