Artful Adventures

Rings & Things Strikes Again!

For months now, our calendar has had the innocent enough looking words "bead tour" written on yesterday's date.  But let me tell you, everytime I saw those words, my heart raced a bit, a little smile crept over my face, and then I'd count the days.  This event, put on by Rings & Things, hits Green Bay in September & then again in the spring.  Gary & I met Amanda & her Mom there, and we had a friend, Julie meet us there.  Julie & Amanda's Mom were BSV's (bird show virgins), a little term I just made up-they're the ones with the biggest smiles and normally you hear the word "overwhelming" coming from them, all good things!  This event runs so smoothly, that I'm always amazed.  After working retail my entire life, I know all too well that it's not always easy to be calm, cool, and collected in a room full of women all shopping with enthusiasm.  In fact, last year when we checked out, it just happened that the lines were particularly long at that time, and yet, the gentleman that checked us out actually chased us down out in the parking lot to make sure that we had gotten our coupon for free shipping on our next order. THAT'S service!  Now the fun begins, pricing & putting the beads to bed (almost done), where they'll patiently wait for me to create something with them.  But they won't wait long-tomorrow morning it begins:)  Oh one more thing, after we got in the car to leave, Gary mentioned the tray of beads that he was carrying around, which I just assumd he wanted since he's played around a little with making jewelry and wants to do more.  Turns out, he claims they were beads he thought I might like and I was supposed to go through them and choose what I wanted, not just buy them-whoops:)  Personally, I think he really wanted them all along, he's not THAT easy when it comes to spending money!  If you hear of a Rings & Things show coming your way-go!  If not, you can always shop their website, you won't be disappointed either way.

Beads, Beads, and more Beads!

 

It's that time!  Time for the folks at Rings & Things to hit town with their bead show!  They're here twice a year and it's an event you don't want to miss.  It's such a well run event, the staff keeps smiling ( hey Dave!) even with a roomfull of women with glazed over eyes, grabbing & fondling strand after strand of beads, occasionally hauling out a calculator to see how bad it is, others just heaping tray after tray of beads.  My rule of thumb is if I can't fit it on one tray it can't come home with me.  But then I do that with drying dishes too, and it's amazing how well you can learn to stack 'em up:)   

They're the ones that got me started on trade beads, and I love them!  Last year that was the first table I headed for and the last one on my way out the door, just to make sure I didn't miss something.  But like I said, they only come to town twice a year, so if a trade bead fix is needed in between, you can either order from them (quick delivery!) or head over to my other favorite place for those special kind of beads, Africa Direct to make sure you're getting everything you need, including good service.  You could spend days on that site & not see everything, it's crazy-actually I'm the crazy one because I've tried!  Once again nice folks to deal with, I swear bead people are the nicest lot of vendors to deal with.     

But the real danger (for the wallet) is my favorite local bead shop, The Mother Bead.  She has, hands down, the best pearls, all the time.  But she also has a ton of other stones to choose from, as well as a lot of jewelry made up to show what can be done and to show what's being taught.  And once again, a super friendly staff to work with.  If I lived right in town, I'd have to get a job to support my habit!  See those chunky purple stones in the middle of the above picture?  They're amethyst, but big and rough cut, very organic looking and they're going to be a lot of fun to work with.  That's the other thing I like about shopping there, I always find something that I've never seen before and finding something outside the norm is always more interesting, don't you think? 

Considering that this is only part of one wall, it's hard to hold back & not break the bank.  Can't be doing that everytime I walk in there, or I'll be banned from the place-by Gary!  The funny thing is, he's getting as bad as I am about beads-hard to believe, but true. 

Don't you just love this necklace?  I'm hoping that it's a class that they're teaching so I can go learn how to do that.  Tara, the owner, was wearing one like this that she had made, and it was fabulous!  I've never learned anything about stringing at all, and now I think it's time.  There's a lot of news to catch up on from this past week or more, so keep checking back this week.  I finally have a lot to chat about and show you! 

A week off and now I'm back--

OK, I didn't really take the week off, far from it actually, but did take a week off from blogging.  Among other things, I got 5 necklaces done which I'll show more of another day, for now here they are, all in a pile getting ready for a dunk into some liver of sulpher.  But it did seriously take the better part of a week to construct these-and then people wonder why jewelry is expensive? 

Not sure why my hand looks so red here, wierd lighting or high blood pressure:)  For some reason, it's when I get close to the end of a project such as this, that's when I stress out.  I'm fine while I'm making/creating (well, most of the time) but the ending always gets to me.  Must be a fear of saying here it is, this is what I made, all part of that "putting yourself out there" thing, I suppose.  Jeremy's been home for a week now, working a part time summer job as a staff member for the West DePere Marching Band.  One more week and then he heads back to Madison to his regular job.  As you can tell from the picture, he typically works inside a building, so his new tan line after a week of being outside all day just cracked me up!  Can't imagine what it'll look like after this week:)

There's lots to talk about, but the day is getting away from me-again.  So for now, a few more photos, a few more words, and I'll elaborate more and have stories to tell tomorrow!

