Some new jungle beads to enjoy!

A new set of beads headed to Etsy tonight. They have been finished since before Christmas but I have not had time to turn them into a set until today. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hi! I know that I have been absent quite a bit lately when I have actually been home and able to post. I am sorry about the lack of eye candy but lots has been happening and I have been so very busy. This time of year we often reevaluate the things we are doing our business's our lives just stuff. Well I really started back in July to look at many of the ways my life has been going. I have not been doing the volunteer work that I used to do and love so much when my son was young and we have not be thinking about the environment in our day to day lives. At the Gathering ( A huge glass bead event put on by the International Society of Glass Bead makers) things started to form in my mind and then when we took a trip to Florida the next week and my son and I ended up doing a very long week of flying and driving we talked a lot about different things. Some of the things that have come out of this are probably going to seem a little odd.

First I want to try to do more for an organization called Beads of Courage. It is a program for children with cancer. I want to find other ways of giving back as well but this is where I plan to start.

Secondly I want to be more environmentally friendly. We live in a community that has very little in the way of recycling programs but they do sort things at the local dump and I am sure many of you know that I go every fall and collect firewood to help offset the fuel we use to heat the house and the studio. Since my studio is in the barn this really helps I keep the furnace turned all the way down just so things don't freeze and only use the wood stove when I am out there. It helps more in the house at night when I am in and can keep the stove full but it at least helps and the wood I use has already been considered waste by some one else.

We use our junk mail and cardboard to start these fires. The boxes and pacaging that comes in here that I do not reuse I take to the UPS store. All those plastic peanuts get reused.

We save and take our soda cans to the recyclers and our many water bottles while not recycled are at least reused by the puppies at the humane society where they give them to the dogs as chew toys. (Yes I know it would be better not to buy water in bottles but you should taste our water even after filtering it is way to yucky to drink)

I have been collecting and reusing glass bottles from wine and soda to make pendent rings and lately melting them to make beads. I have also been using these bottles to make some beach glass like pieces. There is a lot more of this to come as my mind is running wild with ideas.

Now comes the big one and the reason I have not posted in over a week. I have been reading everything I can get my hands on about running straight vegetable oil in a diesel truck. I have also been hunting everywhere for a truck. You would think they would be easy to come by here in the Midwest but no they are few and far between. This idea is a little different than taking the waste oil to make bio diesel and requires more set up to the truck but less to process the fuel and so uses even less energy to use a product that is already considered waste. My son and I talked about this for hours on those rides back in August. Now why you ask would I ever want to do this. Well I put a lot of miles on my vehicle in a year going to shows all over the Midwest and often needing to drive to Florida to visit family, my van has over 170,000 miles on it and while it gets good gas mileage and is running great it is time to think about something newer. I also do a lot of this driving alone so I need something reliable. Also the idea of lowering my impact on the environment really appeals to me. Crazy I know and my husband said so at first but the last few days he has been really getting on board with the whole thing.

Wow after writing that novel I feel better that I have been doing something to move toward the place I would like to be. Now if I can find the energy to plant and maintain a garden this year I will be doing okay. I hope I can find more ways to reduce and reuse and recycle so you know I am open to any ideas you all have.

Have a great Holiday and I will try to get some eye candy up soon!

Some new beads to brighten your day.

Well a quick drive by to say hello since I have not been here much. Here are a couple of neck wires I made the other day. I really like them simple with I hope a striking bead. Well I am off to other chores. Have a great weekend.

Well I finally got some jewelry made. I really like how these came out, I just started out to make the bracelet but decided to make a necklace and earrings to match or at least that could all be worn together. The bracelet was hard to see in the picture of everything so I did a close up of just it. Now to go pound some more copper rings.

Lumpy Bumpy Bottle Beads. Well it took me a few days to get these posted, just been busy I guess. These beads were all made from recycled bottles as part of my recycling project. Now do they have to be lumpy and bumpy? No! of course not. I just wanted them that way. I wanted something different with these beads. I really like them and will be making more and soon.

Sonja Harms sent me a couple of pictures of one of the necklaces she has made with the bottle pendants that I have been making. I just love the seed bead fringe piece she has used to decorate it. These pendant pieces are just some of the ideas I have for recycling glass bottles. I have been having friends save all there cool bottles for me and then I have been cutting them up and melting them and also tumbling them to get cool beach glass pieces. The recycling thing is something I have been thinking about for a while as glass is so easy to use again and yet so hard to get recycling centers to take. Here in Huron we have no recycling programs at all. The metal we can take in to a shop that does cans and other metals and my plastic drink bottles I take to the Human Society as the puppies love them to chew on but that is about all we can do. It bugs me to waste things so and to send them to the dump. So I have been trying out some new ideas at least for the glass. Okay enough of a rant on to other things.

