Web Site Update - Success

Finally, after waiting nearly a week my web site has published properly!

Apple's new MobileMe service which replaced the original .Mac service wasn't allowing the site to publish which was a huge drag since I was going on vacation. However, now the site has been completely updated and is ready for viewing.

While some of the pictures and features were published earlier, the software would not confirm the publishing which made me think some pictures and entries were missing. However, it published tonight!

Yeah!

Have a great one!

Web Site Update - Or Not

Just a quick note before heading out on vacation.

I tried to post up a new web update with all the new pictures and designs I've been creating over the last few weeks, but, alas, I cannot get my application to .Mac to publish. I believe it is a glitch with Apple's new MobileMe service which is replacing .Mac.

Please excuse my web site if it is looking funky at the moment.

When I get back, I'll try the update again and if that doesn't work, then I will get to the bottom of the issue.

Thanks for your patience and have a great week!

I'm A Featured Blog!

Good evening All.

Today the monthly newsletter for the Creative Glass Guild of Etsy (CGGE) e-mailed their monthly newsletter to all members. In the newsletter, this blog has been selected as the featured blog of the month!

Thank you so much CGGE and welcome new readers! I hope you like what you see, and stop by often!

I try to keep the blog interesting, on topic, for the most part, and fun to check out. I also regulary preview new items coming to shop here before they get listed. Like this one...

Just Cloning Around

Tomorrow morning, I will be adding this VERY BRIGHT organic focal to my Etsy shop. This bead is entitled "Clones Of Jupiter".

As with Navajo Blanket, I've used a few of the new colors in this bead to see how they would turn out in the organic design. New colors used in this bead are both by CIM--Lipstick and Sangre.

I love how well they mixed in with some Electric Yellow and Dark Ivory in this bead. It colors just flow and swirl around this bead like a gaseous atmosphere of a large planet--can you think of which one?

Anyway, I hope you like it and will stop by tomorrow and see all of the pictures!

Remember Multimedia?

Back in December, as some of you may know, I bought a new Mac computer to enable me to speed up photo and web site editing and include some new multi-media features like podcasts, tutorial movies, etc.

Well, so far you've probably been wondering "Where the hell is the multimedia?"

I can now tell you that my first podcast is coming very soon. I'm learning GarageBand, which came with my Mac, and planning out the first episode.

Keep your eyes and ears open...

New Gallery Loaded Into Website!

As I'm typing this entry, I am uploading a new Sculptural Beads gallery into the web site containing my latest non-traditional beads for 2008.  This is just the start of this gallery, so be sure to subscribe to it and get all of the latest updates sent directly to you!

The new gallery contains pictures of my latest leaf bead sets as well as my "Early Bloomers" flower bud beads.

Have I mentioned how much simpler updating my website is now with my new Mac?  

New Item In Etsy

Just when you thought it was safe to go into my shop, you see it.  Another new dot design!

While I made grapes this weekend, that doesn't mean I've listed all of my dot beads yet.  This little gem is called "Pinky Blues" for its Lilac Ice base bead and the deep ink blue of its dots.

It's got a lovely contrast between the warm and cool shades, don't you think?  Under the blue dots, white dots were used and can be seen in the photo if look carefully.

Hope you're having a great night.  Sleep well!

It's Alive!

Well after much promises and reassurances that the new web site was going to be coming, it is finally here.

The old site is now dead and the new one is up and running in its place with lots of pictures and new features that the old one didn't have, not mention a much snazzier look and feel than the old one.

Check out the new web site here: www.LampOfLuxury.com and let me know what you think of it.  Post a comment or two in any number of areas that you'd like to comment on.  I've even put out a new blog announcement on the site which you can view directly here. 

Many more pictures and galleries will be loaded now that it is up and running. 

What's New Tomorrow

Tomorrow, this bright blue bead will be coming your way in my Etsy shop.  This little gem is called "Swimming Pools" due to all of the blue pools that remind me of tiny beads of water just big enough for maybe an ant to swim in, if ants swam.

This bead is a turquoise base with transparent blue dots arranged around the bead.  The back color for the deep blue pools is actually  pink, which gives this bead a nice warmth despite it being a cool color.

Anyway, have a great night.

