Weekend Sewing

A big thanks to everyone to stopped by this weekend! The trunk show was slow most of the time, but did have a steady drip-drip-drip of people. I ended up taking a total of 42 pieces to the show (I made extra Mod Dots & the Gallery had two bracelets on hand). Of those, 10 pieces sold and the gallery kept another 7. A few people had "dibs" on designs that didn't sell... and that leaves me with 21 pieces to list on the website. Imagine that! A website update!! I haven't posted new designs in ages. I will be working on posting things later this afternoon. Keep an eye out for all the pretties.

I got out of the gallery at 4pm on Saturday with just enough time to run over to the fabric store. I bought a copy of Heather Ross's Weekend Sewing last week and I have been itching to make the "Yard Sale Skirt". The shop closed at 5pm, so I had to speed just a little bit. LOL. But I got there in time. I wanted to find a fabric that was light and soft, and something that would match my new Buttercup top that I am working on knitting. I was looking for a yellow-gray color combo and thought I had seen one the other day when I was getting Andrew's Birthday Quilt fat quarters, but apparently I was wrong. I settled instead on this yellow and green one. And hey, not only will they match Buttercup, but it matches my "Pucker" top too.

I shimmed up into one of the apple trees in our backyard to get a photo like the one on the cover of the book, but this just didn't quite cut it, lol. I think my skirt turned out like camouflage for my backyard. I really love it. It is just the right length. It is soft and swingy. And both Jacob and Ron told me I looked pretty yesterday. That makes me smile. There are a few other patterns I can't wait to try from the book too!

In other news: I have a post today over at Watch Me Create! I had a light bulb moment about how my desk reflects my state of mind. You can read more about it over there.

Something else happened when I had the light bulb go off about the desk thing... I realized that I have tons of "stuff" that I don't use... beads mostly. And more beads... and components too. From my days before glass and wire. We are going to have a big De-Stash Bash!! Mark your calenders!! On July 1st I am loading up my Bead Box with rock bottom prices. I want this stuff outta here. You know if I bought it once, it was because I thought it was awesome and would use it. Things are still awesome, I just have to admit I am not gonna use it. LOL.

Trunk Show... Ready Set Go

I made it through the first night of my trunk show. I thought you would like to see the display I have going on. These three pedistal things are smack in the center of the store. All I had to bring was my fabric and some busts to set the jewelry out on. The display showing the "Re-Inspired Junk Collection" is rather low. I would say it is at about knee level. The ladies in the store assure me it has never been a problem though. I decided to keep all the collection pieces together and up on the higher area are my "all glass" pieces.

I will be at the museum all afternoon, from noon to 4pm. I hope more of you will be by to visit me!!

Long Distance Phone Call

This photo is a little deceiving. I don't think you can tell much about this necklace from this one little picture. It is so cool! Those beads are hollow and BIG! I would say they are slightly smaller then ping pong balls, but not much smaller. And those coil, swirly links, they are about 3inches long (or 10inches of coil straightened out). It is a great summer length, about 22 inches. Lots of colors too, of course.

Anyone bored of jewelry? LOL. I AM!! Two solid weeks of new jewelry designs everyday and I am bored outta my skull with my blog. We need a little more life thrown in here. Which has been going on in the background. I have been knitting my fingers to the bones on my Buttercup top. Andrew is finishing up his baseball season with his last game on Friday night. And speaking of Andrew, I started picking out the fabrics for his birthday quilt. Remember, I made Lauren a birthday quilt and I said I wanted to make each kid one. Designing a quilt is fun and nerve wracking. What if my measurements are off?!? LOL. Oh, I signed me and the kids up at the YMCA for the summer. Should be fun! We spent the evening at a place called The Epicenter. They have electronic bikes, wii's, ant wall, indoor playground/swing set thing, and more. It was great!

Back to business though... Tonight is the night!! I will be at the Gallery Store inside the Memorial Art Gallery from 6-9pm. I was talking to Ron last night and told him just how nervous I am about this. People are going to get to see my new designs in person for the first time! What if they don't like them? Eeeekkkk. I think it will be fine. And I hope to see some of you there!!

