Is this thing on?

tap, tap, tap...

It's been awhile. I had forgotten my password for a long time. Last night I finally figured out how to reset it. Duh.

Now I have no excuse for not blogging. I'm almost done with my studio set up. I'll post photos of it when I'm done. I'm going to get the rest of my Jet Max cubes from Craft Warehouse today. I won a $250 gift certificate from them last week. That's perfect timing, since the Jet Max cubes are on sale through this Sunday. They will be great for storing my paper. They'll go in the walk-in closet.

'Bye for now,
CindyB

Artfest change

I swapped my Saturday class, which was Funky Wallpaper People, with someone who had Creative Characters with Karen O'Brien. I think in my pre-registration frenzy, I messed up my preferred order of classes. Creative Characters is really what I need. Anahata class would have been wonderful, too, but I just don't have the space to work that big. I want to work more on painting in collage, so Karen's class will be perfect. My trading partner and I are both thrilled.

I'm in the throes of getting ready for Art and Soul. I have three jewelry classes and three collage classes. I'm only staying in Portland for two nights, because it's just too hard on my son when I'm gone too long. And, Wednesday is his birthday. I can't be gone for that evening. I'll post photos when I get back.

Artfest!

I came home after a horrible Monday to find my Artfest registration packet waiting for me! It made the rest of the day fade away into nothing. Okay, maybe not *that* much, but it was good.

I got into the following classes:
Thursday - Stephanie Rubiano's Perching Pixies
Friday - Catherine Witherell's PMC Bird Pendants
Saturday - Anahata Katkin's Funky Wallpaper People

Yes, I'm pretty much all over the board this time. I'll be working in really different mediums each day. It should be great fun. I hope my head doesn't explode by the end of the retreat!

Meanwhile, I'm getting ready for Art and Soul in Portland. It's only a couple of weeks away now. I guess I should get my supplies together. I've been working on altering my paper mache house.

I'm also working on ArtsyMama's Sweet and Sinister Swap. If I could figure out how to put the button on this blog, I would. Yes, I'm pathetic! I'm just lucky Blogger has a handy little button for links.

If there is anyone reading this that's going to Artfest or Art and Soul, I'd love to hear from you!

What happened to summer?

Where did my summer go? My son starts 6th grade on Tuesday. I can't believe it. It's his last year of elementary school. I'm not sure I'm ready for middle school next year. I've found that these transitions are harder on Mom than on him!

Here are some pics of my projects from this summer:This is a fused silver bracelet I made. I love how it moves. The beads include lemon jade and freshwater pearls.

Another fused silve bracelet. I made this in a class with Kriss Silva at the Puget Sound Bead Festival. She's a wonderful teacher.

I also took an enameling class. I love it. The two bigger green pieces are going to be a toggle. Now I just need a kiln so that I can continue to play...

I've been published! I participated in a charm swap hosted by Diane Downs. She submitted it to Belle Armoire for the charm necklace call for entries. It's on page 20 of the Sep/Oct 2007 issue. My charm is the round soldered one. Here's a photo of it that I shared a few months ago: Obviously, I need to work on my jewelry photography skills. It's one thing to make jewelry and art. It's a whole 'nother thing to photograph it well!

I LOVE taking classes!

I arrived home last night after spending 4 days in Tacoma and Seattle. Whew! It was fun, but I'm exhausted.

I took several classes at the Puget Sound Bead Festival in Tacoma. I had great teachers and made really fun projects. I'll have some photos of my creations to share soon. It was my first bead show, so the vendor booths were a bit overwhelming. Too many things to choose from.

I also stayed in Seattle with my friend Stacie for one night. We had a house full of women artists. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. What an amazing group of women! We made art, laughed, made more art, laughed, ate, laughed...you get the picture.

I also learned how to pump gas this weekend. Self-serve gas is illegal here in Oregon. I love Washington, but I was really happy to get back to the land of no sales tax and no self-serve gas.

Right now, we are getting ready to go camping at the coast for a few days. I enjoyed my solo trip, but I missed my men. It will be good to have some family time now.

CindyB

She lives!

Okay, I didn't get much "stuff" done on my week off at Memorial Day. But I did get some much-needed naps completed. I needed it.

I have today off, too. And I actually MADE something last weekend!

I looked in my closet and noticed that this year, I've been wearing more green and blue than anything. So, I made this fused fine silver bracelet. The danglies are freshwater pearls, serpentine and lemon jade. I'm making another bracelet in blues and purples. I love dangly bracelets that move. And fusing silver is a blast. If I over-melt a ring, Nicholas gets to heat it into a ball. He loves that.

I'm taking some jewelry making classes in Tacoma next week. I'll have more to share after that.

Cindy

VACATION!

Today I'm starting my first week of vacation this year. In fact, it's my first time off SINCE OCTOBER!! Even when my son had a snow day, I worked from home. I have taken a few sick days, but no ME time. I don't recommend this to anyone. (The non-stop work, not the time off.) The work I do is project-based and I had several back-to-back priority projects. Some days, I was up at 5:00 am working on the computer before I got my son up for school. Those projects are successfully done, so I can now use vacation time! I have at least a week off each month until September.

On Friday of this week, I'm taking three colored pencil technique classes. Woo hoo! There's nothing I like doing more than learning new art techniques.

The rest of the week, I'm going to hang out at home and play with my art supplies. I have some new fine silver to fuse and some sterling silver to make into jump rings for chain maille, my newest obsession.

My husband asked me if I wanted him to take a day off this week, so we could have time off together. I said "NO!". LOL. He laughed and said he understood. This is why we have been married for 16 years and plan on staying that way! We give each other space.

Hopefully, I'll have some art projects to share later this week.

Cindy