Packing....Packing....Packing

Gads, it's been a while since I've blogged. I have been very busy packing for several trips. I'm leaving tomorrow for NYC/DC for 3 weeks to visit family and friends. Carolyn of Autumn Leaves and I are hoping to get together and do a Vlog for everyone. Should be fun. I return from that trip on 4/25 and pack for the next trip which will be to San Carlos, Mexico for a week. We have friends coming from Ohio, AZ and Ga to join us. This has become an annual ritual and we always have a great time - who wouldn't with margaritas flowing all day??? As soon as we return from Mexico, we head for the White Mountains of Arizona for the summer. Then I should be in place for the entire summer - no more trips. Oops, I forgot that we are taking our Airstream trailer on a trip in July to attend a cousins wedding in Idaho. It will be wonderful to reconnect with family that I haven't seen in several years. I yearn for the days when families lived near each other and could visit often. I'd better tend to the washer and dryer now or I won't have any clothes to pack. Until next time, have a great week and hopefully, soon the pollen will settle down and we can all breathe again. Cheers, Sally P.S. Some people are telling me that when they visit this blog and try to leave a comment, they getted knocked off. If this happens to you please email me and let me know so I can research the issue www.thebearaffair@cox.net

Spring is on the way

It's that time of the year again. You know, the time when all of the flowers start blooming, the birds are building nests, and the wind is blowing constantly. This all leads to one thing - allergy season. I should be dehydrated as much as I've blown my nose and wiped my tears away this past week. The good news is that it will all soon be over - I hope.

I had a wonderful trip to Santa Fe and the Interweave Beadfest. I even caught a few snowflakes on my tongue one day. We were walking from one hotel to the other and all of a sudden there was a huge snow storm.

It was so much fun to meet the instructors, authors and artists that I've interacted with for many years via the web and books. I took a wonderful workshop from Tracy Stanley - Cold Connections. It was really exciting to learn different techniques of texturing metals and combining them with several different kinds of riveting to create a fabulous bracelet. She is a delight to spend time with and a wonderful instructor. Check out her website to learn more about her

http://www.wiredarts.net/

The first picture is of Tracy, me and a new friend of mine. When we were getting settled at our tables before class started, we discovered that we were from the same town, Green Valley, Arizona. It is still small enough that we probably should have know each other before now. We are both active in the same metalsmithing and lapidary classes so go figure why we hadn't met before now. Anyway, we will be having some fun together now. The picture of the bracelet is of one of Tracy's examples because we didn't finish ours by the end of the class. It is a lot of work to put one of these together - guess that's why Tracy told us that they sell for $420.00!! If you're interested, I'll work you a killer deal though":>}

Another exciting moment for me was meeting and visiting with Susan Lenart Kazmer. For those of you who do not recognize her name, she is an explorer, inventor and maverick, according to her bio. She is the queen of cold connections and has developed techniques most would love to be able to master. Her recent book is titled Making Connections. A Handbook of Cold Joins for Jewelers and Mixed Media Artists. It is a great book to learn from and also makes a nice coffee table adornment. Susan has more energy than any ten people I know and she is a delight to watch in action. I plan to take a class from her next year but boy, the minute the classes are posted they fill up so if you are interested I have one word for you - hurry! You can check her out at the following address:

http://www.susanlenartkazmer.net/

This is a picture of Susan signing my book. What a fun time.

I was able to visit my brother and sister-in-law while attending the conference too. They live about 20 miles from Santa Fe so it was great to be able to B & B with them. Thanks so much Jerry and Sandy. I hope I can return the favor this summer up in the White Mountains of Pinetop. Of course the visit wouldn't have been complete without several shopping trips - something my sister-in-law and I have down to a science:>} She had several vintage pieces of jewelry that we (she) re-worked and a good time was had by all. My brother was happy because he was in complete control of the remote and could watch anything he wanted for an entire week........

I guess I've rambled long enough so I will sign off for now. Happy spring to everyone and have a great week. I'd love to hear from you so if you read my blog please let me know what you think of it.

An Award is Worth a Thousand Words

Wow, today I checked my blog and found out that I am the grateful recipient of an award. Not just any award either. This is a very special award given to me by Tammy from Tammy's Treasure Chest and is called the Let's be Friends Award.