A Shadow Box

Does anyone still have a shadow box? My Mom does. She used to have several all around the house. They were old printer's tray screwed to the wall and filled with bits and bobs. Mom is down to just four now, on one wall in her room. And I think it is mostly filled with Wades. I remember having to clean all those miniatures on job jar days when I was a kid. There were 100s of tiny little figures that needed dusting. It is no wonder I tend to be a neat freak about cleaning... I was trained that way, lol.

Anyway, the minute I put this necklace on... I thought about shadow boxes. I have no idea why, lol. Maybe it is the dark rich purples that reminded me shadows... then word association led to the next. Hmmmm. Who knows?

I didn't get a "beauty" shot of it before it went to the museum on Monday. So, this will have to do.

Big BOOOM

Oh My Stars... we heard the most intense crack of thunder last night. Ron swears it was the loudest he has ever heard in his life. You Moms know what that means! Yep, the kids slept in our room, lol. On top of that, Jacob has been vomiting since 9:30 last night. The last time I looked at the clock was around 3am. Ugh. And here it is, barely 7am, and I am up at facing the day. Nice to know things will be relaxed and I can lounge a bit while waiting for Thursday.

Check out my latest Mod Dot experiments! These beads are BIG! They are an inch and half in diameter. So bigger then a half dollar coin. I never get board of Mod Dots. It got me wondering just how long I have been making them. I remember my very first set of them, I used them in THIS BRACELET. I liked those so much, I made them into sprees for THIS BRACELET. And then I started experimenting with color for THIS BRACELET. Those were from the Fall of 2006... that is almost three years!! Oh oh... remember Rustic Dotism? Or how about Artist's Drop Cloth? Not to mention all the times they have shown up as Bead Box Beads.

*sigh* I love my Mod Dots.

Ring-A-Ling-A-Lings

Helloooo...

You guys remember the book Wire Style that I contributed on last year? Follow the link and scroll down and check out the last page of the "preview". You can see my "Ring A Ling" design on the back cover. It isn't on the back cover of the book sstore shelf copies but it is there online. Out of the blue, this design popped back in my head and I decided I had to do a few for this week's show.

I decided to have fun and do them up in BRIGHTS! Lots of brights! You know what is great about these? They fit any one. If you think it is too long, squeeze together those coil and you can shrink these up at least an inch. If you need something a little longer, pull those coils out and you can add length. Cool huh?

I am very excited to have met my goal of 30 new pieces fof this week's trunk show. Actually, I passed the goal! I am taking 32 pieces in this afternoon. Everything has been polished and tagged. Today is the day that I will drop things off to the gallery so they can input it all into their system. One of the nice things about this show is that I don't have to handle the transactions. They do it all! It does mean I have to give them a huge percentage of the sale price, but it all benefits the museum so that is good.

As a reminder: the show starts THURSDAY June 11th and I will be there from 6-9pm. I will be there FRIDAY from noon - 4pm. And again on SATURDAY from 10-4pm! I hope to see lots of you there.

Weekend Eye Candy

I got to go on a date with my hubby last night. Imagine that! We got some yummy dinner, and then stopped off at the store and bought 2 slices of cheese cake. We took our cake and went to the pier at Webster Park with a cup of mocha coffee to share. It was a much needed break and it was devine.

It Ain't All Junk

Now what kind of lampwork bead making, wire working, book writer would I be if I did all "junk" pieces for next week's show? LOL. Ya knew I was gonna make some all glass n' wire stuff, didn't ya?

Up top is a piece I am calling "Make Mine Mint". It is the same design as "Spring Into Action" but the colors are inspired by "simple bloom". It is so soft and light with the etched surface of the beads. Yep, they are all hollows. I have done lots of hollows lately, haven't I? I reworked the design slightly. I have some fine sterling silver rolo chain just small enough to fit the hole in the beads. These "springs" tend to pinch in just a bit with the weight of the beads against them. So, even though to string it the right way, eventually, there is beading line exposed at the ends. Yuck! I much rather see a small bit of exposed chain than exposed beading line. There is more vintage chain too. Actually it is a big chunky layered chain necklace that I found at an estate sale for $2. Nice.

Down below is "Cosmic Pop". Oh. My. Stars. I am in love with Dark Periwinkle and Coral Orange. I used to love all things turquoise and orange... but now it is all the dark periwinkle. I have really been enjoying my torch time and working with my glass. I am liking playing with the shape of the bead, and exaggerating the size of those shapes. So you'll be seeing lots more of these shapes showing up in my work. I am also suddenly addicted to making spheres. Yeah, spheres! Perfectly round little goodies, not the usual doughnut shaped beads. So more new designs with those coming soon too.

