Jump Rope for Heart!

Tomorrow, yep, TOMORROW, Lauren is participating in something at school called Jump Rope for Heart. It is a fundraiser for the American Heart Association. I just found out in the past hour or so that she could fundraise online instead of door to door!! She has a goal of raising $100 or more (she has $25 so far). If you would like to offer some support as she jump ropes the afternoon away tomorrow, PLEASE visit her funraiser site: Help Me Be A Hero. She only has until tomorrow (Tuesday Feb 7th) to reach her goal (oops, Momma should have read the paperwork sooner!). Any donation would be so greatly appreciated!! THANK YOU!!

CLICK HERE TO MAKE A DONATION!

YOO HOOO!!! Lauren met her goal in under an hour!!! So, we decided to raise her goal to $200!!
Keep the donations coming... it's for a good cause!

Remember to...

LOVE

LAUGH

DREAM

& CREATE

A couple of years ago, when teaching my first Bang A Rangs class, I designed a little bangle that had the word "CREATE" on the center focal bead. I decided that it is time to make this sweet thing an official Kab's Kit! (complete with full color instructions) I decided to expand the vocabulary to include some other sentiments too. Which led to the bangle name "Remember To...". I love it. And I'm gonna be sending Amy over at Zoozii's an email about making "ASPIRE" as a word tile for me.

What do you want to remember to do in your days?

A Caribbean Combination

When it comes to making kits, my slight tendencies towards OCD really comes in handy. I really have to be methodical about it 1) to keep my brain entertained when spending 15+ hours making the same thing over and over and 2) to make sure each and every kit really *is* one of a kind. I have really come to enjoy and look forward to creating the limited edition color combinations just for special teaching events. (You might remember the 2010 ArtBliss set and the 2011 set.)

The cleaning, sorting, organizing, stringing, and then playing goes a little something like this...





















Kit Hours Clocked
15 hours torching (plus an additional 15 hours of kiln time)
1 hour photographing tutorial
3 hours creating tutorial pdf
1 hour cleaning beads
2 hours sorting & photographing
1 hour editing images & blogging

23 hours total so far (38 hours counting kiln time)

Still To Do
Choose & cut to length wire, package kits, list them on my website, ship them to the cruise local, and teach the class.

Thankfully, this is the biggest kit I need to make (it has 9 beads per kit). The nine other kits I'd like to create shouldn't take nearly as long... I hope. I couldn't be happier with the way these colors came together. I picked Light Steel Gray (because I think steel drums when I think Caribbean), Turquoise (for the blue of the water), Sunburst Coral (for the sun fun, obviously), Periwinkle (because I thought it brought it all together), and Ivory (because white would have looked terrible). Students taking my Bang A Rangs class will each have one of these kits and the others will be available at the Bead Bazaar in the evenings. Naturally, if there are any left, I'll let y'all have at 'em in my shop.

Then... the fun part of this kind of photo shoot...

Heart on Hiatus



The Irondequoit Bay on my drive into the studio this morning.



Yes, I'm fine. Thank you for your emails of concern. My heart went on hiatus for a bit. And, I have to be true to myself. If I'm not feeling it, I'm not writing. I'm not sure it is ready to return yet either, but there are a few things going on that I want/need to share. Here it is... in my typical random style.

:: Last week I was a guest poster at Love My Art Jewelry. Hop over and check it out! And I invite you to take on the photo challenge I presented there... come on! I could use the doses of color.

:: I was paired with the awesome Barbara Bechtel for the 5th go around of the Bead Soup Blog Party. I'm excited about that. We have some things up our sleeves to make the exchange a bit more interesting. It'll be a challenge in more ways than one. You'll wanna stay tuned for that.

:: Speaking of the BSBP, SURPRISE!! I'm one of the contributors in Lori Anderson's book devoted to the exchange. I'm honored to be a part of it. Thank you , Lori! Click the link to see the cover art and a full list of contributors. It is a grand group of people. Look for it on newsstands Fall 2012.

:: I'm up to my eyeballs in preparations for the Bead Cruise! I have already made over 150 beads in the last 24 hours and that is just for ONE of the kits! I decided to make Light Steel Grey, Turquoise, Sunburst Coral, Transparent Ink, Clockwork Orange, and Ivory the color combination for the one of a kind, just for the cruisers, Bang Gals kit. I'll share pictures when the beads are done soaking and ready to make their debut.

