Face Locket

I made a locket this weekend and learned several new techniques. The locket was made in two pieces with the front of the piece stamped with a face. I dried the piece on Rizzo's, the cat's, ping pong ball to get the curved look for the front piece. The hardest part of this piece was making the little pieces to hang the piece from. I tried and tried to get these looking right. When I took the piece home, I silver blacked it to get it an old look and add depth to the piece. You can't really tell in this picture because of the flash on my camera. I also added a mirror,that Colleen gave me (thanks, Colleen) to the inside of the piece. It turned out great and I love how the front piece is open for interpretation. I'm wearing it today and when people see it they all have their own idea of what it is supposed to be. Sun goddess, mother nature, Anne Klein lion, you name it!

Shrinky Dinks Day

Well, the altered book group met up this weekend and all of us were sitting there wondering what project to take on next. Much to our delight and suprise Lateka had brought with her sheets that you can draw your own Shrinky Dinks on. It was great fun for those of us who remembered our younger Shrinking and Dinking days and also a great time for those of us who never had these lovely days. For the first time Angela watched as her creation shrank in the oven before her very eyes. Oh what fun! We also got to see Diane's pictures from Africa and a few homemade videos. They were beautiful.

Grape Street Cafe

Last night I had the pleasure of going to dinner at Grape Street Cafe with Betty, Jerry and June. We have started a new tradition of going to dinner once a month on the first Tuesday of the month. The more the merrier so if you would ever like to join us please let one of us know. We are meeting at different restaurants across Las Vegas to eat, drink and be merry! We share crafty ideas and learn more about life and each other. It is so much fun, especially with Jerry telling her exciting "love" stories. You go girl! We all ordered different dishes but by far my favorite was Jerry's dish of Eggplant Parmesan which was out of this world. The first time I ever went to this cafe was for a my friend Stacey's wedding reception. It was great fun, but had to much yummy wine to really remember it well, opps. I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone. It is so romantic and the food is great.

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 ;-)