Jamie Hogsett

Is it really close to 100 degrees in Tucson?

2009-09-09T09:24:00.002-06:00

I'm heading out of town today to work The Fall Best Bead Show in Tucson. I always look at the weather report for the city I'm about to travel to and it's going to be 98, 99, and 100 degrees every day I'm in Tucson. That's insanity! Colorado has been blessed with an amazingly mellow summer - we've only had a few days of temperatures in the 90s. I hope I don't melt in the hot Tucson sun...

If you're in the area, come by the Best Bead Show. It's at the Kino Center this year - the same location as the February show - and the Soft Flex booth is in the back, along the wall, as always. I'll be doing demos in the booth and free make-it-take-its in an adjacent booth.

I look forward to seeing my bead friends and am keeping my fingers crossed that we'll make it to Cafe Poca Cosa for an amazing meal. Yum!

A package from Andrew! Also, Friday Communique.

2009-09-04T14:49:00.004-06:00

Earlier this year, I was one of the first to sign up for Andrew's charm club. I received my charms the other day and was blown away by the wonderful variety of the charms and beads, and by just how much I adore the pieces. Thank you Andrew!

As if the charms and beads weren't cool enough, the package also included this incredible painting, which I absolutely LOVE. I can't decide where to hang it, so I keep taking it from room to room in my place. The colors in the painting are perfect for any room in my house, so now I just need to find the perfect place. Andrew is an amazing artist and friend, and if he decides to do his Charm Club again you better believe I'll sign up.

Lorelei (a very inspiring jewelry designer) signed up for the Charm Club as well. See her painting and charms here. And check out what some of my crew were up to this week too:

Sara Hardin (aka SoftFlexGirl) shared some designs from the Flex Your Creativity Beading Contest.

Kristen Fagan created new free art and computer wallpaper designs for September.

Enjoy the long holiday weekend. I'll be hanging out by the grill and the pool! xoxo

Guest blogging and a lecture...

2009-09-01T15:32:00.004-06:00

Beginning today and continuing every Tuesday, I'm guest blogging for SoftFlexGirl. Check it out here: Victorian Lei in Beadwork Magazine. Actually, several of my co-workers are going to take turns guest blogging for Sara on occasion. Brian Clark, the Soft Flex Company Photographer talked about the BeadFest show in Philadephia yesterday, so be sure to check him out too.

Last night I had the privilege of joining my friend Katie for a lecture at Colorado State University (my alma mater and Katie's current employer). The featured speaker was Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea and co-founder of Central Asia Institute. I haven't read his book yet, but after last night, you better believe I'm going to. Greg's story is amazing. He's definitely inspired me.

I am a fly fishing master...

2009-08-31T16:07:00.003-06:00

Well, not really, but it was fun. My dad took me fly fishing for the very first time yesterday. We drove a couple hours up into the mountains and enjoyed a calm, quiet, beautiful day. We didn't catch any fish, or even get a nibble for that matter (Dad said it was just too cold for them), but we enjoyed some road sodas and had a great time. It turns out I can cause my fishing line to knot up just as easily as I can beading thread. Sigh. All the same, I'm a definite fan of fly fishing and I hope Dad and I can go again soon.

Playing with Wire

2009-08-26T15:21:00.002-06:00

It wasn't my intention for so many weeks to go by since the last time I blogged. Really, it wasn't. I went to CHA in Orlando and things have just been crazy since then. Starting this week though, I'm going to do my best to get back on track.

One of the projects that kept me busy over the last few weeks is pictured above. I received an assignment to make twenty necklaces based on the design for the Tranquility Necklace in the Free Projects section on the Soft Flex website. This necklace is always super popular at bead shows and it's a fun design to make, so this assignment was exactly the kind of thing that I like. I used a random assortment of Czech pressed-glass beads and Trios sets in four color combinations: Mystical, Renewal, Serenity, and Tranquility. So pretty.

I encourage you to check out the free project instructions for this design and make your very own. Or, make one for a new teacher when your little one(s) head back to school. At CHA, an elementary school teacher stopped by the booth and picked this necklace up, saying her students would love it if she wore something like this. It doesn't have a clasp and can be made in any length as the wire is flexible enough to stretch over your head. It's a great design for just about anyone and can have entirely different looks based on the colors of wire and the types of beads used. Check it out and have fun beading!

Flex Your Creativity Beading Contest

2009-08-25T17:08:00.002-06:00

Only a few more days to enter the Soft Flex Company Flex Your Creativity Beading Contest. Use any of our Trios sets to make a design and send us a picture and you're entered to win. Well, there are a few more rules than that, but it is quite simple (and fun!) to enter. Learn more here. We can't wait to see what you make!

One more month!

2009-07-20T09:40:00.002-06:00

I don't know about you, but I'm getting pretty excited about the return of Project Runway! It'll be interesting to see how the show has changed and improved since it's move to Lifetime. I can't wait!

Friday Communique

2009-07-17T09:43:00.003-06:00

Jane Austen wrote:

To sit in the shade on a fine day and look upon verdure is the
most perfect refreshment.

Oh, boy, was she right. We've had so much rain this summer in Colorado that everything is gorgeous and green and lush - it's wonderful. So, I plan to spend a good portion of this weekend, as I have the past few weekends, on a deck in a gorgeous tree-filled yard with these two, Sophie and Cognac. They're as sweet as can be and don't mind at all if we supplement nature's refreshment with one that is brewed here in Fort Fun.

Check out what some of my crew were up to this week:

Sara Hardin (AKA SoftFlexGirl) is busy tweeting! Tweet-a-lot of Trios to win!

Kristen Fagan designed free gift tags for you to print and pretty up your handmade gifts with. Enjoy!

Have a lovely weekend! xoxo

Playing with Wire

2009-07-15T11:27:00.002-06:00

Remember these beads? Well, they've been sitting on my "new bead shelf" since they arrived, patiently waiting for inspiration to strike so that I can make something grand. Well, it just so happens that I had all of my spools of colored Soft Flex wire sitting near them and I was struck. Look at how amazingly well these colors match up with the beads? Citrine, red jasper, purple amethyst, peridot, and garnet, I heart you. Now, off to create!

Playing with Wire

2009-07-08T14:12:00.002-06:00

When I'm at a bead show demoing in the booth, I often have a few minutes here and there of free time. It's time when I can take some wire and beads and just create - I love that time. At Bead and Button I had some gorgeous bronze pearls and a spool of Soft Flex Wire in peridot, so decided to play around with them. All but a few of the pearls fit well onto the .019 diameter wire and I tried my luck with the Knitting Spool. It would have taken one more strand of pearls to knit a length of wire long enough for a complete bracelet, but I didn't know that when I started knitting, so I ended up with a knitted cord just short of bracelet length.

After playing around with it for a few weeks, I finally made a finished piece using the knitted section as a focal point. It's hard to tell from the picture, but the Lucite beads that comprise the chain are a marbled blend of the bronze of the pearls and the green of the beading wire, and I love how it turned out. I'd like to oxidize the metal a little bit and then I think I'll like this new piece even more.

Korto's Fabulous Jewelry

2009-07-07T15:36:00.003-06:00

Remember Korto Momolu from Project Runway? Remember the amazing jewelry she created for her runway show? Well, according to Tom and Lorenzo (I love these guys!), Korto has a brand new line of jewelry available for sale. Her pieces are bright and bold and extremely inspiring. Check out TLo's post about it here and then go Korto's site to shop. Way to go Korto - you look amazing and so does your jewelry!

"Inconceivable!"

2009-07-02T14:53:00.002-06:00

Laura and I went up to Red Rocks the other night - isn't is gorgeous?! We went to attend the Flim on the Rocks showing of The Princess Bride. Film on the Rocks is an awesome summer program put on by the Denver Film Society. It was the perfect night for Red Rocks, warm with a slight breeze and no rain.

The Princess Bride is a great movie and it's even more fun with an audience of 8000 people who cheer the good guys and boo the bad guys. Plus, there's beer, which makes it even better...

Playing with Wire

2009-07-01T12:39:00.001-06:00

Well, to be exact, Kitting with Wire. This, my friends, is about 40 feet of Champagne Soft Flex Extreme Wire cut into 2 inch pieces. It's about one-fifth of all the wire I'll be cutting, counting, and bagging into one hundred class kits. When I make it through all six 50 foot spools, I'll have a total of 1800 two inch pieces of wire. Then I'll divide up and bag 600 jump rings and attach 200 ear wires to jump rings. Whew. So, if you're going to CHA at the end of the month and plan to attend the Champagne Dreams Earrings class, this kit is for you! Now, back to measuring and cutting...

Julie!

2009-06-25T15:41:00.003-06:00

My lovely cousin Julie at yesterday's lunch to see her and celebrate her 24th birthday!

Julie is my only female first cousin on my mom's side of the family. She's the youngest of the six of us and the only one who doesn't live in Colorado. We only get to see each other a few times a year and I miss this girl!

Julie's here this week to be maid of honor in a wedding. She has a lot of duties while she's here and not a lot of free time. Since I won't see her again until December, you better believe I took a long break yesterday to drive down to Longmont and have lunch with her and most of the rest of the family. Grandma even brought a tasty carrot cake from Schmidt's. It was lovely to be able to spend an afternoon with my family and to catch up with Julie for awhile.

Friday Communique

2009-06-19T14:45:00.004-06:00

Finally, pictures of the beads and goodies that I was lucky enough to bring home from Bead and Button:

These incredible earrings from Stephanie Sersich were my one major purchase at the show.
I heart them.

I've been waiting for a heart from Zoa Art for a long time and instead of one
was treated to two. They're the perfect shade of orange.

Super cool "Power J" ring from my girls at Fusion Beads
and a gorgeous new bead from Jones Art Glass.

Amazing Steampunk components from Earthenwood Studios.
It's impossible to pick a favorite among them...

"Pearls of Wisdon" from Diane Hawkey. Love and magic are my current favorites.

Even more treasures from Diane Hawkey.

A Hedgie and other treats from Heather Powers. Adorable!

A huge THANK YOU to Tony and Lisa, Katie, Lindsay, Rashan, Melanie, Diane, and Heather for coming by the booth to see me and treat me to such lovely goods! You're all as sweet as can be and I'm so glad I was able to see you for at least a little bit. And thank you to Steph's friend Denise for bringing by delicious chocolaty treats and the bird pendant.

All of these great new beads are causing my head to fill up with new ideas of what to make with them. I can hardly wait!

While I fondle these beads for the billionth time, check out what some of my crew were up to this week:

Sara Hardin (AKA SoftFlexGirl) posted a video about knitting Soft Flex beading wire on a knitting spool.

Kristen Fagan created free wallpaper, bookmarks, recipe cards and gift tags for June.

Have a lovely weekend! xoxo

Playing with Wire

2009-06-17T15:19:00.003-06:00

The Summer issue of Stringing is out. It's bright and sunny with lots of fun projects. I'm proud to say I have two necklaces in the issue:

High Tide is a sparkly piece featuring a focal piece and clasp from my friends at Green Girl Studios. It's difficult to tell in the magazine, but I braided two strands of Soft Flex Extreme Silver wire around the center portion of the necklace. It makes me think of seaweed.

Coralline was made on request from Danielle Fox, editor of Stringing. The polka-dotted lampworked glass beads caught her eye when I used them in the Come to My Party necklace in Create Jewelry: Glass, so she asked that I used them in a necklace. I had them with me at a bead show and asked Mike Sherman to pick out gemstones to go with them. Obviously, I loved his choices!

Friday Communique

2009-06-12T17:18:00.002-06:00

The weather in Colorado is crazy as ever, which means I still haven't managed to get decent photos of the goodies I brought home from Bead and Button. However, I did get this shot:

My dear friend Andrew Thornton posted about a set of postcards he received awhile back and I commented that I thought this was the coolest of the bunch. Sweet Andrew remembered that and gave this to me in Milwaukee. I have a few fabulous postcards in my collection now due to Andrew's generosity and they're some of my favorites. Thank you Andrew - you're the best!

