http://search.deviantart.com/?q=by:MandaBeads&section=today deviantART RSS for by:MandaBeads en-us Copyright 2009, deviantART.com Sun, 20 Dec 2009 07:45:16 PST deviantART.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://s.deviantart.com/minish/widgets/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/22672267/ http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/22672267/ Mon, 19 Jan 2009 11:47:12 PST
Thank you so much to everyone who has ordered from me, and sent me sweet little notes during this time. It's much appreciated!

It has been such an exciting year for me and my new jewelry business!

After all the drama with a certain other DA person, I decided to get a fresh start away from DA and all the fuss that happens here. That was probably one of the best decisions I have ever made! My new little business has been featured in two magazines, and just this weekend I did a photo shoot and interview for the local newspaper! I've also been on the Etsy front page several times; which is always fun to see!

Thanks to all this awesome publicity, my jewelry and trinkets are being sold in all sorts of little shops and boutiques in even more places around the world... Some of my favorites: candy shops in New York, Canada, Italy and Germany; boutiques in Costa Rica, Brazil, Australia, and Japan; several resorts in both Europe and North America; a bazaar in India; a bakery in London; and even in a French cafe in Paris! I just can't believe how lucky I have been to be able to create such wonderful little treasures for all of these different places! Truly a blessing!

Jimmy has also had a wonderful year. His music is featured in the re-released version of the Street Fighter 2: Turbo video game, and he is currently involved in a super huge project that he must keep very hush hush about for the time being. ^_^ I will say that it is another video game. Hehe! And he is continuing to write wonderful music for TV shows on Food Network, DIY, and HGTV.

On top of all this awesomeness, we will be leaving for Walt Disney World exactly two weeks from today!!! I'm so excited I could just scream! lol We'll be at Disney's Pop Century resort for 8 glorious days. Most likely in the 80's section. That way I can wake up every morning, and play on the huge keyboard next to the computer pool, on the way to the bus stop. *grin* I'm also excited about Splash Mountain, Small World, Expedition Everest, Mission: Space, Soarin', Dinosaur, Kilimanjaro Safari, Space Mountain, Toy Story Midway Mania, Test Track at night, Wishes, Spectromagic... AHH!!! See??? So much excitement... It's a fun overload! lol We got a great deal on a package - buy a 4 day/4 night package and get 3 days admission and 3 nights at a Disney resort added on for FREE! Plus, when we check in, we get a $200 gift card!! So then that means I can add shopping around World Showcase, and at the World of Disney to my excitement list! P.S. Jimmy is very excited about the food. lol I guess I am excited about eating at Boma, at the Animal Kingdom Lodge - it's my favorite restaurant ever!

Go here to find all kinds of Disney World informaiton, pictures, menus, etc. [link]

And on that note, I must be off! Working on new patterns and ordering more supplies is calling my name!

Hope you are all having a wonderful year so far!

]]> ~MandaBeads http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/16239730/ http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/16239730/ Thu, 03 Jan 2008 12:37:10 PST
But there are ways to find me. lol

My site:
[link]
My Blog: [link]

Stop by and say hi!

]]> ~MandaBeads http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/15874041/ http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/15874041/ Mon, 10 Dec 2007 08:43:25 PST
I really am so excited about this trip though! There’s going to be 8 of us going now. I’m pushing for us staying at Disney’s Polynesian Resort even more than before. I think it will be more convenient for everyone going. It’s right on the monorail line, right next to the TTC (Ticket & Transportation Center), the beach has a WONDERFUL view of Wishes, the atmosphere is awesome, and… I could keep going on and on and on! LOL It really is a great resort. But, then again, I think all the Disney resorts are great. I send more of my Disney gift baskets here than to any other Disney resort, so I guess everyone loves it!

