Come Join Me at Spencerville Sparkles!

I am very excited to announce that I will be entering my very first jewelry show April 29 and 30 in Spencerville! Please join me and many other fantastic jewelry artists at this fabulous event. Hope to see you there :)

Monday Update on the Bead Show!

I am interrupting Monday's normal "Monday's Methods" posts to bring you news of a fantastic show I went to over the weekend. On Saturday I took my mom to the Ottawa Glass Bead Artists Show in Ottawa, Ontario. It was fantastic! I didn't take many photos as it was crawling with people, and I didn't want to be jostling everyone, but I did get some great handouts from various glass bead makers.
I was also very, very good in that I only bought 2 strands of faceted onyx briolettes at half price. I stayed away from the Baltic Amber chips at $22 per strand...though I really, really wanted it!
I also bought a book on chain mail work! I am SO excited as I have had this on my Amazon.ca wish list for almost a year. This is a great book as it has great chain mail designs that are also added on to with beads:
It is fabulous and I can't wait to make some new creations with it, stay tuned for that!
I also saw my good friend Louise, who owns and runs Fireseed, her own private lamp work glass studio. She makes the most amazing beads and it was to see her and her newest creations in person that I really went to the show. She makes the most adorable Monkee beads - monkeys with different hats, different outfits, all out of glass! She even has a new Viking Monkee in honor of her newest endeavor - creating beads that are recreations of historical beads...some of them dating back thousands of years! Louise is on the right, and her good friend Jane is on the left.
I was, again, very good and didn't buy anything from Louise, though I am going to buy a Viking Monkee from her...she only had one at the show and I didn't want to take the only one and not let her clients see it. I will, however be buying it, or one like it if the original sold. That being said...
...I do already have quite a few "Fireseed By Louise Ingram" beads...I think I have an addiction...no, wait, I DO have an addiction. But really, after looking at these beads, how could I not?

I had a great time at the show, seeing so many different artists, being inspired, I will DEFINITELY be back next year, and I highly recommend that you go to...you need a vacation, right? See you there next year!

Tune in tomorrow for the FINISHED bracelet I've been working on!

Monday's Mother's Day Update - Fun for All!

Well, mother's day was a blast! I went to my mom's in the afternoon and gave her the present: the special edition of Mary Poppins - I had purchased it when it had first become available for pre-order in January, as I knew it was the first movie my mom had ever seen in the theaters as a kid. It was definitely a hit!
After that we went to see a quilt show that my mom's quilter's guild was holding (it's only every 2 years so we were lucky to go). My mom had several quilts on display there, including the one she made for me, above. She didn't win any awards (I'd like to have a chat with the judges, lol), but we had a great time seeing all of the different quilts - there were over 200!! - and also the different vendors. I'm not a quilter, but as an artist, I can definitely appreciate the love and hard work that goes into this art form :)
While browsing one of the vendors I found a really cool book on quilting landscapes - too amazing - and my mom said she had never seen it before and had always wanted to try quilting landscapes....so I bought it for her 'early birthday present'...keeping in mind that her birthday is in September, LOL. It is a phenomenal book, however, and I can't wait to see what she comes up with! We kept walking around, admiring the quilts and vendors (a few vendors were selling these amazing computerized quilting machines that took much of the back-breaking labor out of quilting, but were....wait for it....$16,000 dollars!! eep!). One of the vendors had 'easy quilt kits' that had all the material and the instructions for about the same price as the book I got my mom. The fabrics in it were sooooo pretty and I kept picking it up and putting it down...picking it up and putting it down. I really liked it, but I'd just bought the book and didn't have the money to buy that in the first place so the quilt kit was definitely out of the question...
...."moooom?"
...."Yes honey?"
....."This is really pretty fabric..."
..."Yes it is - and the quilt would be very easy to make," (at this point the sales lady says, "Oh yes, you can whip these up in about 3 hours!" and I say, "Not with my sewing skills you can't!", anyway, back to the narrative),
..."Mmooomm I can't sew, and I'm really trying to work on my jewelry at the moment....do you think we could do this for my early birthday present?" (now the sales lady asks when my birthday is and I have to tell her that it is in September, to the laughter of everyone around us)
...."You want this? But...But...But....It's so simple! I could do something with a bit more flourish, though it might take a bit longer..." She kept spluttering at the near indignity of being asked to do something so rudimentary *sigh* she is sometimes too much of an artist, LOL.
...."But this would be a really good lap quilt that I could snuggle in and wash a million times and not have to worry about the dog farting on it and I could think of you every time I warm up under it.....Pleeeeease? I'll even buy it if you are willing to make it" (Here is where I do 'cute' eyes, which my mom knows is a joke as I would never beg and if she didn't want to, I'd never push her, but she's got that smile on her face, you know the one, where your mom really wants to indulge, but still can't believe you want something so small, simple, and inexpensive)
"Really? You want this? For your birthday? 4 months from now?" Her eyebrows are in danger of disappearing into her hairline from surprise...
"Mmmm hmmm. It is so pretty and simple and beautiful and I love it! And you'd have lots of time to finish it if you got busy with your art quilts,"
"Where's my credit card?"
"Woo!"
It was a good Mother's Day all around :-D
I hope your day was great too!