I've Been Published! My work is in Showcase 500 beaded Jewelry

I'm so excited to tell you all that several of my neck pieces where selected to be published in Showcase 500 beaded Jewelry by Ray Hemachandra published by Lark Craft books. The book is filled with amazing pieces by very talented people, I feel very privileged  to be part of this book. You can find this book at Amazon.com - here's a direct link to help. http://amzn.to/z6tZH2. or at your local Barnes and Nobles http://bit.ly/LWImpo. You can see my pieces on pages 239 & 294.

Glitterfest

Come one - Come all to Glitterfest Fall 2011

October 15th

10:00 - 4:00 p.m.

Take the woody-style shuttle from Whimzy

Go to Glitterfest.com to get more information and read about all the artists that will be there.

Too Long Away

Its been to long since my last post - Sorry! Many things have happened good and bad, thats life I guess. I will start with the good, I survived my first Contemporary Craft Market (CCM) show with the help of my BFF Suzanne; don't know if I could of done it without her or that I wanted to. Lots of people came through and Roy Helms and Assoc. did a great job organizing and advertising. The sales where good, but not great, but as I talked to other vendors it seemed to be the theme of the weekend. Even so I applied for next June's show and was excepted YEAH!

I applied for Glitterfest and was excepted YEAH! YEAH! - I have heard so many great things about this show, that I can't wait to be part of it; October 15th at the Elk's Lodge in Santa Anna. Then I received information from the people at American Art Festivals, they saw my booth at the CCM show and invited me to apply for one of their shows so I thought what the heck and applied for the San Diego Holiday Art Festival and was excepted to the San Diego show, that will be held Dec 2,3,4 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

Now for the bad news - our 17 1/2 year old Jack Russell, yup I said 17 1/2 has lymphoma, we decided to go the route of chemo., she has had 2 treatments and seems to be responding well, not sure of the prognosis but we are happy to have her here now and give her lots of love.

So all that being said I'm keeping stiff upper lip and pushing on.

See ya later

Contemporary Craft Market

I'm so EXCITED! I can’t contain myself; I was excepted into the Contemporary Craft Market in Santa Monica June 10, 11 and 12^th. Whoop! Whoop! This is the 26^th season for this awesome show, its held at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, 1855 Main Street (at Pico Blvd.), Santa Monica, CA 90401

So now the production starts, finishing new items, getting the booth layout figured out, business stuff together; I’m getting more stressed just thinking about it. I know it will all work out in the end; it’s just getting to the end that daunting.

So if any of you out there are in the area, please come and check it out. You can print out free passes at http://www.contemporarycraftsmarket.com/free_pass.html . Come and say hi, I’m at booth 432.

Will let you know how it goes….

I’m praying to the art show gods for a good show.

Spring....

Spring is here....

And Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earths dark breast
rose from the dreams of its wintery rest.
"Percy Bysshe Shelley; "The Sensitive Plant"

Its a gorgeous day here to day in southern California, not a cloud in the sky and 74 degrees.
I love this time of year in California, seems like everything is blooming and everything is GREEN. I love the blooming jasmine and fruit tress, I always here the song Summer Breeze by Seals and Crofts when I smell the intoxicating aromas. All the spring flowers like irises, fuchsias', daffodils showing there sweet little faces and color. And lets not forget the ice plant along the freeways showing their beautiful colors of pinks, magenta, purple, and lime green.
Our yard seems to be a haven for the birds, each year we seem to have more. In the morning they sing and flitter around, building their nests. It seems that they will build a nest were ever they can, like our Staghorn fern.

Stitched and Stacked

I had the pleasure of taking a few class with Mary Hettmansperger on Friday and Saturday at the Shepherdess (www.shepherdessbeads.com) here in San Diego. The classes where Stitched and Stacked and Copper Enameling with the torch.
I really enjoyed Mary she has a great personality and sense of humor which kept us all laughing out loud. Her teaching style is very laid back which puts you at ease, so you don’t feel the pressure to create something fabulous, unless your a perfectionist like me and you always put that added pressure on yourself.
Being a bead artist I don’t have much experience with metal and the torch, I have to tell you the fire kind of scares me; but after 2 days with Mary I REALLY like the torch and want to use more metal in my pieces.
But, I have to say that I wasn’t so hip to the torch enamel firing at first, having done the traditional kiln firing process in the past, I wasn’t getting the refined look from the torch firing that you do with the kiln firing. But after I embraced the funkiness of it I really liked how things came together. And thanks to Mary for spearing us on when we got discouraged.

I’m looking forward to when Mary comes back to San Diego to teach us new process.

If any of you want to learn more about Mary check out her website www.maryhetts.com and her new book Mixed Metal Jewelry Workshop.

Survived Talmadge Art Show

We survived the Encinitas Talmadge Art Show last Saturday, Aug. 7th. There was good attendance, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Sharon and Alan always do a good job at making sure everyone is cared for and happy. Hopefully I will be seeing you all at the Nov 21st show at the San Diego Women's Club.