And speaking of love… I just LOVE this time of year!! We put our tree up on Friday (along with all my other Christmas decorations!) and I had the first Christmas party of the season at my house on Saturday! It was wonderful! Good food, friends, some GREAT Secret Santa gifts, and a little nip in the air made for a wonderful day. I am concerned about the tree though… Bi-Zu can’t keep her little paws off the tiny glass ornaments. LOL AND she keeps trying to chew up the silver star garland, too! The little stinker! LOL I’m going to have to keep my eye on her!

I just can’t wait ‘til Christmas break! I’m going to be off work for two and a half weeks after Christmas. I plan on working on all of my new ideas and projects. I probably still won’t take any orders until after the New Year though. I’ve just got so many new ideas I want to try. And I want all that time to myself to do whatever I please! LOL That’s one of the things I love love love about my job. We get soo many days off! Plus, I only work for 4-5 hours a day Monday through Friday, so that gives me lots of time to work on orders and experiment! Everything is working out quite nicely.

We’ve also recently started talking more about when we’re going to take our trip to Japan. So that’s another exciting thing going on here! Right now we’re leaning towards 2010 – for our 5 year anniversary. Except we’re not going in July. I’d rather go sometime in the spring; right in the middle of the Cherry Blossom Festivals! We’re also trying to decide how long to stay. Somewhere between two and four weeks. Most likely right at three. I have a list of things I want to see/do:

Tokyo Disneyland for a few days
Sanrio Puroland and Harmonyland for a couple days each
Visit the shop in Tokyo where some of my things are being sold (!)
And there’s a bunch of little side trips that we want to take; too numerous to list. We’re going to have to narrow those down a bit.

If any of you guys have been, I would love to hear about it!

Jimmy got me several Japan guidebooks for our anniversary this year, so I could start planning our trip. And there’s just SO much to see and do! We want to do as much as we can, because we probably will not be going back. There are just too many other places we’ve got on our agenda to visit – Australia, France, Germany, Africa, Hong Kong Disneyland, Alaska… Plus, we’ll have to keep visiting Disney World! Soo many wonderful things/places to see in the world! It’s very exciting!

Anyway… I must be going now! I’ve got some things to package up to take to the Post Office before work.

Hope everyone has a lovely week!

P.S. – Holy cow! I just noticed that it’s only 14 days ‘til Christmas! Yipes!

]]> ~MandaBeads http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/15865949/ http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/15865949/ Sun, 09 Dec 2007 16:31:52 PST
[link]

It seems that I've been drifting farther and farther away from polymer clay these days, as more and more people have started selling their polyclay charms and such online. Don't get me wrong, I still work on polymer clay orders all the time. And I really do enjoy it! It's just that lately, I've started experimenting in some different media on my own time. Now, for me anyway, it's all about glittery resins and festive papers and do-die-for fabrics and yummy threads! Oh, and let's not forget the beads... Mountains and mountains of all sorts of delicious little seed beads! *giggle* Sometimes I think I'm not even going to use them; that I'm just going to leave them here in their little tubes and bags and just stare at them! *giggle* And yea... I'm still all about making the jewelry and accessories. I've just found some different ways to do it! Oh... And I still love finding ways to scent everything!

So keep checking back!

Also, I'm not taking any more orders of any kind until after Christmas. I've got several parties and other holiday events planned, and I want to have lots and lots of time to spend doing other things!

I do still have things in my Etsy shop, so if you want something right now, just go there!

And I've also got some bittersweet news... We're not going to Disney World in January... Because we're going to go in May... Right before we depart for our first Disney Cruise!!!!!!!! Woohoo!! We had several more people who wanted to go with us, but couldn't go in January. So we bumped it back a few months, to the beginning of May, and decided to do the Land and Sea package! Except we had to add a few days to the WDW part. So that means we'll be staying in Disney World for 6 nights, and then driving to Port Canaveral for our 4 night Disney cruise! I've still got so many details to work out. Like where we're staying now at WDW (probably the Polynesian resort), our schedule, I have to order a Disney Cruise Passporter, the free planning DVD... AH! LOL So much to do! I'm actually really excited to be going in May. That means we'll get some great water park time!! Shark Reef here I come!!

