Gingher Scissors

I have a weakness for these Gingher special edition scissors. (Link included for Lisa, but feel free to order your own pair)



Ahem, if we're counting, this could be my 5th pair....but they make me so incredibly happy, and it's a reasonably small price to pay. My local JoAnn's fabrics has taken to carrying them, and with the 40% off coupons that abound (you really don't even need to have one with you, just pick up a paper flyer on your way in the door, there is bound to be one in there)

Previous pairs have suggested palettes, wonder what I will do with black and white. They have a rather Zentangle feel to them.....

Beading by the Bay 2011

2010 was our inaugral Beading by the Bay in San Francisco. Susan Kazarian, owner of the The Beading Frenzy in San Mateo and I dreamed up this wonderful concept while driving together to Tucson a couple of years ago.

Our first event was wildly successful so we look forward with much anticipation to the Beading by the Bay in March of 2011.

Here are some happy faces of the 2010 attendees.




Read about the fun we had here

And not ones to argue with success we invited Jean and Maggie to join us again. I'll be the third teacher and drumroll.....here are the projects.

in order of appearance

Carousel by Marcia, Sakura by Jean and Olivia by Maggie



Aren't they magical? We've extended exclusive registration to our first year's students, but not to worry, general registration will be open October 1st. Based on last year's success and our economy friendly price point, we are expecting a sell out event. I'll be sure to remind you again on October 1st when registration opens!

Zentangle anyone?

Last year Liz gifted me a zentangle box and that was my first zentangle experience....what is it? Meditative doodling, one stroke at a time art, I'm not entirely sure what defines it, but there is a website, so go have a look.

I came across it again, when I noticed Carole Ohl's blog. Carole is one of Beadworks Designer of the Years for 2010 and I have been following her work.

It turns out she has had some inspiration from her 'tangles' as they are called. As she explores with pen and ink and writes about life, she is inspired to bead some of the drawings she develops.




I so wish I could find years of doodles that I did during meetings and business calls in my corporate life. It is hard to imagine I would have thrown these away, but so far I have not uncovered their whereabouts. I think if I could find them they would bear a marked resemblance to Zentangle. I am intrigued and I suspect I will be using pen and paper to draw a few tangles of my own. I'm interested to see how this might inform my beadweaving.

Re-Bead

That is what I am up to.....I had a couple of samples that were a little too tired to take out in public anymore....I tend towards being a little irreverent with my jewelry and it travels a lot, sometimes getting a little beat up in the process.

That along with how much I've learned since some of those first samples were beaded. In this case I'm using the same colors because there are already kits based on those colors, but I did change up the way of doing things a bit, so I had to go in and revise directions.

But what this all brings me to, is that all of sudden I want to re-bead everything! Well not everything, but I am having color inspirations for many projects. I would love to make a new Romantica



in golds, with touches of pink and turquoise, and I would love to make another Victoria



with the gold metallic crystal and mauve (that sounds like such an old fashioned color) ok maybe a faded matte pink. And I would love to make a new Les Perles de la Mer


with the Antique brass pears as the accent bead and perhaps green crystals, although since light olivine was discontinued I don't know what green, maybe olivine ab....

And I am making a new gold and silver Rings of Saturn, and I need to make two more carousels, two more Rising Sun's


and I'm about half way through a new colorway of Crystal Collage with a 5th color planned....

Now if I just had some more time to bead!

Crystal Ring

I've been having fun with these rings. A first version went to friend Holli. It was silver b i-cones and a deep cobalt blue rectangular stone, and I didn't take a photo, but it looked amazing on her.



The second I wore sans collar, the large crystal studded outer ring which is removable. I had been going to make one for Val's birthday, but the colors didn't turn out as I hoped so I didn't bring it.....Val gushed over mine, and well what could I do but give it to her, it was her birthday afterall, and I loved that she loved it.

Val tends towards a bit more daintiness, so I still have the larger outer part, and a different inner, one made with volcano and bezeled with dorado. I love that I can change up the collar, and even flip it over for a non crystallized side (you know in case I would ever want to do that........)

Dancing Light!

A new piece, exclusively for next September's Alaskan Cruise with Carole Tripp of Creative Castle.

This piece's graceful movement comes from the cascading half circles, tipped with Swarovski crystal and nested into one another. The tearshaped toggle is a nice finish for the right angle weave rope. The main component is a clever bit of beadweaving, a surprise cicular ladder stitch.

There will be two more colors, one likely in black with perhaps jetab2x and one in crystal and white with air blue opal, at least that is the current plan!

I've been to Anchorage, but never on an inland passage cruise. This is a definite highlight for me. So far I've only done tropical cruises, and I look forward to a bit of chill in the air, some cozy beading and some spectacular scenery.

Artist Date in San Juan Capistrano

Julia Cameron, in an The Artists Way, recommends taking yourself on an artist date once a week. My artist date was long overdue and I decided to take an entire day off for rest, relaxation and beauty.

Mark and I headed up the coast to San Juan Capistrano, stopping first in downtown, having a quick wander through some shops. We found a great old piece of black marble that we will use for a coffee table in the garden.

Next we wandered across the train tracks to the historic district. A signpost claims that this is the oldest continually residential street in California.



It was full of quaint cottages, picket fences and brambling flowers.

We stopped for lunch at Ramos House Cafe which was a charming spot tucked into a shaded alcove, with lots of vegetation and an excellent menu. Flannel hash was a mix of gold and red roasted beads ( it has been pointed out that this should pr obably not say beads, and that is correct, it was beets! spell check can only do so much.....) with potatoes and a touch of creme fraiche to hold it all together. It was topped with two 'fried poached eggs' and a pinch of fresh herbs. It was delightful.

Among the cottage flowers I found this Leonotis. I am sure I need some of these in our garden.



And on a visit to the local nursery, we came upon this Monarch, resting in the sun.


After lunch we headed up the coast for a stroll along Dana Point Harbor and further along to Laguna Beach. A casual stroll brought back memories of when my Dad lived there in the late 1980's.

Not wanting our day to end we drove the coast highway back for a scenic ocean view. It was a really nice day.