New Treasures and Techniques. . .

Last weekend I attended the Art Glass & Bead Show in Madison, WI with my good beading buddy Pam.  What a wonderful show, and a great time!  I wanted to share some pics of a couple classes I took and treasures I found:

Wrap Around Bracelet with Robin Delyea - Fat Cat Beads,

& Free Form Bead Embroidery with Sandi Obertin.

One of the "Make-n-Take" sessions with Brenda Schweder.

Lots of pounding, but ended up with beautiful steel multi-hoop

crystal wrapped earrings.  6 class in 4 hours = great fun!

I simply adore antique buttons, and had to stop by my favorite seller's

booth to pick up these beauties.  I'm participating in a

Button Swap Blog Hop that these will be perfect for!

A fun find at Hobo Glass' booth.  Teresa does incredible work,

and I LOVE the funky flowers!

And finally, the necklace I designed using Julie Nordine - Credit River Art Glass lampwork key and matching beads.  I've always loved Julie's acorns, but her lampwork keys are my new favorite!

What a fun weekend!  I can't wait to design with the other baubles & beads I found, and pratice those new techniques.

Until the next show. . .

Painting with Fire. . .

Barbara Lewis' Painting with Fire Workshop begins on April 2nd, and I am so excited to be a participant!  I purchased her book when it was released last year, and cannot wait for the eCourse to start next week.  I've dabbled with enameling before, but could never quite get comfortable with it.  Something just felt "off" with the whole process.  After reading Barbara's book, it all fell into place! 

 

Her immersion method is incredible, and I cannot wait to learn from her.  It sounds like we're going to have a pretty good sized group participating, and I look forward to meeting the other participants as well.  There is something about being a part of a creative community that is so rewarding and uplifting, and I can tell already this is going to be a wonderful experience.

Stay tuned for pictures of projects and my progress!



It's a giveaway. . .

Sooooo hoping to win one of these incredible sets of beads by Tree Wings Studio:

Stop by her blog to enter and check out Rebekah's other adorable designs! 

Fingers crossed. . .

Soup's On!

It's finally here. . .the reveal day for the Bead Soup Blog Hop.  WOOHOO!  Before I start off to browse through 200 incredible designs, I thought I'd reveal my own creation - compliments of my friend Natasha at N's Whims.  My previous post explains how the random number generator did not pick me to participate, but Natasha did!  So here is my official "unofficial" design set:

With some of the leftover goodies from the soup Natasha sent, I also made this fun little bracelet with the funky clay beads she included:

My previous post shows the soup she sent, and I did add some of my private stash to the mix:  the magnetic closure on the necklace; the enameled flowers on the necklace and bracelet focals; the silver flower charms in the necklace focal and dangling from the earrings; and the toggle bar on the bracelet.

It was so fun to work outside of my comfort zone for a change, and I realized how much I miss working with silver!  A huge thank you to Natasha for making me a part of the soup, and to Lori Anderson at Pretty Things that organizes the whole meal!!  Head over to either Natasha's or Lori's blogs to see the complete listing of those participating.

199 blogs to go. . .199 blogs to go. . .check one out, oooohhhh and ahhhhh. . .198 blogs to go!  ;-)