Lucky Me!

Last night I spent a very enjoyable evening teaching fusing at A Work of Heart in San Jose, CA. Let me tell you, San Jose has a GEM in that wonderful space. A total art studio with lots of lovely classes. Paper, sewing machines, jewelry... it's a crafter's paradise. They rent studio time by the hour or you can subscribe for the year for access to all of their great supplies. More about that, here.

Let me tell you, their students are AWESOME! Looky what we made...

Great work Ladies!

I also picked up a few goodies. That darn shop is so distracting...I just had to grab a few things.

I  can't wait to play with my new paper doll stamps!

I'll be back at A Work Of Heart on July 10th to teach Viking Knit. Check out the class here. Have a great weekend, everybody!

P.S. Another Crystal Clay idea...

Two more notes on my affair with Crystal Clay...

I used the clay on a Jess Imports key pendant. I just shaped the clay on the center portion of the key and popped in the crystals. I added the pearl and flower embellishment at the bottom- held in place with a headpin poked through the hole and into the clay.

After it cured, I embellished it with wire. I added the Heart Lock charm and a couple of wire wrapped pearls to the silk saari ribbon.

 And I have another new technique to try. I got a sweet comment from Erin the talent behind the blog "Treasures Found." She she let me know that she used fine glitter with her clay designs and the results are charming! Thanks for sharing Erin, I can't wait to try it out. You can read her post and see the results, here.

I Love You, Crystal Clay!

I am having an affair.

My torch doesn't know. Neither does my jeweler's saw, my chasing hammer or my bench block. I think that my pliers suspect something as they are looking askance and not really speaking to me.

Who is this home wrecker, you might ask? It's that saucy minx, Crystal Clay.

The clay and I have been flirting for some time. I first heard of it from Debra Saucier at BeadFest Philly a couple of years ago. I was intrigued. She gave me a little kit to try out, but I let it languish in my sample box.

Fast forward to this past weekend. I taught a class at Baubles and Beads in Berkeley, CA and they had a display of Crystal Clay and some components. I couldn't help it. I grabbed some clay and crystals to add to my ever-growing pile of stuff that I had to have. (Great online shopping at Baubles, if you are not local.)

This morning I couldn't help it... I jumped in...

I watched Debra's video on how to work with the clay and then got to work.

Such pretty crystals!

I set the pieces into the clay with the wax-tipped toothpick that came with the clay. I added a vintage metal flower component. It is held in place with a crystal rivet that pokes down into the clay. Then I wanted to add pearls, so I string each on a headpin, cut the excess wire away and poked each one into the clay. The headpin will help to hold them in place after the clay cures.

I also secured the ring into a little cup full of rice so I could easily work on it.

Here are the final rings...

I can't wait for them to cure so I can show them off on my fingers! Crystal clay, I don't think I can quit you. I can't wait to introduce you to my metalwork...I know we can make this relationship work.

Nice Shout Outs!

Back from my quick trip to Cleveland where I filmed a bunch 'o stuff for the PBS series, Beads, Baubles and Jewels... more on that later. For now, I wanted to share two quick shout outs on from two very crafty ladies...

First up, Becky Nunn. She is the owner and designer behind the wonderful company Nunn Design. (Find Becky's components and FREE classes on Beaducation.com)

I was so happy to have Becky take my classes at the Bead & Button show. She really honed her soldering skills and created really nice pieces. She wrote a class wrap-up on her blog... and shares a FREE SHIPPING code if you preorder my book through my Etsy site. Click on over to read all about it and grab the code.

Thanks Becky!

Next I met a lovely lady, Suki of Bird's Eye View Studios. She was also in Cleveland, taping an episode of BB&J. She manages a specialty paper store, Collage, in Portland OR, teaches classes and has an Etsy site...an all around super talent.

I taught an impromptu soldering class one night after taping and she blogs all about it here.

Suki's rings. Photo from her blog. Great job, Suki!

So fun to have the joy of teaching two such talented ladies! Thanks for sharing your stories.

Leavin' on a Jet Plane!

Oh, gang...
So sorry for the radio silence but between waiting for the galley proofs for my book and prepping for class on Saturday (at Bead Inspirations) and Sunday (at Baubles and Beads)...(Still room in both, BTW. If you are free consider signing up...it's gonna be FUN!) I have been so busy, I just can't take a breath (or type a post!)

Between this weekend and now however, I gotta pack more stuff in. I am winging my way to Cleveland to be a star, a big, big star! Yep. I am going to film 4 (FOUR) episodes of the terrific TV show Beads, Baubles and Jewels.

I am doing  three of projects from THE BOOK, and my delicious Rolled & Wrapped Bead. (This is also the class I am teaching at Bead Inspirations on Saturday.)

They are slated to air at the end of the year, so don't fret...I'll be blogging about it endlessly so you can catch the episodes. (Don't get BB&J in your area? No worries, you can watch current episodes ONLINE.)

Okay. Now off to pack. Where did I put my jeweler's saw?

What a Whirlwind!

Oh, gang... this past week was so much fun. Bead & Button 2012 is just a memory, but now it's time to get back to work. (Like last weekend wasn't work!)

I wanted to give you a sneak peek of a project that I have to share with you later this week.

But first on to unpacking! I have got A LOT of tools to put away.