:: When I get home from the Bead Cruise, I have something to share. I've kept it under wraps for a couple of months now. (NO, I am NOT preggers... don't you dare suggest such a thing!) I really really think you are going to like it.

Now, don't worry, I'm sure I will post loads more times between now and the Bead Cruise. I just thought I'd leave the last one there as a tease. If you are ever concerned again that I might have fallen off the face of the earth, I tweet... a lot (or rather at least a few times a day). So, you can follow me on Twitter (I'm @kabsconcepts) and see that I haven't been in a car accident, or that I haven't run away to Alaska in search of snow that lasts for more than 5 freaking minutes. Insert eyes rolling here... about the total lack of snow, not the Twitter thing.

ps... Monday I was feeling sad and bought myself flowers to cheer up the studio.

Aren't they a lovely shade of fuchsia-ish pinky red?

A Lion's Share of Brown

Back on Monday, when I was plotting out the week to come, I wrote "studio day" right under the number #19 in my agenda. When I woke up this morning, and started moving through the day, I quickly realized I had no idea what to do with myself once I got to the studio. And that is never a good sign about how the day will go. If my thoughts aren't organize and a plan not in place, I find myself frazzled and not at all productive.

I sent out a tweet this morning before heading out that said as much.

Quickly one friend replied saying "Maybe this could inspire you, my color loving friend: Day 19: More Than A Trillion Choices" How did I not know about 31 Days Of Adventure sooner? Today's prompt was right up my alley. Alas, in my quickly-turning-crankier-with-a-lack-of-focus mood, I couldn't settle on a favorite color to seek out today. That's when I decided to let the color gurus at Pantone do the picking for me. I quickly googled "Pantone Color Of The Day" and learned today's color is LION.

My eyes instantly started seeing beautiful, photo worthy, shades of brown every where. More than just the barren muddy brown of the landscape, I found it in my hair, in my home, in my yard, and in my studio. I was a hunter stalking Lion brown and, if I was an actual hunter, I would know a good phrase to say I slaughtered my prey to keep the hunting analogy going... but I think I best let the photos tell you.







Would someone please remind me of this exercise the next time I'm lost and needing some creative focus? It is a delightful way to spend the day when you are color hunting.

(Side note: Once I got to the studio, I was right. My lack of planning made for a very unproductive day but I really didn't mind so much.)

A Snappy Wednesday

I woke up this morning and decided to give my Snaptastic eCourse a little face lift. When students worked through the course back in October and November, new posts were presented daily. Until today, students visiting the eClassroom would see the last post first. That's no good for new student. So, I have worked my magic and now, all the posts are there waiting to be read by new students in the proper order. Beginning to end.

What does that mean for you?

If you haven't taken my eCourse, and were maybe waiting until I offered it again, you don't have to wait any longer! The entire course is there, waiting and ready, for you to work through. You can work through at your own pace, visiting daily or plowing through in a day. Once you have registered for Snaptastic, you will be invited to the classroom and you'll have unlimited access to the site. I'll never close it. So, if life gets in the way and you can't stop by for a day, a week, or even a month, that's totally okay. Come back any time. That also means ther is no start date or end date for the class. You could start today or you could start next week. It's all up to you!

Plus, as an added bonus, I am leaving comments open! So, you can continue to ask questions along the way. And, something very interesting happened as we worked through Snaptastic in October, the Q&A posts morphed into extra content posts.  There is a ton of new information that doesn't appear in the eBook. Things like white balance settings, shooting in aperture priority mode, adjusting exposure, bouncing light, cool add on products for your dslr, and a video of my photo editing technique have been added.

Are you wondering what other students thought about Snaptastic?

Erin of Erin Siegel Jewelry left this comment on the last post of the eCourse:

Thank you so much! I enjoyed your course and I learned a ton. I'm improving every time I pick up my camera, now with the information you've shared here. Before, I was just stuck doing the same thing because I just didn't know what else to do. Before, I didn't know what I was doing. Now, I understand what is going on! Again, thank you so much! I mentioned your e-course again on my blog tonight. http://erinsiegeljewelry.blogspot.com/2011/11/secret-stuff-and-snaptastic-photo.html

And Alice of Alice Dreaming had this to say:

Wow, it went so quickly! While I wasn't able to participate as much as I had wished, I want you to know I have learned a lot from this e-course. I'm a slow learner when it comes to anything technical, and when I do learn something, it is quickly forgotten if I don't use it often. I'm thankful I purchased the PDF form so I can refer back when I need to. Oh, and by the way, I'm so thankful for your demonstration of your natural light setup with the foam board etc. I've been using it with great success, and it's so easy to put up and take down.

