Group Photo with Diane

Bead Haven Workshop

Diane Fitzgerald's workshops were awesome. Everyone had such a good time. We had such a nice group of ladies. And the level of beading was incredible. Diane said she had never had such a talkative group and "not a pill in the group!" It was a pleasure having Diane as our guest.
I made a ginkgo leaf and am working on a second one. It is fun working with and blending the colors in different ways for each leaf.
Casey took lots of pictures so I will try to post. I hope we can do this again. Who should we invite for our next workshop? Hmmm...

One of these days...it won't be long

OK! I haven't been here in awhile. I have been so busy with the stores. Somethimes too busy. But I feel I am getting it together and am making time now.
I have been watching my favorite, Neil Young: Heart of Gold this evening. Burt was kind to watch football on the small tv while I chill out in the basement with the Big TV.
I have been beading my quilt square a little at a time. I hope to be finished soon so I can start something new. Also have freeform on my mind, stringing with all the new beads, pearls, crystals, ok, any bead will do!
The Village Shops at Kingsmill had their Holiday Gala last nite. All the stores stay open until 8 PM, have food, drink, music, sales and fun. It was a good time. I enjoyed seeing people who came by the store last year as well. Wow, 2 years there now!
Ok, I am getting a bit wordy here after not writing for so long. I think I will go to my room now. (thats a good thing)

At the Beach

Our girls with their two youngest, not sure about going on the airboat ride with the everglades.

They aren't afraid now and we all had a fun ride on the boat!

Tommy and AJ posing at the beach.

My Time Flys

Ok. So I can't keep up with my blog. No excuses. But.......busy busy busy.

Our family reunion was in Ft. Meyers, Florida in June. Great fun! I will post some pics.

I have started beading a fabric square for a joint venture with Bead Haven, The Knitting Sisters, and I luv to Quilt. All our stores are in The Villiage Shops at Kingsmill, Williamsburg VA. We are going to make an art quilt, raffle it and donate proceeds to the breast cancer foundation. I am having so much fun with it! Beading on fabric opens up lots of possibilities.

We finally finished this quarters classes and the website is updated. We have lots of new fun classes scheduled and two new teachers. Check it out here:
www.beadhavenva.com.

My next step is to post some pictures here. I have to relearn how to do that everytime. What can I say? I would rather be beading!

May Days

May is almost gone. Time goes by so quickly these days. May has been spent ordering new beads for the store, sorting, pricing and getting them on the floor. I have made a couple necklaces and taught a free form peyote class. I really enjoy teaching free form. Though it is random, the flow needs to be there to make it work. My student "had the flow" and I know she will take it far.



Our daughter Katwyn and 4 of her children are visiting us for a week. It is a precious time to spend with her and the grandchildren. The "little ones", Johanna and AJ beaded with me the other night and they both made beautiful jewelry. AJ made a very colorful bracelet for his big sister who did not come on this visit and Johanna designed a beautiful necklace for her mother.

Today they will go back to Busch Gardens for another fun day while Burt and I are back to work after having 4 days off with them. It is time to schedule new classes and have the website updated. I am looking forward to getting back in the stores.

Jewelry Ideas Spinning in my Head

The Williamsburg show was a success and alot of fun. There seemed to be many more jewelry vendors there, both beaded, metal and wireworked. I am finding this to be true at all shows I go to. I am glad I do this for a creative outlet and not for a living. It is getting harder to compete with other artists as well as all the retail jewelry made overseas.
Saturday night, Bead Haven was a vendor at the Art and Soul Retreat in Hampton. It was a fun experience and I really enjoyed meeting all the artists attending the retreat. The artwork created there is really cool. I took a class , Uncommon Objects in Tassels & Fringe, from Susan Lenart Kazmer. What a great instructor she is! It brought me close to my roots when I used found objects to create jewelry. I had really lost touch with that until now. In my senior year of high school, I won first place in the schools art show. I made a necklace that was made from wire from Dad's garage, shells from the beach, wooden beads and peacock feathers found nearby. I wonder what happened to that necklace.... My head is spinning with ideas. I can't wait to get into my studio!

Show Time

What a week it has been! I finally went to the doctor on Tuesday and was given antibiotics for a serious sinus infection. I have been trying to fight it for weeks and it just took me down. I have been home, taking it easy. Just what the doctor ordered! It has given me a chance to sort my jewelry for the show in Williamsburg this week-end. By Sunday I should be feeling much better. I am looking forward to the show. I really enjoy meeting the people who stop by my booth and comment on my work. My main bead work is free form peyote and not all people "get it". I find though, that the show goers at this show do appreciate the hand made quality and uniqueness of the art there. The hosts of Art on the Square do a really good job. I really appreciate being accepted into their show. Because I don't have a lot of time to devote to my bead work, I only apply to a couple of shows a year. I will also be doing The Seawall Festival in Portsmouth in August. That is a very hot show, but one of my favorites as well. The first year I did the show, which was also my very first show, I won honorable mention. What a surprise and confidence builder that was! It reinforced to me that yes, Bead Work Is ART.

A Beautiful Day

What a nice day. Great weather. Burt worked outside in the yard. Tried yet another idea to keep the dogs from digging! I cut glass today and it is firing now. I also set up my new light tent. Ugh! It is huge, too big. What was I thinking! It is big enough for my grand-kids to play in. Anyway, I took some pictures in it. I will post some. It is an ongoing process for me to learn to take good pictures.
On a more somber note: My thoughts and prayers are with all the VT families and friends. Angels were sent to Heaven.....

Rainy Days

It has been a rainy Sunday. A very nice day for beading, watching movies and taking care of business at home. I have been beading embroidered cuffs for the Art in The Square show in Williamsburg on April 29. This will be a new design for me this year. It is so much fun to do. I bead a random, freeform pattern with lots of color. Now that I have made a few though, I am anxious to begin a freeform peyote necklace, my first beading love. I will try to attach a picture of one of the necklaces I have kept for myself. Yes, I must go start a new necklace!

Anniversary Fun!

We had a fun time at Bead Haven this past week-end celebrating our anniversary. The discounts in the eggs were a nice surprise to all the customers. What a nice way it was to say Thank You to them.
Three people even received a 50% discount off their purchase. It sure made Jennifer King happy!

These are real leaves plated with 14k gold, silver or copper. Really cool.

I am putting them out this week-end in the stores (Bead Haven) for our anniversay special. They make nice pendants on chain. It's going to be a fun week-end at Bead Haven. We are having an egg-citing sale. We have easter eggs in a basket with discount coupons inside. All customers can pick one when they come in. Then shop with a discount of 10 to 50% off.
It is our anniversary for both the bead stores. 1 year for Williamsburg and 4 years for Hampton. Ahhhh, it is so nice to be out of the corporate world and into the world of beads and bead loving people!

I bought a new camera today so I can take and upload pics to my computer. Now can I upload them here? Lets see......

I did it! This is Fred. He is my boy. Isn't he cute!

Learning to Blog

Oh, so here I am. My space on the web to ramble on about who knows what. Well, I am sure it will be about the beads I love, my so good to me husband, my friends, my dogs, my cats, my bead stores, my art, my travels, my trials and tribulations.