Sunday, March 31, 2013

My New Video!

Hello from Knoxville, TN, the worldwide headquarters of Jewelry Television. I am in town this weekend getting ready to go on air to promote this:



My brand new class on DVD from JTV's Jewel School! You can see a preview on my Facebook page, here.

The video is all new, filmed especially for JTV, and has brand new projects that are not in my bestselling book, Simple Soldering. It was really fun to make and they have done a great job of putting it together!

You can purchase it at this link here, but it won't be available until I am on air starting Sunday 3/31 at 10 AM. I'll be back for a repeat performance on  Monday morning 4/1 also at 10 AM. I'll be demoing tools and chatting about my book and video. I'll be signing all of the books sold on air, so it's a great chance to grab an autographed copy of my book if you don't already have one.

Don't get JTV in your area?? Not to worry. Watch it live at this link. Just click the watch the show button. Remember that's 10 AM EST. My west coast friends are going to have to tune in at 7 AM PST.

Have a Happy Easter, all! Enjoy and see you on-air soon!

Friday, March 22, 2013

Wanna Play on Sunday?

There is a class coming up in my studio on Sunday. We'll get to that in a moment, but first I wanted to share that I am back from a whirlwind trip to BeadFest in Santa Fe, New Mexico and a jewelry trade show in Las Vegas, Nevada. All I can say is "Wow." What great classes, great food, great scenery, great friends and great coincidences. I am really lucky in this life.

Torrance was fussed that we did not have a Limo.
My students were so talented and amazing. It was hardly work to teach my classes. Thank you ladies, for joining me (some of you for multiple days) and being a part of my classes at BeadFest. Wanna see how talented they are? Check it...
From Patinas and Cold Connections
Dapped, Capped & Riveted Beads

I taught my Simple Soldering Boot Camp as well, but we were working away so diligently that I did not have time to take pictures.

I also had the best thing happen to me. I found a thank you note on my chair after class. I am keeping it forever.
Thanks, Kimberlee. You were a fantastic student.

Las Vegas was great, too. I was there with my friend Jess of Jess Imports for the ASD trade show. We sold lovely things from her line. (See her jewelry components, here.) This picture snapped in the airport pretty much sums up Vegas.

We had a great time at the show, lots of jewelry, more great food and drinks, and not too much gambling. At least the folks at the airport direct you to the most important stuff as evidenced by the sign. Torrance followed the arrows and made himself at home.

That is water, not a Gin & Tonic. Okay. It IS a G&T. But that was in Santa Fe.
Now that I am home though, I am prepping for a class at my studio on this coming Sunday, March 24. Wanna join me?

You'll create a lovely embellished leather cuff. All materials are included in the class fee. I have two spaces left. All you need to do is hop on over to my Etsy site and sign up. It's going to be a fun day.

Hope to see you there!

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Winging it!

On the road this morning to BeadFest Santa Fe! I have three full classes this weekend and am so excited to meet my new students. I'll fill you in on my adventures as they unfold. I sure am looking forward to seeing my dear bead friends. If you are attending, stop by my classroom and say hello!

Right now I am coming at you from my layover in Las Vegas. I am sitting in an airport bar and I will neither confirm or deny the close proximity of a Bloody Mary or chips and guacamole. Carpe Cuervo is lettered above the bar. Oh Vegas, even on a layover you don't disappoint.

I had two great things happen to me this morning. The first was due to my Bead Soup Blog Party Partner, Barbara Betchel. She is a super-talented lady (as evidenced by her Etsy shop...SO MUCH PRETTY over there!) and she blogs on her personal blog and over at Love My Art Jewelry. I sent her a copy of my book as part of her bead soup package. She was kind enough to read it over and post a nice review on the LMAJ blog today. Thanks so much Barbara. Your nice comments made my day.

The second happened just as I walked off the plane this morning. I was checking the departures board and a nice lady came up to me. I thought that she might have a question or comment about her flight. Nope. She just wanted to let me know that she has learned so much from my book and videos and she loves my classes. Thanks so much nice lady. Your kind words were appreciated!

See you soon in Santa Fe! Gotta catch my plane. I'm in the "A" boarding group. Exit row, here I come.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Upcoming Classes at the Studio

Good morning!
It's been so much fun teaching over at my studio. I'm not the only one having fun, though.

This is a shot from my Introduction to Soldering class from back in December. If you want to join in on the fun I have classes posted over on the class page on this blog.

And a chance is coming up soon. Sunday is my super popular "Ring Roundup" class. You'll learn to make a bunch of great rings for every finger!

Here are a few snaps of student work.



If you want to join me, hop on over and sign up here. All materials are included and you'll have a lovely ring (or a few) to wear home.

Hope to see you at the studio soon!

Friday, March 1, 2013

My Menagerie...

A couple of weekends ago I went on a craft getaway with my Mom. Twice a year I get to leave my busy life behind and go on a weekend retreat and craft just for pure enjoyment.

The weekend focuses on quilting... a favorite crafting pastime of mine, but I also like to bring extra projects along in case I need a break from my sewing machine.

This time I brought some plastic animals.


Yep. From the Jo-Ann Fabric "what's-that-stuff-doing-in-a-fabric-store" aisle. You see a while back I pinned this picture of a plastic animal pincushion and it became the dearest wish of my heart. (Well not the DEAREST wish, but I wanted one really bad.)

So I made some.

I packed up a bag with a glue gun, some notions, fiberfill stuffing and the plastic animals and tossed it in with my quilting stuff. Thursday night at the retreat is a little more low-key (though let me tell you, those sewing machines get up and running QUICK.)

I plugged in my glue gun and got to work. First I made a small pincushion and stuffed it really firmly with the fiberfill. I cut two circles and sewed them together and then used Perle cotton to embellish it.

I used my trusty glue gun to glue the edging on a piece of leather and stitched the pincushion (along with a couple of dots of hot glue) to it. 

Next I made a headdress for the Giraffe. (Like you do.) I used some ribbon roses, rhinestones and trim. (Thankfully my mom always travels with a small bag of embellishments that are appropriate for adorning plastic animals.)

 
He looks pretty happy about it. Everything's better with a fancy headdress. Then I glued the pincushion to him and added a rolled up piece of felt for needles and stuff, added a few more adornments and hung a thimble on him for good measure.

I liked him so much, I made an elephant.

I still have a few more animals in the queue. Maybe they'll get done at the next retreat.

I did do some quilting as well. I got out my Civil War reproduction fabrics and found some inspiration from this tutorial. I perfected half-square triangles for sure!

I made some pretty good headway.

That's Lincoln in the center block, NOT Daniel Day Lewis, but it kinda looks like him.

Looking forward to adding the background and borders and adding it to my handmade quilt collection.