New Website Update - A Bit Under The Weather

Today the new web site took a major new step toward being my only website with addition of the new Jewelry Galleries page and the What's New section which is a blog about web updates, announcements and other items of interest.

In the Jewelry Galleries, I have put up the inaugural galleries for my 2007 designs with many more past and present galleries scheduled over the next few days and weeks.  These galleries are categorized by Earrings, Necklaces, Bracelets and Pendants, Sets and More which are all other types of designs which do not fit into those categories including my popular pendant and earring sets.

The What's New blog section will contain announcements and news items that will be of interest to the viewers of the web site.  While there will be some overlap in content with this blog, it probably will not be a day-to-day blog as this one is.  Be sure to check it out though since I will probably have different items on the two blogs rather than just one being a copy of the other.  

I'll have to see how having two blogs works out and try to keep them both updated and interesting.  Of course, the new blog, like this one, supports RSS feeds so you can be notified immediately when changes are made if you subscribe to it.

In addition to the content update of the new web site, I have put in the transfer of the domain to point to the new web site as instructed by DotMac.  It may take up to 48 hours for the change to take effect, but I keep checking the link often to see if it changes.  Considering I did it on a weekend, it may be a bit longer.  

Fighting Off A Cold

For the past few days, I've been coming down with a cold that I've not been able to shake off which is affecting my productivity this weekend.  I was hoping to have some torch time today since I only needed a little bit of time to finish up the updates I started on my partial day off thanks to the snow storms we've had.  

Alas, I just didn't have the energy today.  Instead I took a nice long nap which was very nice, but doesn't help me get anything new into the shop or have items to show you.

I've got a new bead design that I am planning on making plus some new pink roses for a custom order, so let's hope that I feel better tomorrow and can actually get some things done.  I may also create a couple of sculptural leaf bead sets for Spring.

So, Please send me happy thoughts, and I'll let you know how everything turns out tomorrow sometime.

I Never Promised You A Rose Garden...

But I created one anyway with this pendant and earring set entitled "Rose Garden".

The second in my series of three custom orders that I designed, it has deep red roses and purple hyacinth flowers blooming against a background of black which makes the colors really pop and seem electric.

Sterling silver lever-back earrings each have a medium lentil bead with a hyacinth and rose flower on each side.

Both the pendant and earrings use sterling silver wire, and small zinc bicones for some added pizazz.  

As I worked on the various rose beads, I have noticed that the control over the flowers is getting better and each bead gets a little more uniform. 

This amazes me every time I see something that I couldn't do before become closer and close to how I imagined the set to come out.  Practice, especially in lampwork, does make a huge difference.

On The Web Front

Tomorrow, I will not be going to the gym, so I will get a chance to work on the new web site and start pulling in the jewelry galleries which are still absent at the moment.   I've had to wait until I procured the actual web hosting space, since I was using the trial subscription to see how the new software would interact with the service.

Now, I'm pleased to report that the .Mac (pronounced Dot-Mac) service and its integration with the software, is really going to make maintaining my web site easier and give you much more features to view and enjoy and hopefully keep you coming back for more!

We're expecting snow tonight and tomorrow, so if I get a snow day from work, then I might get some torch time too!  However, the predictions of lots of snow tonight are now being restated for lots of snow during tomorrow, so I'll probably have to work afterall.  

Pray for snow everyone!

Bead Galleries For 2007 On Updated Web Site

Lamp Of Luxury Website Update

The updated web site is really taking shape now and I can't wait for you all to see it.  With a couple hours of work organizing the photos from last year, I've gotten several of the new galleries loaded up onto the test web server.  

I've organized the Beads galleries into 5 main categories:  

• Hollow Beads
• Focal Beads
• Bead Sets 
• Sculptural Beads (frogs, fish, etc)

You'll find albums by sub-categories on each of these main galleries to further help organize the beads since they come in so many different kinds.

Other galleries that have been loaded are the Gifts and Other Artists which have their own album pages.

I've also updated a few of glitches on the site that I found while testing in IE last week and added Google's AdSense to the bottom of the main pages.

