Easter

To me Easter means spring, and boy are we having great spring weather. I love it. It just makes my step lighter and makes me feel happy. When I am on my walk people are out and chatting to each other. What a great thing. We're off to the cottage for the weekend and then on Sunday I am off to Seattle for work. Have a great spring everyone!!

Fashion Show

Yesterday was Zoe's last day in her modeling course at the Sutherland Modeling school. The class ended with all students giving a fashion show. It was fun to watch and it made me acutely aware of how my little girl is becoming a confident young woman. She was smiling and having so much fun. With her high heels on and standing next to me, she now looks down on me. We differ by about a foot! It is so great to see that life is exciting and full of opportunities to be explored and enjoyed. It was a great experience.

Vintage aged brass findings

For the beaders among you, I heard of and now have ordered from http://www.brassbouquet.com/
They are a great source for beautiful findings and much better priced than Vintaj. For example, check out these great bead caps. They are full of detail and just excellent!

A great week in Park City, Utah

We just came back from a great week in Park City, Utah. What a beautiful place. The weather was outstanding, sunny and warm, and yet snow because of the altitude. Great skiing, fun time with John and Zoe and now exhausted. I need vacation!

It is a small world. Zoe actually met her friend there by coincidence! Here they are in the Olympic Oval where the speed-skating was held in 2002

TGIF....

Well, the week has gone by soooo fast. I have been trying to stay in the spirit of Adorm me, but it is difficult when work is just so busy. I am also getting ready to accompany John on his trip to Salt Lake City for his work. Zoe and I will be staying in Park City and ski a little, but also hang out. Mother-daughter R&R. I look forward to it!

And finally my last project

One of the last project to share with you was the viking knit class with Diana Frey. Viking knit is an old and traditional way of making chains. It looks very difficult and it really isn't. It is just time-consuming but enjoyable to do. Take a look! The decorated one is from Diana. I still have to complete mine.

I also took a class with Melanie Schow. It was lots of wire work and it endedup quite a cool bead.

More Adorn me Houston!

Some additional classes I took were with Janice Berkebile and one with Richard Salley. In Janice's class, we made some great and regal looking beads. We used copper and silver and you can really let your imagibnation go wild. What fun that was! Here is a sample.

And Richard's class was about how to make a locket. We etched the copper after having cut it out. Then used a washer as a backpiece and wired to create hinges and solidify the entire piece so it was sturdy. This too was so much fun, although I needed a massage after to relax my shoulders!

Pictures Adorn me...

So here are some pictures from my outing to Houston. I am already back at work but still feel the afterglow from Adorn me. It was so much fun and I hope they repeat it next year. I met some wonderful new people and finally met some others whose blog I have been following. Diane Frey, Ricky Shumacher, Diane Cook, just such wonderful women. I really hope we stay in touch and will meet again.

Here are the enamel beads I made on day 1 with Melissa Manley. I cut the copper circles, shaped them and used enamel to get the pretty shades on them. Then the final step was to rivet a tube in the centre so you can thread a string or necklace through it. It is tricky as the enamel is very fragile and it is easy to damage it.... The enameling itself is done with a torch and not in a kiln. So much easier. Not sure if I will use this a lot, but the technique of making the beads was very useful and lots of fun!

The following day was a class with Diana Frey. She is not just very talented a great person, she is also the most organized and coordinated artist I have ever met. Take a look at her instruction package. It is almost too pretty to open. She usually adds peanut butter M&Ms but they didn't match the colours she has used..... We made a choker out of brass wire as a skeleton and then wired all kinds of pretty beads and items through it. Isn't it just so pretty? And, the best of all, I got to buy one of Diana's pieces. Sally Jean Alexander had given her the glass bead and she worked it into the necklace. I just LOVE it!! It is the olive green one. I made the blue and turquoise one.

More tomorrow.....

Adorn me, day 6

Wow, the week has flown by. Today is day 6 and I am taking my last class with Richard Salley. Wait until you see what I have made so far. I don't have my laptop and cannot upoload pictures from the hotel business centre so I will do it when I come back. Gotto go to class now....

Adorn me, Day 2

What fun!!! It is so neat to see everyone's brain here working to see what they can make with the new information provided in the classes. Creativity galore. My first class was with Melissa Manley on making metal beads and then enamelling them. I will upload pictures when I am home. So much fun. The techniques are ones I can use in many different ways and the colours of the enamel are so luscious. Melissa is a great instructor and I learned a great deal. And of course I met some new people whose blog I have been following. Diana Frey is a wonderful and kind person and so talented. Her friend Ricky Shumacher, whose blog I discovered last week sat next to me in class and I very much enjoyed her company. At night I went to Hobby Lobby and Anthropology and now need to go back to the bank... :)

Adorn me, Day 1

Well, I am here. I made it past customs, security, a stewardess not showing up for work, and thus a lengthy delay while they found one who did want to fly.... The event is at the Embassy Suites in Houston. It is a good hotel for this sort of thing. The event is much smaller than Art and Soul in Portland but the same level of excitement and enthusiasm. It started off last night with an inspirational speaker about how to make time so you actually do work on what you love to do. Interesting speech. She is an "creative coach". Talk about seizing an opportunity! Our extraordinary mixed up media artist club is a true example of how to ensure there is time in out lives for creative outlet. I would love to get together again once a month for "parallel play". Anyone interested? the evening also allowed the teachers to show off their class amples. Mouthwatering!!!!

Today I am going to learn enameling copper beads. Stay tuned!!