Where I was once intimidated by all the bells and whistles of my camera, I am now less timid when it comes to taking it off automatic. And for that I thank you!

Come on, you know you want to take better pictures of your jewelry!

What are you waiting for?

Speechless

What a difference a few days makes. Friday you got a glimpse of the glee inducing snow fall that dropped a few fabulous inches on us and if you were here today, you would be soaked to the bone and knee deep in mud. It's near 50* and raining.

The other day I sat and watched Sense & Sensibility, all by my lonesome, while Ron took Lauren to gymnastics and the boys did their own things. There is one point in the movie where the youngest sister is told not to talk about certain things and if she can't think if something appropriate, she should discuss the weather. HA!

I don't know why I keep talking about weather these days.

*sigh*

I feel completely boring. I haven't anything to talk about. No exciting things to share with you. I've been in the studio experimenting but nothing worth showing yet. I'm all tra la la la la. If you asked me something, I'm sure I could carry on about it for ages. Left to my own devices though, I'm speechless.

So... for lack of a better topic... here is a bit of random...

:: Ron and I finished watching Season 5 of Dexter (on DVD from the library) and I'm wishing we had cable so I didn't have to wait a lifetime to see Season 6.
:: my new sweater has taken a turn (or I should say, pucker) for the worse and although I'll finish it, and wear it, I'm not knitting on it incessantly.
:: Andrew is pacing circles around me at the moment because we wants me to wash his swim stuff for school tomorrow.
:: I made blackberry cobbler on Sunday night, it was delightful.
:: OH! For those of you that have been waiting... I posted all my new RINGS! Go check them out!!
:: it took 3 wheelbarrows of wood to fill bin near the backdoor. It should last til Friday.
:: Lauren bought herself a locket at the craft store yesterday... she says she's always wanted one.
:: I'm getting back in the show saddle, but until it is for sure for sure, I'm not telling you which show, but I think you'll be excited.
:: I can't believe The Bead Cruise is right around the corner!!
:: I have no idea what we are going to have for dinner tonight.
:: I finally got my act together and I've taken advantage of wholesale discounts with Parawire. Kits will now have whole spools of wire in them!! I can't wait to see them kitted up.
:: I stink at the kids' math homework, I'm not gonna lie.
:: no, I haven't painted the ceiling yet, ugh.
:: I have my heart set on us installing wood countertops. I won't be able to survive without them, I'm sure of it.
:: I <3 Pinterest.

{ and then it finally snowed }

Oh my stars, I've been grinning all day! It snowed!! It finally snowed!!! It is magical stuff, those airy bits of frozenness. I swear, my coffee tasted better today, my fingers knit happilyer, and I feel completely wrapped in all things cozy. Gosh, I just love it.

I knew earlier in the week that I would be home today. I had a meeting scheduled (which was cancelled because of the white stuff) and planned on catching up on a few things I've been ignoring. I am, indeed, home but I am continuing to ignore what I was ignoring before and I went for a long walk in the snow instead. I rocked my hubby's 1980's moon boots and his giant parka of a coat, pulled on a few toasty hand knits and headed out. The roads were yet to be plowed and you couldn't see much more than about a 100ft ahead. The wind whipped hard on the return trek but I didn't care. I loved the feeling of the ice on my eyelashes and the pink burn I could feel in my cheeks. I smiled big and laughed. I am sure the very few cars that passed wondered why the heck that crazy person was laughing while walking along the side of the road.







As for the rest of the day, I've refilled that spotted mug with some lovely chai tea, the knitting is still calling me, I've added another log to the fire, and I'm looking forward to the kids getting home and sledding. Tonight we'll feast on pot roast and potatoes. Lauren will be flipping and tumbling at gymnastics (if it isn't cancelled too). I think we aught to rent some movies and pop some corn.

Here is to the weekend.