Some journal pages....

Hi everyone,

     I have been busy ripping up magazines and have now started to cut and paste!!  I went and got two big journals and thought I would have them filled in no time!  I now know that I really don't have a good grasp on time management!  It took two days and one swollen hand to cut up half of my pages! I thought I would just breeze through that part! Wrong! I filled half a shoebox with the cut images and so I thought I would start pasting....and two days later, I have about 10 pages done.....man, is this going to take a long time!  I do like the pages that I have done so far. I have made some that represent an idea for a bead or a series of beads and then some of them are just colors put together for me to use when I am working with the polymer or resin. I have a page for interesting ideas on setting stones and some with ideas on different bead shapes inspired by ceramic and wood items. Since I am not going to Tucson, I am planning on experimenting in a big way!! I hope everyone has a great holiday....I will try to write after the big day and before the other one. I know I am getting some books, I bought them, but didn't peek inside, so I am looking forward to that.....my brain may explode by New Year's with all the ideas rattling around now! I tried to take a nap today and found myself constructing a beaded bezel in hot pink beads with a PMC center!  Looked pretty good, so I may have to make it! I am posting 3 pages that deal with color....I think they look good enough to eat!  Have fun with your journal pages, Kelly

Photos of my upside down tree....

Hi everyone,

   Since I have had requests for photos of my upside down Christmas tree, I thought I would take some....it isn't decorated as heavily as I normally do but you will get the idea. It looks great when I put on the expandable tinsel....it looks like a waterfall of silver.  Hope you like it. The first photo is the whole tree and the second is one of the little vellum lampshades that I put around the bulbs and the last is one set of the little glass birds that hang around the tips of the branches. I may even take it down this year and redo it next year. One year we had it up for 4 years....the boys loved bringing home their friends to see it!  Need to make some new lampshades though....maybe in a color!  Purple sounds good!  Happy Holidays everyone! Kelly

Nutcrackers and more magazines....

Hi everyone,

   Well, as the title said, I am still working on my magazines, ripping them apart and throwing out the parts I don't need. I now have a box full that I have to start cutting up so I can start sticking them down in my journals and the instruction pieces can go in the filing cabinet!!  Watching the "Nutcracker" with the Royal Ballet on tv while working on the magazines....great music!  There are some really weird "Nutcracker" ballets out there....my favorite is still the one designed by Maurice Sendak (the guy who wrote "Where the Wild Things Are"). He did some great designs for the sets. I would like to say that I put up my Christmas tree but as it has been up all year, that would be a lie. It still looks nice though. It hangs upside down from the ceiling and has little light shades that I made out of vellum on the little light bulbs. Lots of icicles hanging down, a bunch of Chris Radko ornaments and little glass birds and bells. I will try to get a good photo and post it this week. I hope everyone has had a good time in the studio making gifts for family and friends....so, since I haven't played (just filling the well)..I will post some of my other photos...hope you like them, Kelly        The first and second photos are of beads I did about three years ago and the second one was the front cover of the PMC Guilds magazine.  The third is the inside view of the ring I posted last time. The watch glass on the top is a magnifying lens so the "diamonds" look bigger than they were....great engagement ring! K

WOW! Time flies.....

Hi everyone,

   So sorry that I haven't posted in a bit. Ed offered to help me put the "library" in order and get all my books up off the floor and onto the bookshelves. I actually ran out of room and so I decided to go through 8 years of magazines to pull out the bits that I want to keep. So far, I have cleaned off 2 1/2 shelves and only filled one box with the saved bits. Now I have to go and buy some blank journals to fill....maybe I can put books on my Christmas list!!!  For those of you who see me in Tucson, I have to tell you that I am sorry that I won't be coming out this season.  I am planning on putting my time to good use and experiment with some things I have had cooking in the back of my mind. I am also working with a wonderful bead artist to make some kits featuring my centerpieces.  Hopefully I will be able to get back on track with the Master's Registry pieces....have some catching up to do!  Well, back to ripping up magazines, filling the well, as Christie Friesen says....gonna have to get some more glue sticks too!  Have fun playing, Kelly        Thought I would post some of my rings, I ran across some of my old ads that showed the pearl ring and I had forgotten how pretty it is. Hope you like them. K.

Recovering from the holidays....