Andrew is one of the people that I didn't get to spend much time with at B&B. I spoke to him and his sister Cynthia (who just tagged me - I'll post those questions and answers next week) for just a few minutes prior to the preview night of the show. Even though we were in the same building for the rest of the weekend, I only saw Andrew again once and never had the chance to chat any more with him. I'm still sad that we didn't get to spend time together. The good thing is, there is always another bead show around the corner, so I hope Andrew and I can hang out very soon!

Check out what some of my crew have going on:

Sara Hardin (AKA SoftFlexGirl) talks about choosing the correct diameter of beading wire.

Kristen Fagan has got a lot of inquiries from friends and family about her Jamaican bus ride so, here is her review.

Have a lovely weekend! xoxo

Downtime at Bead and Button

2009-06-10T14:31:00.003-06:00

Bead and Button was a great time this year! Here are some of the fun people I had the pleasure of hanging out with in Milwaukee when I wasn't in the Soft Flex booth at the show. Pictures of the goods that came home with me will come later (if the sun finally comes out enough to get decent pictures...)!

JoAnn and Paula (fellow Soft Flexers) at the Safe House:
Lindsay (Fusion Beads) and Barb Switzer at Water Buffalo:
Katie (Fusion Beads) and I at Water Buffalo:
Lewis Wilson and his Cousin Paula at the Miller Time Pub (where we indulged in cheese curds!):
Sara and Christopher (who is now the official "new kid" on the Soft Flex team. As the previous new kid, I'm happy to hand him the title!):
Sara and I at the Miller Time Pub:
Bead and Button is a great opportunity to catch up with some of the people that I only see a couple times a year. It was great to see so many of my beady friends and I wish I had pictures of all of them. Actually, due to the huge size of the show, there were lots of friends I never even got to see, so I'm thrilled that I got to spend a little bit of time with the people I did manage to run into. Plus I was blessed to meet a lot of new beady friends too!

Summer camp!

2009-06-02T10:35:00.003-06:00

In just a few short hours, I'll be on a plane headed to Milwaukee for the Bead & Button Show! Hooray! I'm excited to see all my friends and drool over all the beads. I'm not sure what the free wifi situation is, but I'll do my very best to keep you all updated during the week. If you're going to B & B, please come and see me at the Soft Flex Company booth. I'll be at the demo table, demoing away! I look forward to seeing you all in Wisconsin!

Jewel Box

2009-05-28T12:12:00.003-06:00

While poking through boxes of my stuff in Mom's basement last weekend, I came across a hat box full of beaded jewelry. Ridiculous, right? This is no way to treat all these fabulous beads.

Most of these pieces are from the very first few issues of Stringing magazine and from Stringing Style. Back then, it was mostly just Jean, Dustin, Danielle and I designing for the magazine because we didn't have a budget to pay anyone else. This meant making dozens and dozens of new pieces. We would spend Fridays making jewelry, often all congregating at one of our houses and watching movies as we created. Those were fun days!

So, back to the box o'beads. There are many forgotten treasures in here, along with pieces that never made it to print for a reason. Some need to be reworked. Some are great designs that I'd like to make again with different components. There are a few ideas brewing in my head about what to do with all these beads. As usual, with beads the possibilites are endless and the inspiration is beginning to overflow...

Playing with Wire

2009-05-27T17:24:00.000-06:00

Elegant Dangles are a new pair of earrings I made with my mom in mind. I always think of my mom when using the Elegant or Sophisticated Trios wire sets, mostly because she almost always wears some form of red or black, but also because she is elegant and sophisticated!

Find instructions for these earrings in the School of Design on the Soft Flex Company site. Or, to be more precise, right here. If red and black aren't your colors, try making these earrings using one of the other Trios sets, there are ten in all. Or, mix and match any three colors of Soft Flex wire. I'm designing a pair using citrine, red jasper, and fluorite wires and some little turquoise rondelles that I've been hoarding for awhile now.

Isn't it lovely just how much a new pair of earrings can perk things up?! These are especially quick and easy to make and I'm going to feel like a rock star when I'm sporting my new pair. Yaay!

Friday Communique

2009-05-22T13:48:00.004-06:00

The pool is open! The pool is open! The pool is OPEN! Guess where I'll be this weekend?!

Well, considering it's supposed to rain for the next few days, I'll probably be working on Stringing tech edits instead, but the pool is where I hope to be...

Check out what some of my crew were up to this week:

Sara Hardin (AKA SoftFlexGirl) wants to spread the word about the Soft Flex "Flex your Creativity" Beading Contest!

Kristen Fagan created two adorable scrapbook pages for her sisters bridal party album.

Have a lovely weekend! xoxo

A lovely compliment.

2009-05-21T15:01:00.002-06:00

Don't you love it when there is a special surprise in your mail box? A snail mail surprise will always be my favorite kind, but every now and again I get an email surprise that's just as sweet. Earlier this week I was treated to this:

Isn't it gorgeous? Susan Ivey made her own version of my Brass Garland necklace (one of my DOY projects) from the April/May issue of Beadwork and I just love her color choices! The earrings are pretty great too. I might have to make some of my very own...

If you want to see more of Susan's work, check out her etsy site. Thank you for sharing your work with me Susan!

Playing with Wire ... for a New Book!

2009-05-20T12:55:00.003-06:00

At the end of 2008, my friend Jean Campbell asked me to make a project for her new book, Steampunk Style Jewelry and I was more than happy to oblige. I made a bracelet using Artistic Wire and Vintaj Natural Brass findings and it's a piece that I just love. I'm not going to show it just yet though, sorry. Jean says the book will be out around January of 2010! Check out Jean's blog for more information about the book, including a list of my awesome fellow designers, and find more information about the book here.

Thank you for inviting me to be a part of your book Jean!

I heart the Huxtables.

2009-05-19T13:01:00.001-06:00

Those who know me exceptionally well know that I love The Cosby Show. Always have, always will. I wanted to be a part of that family so badly in the 80s! On the Today show this morning, there was something of a cast reunion as seven members of the Huxtable family met to discuss the 25th anniversary of the show. Seriously? It's been 25 years?? Wow.

As if seeing Cliff, Clair, Grandpa Huxtable, Theo, Rudy, Olivia, and Elvin wasn't treat enough, this video came along and made my day. Long live the Huxtables!

Indecision

An Indecision Exclusive!

Barack Obama Is Cliff Huxtable

indecisionforever.com

Funny Political Video

Political Games

Joe Biden Jokes

Friday Communique

2009-05-15T15:17:00.003-06:00

Oh, man. I'm always happy when Friday comes along and this week is no exception. Now that I'm finally feeling better and almost walking normally again, I'm looking forward to tonight's movie night (I even get to pick the flick!), having dinner at my dad's tomorrow night, seeing Mom and Grandma to make up for my absence on Mother's Day and going to the high school graduation party for one of my cousin's on Sunday. It's going to be a great weekend!

Check out what some of my crew were up to this week:

Sara Hardin (AKA SoftFlexGirl) wants you to take a look some sparkly bridesmaids' necklaces by Jennifer Worick.

Kristen Fagan gave a plain wooden lazy Susan a punch of personality!

And finally, becasue it's always good to end the work week on a high note, I leave you with the super-hot Jonathan from Make Me A Supermodel. I don't know who was eliminated this week, as the episode is waiting patiently on my DVR, but I'm willing to bet it wasn't Jonathan. He's just too gorgeous. What is it about cowboys?! Sigh...

Have a lovely weekend! xoxo

Explosion of Hawaiian Blossoms for Grandma

2009-05-14T15:40:00.002-06:00

The majority of my family lives only about 45 minutes from me, a fact that I'll forever be grateful for. It's pretty rare for me to miss a family gathering, so I was really disappointed when allergies-turned-cold kept me from the Mother's Day party last weekend. Luckily, I rallied enough to finish and deliver Grandma's present - yaay.

My Grandma is adorable. There's really no other word for her. She's smart and sassy and a total flirt (a trait that she successfully passed on to me, or so I've been told!). She also has an exceptionally green thumb. She has an amazing sun room full of plants and flowers and an entire windowsill full of orchids in her kitchen.

When we were in Hawaii, I tagged along with Grandma, Grandpa, Mom and Auntie Karen to a gorgeous botanical garden on Maui. As I ran around doing my best to avoid the mosquitoes, I managed to snap quite a few close-up shots of orchids and other tropical flowers. My plan was to make a photo album for Grandma for Mother's Day.

The pictures all turned out great and as I was prepping my materials for the album, I saw a blurb on the local news about an "Explosion Box." It looked fun and easy to do and after a quick Google search for instructions, I got started. The box consists of three layers of cardstock, paper and pictures. Each piece is cut to a specific size and when all four sides are folded up and the lid is placed on, it looks just like a little square box. The "explosion" occurs when the lid is removed and the sides fall open.

I'm sad that I didn't get to see Grandma's reaction, but this picture tells me that she loved it. Isn't she cute?!

Playing with Wire

2009-05-13T16:05:00.003-06:00

These Golden Rings earrings are just one of the many free projects available on the Soft Flex Company website. One of my favorite parts of the job is making projects for our School of Design (writing the instructions, not so much...). These earrings are great because they were made of short little scraps of Extreme 24kt Gold beading wire that I had left over from another project. In the past, I've always just thrown these little scraps away, but now that I'm doing my part to help the environment AND save money, my scrap pieces are definitely coming in handy.

This earring design has proven to be so popular - at bead shows and when I've worn them around town - that I've been experimenting with other colors of wire and findings. Because there are three levels of rings on each earring, it only made sense to try making them with some of the Trios sets of wire. In addition to the gold, I've made them using Tranquility, Elegance, and Renewal. When I get some free time, I plan to make some of my very own using Vitality and Serenity (currently my favorite color combinations).

Are you going to attend the Craft & Hobby Association Summer Show in Orlando this July? If so, Sara and I are going to teach a version of these earrings using Extreme Champagne wire and sterling silver findings. If you're a member, we hope you'll sign up and join us!

Friday Communique

2009-05-08T15:19:00.000-06:00

Mom, Dean, and I at Casino Night on the cruise.

My Mom's birthday is always within a week of Mother's Day. We usually celebrate the two together, however this year Dean and I were able to see her on her birthday and we'll be with her again Sunday. One of the things I'm most grateful for is my relationship with my mom. We've always been close and for that I'm extremely fortunate.

My mom is one of the most thoughtful people in the world. She's always putting the needs of others before her own and always does it in the most stylish way possible. She has a great laugh, a huge heart, and is never without her signature red lipstick and nail polish. Mom makes the best teriyaki chicken and rainbow jello in the world and always gives me cards that make me cry.

Mom, thank you for being you and for always encouraging me to be me. I love you! Happy Mother's Day!

Check out what some of my crew were up to this week:

Sara Hardin (AKA SoftFlexGirl) wants you to check out the Soft Flex May Spotlight on...Beading Article, Free Project Idea, Book Review, Bead Store & Designer Features.

Kristen Fagan is passing along the free Etsy success e-book featuring tips on marketing, packaging, customer service and more for all you Etsy sellers!

Happy Mother's Day to all the fabulous moms out there! Have a lovely weekend! xoxo

A klutz's perfect Hawaiian day...

2009-05-05T12:39:00.003-06:00

The human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art.
-Leonardo da Vinci

Earth Day (April 22nd) was both my favorite day of the cruise and the worst day of my vacation. Early that morning, the ship docked at Kona on the big island. It was a beautiful sunny day and as we rode on the tender from the ship to shore, the view was just like the Hawaii of my dreams. We rented eleven scooters and rode all around the city looking for a good snorkeling spot on the beach. I love, love, loved the scooters and kind of wish I had one of my very own...

As we began snokeling I had some trouble getting my mask on and while walking into the water stepped on something really sharp and poking. I brushed it off, went back to swimming, and was treated to the sight of some amazing fish. My foot was stinging pretty badly, so when I got out of the water and noticed all the little black dots on the bottom of my right foot, my mom suggested I go show the lifeguard. She said they were sea urchin spines and that there wasn't much to do about getting them out as they fall out on their own.