New Gallery Features

The new galleries have several features that I think will really improve your use of them as well as keep my tasks much easier.  Here's the highlights of the new gallery features:

• New Slideshow Mode For Albums In The Galleries
• Subscribe To An Album Or Gallery And Be Notified When An Update Occurs
• View Albums As Thumbnails Or Enlarge Images
• View Smaller Slides (Or Not) Of The Album While In Enlarged Mode
• Preview Albums By Dragging Mouse Over Album Covers

Web Site Input Requested

I've tested the web site out in Safari and IE and it works pretty well in both (however IE is MUCH slower at rendering the pages).  I'd love to get feedback from you to see how the speed and response time for the site works on your computer.  

Come take a look at the new site at:  Web.Mac.Com/BurningScentsations and let me know what you think and if you're having any issues.

I look forward to hearing your reviews on the new design and its performance.  I'd especially like to hear from any FireFox users out there too!

Hope you're enjoying your weekend, and have a great night.

Web Site Sneak Peek

Today I've started the new web site for LampOfLuxury.com, and I'm very pleased with how Mac's web design tools are making life so much easier.  I cannot believe what I was able to accomplish in just an afternoon, but don't take my word for it.  Would you like to see it in progress?  Just click on this link here.

Not all of the sections are up yet, and I haven't gotten the picture albums completely organized, but I think you'll get the idea of how the new site will look.  Best of all, the site will be so much easier to maintain, it will not get as stagnant as the my current site has become. 

Once the basics have been completed, I'm looking forward to creating some multi-media content like podcasts and video tutorials on various topics. 

Please feel free to let me know what you think of the new design!

New Bead Coming To Etsy Shop

Tomorrow morning, I'll be loading this new bead into my Etsy shop.  

I haven't decided what I will call this type of shape, but I like how the bead has a gentle curvature to it that feels nice and provides a bit of interest.

Do you have any suggestions for the name of this shape?

The name of this bead is Fire Flower, and it's looking for a good home!  

Anyway,  have a great night, and I hope to hear from you very soon.

2007 Year In Review (Yes, another one!)

After seeing so many year's in review on TV,  in magazines, newspapers, etc., you were probably thinking, "Not Another One" when you saw the heading.  I know I was when I typed it, but I thought I would be remiss if I didn't take an opportunity to recap the year and it's highlights from an artistic/business perspective.  So, please, bear with me.

Here at Burning Scentsations, 2007 has been quite a year, and I hardly know where to begin.  

Diverse Year Of Beads

I've made a lot of different kinds of beads and jewelry throughout this year.  I've done raised florals, grape beads, encased beads, dot designs, frogs, stone-like organics--the list goes on and on.  I like the challenges that glass affords me and gives me lots of room for more improvement and experimentation.

Attending Custer's Last Stand Art Fair

In the beginning of the year, I started researching art fairs and found, that while I missed deadlines for a few of the shows, I was able to enter the Custer's Last Stand art fair in Evanston, IL.  It fell on two of the hottest days of the year, but we persevered in our tent and met lots of great people including our friend Richard who was also selling at the fair.

Bead and Button

In 2007, I took classes at Bead and Button and stayed in Milwaukee for several days and got really enjoy being in a very artistic and creative atmosphere.  The classes helped me add new techniques to my repertoire and interact with beadmakers and jewelry designers from around the world.  It was a fantastic time, and I cannot wait to go again this year.

New Etsy Shop

I opened my new shop on Etsy in July of 2007 after talking with several people about Etsy during Bead and Button.  It's been a terrific experience, and I've met several nice people and made some new customers through this site.

Art Of Beadwork Show

My most successful show came in early November when The Bead Society Of Greater Chicago had their annual Art of Beadwork show.  Although it was only 5 hours long, I met a number of great people and sold quite a bit of jewelry at the same time.  I cannot believe how well it worked out, and I'm looking forward to next years show.

Additional Shows

After that success, I followed it quickly with shows at work after being urged by coworkers to have an event there.  It was also wildly successful in just a short two-hour time span.  

I also had a couple of showings at the O'Reilly's Stained Glass, in Crystal Lake, IL that also helped boost sales for the year.

Lamp Of Luxury Blog

In late November, as you well know, I started this blog to help keep you up-to-date on upcoming events, new store items, and generally discuss topics that I think will be of use or interest to everyone who loves beads and jewelry.  Whether I've been successful or not in that task is up to you, my readers, but I will continue it into the New Year and see where it leads.