Hi everyone,

   I figured everyone would too be busy doing other things to have time to check in with me, so I put off posting. I hope everyone had a nice holiday, wherever you were. We decided to do something different this year....Morgan and I thought we would be by ourselves so we choose a Moroccan recipe to experiment with. The recipe we chose was chicken with apricots, prunes and pomegranates with cous-cous. And then we threw on some potatoes....YUMMMM! It is a keeper recipe for regular meals now and it was way easy to make!  We did have apple cobbler though! Morgan may not care for turkey, hence the chicken but he does like apple pie and apple crisp.  I also got to watch a series of architectural shows that I had recorded and got to draw a lot of ideas based on parts of the buildings. I have had a urge to re-visit some of my older designs that combined the angel photos I took with the assembled pillars and arches. I may even re-design some of my "Peep Show" beads. I always liked them. I am planning on stringing up some necklace and bracelets to show how some of my beads can be used (for all those wonderful people who have purchased beads from me in the past and still don't know what to do...maybe this will be a good jumping off point for them).  So, not much to show in the new work arena..but some photos to hopefully inspire.....Have fun playing, Kelly 

     The photos are from (in order) The Walters Museum, San Francisco farmer's market and then finally, my front yard....some kind of crazy weedie type bush whose berries turned blue and purple after the first frost and they now continue to grow in these colors and even turn white with blue dots on them...crazy beautiful....I am thinking they will be great looking beads! Hope you like them....Kelly

went to the show....

Hi everyone,

  I was going to say that I was going to the show, like that old song but then thought..."but I have already been, hence the title change. Anyway, I met up with my friend Gloria at the Walter's Art Museum yesterday to go to their annual jewelry show. I loved most of the jewelers there but was disappointed by it at the same time. Most of them are jewelers that you would see at any ACC show and have seen for years in the magazines, and yes, their pieces are beautiful, but it would have been great if it had been jewelers that are not seen so much and are exciting and new. Don't get me wrong, I loved all the pieces I saw but it really would be nice to see some new artists! I know there is a lot of great art and artists out there but when will we get to see them and their work?  Well, enough said....we did have a nice lunch in the little cafe and then we went upstairs into the Asian and Japanese wings....so, have to go back with a sketch and a camera....I am going to post some of the statues and doors and a lentil of marble.... wait til you see what I missed 'cause my camera battery died!  I can't wait to go back..and it is a free museum!  Fab!  I hope you are all going to have a great holiday week/weekend and don't get hurt if you go out on Friday! Me, I am staying home and playing in the studio and Morgan and I are going to be experimenting with Moroccan food for Thankgiving since it is just the two of us....wish us luck!  Have fun, Kelly

San Francisco....

Hi everyone,

   I brought my computer to San Francisco thinking I would be able to write about the show and all....but I couldn't quite figure out the hotels ethernet stuff so I am doing it now that I am home. My luck I would have had to pay for the internet service on top of everything else and I would have been done in!  I forgot that Oakland is it's own entity and not part of San Francisco and flew into the wrong airport! It cost me 65$ to get to the hotel and 90$ to get back to the airport 4 days later and on top of that, the fee for a overweight bag went up in June from 25$ to 50$.....and I could have spent that money on beads!  I did luck out and had a fun group of girls in my class. We went out to the farmer's market for lunch and I am going to post the photos of the orchids that I found there. Saturday and Sunday were the show days and I had a fun time seeing all my friends....I was next to Andrew Thornton from Green Girls, which was great fun! Andrew has to be one of the nicest guys on the planet! We finally had dinner together on Sunday night at the "Silver Dragon" (what a great name,huh?) and it was the best Chinese food I have had in over 10 years! I has hoping to be able to eat at the Moroccan restaurant but I didn't have another 130$ for the taxi ride plus whatever the dinner would have been, so, maybe next year I will eat there before I go to the hotel!  I got some great beads and sequins and antique lace and buttons to come home with and am planning some great beads to play around with! I really enjoy the time between this show and the beginning of the year...it is experiment time in the studio....and who knows what will happen!  I will tell you that I got some eucalyptus electroformed pods with eyeballs in them and some antique glass glitter from France (that was a gift from a friend) and then add some resin in the mix and then you have something fun to work with....I will post photos when they are done!  So, I am going to play in the studio now and hope you will too! For everyone that I didn't know before and had the pleasure of meeting, it was fun getting to know you and thanks for stopping by.....and to all my friends who stopped by, thanks for all your lovely comments!  Have fun, Kelly        Do you think I love the color purple?