Then she mention that she would like to take a look at my other foot. I looked down to see a huge bloody gash in my left heel. I have no idea how it happened, because I didn't feel a thing, but it did not look good. We got back on the boat and went to the infirmary to have it looked at. The nurse said highly recommended stitches and I started to freak out a bit. I am not good around blood or medical talk (I fainted at the hospital while visiting my brother in pre-op). The nurse gave us an hour to decide and my mom and I headed up to our room. I was afraid of the needle more than anything else, but I knew the stitches were pretty inevitable, so I took two generous shots of Jack Daniels and was a tough kid as the doctor put three gnarly stitches in my foot.

Thanks to some fabulous painkillers from a generous family member, I managed to enjoy the rest of the trip, even as I walked around on the balls of my feet to avoid hitting the spines and stitches. I was able to walk on my right foot again when we got home, but I'm still nursing the left foot - my calf is getting huge! The stitches were taken out this morning and replaced with five little strips that are squeezing the two sides of the gash together. The stitches weren't as tight or as plentiful as my doctor would have liked, but it's healing a bit and hopefully I'll be able to walk normally again soon.

I can't wait to get a pedicure!

I heart Hawaii.

2009-04-29T12:49:00.003-06:00

NCL's Pride of America was my home last week. It was a lovely ship that carried me to some of my favorite new places. We only had a few days of sunshine, but the entire week was heaven.

Now I'm back. I'm having some difficultly adjusting. I miss the ocean. I miss my family. And, among other things, I miss the 24-hour Diner on the ship with its free jukebox and its delicious cheeseburgers and brownie sundaes...

Pictures and stories coming soon, after I get through all the email, make my next DOY piece, and finish up my Swarovski submissions for Tucson. Hope you're all doing well!

A Soft Flex Company Contest!!

2009-04-16T15:59:00.003-06:00

One more thing before I go: Soft Flex is having a contest and there are some amazing prizes to be won! I really hope that you enter because I want to see what people are making with the Trios wire sets. For information about the contest, check out Sara's post.

Leaving on a jet plane...

2009-04-16T14:21:00.004-06:00

Every couple of years, my very sweet grandparents take all of the family on a big vacation. The above picture was taken two years ago when we cruised from Montreal to Boston. I've taken trips with my entire family for as long as I can remember and I'm so grateful for the opportunities to spend time with them all. We all get along amazingly well - luckily. Well, guess what?! Tomorrow is day one of another family trip.

As I sit here working and listening to the rhythm of the rain and hail, I can help but think about where I'll be in twenty-four short hours: Hawaii! You have no idea how excited I am. This will be my very first trip to Hawaii and I can't wait to feel the sun on my skin! I'll be back in blogland the 27th. Until then, be well and happy beading!

Drum roll please!

2009-04-15T12:05:00.002-06:00

Okay, this is it. There were 98 entries and the winner is:

Congratulations Pam! Look for an email from me soon.

Pam was one of the handful of you who left me a comment nearly every day of the giveaway. I enjoyed the beading projects you shared with me, the Confucius quotations you left, and all of your other comments. Thank you all for playing!

Busy, busy, busy...

2009-04-14T11:29:00.000-06:00

My to-do list between now and Thursday evening:

Make samples of possible Make-It-Take-It projects for the Soft Flex Company Glass Art & Bead Festivals in Sonoma, CA and New York, NY
Make and submit designs to Stringing magazine
Make my next DOY project for Beadwork magazine
Make and submit designs for Swarovski in the hopes of teaching for them in Tucson next spring
Get my hair colored and cut
Pick up my taxes and write checks to the Feds and to two states (Darn you IRS, I paid you quarterly in addition to you taking money from my paychecks, and I STILL owe you lots of money that I don't have?! You can suck it!)
Book a zip-lining tour in Maui for my brother, momma, cousins, and me
Pack for my family vacay and take Ginger to "jail"

And the list item you might actually be interested in:

Draw the winning name for the Glass book and Vitality Trios wire set giveaway!!

That's right my friends, tomorrow is the big day! While I'm writing checks and cursing the Feds, one lucky person will win a fun little prize. So, keep those comments rolling in - you have until noon (mountain time) tomorrow to enter. GOOD LUCK!

Friday Communique

2009-04-10T11:57:00.006-06:00

Mary sent me the sweetest email a couple of weeks ago. She saw my Rhumba bracelet (above) excerpted in the April/May issue of Beadwork (The bracelet is a project from my new Glass book and it was awesome of my friends to put it in the magazine too!) and shared with me her very own version (below):

Isn't is great?! I love the look of the little peyote ruffles en masse. Nice work Mary and thank you so much for sharing your bracelet with me!

I'm off to start my weekend now with a massage from Christine (best massage therapist EVER!) before a night in Old Town with Rebecca - yaay! While I go get some much needed pampering, check out what some of my crew were up to this week:

Sara Hardin (AKA SoftFlexGirl) wants you to check out the Soft Flex Company Spotlight on...articles, bead store & designer features as well as book reviews.

Kristen Fagan designed a 5th birthday celebration with a Nintendo Mario Kart theme!

Have a lovely weekend! xoxo

Glass Craft & Bead Expo

2009-04-09T17:20:00.000-06:00

Though I managed to play quite a bit while there, I was actually in Las Vegas for work. Soft Flex Company had a rather large booth at the Glass Craft & Bead Expo inside the South Point Hotel and Casino.

Here's part of the Soft Flex team just as we were finishing with set-up (Scott, KimE, and Shelley were still working):

JoAnn, Brian, Thomas, Paula, Jenny

And a shot of the gemstones that filled part of the booth:

The show was host to the first ever International Hot Glass Invitational. I didn't make it to either night of competition (due to a lack of personal funds and a need to catch up on sleep...), but I was able to see all of the creations because they were set up right next to our booth - yaay!

Team Northstar's winning piece. So cool!

Team Pontilmotion's creation and my personal favorite. Nice work Devin, Filip, and Paul!

Watch the post show webstream and see all of the pieces (including the nine foot tall rocking chair!) here. There are some amazing pieces that my camera just didn't do justice to.

As always, it was great to see my beady friends at the show, make new friends, and meet all the nice people who stopped by my little demo table. And even though I'm still trying to catch up on sleep, it must be said that this was one of the funnest shows ever!

And now, time to take a nap...

Playing with Wire

2009-04-08T15:04:00.002-06:00

This spring-like necklace was made on the WigJig last week. It's a special project for Easter! I chose bright colors, the likes of which will be seen overflowing from all sorts of Easter baskets this weekend.

The three wire designs used in the necklace were adapted from Wonderful, Wearable Wire, a great book available from Soft Flex Company. If you've ever thought about getting a WigJig, you should definitely get this book to go along with it. The book has tons of tips and techniques that will turn even the most inept wire-worker (uh, that would be me) into a full-fledged WigJig-er!

Anyway, look for this free project in our Design School in the next few days - I'll let you know when it's posted. Even if you don't start making it until Saturday night, it's so quick and easy that you'll definitely have something special to wear (or give) this Easter Sunday.

This is the fifth in a series of free holiday projects I'm making this year. The other four are in the Design School as well, along with dozens of other free project designs - check them out! If you find something that inspires you and end up making one of your very own, please share a picture of your work with me and I'll pass it along to my fellow Soft-Flexers. We want to see what you create!

Las Vegas, baby!

2009-04-08T09:07:00.003-06:00

My special pedicure (you can't really see it here, but they're bright red and super glittery - perfect for Sin City) and I are back from Las Vegas! I had the best of intentions of blogging while there, but we didn't have free internet, so it didn't happen. I'll blog about the trip later after I get settled and back into the work groove. For now, I just wanted to thank you all for your comments! I'll be busy today entering all the names and reading through all the comments. Keep them coming please - one week until I draw the winning name. Good luck!

Give it away, give it away, give it away now.

2009-03-30T15:45:00.003-06:00

Now that the Glass book is out, it feels like a great time for another giveaway, don't you think?! Along with a signed copy of Create Jewelry: Glass, the lucky winner will receive a package of Soft Flex Company's Trios wire in Vitality - hooray!

To enter to win, simply leave a comment on any and/or all of my blog posts between now and April 14th. Each comment counts as one entry and you can comment once a day. For every comment you leave, I'll place your name in "the hat." On April 15th, I'll choose one name and announce the winner.

Good luck and please have fun and be creative with your comments!

Friday Communique

2009-03-27T15:11:00.003-06:00

Really, Mother Nature? A blizzard?!

I mean, I know I've had some crazy-awful spring fever, but is this really necessary? More than a foot of snow in less than twelve hours?

Luckily, I have these bright colors of wire to use in a new project design. They scream spring!

Ahh, that's better. The snow AND the beautiful blue sky - my favorite combination.

Now, can we just do something about the fact that it's twenty-eight degrees (F) outside? Fifty degrees tomorrow, you say? Excellent!!

While I wait for it to warm up, check out what some of my crew are up to (it's almost seventy degrees where they live - lucky ladies):

Sara Hardin (AKA SoftFlexGirl) thanks Jean Yates for reviewing the new Soft Flex Extreme Wire.

Kristen Fagan WILL bring your vision to life and create a custom wedding invitation package you are sure to treasure!

Have a lovely weekend. xoxo

PS - Come back for Monday's post, where I'll announce a new giveaway!

I heart New Belgium!

2009-03-26T16:05:00.005-06:00

One of the many things I love about living here is Fort Fun is home to New Belgium Brewery, home of Fat Tire, Sunshine Wheat (my personal favorite), and many other yummy brews. Last night I had the great opportunity to attend the New Belgium Beer Dinner at Austin's. Oh, it was delicous!

The four course meal was comprised of five dishes made and served with different New Belgium brews. The appetizer was Blue Paddle Ceviche. It may have been the first time I've tried ceviche and this totally made me want to try it again. I love me some avocados, so pretty much anything with avocado is game with me.

The starter course was Fat Tire Beer Cheese Soup. You know I love cheese, so of course I loved this soup. For the entree course, we had a choice between 1554 Braised Buffalo Pot Roast and Stuffed Salmon with a Sunshine Dill Cream Sauce. My new friend Joel had the brilliant idea to share each get one and share so that we could try both options and I'm so glad we did. Both were wonderful and I have leftovers for tonight - my tummy is growling just thinking about it.

Finally, for the dessert course, we had Abbey Glazed Bananas Foster. YUMMY! This was my first taste of Abbey. It has a slight banana flavor anyway, but having a sip of it after a bite of the dessert was complete banana goodness. Wow.

To top off all the fabulous food, they gave us party favors. We go a patch kit for bicycle tires (which I passed along to a bike owner), a bottle opener, some tasty orange peel lip balm, and our beer glass - fun!

The hot guy representing New Belgium explained to us that the New Belgium logo is laser etched into the bottom of the glass to allow for better effervescence. Or something like that. Did I mention he was hot?!

All in all, a delightful way to spend a Wednesday evening. Thank you Christine, Brian, Katie, and Joel! Nice work all.

Friday Communique

2009-03-20T13:35:00.000-06:00

Happy Friday, Happy Spring! Spring is a fabulous season and is always well-received. Really, who isn't ready for sunnier weather and new signs of life? I've been seeing crocuses and daffodils popping up in lots of random places and I love it! Obviously, I'm a fan of flowers though.

I made this necklace a few months back, as part of my current position as Designer of the Year for Beadwork Magazine. It's one of my very favorite pieces to date, and I'm proud to say that I'm not the only one who liked it. It was voted by Beadwork's Reader Advisory Panel (RAP) to be the cover piece for the April/May 2009 issue! Not only that, the RAP gave it twice as many votes as the runner-up (which I know to be an incredible piece). Thank you RAP members - I'd hug each and every one of you if I could. Here's my "Cover Girl" moment:

Oh, what's that next to my cover, you ask? Why, it's my brand new book! It's the fourth and final book in the Create Jewelry series by Marlene Blessing and myself and it's available now too. Awesome.

So, yaay for my new book. Yaay that I'm a cover girl. Yaay for new daffodils. Yaay for Spring. Even yaay for Ginger, who just brought me down from my cover-girl high by puking a few feet away. And, finally, yaay that Sephora is opening today.

While I'm shopping for new colors of eye-liner, please check out what some of my crew are up to:

Sara Hardin (AKA SoftFlexGirl) thanks Jean Yates for reviewing the new Soft Flex Extreme Wire.

Kristen Fagan celebrated St. Patrick's Day by baking her great-grandmother's delicious Irish Soda Bread.