Oh gosh... I've still got so much more news! LOL But I can't post it now, I have to go meet Jimmy for dinner after he gets off work!

More later!

]]> ~MandaBeads http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/15574336/ http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/15574336/ Mon, 19 Nov 2007 09:29:39 PST
Only two days of work this week! (Today and tomorrow) Woohoo!! And then I'm off for five lovely days!!

I'm hoping to get a bunch of orders finished on Wednesday. Then Thursday is Thanksgiving - a day where nothing is going to get done. Shopping with Mom on Friday. (I know, we're crazy!!) Jimmy and I are also going to Atlanta to visit family. And now Nashville. To visit the Opryland Hotel - where Jimmy proposed almost three years ago. I can't believe it's been that long! I'm really looking forward to Nashville. We're also going to look at some houses. I'm super excited about that as well. Although I'm not looking forward to packing and actually moving. Ugh. Oh well! It could be worse! LOL

I've also got several new items for sale. Some little stitched and scented things. And also some resin jewelry - pins and earrings. I MIGHT have some resin things anyway. I'm having a hard time keeping them in stock right now! Especially the pin sets.

Anyway... I have way more going on right now, I just don't have the time to type it all out! LOL

More updates later! Maybe!

Oh! One more thing... I've been posting in my LJ more than here lately. It's more likely to have more updates and pictures and stuff there... [link] So stop by and say 'hi'!

]]> ~MandaBeads http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/14997034/ http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/14997034/ Wed, 10 Oct 2007 08:27:53 PDT
I am so in love with life right now…

Last night while I was sitting in the living room floor, (working on some new goodies for the ladies on the private forum I joined a couple of months ago!! Boy, are they keeping me busy! ) Jimmy came into the room, held out his hands, and asked me to dance. Of course I said yes! So we were dancing around the living room while he was humming a nice little ‘medley’ of my favorite songs. It was so wonderful and fun and silly and sweet! I just love it when he does things like that! It brought tears to my eyes!

And it got me to thinking how lucky I really am! I have such a wonderful family. And I’m an aunt now!! My sweet little nephew, Taigen, was born on September 7. He is the most adorable baby! He is so tiny and sweet. I can’t wait to spend the whole afternoon with him tomorrow – and I get him all to my self, too! Yay!

Jimmy and I also got some really awesome news a couple of weeks ago. His parents reminded him of the money they’ve kept in an account for him since he was born. It’s been collecting interest, so it’s turned into a nice bit of money! We’re going to use it for Jimmy to be able to attend a good music school in Nashville, and to move into a bigger house! I’m thrilled with the possibility of moving to Nashville – and especially about getting a bigger house, ‘cause that means a bigger studio for me!!!

We are also VERY excited about one of Jimmy’s songs that has been featured several times on an Animal Planet TV show, and some more of his music on a couple other shows on different channels. (I think USA, Time Warner… Something like that. I was mostly excited about Animal Planet, because I love love love that channel!!) Anyhoo… So that is EXTREMELY cool! That is what made us decide for sure what to use the above mentioned money for… He is making big progress, and we want to keep that going.

I’ve also been asked by several of my ‘suppliers’ to try their new products and sort of test them out for free!! I’m really enjoying it so far. There’s some really cool stuff in the works from some great companies! (Not to mention I’m getting really spoiled by all these freebies! LOL)

Also, we’ve got several trips planned for his fall/winter, starting with a trip to Virginia this weekend!! I’m so excited to go to HallowScream at Busch Gardens again. [link] We went last year and it was SO much fun! I’m also looking forward to riding Corkscrew Hill, the new Griffin roller coaster, and going to the candy shop in Williamsburg. Yum and fun!

Then there’s Atlanta in November, Nashville in December, and a skiing trip and Disney World in January!! My little travel loving self is in heaven! LOL

Uh oh! I just realized it’s almost time for me to meet with the lady who runs the boutique where I sell some of my things! (She wants to give me my own larger section in the shop, since I’ve expanded into doing a lot more than just jewelry, and she is interested in carrying all of my products now!!! We’re going to discuss the logistics and setup and such!!!!) We’re going to have lunch at Panera Bread, and then drive over to the shop. [link]

More later!

