It's beginning to look a lot like....

They start tomorrow! To kick off my holiday season, yes I am kicking it off this early, I've got some Christmas music playing and I am drinking a peppermint mocha. I usually reserve drinking these until the day after Thanksgiving. I like to get my first one after my early morning of shopping after Thanksgiving. But I thought what the heck, who says you can't drink them year round?

I know I am a bit crazy, but I love crazy Christmas shopping crowds, holiday baking, throwing Holiday parties, and wrapping presents. My inner Martha Stewart comes out this time of the year. I am just so happy to have a job where I can share my crazy holiday love with you. I have lots of projects planned, new beads to debut, give-aways and special things planned for the next 10 weeks and then probably more.

I need to go and put the finishing touches on my first newsletter, update the website, and drink my peppermint mocha......

Have a good one,.....oh wait!

Happy Holidays,
Jennifer

Jangles Beads and Fusion Beads

I am sooooo excited! My new fall beads are officially up on the Fusion Beads website. Yahoo! This is the only place you will find these beads. If you haven't shopped at Fusion before, you should give them a try. They always have free shipping, they carrying a huge amount of beads, and they are super nice.

They even have a cool project featuring my new beads called "Flamenco Fever", how cool is that? You can even download the instructions for free.

Cheers,
Jennifer

Hey there,
Just to let you know....I have free shipping in my Etsy store this weekend. I originally was going to end the sale on Sunday, but I know I have a lot of Monday morning blog readers so I am going to keep the sale going all day Monday too.

Etsy Buy Handmade Jangles

It's Sunday.... here are my Bead Surfin links.....


About.com Jewelry Making
For those in the jewelry biz, Tammy has a collection of jewelry business topics up for discussion in the Jewelry Making Forum.

Art Bead Scene
Fall Foliage as Seen Through The Trendy Bead

Barbe Saint John: New Jewelry from Old Artifacts
Barbe talks about Personal Imagery-what says YOU in your work?

Crochet Pillow Pendant
Carmi saves a pillowcase's trim by turning it into wearable art.

Jennifer Jangles Blog
Halloween Project

Jewelry & Beading
Repurposing autumn-colored beads gives you a stylish new necklace!

Katie's Beading Blog
Hear all about Katie's experience on The Big Idea. Check it out!

Linda from BeadStyleMag.com
An Oktoberfest-inspired bracelet complete with step-by-step photos and instructions

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Jean's got some earring designs in this elegant looking book, due out soon!

Strands of Beads
Melissa reminisces about her first time.

Free Shipping

Good news! Free shipping at the Jangles Etsy store Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I just stocked the store this week so there's lots to choose from.

Etsy Buy Handmade Jangles

Ornament Thursday

Hey everyone,
Today is Ornament Thursday, it's been awhile since I have participated. I am participating today through Art Bead Scene. You can go to the blog and get instructions for this bracelet as well as see some other Halloween-y projects.

Good day....

I unloaded my big kiln yesterday and I found a happy surprise, my beads were super bright. They are always bright but yesterday they seemed extra bright. I don't know if it's the new studio lighting or the fall weather we are having. Either way, I was happy. Here are some of the small pendants that came out, I am going to try to get these up on Etsy sometime in the next week. I need to get my little tubes of bead mixes that go with them made first.

I have been working in my studio in the evenings designing more jewelry. I love designing on my comfy couch, I am getting about 2-3 pieces made a night. I feel myself needing more beads, I think I will be doing some bead shopping today. How fun!


Jennifer

Almost Time

Oh Boy, I am busy getting ready for the start of my Ten Holiday Projects. Above is a picture of my candy...it just came in. If you have ordered from me in the past, you know that you always get fizzy candies in with your beads. This is to prevent people from actually eating my beads because they look like candy! Ha Ha, okay seriously, I just think it's a nice touch and I do get e-mails from people saying they like my candy. I thought it would be fun to mix it up for the Holiday projects and send out red and green mints. These are the yummy buttery kind, I have done a few taste tests and they are good. I need to start sending them out or I will be eating way to many of these. Yum!