I have a confession to make. I have been creating in utter swill and chaos. I took photos of my desk yesterday and it was an embarrassing site to say the least. I am pretty sure there was mold growing in one of the coffee cups I had there... ew. So I spent a good hour cleaning things up. Oh how happy that makes my inner OCD-self "Carrie", lol. It was a long time coming. I actually had to have 16g wire overnighted because my desk was so messy that I didn't know I ran out!! It is so much easier to create in cleanliness then in chaos! After the desk cleaning, I set to making beads and after four straight hours, my kiln was over flowing. And when I opened the kiln this morning and pulled the beads out for cleaning.... eeeekkkkk... I squealed. I am loving them!! I will give you a hint... think BRIGHT... and think "Ring-A-Ling".

Pretty Pretty Flower Flower

LOL... no I didn't name this one. Lauren did! The other night she was trying to earn an extra night of dessert (we only do ice cream for dessert two nights a week). So she decided to clean her own closet. I was working on editing photos and taking too long in her opinion. She wanted me to see her clean closet and get her ice cream. I told her things would go faster if she helped.

I was editing this photo when she offered her services. I said "what should this one be called?" She said "Pretty Pretty Flower Flower". I said "okay". LOL. I was at a loss for what to call it so, her name works. I checked out her room and she did an awesome job cleaning her room!!

Blooming Bangle & Book Bummer

Those checking in today may notice that I took the sticky note off the top of the blog. Bad news. :( Turns out that book two isn't going to happen. The British publisher, Quarto, who asked me to write the synopsis and articles used to create presentation spreads, needed a US publisher to sign on to the project before it could go live. The US publisher decided to pass on the project. Without a US publisher, the project can't move forward. So it goes. I am really bummed about it. This book had such an awesome concept and I really think it would have done well. You can't win them all, right?

But as one door closes, another one opens. I don't know if I can share this yet, but what the heck! I have been asked to do a spot on PBS's Beads Baubles and Jewels!! HOW COOL IS THAT?!? Me, on TV!! LOL. As always, there is the chance that things could change, everything is always tentative until it happens. But I will let you know more details as it gets closer.

A huge thanks for all the wonderful comments on the jewelry this week!! I will keep things coming right up until the show on Thursday June 11th. Today's design is a bracelet for the "Re-Inspired Junk Collection". It is made much like my "Sandy Lanterns" bangle. The way I attached the hollow to the top allows it to pivot and spin on the top of that bloom. So fun, but the bangle/cuff style wire work keeps it tight to your wrist so it doesn't go any where. I worked in the studio for a few hours yesterday and made a bunch of hollow for even more new pieces!! Some turned out exactly as I hoped, some not so good. Oh well. I better get back to work.

Metallic Popper & Pillow Talk

While I was in Loveland, the bed I slept in had the BEST pillows. So soft and so smooshie. My head just sank right in and I was out like a light. In total there were NINE pillows on the bed. Six were decorative, and three for sleeping.

Now, my bed at home, if has six pillows in all. Three for me, three for Ron. Two of them are king size pillows for our king size bed, though they are far from fluffy. Two are flatter then pancakes and probably 1 years old. And the other two are somewhere in between the flat pancake and the far from fluffy. Each night when I climb into bed, I throw the "in between" pillow on the floor, and sleep on my flat pancake pillow and my king size, far from fluffy one. It works. I have tried using the pillows in a different order. Ya know, using the mid-sized one with the flat one or the mid-sized one with the king one. Those nights, I don't sleep so good.

So, yesterday I was wandering around Target. (One of my favorite things to do!) And I thought... "I should check out the pillows! Maybe I could get ones for our bed like the ones at the apartment in CO. Yes, Yes, Yes!". I wandered up and down the pillow aisle. There were firm ones, soft ones, smooshie ones, down ones, and down free ones. Prices ranged from $3.99 to $29.99. I instantly ruled out the firm ones... and the prices ruled out the down and down-free ones. That left me with soft ones or smooshie ones. I went with the $3.99 smooshie ones, LOL.

