Saturday, July 31, 2010

Another Great Giveaway at Beads of Clay



Lots of great giveaways this week. Beads of Clay is giving away a Wubbers Bailing Pliers, a spool of Vintaj wire and an assorment of ceramic beads. Click on the post title and it will take you directly to their site. Good Luck!

Raida

Friday, July 30, 2010

THROUGH THE GARDEN - NEW NECKLACE


New necklace on my gentlewinddesigns Etsy shop. I made this floral pendant from polymer clay and added amber nuggets and mother of pearl disc with a little suede piece and antiqued brass leaf and chain. I am crazy about flowers, mostly in the garden. I have a hard time cutting flowers from outside and bringing them inside. My plants look so naked without their glorious flowers. We don't get huge blooms down here in Florida. Maybe up north in the summer in a large flowering garden you could cut some flowers and bring them in without loosing too much of the beauty of the plant. Oh well!

Andrew Thornton Bead Giveaway


Go over to Andrew's beautiful blog and enter for a chance to win a huge stash of marvelous beads, components, handmade beads, etc., etc., etc. Trust me it's marvelous! Click on post title and it will take you directly to his blog.

ENJOY!

Raida

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

JEWELRY SALE


Go on over to my jewelry site at gentlewinddesigns.etsy.com for a storewide 20% discount sale. Everything in the store is discounted, even sale items. Sale ends Monday, August 2, 2010.


Raida

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

NEW NECKLACES



Here are a couple of necklaces that I've been working on the last couple of days. The necklace with the large floral pendant I made from polymer clay which I haven't dabbled in in a while but still enjoy very much. Don't worry I'm still lampworking, just need to get my hands dirty from time to time away from the flame. My other necklace is copper wire wrapping which I love to do. I will have these listed at gentlewinddesigns.etsy.com later tonight.

Have a great day,

Raida

Monday, July 26, 2010

NEW BEADS - SNEAK PEEK




These are some new bead sets that I'll be listing on Havanabeads later tonight or tomorrow morning. Hope you like them.

Take care,

Raida

Sunday, July 25, 2010

GREAT CLASSES


I have to tell you guys about a couple of classes I took on Saturday. If you want to learn to rivet, cut plates, texture, stamp, and use all kinds of funky tools you have to take a class with Michael at Bead Need in Davie. What a wonderful young man and patient and informative teacher. I made this great bracelet in one of his classes. If you need information about his classes call them at 954-880-0880. He's only going to be there through August so hurry if you want to take one of his classes.

Take Care,

Raida

THE WINNER IS......



Crazy busy day today, but I promised to pick a winner on Sunday. The winner of the set of lampwork beads is Jessica at "Jewelry by Jessica". Send me an email to havanabeads@yahoo.com with your address and I will get the beads out to you this week. Congratulations!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

NEW BEADS


Set of 6 colorful Lampwork Pillows


Lampwork and Antiqued Sterling silver earrings


A sweet light blue etched lampwork tweet

I love the surprise of opening the kiln in the morning and finding that my hard work and sometimes crazy combinations turn out well. Here are some new beads I'll be listing on Havana Beads later tonight. The earrings will also be posted on Havanabeads because believe it or not those rock looking beads are lampwork, yep. I didn't make too many because I wasn't sure what they would look like, but I think they're pretty cool. Any thoughts on those, let me know? Last but not least, a little light blue etched tweet, too sweet!

Don't forget to enter my lampwork giveaway that ends on Sunday. You'll see a post from earlier in the week below with a picture of the beads.

Take care,

Raida

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

HOPE............



HOPE............................

As long as we have hope,
we have direction,
the energy to move,
and the map to move by.
We have a hundred alternatives,
a thousand paths and infinity of dreams.
Hopeful, we are halfway to where we want to go;
Hopeless, we are lost forever.

A Hong Kong Proverb

This was my inspiration for this necklace. Hope you love it as much as I do. This necklace is listed in my gentlewinddesigns.etsy.com site.

Have a great evening,

Raida

New Beads on Etsy


I just love the fall colors on this set. I made these with glass shards from a blown glass bubble I made recently. I will be posting this set in a little while so go over to my havanabeads Etsy store to check this set out. Hope everyone has a great day!

Raida

Monday, July 19, 2010

Giveaway


Thought I'd launch my new blog with a little giveaway. I will be giving away this set of beads to one lucky winner. Three ways to enter:

1. Join my followers.
2. Comment on this post.
3. Comment on your blog about this giveaway for 5 entries (Email me blog site to verify)
4. This is a free gift, no returns, exchanges, or credits, thanks.

I will choose a random winner on Sunday, July 25th.
GOOD LUCK!

Raida











BABY STEPS

Welcome to my new blog page. This will be my very first entry as a blogger so bear with me as I learn the ropes, baby steps. For those of you that don't know me, my name is Raida Disbrow and I'm a lampwork artist and jewelry designer. I sell my lampwork and jewelry on Etsy and at local bead shows. You can find my stores at havanabeads.etsy.com and gentlewinddesigns.etsy.com. I thought it would be nice to post some information here on new jewelry pieces, lampwork beads and to have some giveaways from time to time to thank all of my wonderful customers.

Some news of late is the featured photo of my viking knit and lampwork necklace in the Aug-Sept 2010 edition of Step by Step Wire Jewelry, page 30. No instructions to this one but still exciting to see your work and your name in a magazine. Above is a picture of the necklace if you don't have the magazine. I will be posting some new lampwork beads that will be in my Etsy store so come back later and check them out.

Take care,

Raida