Also, in preparation for the projects(can you tell I love this stuff:) )I made ceramic numbers for my e-mails to count the projects. This is my number eight(duh) but I thought I could put it to work today because it's how many days are left until the first project goes out. Woohoo!
Okay it's back to work for me...if you haven't signed up be sure too, the projects will be coming via e-mail and they start next Wednesday. The sign up is on the bottom of the page here.

Have a good one,
Jennifer

Surfin Monday...

Wow, I usually post my Bead Surfin posts on Sunday, but I am not sure what happened yesterday. The day just kind of disappeared. Today will just have to be a double post day.

It is officially the end of the garden here. I tore out all of my basil plants and plucked all of my leaves of. I love pesto, it might just be my favorite food. I had 15 basil plants in our garden because of this. I have harvested basil all summer and I make pesto with it and freeze it. It's amazing how much you think you have but by the time you pluck it and put it in the food processor, it's so little. So here was my last harvest, in the end I think I had almost 20 cups of pesto.

About.com Jewelry Making
Mixed-Media is still a very hot topic in the jewelry making world, as evidenced by two recent book reviews posted at About.com Jewelry Making.

Barbe Saint-John - New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts
Another Marketing Monday and Barbe talks about what is involved with creating a line sheet.

Bead Style Magazine
Stacy shares her story about working with the jewelry designers who contribute to BeadStyle magazine — could you be next?

Carter Seibels for Divali Glass Jewelry
It’s the beginning of the busy season, and Carter has new designs to share!

Carmi’s Clear Resin Silhouettes
Carmi lets her image stand alone in a clear resin ice cube.

Jennifer Jangles Blog
The new studio is finished

Jewelry & Beading
Learn one of the foundational skills of jewelry making: the wrapped wire loop

Katie’s Beading Blog
Tune in this Thursday to hear Katie as a guest expert on CNBC’s The Big Idea. They’re profiling the inventor of a new game called Bead Trade.

Snap out of It, Jean! There’s Beading to be done!
Jean finds a lot to like about the fun book by Karin Buckingham, Altered You!

Strands of Beads
Melissa reviews a book of grace, style and wit - Links by Jean Yates

Comments (0)

New Etsy Items

It's about time I got some new things up on Etsy! With the big studio redo, I didn't have much time for any of the extra business stuff last week. If I wasn't painting beads, I was painting walls. Now that I am in my new place and ready to work, I could get some new beads up today. I am still going to be putting more up over the next week and I will let y'all know when that happens. I also have added some jewelry. This is just the beginning, I am designing away and will be adding more original, one of a kind pieces all fall.

Tomorrow is my Studio Saturday at Art Bead Scene, be sure to stop by and see what I have been working on. If you leave a comment, you have a chance to win some of my Halloween beads.

Happy Friday!
Jennifer

It's Done!

Yahoo! There it is, my new studio. I got the last piece today. The coffee table.,I found it at the Habitat for Humanity Store in town. I love that place. It was an old school table and it has adjustable legs. It works perfect for my coffee table/bead designing table. Let me show you around....
This is my wall of storage. The table on the left holds my ceramic beads. The cabinets hold all of my other craft supplies, display items, and packaging.
There is my big pegboard with my bead strands.
This is my designing area. See, I make ceramic beads all day and then I like to design at night in my down time. This is my solution, I can plop on the couch, watch some TV and design in comfort. That's what I will be doing tonight.