I was so excited to get home and try out the new pillows. Ron teased and said I should have gone to TJMaxx and looked for Nautica Pillows, lol. But no I was convinced, my smooshie $4 pillows would be great. Hello? Wouldn't anything be better than flat pancake pillows? With fresh clean pillow cases, I set to try to get to sleep at around 10pm last night.

At first, my head hit that smooshie pillow and it was cradled in all kinds of smooshiness. *sigh*

But then... slowly but surely... I became uncomfortable. I was punching and prodding the smoosh. I was twisting and turning. I tried different layer options too with the flat pancake pillow and then with the king size one. My new smooshie pillow wasn't smooshie, it was springy!! It was a firm pillow in disguise!! You put your head down and *think* that you are in a happy smooshie place but NO! It springs back and gets firm and soon you find yourself bashing your head against it tryng to find the smooshie spot again. DANG IT!

After a thirty minute fight where the smooshie pillow won, I was back to my king size far from fluffy pillow and the flat pancake one. Oh well... the hunt for the perfect (and inexpensive) pillow goes on.

As for today's jewelry!! This is "Metallic Popper", and new favorite. I wore this to a part on Sunday and I just love it. There are 72 small metallic silver plum rounds strung to hang the big popper pendant and they have an almost mirror like finish to them. The big lime green hollow is just the right contrasting color for the plum and pink. LOVE IT! And just a little more of the vintage enameled oval and round chain. *sweet*

Rusted Tea Party

Oh what a fun week this is going to be! I had a very productive weekend. Which means you are going to see a week FULL of new jewelry designs! The Glass Wear : Wear Glass Trunk Show is coming up fast and with all these new designs, I should be ready. My goal is 30 new pieces and right now I am at 8, so I am getting there. Up first... "Rusted Tea Party".

This new piece needs to come with a warning, if you are ticklish, wear it over a higher neckline. LOL. Those little petals are so tickly. The design is simple, there is a length of vintage paper clip style chain. From there is linked a second chain that is ovals and circles. The vintage floral components are wired on with sterling and there are tiny orange and copper green rounds. Oh and some teeny weenie four leaf flowers added with some bright jump rings.

I like the colors of this piece a lot. It maybe a bit "fall-ish", but who cares? I tried this one with a brown tee shirt I had layered with a blue tank top and it looked perfect. It wasn't out of place at all against the blue. *sigh* I love blue.

That Is Better

Thanks for all the well wished and commiserating yesterday. Sometimes ya just gotta complain, right? LOL. I am feeling better today... not 100%, but I am getting there. A little time in the studio helped a ton. I have been having fun spray painting some of the rusty vintage enameled pieces I have been collecting. I have been doing the spray painting right on the studio floor! I get these colorful little flowers here and there. How cool is that?

This piece is another from "Re-Inspired Junk Collection", this piece called "simple bloom". Yes, with lower cases, because it is simple, not stuffy, it doesn't want capitals. I love that bright coral orange hollow with it's little turquoise dots. *sigh* and it is all hanging from some recycled chain I took out of a necklace my Mom brought me from an estate sale. This is the perfect wear with anything summer necklace. It looks great with almost every color! (all but red, I think)

There are more where this one came from, and I will be sharing those next week. OH! I came up with a bracelet design using these too!! I can't wait to share those. Just need to wait for the spray paint to dry.

Combating Rotten-ness

Yesterday was a really crappy day. A just down right rotten miserable day. It was a lot of little things that just seemed to eat away at my mood. Homer eating the veggies, then Andrew waking up "sick" but wasn't really sick he was avoiding school (though I didn't figure it out until about noon), Lauren being sassy and mouthy, arguments with my mom... then with my dad in the afternoon too, feeling like Jacob was treating me like a doormat. Ugh.

I tried to take the couple of hours in the afternoon that I have kid-free and use it to improve my mood. Didn't work. I just sat, trying to finish off my book club book, and working on a little knitting. Double Ugh. The need to be working on laundry or doing dishes was nagging at the back of my thoughts.

Everyone has those days. The ones where nothing.goes.right. Sometimes those days can be overcome, but sometimes not. All I can do is wake up today, take a deep breath, and face today knowing it can be better then yesterday.

Homer & The Garden

There is a project that Ron and I have been working on since mid-April. I have held off on sharing it because I was waiting to have something in it to show. We woke up at an early 6am and the view out our bedroom window had us very vexed. So, it is time to show the project and get some help from you experts out in the world.

RAISED BED GARDENS!!!



