Name That Delica Number

Color inspiration shows up when you least expect.

My parents gave us an invaluable gift for Christmas this past year. We went on a family vacation to Florida in July! This was the first vacation for all 8 of us to enjoy spending together for a week. It was my parents, my fiancé and I, my sister and her husband, and my niece and nephew ages 7 and 13. My Mom is in love with an amazing resort in Ft. Meyers and has been there 5 times over the past several years. She had been wanting to share the wonder with all of the family so we finally got to go and experience it for ourselves. If you’re interested in a vacation spot, check out Pink Shell Beach Resort & Spa. We are all now checking the web cam on a daily basis daydreaming of going back!

On our second day it stormed for a couple hours. Our room overlooked the ocean and had floor to ceiling windows. We watched this storm roll in over the horizon and it was a spectacular range of blues and greens! Funny thing, my Mom and I at one point both looked at each other and said, “What are those Delica numbers?!?”. The colors of the storm over the ocean were just amazing and we both imagined a rich project using those colors. I took many photos as a reminder of the brilliant color combination although it was much prettier in person. Amazing how our minds are always working toward that next favorite project! :)



After the storm, we were treated to this beautiful sunset from our balcony......

I Hate Sewing

As long as I can remember, my Mom has sewn. She made clothes for my sister when we were little and then I was lucky enough to wear those clothes once I grew into them. My sister and I wore the same outfit in our kindergarten picture and she is 7 years older than me! She is probably going to kill me for posting this picture, but I can’t resist. Here we are about 30 years ago wearing matching denim jumpers my Mom made for us. I’m the chubby one on the right!

Mom even had her own pattern company in the late ‘80s. The whole family would work on copying the pattern, folding the pages and stuffing them into bags for selling. I even got paid 5 cents per pattern that I got ready! My mom got interested in quilting and now my parents own 3 amazing stores in Houston. Shameless plug – visit them online at www.itsastitchonline.com for all your quilting wants and needs.

I have never liked to sew. I go through little spurts where I get really excited about sewing up a project and then about 20 minutes into it I remember that I hate sewing. Although, I have just discovered the joy of machine embroidery! Since I don’t sew, I call my sewing machine “my crafting machine”. :) Check back soon for photos of what I have been making on my crafting machine.

Back to School

So how in the world did that happen? One day I’m staring at the calendar wondering why time is passing by so slow and how it feels like we’ll never be in Florida for vacation. Then here we are with school starting already. I don’t have any children so I don’t have to worry about the school supply list or the back to school clothes or trying to get on a new early schedule for school. However, I do have to drive through THREE school zones to get from the house out of our neighborhood. There is only one road that leads out of the neighborhood. Ugh! It’s time to schedule all my appointments, errands, shopping, etc. around the school zones!

Summer Vacations

I am finally back to work after an extended vacation. It’s been hard to get back into the groove of the everyday grind. I went to the huge Bead & Button show in Milwaukee with my mom and then I hung out with my family in Houston for a few weeks. It was a nice time off to get some beading done and enjoy quality time with my family. I’ll be posting soon about the wonderful classes we took at Bead & Button and also pictures of the items I’ve been making recently.

Now that things have settled down again it’s time to get ready for another vacation! Ken and I are heading to Houston in 1 week and then my entire family is flying to Florida for a week! I haven’t been to Florida in about 15 years. I can’t wait to just sit on the beach and do nothing!

Featured on Beaders Showcase!

I received an exciting email yesterday. One of my photos was chosen for “This Week’s Showcase” on Beader’s Showcase! There are over 10,260 photos on the site and my Silicone Valley Bra photo was chosen to be one of the 9 featured this week! It was chosen based on the ratings from other members. I’m proud that others enjoy the bra as much as I do and I’m already coming up with fantastic ideas for next year.

My First Herringbone

The first beading stitch I learned using a needle and thread was the herringbone stitch. I followed the directions in a kit sold by Tapestry Beads and I loved it immediately! I never finished that bracelet from the kit because I got so excited about the possibilities of patterns that I moved on to make my own design. I made my first bracelet a couple years ago in which I used colored pencils and blank herringbone graph paper to design the pattern. I actually wore the bracelet today which made me think back to how excited I was to take an idea from my head and see it come to life. Here are some pictures of my Coral Over & Under (yep, I know it’s a catchy title)



I ended up making the same design in pastels for a Spring Fever bracelet and converted the pattern to peyote for the bracelet I made to donate to the Graphic II event.

Art Fire

I’ve recently opened a new shop on Art Fire. Art Fire is a fairly new, started in 2008, handmade venue online that really focuses on the seller and the handmade community. It is growing and changing with feedback from the artists that use the site. The founder was a seller on another large online venue and knows first hand what is important in a site to a seller of handmade goods. The people in the forums have been so nice and welcoming. There is a ton of good info and help coming in from all the other sellers. One thing that I have liked so far is the eagerness and willingness of everyone to help promote each other’s shops. I think I’ve found a new home for selling my items!

Please check out my Art Fire studio frequently for new items and also shop around the rest of Art Fire to buy handmade!

We decided to take advantage of this overcast day to do some much-needed work around the house. So Ken is finishing the lofts in my studio and I’m posting to my blog, obviously not getting much work done :)

The big Graphic III event was one of the most wonderful nights this year! We sold out and packed the venue with about 500 guests. Click here to see a brief video about the evening and you can see me up on the stage with the auctioneer. There were 19 models/breast cancer survivors that walked the runway in gorgeous art bras. Six of those bras were auctioned off live immediately following the runway show. I wore my creation Silicone Valley in the runway show and it was auctioned off live for $600! Here I am right before walking down the runway in my art bra.



The night was a huge success and we raised over 40% more than last year! We weren’t sure what was going to happen due to the economy. I made a beautiful herringbone bracelet for the silent auction. I used metallic pink Delicas and hematite drops to add some depth. Here is the bracelet.

Calendar Photo Shoot

What a beautiful afternoon! I can hear the wild turkeys gobbling across the lake.

I had my first photo shoot today for the 2010 Art Bra Calendar. I wore a bra called Glamour Eyes that had funky beaded eyes with zebra print. This great salon called Avenue Five Institute took care of our hair & make-up in the morning before the photo shoot at the Umlauf Sculpture Gardens. The salon team was awesome and I think they had a good time making me look “fierce”! Here are a couple pictures of me getting made up and with the salon team –



The shoot today was with 3 other breast cancer survivors wearing black & white bras and our wonderful photographer Rocky.

I’m still finishing up my auction item. I’ll have to turn it in on Monday morning so it will be done this weekend. I was inspired by all the hematite I used in my art bra so I am making a beautiful herringbone bracelet with metallic pink Delicas and hematite drops. I’ll show photos once I finish.