This past week has been absolutely beautiful summer weather, and in between doing all of the "must do" stuff, we still squeaked in a few pleasures.  Like a trip into Dyckesville to the Frosty Tip for a decadent turtle sundae (have you ever had one made with chocolate ice cream?  You should!) which we hauled down to Red River Park to watch the sunset.

This time we saw pelicans down there, a first for me!  It still just seems odd to me that there are pelicans in WI.

Another thing we normally don't see is this cute little baby woodchuck that scampered up a tree.  In the 20 plus years that we've lived here, it's only the second time we've seen this.  And a particularly favorite summertime treat for me is a bonfire-love it!  I grew up having bonfires camping, so the smell of that burning wood always brings back good memories, and watching the flames is nothing short of mesmerizing.  Don't you agree?

And the winner is----

Last week, at

the Ball I held a drawing for a little handmade

journal , to be won by someone that came to dance with me and left a post saying that they believed.  The names went into a hat, as promised, and the winner is

Stephanie !  Thanks to everyone who stopped by, I'm still trying to work my way through all the links & emails-this may take awhile!  And a HUGE thank you to everyone that took the time to comment on

my husband's art !  Recently, I convinced him to start keeping a gratitude journal, so I'm going to print them all out for him to put into his journal.  Your comments were all so sweet, and so appreciated, again, thank you all!

Party FAvors for all!

The computer gods decided that they weren't going to let me give out party favors today, but I "think" I've got them beat!  I've uploaded 3 cabinet cards for you to print out for use in your personal artwork, not for resale or art for sale please.  You can get your

Party Favors Here , just right click & save them to your own computer or print them out.  If for some reason this link doesn't work (don't trust it today!), just go to my

website , and click on the "untitled" album under the collage category.  Enjoy them!!

It's here-the day of the Bloglandia Ball!!

The long anticipated Bloglandia Ball is here, today, where we can dance and party all day & night long.  But first, click those high heels together, turn around 3 times & say "I believe, I believe, I believe".  You have to believe in the magic of this to take yourself there-now go have some fun! Here's my gown, in all it's imperfect glory:)  A good down to wear down to the beach later on for a stroll in the moonlight.

The owners of The Flying Pig have allowed us to party in their magical land for the day.  The following photos were all taken there, just a little glimpse to what you can look forward to.  The tables are already adorned with overflowing vases of fresh cut flowers from the garden.  Those late bloomers, are the best sometimes!

The tables will be quite festive with this dinnerware.

  The bar is ready, for whatever suits your fancy.

Then we'll stroll outside, where the magic really begins, and be greeted by the fish, that always makes me smile.

A place where glass flowers bloom all year round--

and the real flowers are larger than life.

Where the hand is always there to catch the water as it tumbles over the rocks.

Yes, I DO believe this is the perfectly magical setting to be! 

And the evening can be ended by looking over the lake, by the light of the moon.  It doesn't get much better than this!

Except for one more thing-I'm going to give away a little journal as a gift for attending the ball!  Click on the word journal, and you can see them, and make sure to leave a comment to this post, saying that YOU BELIEVE, and I'll throw your name in the hat, and someone will win one of these little handmade books.  I'll do the drawing next Monday, to give you all a chance to get your name in there.   Now for the party favors-have to have a cup of coffee first, then look for another post with directions on how everyone can get a little something.  Enjoy the ball!!

Bloglandia Ball full moon preview

In preparing for the festivites of the Ball, a photo of an almost full moon seemed almost necessary.  By now, you all know that we have this infatuation with Lake Michigan going on this summer, but one thing we haven't done there (no, not that!) was to get a night photo.  Last night, we hauled the tripod & the camera there, and hoped for a decent photo, and we got it!  When I say "we", I really mean Gary, he's the photographer in the family.  Don't forget to go

HERE to stay in the loop about all the festivites happening online tomorrow for the Bloglandia Ball, at

Elizabeth Bunsen's blog , and don't forget to post the link to your website to show off your "gown" while you're over there.  Stay tuned here, too, try to win a prize, get a free download, and dance the night away.  More later-have plans to make, things to do!! 

Are you busy making your gown?

Well, if you're not, you should be!  In case you forgot, the date for the Bloglandia Ball is quickly approaching, and it's going to be an event that you won't want to miss.  Plans are being made, the perfect ballroom has been made available to visit, but when you're done over there make sure you come to my place for a dance or 2 or 3:)  Of course, we'll be dancing on the beach here with Prince performing-come on, it's a cyber ball, I can dream can't I?  For a refresher on details for the event, you can go here for the full description  and then check out
the gown  that's already been made.  Bits & pieces of my gown are laid out, the plans are in my head.  For those of you that know me well, you know I can't sew & you also know that what's in my head, seldom ends up on the canvas as envisioned.  But never fear, I'm going to pull this one off!  As an added enticement to attend the ball, I'll be doing some kind of freebie download available the day of the ball, and I'll be doing a drawing for a giftie of some sort.  Stay tuned for more details, and make sure to check out the links in this post, and I guarantee you'll get excited about joining in!