Oh I know not very Christmasy but then we just got our tree up over the weekend and we just had our first real snow as well. I think warm thoughts all the time so you got Yellow Petals today. Sorry for the lack of eye candy lately but the past few days I have been working on cleaning out things like cupboards and going through magazines for fear the clutter will eat me alive if I don't. I made some real progress on the magazines but made more of a mess than I had when I started too. Such is the plan to get organized for the new year. I have however just added a bunch of new sets to my bead sets page on my website you might want to take a look. www.tanyamcguire.com

I don't often get to see what other people do with my beads. Yesterday though Betsy Gardner sent me an email with this picture of how she had used my beads in her necklace which is a gift for a friend. She said I could show you how nice it turned out. More and more I am seeing seed beads combined with lampwork and boy do I like it. I think Betsy's friend is very lucky.

Thanks for letting me show it off Betsy.

Hi! Just a drive by tonight have another petroglyph bead headed for my website. Have a good one.

Hi again! It is getting late but I did just get a few new focals added to my focals page on my web site. Just click on the link to the right.

Good morning! I just added this bead to Etsy and it has lots of views if you want to see the back side of it just click on the Etsy link to the right. I will be adding lots of focal beads to the website this afternoon but this morning I am headed to the barn to make new beads. So check back later. And have a great Saturday!

Good afternoon! Guess I have been in a very purple mood lately I have made lots of purple beads that is for sure. This is just a color combination I like a lot, partially because the opaque purple does the swallowing thing making it almost two colors. I really liked this tube shaped bead with it's raking once I finished it and the little twists of the one below make me think of paisley. Have a great weekend.

With all the time I have been spending on the Internet and the computer for the last two weeks you would think that I could at least update the blog more often. Problem is I have been having trouble getting all of it done. I did get three necklaces made with my new flowers yesterday. I kind of like them really simple with sliding knots so you can wear it long or short. Well I am off to work at updating the web site once again. Have a fun night.

Hi I have been adding bracelets to the web site today. And making bags for the shows next year. So no new beads today. Can't make new ones every day but I do try.

Check the web site when you can: www.tanyamcguire.com

More new beads added to the website. Hit the link to the right to visit it. Also will be adding more to Etsy this afternoon.

Oh! Oh! Oh! I was so excited yesterday and I could not tell you for fear I was wrong but hey I was right this is an awesome new color of glass called Avocado Marble. It does not look avocado to me but it sure is yummy! One very long bead made with the Avocado Marble and Sage end caps.

And a nice big lentil just using the Avocado Marble. Yummy!

Hi! I just got finished listing this new set of flowers on Etsy. There is a link to the right if you want to see all that I have been listing. I have also been working on my website some more and I think I pretty much have all the pendants listed. Any way hope you enjoy the eye candy.

Hi! I have been on the computer all day today. I have been adding things to my website www.tanyamcguire and to my Etsy site. This dragonfly pendant is just one of several I added to the Necklace page. I am really tired from all this real work I think that tomorrow I will just have to go make beads instead.

Hi sorry to be missing in action. I have been really busy with updating the web site and listing things on Etsy. It is amazing how much time it takes getting pictures ready for the Internet. I have also been making beads. I got these done a couple of days ago. I am thinking the big hole ones would be really cool for necklaces and they are all bright for a pick-me-up for a chilly fall day.

And these very Mod looking ones were an experiment and I really like them, they are very retro. Think 60's POP!

Hi something new. I have not gotten the findings epoxied to the back yet but I wanted to show you the new little bead tops I have been making so I can make post earrings. They are lots of fun to make so I am sure I will be making more. I put the post part into the picture so you could see just how small these are.

Hi, I hope everyone has been having a fun weekend. I have been working as always and have been adding things to Etsy and my website if you want to go look. One of the sets I added to the web site was this fun red and black set. Enjoy!

Hi, today I have something to show you that was made by a customer of mine. I have been making the pendant pieces for about a month now and have yet to get some photographed to put a picture up. So..........when Sonja form Sasha's Beads and Toggles http://www.beadsandtoggles.citymax.com/home.html sent me some pictures of what she made with them I just had to show you. She even used some of my spiky things to dangle in the middle of a few of them. I really think they are neat.

Well I have lots of news this morning. While I am supposed to be on vacation I have actually been working on things I have just not had time for this past year. I have started a new Etsy store and while there is not much listed right now I will be adding to this as the next couple of weeks goes by. You can see more pictures of the above bracelet by stopping into the store. I will be making a link shortly but for now just click here to get there. http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5369956

I have also been updating my website with lots of new bracelets and a few sets of beads so use the link to the left and wonder around there for a bit. I will also be updating this often in the next couple of weeks.

Hi I made it home again and while it was fun seeing everyone at all the shows I am so glad to have the season over. MY body was ready for it two weeks ago. :-) I am taking tomorrow totally off HA! that will never happen but after that I promise to find some pictures for you.

What no pictures again! Well sorry about that but it has been one of those very busy weeks once again and I have to leave very early in the morning tomorrow to go to Des Moines IA for the Treasures Beads show. http://www.iowabeadsociety.org/TREASURESBEADEXPO.HTML If you are any where close you can come and look at my beads in person besides if you do that you get to touch them. Is that just not so much more fun than just looking at a picture.