Have a lovely weekend! xoxo

Playing with Wire: Mastering the African Helix Stitch

2009-03-18T16:28:00.000-06:00

There's a bracelet that we display on the demo table a shows that gets fondled A LOT. It's a purple cuff that Sara made a long time ago, using the African Helix Stitch to weave together seed beads and bugle beads. Because the bracelet is so popular at shows, we decided to put instructions up on the website. See Sara's bracelet and the free instructions here.

It was my task to write up the instructions, which is something I do a lot of. If the project is made by stringing or wireworking, I can often write up the instructions with my eyes closed, but for seed bead work, it's a little trickier. So, in order to make sure the instructions for Sara's bracelet were correct, I was able to make a bangle of my very own. I used only beads that I had on hand and came up with this combination of teal and brown which works perfectly with a lot of my wardrobe.

This was my first time using Soft Touch wire for a bead weaving project instead of thread and I loved it! Because the bracelet was made with wire, it holds it shape exceptionally well. I also feel more comfortable sliding the bracelet over my hand because I know the wire won't break as thread could. There will be many seed bead projects that I'll make where I won't be able to use Soft Touch, but now, there are definitely many projects where I will. Excellent.

I heart Santa Fe!

2009-03-17T16:21:00.003-06:00

Last Wednesday Bead Boy and I hit the road for Santa Fe to attend Bead Fest. It was a great time! The Soft Flex booth was swamped throughout the show and I talked to so many people at the demo table I feared my voice would give out. The shoppers in Santa Fe were a lovely bunch.

Santa Fe is one of my favorite places in the world and I loved being there. I got to catch up with a lot of my beady friends and made lots of new ones. I ate at a few of my favorite restaurants and popped into a couple of shops that I love. The weather was perfect on the road and Bead Boy and I sang at the top of our lungs all the way there and back. I must say, the Mama Mia soundtrack makes for excellent road tripping music!

birthday sweets

2009-03-09T12:48:00.002-06:00

I'm still on a sugar high from all of the delicious goodies I was treated to for my birthday! I met my mom, grandparents, aunts, and uncle for lunch at one of my favorite Japanese restaurants and the owners surprised me with this cute little critter for dessert. They cut the banana up and tempura fried the pieces, then put them back into the peel and covered it with whipped cream. It was yummy!

The weekend was filled with cakes and desserts from all the different gatherings and celebrations: specially made cupcakes from my cousin Judy, carrot cake cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory, chocolate cake and flan at The Boulder Dinner Theater (we saw The Producers), and, my favorite, a fresh fruit pizza with a sugar cookie crust made especially for me by my lovely mom!

It was a fun-filled weekend, full of indulgence. What with all the sugar and the time change to daylight savings, it was a little difficult to get up and moving this morning. Oh, but it was so worth it. No matter how old I get, I'm always going to be like a little kid on my birthday! It's really much more fun that way.

Playing with Wire

2009-03-04T15:12:00.004-07:00

Last fall, Sara made some super cool bracelets with the knitting spool and the new Trios wire sets. Her technique on the knitting spool is different than the one I used last week and the resulting look is twisted and fun. Aren't they cool?!

Feeling the need to try Sara's technique, I used Purple Amethyst Soft Flex Wire and Champagne Extreme Flex Wire together. I still need to work on my tension, as what I did came out pretty loose, but I like the two colors together.

I worked a wrist length on the knitting spool using Sara's technique, then switched to the technique from last week and knitted a second wrist length. I folded the knitted piece in half and attached the folded end to the ring half of a toggle clasp. I placed all four wires from the other end and strung them through a cone, then attached the bar half of the clasp. Next, I connected the two different knits using 15mm jump rings and covered the jump rings with a violet filigree and a couple of bird connectors. It's like a big, funky wrist corsage and the birds and flower are perfect for the coming spring.

record-setting highs

2009-03-03T17:52:00.002-07:00

The first signs of spring are appearing in Colorado. Yesterday and today were in the mid-70s temperature wise. This makes me quite happy. And my sweet mom treated me to the first daffodils of the season. They're my favorite flower. They make me happy too. The week is off to a fabulous start around here. Hope it's treating you well too! Now, back to beading...

Friday Communique

2009-02-26T11:57:00.005-07:00

Seed beads for sale at my local bead store, Bead Cache. How can you not love seed beads?!

Yesterday afternoon I headed south to Longmont to meet up with a group of beaders from the Rocky Mountain Bead Society. We met to bead at the Bead Lounge (which is just down the street from my dad's jewelry store, so I got to go see him for a bit.). It was nice to actually sit and bead with other beaders! We all worked on different types of projects and used a multitude of beading techniques. We're trying to make it a monthly thing, so hopefully I'll be able to go next month too.

I figured I'd just head home after beading, but luckily my mom had another idea. She'd heard the Z Gallerie in Boulder is closing and that the entire store is 50% off. So, I went on to Boulder, picked up Mom from work, and we went SHOPPING! Mom and I picked out some sweet artwork for Dean's house (which I'm totally going to hang in my place if he doesn't like it in his) and I got to pick out some early birthday presents. Yaay! If only all Thursday afternoons were this fun...

Check out the fun some of my crew have been up to this week:

Sara Hardin (AKA SoftFlexGirl) is preparing for the upcoming Soft Flex Company Glass Art & Bead Festival in Honolulu. No, she doesn't get to go.

Kristen Fagan visited the Fountain Hills Great Fair last weekend and thinks this article Do you want to turn your jewelry hobby into a Full-Time business? is well worth the read!

Have a lovely weekend! xoxo

Playing with Wire

2009-02-25T15:41:00.003-07:00

Ah, the knitting spool...

This tool has been my arch nemesis since I first saw it. I resisted it for a looooooong time. In Tucson I decided it was time to make it work. So I practiced and practiced, and finally knitted a two inch section with all of the stitches going in the right direction and without any holes. Yaay.

Then, it seemed like time to take it to the next step and try adding beads. I pre-strung some Czech glass rounds and CZ rondelles and resumed knitting, trying to place the beads so they would all be evenly spread. This proved difficult for me because I kept putting it down to show bead show attendees other tools and products. Often, more than a hour would go by before I could start again, so the beads aren't at proper intervals because I didn't count well. Thing is, the tension of my wire is so loose and wonky that it doesn't really matter where I placed the beads since they can move wherever they desire. Still, I knitted on and below is my silly attempt. It's super stretchy, so it can wrap twice around my wrist.

Okay, so I needed to work on my tension. What happened next was the best stroke of luck I've experience in a long time. Who did Sara bring to the booth just then? Oh, only the talented Sharon Hessoun - creator of my particular knitting spool! Sharon and I have chatted several times over email, so it was a great pleasure to meet her in person. She saw my sad little attempt at using her tool and gave me some amazing tips. The most important being: use the shape of the pegs on the tool to guide the stylus. Sure enough, Sharon knows what she's talking about. I practiced again, using my new knowledge, and this below is what I yielded. Pretty big difference, eh?

Now, what to do with a perfectly uniform knitted wire tube? Fill it with beads, of course. I used one strand each of .019 diameter Soft Flex Wire in Green Turquoise, Peridot, and Dark Blue Lapis to string a mix of 4mm crystal bicones and 2mm Thai silver cornerless cubes with a few vintage Lucite rounds. These three strands were threaded through the knitted tube (made of .019 Soft Flex Metallics Antique Copper color) and the ends were finished off with cones and a toggle clasp from Springall Adventures that I've had in my stash for a long time. The beads stand out more in person. It's my new favorite bracelet!

Now that I know what I'm going, I love me some knitting spool! There are many ideas bouncing around in my head on what can be created with knitted tubes. If you want to experiment with the knitting spool, pick up a copy of Sharon's book, Wire Knitting ... On a Spool. Thank you Sharon!

Little Miss Kennedy

2009-02-24T12:31:00.003-07:00

Kennedy came and spent an afternoon with me a few days ago. It's so hard to believe she's already three. Her little baby face is no longer - little girl is growing up fast! I'm pretty sure she's three going on seventeen.

When she arrived, the first thing Kennedy wanted to do was play with Ginger. Unfortunately, since Ginger's not used to kids, the only thing she wanted to do was hide under the bed. So we watched Dora the Explorer and Finding Nemo and ate popcorn and put on more lip gloss than I ever thought possible and talked about how we wish the pool was open and...

Kennedy was adorable. She kept going to check on Ginger and eventually decided that if she couldn't play with the real kitty, she and I would pretend to be kitties. Here she is crawling on/through Ginger's furniture:

Kennedy with Ginger's tunnel on her head:

Kennedy's sweet photography skills:

And, finally, sticking out our tongues:
The tongues were Kennedy's idea. I'm not sure how it related to being a kitty, but it sure was fun. Thank you for coming to visit me Miss Thing! I'll let you know just as soon as the pool opens up.

Cheeseburger Pizza

2009-02-23T16:34:00.003-07:00

Dustin, David and I indulged in some Cheeseburger Pizza last night, along with some Sunshine Wheat:

Mmmm, it was darn good. The boys introduced me to Cheeseburger Pizza a few years back, but it feels like ages since we last had it. It hasn't been on Old Chicago's menu for a long time and they often won't make it for us because the chefs haven't been there long enough to remember the recipe. We lucked out yesterday though and it was just as good as I remembered.

Cheeseburger Pizza tastes EXACTLY like a cheeseburger. Seriously. From the ketchup and mustard sauce right down to the sesame seeds baked into the crust. It's delicious and I highly recommend it.

After dinner, we went to see Coraline, in 3D. The movie is worth going to for the opening sequence alone. It's amazing! Go see it!

Best Bead Booty

2009-02-18T12:54:00.003-07:00

In years past, I spent my time in Tucson going from show to show to show and coming home with a huge new supply of beads and such. This year, I was at one show the entire time and, um, still managed to come home with a sizable new addition to my stash. At least I managed to stay within budget!

Starting from the top left, we have Soft Flex wire in extreme silver, citrine, green turquoise, red jasper, dark blue, spinel, peridot, and extreme champagne. Most of these are brand new colors!

The next "row" down displays a boro pendant from Andy Ray (Andy gifted a pendant to all of the Soft Flex girls - thank you Andy!) and rings, an acorn, and beads from the lovely Joyce Rooks.

Next is a strand of citrine, followed by a strand of aquamrine. These stones, along with all the other stones and strands in my haul are from Soft Flex Company. Mike helped me pick most of them out. He figured that if I couldn't leave our booth to go shop at other booths, I might as well shop in our booth. Funny how that works. Anyway, the other stones (short strands and long) are, from top down, tanzanite, keishi pearls, yellow CZs (little triangles and a strand of briolettes), lemon quartz, red and pink coral, purple and orange CZs, champagne Biwa pearls, more coral, and spondylus spikes. The yellow stones are for a project for the Summer 2009 issue of Stringing magazine. All beads from the coral through the spondylus are for a Stringing project as well. Fun!

Back above the yellow stones is a whole row of fun goodies. A pendant from Devin Somerville, a charm from Green Girl Studios (an early birthday present from Andrew - thank you my dear!), a heart made of beer bottle caps from Glass Garden Beads, a focal bead and spacers from Lori Greenberg (great meeting you Lori and thanks!), and a clasp, ring and pendants from Jess Imports.

As always, I'm excited to see what happens with these goodies. The two projects for Stringing are due, so I'm already using those beads. Will I use the rest right away or will they sit around in my studio for awhile? Only time will tell. No matter how long they wait to be used in a project, they sure are nice to look at.

Tucson!

2009-02-17T08:52:00.002-07:00

I've been back a week, have almost caught up on sleep, and am finally unpacking the last bag. Tucson was a blast this year! It was, as usual, a crazy whirlwind of meetings, events, demos, and parties. And most importantly, catching up with so many dear friends that I only get to see once or twice a year. Seeing you all is my favorite part! This year, I loved every minute of the Tucson experience.

The week started out with my demo at the Swarovski show:

I presented Soft Flex Company's new Trios wire sets and showed how our colored beading wire enhances the colors of the crystal beads.

It was difficult to see the subtle color differences since all of the light in the room was being filtered through the crystal curtain, but it sure was pretty. Wish I had a crystal curtain in my house...