I know, not very excited to some, but it us, this is project has been a long time coming and it is very very exciting. We have always had a veggie garden. Though, in the past, it hasn't been much more then a small tilled plot with a half dozen or so plants. The new house gave us the opportunity to change all that.

Our yard is a full acre and although we would like it to be all lush and green, there is a large area what is dead and brown. In 2000, when an addition was put on the old house, they brought in a ton of "fill" to raise the level of the yard. Instead of bringing in "clean fill", they basically put a parking lot under ground. It is all the gravel and asphalt leeching into the ground killing the grass (and the two big trees that used to call the backyard home).



A big dead spot is PERFECT for raised beds!! Ron did tons of research, took ques from our friends Lindsey & Lucas that have beautiful raised bed gardens, looked at photos on flickr and videos on PBS.com. He debated if we would use cedar or pine for the wood. Once we heard that cedar would be about $50 a board and we needed 12+ boards, it was decided that the $5 pine would be the way to go, lol. And NO, not pressure treated, that would be putting chemicals into the soil... not good.

It was a really brisk cold day when we set to building the beds. The weekend before Easter, if I recall correctly. The sun was out, but oh how we shivered! The fill for the gardens is free leaf mulch put out by our town every spring. This isn't mulch in the classic bark like sense that you are used to. Leaf mulch is rich and black, and so much better then dirt. It took 8 truck loads (Ron filling his truck each night after work) to fill the beds. And they could probably use more!



We set to trying to grow plants from seeds. And frankly, we suck at it. Our tomatoes are tiny, our onions are so fine their stalks look like strands of hair, lol, and our peppers barely came out of the soil. Now, I know some things are easier to grow then others, but come on. LOL. We put the plants in the beds anyway, and added a few green house bought ones as well. Moving from the east to west in the garden we have planted... strawberries (a whole square bed to themselves), about a dozen tomatoes, onions, peppers, carrots, peas, beans, broccoli, eggplant, squash, cucumber, and zucchini. My Mom has taken over one of the beds too. So add to that list... spinach, radishes (yuck!), beats, more tomatoes, more peas, more beans, and other things I can't remember.



Now... our veggies are in jeopardy!! Homer, the groundhog, is eating everything!! Homer lives under the shed in the neighbor's yard. We see him out in the yard every couple of days. He is a bold groundhog, coming up close to the house, yet he races away with so much as a click of the door unlocking. Damn thing. GRRRR!!!! He has eaten all Mom's peas and beans... he has taken an eggplant... and chewed up the tops of the tomatoes too. We started researching what to do. Some say mothballs, but that is illegal because it contains a known carcinogenic (who wants that next to their veggies anyway), some say animal urine, Lindsey says Milorganite, I have read about electric fences, and Mom got these little gray-my-bobs that are supposed to work (but don't).



Lemme hear it... what has worked for you gardeners of the blog reading world?!? Lots more photos in my Flickr Photostream!!

And then... I was home.

I have been home since Saturday, but having a "then I was home post" seems only natural after the posts about my Loveland trip. Doesn't it? Thank heavens for good weather on the flights home. I had to get up at 4am to make a 7:30 am flight out of Denver (hour drive and security made for the early morning, lol). The ride was beautiful... smooth and nausea-inducing-free. Nice.

I was greeted at the airport with flowers and chocolate lollipops and peanut brittle. It was great! And so thoughtful. Ron doesn't usually do things like that, and it really made me feel the love. And I hadn't really noticed that I was coming home to a holiday weekend. It was the perfect end to the week. We went to see friends at a bbq on Sunday evening, and yesterday was spent relaxing on the deck in the sun with corn on the cob and new knitting project.



That pile of corn is a true right of passage around here. When I was little, the kids (meaning me and my sister) always, ALWAYS, had to shuck the corn. My dad even gave us a name... shuck-a-butt kids, lol. The name has now been passed down to my kids, Lauren in particular. I didn't have to shuck single ear! She did the whole dozen. :)

My tools and wire are, sadly, still in Colorado. They should be here later in the week though. I will be scrambling to be ready for my trunk show at the Memorial Art Gallery. Stay tuned for lots of jewelry eye candy in the coming days!!

