Artist I admire!

Bead and Button just published the link to last years "Bead Dreams" participants. Once your at that site click on the top right "next" button to see all of them (and as always click to enlarge). Some artists use beads some use metal and some use clay or glass. All are are juried to get in. All have spent a lot of time making each pieces (hence the "NOT"). Here are a few of my favorites.

Yukiko Yamamoto

The ever colorful Suzanne Golden

This is something I have thought of doing myself chain maille with beads,
 but just didn't have 5 years of my life to spare! Artist: Lynn Davy

This piece won first place, and though it was amazing
(the watch over the heart really works)! I talked to
Diane Hyde at the show and she showed me a piece
that got rejected and it was so much more amazing
that this one.

This artist is one of my all time favorite. I went to her booth at Bead and Button first, thinking I'd get my pick of the pretties before the whole world got there, only to find out I couldn't afford them. What was I thinking?! Hours of details are carved into metal clay, that's right it's made out of clay, (metal clay to be exact) that, when put in a kiln, burns away the clay leaving .99 percent silver. Pretty cool huh! Luckily I could afford some of her pieces parts. Stay tuned to see what I do with them. Oh, the artists name is Christi Anderson.

Here and Gone!

I know June just started, but for me it's already over. I have so much going on! But I do apologize for not blogging regularly!
Bead and Button was amazing as always! I always bring cash les I forget what I charge like the first year!!! Thanks to a wonderful DH who bailed my ass out!
This year my plan was to stash half my cash in a money belt that you wear under your clothing, so as not to spend it all at once. Well it almost worked too well, with an hour left to shop I still had half my cash! In my mad dash to the bathroom I forgot to jot down the places I found with the best prices! Which also meant the last hour was then wasted trying to FIND these places once again! Alas I still had $38 when they closed! I'll just have to keep going back until I perfect my strategy ;-)
This past weekend was my first Art Fair of the year. All in all I did pretty well. Unfortunately there was a huge storm coming our way with 70 mph. winds, so we all shut 'er down an hour early and headed for the buses to take us to where our cars were parked. After dropping off a friend I was 4 blocks from home when mother nature slapped us in the face with a wet dish rag! Pulling up to our house in time to see the garbage can lids fly up in the air. (FYI it always rain on garbage day!) I got out of the car and through them into the culver before I would have to hunt them down in the neighborhood! In the 20 seconds I was out I got drenched!!!
Arriving at the show the next morning and finding out one out of the two tents, MINE, had blown up and over a foot! I was lucky nothing broke and after straightening out everything it looked good to go. The day was sunny with a nice breeze. Though I hoped to do a little better, you can't complain working outside on a day like that in a summer dress and barefoot! Plus I had a blast chatting with my neighbor Michelle.
Friday we leave for a road trip to Colorado to visit my sis and her husband, we can't wait. All I can say is there is never a dull moment with JW!
I was trying to find some little excursions to go to on the way, really hoping Curious Sofa would be close enough to stop in and shop for an hour or three! Turns out it's more like and all day adventure than an excursion so guess not. So if you know of any great place to see between Chicago and Colorado please leave a comment and let me know!
I spent the morning catching up on all the blogs I read. Check out this incredible artist who paints with staples! That's right people this picture is made up of all staples!



Click on the picture to see more.