Hope everyone has a great day!

]]> ~MandaBeads http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/14455077/ http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/14455077/ Sun, 02 Sep 2007 11:38:29 PDT
About a month ago I was invited to join a private forum that specializes in a couple of things that I am VERY interested in – Disney World vacation planning and Disney World wedding and honeymoon planning. Er… I mean Disneymoon planning! It is a wonderful group of girls who just love to share all sorts of useful information with each other. Everyone is so helpful and nice to each other. I’m so lucky and excited to have been invited to join such an awesome group of ladies! I have learned that groups like this are very few and far between on the internet! It is just so much fun to share information about my Disneymoon and know that I am actually helping others! Just thinking about how wonderful/helpful/friendly everyone is gives me warm fuzzies!

It has also given me the opportunity to expand my business, which is SO exciting for me!! I’ve been able to make exclusive wedding favors for girls having Disney World weddings, welcome bag gifts, WDW themed wedding jewelry, jewelry and accessories themed to the forum, and so much more! They are all so wonderful to work with! And they have so many good ideas, too! (TOO many good ideas!) LOL I love it! It’s giving me the opportunity to work with may other mediums that I love, not just polymer clay!

I also just recently got my dream job offer! I still can’t even believe it! A job that I have wanted since my senior year of high school! An awesome salaried position in an elementary school SE classroom – which means I will still get to work with kids, and have a TON of time off to work on my goodies!!! Getting to work with kids, lots of time off for crafting and travel, ‘real job’ benefits, close to my house so I don’t have to drive forever to get there… Honestly, I can’t even think of one thing that I would change about it. It’s really too good to be true! LOL

Oh yes… And… Jimmy and I are going to be staying at the Polynesian Resort when we go to Disney World in January!!!!! AHH!! I’m so excited!! Since Jimmy’s job has been going VERY well, and I just got a good job, we decided to treat ourselves to the Polynesian! Here’s an awesome website dedicated to the Polynesian: [link] I highly recommend browsing the site – it’s very cool! We’re going to be in the Fiji longhouse, facing the marina and the back of the volcano pool – on the top floor. I don’t even know how I’m going to stand the wait! Watching Wishes from the beach, relaxing in a hammock, the Electrical Water Pageant, the volcano pool, being right on the monorail line, dinner at the Kona Café… And that’s just the resort! LOL

And… I’m going to be an aunt in only 13 days!!! I can’t wait! It’s almost time!! We’re all very excited here! I’m even more excited because I live only two blocks away from the hospital where Taigen is going to be born!!! Woohoo!!!

Speaking of babies… My gerbil had babies a couple of weeks ago! They just opened their eyes yesterday! They are so sweet and friendly! Not to mention adorable! LOL

*Content sigh* I just love how everything is all starting to come together for me. I don’t think I could be any happier right now! I just feel so blessed and wanted to share my good fortune with everyone!!

]]> ~MandaBeads http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/13420984/ http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/13420984/ Wed, 20 Jun 2007 14:55:00 PDT
[link]

My mom talked me into putting some of my goodies in an Etsy shop, so I finally did that today!

]]> ~MandaBeads http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/13275778/ http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/13275778/ Sat, 09 Jun 2007 09:12:37 PDT
So, recently I was contacted by a company (Frank or Fred something… I can’t even remember!) about doing a wholesale order for them. They were interested in my jelly bean and cupcake necklaces. The website looked like it was directed towards teens, and had a lot of clothing, jewelry, accessories… Lots of colors, etc. Looked like a page out of a teen magazine or something. Cute stuff.

Apparently someone filled out a survey on that site, and put my website as one of their favorites or something.

Anyway… It sounds like a great way to get my name out there. However, there are two things about the offer that really turn me off. (And a little problem!)