Adventures in Loveland... Part 3

Anyone who knows me well (aka my family) will tell you, I am not one to travel off the beaten path. I am a creature of habit and when I don't follow my habits, I get a little anxious. When I go to a resturant for the first time, I am always biting my nails not knowing what to order. Then, once I find something I like, I will order it every time I go there, nothing else. I really only know a single route to any given place, and that is the road I take. You know what I mean? Anyway, it is something I am working on.

While chatting in the photo studio with Joe, we got on the subject of fine arts students. I mentioned that one of my uncles has a degree in Fine Art from Nazarath College. He asked what he "does", and I told him sculpture. Joe said "well, don't ya know, Loveland happens to be one of the sculpture capitals of the world!" Huh what? Loveland? What are you talking about?



Turns out Loveland/Ft. Collins really are famous for sculptures. There is a huge sculptural event every year that basically shuts the cities down. And just a couple of turns off the beaten path I was taking everyday was a place called "Bensen Park Sculptural Garden". The link takes you to a cool site that shows a map of the park, you can float your mouse over the numbers and a photo of the sculpture in that spot will appear. More then 120 pieces in one little park!

We wrapped up shooting early on Friday and I found myself with a little time on my hands. Not enough time to go up into the mountains (an adventure I wanted to take with my friend Debbie on Thursday but the weather was uncooperative), but enough to take a little detour. I don't think y'all realize what a huge step that is for me! And I truly "enjoyed the moment".



There are lots more photos from Benson Park in my Flickr photostream. Go check them out!

Another "playing" highlight of my business trip was getting to see an old friend. She isn't old, lol... but our friendship is. Debbie and I have known each other since 7th grade(that would be circa 1990). We had sleep overs, her family introduced me to having popcorn with pizza, we always made cookies when we were at her house, and once, we did a movie about Anne Frank in her living room with her nine brothers and sisters for an english project. When I got a car, we drove to school together everyday. After our weddings we lost touch. We have sent emails now and then, but life with kids makes it tough. You know I have three, and she has four herself (ages 6, 5, and twins almost 3). Once she moved to Colorado we really really lost touch.

As fate would have it... Debbie lives just about 20mins from where I was in staying!! She met me at the apartment the first night in Loveland and we headed out for a bit to each and lots of chatting. Thursday while I was there was her birthday! And we hung out in her kitchen cooking and chatting like we have never been apart. LOL... and I answered her question "was high school really as bad as I remember it?" with a resounding "YES" and she said "I knew I would get an honest answer from you!!" Oh how I wish we were closer. I would love having her and her crew over for backyard picnics and wine nights in the winter (or spring or summer or fall for that matter). I am sad to have left her there!! But hopefully, she will be here in NY next year visiting family and I can return the favor of a night of good food, lots of chatting, and good times.

Adventures in Loveland... Part 2

It is early Friday morning here in CO, it's barely 7am. I have been up since about 5:30 "working" on the computer at some behind the scenes stuff for book #2. I am trying to stay on NY time, which means it is really almost 9am and a lazy bum, but oh well. Today is the last day of shooting and WOW! so much to tell you all about.

First, by the hits on my Flickr photos, lol, I can tell y'all couldn't wait to see what was going down at the photo studio. I have so many things I want to remember to tell you, now I don't know where to begin! Hmmm... I will start with the man behind the lens... Joe Coca. Such a cool old guy, lol. I think he would be very comfortable sitting on the beach with Jimmy Buffet as he is working behind a camera. There is such a gentle laid back quality to him. I am loving getting to work with him. The photo above is the very unassuming entry to his studio. It was a grocery store in the 19 teens. And now it is a studio, with his wife and him living in the flat above the store. An absolute dream of a spot if you ask me.



Behind that front door is this. A HUGE room with vaulted ceilings, blocked out light, more camera equipment then I have ever seen in my life, and a gigantic MAC screen. Too cool, huh?

Wednesday was the first day of shooting. I created a "shot list" several weeks ago outlining each and every photo we would take for my book. When I counted them up there was 264, if memory serves me. We end up taking 4-5 of each shot so the art director as lots of angles and options to choose from. Do the math and we have literally taken more than 1000 photos.

It wasn't a task we jumped right into though! The morning was relaxed, I unpacked all my tools and all the jewelry, piece by piece. And as I was unpacking, editors from Interweave arrived. I got to meet my art director, my acquisitions editor, and the assistant editor (Rebecca, who has spent the whole shoot with me!). All the ladies are great, and so good at what they do. The first task was deciding which color background to shoot the process shots against. It sounds like an easy thing right? WRONG! It took almost two hours! The feel of the book is going to be very playful, fun, and fresh, so no dark serious colors. I have very pale skin, so anything too like and my flesh tones look weird.



