Saturday Scenes: Spring is Near

Signs of Spring

Maybe next weekend, that little part in the middle that is wrapped tight around the flower, will be pushing up the tulip. It’s magic every year.

Beads

Until the real flowers show up, I have to make do with the ones I bake in the oven all the time.

Lion

From earlier in the week, while we were in Calgary, when I visited the zoo I noticed a theme: all of the critters were sitting in their enclosures enjoying the sun. The lions, tiger, leopards were so much like our little guy.

The Fraser Valley Bead Show… East

Seems so odd to think of Calgary as East but it is, indeed, east of Fraser Valley, BC. Barrie Edwards successful Fraser Valley Bead Show is going to do a show in Calgary this year. I’m going to be selling my polymer clay beads there along with a lot of other Alberta, Saskatchewan and BC shops and artisans.

The show runs June 1st through 3rd at the Coast Plaza Hotel and I’ll make sure and pop up a coupon here for folks to use at the show with me. Or a free bead of choice… something like that. If you have an opinion of what kind of promo to do, weigh in!

fraser valley bead show

The Sunday before the FVBS I’ll be at the Calgary Lilac Festival – 4th year in a row! I need you to all start crossing whatever crosses so that the sun shines down all day long that day and the wind is mild.

Talented Customers

I may have mentioned it in the past but wow, I have talented customers! Both of these designs use polymer clay beads I sell in my Etsy shop

fivelittlegems necklace

This stunning piece is by Holly of FiveLittleGems.

Bracelet by TellYourGirlfriends

This pretty bracelet is by Cilla of TellYourGirlfriends who was my bead soup partner. She requested these beads and I made happy little stacks of them to use.

I’m hoping to make the brag on my customers a regular feature so if you’ve bought beads, canes or anything else that you took pics of and want to show off, just email me!

Goals and Ramblings

Blue Flowers

I picked out this long list of projects, goals and milestones for the year and one of those was to work harder on my blogs and sites. It wasn’t an actual focus-on-it goal until April though so it explains why April has suddenly gotten a heckuva lot more in the way posts than previous months.

This month will see some serious blogging done as well as tearing apart the shop and other toys that are part of the site. The goal here is to have a working online presence separate from the ones I maintain on Etsy and Artfire. I love my other spots but this is supposed to be home and I should work on it feeling like it.

The offline goal for this month has been to get moving a lot more and I’ve been good about that. Timed it right with the improving weather. I’ve spent a little time hauling weeds out of the yard, finding and setting up my gardening stuff and walking places more than the strict minimum. I always find I take much longer than the 3 weeks it says to build a habit but I’d like it to become habitual – working from home was supposed to be the way to allow some flexibility in my schedule and that needs to include room for health as well as work.

The pic of the cute blue flowers? It has nothing to do with the post except that I like them. The actual beads are available on Etsy if you like them too.

Signs of Spring

cherry blossom beads

These turned out so happily! I wanted little cherry blossoms but was dreading trying to do the characteristic stamens. So! I put them right into the flower cane.

We hunted our chocolate eggs today. To those who celebrate, Happy Easter! And to everyone else, I hope you have a beautiful Sunday!