Summer is about over…where did it go?

I sit here and think how close it is to September and can’t believe it.  Where did summer go?  It took its sweet lovin time getting to Oregon coast and sure hasn’t hit us much with its fury….some hot days, but not to many here on the coast.  This week its cloudy and rainy days all week.   I just can’t believe Labor Day is almost upon us.

I have company coming in a week, three glass gals that will be going to GlassStock with me.  GlassStock is a cool event that happens every labor day in South Beach/Newport Oregon…only 10 to 15 min away for me :)  Gotta love that!!! So I host some friends to stay with me.  I pick them up next Tuesday, I can’t wait!  Angie, Misty and Carol.  Oh we are going to have fun. 

Then to round things off, at the end of the month I am going to visit my friend Suzy in NH, I can’t wait to see her, we can talk, talk…talk and talk…seems like we can always find something to talk about…I can’t wait to play in her studio and meet her wonderful family.  She is going to take me to Wells to see where I used to live a lifetime ago, my parents owned a resort there called Sleepytown….it’s been 34 years, or there abouts since I saw it last….so many great memories, I can’t wait to go check it out.   So before I know it, I will be home and Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas will be upon us…and then a brand new year.  Life is just going by to quickly lately.

Beat The Heat…Blog It!

Flaming Hot! topic…hmmm easy

We are clever people.  So clever in fact, this is what some of us do to beat the heat when torching in high summer temperatures.  C’mon, tell us ……  blog it!

Ok…I live six miles in on the Oregon Coast…we get enough cool days and it cools down at night enough that you can torch if need be.  I do work out of my garage, no fru fru studio…Gosh I wish I had one, but I don’t…I work in a garage full of “other” stuff.  So it does get hot…many days it hits 95 or so…BUT…it does cool down for the most part at night…and we have enough overcast days because of the heat in the valley and the ocean air making it cooler over this way.  So I torch when its overcast, raining or cooler days play the rest of the time…see I told ya it was easy!

Honestly thou…summer is summer…and I like to enjoy Oregon and its best weather as much as I can.  Since business usually slows a LOT in the summer months…I am not as stressed to work in hot weather.  Now winter is another story, what about when it gets to cold??  I tell ya what I do then…I wear ugg boots, layers…and aim heat dish at my butt and it keeps me warm

If I lived where it stayed hot, and hot through the night…I do believe I would have to have a nicer studio with air conditioning.  Heat in the winter…Air in the summer…for now, I work in the garage…not glamorous…but it works :)  If its a hot one, Dan and I hop on the harley and take a ride to cool down and enjoy the heat and summer day.

High School Class Reunion’s

Well this past weekend I had my 30 yr high school class reunion.  I graduated from a small town, so the number that graduated in our class was low, approx 100 or maybe less?  I actually can’t remember or don’t know for sure without hauling down a year book.  Well anyway, I had a great time…reconnected with many.  Thirty years you really start to change…I thought the funniest part was, everyone needed a pair of reading glasses to see this or that, or dink with their settings on their digital camera’s. 

Best part…I have e-mail addies and little write up’s on everyone that they could get info from or contact…so I can keep in touch.  Worse part?? actually realizing I am old enough to have a 30 year class reunion.

The person who came from the longest distance was Klaus Lange, all the way from Germany…he was our foreign exchange student back in high school…it was great to see him again and it was one of the only photo’s I was in…so thought I would share, me and Klaus.

 

iPhone photography…not to shabby for a phone camera

I have been very surprised at the great pictures I can get with my iPhone when I am in a pinch and don’t have my camera with me…since I always carry my phone…I have found a few times that “wow” that came out of this little phone, no flash…wow. So thought I would share a few…some taken at the Newport “Oregon Coast Aquarium”

tank with bottom type fish

Jelly Fish

My grandaughter Maddy looking at the seals and sea lions

A seal looking back at Maddy on another trip, another day

A Lion Fish in the new exibit that just opened…glass and fish put together!

“Oddwater” is the name of the new exibit…very cool!

and a great picture of my daughter’s cat…Skittles…she is so hard to take a pix of…I just happened to have my phone in my pocket on the way to the garage to torch that day. 

