Can you believe it’s already October.  The weather has definitely changed here in Central Florida.  It is in the 80s during the day instead of the 90s.  The tomatos have just taken off.  We planted some in August and it was just too early for them.  The September planting is growing three times as fast.  We have tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, beans, broccoli, lettuce, eggplant, radishes, onions, and the luffa kitchen sponge gourd growing.  We hope to grow enough to supply all our vegetable needs with preservering for at least a season.  Next in is the strawberries and other fruit trees and bushes. I will have to get my hubby to take some updated photos. 

I am in the process of updating my website since I disbanded the voting page.  I decided to give an incentive to my buyers for free beads.  So if you order, you will get some freebies…. maybe some extra matching beads or some orphaned samples of other beads maybe even some matching non-lampwork beads.  You never know what will be coming along with your order.

I also have started a wholesale program.  If your interested in purchasing larger amounts (over $500 retail), get in touch with me for informataion. 

Well I am going to get back to watching my taped Project Runway.  I so love that show.  My favorite is Korto(Kat-to).  I think her designs are for the every day woman, not the toothpick thin girls..  women with curves.  Have a wonderful rest of the week. 

Megan

Time sure flies..  I have finally caught up on every single one of my custom orders and shipments.  Boy, there were sure lots of them all at once and with all the rain from Fay and the other tropical stuff, it made it sure hard to get out to the torch.  With my new setup, I am not able to torch when it is raining.  There are always pros and cons with the locations I pick to torch in but until I get a permanent custom built to my specifications studio, it will always be like that.

Now that all the orders are done, I will finally get some torch time to just create.  I haven’t been able to do that in so long it will be nice. 

We (well my hubby) has our raised garden bed partially installed in the backyard.  I have been having a lot of fun watching the veggies grow.  We have only harvested 2 tomatos so far but they are growing like mad.   When the backyard is finally complete, we hope to have approximately 10 raised bed, potato growing bins, fruit trees and bushes, a barrell fish farming garden to raise tilapia in, and an herb garden.   Wanna take a look at what we have so far…

Mark has installed some new raised beds and lattice work since the photo and the veggies are a lot bigger. We have a real advantage living in Florida because we can basically grow all year round. The radishes are almost ready to harvest. They are growing in the orange bins along with red and yellow onions. Mark is the type of guy that could blow on a plant and it would turn green. I on the other hand have already managed to kill lettuce so I have let him deal with it and I just watch. Don’t want to jinx it.

I am making some changes on the freebie beads.  After speaking with a couple other lampwork artists, we all pretty much have the same opinion.  We all have given out many, many beads but rarely do the voters ever purchase anything.  I have done the freebies for over 2 years now and I can only remember one time where a voter transferred into a sale.  To tell you the truth, I just have a hard time keeping up and if the game never translates into sales, I just can’t see a point in continuing.  With that being said, I do appreciate all you votes over all the years.  They have kept me high on the voting rosters.  I will pull one last winner for August until now but I will be moving on to something else.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. 

Time for bed now..  Car broke down today so its off to the repairman early in the a.m. 

Megan

Really I did.  If you followed my blog at all last year or even the old blog from the year before, Summer for me is just about trying to keep up.  If you have ever been in an aluminum roofed glass Florida room in the swealtering heat of summer, you know how hot they are.  Now try that with a 1,000 degree kiln, two oxygen concentrators, and a torch running, it’s painfully unbearable.  It’s all I can do to keep up with my custom orders.  I kind of get in a rut over the Summer.  Lampworking has always been an outlet for me.  If I am angry, upset, or even worried, just sit me down in front of my torch and let me be.  I guarantee I will leave the studio in a much better and lightened mood, now take that outlet away and I get into a rut.  It always breaks with the first good cold stap.  It’s that invigorating feeling when you breath in that unopppressive cold air into your lungs.  There isn’t anything like that. 

In an effort to keep myself sane, I always try to keep busy and catch up with things that have been let go.  Unfortunately, it seems I in turn let the website go for a while.  I’m sorry y’all.  I think next year I am going to do things differently with how I work summer.  Will have all year to think about it.

So, what have I been up to?  Well I am still working my part-time job mornings as a medical transcriptionist.  The place where I have been working is moving into an electronic medical record and they are phasing out our jobs.  Of course you come to count on that paycheck, so in an effort to make sure I have security with regards to $$, I have started a part-time job transcribing at home in the evenings.   That has definitely been keeping me occupied. 

We also spent some time in July setting up my new ventilation system which took forever.  It was pretty involved and took some outside help.  I then spent a week or so moving my studio in an effort to combat the summer aluminum roof heat, moved my studio to the garage.  It is so much more pleasant to torch in the garage.  We still have to get an electrician to install some new circuits and plugs so I do have to use extension cords but it is up and going. 