The rest of the week flew by with a flurry of demos and showing shoppers at the Best Bead show all about the new Trios. Yes, I was bad about taking pictures. Until Friday night anyway. Friday was party night! First stop, the Swarovski party:

I love Jean Campbell to pieces - she's the best!

Yes, Danielle Fox and I are wearing the same shirt. Andrew talks more about it here.

My buddy Katie Wall of Fusionbeads.com. I must go to Seattle and visit her very soon.

Mari and Lindsay of Fusion Beads. I wish I could see these super cool girls more often.

Next we journeyed on to a surprise party thrown for Lewis Wilson of Crystal Myths, where we all let loose. It was to have some fun downtime with the Soft Flex crew. Here's Jenny Wilson, Sara Hardin, and I with our Smurf lips. We all sampled the dark blue frosting on the cake!

Another highlight of the show was that Kristen and Bert came to visit, as did Damien and Mark. Now I can finally say that I've met all my co-workers! Sara kept a much better record of the week, so check out her blog for more pictures and stories.

As the week wound down, I was able to hang out awhile with Andrew and meet William. It was great to meet William. He's a fellow Pisces, so I was an instant fan. The opportunity to see Andrew doesn't present itself too often, so I'm thankful that we actually got to spend some time together in Tucson. He's a gem, that Andrew!

For the first time in my six years of going to Tucson, I managed to survive the week without catching a cold or doing anything bad to my back. I'm pretty sure beer kept me healthy. Yaay!

Trios!

2009-02-02T16:14:00.001-07:00

Trios are here! I first learned about these fabulous sets of wire back in August. It's been so hard keeping them secret! Learn all about the Trios here. While you're at the Soft Flex website, visit the Design School for lots of new free project designs using the new Trios sets.

If you're in Tucson, come by the Soft Flex booth at the Best Bead Show. Sara and I would love to show you all the lovely new colors (we have over 30 now!). Also, if you're at the Swarovski show on Tuesday afternoon, I'll be demoing how to use crystals with colored Soft Flex wire. Hope to see you in the warmth of Tucson!

From Kansas City, to Paris, to Tucson...

2009-02-01T18:10:00.002-07:00

Sara just pointed out to me that it's been two weeks since I last blogged. Oops! Sorry Sara and Christine (who let me know a few times!). I haven't meant to neglect my post. I've just been busy.

Sara and her pretty smile demoing at the CHA show

Sara knows. She's been busy too, but she's much more dedicated than I. She always manages to check her email and post a blog when we're at a show. I prefer to curl up with a book and decompress for a bit after all of the hustle and bustle of a busy show. All of that demoing and talking just wears me out. Sara is doing her very best to convert me to her ways. And she's pretty determined!

Sara and I flew to Kansas City the Monday before last and made our way to EuroTool headquarters. It was great to meet their team and watching Sara present all of our products to them was an incredible learning experience. She knows so much.

We flew home that night and saw each other again just a few short days later when we met at the Orange County airport for the CHA show. After what was the oddest shuttle bus trip ever -- it was the Disneyland express and the driver was a complete character -- we met up with Mike, Scott, and Lisa for dinner.

My cousin Julie and her man Ali joined us and later they took me to Downtown Disney for some shopping in the Disney store. I found a belated Christmas present for Bead Boy and Julie and I got to catch up. Thank you for driving all that way Julie and Ali - you're the best!

The CHA show was pretty darn fun. There weren't a lot of beads at the show, it's mostly about scrapbooking, and that is just fine with me. Scrapbookers have such cool stuff! I saw Tim Holtz and Sara and I did a make-it-take-it with Cathie and Steve of Creative Juice. I got to meet the superfun Crafy Chica and the lovely Heidi Swapp . I've been reading Heidi's blog for a couple of years now. She's personally responsible for the vast amount of scrapbooking supplies in my office. I got to speak with her for a quick minute and she was so sweet. She's the celebrity I was most excited about seeing.

Others, not so much. It seems that Paris Hilton is coming out with a line of craft kits. As fate would have it, her booth was RIGHT NEXT to our booth. For about three hours Sunday, our booth was blocked off by the hundreds of people crowding around to see Paris. I won't lie, I was excited to see her. She looked great and I'm told was as nice as can be. Sara posted more pictures of her here.

Sara and I each had our own demo table in the booth and had a chance to play with and create projects from the brand new Soft Flex Company products. I'm so excited that you can finally see these wires - they're so FUN. I've enjoyed creating with them for a few months now. I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Now I must get back to prepping and packing for Tucson. I'm off tomorrow and will gone for just over a week. Getting ready is a big deal and pretty darn exciting. I can't wait to see all my bead world friends and I look forward to making new friends. I will do my very best to blog from warmth of Tucson, but, sorry, no promises... Have a great week!

Friday Communique

2009-01-16T15:47:00.003-07:00

We celebrated a big anniversary last night: my grandparents have been married for 61 years! They're an incredible couple who completely adore each other. I'm grateful every day that they're still a great part of my life.

My aunts presented a beautiful vase full of tropical flowers to get us all to start thinking about our big family cruise to Hawaii in a few months - yaay! - and Mom brought a delicious lemon cake that she decorated with blooms from my favorite flower, the daffodil. Grandpa patiently sat through lots of pictures and stared at the cake the entire time. Once he had that first bite in his hand, he was not so pleased with the cameras anymore. Oh Grandpa, you and your sweet tooth!

Please check out what some of my very sweet friends were up to this week:

Sara Hardin (AKA SoftFlexGirl) is preparing for CHA and creating lots of new free projects. Check out her new wine charms!

Kristen Fagan loves telecommuting for Soft Flex Company. Read how working from home reaps "green" rewards for our environment.

Playing with Wire

2009-01-14T14:53:00.004-07:00

A friend commented the other day, while looking at some new earrings, that she's never been a fan of colored wire in large doses. She likes to see an accent of colored wire in a piece, but doesn't care for jewelry made entirely of colored wire. She's a girl who knows what she wants!

These earrings were made with her in mind. I paired new brass pendants that my friends at Vintaj sent over (Thank you Jess!) with brass rounded loop ear wires. To connect the two brass components, 24-gauge Artistic Wire in Dark Blue was used to form a long wire wrapped link. I love how the subtle color of the wire seems to add more dimension to the embossed pendant pieces.

I can never seem to make just one pair of earrings at a time. So...I pulled out some lovely glass flowers from the sweet Michele Goldstein that I've been wanting to use for awhile now. The colors of the flowers are great, aren't they? To me, they're a little bit girly, but not TOO girly. I thought silver wire would push them over to the too girly side, so used 22-gauge Artistic Wire in Gun Metal to toughen up the look just a tad. Single links of etched oval brass wire were used to connect the wrapped flowers and the earwires. Hooray for new earrings!

Friday Communique

2009-01-09T14:17:00.003-07:00

Every time I see Madison and Emma they ask, "When can we come to your house and make bracelets?" The girls were in Scottsdale with me last week, and we needed to kill some time between party prep and the actual party, so we played with some foam and plastic beads found at the dollar store.

The girls took to stringing right away, coming up with patterns and mixing the two types of beads. We were in serious need of some Bead Stoppers. If only Auntie Jamie had been prepared. No worries though. The girls finished their stretchy necklaces and proudly wore them as they partied the night away. Hooray for new beaders!

Please check out what some of my other favorite beaders were up to this week:

Sara Hardin (AKA SoftFlexGirl) reviewed the book 1000 Glass Beads!

Kristen Fagan headed out into the bitter cold to enjoy the Chihuly: The Nature of Glass exhibit at the Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden. It was well worth the shivering!

Have a lovely weekend! xoxo

Bother-free is the way to be

2009-01-08T15:38:00.003-07:00

Miss Rebecca dropped by the other day with a new freelance project for me work on, along with a present! As if the super cute hand-stitched pouch wasn't enough, there were three shiny packages inside. Is it candy? Even better, it's tea. Tea that blooms!

Which flavor to try first? Noble Essence felt like it should be saved for a very special occasion and Let It Snow just didn't seem right for a sunny 65 degree day, so Red Song won out. The tea began flowering the second the water hit it and at first made me thing of Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors.

My attempt to show the different stages of the bloom were foiled by steam:

The full bloom is gorgeous, not to mention highly caffeinated. Red Song is strong, delicious, long-lasting stuff my friends. It's perfect on a day, such as this, when insomnia has been kicking my butt for two weeks. Thank goodness for my Winnie the Pooh mug. It's clear, so it perfectly shows off the flower, and it boasts a sweet little message: Bother-free is the way to be. Oh Pooh, you're so wise.

Thank you Rebecca! xoxo

And two weeks pass by in a flash...

2009-01-06T18:37:00.001-07:00

Well, hello there. I'm easing back into the daily routine after a lovely two weeks off. I find it quite easy to stay away from the computer and, it must be said, it was a very nice break. Too bad coming back to work doesn't come quite so easily.

My time off began Christmas eve with my dad, grandpa, and bro (who tries to beat me up if I try to take his picture). We had pizza and Jack Daniels and exchanged gifts and stories. Dad gave Grandpa a Duck's Unlimited vest just like the one he was wearing. When I pulled out the camera he decided he needed to go put on his matching red plaid flannel for the photo op. Then they decided to add some props...
We didn't drink all of that handle that night, but we did enjoy a good amount of it. The Hogsett men love them some Tennessee whiskey and I'm more than willing to try and keep up. Grandpa has been giving me sips of his "tea" for as long as I can remember, so I'm fairly well conditioned!

It's always good to see my grandpa. He's a sweetheart and a ladies man. He's worn cowboy boots nearly every day of his life and he LOVES to dance. He and his friends go to dances at senior centers all over northern Colorado one to three times a week. He's a charmer, that Vern.

My dad is pretty sweet too! He owns a jewelry store and is always exhausted by Christmas eve, so it's nice to spend a quiet, relaxing evening with him. We missed having Julie with us - she went home to spend time with her new baby nephew and family - but it was still a good time. When the guys started flipping through gun magazines, I pulled out my beads and finished some last minute presents. It was perfect!

More stories to come, including some from my fun trip to Arizona where it was oh-so-delightfully warm. Happy New Year to you all! I hope you enjoyed some wonderful family time and I wish you all the best in 2009!

poor little peanut

2008-12-23T10:27:00.003-07:00

Over the weekend Ginger's little chin swelled up something fierce and was covered with red welts. She scratched a few of them, and blood freaks me out, so she got to go to the Vet last night.

My poor little kitty has feline acne. Cat pimples are new to me, but apparently it's pretty common. The Vet needed to shave her chin to get a better look at things. Ginger tried to fight it, of course, and he slipped and cut off almost all the whiskers on one side of her face. Baby girl looks a little pathetic. She's still cute though.

The Vet said to put ointment on her chin every twelve hours. I have a nice deep two inch scratch on my wrist and lots of other little scrapes from my first attempt this morning, so it must sting pretty badly. Poor Ginger. All she wants to do is lounge in front of the fireplace and zits are messing up her big plans. We've all been there. Acne sucks.

"Make earrings until your fingers bleed!"

2008-12-22T13:14:00.000-07:00

A long, long time ago--well about four years ago really--Jean, Dustin, and I began work on the first ever issue of Stringing magazine. We really didn't have a budget for the special issue, so the three of us made 90% of the projects. We made A LOT of jewelry. As press day inched closer, we realized we needed to make earrings for a two page spread of designs. So, Dustin gave me an assignment: make earrings until your fingers bleed!

Since then, I've made more pairs of earrings than I can count and luckily have kept my fingers from bleeding. Making earrings is one of my favorite things (photographing them, not so much). Dustin still likes to use that phrase from back in the day. In fact, he said it yesterday while hanging out in my studio, between bites of fig nut bars and chocolate crinkle cookies. The next few days will be spent making earrings day and night - daytime earring-making for work and evening earring-making for some of my loved ones. And eating more cookies too, of course!

Friday Communique

2008-12-19T15:14:00.000-07:00

The above mix of beads in amber, topaz, orange, yellow, and brown are to be used in a custom necklace for a client at my dad's jewelry store. The necklace will be strung randomly so I mixed all the different beads into one big pile. The bright colors make me think warm, tropical thoughts, which are a dreamy distraction on this foggy, cold day. The forecast calls for single digit weather again this weekend, so I'm prepared to spend the time in my cozy little place making presents. Lots and lots of presents!