My New Mac

Burning Scentsations was able to purchase a new computer at the end of the year in order to help maintenance of the web site, reduce the time associated with taking pictures and getting them up onto the Internet for viewing.  It has already been a great help in getting my pictures loaded and organized much better and will continue as I work toward a re-design of my web site in the coming weeks.

Review Wrap-Up

This has turned out to be a much longer post than I had intended, but I'm very thankful that there has been so much to review.  As you can probably tell, it's been a great year here, and I hope it has been for you as well.  I couldn't do any of this without the support and patronage of my customers, and I am very grateful for each and everyone of you.  Thank you so much, and I hope to continue our relationship into the New Year.

Happy New Year!

New Hollow Set - Fuchsia Splash - Coming Soon To Etsy

It's raining here today and is a bit dreary, but that does not mean there aren't great things happening here.  Tonight we're heading out to a Christmas Party with friends in Rockford that we don't get to see too often.

In addition, I've got four new sets that will be heading to my Etsy shop over the coming week.  Here's a preview of the first one that being listed--Fuchsia Splash!

This is a set of hollow transparent beads that have been wrapped in bright stripes of pink and voilet.  I used a copper green background on the frit to create a new and cool effect.  I love the interaction between this bright frit and the cool green background, and I hope you do too!

These beads will be stunning in a necklace, and the colors are really great for the upcoming spring season, but will also look fabulous throughout the winter too!  This set will be added to Etsy on Monday morning.

Also, I've just about completed my new Holiday Greeting message that will be going out to all of my customers.  It has a great stationery applied to it with pictures of beads and jewelry all ready to go.  Would you like to see it?  Just forward your e-mail address to Scentsation@dls.net, and I'll be happy to send it out to you.

The new Mac is living up to its promise of saving me lots of time.  I was able to import the pictures and have them all color-corrected and named in just a few short minutes.  It used to take hours to process all of the pictures on my PC and get them exported and ready for use.  I cannot wait to see how it will revolutionize my web site.

Don't forget to let me know what you think of my new blog by contacting me either here or through one of the following links:

www.LampOfLuxury.com

www.BurningScentsations.Etsy.com

Have a great evening folks!

Big MAC Attack Ahead Of Schedule!

Happy Holidays Everyone!  

Welcome to my first blog entry created on my new Mac!  

This year is wrapping up nicely here at Burning Scentsations. I was able to purchase my new computer a bit ahead of schedule, so I have more time to get it setup before I go back to my full-time job.

For those of you who may not be aware, I've recently converted over to Apple from being a die-hard Windows user.  I'm now the proud owner of a new iMac.  It's a breeze to work with and is really going to help me get some new features into my web site.

One of the main reasons for purchasing the new computer is to make the Internet portions of my business be less of a struggle.  For those who may not be aware, keeping up a web site can be a full-time job all by itself, which left me with little time for making beads and jewelry.

So when I have a choice between spending a few hours taking pictures, cropping and sizing them, uploading them, entering descriptions for each into the database and then reviewing the web site or just plain making more shiny, pretty things, I always make more shiny, pretty things.  It's just much for satisfying.

The tools available for making creative tasks simpler and faster on the Mac are just amazing.  I will be able to shoot and edit my own videos for demos on various techniques and let you all get a front-row seat to how beads are created.  I might even just video blog every now and then so you can see that I am an actual person and not a corporate puppet.

I should also be able to keep pictures galleries updated much more simply too thanks to iPhoto all while improving features for my readers and customers.

A complete overhaul of the web site www.LampOfLuxury.com will also be in the works in the coming weeks once I've found the web software that I'll be using.

If you'd like more information on my new computer (don't call it a PC or the Apple police will get you), check out this link HERE.

Tomorrow morning, I'll be back at the torch before heading off to work at the retail job in the afternoon for a few hours. I'll probably focus on doing some focal beads and bead sets, which I will be very happy to show you in the upcoming days.

As always, if you have any questions or want to suggest topics, please do not hesitate to contact me either through this blog or on my web site or Etsy store at:

www.LampOfLuxury.com

www.BurningScentsations.Etsy.com

Have a great night!