ETSY AUTUMN ART BEAD TREASURY

Beautiful Etsy Art Beads Treasury by Heather Powers.  To view the treasury on Etsy and contact the individual artist go HERE.  What an honor to be among all these wonderful artist!  My lampwork head pins are on the bottom row.

Enjoy,

Raida

CUSTOMER APPRECIATION SALE

I want to thank all my wonderful customers who visit my Etsy site with a little sale this week.  It's a customer appreciation sale at Havana Beads on Etsy.  To get a 15% discount on your entire order type in  APPRECIATE11 in the blue box on your invoice when checking out.  Sale ends Friday, September 30th.  ENJOY!

Enjoy your day,

Raida

GIVEAWAY WINNERS

Still tired from a very busy weekend at the Intergalactic Bead Show.  I want to thank all of the wonderful ladies who came by to say hello.  You guys are the best!

Now for the giveaway.  There was a huge response to the Bead Soup post totalling 94 comments, wow!  The random number for this giveaway was number 68 which is Claire Maunsell.  I decided to do two more random giveaways which will include one of my little ceramic birds.

#68 - Claire Maunsell - Canyon Echoes head pins and Little Pistachio Ceramic Bird Set
#28 - Lorelei Eurto - Little Ceramic Bird
#45 - Michelle Mach - Little Ceramic Bird

Please contact me at havanabeads@yahoo.com with your address so I can send these to you.

Congratulations to all my winners and thanks to all of you who participated, I really appreciate it!  I will be having more giveaways in the future so come back and visit.

Enjoy your day,

Raida

INTERGALACTIC BEAD SHOW - POMPANO BEACH

Hope every one's having a wonderful week.  I'm running around this week getting everything ready for the Intergalactic Bead Show this weekend so this is a short post.  Here's where I'll be:

Intergalactic Bead Show

September 24 and 25
Emma Lou Olsen Civic Center
1801 NE 6th Street
Pompano Beach, FL
10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m each day

Click below for a $2.00 discount
$2.00 off Entrance

Both Etsy stores will be closed Saturday & Sunday.
Here's some goodies I'll have with me.

Enjoy your day,

Raida

BEAD SOUP REVEAL & SEPTEMBER BEAD GIVEAWAY

Thanks so much for visiting my blog.  I would first like to thank Lori Anderson of Pretty Things for hosting this event.  I can't even image the countless hours she spent putting this event together.

My Bead Soup partner is Rebecca Watkins of Artybecca.  Rebecca is a polymer clay artist.  When I first received Rebecca's beads I thought "This will be a piece of cake".  Her beads are beautiful!  But as I started to put ideas together I realized I was out of my comfort zone and needed to thick outside the box.  My first thought was to put the toggle at the end of the necklace and have lots of beautiful beads dangle from them.  But as I laid my beads down I realized that the bird on the toggle wasn't designed to have the holes facing down.  I then thought of using three strands going up but that didn't look right since the holes are evenly spaced.  I finally decided on decorating the holes and not using them in the traditional manner.  Rebecca sent me two toggles to use.  I wanted to use the larger one, but after attaching all the seed beads I had they wouldn't fit through the hole.  The smaller one fit perfectly and I actually like the contrast.  I think I'll make a ceramic piece in a solid color and use the other toggle with that later.  I added some of my own lampwork beads, wood beads, antiqued brass wire and vintage antiqued brass caps, Vintaj leaf and a silk cord.  I had some beads left which I used to make a pair of earrings.

I'm so happy with my final piece and with everything I learned creating it.  What I thought was going to be easy, really pushed me to thick outside the box.  Thanks Rebecca, I really enjoyed working with your beads!

GO ALL THE WAY TO THE END TO ENTER MY SEPTEMBER BEAD GIVEAWAY!  - A winner has been choosen

My Bead Soup from Rebecca

To visit other participating blogs please go to Lori Anderson of Pretty Things here: Bead Soup Blog Party to link to other sites.


September Bead Giveaway - A winner has been choosen

All comments will be entered for a chance to win this months bead giveaway.  For additional chances, leave an additional message if you follow my blog, if you Like me on Facebook, or if you've posted this giveaway on your blog.  I will pick a random winner on Monday, September 26th.

Here's the prize..........

Handmade Lampwork head pins "Canyon Echoes" and

my little pistachio green ceramic birdie with coordinating beads

GOOD LUCK!

Raida



New Beads

I've been so busy lately making beads for the upcoming Intergalactic Bead Show September 24-25th I haven't had much time to blog.  I have some new beads and jewelry in my Etsy stores and some new ones I have to take pictures of today.  I've also been working on my Bead Soup project for the Grand Reveal this Saturday.  Come back and visit on Saturday to check it out.  I'll also be posting this month's bead giveaway on Saturday for all those that leave a comment.

Thanks for stopping by,

Enjoy your day,

Raida

GARDEN TOUR

I was outside today taking pictures of some head pins and thought you guys might like to see some Florida blooms.  This isn't the best time of the year to show off Florida gardens.  There's way too much heat and too much rain (yes, way too much rain).  Still some things love these conditions and are actually at their best.  Here are some pics.  Hope you enjoy.

Plumbago

I caught two bees nectar diving here.

This is a pretty vine growing at the back of the house.  Not sure of the name.

These are lemons.  My tree is packed with these.  They'll be turning yellow in the next couple of weeks probably.  Anyone have a good recipe using lemons they'd like to share?

These are Tangelos.  They are a hybrid of mandarin oranges and grapefruit also know as "Honeybell".

Cherries Jubilee

Cherries Jubilee as tall as my house!

These are Star Fruit.  When you slice these they have a great little star shape.  I've only seen these in salads.  Don't know what else to do with them other than just eat them as a fruit.

My husband's pride and joy "Avocado".  These are huge!  Unfortunately, there are only 5 of them this year. 

Not sure the name of this plant but it's blooming like crazy.

Hope you enjoyed the tour,

Enjoy your day,

Raida

HAPPY LABOR DAY!

Hope every one's having a wonderful day off.  I'm cleaning my studio some today and taking pictures of some new head pins and earrings I made yesterday.  But all in all trying to get a little rest.  Here's some new things I've made.

GALA EVENT

VINTAGE CHRISTMAS LEAVES

BLUE LAGOON DROPS

Some new earrings I made with my new mini lampwork faceted beads.  These brass pieces where colored with Missficklemedia patina.  She has a wonderful Etsy store filled with beautiful patinated pieces you can purchase or you can purchase her patinas and tutorial and try for yourself like I did.

Enjoy your Day,

Raida

Winner of Freaky Beads

The random winner of a baggie of my "freaky" bone beads is:

 #11 - Cilla - Tell Your Girlfriends.

Email me your address at havanabeads@yahoo.com so I can mail these out to you. Congratulations!

Enjoy your evening,

Raida

BEAUTIFUL DRESS FORM

I am so excited, I finally found a dress form that I can custom make.  I will have to work on it but I think with my limited sewing skills I might be able to pull it off.  The dress form pattern is from Jackie Westlund at 4 My Favorite Things on Etsy.  If you'd like to see other dress forms go to  Lauri Evans Designs blog.  She has a beautiful blog with lots of eye candy.  Here is a picture of one of Jackie's finished pieces.

Permission granted to use picture by Jackie Westlund

Raida