Painted Filigree - oh my!

So I am not sure if this will go in the book or not, but I do love it...very bright and colorful and just imagine it all beaded up! Mmmm...
I gotta paint some more pieces, first, though. How do I paint it? Well, you'll just have to wait and see the book, won't you?

Walk for the Cure - Team Beadfreak!

We had a great time at the walk today and it was fabulous to see so many people there. We got up early and Cleo decided on matching pink dots for her and her baby sister. You can see they were still a little sleepy as they ate their bagels!Galen and I walked the one-mile fun walk with the girls and with Heidi, Mark, Spencer and Heidi's mom, Penny. Penny is a two year survivor of breast cancer and one of the inspirations for Team Beadfreak this year. We also walked for Michelle, Jayne, Denise and so many of our family, friends and customers.

Here is Penny walking over the finish line!
I didn't ever see any of the other team members, they were all walking or running the 5K and that group was HUGE. We watched them taking off from the starting line for about 30 minutes. I will post some photos here later when I get them. Those pink tank tops were LOST in the general color of the day. Cleo said 'this is just a big pink walk!'
If you didn't yet get a chance to donate to team Beadfreak, you can click here to go to Libby's donation page. Somehow, she sent her donation page link out to everyone, so my family and friends all donated to her. It made me look really slack, but it all goes to the same cause. Libby was our team captain, too, so in addition to getting all the donation credit she also got a gold pin that says team captain...we may make her wear it at work every day!

Thread Heads Quickie - How to Turn a T-shirt into a Camisole

t shirt surgery...

Maybe you are or are not aware of the whole Wardrobe Refashion trend...basically it's taking items you own and remaking them, or thrift store purchases that you turn into way cooler items. It's so amazingly interesting to me, even though my ideas and desires far outstrip my talents to accomplish them OR my time to see them to reality. My not-quite-cool shirts and skirts just get worn as-is, most of the time, but I have a giant shelf of items that will be sooo much better with a nip and tuck here or there.

Well, Libby at Panopolie is really making me want to dig into that pile of tee shirts. She has altered a few lately and she keeps sending me links to places like T-shirt Surgery and this article from San Francisco that make me drool.
Check out the above how-to if you are ready to cut and sew your way to fashion joy!

jewelry ideas for the book

Here is a project that I am working on for the book. It is one of the last projects, in order, but not one of the last I am making. It will be an elaborate necklace with different beading or stones all the way around.
Making all this jewelry has been fun. I am really enjoying this. For the first time in years I am spending time just creating new jewelry, beading and playing with wire and color and shapes. I am waking up in the middle of the night and rushing into the studio to jot something down on my Rhodia pad (I splurged for the book and got the big one with the grid...oh, it's nice!)
Because I wasn't designing to sell my jewelry for the last few years I have been really stingy with myself. I realized I would make a pair of earrings and a bracelet and then think 'gee, that's enough new jewelry for you, get back to your regular work now.' Now I am staying up REALLY late just making new pieces and playing with fitting shapes and colors together. I think of beading as three-dimensional collage and love trying to get the combinations just right.
My studio is a HUGE mess, however, as every day I bring home more and more parts to try out in the projects. We gotta do something about that soon or I will get buried in headpins and beads and spools of chain. That is a major perk of being the queen bee. I just got six big spools of my favorite chains today. It feels so luxurious!

just dreamin' (Carol Owen Altered Book Workshop)

Carol Owen is teaching an Altered Book workshop in Raleigh this October. Yeah. I will take it. A whole day of painting and cutting and stapling and ripping and sewing and stamping. Mmmm...