Check out what some of my crew are up to this week:

Sara Hardin (AKA SoftFlexGirl) is in the holiday spirit. She put up her Christmas tree this week and it is looking and smelling good!

Kristen Fagan doesn't have much new happening creatively so, she figured this was a good week to bust out an oldie but goodie jewelry design.

Have a lovely weekend and eat lots of cookies! xoxo

Playing with Wire

2008-12-17T16:57:00.003-07:00

Um, perhaps this post should be called "Shopping for Wire" instead? That's all I seem to have accomplished for this week. These beauties just arrived. Lots of pretty colors to help complete lots of new ideas. I love internet shopping.

So, yeah, I haven't made any new wire projects that I can share with you just yet, though I have been busy in my little workshop. You'll see some of them after Christmas--I can't have people seeing their gifts in advance now, can I?--and you'll see the others later on. For now, I must run a quick errand for more supplies and then it's back to crafting and creating, which are two of my favorite things.

Hope you're all staying warm!

Playing with Wire

2008-12-10T15:14:00.003-07:00

Check out the colors of the new Econoflex craft and beading wire from Soft Flex - aren't they gorgeous?! The color names, from top to bottom, are: plum, cinnamon red, spring green, autumn brown, steel blue, midnight black, and snow white. Even the names are pretty.

These 30 foot spools arrived about the same time I brought my Christmas decorations home from my mom's basement. It's been two years since I've seen my holiday goodies and last night I was finally able to spend some time unpacking and displaying them. Imagine my delight when the wire colors perfectly matched several of my ornaments. And some of the ornaments still needed something from which to hang. I used 8 inch pieces of spring green and steel blue, secured with a crimp tube of course, to string up this sparkly Santa. He wouldn't stand up for a picture--too many cookies I guess--but he now hangs happily on my little tree. The wire really shines under the little lights and looks so much nicer than fishing line!

At the bottom of the tub of Christmas decor were three boxes of these jewel-toned ball ornaments. I'd forgotten all about them! From what I can remember, they were bought on clearance in 2006. When I found them at the bottom of the box, my tree was already pretty full. They're so small they would get lost among the really big ornaments anyway, so I mixed them all up and dropped handfuls of them into the glass vases on my fireplace mantel. The Econoflex colors go with the ornaments so well that I just had to add it to the display in some fashion, so I used 8 inch pieces of plum, cinnamon red, spring green, and steel blue to add a little something extra to them.

I tied a wire to each ball and used scissors to curl them like ribbon. It's difficult to tell from the picture, but the wire adds A LOT to the display. One vase down, seven to go! Plus, I'll be dreaming up lots of other ways to use this new product around the house...stay tuned!

Friday Comminique

2008-12-05T11:28:00.003-07:00

My wish for snow came true! Granted, the snow arrived just in time to totally mess up my plans for the weekend, but I'm a believer that everything happens for a reason and it is better for everyone to be safe - and not drive long distances through a snowstorm - than sorry.

The best thing about the snow, besides making everything sparkle, is finally getting to wear these boots. Yaay!

In blog-world news:

The wonderful Andrew Thornton is having a sale offering up many fabulous treasures. Check out his auctions - only two days left to bid!

Also Michele Goldstein, a fun beadmaker and all-around delightful person, started a new blog that you'll have to visit - you're sure to love her!

And while you're at it, please check out what some of my crew did this week:

Sara Hardin (AKA SoftFlexGirl) is in holiday mode! Here are her suggestions on how to give a non-stressful and meaningful holiday gift.

Kristen Fagan just got back from her family cruise vacation, what fun!

Have a lovely weekend! xoxo

i heart books

2008-12-04T19:21:00.001-07:00

After spotting a pile of books in my bead room, Lorelei asked if I could "recommend any good beading books that might not be as well known as others but offer up some excellent inspiration." An excuse to spend time browsing through my library? Excellent.

The books in the bead room aren't just beading and jewelry books. There are sewing books, knitting books, crochet books, paper crafting books, art books, color books. And two really cool books about symbols borrowed from Bead Boy.

Walking around my bead room, I gathered the books I most enjoy flipping through. I'm not sure how well-known these titles are compared to others, but they're titles that inspire me, piled in the order they were pulled from the shelves:

Seams to Me by Anna Maria Horner
LINKS by Jean Yates
Jewels and Jewellery by Clare Phillips
A Japanese book on carving custom stamps (My apologies for not listing the title, the text is entirely in Japanese. Link is to the publisher's website.)
4000 Flower & Plant Motifs by Graham Leslie McCallum
500 Beaded Objects
Bead Fantasies IV by Takako Samejima
Beading for the Soul by Deb Cannarella
The Art & Elegance of Beadweaving by Carol Wilcox Wells
Designing Jewelry with Glass Beads by Stephanie Sersich
Bead Romantique by Lisa Kan
Beadazzled by Penelope Diamanti
Beads Bee Vol. 11 (Link is to Vol 13 of this magazine)
Kate McKinnon's Studio Annual 2004
Getting Started with Seed Beads by Dustin Wedekind
Simply Modern Jewelry by Danielle Fox
Custom Cool Jewelry by Melinda Barta
Ceramic Bead Jewelry by Jennifer Heynen

Much of my beading library sits in cardboard boxes in my mom's basement - they trickle home a few at a time - so there are several other beading books I would add to this list. My friend Jean Campbell has written a ton of fabulous beading books and my friend Laura Levaas worked her little booty off for her book, Beader's Stash, about designs from America's favorite bead shops. There are so many more. Perhaps I'll have to start doing this semi-regularly...

What are some of your favorite beading books? Do you know of any brand new books that must be added to my collection?

Playing with Wire

2008-12-03T18:32:00.000-07:00

The Twist 'n' Curl is officially one of my favorite tools. Using it is like meditation. These 3-step beads really are easy as one, two, three. Well, four really, if you count stringing the crystals. They need to be strung first.

One: wrap 22 gauge wire around the Twist 'n' Curl for about 1/2", keeping the coils close together.
Two: wrap the wire back in the other direction, leaving space between coils.
Three: wrap the wire in the original direction, moving the crystals up and spacing them apart while wrapping.

Remove the bead from the tool, tuck in the wire ends, and the bead is finished. My beads were made with Powder Blue Artistic Wire and 4mm Swarovski crystal bicones in white opal champagne, aqua brandy, and rose brandy.

The 3-step beads have a great weight to them. When strung up with Pacific opal crystal rondelles, vintage flower spacers, and natural brass spacers and findings on antique brass beading wire, it makes up a rather pretty bracelet, don't you think?

The color scheme makes me think of a winter wonderland. Perhaps I was inspired by the fact that we're finally getting snow?! Yaay!

Messy

2008-12-01T17:47:00.004-07:00

It pains me to see my beading table this messy. It means I haven't been doing a lot of beading and that's not cool. I've been wanting to clean it off for a couple of weeks now and it just doesn't seem to happen. It's such a lovely table too. It's huge, it has pretty silver legs, and its lack of sharp corners means l don't hurt myself everyday due to my horrible clumsiness.

Part of the problem is my desk and my beading table are in different rooms, and I do the majority of my work at my desk in front of the computer. When a deadline approaches and a project needs to be made, I go in my bead room, fill a tray with the necessary tools and supplies, and bring it all out to my desk. When I finish the project, the tray goes back on the table and nothing is properly put away. Not good.

It's time to need to clean up my act. I'm going to start this weekend by moving my desk into my bead room. Hopefully working closer to the beads, will mean more time spent creating with them. After the furniture move, the organization will begin. It would be a bit ambitious to try to sort it all during part of one weekend, but I'll at least put a dent in it.

It will be like going on a treasure hunt, no doubt uncovering long-forgotten beads and findings acquired during trips to many bead shows this year. Seeing those goodies again will inspire all kinds of new jewelry designs. And a clean desk might actually mean more time to make jewelry. Oh, it'll be nice...

Playing with Wire

2008-11-26T16:01:00.004-07:00

As promised, here is the finished "wonky spiral" project. When I started wrapping the spirals, I expected to make a bracelet, but that's just not how it worked out. I'm pleased with the necklace and now have a new piece to wear for Thanksgiving - yet another reason to be thankful this year.

Thanksgiving is a day full of homemade deliciousness, so how can I not love it?! More than the food though, I enjoy spending the day cooking with my mom, brother, and grandma and seeing my family. It will be a small crowd this year, as most of the family went to Arizona. I'll miss seeing my aunts, uncles, and cousins, but will enjoy securing my spot as the favorite grandchild. Take that cousins - ha!

Have a lovely Thanksgiving! xoxo

Support your Local Bead Store

2008-11-25T16:56:00.003-07:00

Do you have a local bead store, a.k.a. LBS? I've only been to my LBS, Bead Cache, a couple of times in the last few months. I haven't been buying elsewhere, I just haven't needed any supplies. Still, I feel guilty. I've been shopping at Bead Cache for about twelve years now and they've always been there when I needed them with exactly what I need to finish a project. Plus, it is always a treat to talk with Keriann and Heidi!

Luckily, it is time to start making presents. Surely I'll need a clasp or some jump rings or just the right color of seed bead to finish a project or two. When I do, I'll head over to Bead Cache for some instant gratification. In addition to the things on my list, I'll no doubt find a few new beads that I don't need, but won't be able to resist.

If you have a LBS, please be sure to support them this holiday season. Happy bead shopping!

Oh, Edward Cullen...

2008-11-24T16:07:00.000-07:00

I won't deny it. I stood in line with all the fifteen-year-old girls Friday night in order to get a good seat for Twilight. Seven of us met up to see the movie and since I live close to the theater I got there first to score our spot in line. I felt really old standing with all the teens and tweens, but they liked my newly re-inked hair!

The movie was fun. It made me want to read the book again. Robert Pattinson is dreamy as Edward, greasy hair and all, and I look forward to seeing more of Taylor Lautner as Jacob in future movies! One of the most entertaining parts of the movie was listening to the audience. They all screamed when characters appeared on screen for the first time. It was silly.

Seeing the movie was a great start to the weekend. And, for the first time in several weeks, I was able to have a real weekend. I went to a book signing, picked up Charlaine Harris' Dead Until Dark (as recommended by Cynthia Thornton), saw lots of friends, baked, cleaned, and lounged on the couch watching a movie that I've had from Netflix for about three months now. I made a small dent in the ongoing organization of my studio by sorting all of my crystals. And I even worked a little, but the rest of the weekend was so relaxing, that I didn't mind at all!

Friday Communique

2008-11-21T14:36:00.003-07:00

I was doing so well. I went to the Sonoma Bead Festival and didn't buy a thing. I went to the New York Bead Festival and only bought a pair of pliers. But it's been a few months now and I find that I get a bit depressed when I don't buy beads on a semi-regular basis. So ... I bought some beads.

I blame Sonoma. I got home from my trip to that charming locale and read an email from Sarah Moran of z-beads.com. When Sarah sends an email, it means she has new beads available for purchase. Usually they're sold out by the time I get around to looking at her website. Luck was on my side that night though, as this set, conveniently named Napa Valley Merlot, was still available:

Aren't they gorgeous?! They arrived yesterday. It was an excellent mail day! I haven't decided what to do with them just yet. I'll work on that this weekend and I'll drink some Merlot as inspiration.

I'll also drink to toast Bead Boy's new title as President of the Rocky Mountain Bead Society. I went with him to Denver last night for the "coronation." The members of the RMBS are great fun and they put on an amazing bead bazaar every spring. They all seemed pretty excited about their new president and I know Dustin is happy about it too. Congratulations Mr. President!!

Check out what some of my crew were up to this week:

Sara Hardin (AKA SoftFlexGirl) is walking in the Breast Cancer 3day this weekend. There is still time to donate!

Kristen Fagan and the family went to the fountain hills festival of arts & crafts last weekend.

Good luck Sara - hope the new shoes are good to your feet!

