Art and Soul Retreat - Porland, OR

If you have never been to an art retreat you are missing out especially if you love art and various crafts. This year I'll be teaching at the Portland retreat my Bonsai Gem Tree class, Friday, October 5th. It is a full day class so you will have time to make not only a little bit larger tree than normal but learn all my secrets to a great tree design. You will complete a tree in class all ready for you to take home.

This is the style we will be making.

Come join me in this adventure of sculpting wire and gemstones to form a tree.

Also, if you find you want to learn this tree style and can't make the Art & Soul Retreat, I also teach at Shipwreck Beads in Lacey, WA a various of classes. Feel free to check out what they have to offer. Please note that the class at Shipwreck is only 3 hours in length and you will make a tree but it will be smaller in size.

A Little Peace

Sometimes we all need a little peace but I found a deeper meaning to this earring and necklace set I created yesterday. I'm not sure what drove me to adding the peace charm at the bottom of the pendant but it seemed to balance out the oddness of using bullet casings for jewelry. Sorry folks, this set is already going to a good home tomorrow but if you want a set, just let me know.

I also have been busy making little drawstring baggies. I usually make them to use when someone buys a piece of jewelry or lately I've been making about 20 a month for the children in the oncology department at Mary Bridge Children's hospital. These were a special order for a Mary Kay representative who just happens to be my niece Shelby. She is really into the pink.

Last week hubby, my mom and both my niece and nephew and their spouses took a couple of day trips. Our first trip was to the ocean (Pacific) at Grayland beach. It started out cloudy with a few rain showers going but once we got there...nice and sunny. Such a treat. The dogs even got a good run in. We love going this time of year and during the week as there aren't very many people on the beach.

I like this shot as you can see Buddy the spaniel running in the distance, hubby keeping a watchful eye on him and Leo thinking he just found some food. We are always catching him with crab shells or something in his mouth.

My nephew and his wife just having a bit of fun. Oh to have that much energy.

My niece and her husband and I can just hear her saying "just one more shell".

The next day we headed up to Seattle to Pike Place Market then to the Seattle Center to view the new Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibit and the Space Needle. We packed a lot into one day and our feet were sure tired at the end of it but we all had a great time and have the pictures to prove it. I highly recommend the glass exhibit...so worth it.

 My mom with my niece and her husband at Pike Place Market.

 You just can't imagine the beauty of this exhibit unless you go to it. My pictures certainly don't do it justice.

Here we are at the top of the Space Needle. It definitely was a picture taking day.

After a couple of days of high activity, I was glad to get back to our normal routine and just a little peace.

Having Fun With Charms

For the past several days...okay more than a few days, I've been trying to get caught up on all the art charm swaps I'm in. I am hosting a Postal swap and a Pendant swap and like a sucker I just couldn't resist signing up for 2 sets each.

The pendant swap was pretty easy as I love to play with wire. So I made several different types of wired up pendants. These first ones are all the same and I call them my crystal ball pendants as they are made out of quartz crystal.

This next set was me just playing around. It was kind of fun.

Then the hard part started.... My postal charms, oh what to make. I was not very creative at all and finally decided to make my soldered charms for my first set. I just love these. I used mostly old stamps that my husband had rejected out of his collection. Can you believe we found one in here from 1895. Yup, someone is going to receive that one in a swap.

My next set was harder to figure out and finally I just glued a ton of postage stamps to a piece of card stock as a collage and then used Diamond Glaze to affix a glass piece over the top of the pieces that I cut out. A simple coil and loop for the hanger a little more Diamond Glaze on back and there you go, postage stamp charms. Probably out of all of them, these are my favorite because they are so different.

Another swap I signed up for was the Amulets and Talisman swap. This was hard. I did lots of research and several test charms. It was hard keeping them to under 1 1/2". The bottle charm got kicked out as it was too big and I ended up not liking the triangle with the eye in the middle. So four different charms the amulet bag made out of leather and filled with various protective stones, the symbol of the moon out of silver with crystal, the wishbone in gold (not really just brass) and the protection amulet with a binding and protective stones.

So, I think I am now all caught up. Whew, that was a lot of charms. I can't wait to see what I get in return.

One more thing, I have a Bonsai Gem Tree class coming up June 30th at Shipwreck Beads in Lacey, WA, so if you have been wanting to learn how to make a gem tree, this is a great starter class. Come have fun with us.