Artisan Clay: Trunk Show at Off The Beading Path!

A great pair! Kristie's gorgeous clay beads at one of my fave bead shops ever! Off the Beading Path in Occoquan, Virginia...it's worth the trip to check out this bit of goodness: Artisan Clay: Trunk Show at Off The Beading Path!

Thinking About Fall Already...It's an ArtBLISS thing...

I got my registration in for the cool workshops being held up in Northern Virginia the weekend of September 25th & 26th.

If you're like me and could spend hours in B&N browsing the mixed media craft books, then you have to check out this event.  It's gonna be a good one!

Click here for more info:  ArtBLISS Workshops!

Vintage Treasures from Murphy's Basement

When I visit my hometown, Bedford, Pennsylvania, one of my principle activities is browsing antiques.  When I was little, there was a store downtown called G.C. Murphy's.  When we were old enough to walk across streets, it was a huge deal for my friend, Brandee, and I to walk to Murphy's and do some shopping.  I don't know what we were shopping for, since we didn't have any money, but it was a big adventure for us. 

Now, long after Murphy's was closed, the storefront has taken on a new life as Founder's Crossing.  A treasure trove of handcrafted goods, art, antiques and all sorts of interesting goodness.  One of the featured artists there, that I just have to mention, is Kevin Kutz.  His work captures the local spirit just perfectly.  

But, my fave part of the old Murphy's is the basement--which houses the antique selection.  It stretches about a half a block under the building and it's chock full of all sorts of interesting bits from Bedford's history along the Lincoln highway to my favorite, the jewelry cases.  My mom can hang with me for about an hour, but then she heads home to bake something up for when I come home all excited about some random old things I've found.  Cool-stuff-hunting and mom's cooking...makes for a perfect day, if you ask me.

Here are some finds from my recent visit home.  Check out these pinks!!!  I'm in love!!!

And, vintage lucite in oranges...I'm in heaven...and look at that clasp!!!

What am I gonna do with these?  I don't know!!!  haaaaaaaaaaaaaa  But, of course, they had to be mine!!!!

Big Kitty Boy Let Me Pick Some Winners!

Brando is in his normal position, in his normal place this morning...so, when I suggested that he might want to help out with the random selection of our greenie giveaway, he gave me the uh-can't-you-see-I'm-deeply-relaxed-right-now look. 

So, I took it upon myself to use the random number generator and came up with some goodness.  The greenie bead selections are going to:

36 - Rebecca - sharing beady love on her Songbeads blog--
she's recently celebrated some publishing, too!  In the U.K. magazine Beads and Beyond!

48 - Sylvia from WindyRiver - welcome back from vacation! 

and I'm so excited to have time to relax today and think beads and blogging that a little extra bit is going to go out to:

21- Cenya of Emerald Window who has some very fun photography going on!!!

I have been missing my bead blogging friends with the job transition, so I'm thrilled that we were able to get a little interaction this week.  THANK YOU for the overwhelming responses!

Hugs from the kitty boys and I in Virginia on his hot and sunny Sunday afternoon!!

Jen

(lover of exclamation points!  haaaaaaaaaaaaaa)

Nostalgia and Artbeads...and a Discount!

As an Artbeads.com Design Partner, I had a fun challenge with some pendant frames for summer designs.  I have been wanted to use ICE resin for ages, so I finally sat down and toughed it out.  I'm glad I did because I was able to present this pretty set to my Mom for her birthday in June.

Why is this post about nostalgia?  Because I used a piece of wallpaper from the house I grew up in for the focal.  My mom absolutely loved that house and put the wallpaper up herself, so when I came up on a piece of the paper while refinishing an old dresser from the hallway, I knew it would be perfect.

To add a little oomph to the resin, I used a few little embellishments to add some texture.  As you can see from a little shot of my workspace from that day, you'll see that I was all over the map with these pendant frames...it was a great experiment!  At Artbeads.com you can get all sorts of shapes, sizes, and finishes of pendants for resin or any other filling.

***As a bonus, I want to share a Savings Discount code for Artbeads.com that you can use until July 31, 2010:  enter SCF10P-ARTBEADS-0125 at checkout!***

The pendants used in the previous post, specifically referenced as from ArtBeads.com were provided as promotional gifts by for review or design partnership purposes.

A Greenie Bead Giveaway!

Big kitty boy, Brando, my one-eyed honey, and I were sitting around this afternoon thinking about  new projects.  I told him that I really wanted to blog this afternoon.  He says, "Why don't you celebrate your big magazine achievements with a giveaway?"  Great idea, buddy!

I decided to dig through my stash and go with a green theme because the pieces in Stringing have green influences.  I started the bunch below with simple cut aquamarine nuggets, turquoise-colored resin disks, and recycled glass that's featured in those necklaces.

Then, I just started addingfrom the green drawer.  Let's see...on the stone side, there's prehnite, turtle turquoise, dyed bright green magnesite, ocean jasper, crazy lace agate, and green garnet and probably some other bits.  I threw in some felted beads, recycled glass, vintage glass and Czech glass.  On the handmade side, there's a pretty Artisan Clay ceramic link, a recycled bottle ring from Art by the Case, a sparkly glass green bead from Linden Avenue Designs, and a funky recycled glass bead by HMB Studios.  Oh, and there are polymer clay pendants that I made, too.  :)

I broke everything into two little boxes as the pile got high, so I'll pick two winners.

Help me celebrate having seven pieces published this summer and win some greenie bead nerd goodness!!

 All you have to do is leave a comment and tell me what your favorite color is to work with.  I always tend towards orange, or I thought so, until I realized how much green I have!

I'll randomly select two names from my commentators, so if you don't have a blog, please leave your address so I can track you down to send you the goods. Plus, if you blog about the giveaway, leave me a comment and I'll give you another shot in the drawing!

I'll draw winners on Sunday, 18 July at noon, so I look forward to hearing from you!

Whoo hoo!!!

Pic Me Up: Rural with a Twist

Celebrating the good old country feeling of Pennsylvania and Virginia with a little bit of photo-editing fun.  I cannot believe how unproductive I can actually be!  haaaaaaaaa  So much for getting things done on this day off!  

A bit of bull up in Colonial Williamsburg

Neatly rolled wheat in the fields near my sister's house in Dutch Corner

More from Dutch Corner...usually these chickens are down in the road.

Wish me luck with getting the workshop set up this week.  Ms. Joanne from Bead Haven gave me some "challenge" beads to string so I have to get to work so she doesn't think I just took them and ran. Plus, I'm going to be teaching a class down there in a couple of weeks on designing asymmetrically; we're going to focus on a bracelet to keep it easy.  :)

Happy Summer!!!