We have also been spending a lot of time trying our best to educate ourself and become more “green”.   It’s really more for us about living a more self sustainable life.  The saving the earth aspect of “green” is a nice side benefit for us.  We really are more about providing what we can for ourselves and making use of the land we do have and the natural resources available to us and what is cheaper in the long run financially.  I encourage everyone to take a small step like using canvas tote bags instead of plastic bags or changing the light bulbs to compact flourescents or even just turning them off.   Every little bit helps. 

Anyway, to the business at hand.  I know I have been lax about the freebie drawings.  I am so sorry for those that have been voting for me.  I have not decided yet what August’s freebie is going to be but I am going to draw for the past freebie..  Drum Roll Please………….

The winner of the gift certificate is…..  Leslie from Ohio.   Will be contacting your shortly.   Please everyone definitely keep voting.  I will post the new freebie prize within the next week.   

Anyway, thats what I have been up to for the past two months or so.  I am gonna take an afternoon nap and get ready to work this evening.  Have a wonderful Sunday.  Thank y’all for all your support and I am going to do my best to update this more regular.

Megan

That sure snuck up on me.  I finished my class and made a B in the class which I am very happy with.  Right now I am looking into other schools to finish my Bachelor’s degree.  Right now it is looking like Florida State’s online computer engineering degree.  Although I am struggling with it because there are some prerequisites that I will still need to take and I so don’t feel like going back to regular classes.  I don’t know what I am going to do yet.  My hubby is also in school right now and I am not sure whether affording two college degrees at once is going to be doable anyway. 

 We haven’t been able to sell our house yet, so its currently up for rent.  Crossing my fingers and praying that we find the right renters that don’t totally destroy our house.  We spent sooo much money rehabing it, I am just going to be so depressed if they do rip it apart.  But you have to do what you have to do.  We have so many plans that we have lived the last year and a half in limbo with this house.  It will be good to be out from under the extra bills. 

The summer heat has also arrived here in Florida.  This crazy heat makes it so hard to be creative.  My studio is a florida room studio and it is basically like a heat box when that torch and kiln are running.  There will be very few new beads during the summer.  I will just be concentrating on jewelry making and custom orders.  I have always tried my hand at some polymer clay items too which when I get all the right equipment will be adding to my site. 

I have added the new freebie.  It is the first time I am offering this.  It is a $25 gift certificate for any beads in my Made to Order category.   Definitely check out the freebie page. 

Well tonight is American Idol and I am so hoping that David Cook is going to win.  I really like his kind of music.  I also have recently discovered Redbox.com as we got the kiosks in our Walmart stores here.  So, I have National Treasure 2 and Untraceable here.  I can’t wait to see the National Treasure movie as I absolutely loved the first one. 

Anyway, thanks for taking a look and voting.
Megan

I hope you all will understand my abscence.  I haven’t updated the blog in entirely too long.  My college class has been taking up a lot of my time.  It seems like every week it’s an essay and a test which takes my all my days off.  I am taking a communications class (AKA public speaking).  It is the last class I needed to complete my degree and I just hadn’t taken it for many reasons which I won’t go into but I am sure you can imagine.  Public speaking just isn’t my forte.  I only have two more tests, one more essay and a final to go. 

Nothing really exciting has taken place over the last month to month and a half.  My hubby was ill for three weeks with pneumonia so much of that time was spend inside.  Watched a lot of movies.  I finally got a chance to see all the Jason Bourne movies.  I also got on a Jane Austen movie kick and saw the newest Becoming Jane movie.  I have to say my favorite is Sense & Sensibility with Pride & Prejudice coming in a close second.  I am a sucker for those type of love stores. 

I also saw August Rush.  I really loved the movie but hated the ending.  Since it is a newer movie, I won’t tell you the ending but I like a movie with closure and this one definitely didn’t have it.  Actually right now while I work on some school work, I have been glued to the Lord of the Rings Trilogy on TNT.  

 Anyway, I added a category to the store.  My dad’s woodwork starting with a kumihimo marudai that he made.  Next I will be adding some displays.  Check them out. 

I have picked a winner of the off mandrel heart and have added a new freebie.  Next month I will be sure to make a bead set for the freebie.  I am hoping to get past some custom orders and get on the torch to make some new items. 

Have a wonderful Monday beadies and I won’t be as much of a stranger, promise.

Megan

Well I haven’t done one of these in a while, so I thought I would chime in on the Flaming Hot  blog it subject.  The subject is Promotion.. How exactly do you promote your bead business.

