Bead Design Team looking for New Members

Aren't these great beads?  Suburban Girl is putting together a Design team.  She's got 3 members and is looking for 3 more. I'd love to be part of her Design Team, so I've applied.  There are 4 challenges throughout the year.  She sends you beads and you have to create something with them, then reveal your creation on a set date.  You can also add beads/components from your own stash.  This sounds like it would be so much fun.  Check out her blog for the rest of the details.
And if you're looking for some Stained Glass, Mosaics or Fused Glass items for your Home or Garden, don't forget to check out my Etsy shop, KayzKreationz.  A specialty in my shop is my Mosaic Birdfeeders, which have been featured in Birds and Blooms magazine.  There's only one left available right now, so hurry and don't miss out on your chance to own a OOAK birdfeeder for your own garden.  You'll be the envy of all your neighbors.

 I also make Wire-wrapped, Beaded Jewelry for that special gift, too.

Treasuries!

In a thread in the forums on Etsy tonight, someone explained that you could go to "Treasury" and put your name in the search box to see if you'd been listed in any Treasuries.  Since I hadn't heard that I'd been put in any, I decided to search.  And I was tickled to see that in the last few weeks my glass had been put in 2 different treasuries! Yay! The first is for the "Handmade Artist Forum Twitter Ring".  This is a team I belong to, and we've formed a twitter ring to tweet about other Handmade Artist's shops and such.  The curator of this treasury put my Stained Glass Mosaic Birdhouse feeder in this one.  I love making Glass Kreationz for Home and Garden, so this is one of my favorite items.  If you're looking for something for a friend or family member that loves gardening and feeding the birds, this is just the ticket for you.
The second Treasury is "Poinsettia" and the curator put my Stained Glass Poinsettia panel in it.  If you love Poinsettia's, the color red, or Stained Glass, this panel is for you.  It would look great adorning your wall or window.

If you're looking for something else for your Home or Garden, be sure to check out my shop, KayzKreationz.  I also do some beading and wire work and have some jewelry, pendants listed.  Thanks again to those that included my glass in their treasuries.

Saturday Blog Shoppers Deals

Well it's that time again.  Another Saturday Blog Shoppers.  I almost didn't participate this week as I've been so busy finishing up my volunteer work, working on 2 different mosaic projects for tutorials and getting ready for a week's vacation with my oldest son and his wife.  But just quickly check out this great little Jasper Pendant, wire-wrapped in copper.  I love Jasper and Copper so this is a favorite of mine.  Hope you like it too.  And don't forget to check out the other great Saturday Blogs with shopping deals by clicking on the button to the right.  Happy Shopping.
And be sure to check back next week for my first tutorial.  A large Glass Mosaic birdfeeder with fishies on it.  It will be for sale in my Etsy shop KayzKreationz when it's finished.  Happy Saturday.

ETSY Day is here--Check out great Handmade shops

Today's the Day. ETSY day is finally here. Hundreds or maybe even thousands of Etsy buyers/sellers are promoting Etsy in lots of ways. Most are putting an Etsy car sign on their vehicles while they go to work, shopping or just driving around to get the word out about Etsy. Others are leaving fliers and bookmarks around where they shop, eat, or with people they talk to. Some are being interviewed on their local news or newspapers. The idea is to get the word out about Etsy and let people know about a great place to buy genuine HANDMADE items, instead of mass produced. Etsy also has some great supply shops for crafters and wonderful vintage shops for those of us that love vintage (or can't seem to get out of the past) :) So if you're tired of the same old thing for gifts, home decor or even clothing, check out ETSY. Your place for all things Handmade, Supply and Vintage.

I love Etsy for my Stained glass, Mosaics and Fused glass items for Home decor and Yard and Garden decor. If you're tired of the same old birdfeeders, windchimes, plant stakes and decorations for you home and garden check out KayzKreationz. And for gorgeous Sterling Silver, Gemstone and Swarovski crystal jewelry, check out STRINGandStones. You'll love her unique take on jewelry. I own several of her pieces and always get compliments of them whenever I wear them.

So pass the word about a great place to shop: ETSY!

Earth Day

Today is EARTH day. What is everyone doing to help the earth? I always try to plant something. And I don't use chemicals in my yard or garden at any time. I recycle most of the year too. And with my glass I try to recycle bottles, shells, etc. for some of my art. Then I also create things to help the wildlife, like my birdbaths, birdfeeders, butterfly baths, etc. We need all those critters to keep our gardens/yards growing. You can check out some of my glass items at KayzKreationz. Will be a new birdfeeder/birdbath/butterfly bath listed tonight.
What do you do to help the earth & environment?

New Listings coming to Etsy for spring

I love spring. The grass is getting green, the trees and flowers are budding and blooming. The birds, butterflies and bees are returning. And I get the urge to get my garden weeded, back in shape, planted, etc. My grandmother had a green thumb and was always working in her yard and garden. She loved having feeders out for the birds. My grandfather even managed to tame/train a wild squirrel to come down out of the trees, come up on his porch and eat right out of his hands. I guess that's where I get it. So with my glass, I have a tendency to create things that decorate my yard and garden or help the wildlife in some way. In both my shops on Etsy and Artfire, I have things for just that purpose. My plant stakes decorate your garden and your potted plants. My birdfeeders can be used for that purpose or even as shallow bird baths or butterfly baths. Butterflies need shallow baths and these small terra cotta feeders are just right for that purpose, too. My windchimes decorate, twist and chime in the wind for your enjoyment. Even my garden twirlers add a touch of whimsy to your garden. So keep and eye out for some great new items for your yard and garden coming soon to KayzKreationz.

