Help! I need somebody

First things first - Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there. Especially my own Amma, who I didn't get to talk to because I slept until noon today (crazy insomnia last night) and flaked out completely on the date until I remembered to call her late this evening. (In my defense, I did remember earlier in the week, when I ordered her some fabulous things from Etsy.)

In other news, today is my last official day of unemployment. Waaah. I'm sort of ready to go back to work, but really, another week off would have been lovely.

I did get a lot done this week, including making and designing a new set of "Coffee and Dessert" GeekMagnets, which are now posted in my Etsy shop.

Yesterday I got a package in the mail, all the way from Australia. A fellow Etsy seller was clearing out her bead stash and posted a huge lot of handmade lampwork glass beads for sale. And I LOVE "variety packs" of beads, because sometimes I just don't know what I'm looking for, exactly.

For those of you who are not bead addicts, lampwork beads are made individually by hand using a torch and various colors of glass rods. Very carefully. They can get pretty elaborate, with all sorts of delicious color combinations.

I thought you might like to see a couple of my favorites.

This one reminds me of the most deliciously-iced donut ever. The color is so juicy and summery bright:



This one looks like a mutant sea creature from a Dr. Seuss story, all nubbly and bumpy with lime green suckers:



I've got some projects in mind for my new stash, and I'll post the pictures here.

And now my plea to you, my loyal reader(s).

I need some help with my blog layout and design. It feels too cluttered to me. I need to figure out how to keep all the elements I need while maintaining a simple, attractive feel. So I welcome any comments you have that may help. Be brutally honest and the person with the best suggestions will win a little somethin'-somethin' from the Lab.