Thank you so much Tammy. Here is the description of this wonderful award:

These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award. Now I'd like to pass this award on to:

AutumnLeavesJewelry

LisasLovlies

Barebummbath

thecellophanes

TheHerbWay

Check these blogs out and give them a big hug. We all work very hard to maintain our sanity and it is wonderful to be recognized by a friend:>}

And Life Goes On

Today I lost a good friend. My friend Jan passed away of ovarian cancer. The good news is that she is in the palm of God's hands forever and will never suffer again. I'll miss you my friend.

I finished up my PMC class and really enjoyed it. I made 4 pendants and will be taking them with me when I go to visit my granddaughters next month. I hope they like them.

This is terrible picture but I'm not in the mood to fool with the camera right now so this will have to do. I'll try to sharpen it up tomorrow. REMEMBER: Ride the wind to places of your dreams! {{{hugs}}}

It's A Wonderful Day

Hi everyone. I had a wonderful day today. I took a PMC class that I've wanted to take for quite some time. I made three pendants and can't wait to go back tomorrow to clean them up and enjoy. I am no longer afraid to work with the clay and like everything else, once you try it, the fear is gone. Another fun avenue in the roadmap of jewelry. My husband thinks I have too many toys - I think I have too little time:>} I'm going to Santa Fe next week to attend the Santa Fe Beadfest. I AM SO EXCITED. My brother and sister-in-law live there so I will take a few classes and play the rest of the time. I'm taking a class on cold connections from Tracey Stanley. It will be a blast. I'll keep you posted and send pictures along the way.

On a sad note, for those of you who have been reading my blog, my friend Jan is in Hospice tonight and has slipped into a coma. She is the friend that I took the quilt to a few weeks ago. I am so happy that I had a chance to visit with her and give her the quilt. She was so happy with the quilt. God will take good care of her, I know, but it is so hard to let go. God Bless you Jan and thanks for the wonderful memories.

The weather here is Arizona is wonderful but I won't elaborate because I know what my friends and family on the east coast are going through right now.

REMEMBER: Running around with good friends is one of life's greatest pleasures - enjoy.

Dirty Story

It's a dirty story but someone has to tell it. I was tumbling some of my finished pieces last night and when I took them out, they were blackened, like they had been dipped in LOS. I paniced and wondered to myself, "Self, did you patina a piece and forget to rinse it off before you put it in the tumbler?" I didn't think so but in my normal state of SADD,(senior attention deficit disorder:>}) I wouldn't guarantee anything. I decided to tumble another piece and see if it happened again. Sure enough, the second piece looked just the same. I knew I was going to be attending a design class today at the Lapidary Shop so decided not to panic. After all, when I go to the shop to work on something I always have more than enough advisors available:>}. After the session, I asked the main instructor if I'd done the unpardonable and was it irreversible. I had visions in my head of needing to dispose of the shot due to contamination and it is expensive to purchase and more expensive to ship so I surely didn't want that to be the case. He kind of gave me that ole SEG and asked me what color my water was. I told him it was pretty dirty and the shot was black. Ah hah he said. You haven't cleaned your shot lately have you? Nope, no one told me I had to do that......never heard of cleaning the shot. He told me to go home and either order some Shot Cleaner Fluid (from Rio) or just mix up a solution of ammonia and let the shot soak for awhile and that should take care of the problemo......I came home and followed his instructions and sure enough, the water turned black from the gunk attached to the shot and the shot is now nice and shiny. I love those experts who always seem to bail us out of trouble. I guess those are the best kinds of lessons because I will always wash my shot once a week or so to make sure this doesn't happen to me again.


On another note the design class was wonderful and I can't wait until Wednesday and Thursday when I take my PMC class. I've had some packages of PMC in my studio for months because I was afraid to open the packages. It is so expensive I was afraid I'd screw it up and waste the clay. I'm told that the main thing you have to worry about is letting it dry out so I will be very careful. Will keep you posted. My husband is back home after the weekend in Phoenix and very happy to have a steak dinner and sleep in his own bed for a change.....Gotta love them.


On another note, I came home from my class to find this little visitor on my patio, having lunch no less - yuk. In case you can't tell, it is a beautiful hawk.