Going in Circles

I made this piece on Saturday and was not at all happy with it. My circles were misshaped. Colleen just kept saying just wait until you get it all put together. Well on my way to get my hair done I stopped at Discount Beads and got the rest of the materials to finish the project (chain, beads and clasp). On Sunday I put the whole thing together and was suprised at how much I actually liked it. I did enjoy learing how to put metal circles together while still in the clay form and firing them in a way that they don't stick together. I am wearing it today. It has that abstract look to it. Sometimes you just have to accept a little imprefection, which is a hard lesson for me to learn.

General Bead

When I looked up bead stores to go to in San Francisco General Bead came up. They have an on-line store and everyone knows them for their wholesale prices. The store is very interesting to say the least. You walk in and are greeted by bright colored walls that are filled with interesting movie posters, pictures and of course items for sale. The downstairs area is filled with crystals, chain and beading supplies. Upstairs is where I found the action. They literally have everything! It is filled with beads and weird pictures of two cats holding each other everywhere. On the way down the stairs you can even read a sign that says Bootsy says pay for your items that you purchased upstairs before going downstairs. Bootsy is one of their cats. Overall, it is a very magical store and that of course includes the people. The guy who waited on me was straight from the 60's complete with long gray hair and green army jacket. He also frequently used the words "cool" and "dude". He was really nice and even rounded the price of my items down for me. I wish I lived in San Fran so that I could take classes here as they offer many. If you enjoy chatting with interesting people and looking at a huge selection of beads and bling this is the place for you. It's not in the best neighborhood though so it's better to go during the day. Check out their website at genbead.com!

Flowers in Bloom and Skies So Blue...

The trip to San Francisco was fun, even if it was for work. I was able to travel to many of the cities locations. This picture was taken in the Botanical Garden next to Golden Gate Bridge State Park next to the Japanese Tea Garden. I was able to see the Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39, Chinatown, Cow Hollow home of the Octagon House (don't ask), the Exploratorium, the Bush Man, Ghiradelli Square,Flax Art Store (thanks Cody), eat at Blondie's Pizza, sip Jasmine tea in the Japanese Tea Garden, and ride a trolley car. The weirdest experience I had was at the Bead Store called General Bead. Check back later to hear all about it as it truly deserves a post of it's own. In case my boss is reading this I promise I went to the conference sessions too =)

Rhonda Rocks!

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone! Last night I had the privelege of teaching my class over at CSN. A few students brought in V-Day treats but this one really stood out. Rhonda is a culinary arts major who is trying to overcome her fear of decorating wedding cakes. She made everyone in the entire class (20) their own individual cupcake or should I just say mini cake. Each one was unique and decorated differently. I thought it was such a work of art that I decided to take it home and take pictures of it before digging in. The cake was moist with fresh strawberries and bannans inside. How could it possibly get any better, oh yeah the frosting, Yum Yum. Thanks so much Rhonda and just so you know she does catering ;-)

All Wired Up Earrings

So I've never claimed to be great at taking photos especially of jewelry. For some reason I can never seem to get the pictures without some kind of glare. These were two pairs of earrings that I made at Colleen's house in the All Wired Up class. It was a lot of fun to make these. The pearl pair, which I made second, match my pearl bracelet that I made a while ago so I now have a set! I was very pleased at how both of these turned out. I got to practice my wire wrapping technique and learn how to bend 14 gauge wire.

Altered Book Divas At It Again

We are still going strong and will be meeting again on Sunday, March 9th at my house this time if anyone new would like to join in on the fun. The nuts page is the page that I did in Angela's "Food for Thought" altered book. I was so pleased that you could read the GO NUTS from left to right and up and down. I know I'm a total geek. It's the small things in life...The arms race page is the one that Diane did in my ity bity book. To see Angela's pages that she did in Diane's book visist her blog at http://love2learn.typepad.com/

Valentine Fun

Last night we met up at Angela's house for another round of the Altered Book Divas group. Much to my suprise and delight, Angela had Valentine baskets made up of everything you need to make Valentine Day cards. These are the cards that were crafted by Angela, Diane and myself. Diane's ladybug card was so very fun and cute too. I know her sister will love it!

Bling It On!

This was the class that Mandy taught for us at Colleen's House. We used Swarovski crystals and each made two keychains. The first one I made was the green one where we learned how to glue and set the crystals on an object. The second keychain was the heart one. It was really hard to make this heart pattern on the keychain. I don't think my crystals were quite small enough to make a good design but oh well, I still love them. I even got a couple of the perfect positioners the other day at Bead Haven just to have on hand in case I feel the need to bling some more. Thanks Mandy,you were a great teacher!