Weekends

Not the best image here but you can see what I did in Bronwen Heilman's class a few weekends ago. Simply loved this technique.....hope to do some now that class is done. As you can see I have 3 glass pieces that need to be put onto beads.........many steps to this process but fantastic results!

A few weekends ago Pete and I went to Niagra on the Lake for a one night getaway. We had a wonderful and relaxing time. Love this image of a sunrise.

We stayed at the Prince of Wales and these carriages were all over the main street. 

Another view. This is on the side of our hotel. The first thing we did when we arrived was go on a Jetboat on the Niagra rapids! I was totally scared. Pete went last year and I was suppose to go but chickened out. Click on the link and see for yourself........it was awesome!

This was the sunrise when we left.....foggy and kinda spooky.

Bewitched

Tomatoe red hearts ready to be made into pins........or should I put some in my etsy shop??

Extra large Sugar Skull beads.......love these!! I have a few more in the kiln. These measure approximately 1 1/4 inches across and almost 1 1/2 inches tall. Making myself an awesome Days of the Dead necklace with one or two of these skullies......the rest will be in my etsy shop tomorrow.

Witch Hat necklace......Candy corn, bones, and other assorted halloweeny beads dangle beneath a fun witch hat.......necklace comes ready to wear! Find it in my etsy shop tomorrow.

Creating Balance

Its been a little bit since my last post, I know. The school year has started which means I'm back in the art room (yeah!!!), my last outdoor show took place a few weeks ago (a great show but thankful its done), I took an awesome glass class with Bronwen Heilman (freakin fantastic) and now I have to re balance my life. Weave in time for blogging (I love to blog), create a new workout schedule (hard with so many things taking up my time) and making sure I get down time.....this is very important to me!! I so need and enjoy time with no comittments or "have to's". Last weekend I took the entire two days and did NOTHING!! I haven't done that in a while and it felt wonderful.

Today is back to bead making. The kiln is warming and I'm shaking off a headache that I woke up with. My day started with an Art Meetup I hosted for students and parents. It was great........fun seeing car loads of families with donuts, coffee and kids ready to take part in a scavenger hunt I had planned.

Beads......Yes......I will be working on a few things in a bit but here is a small sample of what I've done recently:

A new bead ring! Love these interchangeable rings......I should have a bunch ready soon.

Bangles! Now I have a better selection of sizes! They sold well at my last show!

Abstract flat bracelets too! Love these........very comfy.

Building Creative Powers

For the last few years I've been taking part if various e-courses to assist in building my creative powers ranging from painting to jewelry to journaling. The course that keeps drawing me back in is the Experimental ARt e-course with Amelia Critchlow. Click Here to register & to find out more about it.

I believe I've taken this course 4 or 5 times and each time I gain something new. Amelia is a wonderful nurturing guide on this journey and I highly recommend it to anyone......no matter your experience or level- there is something for you!

One of the things I enjoy most is that it is self paced yet Amelia gives weekly "homework" to keep us focused. Yes, I know what you might think.......life is busy...... but you never are made to feel guilty about missing something here or there......you are always able to go back and finish up whenever. Being that I've done this course a number of times, I can now decide which lessons to focus on. I've learned so much each time.

I think the best part about this course is that Amelia is dedicated to giving each and every one of her students positive feedback. If you chose, you can post your images to the Flickr group Amelia sets up and then she, as well as other class members, provide encouragement. Just wonderful!

I will be making periodic posts about my Experimental Art adventures so I hope you will join me on all this creative fun!

Good Morning Saturday!

Right now I'm sitting in my most favorite spot in our whole house drinking coffee and reading. Its my sky chair on our newly enclosed porch! Its quiet for once and I'm just enjoying the sun, the sky, and the peace. I feel that today is going to be a great day. Don't you feel like that sometimes? There is no particular reason for it, you just feel today will be great. I've got a few little things planned but nothing to spectacular. Just living simple.

One reason I'm just so happy is that I'm reading the latest issue of Artful Blogging and feeling very connected to what some of the bloggers are talking about. When I get a magazine the first thing I do is go thru it pretty quickly just looking at pictures and big things that jump out at me. Then I go thru it again and focus in on articles of interest. Funny but the first article of interest was the first one by blogger Kelli Murray. Loved the images and art and then loved what she was saying. I can't tell you how important it is to really take the time to learn about someone....you make connections you'd never thought you'd make. Once I read about her in Artful Blogging I found similarities in ideas and thoughts. Thats something you just can't do by only looking....you have to be able to ask or read more about that person to feel connected.

Here are a few other reasons I'm feeling happy today:
:: Heading to the market for tomatoes, cucumbers and berries. Planning on doing a bit of canning in the days ahead. This always reminds me of Fall....a favorite season.
:: Taking some time to read my book club book, My Fair Lazy. Its hard for me to sit still but today I'm dedicating some time just for that.
:: Studio time. Before the school year starts I like to cram as much beadmaking in as possible. I have Clothesline coming up as well as some other events and I need plenty of product.
:: A nice long walk or bike ride with my husband. He has been plenty busy this summer and we really have had limited time together. Simple things are often the best.
:: A little knit time. Oh, I love to knit but I don't often make time for it. With all the other things I've got going on, knitting takes the last seat on the bus. Today I feel like knitting too......I have plenty of projects to work on.

Hope you have a wonderfully happy day too!

Summer Wrap Up

Summer is coming to a close in just a few short weeks. Back to school. Back to work for me. The nice thing about going back to work is that I love my job teaching art!  I don't get sad about the work, I get sad about giving up my life of leisure. Once the school year begins however, I feel like I'm back in the saddle & ready to roll.