Hi yesterday as I was laying on my back on the deck talking on the phone. (We have such lousy cell service here you have to go outside to get a signal.) I was staring up and the sky was so blue and the trees were such a beautiful yellow and I started thinking about how the last few trips I have made I have seen such lovely scenes that I wish I had my camera so I could show other people. Any way I ended up going in and getting the camera so that you could see what I saw. I could never make a bead with the strength of colors that I was seeing here in nature. Sure wish I could.

Lovely Monday morning to all! I drove home from the Twin Cities last night where I was at the Bead Bazaar and since I did not get in until 1:00 am my lovely husband took my son to school and let me sleep in. Probably will not get to make beads today as there are so many chores to catch up on but I will be thinking of things for tomorrow so that there will be something new for next weekends show in Des Moines. Have a great day! We are finally having some sun. Yeah!

My goodness an entire week with out a picture oh so sorry! I have been busy even if it does not look like it. I had to get ready to go back out of town again this weekend. I am off to Minneapolis for the Twin Cities Bead Bazaar. If you have never been and are in the area come on out. I did this show in February when we got a wonderful blizzard so a little rain should not stop us from having a good time. Here is the web site for directions if you need them. http://beadsbydee.com/Bazaar/bazaar-Mpls.html

Now on to the pictures. These are just a few of the new spiky things I got made. Worked on lots of different colors.

And these are some new etched beads. I had two people ask me for snow flakes at the show in Marshalltown and so I thought I would make some up before Des Moines in a week.

Oops! forgot I wanted to add Regina's site too so you should check out both the new sites that I have added.

Hi! I just got in a couple of hours ago from Marshalltown and the bead show there. There was lots of email when I got here and one from a friend Lori who has started a new blog. I have posted a link in my links box you might want to check it out.

I am off again tomorrow so I thought I would show you some of the new nuggets that I made this week to take with me to the bead show in Marshalltown, IA. I was just playing around and decide to make some twisties and then I remembered some that my friend Jodie had made and sent to me so the two left most beads use the twisties she made for me. They had some reactive glass in them so they did all sorts of fun things.

If you are any where near Marshalltown, IA this weekend come and see them for yourself. The show does not have a web site that I know of any more but it is at the Best Western right off the main highway and is open Friday evening and during the day on Saturday.

Hi I am back from Lincoln. It was a long weekend because of all the driving but I had so much fun. I got to see my friend Jodie's grand baby and go to the gem show in Omaha with my friend Mary and eat lots of good food with friends and of course see all the friends that came out to the bead show. I get to go off to Marshalltown Iowa and get to see more friends over that way next weekend so I had best get out to the barn and make more beads. Here are some that I made last week and some of you might have seen already in person but I liked them I think they look very earthy.

The last couple of sets to make your mouth water and make you want to see what all I have made that I have not taken pictures of before I leave for Lincoln tomorrow morning. I leave out early so if you need more information on how to get to the show check here. http://www.geocities.com/nebeads/bazaar2006.html

Hi, I was trying out a new color combination and I really think the brick red goes really well with the black. What do you think?

For those of you who think all I ever do is make beads. It is pretty true but in the fall I start going every morning to get a van load of wood from the dump. Once I fill the van and get it unloaded I am pretty tired so I go make beads and leave the next load for the next day. This is what I have brought home so far and Jeff still has to cut and split it. Some of those logs in the front are over 100 pounds each and I know because I brought home 5 of them in one load and it was 560 pounds. And now what is black and white and red all over.....................








Why beads of course. And yes I was thinking Husker colors when I made the red and white ones. Had to have at least one set when I go to Lincoln this weekend.

Hi, Sorry to be gone the past few days I have been working hard all weekend to get ready for the bead shows coming up next month. I start out in Lincoln next weekend and have four shows in a row so I need to have lots of beads.

What do you think of these?

Something new to look at today. We are getting a lot of wind right now and it is bending the trees, hope they are as flexible and the wiggle in these beads.

Good afternoon, Something new for you to look at on this lovely fall day. The sun is shining there are beads in the kiln and the dishes are already in the dishwasher. Yeah! now off to see what else I can get done.

Some times I realize that I do not use certain colors. Orange is one of them so I ordered some new glass called orange marmalade and really like it. It makes me think of the fall leaves in Michigan where there are many more red and orange leaves than here in South Dakota where there aren't hardly any trees. So for your viewing pleasure.

Fall..................

Hi there! Sorry to be missing in action this weekend but I was having fun with some visiting family. My two aunts and uncle who are really cousins (Since they are my parents age we have always called them aunt and uncle.) came for a very quick visit and to bring me two chairs that have been in my family a long time. We ate and played cards and just had a good time all weekend. I did give them a tour of Huron it took about an hour on Saturday.

The whole group...........

One of the two chairs the other is a rocker that is almost the same..........

The fancy top of the chair.........

And finally some new beads. "Cool Breeze's"...........

Hi there. Sorry about not posting something new yesterday the day just got away from me. I have started going in the mornings to get a load of firewood and so my day gets later and later. But today I have some new ones for you to enjoy. I did get a little carried away with the frit but man I was just loving all the colors. So I made different styles of the same colors I liked how the different shape of the bead kind of made different colors come out. Enjoy!