Have a lovely weekend! xoxo

Playing with Wire

2008-11-19T16:50:00.003-07:00

Today I played with the Spiral Maker, a fun companion tool for the WigJig. The Spiral Maker is supposed to make flat spirals (as seen here), not these layered spirals that I made. I followed the instructions and tried many times, but I just can't seem to make a nice, flat spiral. Oh well, I like the messy look. It feels more organic to me. I also accidentally made a long coiled tube. I like the look of the tube and might try to make some more...

After I mastered how to make the "wrong" thing on the Spiral Maker, I took it to the next level. For the silver and amethyst spirals, I used the Twist N Curl to make a tiny coil of 28-gauge wire. I made two lengths of coil, cut the first length in half, and cut the second length into ten 1/2" pieces. I strung the 1/2" pieces, separated with 4mm round crystals, onto dark blue 22-gauge Artistic Wire before using the spiral maker. I used the longer pieces of coil to make two smaller spirals. And I did something similar with the green and dark blue wires.

Now, what to do with all of these funky spirals? I've got a few ideas. Check back next Wednesday and I'll show you what I make!

Lunch Date

2008-11-18T15:19:00.002-07:00

My brother Dean came over for lunch today and brought Remi with him. Isn't she cute? She is the sweetest dog, relaxed and super cuddly. When she was only a few months old, Remi stayed with me for a weekend and, thanks to Ginger, nearly lost an eye. Now that she's all grown up, Remi and Ginger have a healthy respect for each other, meaning Remi stays as far from Ginger as possible. She's smart too!

It was great having guests over. I've been working so hard the last few weeks that I feel like I haven't seen many of my friends and family. That's about to change though. I turned in a huge freelance project yesterday, so I actually had time to cook last night. I've been saving recipes that get emailed to me courtesy of Real Simple magazine. Last night I tried their chili recipe. Typically I wouldn't use a recipe when making chili, but this one had a special ingredient that grabbed my attention: dark chocolate. You add the chocolate right before serving and it's amazing what it does for the flavor. The chili was good up to that point and the chocolate made it about a billion times better. Dean even liked it, which means it must be quite excellent.

With one big freelance project turned in, one to finish up tonight, and a few weeks before the next one is due, I might actually get to spend some time making jewelry in my studio. I still have beads that I purchased at Bead and Button in 2007 that are waiting to be used in projects. Plus, the new beads that I just couldn't resist last week will hopefully arrive in my mailbox in the next few days, so I'll be able to play with those as well. I'll show you a picture when they get here. You're going to love them. I know I will!

Friday Communique

2008-11-14T12:22:00.003-07:00

I wish it would hurry up and snow already. There was a light dusting on my deck this morning. It wasn't much - it melted before I could even take a picture - but at least it was something. We usually get snow beginning in September and it's making me crazy that we haven't had any yet. I know many would argue that the fact that I'm wishing for snow is proof enough of my insanity, but I can't help it. I want a snowstorm!

While I hope for some big flakes to fall, check out what my crew (who live in a considerably warmer climate) are up to:

Sara Hardin (AKA SoftFlexGirl) was in California this week.

Kristen Fagan finished her autumn leaves painting. She started it back in May and finally finished it this week!

Have a lovely weekend! xoxo

Fall in Wine Country

2008-11-13T12:40:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things (there are many!) about traveling to Sonoma for work is the drive to and from the office. The vineyards and rolling hills are gorgeous, and the scenery fills my head with all sorts of romantic thoughts. The most noticeable difference between the landscapes of Northern Colorado and Napa Valley, besides the elevation, is just how green everything is in Northern California. Even as winter approaches, the fields and hillsides remain all sorts of bright, vibrant shades of green and it is just lovely.

About five minutes from the office there is a stretch of road lined with huge trees and their leaves blanket the pavement with a beautiful canopy. The way the light filters through is simply magical. I was hoping that traffic would be slow this morning so that I could stop and snap a picture, but the semi-truck driving very close behind me wasn't going to allow for that.

In just a few short hours, I'll make one last stop at Broadway Market and then Sara and I will leave the charm of Wine Country behind as we travel home to different kinds of beauty, the desert for Sara and the mountains for me.

Keep your fingers crossed that we don't get lost as we drive to the Oakland airport!

Playing with Wire

2008-11-12T15:39:00.002-07:00

Have you tried the Twist N Curl tool yet? If not, I highly recommend it. It's fast, fun, and meditative and there are so many fun things to make with it. I have the Twist N Curl mini-set, which includes two tools that make tiny little wire coils. Coiling wire with this tool is quite simple and Sara just offered up a great tutorial on her blog. Click here to see it.

I used 28-gauge Artistic Wire to make what I'm calling "triple beads" with the smaller of the two Twist N Curl tools in the set. I made the initial coil, strung it on wire, and coiled it again. Then I strung that coil on wire and coiled it again. Voila - triple beads!

The wire colors black, dark blue, gun metal, and peacock blue happen to go really well with a bead from my friend Rashan of Jones Art Glass, so I strung them all up with some brass and black Czech glass rondelles, and now I have a funky new necklace - yaay!

Sonoma

2008-11-11T16:44:00.002-07:00

I'm in beautiful Sonoma, California this week, making jewelry at Soft Flex Company headquarters. I get to work in the Gallery with all of the pretty stones and pearls! Being surrounded by beads is always a good thing, but the added bonus is getting to spend my days with Rosa and Katrina. Thanks for making it such a fun day girls!

We talked about lots of things, including the Twilight Series. Katrina said she was going to read the first book again before the movie comes out next week - a brilliant idea that I'm going to copy - and I'm pretty sure we convinced Rosa to see the movie! They're both just as sweet as can be, even if they were teasing me about my obsession with sandwiches from Broadway Market.

The sandwiches at the market really are the best. They're made to order, you get to choose from a vast assortment of meat and cheese, and you get a huge sandwich for about six bucks. Nothing wrong with that!

Friday Communique

2008-11-07T15:15:00.000-07:00

Hooray for Friday! I don't know about you, but I worked my booty off this week. So I picked up some special chocolates as a little treat to myself. Aren't they pretty? I picked them up at a cute little place just down the street called Simply Chocolate. The chocolates were much more expensive than the half-price Halloween candy I was planning to buy, but I figure I'm saving all sorts of money now that gas prices are lower, so it all works out, right?!

While I do my best to not eat all these tasty tidbits in one sitting, please check out what some of my crew did this week:

Sara Hardin (AKA SoftFlexGirl) is knitting on a spool using Soft Flex Wire.

Kristen Fagan voted! Everyday is voting day. We get to cast votes for many important issues on a daily basis.

Have a lovely weekend! xoxo

My First Attempt with the Kumihimo Disk

2008-11-06T17:08:00.000-07:00

The universe decided today was my day to learn Kumihimo. Works for me.

I started by using the group of yarn that came packaged with the Kumihimo disk. I highly recommend that first-timers begin this way. The yarn is a good fiber to practice with and now Ginger has a colorful new toy.

Then I felt a little bit creative and decided to make a bracelet with beading wire and seed beads. I used 24 inches each of four different wires: Soft Flex Beading Wire in Dark Blue, Extreme 925 wire, Metallics wire in Antique Brass, and Soft Touch wire strung with size 8/o seed beads. The top of the Kumihimo board has numbers and little dots that help you keep track of where to place the wires. It's actually quite easy and even meditative once you get the hang of it.

Here's a shot of my braid in progress (the braid comes out the bottom of the disk and rests inside the glass vase) with the bright blue Colorado sky as its backdrop. It must be said that Colorado has over 300 days of sunshine a year. Sure, it is only about 40 degrees outside, but it is still bright and sunny! Anyway, I placed a binder clip at the end of the braid and attached a Bead Stopper to the end of every wire in order the keep a good amount of tension.

And here is the finished bracelet. I used a 3mm crimp tube to connect all eight wires to an eye pin, then strung a cone onto the eye pin and formed a wire wrapped loop to attach each end of the braid to one half of the clasp. If you look closely, you can see where I messed up a couple of times (I probably turned the disk the wrong way or something), but all in all, a pretty successful first encounter with the Kumihimo board. I'll definitely be trying this project again!

Playing with Wire

2008-11-05T17:03:00.000-07:00

Remember the CZ pendant I made in New York City? Well, I made two more and I happen to think all three color combinations are really pretty. Thank you for helping pick the colors, Sara!

I'll be making ornaments for several people on my holiday list. I usually don't start shopping for the holidays until the last minute (surprise, surprise), so it feels refreshing to begin the process early.

Want to make your own ornaments? Now you can. Step-by-step instructions are available here, on the Soft Flex Company website. Enjoy!

Have you voted yet?

2008-11-03T16:15:00.004-07:00

(Oh Wigjig, is there anything you can't do??)

Did you vote? I turned my ballot in today and am proudly wearing my "I Voted!!!" sticker. If you haven't already voted, please do. Your vote matters!

After you vote, please visit my friend Sara's blog and enter her November giveaway. I know you love giveaways and Sara's is really good.

Friday Communique

2008-10-31T15:30:00.000-06:00

Happy Halloween!

Ninety-nine percent of the time, it is snowing in Colorado on Halloween day. Right now it's close to eighty degrees outside - perfect weather for all sorts of trick or treating.

Before you eat entirely too much sugar, please check out what some of my crew did this week:

Sara Hardin (AKA SoftFlexGirl) shows you how to use the Twist N Curl to make colorful metal beads.

Kristen Fagan shares her favorite "go to" jewelry set. It is casual, chic, super light weight and can be worn with black and brown.

Have a hauntingly fun weekend! xoxo

And the Winner is...

2008-10-31T11:20:00.003-06:00

Congratulations Gibson! I'll be in touch...

Thank you to everyone who entered the lottery! (And a special shout out to Karen and Debby who entered every single day!) The number of entries was quite impressive. So much so, that I'm considering another lottery in the Spring. I'll keep you posted.

Happy Halloween! Be safe and have fun.

Playing with Wire: Work Hardening

2008-10-30T18:06:00.000-06:00

During the New York show, one of my favorite things to demo was work hardening. The newbie beaders were fascinated by how quickly and easily it happened. Don't know what work hardening is? I wasn't sure of the technical definition (I really just enjoy seeing the results), so I went to the Design School at Soft Flex's website to find out and now I know. Check out the great explanation here.

Anyway, I was playing around with the Wigjig Olympus-Lite, trying to come up with a design that will complement my vampire costume for Halloween. Here's what I did. It's loosely based on a piece worn by Bela Lugosi in Dracula.

I placed my pegs and used about 24" of wire to make the piece. I began by making a starter loop with my new wire looping pliers (Believe it or not, this pair of pliers was the ONLY thing I purchased at the NYC bead show. I don't know how I survived this long without them!), and started wrapping from there. When I finished wrapping and popped the piece off of the Wigjig, this is how it looked:

I tried to photograph it from the side so you could see how wonky it is when it comes off the Wigjig, but it's hard to tell. Basically, the piece was quite curvy and the six points were twisted in different directions. I formed a double wire wrapped loop to connect the top loops and turn them into a bail. Then, I began the work hardening process using my nylon jaw pliers. They're shown below (left) along with the wire looping pliers.
To work harden using nylon jaw pliers, you just grip a section of the wire piece with the pliers and it magically hardens. I worked the pliers all around the piece and it looked like this:

It was flatter and firmer at that point, but still not finished. So, I pulled out my chasing hammer and wire whacker to complete the process. Now it's completely flat and work hardened! I just need to dig through my crystal stash to find some deep red crystals to add to the piece and string it onto some black Soft Flex Beading Wire and/or a red ribbon and my costume will be complete!

My mom might not be pleased...

2008-10-28T16:48:00.004-06:00

Today I had an appointment with the fabulous Beth at Studio Be! Studio Be is so cool. I love it all, from the relaxing "bath house" to the pull-down blow dryers. This was my third trip to see Beth and, as usual, she did not disappoint.

Beth asked what I wanted to do with my color and I asked for drama. Here's what she did:

Isn't it awesome?!? I freaking love it!!! (Seriously, do I ever use this many exclamation points?) Yes, my hair is blue and green! And orange, hot pink, purple, and copper in addition to my natural very dark brown. To add all the different colors, Beth did what she calls "inking." The bright colors will fade out in a few weeks, leaving almost blond and copper highlights.

