Starlight Designs Lampwork Beads and Jewelry

January 13, 2010

Hi all! I have an announcement to make!

I have just started a blog at: http://debby-starlightdesigns.blogspot.com/. Please check it out! It is my hope that the blog will eventually replace this website, which will expire in November. Please "follow" me and you will be alerted anytime a new post is put up, which is WAY better than having to check back here from time to time just to see if anything is new.

Any feedback regarding the blog would be most appreciated also! Email me here.

Hugs!!! ~Debby

January 7, 2010

Hi all! Oh my goodness, have we had some COLD weather!!! Yikes. Our pipes in the well house keep freezing. We haven't seen above 32 degrees in several days. Winter is definitely here! We've had three snows so far this year. First one on Christmas Day, 2nd snow was on December 30 and the last one was last Sunday the 3rd, and the snow is still on the ground in places where it's shady. I shudder to think what our electric bill will be this month!

Even though winter break is over, Ginny got to stay home today because the roads were too icy this morning for the bus to make it safely on these mountain roads. The sun came out today, so she will likely return to school tomorrow...

During winter break, I didn't make any beads at all, so yesterday I finally dusted off the ol' Lynx torch and fired that baby up... Happy to say that the kiln fairy was kind to me this morning. I was worried, being so rusty and all. I made beads again today.

I have two classes to teach at a retreat the end of March and I have a LOT of beads I need to make for that, so it's time to get cracking. In between the production work, I take time out to just play and that's always fun. I'm back to playing around with Aurora Illusion technique, as you can see at the top right.

Now that I have over 100 items in my Artfire shop, I'm going to be putting some items on sale at a 20% discount. I've already started! Click here to see! Keep checking back to see which items are on sale.

Here are a couple bracelets I just finished working on. The greenish one is from a design out of the Seed Bead Fusion book by Rachel Nelson-Smith. Boy, that one took a lo-o-o-o-o-n-g time to make! Woot!

Hugs!!! ~Debby

December 6, 2009

Hi all! Happy Holidays to all my friends and family from here in Arkansas, where it's cold but there has been NO snow as of yet... (I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some SOON though!)

As this year comes to a close, I reflect back on the past twelve months and consider the trials and tribulations my family and I have faced. It's not been the best year in the life of Debby Gwaltney, but that is OK. I wasn't expecting it to be. I think a lot of people are suffering in today's economy and I tend to empathize and sympathize more than the average person, I think, and so I really feel for these American families that are enduring such difficult times.

While my family and I have fared quite well in spite of it all, I can't help but to think about all those people who have had a really difficult year, especially now that it's holiday time. I only hope and pray that each and every one of you find the important things in life to bring about a joyous season for you and your family this year. After all, it's not the gifts that count, but the thought - and even more importantly, just being with those you love.

I usually get a bit swept up in the whole gift giving scene, especially when it comes to my kids and my nieces - of which there are a grand total of 7 girls! But, this year, I've decided that rather than going out and finding that perfect gift for each one -- the kind of gift *I* deem perfect but that they may or may not think so -- the kind of gift that may or may not be either "re-gifted" or worse, thrown away, to sit for eons in some mountain of debris at a landfill. No, that idea does not sit well with me at all.

I think, we Americans are really way too materialistic. I think I've heard in the news that we Americans consume more products than any other country, and that, to me, is a hard pill to swallow. Do we really need to get Uncle Tom yet another tie and Aunt Sally another sweater? I know it is our desire to show our affections to those that we love - even if it is just once a year, and we do that by all this gift giving, but I wonder if we all have lost sight of what is really important.

I wish I could spend time with my nieces - who all live in Florida, and I wish I could spend time with my own kids, but I'll consider myself extremely lucky if I get to see two-thirds of my kids for a few precious hours at Christmas, if they are able to come visit from Little Rock. At least Ginny is here by default, being only seven years old, so I'll get that other one-third, for sure.

I've never been one to give money for gifts. To me, that always seems the "easy way out", the kind of gift that requires no thought or time spent thinking about the person and what they might like. My oldest daughter has already told me all she wants is money, but that is because she is planning a trip to NYC over New Years, and wants the money for her trip. So, I guess I'll comply, but it won't be the same as getting to watch her open up a gift I took the time and thought to pick out especially for her. What's a momma to do?

As for my nieces, I've decided that gift cards were in order. It's money, but not the same as cash or a check. This way, they get to go to their favorite stores and pick out something they want. It may eventually wind up in a landfill somewhere, but at least for a while, hopefully it'll be something they'll want and enjoy...

It's not a perfect solution, but at least it's something. It's not as "green" as I'd like it to be, but it is a compromise. Sometimes that's all we can do, is make compromises...

Anyway, bead-wise? Yes, I'm still making beads! LOL! And jewelry, too.

Here are a few of my favorite recent jewelry designs...

I've done a LOT of custom orders in recent months, which I've had a blast doing. A lot of the "amber rose" pieces shown at right are a results of different "test" beads I was trying out for a customer. I have more creations in the works, but I've also spent more time lately devoting to my freelance work as a book designer. I've just finished my 7th book this year and my publisher is really anxious to get me doing epub work, so I am trying to find snippets of time in between everything else diving deeply into the world of creating epub files and the swirling black hole known as html, which has been a huge challenge to me to say the least. I've never been interested in learning html, but I guess my time has come. So much for taking the shortcut known as FrontPage, which is the program I still use to this day to maintain this website. Haha. The joke is definitely on me.

Funny thing is, my dad would have LOVED html, but unfortunately, he passed away in 1997, back in the day when he was writing computer programs using nothing but DOS and all kinds of weird code that I could not begin to understand. He was an amazing person, with incredible computer skills. I miss being able to call him up and say, "Hey Dad, how do I do this?" He would have known how. No doubt about it. And he would have LOVED to help me learn. That was his thing. He loved to teach. Good thing, too, since he had spent so much of his career teaching computer engineering technology at a tech school in Tampa.

The anniversary of his passing was just a few days ago, and I still miss him as if he passed away just yesterday. But, most of the time, when I think of him, I am not really sad, per se... No, most of the time, when I think of him, I just see his big smirky grin on his face in my mind's eye, and I just have to smile in return. I know darn well that, wherever he is, he is having a hell of a good time.

That was just his way...

Happy Holidays! ~Debby