Bead Shows!

This past sunday I was at the GLBG Bead Bonanza. It was fun to get my feet wet again the bead season.

I got to spend time with Melanie Brooks and Andrew Thornton which was just icing on the cake.

This weekend I'm off to Madison WI for the ART GLASS & BEAD SHOW.

New Work!

I am going to debut my new work at the Bead Bonanza tomorrow.

These are my very cool padlock pendants. Yep, they are ceramic.

They are different from anything I've done before, which makes me nervous and excited both.

I will try to get them listed on Etsy next week too.

I'd love to hear what you think about them.

It's Spring!

That means I am getting ready for the GREAT LAKES BEAD BONANZA . It will be next sunday in Southfield Michigan.

The following week I'll be in Madison Wisconsin for the ART GLASS & BEAD SHOW.

I'm excited to get the season going. I hope to see lots of old friends and new people there.

I'm not dead

Its just been feeling that way. Its the last grey days of the michigan winter that make me crawl under a blanket and stop existing. But I know that is not an option. The dogs need to be let out and the kid needs a lunch packed and I do have a few friends who would miss me eventually.

So I have been busy dealing with paperwork, plugging away with orders, and making beads for shows and just generally feeling robotic waiting for the weather to turn.

Well Hallelujah! Its 60 & sunny and the snow drops are out and the crocus is in bloom.

I feel like a new person. IT'S SPRING!

home is where...

This is an art project by Clinton Snider — called House 365 —

It is made out of pieces of abandoned and foreclosed homes in Detroit.

It is touring the area going from place to place with each "deed-holder" hosting the little (about 5 feet tall) wood-framed house for a month at a time. It's currently booked into the middle of next year.

It has become "a symbol for Detroit culture and how much abandonment there is," said Snider, who initially envisioned moving the house every day of the year, hence the name.

It is currently around the block from my house.

I have thought a lot about "home" and houses. Its more then a structure, its a place where you feel safe.

This is my heart on the house bead. It represents shelter for both the body and the soul.

hot mess/ cold weather

I've written about my mess of a studio on Watch Me Create.

So stay tuned for my HOT MESS STUDIO SALE on ETSY. I plan on getting it started with in the next week.

Its cold to do anything else and Punxsutawney Phil says 6 more weeks of winter so what else do I have to look forward to?

Valentines Day and Beyond

.

A hundred hearts would be too few

To carry all my love for you

Its getting close to February and time to think about Valentines day. Hearts and chocolate, my favorites.

January has almost past and this year is off to a exciting start. If the rhinovirus fairy would stop visiting my house every other week things would be even better.

I am keeping busy and my schedule for the year is already filling up.

I am teaching an art journaling class through February.

Then in March, I will be teaching a Mixed Media Jewelry Making class.

and I will be at the Bead Bonanza in Southfield Michigan,

And I'll be at the Madison Art Glass and Bead Show.

April I'll be in Chicago for the Suburban Bead Encounter

and Ill be teaching my Spirit Doll Workshop.

In June I'll be at the Bead & Button Show in Milwaukee

July I will be in the Ann Arbor Summer Fair

I am tentatively scheduled to do the Bead Fest in Philadelphia in August and the Bucktown Arts Fest in Chicago at the end of the month. And that just takes me through the end of the summer.

Thinking about has exhausted me.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010!

Welcome to 2010 everyone. I have a feeling that this is going to be a good year.

I was happy to put 2009 to bed for good. I am looking forward to the future, to continues success supporting myself doing what I love. Having happy and healthy loved ones around me. And wishing the same to all.

Peace and joy and love for 2010.

Getting ready for Christmas

Its that time of the year. You know, the time to dress up our pets and take humiliating pictures.

I finally have my tree trimmed and I am trying to feel festive despite the month long battle with a cold and sinus and throat issues.

My Christmas wish for this year is for everyone to be warm and safe and have enough to eat. Simple things for a complicated world. It seems like it would be so simple if we all really put our mind to it.

Long cold winter

The last days of Autumn are gone. We are now into our long cold winter. Here in Michigan it seems to last longer then it actually does. Winter brings with it, colds and flu and days in bed wishing I felt better. I have already survived H1N1, 2 colds and about of strep & its only the first half of December.

I long for the warm Autumn days that were here just weeks ago.

I made this necklace to remind me of those times when the sun sparkled and the leaves fell down like confetti.