The debate over which background ended with the one in this photo. A very neutral gray, that isn't too blue and isn't too yellow. Nice. The next debate was the angle to shoot from and how much "hands" to show. My art director hates "fleshy books" where when you flip through the pages all you see is skin. My acquisitions editor likes hands and thinks it is important to have them to show how to use the tools and do the technique. As we took each photo we kept those two points in mind... as little flesh as possible while showing the technique as clearly as possible. *sigh* it is so much harder then it sounds.

Once all the details were worked out we just started ticking things off the shot list. We worked through the entire "basics" section, all the earrings, and a couple of the bracelets the first day. Yesterday, Thursday, we finished up all the bracelets, all the necklaces, and did drop outs. Drop outs are images of the jewelry on a plain white background, so photo peps can lasso the object and drop it down on the finished page so it looks like it is floating. There was a point yesterday afternoon where I was just beaming with pride as I looked at Joe's computer screen and saw these huge images of my jewelry looking just absolutely amazing. It is something I highly recommend. If you can ever find a way to swing it, have a professional take some images of your work. It will give you a whole new perspective on what you are creating.



This last shot is just to make y'all jealous... look at all my pretty wire! I ordered this before I left and oh rainbows make me happy. LOL. We will be using this box of goodies today to shoot the "color wheel" section of the book and then it is on to the bits and bobs about tools 'n stuff.

WOW! That is a long post about the photo shoot... it made me tired just thinking about all the work we have done. I haven't kept 9-5 hours like this in years! I best hop in the shower and get the morning moving so I am not late for "work". More coming soon on the "playing" I have done in Loveland. All work and no play would make for a very boring trip dontcha think?

Adventures in Loveland... Part 1

*sigh* yes... I am here. LOL. First of all, before I dive into the tales of Loveland, my internet access is hit and miss. So if you are waiting for an email from me, sorry, updating the ole blog won out. But I will get to emails when I can, and if you suddenly don't hear from me until Sunday, it is because of the lack of internet.

Anywho. YES! I am here. On my first ever "business" trip. It truly is wild. I think being distracted by working on prep stuff for book number two kept me from stressing and working myself up about this experience. I didn't have time to nit pick each and every aspect of what might happen. I didn't picture what people would be like, I didn't worry about finding my way here and there, I didn't want to know what would happen before it happened... I am just sort of being in the moment. I am experiencing everything as it comes. And it all feels really *right*. Like this is what I am supposed to be doing.

The flight sucked getting here, lol... so don't think I am all rays of hope and sunshine. I am dreading getting back on the plane. Denver is a very bumpy city to fly over. Add a sudden storm off the mountains and 30 minutes of circling over Nebraska and you have a very ill, cold sweating, green sweater wearing passenger. I held it together though and didn't actually vomit on the two women on either side of me hogging the arm rests. No, I just tried to breathe and get the hell off that plane as fast as I could.



The views here are s.p.e.c.t.a.c.u.l.a.r. I mean, seriously, beautiful. I have lived in NY, and Florida, and Texas, but never seen mountains like these. We have the Adirondacks in NY, but they ain't nothing next to these fellas. I had about an hour drive from the Denver Airport to the Interweave apartment in Loveland. OH MY STARS!!! The expressways!! The speed limit is 75...with everyone going at least 80. I am used to 55 in Rochester, 65 at the most. These people are maniacs. LOL. But AH, the view as you speed through the state! I don't know why people are in such a hurry, I could go 30 the whole way and not mind one bit while starring out the window. :)



So, with mountains out the car window on my left... there was a rainbow out the window on my right. What a treat after the storm that had us circling for so long!! Wish I could take better 'while driving' pictures, but alas, my camera sucks at candids like these. I will just have to cherish the memory of a pretty pop of a rainbow. Hey, maybe I should write it in my Token journal when I get home! A token of love from Mother Nature. LOL.



Here is where I am staying! A cute little one bedroom apartment that Interweave has for authors (and others) that come in for various publishing stuff. It is cute, yeah, like I said, lol. (I think I feel a little jet lagged.) No tv though, and I already mentioned the spotty internet. Makes for a boring time all by my onsie, but I did have a visit with a good friend from high school my first night!! More on her later in the week though.

