Ha! this isn't a project, its the necklace that I wore the entire show...I made this just before I left, using left over beads from 3 different torch sessions but I was tickled how they all worked together...and the new clothes I bought were all bright colors and black pants, so this went with everything I wore...sweet...

A very cool sandblasted bead I bought during Meet the Teacher night from Jeri Warhaftig...She used an iridized solution to get the rainbow color effect (didn't learn that in her sandblasting class, sorry, gotta keep taking more classes to learn that, ha)...

I make Temari balls from thread, and Emiko Sawamoto makes them in glass..I've always wanted one of her Temari beads, and was lucky enough to find this one at her booth...I tried coercing her into coming down to teach, but she said she didn't want to deal with 'problem students'...I told her we'd be perfect students (we are rowdy, but she didn't know who I was, and we are GOOD students!), and told her to ask Angi Graham who was in the booth next to her, but all Angi did was tell her how we set ourselves on fire...D'oh! I'm very tickled to get this bead, though...!

There are 3 artists here..The top 2 beads with the silver bead caps are from ZoaArt and they are examples of a PMC class that Lisa Blackwell wants to teach here in December..these are examples I will give to Jim Berry at BlueMoon to help fill the class...The bead on the right with all the cuts is the Bead and Button Commemorative bead from Jared DeLong and the large bead w/ the leaves is from Klew..I've wanted some of her work for ages, and could have spent hundreds, so I finally narrowed it down to ONE bead and figured I'd just start a collection as I go...Love these autumn colors (of course)...

Beads from Andrea Guarino, another of my heros and good friends...I've been hankerin for one of her 'sand' beads (upper left) and then I spotted this gold fumed bead (the purple dots have a gold shimmer on them) and learned that this bead started pink and when fumed with silver it turned this cool yellow ocher color...again, the autumn colors that I love... We hung out with Andrea on Monday after the show and she took us to the coolest gallery in Milwaukee - the 3rd Avenue Gallery...I coulda spent loads o'money in there, but my credit cards were smokin' by that time and I had to just shop with my eyes...still it was fun...

Gail Crosman Moore is one of my favorite boro workers..I met her years ago in Houston when we both did the show there and she does the most wonderful things with this glass that I've never attempted...one day...anyway, I picked up these two beads that will make a killer pair of mismatched earrings...I also got a hairstick (need a pic, its hiding here somewhere) as well as a small felting kit to make beads for a bracelet...she wanted to see my felting project from class, so we hung out and talked felting..she's going to submit some felt projects next year, we'll see if they're accepted...I heard that the teachers have to have their projects submitted by July 1 this year..yeowch..good thing I'm not planning on teaching there - what would I teach anyway? I don't want to haul torches around for 20 folks, yikes...I really enjoy TAKING the classes!!

Now ya'll are gonna wanna buy stuff from Paula Best !!!!! ..her stuff is fantabulous and I love it...The top 5 hangers will all be one necklace and the other pieces I'll find something to do with....in fact I was so excited to know that we'd be picking Lady up after I got back from the show that I bought the dog charms in anticipation of getting her...and then felt guilty for not getting anything for the cats, so I went back and picked up the cat charm...heh...I talked to Teresa at the booth, Paula was out and about...If you like rubber stamps, look out - she has 32 pages of them and I think I wanted almost one from each page...good grief!

I splurged on a finished bracelet for ME after seeing my friend Lydia buy one and lusting after it all night...This is from ZoaArt and is all PMC...the patina on the pieces are full of aqua, rust, orange, teal, pink, purple and just gorgeous..I haven't really spent time looking at all the things going on in this piece, I want to take my time and discover it in time...I have lots of PMC supplies but don't really know how to use it..if I could learn to make cool stuff like this, I'd be more inclined to pull it out..I guess its like anything - you need to spend time learning the medium before you can be really good at it...well, Lisa is really good at it!

Ahhhh...Pacific Silverworks....I must admit I wasn't familiar with them before the show, but everyone else seemed to know who they were..I think its cause I just don't make that many finished things, so I didn't need a good source of findings, but let me just say - these folks are the best and that comes from all the 'experts' who work with them...They are the nicest people and their silver is really nicely finished...Does this picutre look like $500 worth of silver? I didn't think so, but there ya have it...thank goodness they offered a price break...I thought I had about $200 worth, but obviously I have good taste and just kept picking stuff up...who knows if i'll use it all, I don't have any immediate plans, but at least its here if I want it..I like the pendant hangers (middle of the page,. right) cause I can just clip a bead onto it and wear it on a choker..(see the purple bead I bought from Jeri W for an idea of how to use this pendant hanger)...

