Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Wonderful Beach House Retreat!!!

Felting & Beading & Shopping and that View!


What a great time we are all having at the 2011 Beach House Bead Retreat. The View out our window in the work area is just one of the best reasons to be here. To the left is the sunset on the ocean side and above is the sunrise.






Below are Sharon and Madeline shooting the sunset pictures looking north on the boardwalk in Mission Beach.



The retreat began with Arlene Watson's Nuno Felting Class.



Then Marcia DeCoster's Bedazzled Button Class.








Sunday was our free day to explore the area or do whatever anyone wants. Half the class booked a day at Arlene's Studio for a Nuno Scarf Class. The other half of the class hopped into my car and we drove up the Pacific Coast Highway through La Jolla and Del Mar, past Torrey Pines State Beach and on to Solana Beach and Encinitas. We stopped at the Solana Beach Farmer's market for shopping and lunch, then to The Black Sheep in Encinitas. One of the most amazing yarn stores in the country! It has been here since the 1960's and has an astounding inventory! Two of my students are taking a little field trip with Arlene today to shop there. A must since they were in her class while the rest of us shopped. I can't wait to see what they buy!
There will be more pictures of the beaded felt after today's class.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

New Year, New Perspective

Falling In Love With My Home Again


Happy New Year! Wow, 2011. Here we go into an brand new year. My promise to myself is more gratitude. Working out of my house is great in many ways, but there is a down side. Isolation can be tough sometimes. My home environment is so lovely and yet it gets pretty old when you work in the same place you live. My vintage 1959 house is little, 968 square feet can close in on you after a few days inside at the computer. I like to say it is small but mighty! Friends have described it as a little jewel box. With inspiration from some of my artist friends, it is with new eyes that I am looking at my little house. Kate McKinnon and Marcia DeCoster are great bloggers. I love their photography! Reading Kate's book on the airplane ride home from the Bead & Button Show a couple of years actually changed how I look at my surroundings. That perspective fades now and then and must be recharged. So out came my camera and I went through my little home and took a few photographs. I am a beginner and realize I need lessons, but not too bad. So bear with my photography skills while I give you little views of my little world. I walked into the bathroom this morning and noticed the sun shining in through the window lighting up this shell. Beautiful! Time to get the camera out while the light is just right. Then, looking to the left of the window, the jewelery I took off before bed the night before piled on the sink. Spirals are a recurrent theme for me. The Nautilus shell vase and the spiral of my La Femme Spirit necklace carry out that theme for me once again. Yep, that's a Kate McKinnon ring on the sink. It is one of my favorites!
Then, walking into my work studio, I noticed that I had placed my finished and unfinished ZoTz Brooches on the desk next to the new buttons I just purchased online a few days ago. The TACtile Gallery postcard to the right just happens to reflect the circle within a circle of color theme. Hmmmm.A Limited Edition Kits Sale

By the way, there is a sale going on right now with limited edition kits from my stash. The Mardi Gras Medallions Earrings, (4 kits left), are a reconfiguration and new color theme on an old class sample bracelet. I taught the Third Eye Pendant, (4 kits left), at the Bead & Button Show a couple of years ago and still have some class kits left. Then, I had 5 Cream colored Patchwork Collage kits from my last show, (2 kits left). There is a discount on each kit and I am paying the shipping! They are selling well, and today is the last day of the sale, so check it out if you wish to do some fun and fabulous beading this year. Limited Edition Kit Sale

My wish to all of you is that 2011 is full of Love, Joy, Peace, Kindness and Prosperity. Don't forget to open yourselves up to forgiveness and tolerance.
Happy New Year!
Jeannette