2bead sisters

Welcome back!

2010-03-04T17:15:00.000-08:00

It's been a very long time since I posted on this blog. Why? I could come up with a thousand reasons, but the truth is I just don't know why. Making beads has been a priority for both Denise and I as we've been doing a lot of shows lately. It's always fun to meet new beaders and say hello to old friends at the shows. If you buy beads from us we'd love to see what you create with them. Later this month we will be selling at a show in the town of Niagara Falls. I'm excited - I've never seen the falls before. Keep beading and hope to see you at a future show.

Ducks like rain!

2009-05-04T16:05:00.000-07:00

But I don't. Its been raining for the past few days (although it seems more like a month). The first rainy day is fun, an excuse to lay on the sofa and read or watch a tv movie. But now we're in the 4th or 5th day of nasty weather and I'm just feeling lazy and out of sorts. Is the sun still up there? I'd never know. It seems like the rain is supposed to continue for at least the next few days. Tomorrow I'll have to force myself to go out to my studio. I wouldn't be suprised to find out I've made lots of gray beads recently. Here's to a sunny day in the not too distant future! Keep beading!

Crazy April weather

2009-04-30T17:31:00.000-07:00

As we go on a roller coaster ride from 40 degrees to 90 degrees we're continuing to make lots of beads. We have a 4 week break in our show schedule - our next show isn't until May 30th. Look for lots of new beads! Right now having a break feels wonderful, but I know that we'll be suffering from bead withdrawel soon. Our June schedule looks like we'll be all over the place - from Albany to Vienna Va. Lots of travel coming up. Hope to see you soon. Be healthy and keep beading and an early "Happy Mother's Day" to all the beading moms out there.

jewelry pics

2009-04-03T18:02:00.000-07:00

Two of our wonderful customers (they're also sisters) created these two necklaces using our beads. I love to see what you do with our beads. Please send photos and I'll try to publish them on our blog.
Also, I'm celebrating - no more cast! The doctor cut it off on Thursday and now I'm just wearing an ankle brace. It's a little sore, but definitely getting better.

BEAD SHOW!!!!!!

2009-03-28T13:45:00.000-07:00

I made it to the bead show in Cromwell. It took a coordinated effort between Denise and my daughter but they each drove me part way. It feels so good to be surrounded by beads! My cast is due to come off on April 2nd and then I'll need to wear an ankle brace of some sort. It has to be better than this cast.
The show is wonderful - eye candy for the body and soul. Hope to see all of you soon.

Surprise cast!

2009-03-20T15:20:00.000-07:00

The story continues. I had an appt. with my orthopedic surgeon on Tuesday. I went to her office with my right shoe and sock in hand, convinced that she was going to tell me to put them on and walk out of her office. Was I in for a surprise! the next thing I remember was the ortho tech asking me what color cast I wanted. That was the last thing I expected to hear! Anyway, the pictures show my purple cast both with and without the designer shoe. I'm home for the weekend while Denise and Mom are at the bead show in Dickson City. Stop by and say hi to them.

P.S. My ankle is not broken, only seriously sprained. The cast is due to come off on April 2nd. I have all the time in the day to play with beads, but don't really feel like doing anything. Isn't that the way it always goes! Hope to see some old and new friends in Cromwell, CT next weekend.

Stupid is as stupid does

2009-03-15T17:27:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure what that idiom really means, but it seems to fit my current situation. I was at the gym on Friday morning (how noble of me) when, during an exercise, my foot slipped and I ended up with a sprained (I think) ankle. So now I'm living on Percoset and trying to walk with crutches. Making beads is not in my near future! I went to the emergency room on Friday and was in the waiting room surrounded by 3 kids who had various injuries sustained at recess and gym class. And then there's me. I have a splint on my leg and have to keep my foot up with ice on it. Oh well, I'll veg out with Lifetime movies (which all belnd together when you've been watching them for 3 days straight. Hope to be at a bead show soon (minus the crutches)

Home with beads!

2009-03-02T15:10:00.000-08:00

Mardi Gras was fun, but tiring. We spent hours walking, people watching and catching beads.

It's exciting to spend 5 days with people whose main goal is collecting as many beads as possible. (kind of like a bead show but at Mardi gras you never quite know which beads you'll get next) And let's not forget, the beads are all plastic and most strands are purchased by the gross. And the trading that goes on, between old friends and new acquaintances because the goal is not only to collect beads, but to have as many different kinds as possible. Hope to see many of you this weekend in Syracuse. Stay warm!!!!!

Mardi Gras!

2009-02-17T05:57:00.000-08:00

I'm getting ready to spend 5 days in the great city of New Orleans celebrating Mardi Gras. We have a group of 18 people going. The friend who organized this trip also planned 4 meals for us to enjoy while we're there - a private dinner at the St. Louis Hotel, breakfast at Brennan's, brunch at the Court of the Two Sisters (is there irony here), and dinner at Bayonna. In between meals, I'll be catching (hopefully!) beads. It's all about the beads!!!!!!
Denise will be doing the show in Fishkill with mom and I'll see you in Syracuse.