Did I mention that I LOVE IT! Thank you Beth - you ROCK!!!

oh las vegas...

2008-10-27T20:45:00.003-06:00

I can't really tell a whole lot about my trip to Las Vegas (you know how the saying goes), but I can say it was a blast. My cousins, brother, and I went for two nights and had a crazy good time.

A few notes about Vegas:

The pool at Mandalay Bay is delightful
Breakfast at The House of Blues is delicious
The Lions at MGM are amazing
The lobby at THE Hotel smells fabulous
It's best to just steer clear of the Luxor

That's about it. Now I need to catch up on my sleep...

Friday Communique

2008-10-24T09:15:00.006-06:00

It's almost Halloween and my little nieces Emma and Madison can hardly wait! At a family dinner last night, they modeled several different costumes and the witches were my favorite. When I pulled out the camera, they started posing as though they were riding brooms. Their imaginations are incredible!

I'm pretty excited for Halloween too. I know it is going to be a very memorable weekend, in part because Rebecca and Greg are throwing a Halloween party. The only problem is I'm still undecided on a costume. I'm not too worried though. I'm off to Vegas this weekend, where I'm sure to find inspiration galore.

While I'm away, please check out what some of my crew did this week:

Sara Hardin (AKA SoftFlexGirl) is back from the Soft Flex Glass Art & Bead Festival.

Kristen Fagan created a special gift for 3 important women in her life. She picked out one of her original paintings turned resin pendant and then beaded a necklace to match the pendant design.

And remember, only one week left to enter the lottery. Good luck to you all and have a lovely weekend! xoxo

I heart New York!

2008-10-23T17:24:00.001-06:00

Fall in NYC is beautiful and the weather was perfect. The skyline (above) and the street view (below) were both taken from the balcony of my friend Cord's apartment. He lives in Hell's Kitchen on a lovely street.

Cord is a family friend and a wonderful guy who was nice enough to put up with me for six days. His entire apartment is about a quarter of the size of my place, but I felt totally at home. Cord built a loft for his bed and hung a hammock beneath it, showing off what a master space-planner he is. Nice work Cord!! Thank you for being the perfect host.

In addition to sharing his space with me, Cord introduced me to some great eateries, like his local pub and his favorite pizza spot. My favorite was the Burger Joint. It is a tiny place hidden behind a velvet curtain in a fancy hotel. You would never see it if you didn't know it was there and the burgers were super tasty!

On the last night of the bead show, after we packed up the booth, several members of the Soft Flex team went to a Korean BBQ place per Sara's recommendation. Sara did us proud - the food was excellent and it was fun (and hot!) to have them cook right in front of you. I ordered the rib eye and highly recommend it. It was thinly sliced and cooked with onions and reminded me of Sukiyaki, a Japanese dish that my grandma always used to make. Delicious!

Sara and Mike enjoying their Korean BBQ

And finally, who did we spot while waiting in line for tickets to see Avenue Q? The Naked Cowboy!

Playing with Wire

2008-10-22T17:20:00.001-06:00

Last weekend was the Soft Flex Company Glass Art and Bead Festival in New York City. The show was busy and super fun! I got to meet several members of The Bead Society of Greater New York. They're a fabulous, feisty group and they did an amazing job organizing the make-it-take-its. I saw several show attendees proudly wearing their new creations!

It was fun to get to know my co-workers a little bit better at the show. They playfully dubbed me "new girl" and teased me a lot when things went wrong in the booth. Lucky for me, nothing really went wrong! The Soft Flex booth was actually the Soft Flex room, right across the hall from the main ballroom. Below is the display of some really lovely gemstones that we had to offer. I was good to my budget and didn't buy anything, but there were many strands of beads that were terribly hard to resist.

I think the only reason I was able to keep money in my pocket is I was so busy at the demo table, thank goodness. We had a table full of tools and wire and I was there to teach people about the tools and show them what they can create. The Twist n Curls were a huge hit, as were WigJigs, Knitting Spools, and Crimping Pliers. I especially enjoyed teaching new beaders about crimping. Their faces lit up when they realized how easily they could make jewelry. There were a lot of first-timers who just happened to walk in off the street and I know there are now a lot more beaders in the world.

When I wasn't demoing a specific technique, I was working on this flower pendant:

It is a bit of a different shape than the piece I was working on last week (I forgot to take that piece with me on the trip, so I'll finish it up for another post), but the concept is the same. I found a pattern in the Wonderful, Wearable Wire Book (which is a book I need to add to my library right away!) and wrapped it with 20-gauge Artistic Wire in Amethyst. Then I picked out 4mm CZ rondelles in Clear, Lavender and Garnet as well as 5x7mm CZ briolettes in Clear, and used 29-gauge Non-Tarnish Silver wire to wrap the beads around the wire base.

I'm really pleased with how it came out. It is about 2.5" by 2.5" and would make a stunning pendant or a glittery holiday ornament. I have an idea in mind of how I'm going to turn the piece into a finished project. I'll keep you posted!

Playing with Wire

2008-10-15T07:30:00.002-06:00

As promised, here is my first experiment with the WigJig. This isn't my design. I'm not ashamed to admit that instructions for this design are included in the literature that comes with the tool, but hey, I had to start somewhere right?

Making this little piece was quick and fun. I used 20 gauge Artistic Wire in Amethyst. This color is very subtly purple and just might be my new favorite wire tone. I liked the wire flower as is, but thought it needed a bit more, so I'm wrapping the petals with 28 gauge Artistic Wire in Non-Tarnish Silver and a combination of Crystal Moonlight, Crystal Copper, and Light Amethyst 2mm crystal rounds. I've only wrapped two of the four petals so far, but I'm going to finish the other two and add another layer of embellishment.

I'll show you the finished piece next week. Right now I'm on my way to NYC for the Soft Flex Company Glass Art and Bead Festival. If you're in the area, please stop by and say hello!

Ten-four Good Buddies!

2008-10-14T16:37:00.001-06:00

One of the many things I love about my dear friend Rebecca is her ability to throw a fabulous party. Last year she shared her birthday party with her fellow Libras and the term Luscious Libra was born.

Rebecca (looking lovely below during her first trip to Las Vegas) is the ultimate Luscious Libra. Her birthday is October 4th, but she'll never tell it like that. To Rebecca, and all who know her, her birthday is "ten-four good buddy!" See, she makes everything more fun!

Rebecca and I got together for birthday sushi last week and I gave her this bracelet. I wrapped aquamarine rondelles, a crystal bicone and a vintage Czech glass bead onto a natural brass filigree piece and topped off the two strands with a Bakelite button that I bought years ago in Seattle. Bracelets are always a little tricky unless you know the exact size of the recipient's wrist and I totally lucked out. It was such a treat to spend time with Rebecca, as always!

Two days later, I got to celebrate some more with Aslynn, another October 4th baby. Aslynn is my brother's girlfriend and I'm so enjoying getting to know her. She's smart and beautiful and, when she said she wanted a pedicure for her birthday, I was more than willing to tag along. There is nothing better than a Signature Pedi from Two Pairs! After the pampering, we met my mom for lunch at Bisetti's in Old Town. For desert, Aslynn got their homemade cheesecake...

... and, as usual, I got a cannoli. So yummy!

Friday Communique

2008-10-10T11:13:00.007-06:00

It's finally starting to feel like fall. The outside thermometer reads 43 degrees and the trees are all shades of brilliant. The weekend might bring our first snow of the season, so I'm enjoying the colors while I can - it's beautiful here in Colorado.

Oh, the plastic tub? That's the official lottery collection cup! As you can see, the lottery is green - the entry forms are strips cut from pages of my Get Fuzzy calendar (my sweet dad gifts me one every year) and the plastic tub is recycled from cotton candy eaten at my friend's carnival-themed birthday party.

Thank you all for participating. There are already over fifty entries! Impressive. Keep on commenting - let's make that cup overflow.

Also, please check out what some of my crew are talking about this week:

Sara Hardin (AKA SoftFlexGirl) is all about pink for breast cancer awareness: pink soft flex, pink cz's, pink bead stoppers & pink projects!

Kristen Fagan finds inspiration from one of Soft Flex Company's free online beading projects. Check out how she took the design idea and made it her own!

Have a lovely weekend. xoxo

Beads on Project Runway

2008-10-09T10:28:00.006-06:00

While Tim Gunn was visiting Korto last night on Project Runway, there was brief mention of Korto's beadwork. As soon as I heard it, I went straight to Bravo's website to look for more details. I couldn't find any information about Korto's jewelry creations, but I did find some pictures.

The necklaces look pretty fabulous. I love that Korto chose big, chunky beads and such a beautiful color palette. I wonder how she created the pendant she wore during Tim's visit (assuming that she did). I wish I could zoom in and see the pieces up close. Luckily, Bravo will replay the episode about a billion times between now and next week's finale, so I'll keep my eyes open and my finger on the pause button.

goodie box

2008-10-08T10:17:00.008-06:00

The UPS man is fast becoming my friend for two reasons: one, he smells really good (I don't know what cologne he wears, but it's nice) and two, he delivered this box of tools and wire from Soft Flex.

Included in the box:

a WigJig Olympus-Lite along with a Premium Peg set and a Spiral Maker Plus
a Wire Whacker
a Twist 'n' Curl
a Knitting Spool and Deluxe Wire Chain Drawplate
a Kumihimo Disk
Bead Mats (seriously, one can never have too many beading mats)
Artistic Wire in several gauges and colors

Wow! I don't know where to start, but I've come up with a plan. In order to keep myself on track with learning how to use all the fun tools, I'm going to post results of my experiments every Wednesday. Starting next week, look for a new-to-me technique, a fun wire design, or even instructions for a finished project.

Have you made projects with any (or all) of these tools? Do you have any tips to offer on how to use the tools or any favorite projects that you've made using them? If so, please feel free to share!

A little bit of swagger...

2008-10-06T15:47:00.020-06:00

Just received the cover for Create Jewelry: Glass - isn't it pretty? I love the design. To the women of the Interweave Press book department: nice work!

The Glass book is the fourth and final book in the Create Jewelry series. It will be available in March of 2009 and information will be up soon on Amazone and Interweave's site. Though I enjoyed making the projects for all four books, the Glass book was by far my favorite. I started this book not long after finishing the Stone book, so I was worried about being burned out. Luckily, I had so many different shapes, styles, and colors of glass beads to play with that my imagination went wild. And making over twenty projects was great therapy.

I'd also like to announce that I'm a DOY. What's that? A Designer of the Year for Beadwork magazine. DOY is a new feature for 2009 and I'm thrilled to be a part of it. I'll have a project in every issue of Beadwork in 2009 and my work will be featured with that of some amazing women: Jean Campbell, Lisa Kan, Marcia DeCoster, and Scarlett Lanson. In all honesty, I can't believe that I was asked, so I'm incredibly flattered. Here's a little preview of my project for the February/March issue - love that circular square stitch:

oh happy day!

2008-10-03T15:24:00.007-06:00

What did I discover during lunch today?

SEPHORA! I'm super excited. It will be five minutes from my house. FIVE MINUTES. Oh, it's going to be dangerous...

Also thrilling is the number of entries already in my lottery. A warm and fuzzy thanks to you all - you rock! Remember that every comment you leave equals one entry. Please be sure to post enough information so that I'll be able to contact you when you win.

Have a lovely weekend. xoxo

The luck of the draw.

2008-10-02T15:43:00.009-06:00

Have you read The Lottery by Shirley Jackson?

Back in high school my peers and I were divided into groups so that we could do class presentations covering the frightening tale. One group decided to hold their own version of the story's lottery, only the "winner" was to be pelted with water balloons instead of stones. Our teacher put a stop to it after the first balloon was tossed. Luckily, the classmate was a poor shot and only my pant leg got wet. Yes, I drew the black dot. Thankfully, my luck has improved since then.

Now I want to hold a lottery of my own. One with a happy ending. One where the winner gets a personalized copy of Create Jewelry: Stones:

AND a spool of Soft Flex Metallics Copper Color wire. How lucky is that?!

Want to win? All you have to do is leave your name in a comment on my blog sometime (or many times) between now and noon (mountain time) October 31st. I'll collect all the names and draw a winner and someone will get a Halloween treat!

Do you feel lucky?