Beadfest 2010

I recently attended Beadfest in Philly and took classes with Susan Lenart Kazmar and Linda Larsen. Their company is Objects and Elements, of which i am a design team member. So i thought since they were in my hood, i'd take advantage of that and get in some classes with them. I took the classes with my friend, Leslie, who was kind enough to let me stay with her the whole time so that i didn't have to commute or pay for lodging. (thanks again!)

Susan's class was all about resin application and we used the much touted ICE resin. I just love this product. if you go over to the website, there are all kinds of tutorials and photos on projects done using ICE resin. you can also keep up with the blog to see projects done by all the design team members. for my first project, I embedded a butterfly (found right before class in the parking lot of WaWa!) into one of O&E's bezels. (whoops, i just realized that my bezel pics is upside down, but you get the idea. then we let them dry overnight before continuing on with other projects. i'm still finishing mine up, so i'll post pics later of the completed piece.

at lunch time we went downstairs to do some shopping! we ran into Suze and her husband, Lenny.
----------------------------------------

then we ran into Jane and her daughter, Claudia

------------------------------------------------

Art is...you, the East Coast Art Retreat

Your hostess's, Ellen and Sallianne
----------------------------------------------------------

Have you heard about the east coast art retreat, Art is...You? The event is taking place in October at The Danbury Plaza Hotel in Danbury, Connecticut. The dates are Oct. 7-12. I will be teaching 3 classes there along with many other very talented instructors. you can find all the workshops being offered here. It's not too late to join in on the fun!

here are a few of the workshops that are being taught:

"There's no place like home" with Jenny and Aaron
---------------------------------------------



"Icons and Angels" with Pamela Hastings
-------------------------------------------------



Etching with Keith Lo Bue
------------------------------------------------



"Almost Home" with Taryn, Robin & Rachel
----------------------------------------------------



"Waxing Wonders" with Suze Weinberg
--------------------------------------------------------



"Souvenirs de ma Vie" with kecia deveney (me!)
---------------------------------------------------------




"I love mudcakes" with Laurie Meseroll
-------------------------------------------------------


"Chunky Loteria Cards" with Michael de Meng
---------------------------------



"The keeper of secret and dreams" with Lesley Venable
-------------------------------------------------------------------------



"Fairy Album" with Pamela Huntington

Extra Exciting News!

this is news i have been sitting on since February . do you know how hard it is to sit on fun and exciting news? it's hard to do!

So what's the news? i am excited to announce that i was asked to be the newest design team member of Objects and Elements (tool and supplies for the mixed media artist). it all started in late January when i was at CHA, "walking the show" as Suze Weinberg encouraged me to do (thank you Suze for the encouragement!) I didn't go there with any agenda, but to meet people, wear my jewelry, find jewelry resources, meet up with friends, see family and per the usual, have fun and enjoy the moment! and i did have a lovely time. it was overwhelming how much talking i did, how many people stopped me to look at my jewelry or to tell me that they loved my pigtails (Melody!), run into Jenny Doh and taking the incentive to introduce myself. It was a busy, whirlwind few days and worth every second of time i took to be there. I still consider myself very green to the art world and their enthusiasm and praise for my jewelry is so encouraging and amazing. it has lead me to teaching opportunities and now this. i am grateful for friends like, Barbe and others, who believe in me. So after spending some time at the O&E booth, speaking with Susan, Linda, Jen (our den mother), Kristen and Barbe ( Deryn and Jane weren't there) and then also having the confidence to take out my portfolio and say, "want to see more"? (remember the previous post about this whole topic of learning to self promote?)- i feel that i have EARNED this and that my friends, is a very satisfying feeling.
-------------------------------------------------
here is my first piece of jewelry that i created using items that can be found at Objects and Elements.com. I really wanted to create a piece with this darling "french baby" charm. i love dolls and use them a lot in my art, so i couldn't wait to "play doll" with her. She was laid in a open back bezel and then secured with ice resin. all of these items can be found on the website.

--------------------------------------------------

Now for the fun stuff! i've decided to do a giveaway for the first piece that i designed for Objects and Elements. In my eyes, it is the perfect way to celebrate my introduction. So, all you need to do is leave a comment here on the Object and Elements blog.

the next product i look forward to playing with their new staple bezel. i see alot of potential with these and my use of vintage found objects.

stayed tune for some cool things happening at Objects and Elements. this rapidly growing company has a lot up their sleeves and i'm happy to be along for the ride!

Art Opera 2010

this post will be done in pictures, as i think they are pretty self explanatory!

suze, margot and sallianne

So on Sunday, i had a few minutes to spare and i had heard via the grape vine that there was some cool art happening in my neck of the woods - so i stopped by Suze's studio to see what was going down. i got to see a flock of art chicks surrounded by art supplies and working on a super fab necklace being taught to them by none other than Margot, the impatient crafter! Margot is a facebook buddy and we've yet to meet face to face, so it was nice to surprise her by stopping in for a quick hello! i was also pleasantly surprised to see Sallianne of, Art-is-you, sitting amongst the happy art girlies getting their art on! and of course, as always, it was fun to see Suze!

Art-is-you 2009

i began my journey to Art-is-you on a very gusty and overcast day. driving in Tucker's big econoline van, packed to the gills with art supplies, class kits, display stuff for vendor night, stuff to sell on vendor night, luggage and my 2 favorite pillows. the wind was so bad, i had to death grip the steering wheel to keep the van from being whipped around. it was a little stressful to say the least. so if you were driving behind me, i apologize for going so slow!
i taught 4 classes; all of them so different from the next. i did a sewing class, a jewelry class, a soldering class and a collage class. i loved everyone of them and received so many compliments from my students after class was over. we worked very hard and all left with an almost completed project.
there were many friends to see and new ones to meet. i ended up spending a lot of time with di, taryn and jane and we bonded over silly things, interesting people and our similarities.
i found people to be extremely helpful and for the most part, everyone, although tired, wore a constant smile on their face.
i wanted to thank all the vendors who were so helpful to me with selling my stuff or watching over it while i was in class (scott, lenny, terri, linda and the bead girl). it was sad to say goodbye as that close knit, "girlfriend power" feeling of art camaraderie just does not happen enough. but i know we will get to see each other soon and i look forward to it.

(click on image to see enlarged photo)