I have had a great holiday sales season, thanks to all of you! I feel like I worked really hard and I am looking forward to taking a break for a little while to enjoy the holidays. I am planning to close the Etsy shops tonight until just after Christmas. I'll have some new things to show after the first of the year, and plan to have a big sale in the New Year before I close up again for a week or so for the Bead Cruise! Before I settle into my bed for a short winter's nap, I wanted to show you one of the pieces I made for a great new book that is making its way to bookstores. I recently received my copy of Four Seasons of Beading by Barb Switzer and it looks like a really great book, full of great projects to reflect the seasons. The earrings above are in the book, in addition to a few more pieces using my beads! Happy Holidays, everyone! It's time for my vacation to start...

I am interrupting my crazy-flail-getting ready for the Potters Market madness to blog about this cool preview of a cool new book coming out soon. It's Jean Campbell's Steampunk Style Jewerly! This is going to be an amazing book! It is available for preorder now (I recommend going to Ornamentea to order it... you get a free steampunk starter kit with your order!) I was scrolling through my Facebook and saw Jean post about this preview, which was blogged over on Craftside. It just happens to be a pair of earrings I designed for the book, using clock hands and a pair of my porcelain gear links. ooh this is exciting!

heh. I am also amused that in the midst of my flailing/working tonight, I will be tearing my studio apart to look for a bag of the very clock hands that I used in the earrings above, in order to complete my new clockwork/steampunky ornaments. Whee! I know there are here somewhere!!! Back to work...

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.