1) They want a huge number of necklaces. 50 of each of them actually! Now, don’t get me wrong, I love working on my jewelry… But 50 of EACH of those??? That’s a lot of dedication – and a lot of time. I’m not a huge fan of getting burned out on doing what I love.

2) They are suggesting that I charge them only half of my retail price. Half. Now, I know how wholesale works, and I know the point of doing wholesale. But I’ve never even had a local shop or boutique do a 50/50 split of the profit. Is that normal for big companies? I just don’t know if I’m willing to only charge half of what I usually do. I put a lot of love into everything that I make – no matter how many I’m making.

Also, I’m not even trying to make a living from my polymer clay and beadwork. That’s my main concern. I don’t even think I would want to have to use my hobby as my source of income. I think that would take all the fun out of it for me. It’s just something that I enjoy doing; and since I started having a lot of people asking me to make things for them, I started selling my things online. One of my fans even started a free website for me! Right now it is just a fun hobby that is actually making money. If I decided to start selling on a site like the one mentioned above, I would undoubtedly have to start spending more time working on things that people wanted, instead of what I feel like doing at the moment. Don’t get me wrong, I also enjoy doing the occasional custom order, but sometimes I just simply don’t feel like doing any kind of craft. Sometimes I would rather be working on planning our next Disney World trip [in January! Yeah!] or spending time with Jimmy , or going out with friends, or visiting family. There are just so many other things that I love doing!

*Sigh*

It sounds like it could be a fun little project, or something neat to add to my list of things that I can say I’ve done. I just don’t know if I want it to turn into something serious right now.

Hmm… Anyway, I guess I really just wanted to see everything typed out, and maybe get some opinions from others.

It’s a tough decision.

Hope you guys are having a great weekend!

]]> ~MandaBeads http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/12778451/ http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/12778451/ Sun, 29 Apr 2007 12:46:34 PDT
My weekend started out pretty uneventful – fun, but still uneventful. Jimmy and I had our date night on Friday as usual. Then yesterday morning/afternoon I went shopping with Mom. We still had a few last minute things that we had to pick up for our trip to Nashville – which is this weekend!! *Squeal* So, anyway, we go to A.C. Moore, spend waaaayy too much money , eat lunch at The Olive Garden, then decide to stop by Michael’s since that is one of our favorite places for good craft supplies. Plus, I wanted to see the new Martha Stewart craft stuff. Well, it turns out they were doing a make-and-take for some cards and little tags for scrapbooking, so we sat down to do a few things. We got to talking to one of the ladies who was doing the make-and-take, and it turns out she is in charge of all of the classes at Michael’s. She saw some of my beaded jewelry that I was wearing, along with a beaded tropical drink that I had brought along to show Mom (all things that I had made, of course!) and wants me to be the beadwork/jewelry teacher for that store!! She really wanted me to start soon, too! She kept going on and on about my jewelry and stuff – it made me feel really good! She told me that after talking to me she thinks I could really get people excited about beading/jewelry!! I am SO excited about this! She was telling me about how it works, all of the benefits, etc. It sounds too good to be true – I’m still waiting for the catch! LOL I’ve always wanted to start teaching beading/jewelry/craft classes, since I love to teach and I love beading and crafty stuff! It’s two of my very favorite things put together! I would have to teach one of the required basic stringing classes once a month (which would be so fun to help people get started!) and then after that – it’s whatever I want to teach, and I would make my own schedule! It’s a really big decision though. She said they have been getting requests to do beading parties and everything. So this could possibly turn into something much bigger! She said I could easily go into business for myself with this, and that's something I've always wanted to do is be my own boss. And I would still get to teach! It’s going to be a great way to get my name out there, too! I can’t believe what a wonderful opportunity this is. It’s a great way for me to really interact with people and help them out instead of just selling them my fabulous goodies! I’ve spent most of today getting some things together to show her that I think would make some great classes for people to attend. She’s going to call me sometime this week so we can talk more about it, and probably get everything set up. I really hope it doesn't sound like I'm bragging or anything. I'm just really excited about the whole thing. And have I mentioned that I still can't believe it!! LOL

*Deep breath*

Okay. I think that's all for now. I need to go and take a break and think about this some more. I'm still in shock! LOL I would love to hear your thoughts/experiences on this. Or if you have any tips or ideas.