Beads, beads and more beads

2009-02-03T09:50:00.000-08:00

Denise and I are busy making lots of new beads for our upcoming shows in Newark and Clarksville. It seems like life is spinning very fast right now (in many good ways) but bead making time has seriously been missing. When I was teaching full time I dreamed about the many hours I could devote to bead making after I retired. Where did those hours go? I can't figure it out. Hope to see many of you over the next 2 weekends! Keep beading!

Baltimore Bead Society

2009-01-16T18:54:00.000-08:00

We're sitting in the Holiday Inn the night before the Baltimore Bead Society show begins. We're all set up for the show and can't wait for it to begin tomorrow (Denise already spotted some things she wants to buy in the morning). Mom's with us - she's also ready to go shopping. At shows we lose Mom for hours at a time as she wanders around making sure she sees everything. The highlight of the weekend will be ordering out for dinner Saturday (you don't want to know all the junk we ate for dinner Friday night). Hope to see many of our friends and fellow beaders over the weekend. Stay warm - if possible and keep beading.

Good bye puppies

2009-01-08T11:06:00.000-08:00

Johnson and Frank are going home today and I'll be getting my life back. This past week has been an awakening for me. I have been taking my freedom to do what I want for granted. After wrapping my life around two puppies for the last eight days, I am looking forward to being free again. On the other hand, I'm very proud of the puppies and all I've taught them in the last week. Not only are they "potty trained" but they both come when I call them by name and respond to the command "sit" (at least for a little while). It's been fun and stressful at the same time, but now I seriously need to get back to bead making. The Baltimore Bead Society show begins in nine days and I have lots of new beads in my head - I just need to translate them into glass. I'm looking forward to our first show of the new year. See you soon!

Johnson and Frank

2009-01-05T16:16:00.000-08:00

Johnson and Frank are my daughter's new puppies. Miniature dachshunds. They're staying with me for a week so I can try to paper train them. They're about 4 pounds apiece and will grow to about 8 pounds apiece. I'm not a fan of little dogs, but these guys are impressing me with their intelligence. Of course, they're a 24-7 job so I have not been near my studio since last Wed. They'll be leaving Thurs. night so hopefully I'll have a lot of time to make beads this weekend. I totally forgot how much effort you have to put into training a puppy and two is much more than double the effort. I'll try to get a better picture of them, but they don't stand still too often.

New Year's Resolution

2008-12-29T18:28:00.000-08:00

I'm not a fan of New Year's resolutions, but it seems a good time to resurrect our blog. What's been happening? Basically, both Denise and I retired from our teaching jobs to persue glass bead making full-time and life has been busier than ever. We look forward to seeing all our old beading friends and making lots of new ones at our 2009 shows. Happy New Year and happy beading to you!

The Best Laid Plans...

2008-03-07T15:06:00.000-08:00

Well, it's Friday night and Denise and Mom are in Syracuse setting up for the bead show. I'm home, sick with the flu. I had grand dreams of making the 2 hour drive to Denise's house this morning, but had to change my mind when I couldn't get up one flight of steps to take a shower. So for this weekend it's "One Bead Sister and Mom". So if you brave the snow and make it to the bead show, be sure to stop by and say hi to them. Denise promised me hourly phone calls during the show to make me feel like I'm a part of it, but you know that won't happen if she's surrounded by beads. (Only kidding, Denise). Fondle lots of beads for me and have a great weekend. And stay away from flu bugs, this one is horrible!

2008-03-03T15:51:00.000-08:00

We just had a well-deserved weekend off and are now getting ready to head to Syracuse this weekend. I hope it doesn't snow! Somehow we'll manage to get there. This weekend we'll have Mom with us again. She loves meeting our 'regular' customers and has a lot of fun doing some shopping for herself. This weekend she's bring her bead collection and Denise and I are going to help her make some new jewelry for herself. (What else would we do after spending 8 hours surrounded by beads?) Since it's our first trip to Syracuse, we'll be looking to meet many of you for the first time. Please remember to wear jewelry you've made. We love to see people wearing their own creations.

2008-02-22T07:18:00.000-08:00

It's the biggest snow storm of the season and Denise and I are stressing out over our trip to Fishkill. I'm sure the show weekend will be fine (weatherwise), it's just the getting there today. Hope to see a lot of our old friends and make some new bead friends this weekend. Stay warm and keep beading!

Mid-Winter Snow

2008-02-12T09:57:00.000-08:00

Today looks like one of Diane's beads...the trees stark brown, the snow falling, the sky purple....they are always the first beads to sell and each time I think I should have asked her for them before they sell. The colors she gets out of glass are amazing!