Oh man...Riveting!!! this was an all day class (9-5) from Kriss Silva and I wasn't sure what I'd learn, but I am just thrilled with the end result...the bracelet in the lower right is what i made in class, each side is textured differently and had I thought to bring them, I could have stamped these with words ahead of time, but hey - that's another bracelet...the charms in the middle were what I was riveting in our room instead of quietly beading like the rest of the good girls, and the coin bracelet is made from Euros I brought back from Italy in January...The Ring in the middle is a kit from Kriss Silva, made with chain and it came with a white pearl, but I put the peacock pearl on it last night, since I'm not a white pearl girl...The charms say "Bead Ho", "I Want That", "Hook 'Em Horns" and "Create Magic"...

What are THESE doing here? I made these as charms for a necklace and used some Silver Black on them to give them a nice soft patina..I like the way they look now and think they fit in nicely with all the other silver pieces I have here...

My very first class was with Wendy Witchner and I LOVED it! The earrings (closeup here) that we made are just as nice as the ones she was selling - which is always great when your class projects come out wonderful the very first time you do them...The two pair of earrings on the paper were ones I bought from Wendy in class and the bracelet was one I managed to get Kriss to sell me during Meet the Teacher...it was just an example of her work, but I loved the green beads so much I wanted it, so she said just give her what I thought it was worth...Done!

Once the show opened, I was hanging around Wendy's little booth and kept going back...She picked up and showed me this long necklace and I really gave it a hard look and realized just how wonderful it was...I decided to splurge and pick it up - it can be worn 6 different ways! (the neck wire at the top can be hooked into it so you can wear it layered...I love raku beads, and this one is loaded with them...HAD to have it...I've made wire beads like this, but I knew I'd never make a necklace like this myself, so I just grabbed it...I told her she should ask at least $400 for it, but it was less than $300, which is really a steal..I picked up a spiral cuff that she gave to me for nearly nothing and then the little bling ring was just too fun to pass up..Needless to say I had a ball with Wendy and she's agreed to come to Austin and teach some wire classes here next year...she travels in her motor home with her dog all over the country, so getting ahold of her isn't easy, but I hope I can 'find' her again...heh...You might have seen Wendy's pieces in B&B, she often submits stuff that's found in the beginning of the mag and is easy to do and not too over the top or stupid looking..I really like her style, she's one of my heroes too...

Well, here it is...the 'magic' bracelet that started my stamping career, ha...I LOVED meeting Lisa (finally) after all our wacky emails and she's as big a hoot as you'd imagine...why can't all the cool people live in the same place so we can hang out and have fun...sigh...anyway, I DID learn stuff in this class, even tho I had an idea of what to do, plus I bought some cool extra silver pieces to stamp that Lisa sells, (the coins in the pic are from Hands of the Hills and I plan to rivet those eventually)...and I know that I prefer her thicker metal wire for this project...I've been wearing this cuff non-stop since I made it last Sunday and it has a neat little 'ting' sound to it, but its not in the way..I prefer it w/out the clasp, just pop it on and off....I want to order a stamp w/ my signature and get some other fonts as well..I DO have a small set of letters, you can't see them well, but inside the cuff I stamped 'donner 2005' as a sorta sig...

How can you NOT get a tote bag that says this? Lydia stopped by the booth and picked us each up one...HI-larious...I think I need to hang this up in my studio...

Over the weekend, Brian and I donated a load of goodies at the local thrift store and I spotted these very super groovy Cherry Tote bags...3 train totes, a round purse and a cigarette case that I can use as a business card case...They're practically brand new, the donator said they reminded her of 'bad times', and so she brought them in...I missed the rolling cart by just minutes, but I was tickled to get these guys for a very reasonable price...Next year at B&B, I'll be the cherry tote girl...my hammers will fit in here nicely...