Hope you guys are having a lovely weekend!

]]> ~MandaBeads http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/12757665/ http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/12757665/ Fri, 27 Apr 2007 17:43:41 PDT

As most of you know... I love Disney World. I mean really. I LOVE it!! I've been there 13 times and I don't think I'll ever get tired of it! There's soooo much to do! And it is so magical; I don't even feel like I'm in the real world anymore while I'm there! (On the first night of our last trip back in January, I wore a PRINCESS CROWN to dinner for gosh sakes! Where else can you do that???) It's really something that has to be experienced to really be understood. There's no way I could even describe how awesome it is!

Anywho... So we've actually started to plan our next Disney World trip!!! *Squeal* I can't even believe it! I'm beyond thrilled!!!! LOL I'm hoping we can make our resort reservations soon. That'll be wonderful! Right now we already know we will be going in January 2008 since we liked going so much this past January, but we just can't decide where to stay. We've stayed at Pop Century [link] twice now, and we love it! But Jimmy was saying that we should try out Port Orleans Riverside [link] or the Caribbean Beach [link] this time. I'm torn! I love trying new places, but I really love POP! You can take a boat to Downtown Disney from Port Orleans, so that would be really convenient since I spend a lot of time shopping at Downtown Disney. Plus, one of our favorite restaurants is at Port Orleans, Boatwright's [link] Hmm... We could always stay at two different resorts... I know a lot of people do that!

I hope I can get some insight from all of my Disney buddies I have met on here! I'm not sure where to stay - it's such a hard decision!! LOL Or if anyone actually clicked on the links, and you have suggestions or whatever, feel free to chime in!

That's really all from me right now! It's time to leave for date night!

Have a great weekend!!

]]> ~MandaBeads http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/12693864/ http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/12693864/ Tue, 24 Apr 2007 20:40:27 PDT
I just wanted to let everyone know that all of the spots for this week (and probably the next couple of months!!) are full! Here's what I'm going to do: I have a TON of requests for beaded cupcakes, along with 4 requests for beaded wedding cakes. Since so many of you are interested, I'm going to try and do 5 orders a week until they're finished - except for the beaded wedding cakes, they're going to take a little longer. If you would like to be put on the waiting list (in case people change their minds, etc.) please let me know now! I'm going to stop taking requests after this Friday since I have several trips coming up soon, and I don't think my ADD will allow me to work on beaded cakes for very long - I'll have to move on to something else soon! LOL

Also, as far as pricing on the beaded wedding cakes: PLEASE send me a note with your ideas/requests when you inquire about the pricing! The prices on those vary so much, that there's no way I can give you a price without knowing what you are looking for!

I think I've pretty much covered everything now! If you have any other questions that haven't been answered here, just let me know! I'm always happy to help you with any questions you may have!


****************************

Hello everyone! I hope you guys had a great weekend! Mine was nice and relaxing! Jimmy and I saw Vacancy on Friday night – not a bad movie, but not a great one either. Then we went out for dinner at Steak n’ Shake – YUM!

My little brother is also doing GREAT! I’m so glad! He’s pretty much back to normal! He and I have been playing Viva Piñata on Xbox 360… OMG That game is way too addictive! LOL

Most of the weekend I spent working on a vacation planning packet for my boss/friend, who is going to Disney World with her family in July! I filled it with tips, maps, stickers, lots of fun stuff! I’m so excited for her! It’s their first time staying in a Disney resort (Pop Century!), so they have a lot to learn! LOL

Also, I’ve been getting a lot of questions about my beaded cupcakes. I’m going to try to answer them here!