It was a very exciting first show of the year. I apologize to anyone who got lost becasue of my address on the web site, we were lost too! The firechief published his HOME address rather than the firehall...so he had about 400 cars pulling up to his home looking for the bead show. I hope you all found us!

Stay warm, keep beading!!!!!!!

No time to make beads

2008-02-04T15:42:00.000-08:00

Denise and I are looking forward to our first bead show of 2008. We'll be at the Aetna Fire House this Saturday and Sunday. All the details are on our 2beadsisters.com website. Meanwhile life continues to spin around me faster than I can handle. It seems that there are so many things that compete with my limited bead-making time. For example, Tuesday, the oil in the car needs to be changed after work and then I have to be back at work to supervise 20 fourth graders during our winter concert. Bye bye beads. Every day has its challenges. For now, I'll just keep designing beads in my head. Some day they'll appear for real. Happy beading.

2008-01-21T13:44:00.000-08:00

This photo came from a series of pictures I'm working on to show the making of a bead step-by-step. My kids bought me a digital photo frame for Christmas and I'm putting together a slide show to use as a display at bead shows. One thing led to another and I decided to figure out how to post photos to our blog. It was a success! (I hope you are able to see the photo). I'm bored these past few days, It's just too cold to make beads. I'm hoping for temps. above freezing. Stay warm and happy beading!

The package arrived!

2008-01-18T18:34:00.000-08:00

The surprise is WONDERFUL!!!!! I'm now a card-carrying member of the Frit of the Month club. Every month a new package will come in the mail with two new frits to sample. Now I have a real incentive to learn to use my new digital camera, so I can share my frit beads with you. Stop by and see Denise and I at an upcoming show (see the website for details) to see the Christmas present I received from my children - really. Keep warm and keep beading!

Surprises!!

2008-01-16T13:44:00.000-08:00

January has been good to us, we are on the torch enough to be happy and have been accepted into 3 more shows! being on the torch is highly creative, experimental...cold, and allows me to do what I love best, being alone with the glass and allowing it to express what is inside of me. But being at shows allows me to watch all of you find your treasure of a bead, carry it home and make something wonderful from it....

Anyway, I am rambling. I have a surprise, and knowing Diane, she won't even read about it here. I have a package in the mail to her from mom and me...a present!!!!! that will keep giving to her all year because 10 years ago Diane quit smoking and I am celebrating my sister and best friend!!!!

I mention it here because I hope she blogs about it, giving details like where her present came from and even comments. Wow, it is hard to write about it and not say what it is!!!!

Anyway, it is something to consider in your own life, how doing something healthy for yourself is a present to everyone who loves you. Diane gave me the best present 10 years ago by quitting.

Diane, you absolutely rock!!!!!

Happy New Year

2007-12-29T19:37:00.000-08:00

Along with everyone else, I can't believe that 2007 is over. It's been a great year for Denise and I, doing more bead shows that we've ever done. As I sit here listening to the weatherman forcasting snow, I can't help but remember the Doylestown Art Festival last September when the temperature hovered around 100 degrees. It's hard to remember sweating under our tent when I'm wearing 3 pairs of socks to keep my feet warm. I'm looking forward to spending January weekends making lots of new beads for our 2008 shows. It's going to be a real challenge to find the time to make lots of beads. We hope to see all our bead friends at our February shows. HAPPY NEW YEAR and HAPPY BEADING!

Happy Holidays!!!!

2007-12-11T17:35:00.001-08:00

Diane and I just finished our last show for 2007, and it was a fantastic year! As those of you who met us already know, a part of our heart and soul is in each bead, and it is exciting to think of all our little beads finding such wonderful homes! Please remember we love to see what you made with our beads, so bring something back to show us...or a photo of your work!

I think there are 2 very magical moments in doing a bead show...the first one comes 30 minutes before the doors open to the public, when sellers are rushing to make each bead shine, pearls glow, stones glimmer...and of course the Artist created lampwork beads just seem to burst forth with new color....It is a feeling of anticipation, but also a feeling of being unsure if i am ready to part with all my beads. Most people would assume each bead is made to sell, but really each bead delights me and sometimes i have to pry my own fingers from my beads to let go of them and sell them! (not to mention how I covet Diane's beads and yes, I have been shameless enough to hint when I want something for myself from her :-)

The second magical moment is a person who takes longer than an hour to select their focal or set of beads. To me, there is so much delight in this, I suddenly feel so worthy, *I* have created something to be studied and adored..... so ***please*** anyone stopping by to see our beads, enjoy, we even hold coats and packages to make your esperience better.....

Ok, onward to 2008.....

Mah Jongg

2007-10-17T14:59:00.000-07:00

Tonight is my Mah Jongg night. There's a group of 5 of us who get together to play once a week. I love the game but sometimes it gets really confusing to try to keep all your possible hands in your head until you finally commit to just one. Any players out there?