I will take some better pictures and some close-ups later in the week. I need to get my lamps fixed, I have two that broke during the move. Okay it's off to work in my new space.
Jennifer

Bead Surfin

Good Morning...
I know I usually do my Bead Surfin post on Sunday, but I was soooo busy moving my studio that I didn't even turn my computer on yesterday. I have made good progress, with the help of my mom(Thanks mom!) in getting everything moved. I just need a really big coffee table and I will be ready for the "big reveal" as they call it in showbiz. Oh and I have to put the humongous pile of beads away that is on my work table. Moving a studio really makes you see how many beads you really have. I couldn't believe what I found. Okay, Okay, enough about the studio. I am going to post my surfing links below and get to work glazing beads for orders. I have lots of things to keep me busy today.

Have a good one,

Jennifer

About.com Jewelry Making
Are you making Halloween jewelry? Or, is this holiday not a big jewelry time for you?

Art Bead Scene
Win prizes! The ABS Monthly Challenge is filigree.

Bead&Button Magazine
Ann Dee's looking for photos of Quinceañera jewelry to celebrate Bead&Button's 15 years

Jennifer Jangles Blog
Check out the progress being made on Jennifer's new studio

Jewelry & Beading
Cyndi describes the process of putting together a multistrand necklace that features lots of wrapped-loop dangles.

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to done!
Jean talks about the Bead a Day Calendar for 2009 in which she appears, and adds that she also uses Melanie of Earthenwood beads in one of her projects for it! See photos!

Strands of Beads
Melissa interviews lampworker and bead artist Sarah Moran

Flower Lariat

Simply Beads copyright 2008

Here it is my other, and favorite project in the October Simply Beads magazine. I really like this necklace for many reasons and here they are:

1. It's lime green, a color that I am obsessed about.
2. My flower beads are some of my favorite beads that I make.
3. It has a really cool finding from Kristi Evenson of Coliebug beads.
I am including my photo of the necklace too, because I think it shows the use of the finding better and that's what I love most about this necklace. Kristi make different styles of these rings that are super cool. She makes each one individually from sterling silver, she antiqued mine. She is a glass bead maker, a silversmith, and a jewelry designer, if you ever get a chance to see her at a show you will fall in love with her work, I have.

Yipee! My Studio is Painted

I know I was supposed to show my other Simply Beads project today, but I just finished painting the floor of my studio and couldn't wait to show it off. I am done painting! Woohoo! Now I am supposed to wait 72 hours before moving in so the floor will be completely dry, I don't wait well, so we will see how that goes.

In the picture above there are lighter yellow stripes on the back wall, I will be putting cabinets in on the wall with the green stripe and I will hang my artwork in the stripe.
The big pinkish/red frame is where my bead pegboard will be hanging. I will have more photos once I move some things in over the weekend, if I can wait that long. Enjoy the photos and have a great day! Jennifer

Simply Beads, Copywright 2008

Good morning,
I just got my copy of Simply Beads and I was happy to see my fall napkin rings were included. I have another project, which is a flower lariat, I am going to do a post about it tomorrow when I dig out my photos of it.

I am feeling very scatter brained today. As you know, I am in the middle of studio renovating. it's coning a long nicely but I am having a hard time in my current studio because there is stuff everywhere. It's kind of claustrophobic. I can't find anything either.I have to put one more coat of paint on the floor today and then it will be move in time. I am hoping to get it done this weekend because I am ready to be in and done.

Until tomorrow,
Jennifer

Studio Update

It was a big work weekend at the Heynen House. It just started out as ,"honey, let's get the furniture out of my studio this weekend"....Ha Ha Ha, after that I couldn't stop. On Saturday we did get everything moved out of the new studio. Saturday night I found myself with a bottles of Dif removing the wallpaper border. I just really wanted the moose out of here. It reminds me of the deer heads, etc that hung on the walls in this room before we bought the house. I am a vegetarian/animal lover, so taxidermy is not my thing.
Here are the brown carpet, the brown walls, and the moose border, yikes, not very Jangle-y.
After I removed the border and it was only ten o' clock, I thought what the heck, why don't I rip up some carpet. I found some glue under the pad which I spent a good while scrapping up and I think I have more time to devoted to that later. But I had to go to bed.
Sunday morning, I was up early chomping at the bit to get more done. Once I start something, I can't stop, especially when it's my studio. Nik offered to help rip up the tack strip and then he helped paint. This is the primer.
So again last night, I was up painting on my first coat of yellow. It's so much brighter all ready. It need another coat of yellow, I am sure it will get done today. After that, I can't decide between painting the floor or doing all of the accent painting. I will think today while I glaze beads and I will take more pictures as progress is made.