First of all, I only do a certain number of custom orders in any given period of time. Clay and beadwork are not the only things I ever do! LOL I do them mostly as a hobby since I love doing any kind of craft, but when people ask for things that I’ve made, I’m more than happy to sell things to them!

So… If you want one, here’s what you need to include in your note:

Cake Flavor (bottom color)
Icing Flavor (top color)
Any kind of toppings you want – sprinkles, cherry, candle etc.

Prices start at $12.00+shipping and go up from there, depending on toppings, special colors, etc.

The first 5 people to send me the money can get one this week. I may open up a few more spots in the next few weeks, but I have a trip to Nashville, a trip to Williamsburg, and a trip to Atlanta all planned for the next few weeks – so don’t count on more spots opening up too soon! LOL

Also, I’m not going to do a tutorial or anything for these either. I haven’t seen anything like these anywhere else and I would like to keep them as a unique and unusual item that you guys can get from me!

Hmm... I think that covers everything. If you have more questions, just send me a note!

That’s all from me for tonight!

]]> ~MandaBeads http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/12567011/ http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/12567011/ Thu, 12 Apr 2007 13:11:30 PDT
Hope all is well with you guys.

]]> ~MandaBeads http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/12522436/ http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/12522436/ Mon, 09 Apr 2007 09:31:23 PDT
I also worked on my Disney World trip report. Boy is that a fun project! I kept a journal on our trip, so I could write a real report when I got home. I'm glad I did that; it has been so helpful! I'm almost completely finished. I just have a few little things to correct, add, etc.

Working on the trip report really made me want to go back NOW though! We have another WDW trip planned for January 2008. We're going to take another couple with us - some of our best friends! They've never been before! I am BEYOND excited about this trip!! They were married around the same time as Jimmy and I. And we all have so much in common! She is into beads and jewelry and stuff just like me! We've had so much fun together planning stuff for this trip - looking at restaurant menus, figuring out shopping strategies and lists, choosing a room at the resort, (Pop Century! Woohoo!) deciding what we want to do at the parks, etc. One night we were watching one of my Relive the Magic DVDs - the Pop Century section - and we started squealing like little kids! "Oh, we're going to be there!" "Oh I'm going to stand in that exact spot; and you have to take my picture there!" We even kept pausing the part where you walk around in the Pop Century gift shop to see which purses she wanted to buy from there! Crazy! She is still in shock at everything there is to do at WDW! LOL

Hmm... I guess that's all from me for right now. Just missing Disney World! If any of you guys who are reading this EVER have any questions or anything about Disney World, pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease ask me! I just love sharing what I know with others!

Have a great day!

]]> ~MandaBeads http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/12484597/ http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/12484597/ Fri, 06 Apr 2007 14:22:34 PDT
Jimmy just left a little while ago to go to a meet-up in Maryland with some of his video game remixing friends. I made him some little phone charms to give to some of the people he knows. I’ll post pictures of those soon! He isn’t coming back until Sunday! Boohoo! Oh well, that gives me a lot of time to work on these orders!

Which reminds me… I just finished the cutest little scented jelly bean charms, but I just realized that Jimmy took the digital camera to Baltimore with him so I can’t take any pictures! They were meant to look like the Jelly Belly Smoothie Mix jelly beans. I’m so thrilled with how they turned out!! I tried scanning them on our scanner, but the picture came out all blurry and yucky. I’m really tempted to drive over to Mom and Dad’s house to borrow their digital camera! I’ve gotten so many ideas for color combinations and scents and such. I’m really excited about these! I think they’re going to do quite well. Plus, I’m going to debut a whole new line of goodies at my next jewelry party! I’m really excited about that as well!

I wore a charm bracelet to work yesterday that had some of the jelly bean charms on it; I like testing things out before I sell them. And I got several orders for necklaces, bracelets, earrings, etc. from some of the parents! On the first day!! So that’s what I’m working on today. I’m up to my ears in jelly beans! My studio smells so yummy! LOL I can’t decide what to use for the cord in the necklaces though. I have a bunch of ribbon, some thin leather cord, some silver silk cord, some more hand-dyed silk, a TON of satin cord, hemp… I don’t know what to use! So far, I think they look best on the thin black satin cord. The bracelets are going to be on sterling silver chain, but the necklaces didn’t look good to me when I used the chain. *Sigh* What a fun problem to work out!