Sonnenberg Gardens had their Arts at the Gardens show this past weekend and it was glorious as always. Saturday was beautiful...hot actually but I didn't mind a bit. Sunday was a mixed bag....gloomy and wet at times and nice and sunny at other times. This picture is when we arrived to set up...Peter's favorite thing (ha, ha, ha). The Sonnenberg show is one that I look forward to every year since the atmosphere, the staff and volunteers really are exceptional. All the vendors are awesome too. Of course, this show is extra special because we were married there 20 years ago almost on the date of the art show!

These are a few more of my rubber bangles that I've been making. Love them. However, I made my first batches using my hand & wrist as a guide. Makes sense right? Well, I never realized how small my hand was.......to me they look like an average size hand. Ah, but I was wrong. The first batch fits someone with a small knuckle to knuckle span which I've learned is not the average. To fit a bangle properly you need to measure knuckle to knuckle since this is where it needs to fit over.  So, I've adjusted my measurements and now have a great sized bangle that I hope will fit many.......I hope to have a number of these for the Clothesline Festival in a few weeks!

Now that summer is almost over, I have to really think about all I want to cram in! I was thinking of doing some canning....haven't done that in a number of years! Always like pulling out fresh tomato sauce in the dead of winter....or jam...or chow chow! I'll need to talk with my friend who is a great cook to get ideas from her!

Saturday Morning at the Market & My Most Favorite Dog

I love going to the market and purchasing locally grown vegetables. I totally believe in supporting local businesses and would rather eat fresh than frozen. The Rochester Public market is the largest in our area and a very good market.....I go there often and its great because its open in the winter.  But..........my favorite is the Fairport Public Market! I think in part because I have this love for Fairport....kinda like Mayberry.....and the fact that its all local farmers & growers plus its smaller in scale. Plenty of vendors.......plenty of variety.........all with that sweet home town charm.

So after my morning walk I drove out the the Market and picked up only a few items.

Could not resist the bouquets of flowers. Picked up a bunch of Sunflowers (my favorites), a bunch of SnapDragons and some Zinneas. Flowers just have a way of making you feel good.

I also got a few tomatoes, a zucchini and some blueberries....I like eating handfuls as a snack. To top off my market stroll, I got my absolute favorite thing to eat (drum roll...................) A carrot dog!!

I attempt to get everyone to love these things just as much as I do. I tell everyone I know about them. This guy who sells them has probably done very well from all the word of mouth I give as well as from others. I love them so much that I now make them myself just about once or twice every few weeks. I do get plenty of eye rolls from men especially but once they give it a chance they learn that these are quite good. Here is my recipe that I figured out on my own (the original carrot dog guy wasn't giving up any of his clues to how to make them).......so simple

Carrot Dogs:
Large carrots- as many as you'd like to make
Cut carrot ends off and boil in water until tender (I'm guessing about 20 minutes)
Remove and marinate in Italian dressing- I use Parmesan Italian dressing- for either a few hours or overnight.
Grill just as you would a hot dog. You should get some nice brown areas
Grill your bun (I like whole wheat)
Put on the bun and add your favorite toppings. I love mustard and onions!!

I tried to get our lunch ladies at school to serve these but again.......the eye roll.

On to beads........I will be making some beads today of course. A few hearts but also some other items. I really need to get going on prepping for upcoming shows. Tomorrow I should be posting new items to my Etsy Shop as well.

My flowers are sure to influence some Art Journaling today too.

Studio Monday

Yes my studio is messy. But this is how I work. Yesterday I made a few pendant beads and was experimenting a bit too. Show and tell will come later.

Really...its an organized mess. If I were to clean it up I don't think I'd be able to find things easily.

Love using murrini. When I have time or the interest I make it myself. Otherwise I purchase my murrini.

In between beads I played around in my Art Journal. Listing colors of some new watercolor crayons and pastels.

Lunch at the pizza shop and noticed the beautiful mural that is being worked on across the street at the floral shop. To bad no one was actually working on it at the time. Can't wait to see the finished result!

What was your Monday like?

The Heat is On!

This past week has been very hot with one of the days being labeled "excessively HOT"...where I live we reached 104 degrees with horrible humidity! So, as you might guess, this has put the brakes on beadmaking! I did tough it out yesterday in the 92 degrees but it was only for a short time to get components made for a necklace order.

Since I have a hard time sitting still and not creating something, I've been devoting my time to painting and Art Journaling. One night I spent sometime with my friend Joanne and she had a group of us create large paintings that we transformed into books. A nice night of mess making. Pictured above is my large painting and as you can see, I love circles! This seems to be a theme I've been working with rather unconsciously in both my paintings and my beads.

One evening I hosted an Art Therapy Night where a few ladies came over to paint and make some pmc charms......it was fun.....Hot Fun being that it was a sultry evening!

On Wednesday mornings I host an Art Class for Kids. We have hours of fun painting and other sorts of art making...

My sister and I went to a Red Wings game one eveing and had a great time reminiscing when we worked at the ball park as teenagers. It was suppose to be a group of 6 of us but everyone bailed out so it was just a sister thing that night. Check out my picture of the horse made from baseball mits....anything can be used to make ARt!

Today I think I will continue on with some painting and also tough it out once again to make a few beads. I love the warm weather but the humidity is not fun....my hair is a complete crazy mass, I move like a snail and I don't feel like eating a thing......visualize that!

What do you do in the heat??