Now THIS is what I call a tote bag! Look what Annette sent me! I picked it up today at the PO box (sometimes going there is worth while, not all junk mail)...I need to send her some cool beads in exchange for this...I LOVE the fuchsia color, its a nice large size and its a great beginning to my Bead Girl tote collection..Have you seen the other colors? Apricot, Turquoise, very cool indeed...Thanks Annette!!

Hey - if anyone is doing a Wholesale order for these bags, lemme know..I'm interested in getting a few more styles...it only takes 3 of any bagstyle to qualify for the wholesale price...who's in??? - NOTE - I'm not doing any wholesale orders any longer, but feel free to click the link and order some bags yourself...

Who doesn't buy sunglasses at a Bead Show? I like shiny things, we've all established that...these guys are trimmed with flatback Swarovski crystals and sparkle like crazy in the sun... I think I took the 'rock star' thing too far...

I bought these at the last minute, I think the show had already closed, but I managed to sneak these in cause I was paying with cash...These form up like cones and you can drape your strung project on them (one is a necklace, the other is a bracelet form) and measure how long you need to string your project...I dunno if I'll ever use these, but I like the idea...

Ok, here's my Shag Carpet kit..(click on Gallery for a finished pic of this piece)....I had a great time in the class, Kate teaches so smooth and fluidly, its like you're mezmerized by her voice...I sat up front with Gail and we had a great time...Gail did a great job relieving me of many of the beads I brought for sale, in fact, everything she bought, I turned around and spent on tools and clasps from Kate...new round nose, new flush cutters, I'm a tool ho indeed...

I love the color of these pearls and had a great time making them into loops...I haven't done any seed beading in awhile, well, those Janice Peacock 'sprout' bracelets were the last thing in a few years, so it was interesting to have needle and thread in my hand again... So I spent more time wire wrapping the pearls than acutally making the bracelet...I DO plan to finish this project, it shouldn't take too long..My favorite part is on one end - I have a few champagne pearls in the beginning of the piece that Kate used when demo'ing the process...so some of her energy is in my bracelet...love that...

Felted Beads! Yep...that's what you're looking at...Katie asked how you make these...well, you take wool and roll it into a ball, and use a needle (see below) to punch the fibers into the shape...once you have the center ball made, you roll more expensive colored rove onto the outside and punch that down...then decorate however you like...I of course reverted to the decorations that I know from glassbeadamking, but I prefer the look of the muted colors, so I plan to work on new beads...I love the process, I'm just not wild about my execution...the instructor, Carol Cypher is a wonderful teacher, very eclectic and friendly as can be...I hope to take more classes from her...maybe do some wet felting next time...She has a new book coming out in January that will be the 'bible' of felting...even her hair is felted (dreadlocked)...

I bought some of her bracelet kits as well, but you can see better photos on her site...

So, here's the bigger pic of the beads, eventually once I get more decorations on these, I'll string them w/ some glass beads between and it'll be fine...I think its like anything - when its in progress its knarly, when its finished its wonderful...

These are the weapons of the needle felter...and weapons I do mean...the single needles are great for doing decorating, and the large wooden handle w/ the 3 needles is called a 'turbo' needle and it speeds up your felting three times as fast...but lemme tell ya...I call these the 'ouch' needles...I stabbed myself at least 8 times in the left thumb during class and lemme just say it STILL hurts...ha...no one warned me I should have brought a thimble (let this be my warning to you) and the we were all bleeding/sucking thumbs thru class...but I had to get these, and I plan to use them and I'm sure I'll stab myself again...

a closeup of the weapons of destruction...see the little barbs on the needle? that's what pulls the wool fibers down into the project, but doesn't pull it back up...makes felting fast and painful...but its still fun, oh yea...

These were my 'test' sandblasting beads...I made a quite a few cause I didn't know what would make a good contrast, and I needed to practice on some crap beads, so these were those...and i'm ok with that...

But THESE were the 'good' sandblasted beads...oh yeah, I like how they came out...however, because I only sandblasted them for a few seconds, I could get the same result from etching, so I plan to just do that for the time being...use some vinyl for masking and then just etc the top layer off...I do like the black/gold pixie dust bead, it turned out super cool...and the dichro beads, I kinda suspected they'd come out nice...I'll get better pics in the sun, you don't get the full effect in this pic, but oh yeah I'm diggin' them...