Anyways, that is what I have been up to; watching my Relive the Magic DVDs, and making jelly beans! What a fun day! LOL

Hope all is well with everyone! Have a great day!

]]> ~MandaBeads http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/12422734/ http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/12422734/ Sun, 01 Apr 2007 20:46:05 PDT
I did several little cupcakes last night while Jimmy was at band practice. I'm thinking of doing some little beaded cupcakes sometime soon. I already have several ideas for how to go about doing that. I even have some ideas on how to make those scented as well! (Great, now I'm addicted to smell.)

This week is a short week, so I'm hoping to get a lot of things done. Plus I have nothing going on with school at the moment, so I should have a lot of extra time! I have pictures to take, beads to order, plus Jimmy is already talking about where we should go on vacation this summer. (Disney World, duh!) Hehe. He wants to go somewhere out west, (Oh! DisneyLAND??) since he served his mission out there. I wouldn't mind going somewhere up north, because, well, quite frankly it gets too freakin' hot down here!

Anywho, I'm really anctious to get back to my studio and play around with my beads before I have to go to bed.

Hope everyone is having a great night!

]]> ~MandaBeads http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/12386147/ http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/12386147/ Fri, 30 Mar 2007 08:18:23 PDT
I posted a few new things on DA this morning, since I got out of my music class early. I was just piddling around a lot with my clay last night and came up with a bunch of new ideas! Thank goodness for my idea notebook! I've been cranking out the ideas like crazy lately! It feels good to get them out on paper.

I'm going to make a few more of the glitter cupcakes for my etsy shop. (Since I have nearly a billion colors of glitter!) And I'm going to make some more cupcakes that have more... unusual toppings. LOL Plus, I have an idea for a new line of scented items since...

::Loud Drum Roll::

...after about a week and a half of serious trial and error...

::Continue Drum Roll::

...I have finally finished my first scented piece!!! (A bead, so that I didn't waste a lot of clay!) WooHoo!! I totally can't believe it! I'm going to carry it to work with me today to see how it does. And I'm going to see what the kiddies think of it. (I work at an after-school day care - it's only the best job ever!) I finally got the scent to the point where it is not so over powering that it is all you can smell when you have the scented item near you. I don't want to give people headaches!

OMG, and I totally almost forgot to tell you what the scent is... Coconut Cream!

Anywho, back to what I was saying... Oh yeah... I have this idea for some new scented things now that I have the scent thing under control. I've personally never seen anything like it, so I think (I hope!) it will go over really well. I ran the idea by my Mom and she was really excited about it... But she's always been my biggest fan, so I'm not sure how to take that. She's always been so supportive of everything I have gotten myself into - even when I was going to start my own bakery and candy shop! LOL I'm going to test the 'prototypes' out on the kiddos at work and see how it goes, and get feedback from them. They love to give suggestions and comments on all the things I bring in to show them, and they are brutally honest as well, so if it's not a good idea, they'll let me know!

Hmm... Well, I think that's all from me for now!

Happy Friday everyone!! Have a great weekend!

]]> ~MandaBeads http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/12360217/ http://MandaBeads.deviantart.com/journal/12360217/ Wed, 28 Mar 2007 08:37:07 PDT
I have to admit though, I have no idea what I'm doing so far! My page still looks pretty plain. I'm hoping to figure out how to spruce it up a bit soon.

I also have some dark chocolate raspberry cheesecake truffles that need to be glazed and then photographed so I can add them as well. Oh, and a birthday cupcake for my little niece's bracelet. She's going to be 5 in May!

Well, I'm off to find some lunch! I hope all is well with you guys!

]]> ~MandaBeads