My Kit "Cave" is Actually Bright & Beautifu!

Inspired Blogging?

For some time now, I just haven't been able think of what I should blog about. I wonder if anyone is interested in my daily life when it seems so mundane to me. Building kits isn't the most interesting activity I can think of. Uninspired, I stopped blogging for a couple of weeks. Then, this morning, on Facebook, Marcia DeCoster said she had blogged before coffee. Before coffee??? Wow, I am impressed, Marcia.

Every chair and table holds finished kits and

parts for making more kits!

My storage cupboard from IKEA.

Full of boxes of crystals!

So, I just had to go to Marcia's blog and see what she had to say. What a wonderful blog! She talks about her workspace and new beadwork finds and her students' work. Marcia got me into blogging in the first place, so now she is inspiring me to keep going. Thanks, my friend.

When I am making kits with Julie, my helper and friend, I refer to it as being in the Kit "Cave". Really, the space we work in is anything but a cave! It is really beautiful in my sun room. The couch and chairs are full of plastic bins with kits and project tutorials in them, but it is bright and beautiful and we are surrounded by all the colors I love most! When the weather is warm, which is most of the time here, we open the windows and can hear the waterfall just outside the sun room. Not exactly a "cave"!

I'm Ready to Play With FELT!!!

I am very excited to be signed up for Arlene Watson's Nuno Felt Workshop coming up at the end of November. I need to play with fibers for a while. It is so good to take a break from the usual and step outside my comfort zone sometimes. This is the perfect opportunity. I have been collecting roving for a few years now. I think it is high time I used some of it up! I have done a little bit of felting, but not much. Below is a little handbag I felted and beaded. Michele Goldstein's flower bead is perfect at the bottom with my Berry Delightful beaded silk dangle. The flower at the top is done with Right Angle Weave.

I have lots to learn about felting, but I still love this little bag. I am excited to see what happens after the workshop with Arlene. More possibilities await me!

Classes and Trunk Sale at 1 Stop Bead Shop

This Thursday I fly to Columbus, Ohio to teach at 1Stop Bead Shop. Classes begin on Friday morning, with the Third Eye Pendant, and Femme Florets Ring, in the evening.

Saturday's Classes are The Tiles of Antoni Gaudi Cuff, pictured above,

with Enchanting Chains Bracelet, a fun little 3 hour class, that evening.

I love this shop. It is really well stocked with enticing goodies and Lisa, the owner is a very dynamic woman. Full of energy and fun. I will be bringing my trunk sale of kits and instructions, so come on over if you are in the area.

Kit Making!

There hasn't been a lot for me to talk about lately. Staying home and putting together kits isn't too exciting. I have been in the "kit making cave" for days and days. Fortunately, I've decided to bead for a while first thing in the morning. This always helps me have a good day! I can't show you what I have been working on because it is my project for the "Use The Muse" beading contest. It is a secret until the big reveal. Wish me luck!

Kits really are a wonderful thing, but making them is tedious. Good thing I have a helper/friend, Julie. She is smart, organized and a fast worker. She likes the same music I do and we share philosophical views about many things. This makes for some pretty stimulating kit making days despite the tediousness of putting little beads in little baggies, taping them together, then taping them to instruction booklets and putting the whole thing into a bigger baggie. Hundreds of them! Thanks Julie.

Today, I needed a break so I went to the San Diego Zoo for a morning walk. I love walking in our zoo. As you may have noticed, I talk about the zoo a lot. It is very cool. This morning at about 11:00 am, they released ten macaws from a box that is elevated about 15 feet off the ground. I got a good shot of it just as they flew out of the box. Cool!!!!

Hacienda San Diego Beach Retreat!

January 16 - 22, 2010

Basketry in Beads

A Master Class

in Self-Supporting

Freeform Basket

Shapes

This retreat will now be held

at a lovely Beach House in San Diego!

Please join us for this wonderful opportunity to stay

and bead for a week inspired by a fabulous ocean view.

Read More About It!

This retreat is being run solely by Jeannette Cook

of Beady Eyed Women TM

Beaded Bliss!

What a perfect name Beaded Bliss is! I am heading up to Julie's new store in Danville, CA tomorrow to teach workshops and have a trunk sale of my kits and instructions. Please come by and visit me. We still have room in both Friday Evening's 3 hour class,

Femme Florets Ring as well as Saturday's class,

The Third Eye Pendant.

A Day of Art and Family

Last weekend, I spent Saturday morning with my granddaughter, Rita. It was her 15th birthday. We went shoe shopping, then she had a beautiful Henna design put on her hand while I had my eyebrows threaded. The design was so beautiful on her. A small work of art to wear on your skin! Rita took me to sushi for lunch after. What a great kid! It is no wonder, my daughter, Jenni is her mom. She is a wonderful artist and an all around amazing person!

San Diego is rich with beauty and inspiration. Sunday, my daughter, Jenni and eldest granddaughter, Chloe' and I spent the entire day taking in art! We went to the San Diego Museum of Art to see the Calder Jewelry exhibit. I love how he used swirling shapes of hammered wire to create quite large and bold pieces. I am crazy about swirls and

large jewelry does not frighten me at all as many of you know from seeing me wear my own wearable art pieces.

Chloe' put the camera on black & white to capture the shadows cast

by this amazing Calder sculpture just outside the museum doors.

She had her mom and me pose with the sculptures and shot some really great pictures!

Lunch in the Sculpture Garden Restaraunt, next door to the museum was great! After Balboa Park, we were off to Dick Blick in the Little Italy section of San Diego to shop for art supplies. Jenni is working on her MFA at Cuyamacha College while her daughter is working on general ed classes at the same college. I love that my daughter and granddaughter are going to college together.

A Passion for Passion Flowers!

Before I left for vacation, my Passion vines had a lot of buds on them and a couple of flowers in bloom. Ten days later, the flowers are bursting forth! Here are a few pictures. They look kind of otherworldly, don't they?