 

Well anyway, I wanted to share photo’s taken with that added extra you sometimes get with your phone…in this case the iPhone….which to me is the best phone out there…I have my iPod, Calender…Family photo’s…a camera, email, web browser and not to mention my phone with all my contacts including their website links etc….just an awesome phone and the next generation is coming out next month cheaper and supposedly faster.  Oh, and PS….yep, these are printable photo’s…I have printed them out just like any other photo and they turn out wonderful!
 

Waiting on summer…so I planted my garden

Well summer is taking it’s sweet lovin time coming to Oregon.  I know many are having weird weather, from tornado’s to flooding…to extreme heat…well we are stuck in early spring, or fall type weather…not a ton of rain…but showers…overcast and cold!  Not the sunny warm we have had in the past years.  

Trying to give myself the feel of summer I put away the bling (dichro beads) and have been making florals, and ya know what??  They do lighten my mood and make me smile when I make them….so that is a good thing.  My customers hopefully are enjoying the new crop…it has been quite some time since I made florals.  I have also been practicing my stringer work, both giving me a different feel at the torch, they are more relaxed and slow moving beads.

Here is my latest…I am in LOVE with these…they remind me of my childhood and my mother’s garden…so I called them Nostalgic Garden, they are up on eBay right now. 

and Wildflower Blue’s up on my Etsy

Well anyway, are you still waiting on summer to arrive??  Or…are you done with it and ready for winter??  Ok maybe not winter..but at least spring or fall?

 

Beautiful Weekend…what are you up to??

Father’s Day weekend….well my father has been gone for quite some time…as has my mother…both I miss terrible…the holidays are so different once your parents are gone.  I do have my children for mothers day who remember me and that makes me feel warm inside.  Tomorrow they remember my hubby Dan.  Well today we went out and about on a hike with our son and his wife Amanda and their daughter Maddy…we took our two dogs and their dog…had a wonderful time….I took some pictures and thought you might like to see some beautiful Oregon, near the Oregon Coast, Driftcreek falls…a great walk, bridge and falls…

Now I do have to tell you that these photo’s were taken with my iphone…I didn’t bring my camera and it was so beautiful, I pulled out my phone and figured lets give it a shot…and they turned out pretty darn good.

Well anyway, I wanted to share our gorgeous day, we have had such crappy weather…cooler than normal and overcast, showers and just plain brrrr ick…that the gorgeous weekend is so very appreciated.

Now before I go, last night when we got home we had this visitor in our yard…he didn’t even leave when Dan started up the mower…and hung around, four nights running he has come to our yard to lay in the cooler shaded area and eat our grass.   These I didn’t take with the iphone but with my nikon ….but had to share them also…have a great Fathers Day tomorrow! Spoil your daddy’s.

Where does the time go?

Wow! It’s the middle of May, soon summer will be here.  Actually it felt like it was here the last few days.  We hit 100 already, odd for the Oregon Coast.  Are you ready for summer?  We are, at least we think we are.  Our home isn’t air conditioned so we keep a window unit for our bedroom.  We have to have a haven of coolness somewhere.  We went to Costco and bought a fresh unit to keep us cool for the summer.  I have a small pool I purchased on sale, all to do now is to buy the chemicals so we can keep the water slime free.  Yup! I am ready for summer. 

Torching in summer is a lot harder though.  Not to mention the sunshine days calling us out.  We live six miles inland from the Oregon Coast.  Primo place to live in summer.  It’s normally cooler over in Newport, 70 on a given day.  Toledo will hit the 80’s to 90’s a lot, and our home sits in full sun…not to mention the garage with the studio set up for torching.  When it hits 90’s in the garage, its pretty hard to sit and sweat and torch…so we will hop on the bike and hit the road, we live in the most gorgeous area for a ride on a harley.  The smells of summer are so awesome.  Blackberry’s hot in the sun along the rivers…The sea breeze and smells of gardens in bloom. 

Well anyway, just wondered…are you ready for summer??  I have a feeling it’s going to be a hot one.  After the nasty winter everyone seems to have had.  But I do believe I am ready.