Up tomorrow is Part 2... all about my first day at the photo studio! If you can't wait to see, just hop on over to my Flickr stream and check out the photos I posted.

Finished Knit, A Dance, A Birthday & A Cabinet

Look! I finished my "Pucker" top this weekend! Woohoo. I was determined to get it done in time to wear on my trip with week. 15 inches of very boring stockinette stitching nearly killed me, but I am so glad I survived. I love how it turned out. I added a couple inches of length since I am tall, but I think it could still use a few more. Oh well. It is done. There is another photo over on Flickr. Just click the image above and pop on over to scroll through my photostream.

What else from this weekend? LOL... I know! My little baby boy went to his first school dance! Jacob went to the 6th grade dance on Friday night. And boy did I ever get lectured about "how things are" today. I had to be okay with him wearing ripped jeans and a short sleeve button up plaid shirt (a new request of his clothing wise, which my dad says is very late 60's and has a name but I can't remember). It was so cute. I wish I could share the high he came out of that gym on. He was a dancing fool that knew no embarrassment. He told me he was in the center of a circle break dancing. He is crazy. LOL, but I think it is awesome that he is so self confident.

OH, it was my hubby's birthday too. My old man it now 39. It was a quiet day, we had breakfast with his parents in the morning, and a cookout with my parents in the evening. In between we just hung out in the backyard burning brush. He said it was a good day.

Check out the photo below. It is the newest piece I have "thrifted" for the house. I picked it up at a local estate sale. I am told it is an "Empire Style" cabinet/hutch. It is solid oak and has a beautiful crackle to whatever shellac they put on the surface of the wood. There is a label on the back that says "CM Bott Furniture Company Incorporated, Makers of Dining Room Furniture, East Ferry St and Erie RR, Buffalo NY" and then there is a blank area with an address typed in that I can't make out. I have googled and googled trying to find out more but I am coming up short. I paid $225 for it and I am wondering if I got my money's worth... what is it really worth?

Alrighty, time to get this day moving. Tomorrow I leave for Loveland CO, to the photo studio of Interweave Press for a week long photoshoot for my book!! Which, has an official title, by the way!! I don't know if I can announce it yet, I will let you know when I can. I am going to bring my laptop and camera to blog along the way. See you from the road.

GO VOTE!!

YEE HAW!! CHECK IT OUT!! My "Springs Into Action" necklace has been selected as a finalist in the BEAD STAR competition.

Here is what you need to do:

Click the link above.
Go to VOTE NOW!
Input your email address and vote... My piece is #19 in the "Glass" category.

If I get the most votes, you get to have a tutorial for how to make one of these for yourself!! Yep, all the winning pieces are hen published with step by step directions in the Bead Star Magazine.

Now go vote!!

Beads & Some Stuff

Okay... I have settled down now. My presentation is turned in to one publisher, and my packages are ready to be mailed to the other one. *sigh* See, I need you send all my tools and wire and "stuff" to Interweave Press for next week's photo shoot, but at the same time, I was working on a piece to put into a presentation for the new book. Can make my jewelry with out tools, so everything suddenly came down to the wire yesterday. But things have settled now and I can take it easy until Tuesday!!

What do you think of this little number? Different huh? I can't tel you too much about it without giving away details that can't yet be revealed, but what I can say it that I wanted to make an easy project that should how you could use a bunch of beads with plain ol' dots on 'em. Then I needed to figure out a creative way to photograph it! Yesterday poured for most of the day which made for crappy lighting but oh well, I did the best I could. I though it would be interesting to "frame" the necklace, literally. So I grabbed an empty frame off the wall, set the timer, and stood still. LOL... try it sometime, it's interesting! LOL

I am tuning out for the weekend. My Ronnie is turning 39 on Sunday so some celebrating is in order! See you on Monday :)

In A Bit Of A Pinch

Okay... I am in the throws of a minor panic attack. I lost the week somewhere and I need it back!! I ended up staying up past midnight making beads for a last minute project for the presentation of the new book. And I was up at 6am to working things for next week's photoshoot at Interweave Press. I know if I can just breathe, I can get it all done.

Why did I agree to work on two books at once? LOL.