Fallsington, PA

2007-10-14T18:59:00.000-07:00

The Fallsington Day event went off without a hitch. The weather was good (it would have been perfect if it had been a little warmer) and the town was incredible. It was filled with historic buildings that we really didn't have time to visit. I did manage one quick tour of a house that was built in William Penn's time. The original house was two rooms, both dominated by huge fireplaces. It made me appreciate how much room we have in our modern houses.
The weather went from hot, humid summer to fall overnight. I don't like those abrupt weather changes, but at least the rest of our shows are indoors. Denise is packing the tent away for another year. YEAH!!!! My digital camera broke and I finally bought a new one last week. Maybe I'll actually learn to use this one.

2007-10-09T17:11:00.000-07:00

Denise and I left bright and early Sunday morning (at 6am to be exact) and discovered that it's still dark at that time of the morning. We didn't even have the pleasure of seeing a beautiful sunrise because of all the clouds. Anyway, the ride was uneventful but eye-opening. After we crossed the Goethals sp? bridge we were shocked to discover that the toll was $6.00! In talking to someone at the show, I expressed my outrage at the cost of crossing the bridge. I was told that the toll covered both ways and that I wouldn't have to pay again on the return trip. What she didn't tell me (probably on purpose) was that we had to pay a $9.00!!!!!! toll to cross the Verrazano bridge on the way home. It was fun to meet some new people at the show but it was a very long day!
Now I can start to agonize over our next show, an outdoor festival in Fallsington, PA on Saturday. I'm watching the weather channel constantly. Right now they're predicting that some of our much-needed rain will be coming the day of the festival. Oh well, at least they're promising that it won't be hot and humid like today. Hope you're well and happy beading!

2007-10-04T18:05:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's so hot in October. I usually love summer and don't complain about the heat but this is getting to be too much. For those of you who don't know me, I teach 4th grade in my "other life." Usually I go back to work and put up with the heat in my classroom for the first week or two, but this year it's been over a month and I'm still sweltering. My classroom is on the top floor of the school and gets the full afternoon sun. You get the idea. Anyway, as long as I'm coming home from work already sweaty, I try to spend an hour or so making beads. I've been playing with some Bullseye glass which has some lovely pinks and purples. Bullseye also makes both a green and a blue glass with 'sparkles' in them. Don't forget to check out our upcoming shows on the website. Stop by and say hi when you're at a bead show.

2007-10-01T16:32:00.000-07:00

YESSSSS!!!!! The travel chocolate is coming. For those of you who never saw it, "Travel Chocolate" is a little round tin filled with wedges of dark chocolate. The chocolate inside seems to last a long time, probably because the only time we eat it is when we're away for a weekend show. I'm trying to take a picture of the tin but my camera seems to have died (oh the joys of technology). Anyway that's a whole lot more than you wanted to know.

Also, the glass from Olympia came today; some great new colors including a new blue called "pigeon blue". If you ever saw a pigeon up close some of the tips of their wings and tail feathers are a beautiful dark blue with heavy gray tones to it. I don't know what kind of beads I'll make with it - I just liked the name of the color.

Speaking of getting new glass - for some reason I put all new glass on my glass shelf and look at it for months, sometimes years, before I use any of it. I don't know why, because once I start using it, I usually use it all up.

Also, I seem to have lost the key for my studio. I had it Sunday night when I locked up and now I can't find it. This means I have to use the spare key that I keep on my key ring and it's just not convenient. I have everyone in the house on a major 'key search'. Maybe tomorrow we'll find it. Bye for now!

Sunday Sept. 30th

2007-09-30T15:10:00.000-07:00

Diane is very on target, the talent we see when we are doing shows is amazing! It gives me such respect for all of us "beaders" and what we do...create wearable art. It has nothing to do with how much money we can make, or mass producing...it is all about feeling good about ourselves, and feeling connected to the past as beads have been around for 75,000 years now.

I was on the torch today, making a special order, something I rarely do, because beads rarely turn out the same twice, and no big surprise here, they did not turn out the same as the person ordered...but still, it was a good experience in creating something different.

Ok, on to serious matters, Diane, do you have the Travelers Chocolate packed for NY?

2BeadSisters at the Allentown bead show

2007-09-26T17:53:00.000-07:00

We just finished our September Allentown bead show. It was great to see so many old friends and meet some new ones. My favorite part of doing a show is watching the jewelry parade. Everyone is so creative! Denise and I will be heading to Hofstra University for the Long Island Bead Society show on October 7th. It will be our first time to visit Long Island and we're looking forward to it. I'm also looking forward to the end of this intense heat and humidity; it's not very condusive sp? to bead making. Oh well, when it gets cold I'll complain about that too.