Have a good day,
Jennifer

Step 2 and Big Fat Experiment

Step 2. Got my paint.
I decided on some colors and this past weekend they were having a paint sale, so I made it out in time to get a few gallons. Geez, that's a lot of paint, which equals a lot of painting. I have decided on yellow for my walls and black for my cement floor. I then bought, red, lime green, and orange for accents. I have a loose plan in my head but I am sure it will come to me. I am also sure it will look like my beads. I am really excited to get started. I have a lot of logistical stuff to do before I get to paint. First, I have to move my packing station into my glaze studio. Part of the deal was Nik was getting a work spot in the garage, I really do take over the house. I am lucky to have an understanding guy. Second, I have to get everything out of the new studio space which right now is Nik's office. That's going to take some doing and I am hoping to get some of it done this weekend. Third, I have a moose and hunting scene border in the room that has to come down. Once the room is empty I will take some photos of the "before" to show you.
To a completely different subject now....I am experimenting here. I have been knee deep in the holiday stuff, working on my ten projects which is turning out to be about twenty. I am having fun but I really need to take a break, step back, and get some fall stuff made.

I sent out a newsletter yesterday, with some Halloween inspiration. I really like making my Halloween beads and better I like to design with my Halloween beads. I realized I am so wrapped up in Christmas that I was missing out. At the same time, I signed up to do Ornament Thursday for thee Art Bead Scene blog. This months theme is Brew. I thought I would play around and come up with a fun and not so usual beads for the occasion. I love being given the chance to experiment. So here is my start, some links. They will go int the bisque today and I will glaze them, probably this weekend because I will be too excited to wait until Monday. I will show you what I come up with.

Happy Friday!
Jennifer

Art Bead Scene

Good morning,

I don't know if you know but I am officially a writer of the Art Bead Scene Blog. I was pretty honored when they asked me to join. Just in case you don't know about Art Bead Scene, it's a blog dedicated to promoting the use of Art Beads. It's a really great source for anyone who makes jewelry. There are designer and bead maker interviews, business help, color trends, and more. Every month there is a theme and anyone who has designed a project fitting their theme can put their design up on flickr. If you contribute a design you are in the drawing for a really great prize. Plus the photos are are loaded with inspiration. It's a lot of fun. This months theme is Filigree and you can got to the Art Bead Scene Blog to see more about it.

Have a great day,
Jennifer

Labor Day

Hey everyone...Hope you had a wonderful and long weekend. Officially the last weekend of summer, I can't believe it's over. We took the Heynen boys on their first camping trip. We went to the beach with some friends. Friends that could teach Nik how to surf, because he has always wanted to learn. He did great and I got to watch from the beach, I love to watch surfers but you're not going to find me out their with a board.

Hurricane Hanna's waves are already reaching the Carolina's, so Monday the waves were pretty big. If Hanna comes our way, this will be the first Hurricane for us since we moved to Georgia, there aren't any of those in Wisconsin! We are four hours inland so we wouldn't get what the coast gets but still it's a hurricane and for those of us who haven't been through one, we are wondering what will happen. I am kind of excited. If you haven't figured out yet from reading my blog, I am obsessed with weather. I really thought I was going to have a second career as a weather woman, but the artist thing is going so well, I hate to mix it up. I will save it for another lifetime, but I would like to chase a tornado before I die.

Wishing you an easy Tuesday......
Jennifer