One World One Heart Giveaway- WELCOME!

This year's One World One Heart theme is Magic Carpet Ride, so who better to ride it, than giving away a handmade lampwork glass sultan bead? This little guy is less than 1.5" tall and can be turned into a focal pendant for a necklace, (if you win, just ask me- it's free), or I can send him with a cute little handmade glass stand as well.

All I need you to do is comment in my comment section. (and make it fun, okay?) My giveaway will be announced on Feb. 15th. It is open to all people- the more the merrier, but just one entry please.

OWOH can be found here. Please join, it's a great way to meet new people and discover some wonderful blogs. My thanks to Lisa who started all of this.

I'm a lampwork glass artist and teacher who lives in Atlanta, GA and blogs 6 days a week about creativity, inspiration, glass art, and other fun topics. I work with a 2000 degree torch and glass rods from all over, but especially from Murano, Italy. Whimsical colorful sculpture is my specialty, although sometimes I can be found making more traditional focal beads.

...and feel free to cruise my handmade lampwork glass bead Etsy shop, http://www.StudioMarcy.etsy.com, join my creativity, inspiration and glass blog, http://www.StudioMarcy.blogspot.com (which can just be clicked on the right side of this), and of course, friend me on facebook: Marcy Lamberson. It's all fun. I also love custom orders- pets, objects, people, or other curious items.

Vintage Cookie Jars Inspiration for Beads

You know I'm always keeping my eyes open for different types of inspiration.

Have you ever considered cookie jars?
These were purloined from a blog called Retro District, which I enjoy a lot.

Now to be honest, there are only one or two of these which are my style to base a bead on. But the vintage color combinations are always a lot of fun.

I might just look at them a different way. Here I have a variety of eyeballs. (Yep, still on that kick, I'm afraid to say.) But look - there's quite a gamut here. I like the rounded happy face eyes of the man in the bottom right corner, or the "plus signs" for that traditional clown appearance. Both are simple to make and are great reminders that you don't always need to be complex.

So have you guessed which two? I'll give you a clue, they're on the same row. The first person to post on this blog, the correct response, will receive a $15 gift certificate to my StudioMarcy etsy shop. (Please note, if you're reading this on Facebook, the guess must be posted on my blog- http://www.StudioMarcy.blogspot.com.

Tagged, But Quick Save- What About Promotions?

I was tagged by soccer mom and jewelry maker extraordinaire,  Sue of Signature-Sterling on Etsy. It's a different style of tag that is intriguing.  Here are the rules:

Show Me Your Picture 6x6x6

1. Post the 6th picture from the 6th folder in your computer's "picture" file, ("my pictures").

2. Write (blog) about the picture.

3. Tag 6 new people- be sure to go to their blog, make the "tag" by leaving a comment and direct them to your blog to get the instructions.

4. Copy the permalink for your 6x6x6 entry and post it as a comment to your original tagger's 6x6x6x entry. Be sure to post the permalink, not just the link to your blog.  Get the permalink by clicking on the blog entry title and then copying that http address.

 So I went to my iPhoto to find the 6th folder down there.  The photo that I should have posted is my husband in a swimsuit on the beach in Costa Rica.  As handsome as he is, he would be VERY unhappy with me, if I showed it.  So  I went down to my Projects Section and found the 6th project and 6th photo.  Here you go. It's a  a rough draft of a calendar that I was toying with months ago.  Let's hear it for August- beach time.

Let's chat a bit about making calendars.  I have a plethora (cool word, isn't it?), of photos of my work.  I bet a lot of you who sell online do also.  Have you thought about making a calendar from your images and selling it?  It was an eye opener for me when I started playing with the concept.  Looking at the beads, the scale in which I would show them, the quality of the photos, the color combinations, etc.  Suffice it to say, the project got scrapped.  If I ever sell a calendar, you can bet it will have been planned out and beads made and photographed specifically for it.

If you make non-sculptural beads, (I call them traditionally shaped, but there's probably a better term for it), it might be different for you as you don't have real objects that you're making art from.  But I found it bothers me having a seashell larger than a mermaid, but I just didn't have any mermaids laying down and beckoning to the closest sailor that would fit that larger rectangular shape.  

So there's my tagging as well as my calendar project all rolled into this post.  And perhaps I should have just made a husband in a swimsuit holding beads calendar.  Hmmm, maybe 2010.