Unemployed, but working like mad!

So as of today, I have not gone to a job in 7-1/2 weeks.  There is a job on the near horizon, but it's still in development and won't probably suck me in as a real, regular employee for about 3-4 more weeks.  I didn't expect this to last so long...as with any renovations on an old building, you run into unexpected delays. 
This time off, which in my working career is totally unprecedented, has given me a chance to really dive into my art...specifically Bead Embroidery.  I've completed some complex bead embroidered pieces, started making buttons again, and have started using my loose polymer beads (normally set aside for shows) in finished jewelry.

My two recent favorite items have been brooches from my "Space Nugget" series I just started.  While claying with a friend, I started poking these little scrap balls of clay.  Then they turned into cabochons.  These are just so much fun to make, and I can use my favorite color pallettes.  I haven't started a third yet, but I can say that the picture to the left sold within a week.  The bottom one is in my Etsy store for $55.

I also finished a collaborative piece that my friend Heather and I worked on.  She hand-sculpts and builds wonderful characters and the small worlds they live in.  For a short time she created larger faces...still all hand-sculpted and painted.  She gives them to me and I mount and embroider beads around them.

At Halloween last year, she gave me some straight-up white skulls. One large and 3 small ones. Instead of making a few brooches like the others, I made a large flat piece and attached a 2-strand necklace.  It's pretty wicked.  It's my last BIG piece to finish, so now I have to start something else.  Don't ask me how many hours it took to make this, because I don't keep track.  It's $155.....and if you are REALLY interested in it (or anything in my store for that matter)....enter the promocode BLOG15 to get 15% off your order, which expires March 31.  Only readers of this blog will get this promo code.  In the meantime, I'm going to go get busy!  Thanks for checking this stuff out!