Marketing…auction’s…trying something new

I have been selling on eBay for 7 years…over six of those selling our handcrafted lampwork beads.   Well for some reason today I got an itch to try a couple .99 cent auction starts.  We are headed out on vacation for a week.  Going to Jamaica, no internet I imagine…if there is, its still not a priority to hunt up a computer and check.  I figured ten day eBay auctions to let our customer’s know why our listings are so small and what’s up with that kinda thing (normally we post Mon thru Fri new auctions and have a list of 15 or so).  So we have two auction’s up…one Dan and one Kaye auction…both starting at .99 cents.

Dan~O Beads “Spring”

 K~O Lampwork “Spring Magic”

Marketing wise, it will be very interesting to see if the beads go for the price they normally would sell for on eBay…it’s kinda a test.  Cost wise, fee wise, it’s a lot less to start your auction’s at .99 cents.  Thats for sure.   But stress wise, it’s not the easiest way to sell your work.  Soooooooo when I get home from Jamaica….I guess I will find out if it was a good or bad business choice.

What does your website do for you? - blog it!

Flaming Hot! blog subject….What does your website do for you?

Well, I was pushed into setting up a website by beadmaking friends.  I resisted for so very long, thinking eBay was enough.  Honestly, it probably was.  It is nice thou to have a website you can tell people about.  It never fails when your on vacation or out and about and someone notices the bead around my neck…or a bracelet I have on…I will say “Oh I made that”  It sure get’s their interest…and they start to ask questions.  So it is nice to have a website addie you can send them to.   I just say “you can find us at koregonbeads.com“ 

I set mine up through pappashop.com.  Very easy to use and understand….shopping cart and all…I love the ease. 

I have sold quite a bit off our website, which is really nice….I also use it for holding all the photo’s of our auctions on eBay.  I was paying .15 cents each before using eBay photo services…so just doing that pretty much pay’s the $20 a month for the site.   I do have hopes of working the website up into a better selling venue.  Honestly though, its so hard to keep beads on eBay, Etsy and the website.  I just have to find the time and work a bit harder.  It is worth it. 

Since it took me into year four of business to get one set up.  I do have to thank all my friends right now on my blog.   Thank you! for pushing me into the website thing.  It’s so much easier than I thought, and it is as Martha would say “A good thing” LOL.

Needing a vacation after a vacation…

Why is it when you take a vacation, you almost “well maybe do need” a vacation to rest up when you get home?  I just spent 11 days in TN visiting my friends Angie and Vern “beadaddicts” and I had the most wonderful time…I met a lot of eastern TN lampworkers “the firecrackers” and had some quality torch time with my friends Angie and Vern.  I played in Boro a lot and learned to make flowers and implossions.  I also learned to make treasure bracelets as taught in Robin Atkins book “Beaded Treasures“.   Below is a pix of my friends “beadaddicts” and I on a day we went to Knoxville to a bead show and met up with some other lampworkers for lunch.  Left to right is Vern, Angie and Kaye.

 

I had the most wonderful jam packed 11 days…but I tell you it wore me totally out…it’s been a week and I am just starting to think I can get back to work.  

It seems everytime I take a vacation, I need a vacation or at least a week to get back together again and on track.   I think my mind is playing tricks on me though because I only  had three weeks when I got home until my next flight out on a trip.  I only have a touch over two weeks until Dan and I take off for a week in Jamaica, we are staying at Sandals in Ocho Rios…I can’t wait! all inclusive, even the 18 hole golf course.  I can’t tell how long I have dreamed of going to an ocean this blue…and this warm…and sand this white and well…I think you can get the picture LOL.  I have named our beads tropical this and that for so many years, my mind is on fantasy vacation all the time.  So this trip is like a dream trip for us.  My hubby’s brother and wife “sonyabeads” are meeting up with us there on day three…they will be there five days.    Its going to be so cool to kayak, snorkle and learn to scuba dive! along with those Hobie Cats, a sail type pontoon boat.   There is something like ten restaurants and twelve bars…a piano bar and I think some dancing in the evenings, along with different theme events each night.   I can do that :) 

Here is a treasure bracelet I made for my trip while I was in TN.  Carol Crye made the gorgeous flowers that are in it.   I can’t wait to drag out my flip flops, capri pants and swimsuits and head on out to sunshine and warm tropical weather.

Well anyway, thank goodness I had some stock made up for when I got home…for now we are plugging along and selling what we had on Etsy and eBay .  We do plan to take a break the week before and week we are gone on our trip…and hopefully not need to big of vacation when we get back.