Beaded Forest

Slavic Soul Party!

This is me last night at an event hosted by the Rockland Center for the Arts (RoCA), where I teach jewelry classes (in fact, I taught a beginner's class yesterday morning!).  It was a fabulous time!  There was a pasta dinner, which was great, and we sat next to some of the board of directors of RoCA...they were a lot of fun, and it's always good to make those kinds of connections!  Dinner was followed by music by Slavic Soul Party, which is an amazingly cool brass band.   

Go to their website and listen to some of their music...there's no way I can describe it here!  I brought my friend Barb, and we danced all night (boy, am I sore today!).  Here's the crowd having a good time:

And here's Barb, dancing with our friend Andre...

I whipped up a necklace and earrings to wear to the event, using raw sapphires (aren't they gorgeous?), pearls, silver, and a great ceramic pendant from ArtBeads.

It was a terrific evening, and made me realize I have to get out more!

More scarves!

I made a couple new scarves for gifts.  I hope the recipients like them!

I've been so busy!  I got a few computer programs (iWork '08, Photoshop Elements, and LineForm), and I've been teaching myself the basics and playing around with logo ideas.  I've got so many things I want to get off the ground, and learning these programs and getting basic business stuff together (like a logo, business card, etc.) are the first steps.  A friend of mine was recently shopping in a little boutique in Nyack, and the owner/designer got all excited about the scarf she was wearing...a gift from me!  She wants to see my "Spring line"...uhh...I've got some work to do!  I know the shop also carries jewelry, so who knows, I might bring by a few jewelry ideas as well.  I'm not sure when I'll have time to do all this, what with that full-time job I have (what a bothersome time-stealer!), but I'll try to pace myself and see what I can accomplish.

Winter Wonder Swap package received!

I got home today to a lovely package from Tina, my swap partner for the Winter Wonders swap!  The note explains:

Warm, fuzzy socks to keep cozy;
Indulge yourself and your skin with some bath beads and lotion;
New beads for a new project;
Tasty treat;
Enjoy your new book;
Really great-smelling candle...

And that spells WINTER!  So now I can take a nice bath, put on my new socks, light my candle and hop into bed with my book and chocolate-covered cherries!  The beads are really beautiful, but they'll have to wait until my luxuriating is done.  For some reason I couldn't sleep last night, so I'm sooo tired and ready for a nice, relaxing evening...this is perfect!

Thanks so much for the package, Tina!!!

Harry and the plastic water bottle

Harry found a plastic water bottle outside, and who knew?  It was the best toy ever!  Here's what happened:

Winter Wonderland Swap

Here's what I've been working on over the past week...my package for the Winter Wonders swap!  Participants give 6 items that embody the season, with each item representing one letter in the word WINTER.  I've blurred out the descriptive tags in my picture here, in case my swap partner is reading my blog.  I hope the recipient has as much fun opening the gifts as I had putting them together!  Now I have to find the right box to fit everything, and head over to the post office...today is the deadline to send it out!

I think I got this one right...

I think I've finally got skirt-making out of my system for the time being!  After my experience with the last skirt, I needed something more of a sure thing.  The material is a neat embroidered wool blend, and I've added a slight flare on the bottom (not a ruffle!) and a little trim.  It's the length I wanted, it fits, and will do great with a sweater and boots.   Yay! 

Now, what to do next?  I made a list of possible projects, but none of them are singing out to me.  I was going non-stop on projects before Christmas, and now it seems my creative juices are moving a bit sluggishly.  Does that mean I should take a break?  Or just keep plugging along?  Any suggestions?

I'm not sure about this skirt...

This was the skirt I started before the Dragonfly Skirt, but needed to embellish.  This poor skirt went through so many changes from the original idea!  I had bought the material to compliment another material I wanted to use, but it somehow just didn't work out.  Then I had an idea for the bottom edge, but I didn't have the amount of fabric I needed, so I ended up with this ruffle.  It looked so...hmmm...Little House on the Prairie-ish, which along with the Amish austerity of the grayish-green color, wasn't what I was going for.  I thought a little trim would fix it up, so I stopped by the local JoAnn's, which is closing...this means there are great deals, but limited selection.  I ended up with these two trims (one for 50% off, one 75% off!), and I'm just not sure about the result.  It's better, definitely better than it was, but, well, not what I wanted.  The length is a little funny and not the most flattering (oops, almost typed "fattering", which I'm afraid it may be!), and the whole effect is some strange combination of cutesy and somber.

Maybe I'm being way too critical.  I'll give it a chance and put it together with an appropriate outfit, boots, etc. before I make a final decision.  I have yet another skirt in the works (if I can muster the proper enthusiasm after this experience), and hopefully that one will turn out perfect!

Christmas gifts

I'm finally getting around to showing off some of the great Christmas presents I got.  The painting is a watercolor done by my Aunt Ann (or Ant Ann, as we always call her)...isn't it beautiful?  I took it to my office to brighten things up there.  The Texas grapefruit and oranges were from my dad and stepmom Barb.  This picture was taken when they were about half gone...sadly, they're long gone at this point!  The Olympus camera is from David.  What a great gift!  I couldn't take a picture of the actual camera, since I was using it to take the picture!  It's so teeny-tiny, and works so beautifully.  The books are from my dad and Barb, taken straight from my Amazon wish list.  And the fabric, too, is from my dad and Barb..they're so generous!   They gave me a gift certificate to eQuilter, and these are some of the fabrics I picked out.  I've still got some money left on the gift certificate, so more to come!  What a great Christmas I had! 

Giveaway winners selected!

I used a random number generator at random.org to pick the two winners of my fabric giveaway, and they are Sarah and Stephanie.  Congratulations! Thanks to all who entered...it was a lot of fun to see your comments and to check out all your great crafty blogs!

Dragonfly skirt

Happy New Year!  I'm starting it off a year older (it's my birthday today), and with a nasty cold.  BUT, I managed to finish making a skirt with this lovely dragonfly fabric, from JoAnn's, of all places.  The close-up shows the color more accurately.  I love long skirts, especially in winter with boots, and it's always great to have another to add to my wardrobe.  Once again I had guidance from the Sew What? Skirts book, although I've tweaked the instructions a bit to work for my measurements, and I think I've finally got the perfect base pattern.  This one's pretty basic...just a little rickrack on the bottom...but now that I have the right measurements, I'll play around more.

I made another skirt this weekend with a ruffle on the bottom, but, well, I ran into a few difficulties along the way and it's seriously in need of embellishment before it's ready for its closeup.  I'm looking for the perfect ribbon to go between the main skirt and the ruffle, and maybe even a trim to go along the bottom.  The right thing will come along sooner or later!