Nice Surprises

Happy 4th, y'all!  Everyone be safe and avoid saying things like, "Hold my beer and watch this!"   Don't drink and play with fire, people!  ;)

I had a couple of really fun surprises this week that I wanted to share.  One of the fabulous artists from our B'Sue Creative Group on Facebook, Marit Meijer, shared a beautiful piece she just finished.  She was inspired by all those cork pics I've been blogging about and decided to bling up a champagne cork.  Check it out!! 

I've been perusing Marit's blog and man oh man, does she have some gorgeous creations.   She blogs about her jewelry, scrapbooking, collage and all sorts of beautiful crafts.  She also makes a material list under each of the projects.  How cool is that?   Marit, I LOVE this necklace and you've taken the humble cork to an entirely new level.  Nice job!  And thank you for the shout out, I really appreciate it.  -r xoxo

The other nice surprise is in the form of a beautifully produced E-zine called Bead Chat, developed by Melinda Orr and Artisan Whimsy.   I'm featured, along with several of the talented members of the B'Sue Creative Group, on pages 43-44 with our chatelaine challenge and some of the kitchen sink pieces that we all love.  

Terry Endebrock, Joan Williams of lilruby and Catherine Shattuck of Cate's Emporium have their beautiful pieces featured as well!  Good job, ladies! 

I love the beachy creations that are featured in this month's issue and thank Brenda Sue for being so kind in submitting some of my work.  You are the best, Miss B'Sue! 

Click to view July 2013 BEAD Chat Magazine by Artisan Whimsy on GLOSSI.COM

Goodwill Surprise

Happy Monday, y'all.   I hope everyone is keeping cool.  We're um... not.   Unseasonably hot weather + no air conditioning = blech.   

On a much cooler note, a work colleague brought me a Goodwill jar o' goodies today.  Yippee!  It was crammed full of broken costume jewelry - some old, vintage and cool, some contemporary and feh, some fun and kitschy and some just plain fugly.  

I couldn't wait to get home and separate the different categories.  I love doing this, don't you?    I find it so relaxing and the piles sort of sorted themselves out this way:

Vintage, classic, nice patinas, grandma beads, rich colors, and bling.   

Pearls, pearls and more pearls.  Throw in some glass beads and silver and you have classic, quiet elegance. 

And now for something completely different.  Color!  Kitsch! Fun!  How awesome are those old plastic beads?  And why there are a dozen pairs of strawberry and yellow stripy earrings in this batch, we'll never know... but aren't they fun?  :) 

Aaaaaaand the stuff I couldn't get to because it was: 1.  A Tangled Mess or  2. Fugly.

All these goodies were crammed into a floral vase.  Thank you, E, for thinking of me and I can't wait to make something with all this fun!

Speaking of fun and kitschy, I made this thing yesterday.  I don't know what it is, I don't know why there's a lamb, but it makes me ridiculously happy for some odd reason. 

   -r xoxo

Meeting Robin Delargy

Happy Sunday, y'all!

I had the huge pleasure of meeting Robin Delargy at her booth this weekend at the Taste of Tacoma.   I've admired her work from the day I knew about it.  She's scary talented, funny, beautiful and a good egg to boot. 

Because of her high demand for shows this summer, her Etsy site, LooLoo's Box is on vacay for a few weeks, but check out her cool blog with exceptionally well done tutorials.    Robin's resin spiders are a signature for her and she has recently been added as a RAW artist.   I told you she was talented!  :D

Here are a few shots of her display at Taste: 

Wicked cool display of her spiders.  The web is made of chain. 

Beautiful and oh so wearable necklaces.

Fanciful wonderfulness!

I came away with this beeyooteefoo "dragonfly".  Isn't he wonderful?? 

I had such a wonderful time meeting this amazing woman and can't wait to see more wonderful creations.  -r xoxo