Spring Fling and my Mosaic Birdfeeder

My Mosaic Birdhouse Birdfeeder has been featured on DZFantasy's blog. She is doing a Spring Fling featuring quite a line-up of Etsy shops with great spring items. And she chose my Birdfeeder as one of her Spring items. Here is a pic of the feeder itself. If you want to see more great spring items, check out her blog. And if you're interested in more glass for your home or garden, check out my shop, KayzKreationz, for windchimes, plant stakes, sandscapes and more.

Rescue Turtles, Wildlife Management, our small Texas Ranch and my Glass

About a week and a half ago, a friend of ours that owns apartments, went to check on one of his rentals to find that the renters had moved out and left their fish tank with "a" fish, a hamster in it's cage and their tank with 2 turtles in it. Whether they had left food or not I don't know for sure, but obviously with no-one there, the animals couldn't get food. I don't care for people that just go off and leave their animals or decide that they can come dump them in the country for us to take care of. What they don't realize is we already have our own animals that we "responsibly" take care of and their animals will sit beside the road chasing every car coming back, hoping their owner is coming back to get them. Then they will wander off and either get hit and hurt or killed or we will have to shoot them, because we don't know if they're sick, mean or whatever. In case you can't tell this is a real pet peeve of mine! If people want animals in their life, then they need to take responsibility for them. If they can no longer care for them, then it is their responsibility to find homes for them or a shelter that can take them and then provide some support to that shelter. But I digress. Our friend had found a school here that wanted to take the fish and it's tank for the children to learn how to take care of and they had decided to keep the hamster. (He had taken all the critters home until he could find homes for them.) But he couldn't keep the turtles and couldn't find a home for them. In steps my DH. We have a water trough buried in our back pasture as a water source for the wildlife as part of our wildlife management we do on our small ranch. We told him we would take them home and release them in this water source and hopefully they would survive. We didn't know what kind of turtles they are and neither did he. But at least they might have a chance. So he put them in containers for us, we toted them home, cleared out some of the moss and grass that always overgrows this trough, put some rocks in so they would have a place to climb up without hopefully climbing out and then released them. They seemed happy enough with their new home. Although one of them was "not" happy with being handled, once they were put down at the edge of the water, they immediately took off into it's darkest depths. I go out every day or two and sprinkle a little food for them and look around. So far we haven't seem them, but we haven't seen anything floating, and there seems to be enough room around and under the rocks where they could hide/live. So unless they have climbed out and crawled off, we're hoping they will survive. At the very least they had a chance they wouldn't have had when their previous owners decided to just irresponsibly leave them behind for our friend to bring home and try to care for. Here's a couple of pics of my DH putting the rocks in for them and them being released.
This is one reason so many of my glass items have to do with gardening, birdfeeding or birdbaths and such. I love nature, animals and wildlife and like to provide for them and usually end up spending any money I make from my glass to either make more to sell or to provide food and homes for them. I'm a sucker for animals and I think they know it. :) Enjoy the pics and if you're looking for something to help the animals and wildlife check out my glass in my Etsy shop, KayzKreationz or my Artfire shop, also KayzKreationz.

Interview with Yaffa Dreams

After purchasing a couple of adorable guitar pick pendants from Yaffa Dreams, like the one to the left, I wanted to fing out more about her and her art. So I asked her for an interview. Here's her great answers. I hope you enjoy learning more about this great Etsy seller. And afterwards, check out her shop, YaffaDreams. Here's just a peek at some of her great items in the box on the right.

1. When did you start crafting?

When I was a wee one! I also majored in Constructive Design in college and wanted to design fabrics, which never happened.

2. What is your favorite part of your crafting?

Seeing the end results. I usually start out with one idea and by the time I have finished, the end product is totally different.

3. Do you make more than one craft, and if so, do you sell them all in your shop? I make mainly jewelry but I also paint bags and jeans and yes, I sell them all in my shop.

4. How does your crafting help you? (i.e. do you use it to support yourself entirely, to help with part of your bills, or mainly for fun and some extra cash as well as the joy in crafting?

Right now, I am unemployed and use crafting to help pay my bills and also to keep me busy, so that I don't end up in the nuthouse.

5. What is the hardest and easiest parts of your crafting?

For me, the hardest part of crafting is wire-wrapping. I guess it takes tons of practice. Also, not buying every bead out there.

6. What do you enjoy about having a shop on Etsy?

I love the support from fellow Etsiers. I have made tons of friends on Etsy.

7. What are some of your favorite shops on Etsy?

www.KayzKreationz.etsy.com for the beautiful glass work (and the mosaic bird bath).

www.Host.etsy.com all proceeds go to help fellow etsiers in need.

www.scrapbox65610.etsy.com the tarts are so cute and smell so good. I keep them all over the house. My closets smell great.

www.catiahades.etsy.com for the cutest jewelry items.

www.boogerelli.etsy.com for her fun lil' boogers.

New video about Texas and My Glass

Always wanted to put my glass to music. And since I love Texas and Texas things, I added a little bit of Texas to it. So check out my video of My Glass and Texas. Then leave a comment and tell me what you think. You can find my glass at KayKreationz at Etsy or Artfire. Come check out my stores.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com