 Promotion has to be hardest part of my bead business.  I am not one to inflate myself and talk myself up.  I tend to be laid back and humble about my beads.  I think most people will find that most artists only see the problems in their art and not the beauty of it.  I have really worked hard promoting myself and getting my name out there and it really has started to pay off especially here lately as I have had quite a few orders. 

 The biggest promotion that I do is getting my link out there.  Through Lampwork etc to Topsites to other websites, I have to say its the biggest thing that brings people to my website.  I have also tried really hard on ranking high on the search engines. 

 I also blog on a regular basis, have a Myspace page dedicated to beads, and sell on places like Etsy.  More recently though I have placed ads in Step by Step Beads and Beadfest articles.    Look out for our group ads. 

I do need to work harder on promotion though.  I love making beads but couldn’t continue without supporting the habits, so purchase the beads now will ya!

 As a side note, I do have some new beads on Etsy..  Take a look.

Have a wonderful Tuesday. 

Megan

Hiya,

I know I am late but we have a January freebie winner, its Corie from Illinois!  Congrats!  I just added February’s freebie.  I thought with Valentine’s Day in a few days, a heart would be fitting.  Its also something new for me that I have been working on.  An off mandrel heart with a ready to hang lampworked bail.  Just add a necklace!

I have a favor for anyone out there living in the Pennsylvania or surrounding areas..  I have an group ad coming out in Step by Step beads in both the magazine and in an insert that they are placing in some of the magazines for the Philly Bead Show..  I can almost guarantee the bead show insert won’t be in Florida’s Step by Step beads magazine.  If anyone out there gets their hands on a copy of it, I will send you a focal for the insert..  Just e-mail me.  It should be out right now for subscribers and in stores in about a week to 10 days. 

 I hope you had a wonderful weekend.  Not much on the tube this evening, just watching the Grammys.  Some great performances tonight.  Kanye is performing right now.  Not my favorite artist or anything but I love the song he is performing.  It isn’t even the words, its the beat.. 

Have a wonderful Sunday,
Megan

I tell you, if I have caught one cold this year, I have caught them all.  Working at home for so long, you really don’t get exposed to all the every day germs.  Your in your own little world with all the comfortable germies but then you go get a job working with 30+ people in one big room and WHAM!  Stomach viruses and colds nearly every month.  It started last Friday and it’s still going.  I am feeling better some though.  I have been fortunate enough to have some lenient bosses who have let me work half days, so it makes it much easier.  It really is no wonder why so many are sick.  One day its 50 degrees and the next it is 80 degrees. 

I did get my tuckus out to vote this evening in the Florida Primary.  I don’t want to get political or anything but I just wanted to say please get out to the poles and make an educated vote!  I don’t care about who you vote for, just do your research and get out and vote!  It is such an important thing.  So many men and women have lost their lives fighting for our freedoms.  My figuring is, if you don’t get out and vote, you just have no right to complain about anything. And I am a complainer, so I have to cover myself.. LOL..

On a lighter note, I am in search of this ring below.  It’s a real plant that you grow right inside a little terrarium ring.  I so want it but the blog I located it at send me to a website that is down and I haven’t been able to locate it anywhere else.  It’s just really unique..

 Anyway, thats all for now.  Just wanted to give a little update.  Don’t forget to vote for me.  Voting for the focal ends in a few days. 

 Thanks so much.
Meg

Happy Sunday everyone..  I finally had some time to get pictures of some new beads.  If you remember back in July I had a family friend that had a really bad motorcycle accident.  She was doing pretty well.  A miracle really that she was alive after the accident.  About a week after Thanksgiving her sister went to pick her up for an appointment and found her unconscious.  She passed away after her brain bled again.  It was a horrible thing.  She was only 45 years old. 

Anyway, in an effort to raise some funds to take care of her Great Danes (they eat a lot), her parents asked me to sell a huge Disney Collection of hers.  For the past three weeks, I have been listing lots of Disney items on the weekends.  I am about half finished with the things I have..  Needed a weekend without the mouse so I got to torch and photograph some beads. 

I will be listing them on the website/etsy this evening and watching The Amazing Race.  This is the first time that I don’t have a favorite.  All three are good teams and seem to be pretty nice people.  I like the father daughter team.  I can’t believe he has ran the race with a hernia. 

Anyway, take a look at some of the beads.
Happy Weekend,
Megan

Finally, I figured out how to have a real blogging system hosted on my own site!  I sat down this morning on a mission to figure this out.  It’s 6:20 p.m. and I finally finished it.  I am very excited about how it looks.  It isn’t perfect yet as I want to add some widgets to it but I am very happy with it.

Anyway, I am back to work.  I started a college class this last week and have some work to do on it and some auctions to take photos for.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Megan