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.

Silicone Valley

Yay! It’s the first day of spring! The weather is amazing. It’s about 5:45 on Friday afternoon and I’m enjoying a little down time in the sun after such a crazy week.

I haven’t been able to post in a while because I’ve had a needle, FireLine, and some random shaped/sized hematite colored bead in my hand! So, Ken was right this time and I didn’t finish my art bra in by the March 16th deadline. I knew it was going to be close, but I thought without sleep or food for a couple days that I could have it finished. Reality set in and I decided that food and sleep were sort of a necessity. I did finish the bra Wednesday night though! Yay, Silicone Valley is complete! Well, I do have one or two minor adjustments to make over the weekend, but if the event was tomorrow and the bra entered “as is” then I would be extremely proud!

Here are a couple pictures of my masterpiece ~~

I love to see everyone’s surprised look that I made something like this!

Okay, now off to my next project. I have to come up with a piece for our auction by April 1st. I’ll have to come up with something quick & easy that looks like it’s worth a million bucks!

It’s official. I am now in panic mode over this art bra. I have exactly one week to complete “Silicone Valley” and have it be the most beautiful piece of art I have ever created. I can’t believe how much I have procrastinated over this project! Oh well, I did it to myself. Ken doesn’t think that I’ll have it done in time and he might just be right for once :) Here are a couple pictures of what it looks like so far and I am off to bead as fast as my fingers will let me!

2009 Young Survivor's Conference

I just had a wonderful weekend! I attended the 9th Annual Young Survivor’s Conference in Dallas, TX. I flew up to Dallas on Friday with a survivor friend and then we met up with a couple other survivor friends. There were about 800 women there that have been diagnosed with breast cancer under the age of 40. We attended workshops, networking opportunities and got in some shopping! It was amazing to see all these strong women and was quite an emotional trip as well. Here is a picture of the girls (I'm on the far left) ~~

I finally started working on my art bra. Yep, I only have two weeks to complete the whole thing. Uh oh! It looks great in my head, and I just hope it turns out and that I’m able to finish in time! I’ll post some pictures once I have more sewn on since right now it just looks like a bra!

Last Wednesday, we went to the UT women’s basketball game against Oklahoma State. The game was a special pink themed night for breast cancer awareness. I was actually able to go down on the court with other survivor friends to cheer on the team while they came on to the court! It ended up being a close game and unfortunately UT lost, but it was still a fun night.

I got to see some of my beading friends on Friday. We have a small group that meets on the third Friday of the month at a local library to bead together. I haven’t been able to attend since last fall so it was really nice to see everyone and see all the work they’ve been doing. This group is so full of talent!

I finally decided on my art bra idea. I thought I had a dozen times before, but now I’m about ready to start working on the actual bra. Ken had suggested this idea before and I hated it, but he thought of a clever/cute name and it all makes sense now. The title is “Silicone Valley” and here’s a little hint of the design.....




My friend Theresa and her family brought over a big box of obsolete computers and other components this weekend. Ken and I spent about 3 hours Sunday taking apart everything to get to their inner parts. It’s actually been an interesting project so far. Ever wondered what the inside of your laptop looks like??