MARABS Challenge and 15% off coupon available to celebrate First Friday in April May and June

If I don't post this weekend please forgive me as I have had 2 craft shows in a less than a week, 

already posted twice this week (BLAH, blah, blah)  and had several deadlines to meet. 

One of which was the 

March ABS Challenge:
(click above to see the inspiration and links to see all the entries)

 Here is my "Tahitian Dreams" Necklace 
inspired by Gaugin's Painting: "Sacred Spring, Sweet Dreams". 

Doesn't it just make you want to dance barefoot on a tropical island 
and swing those hot colored beads around your head? 
It is a very long but adjustable necklace.
 32 inches around!! 

Those tickly little fiber tassels land right on the collar bones 
looking like whimsical little flowers, semi-lai-ish. 
When I uploaded my pictures to Flickr I wrote wonderful long descriptions of my process. tags...
and guess what?
I forgot to click save (imbecil- me not you) 
so they are magically gone. 
I am a little miffed so I won't do it again today, maybe tomorrow, but not today. 
Hate that!!! 
Love this:

The good news,
I had one really long bead making day yesterday,
8 am to 12:30 am got up this morning and added the finishing touches
photographed before 10 am and uploaded to the Art Bead Scene Group on Flickr  
with a few minutes to run to the store for creamer 
before my friend Diane was arrived for a visit at 10:30. 
(for rarely am I not the Queen of the Last Minute, Race to the Deadline Gal)
and this time I left some skin on my finger tips when I sanded and buffed my beads with my dremel.  Last time,  well I will spare the gore and say: 
"I didn't know that sanding could remove that much skin" 
and my husband said: 
"Is that the Michael Jackson look you are trying out?"

"Just Sand it.....,Sand it....., this sure ain't how you planned it!!
Skin off the fingers, down to the flesh,
stings quite a bit 'cause these wounds are fresh...
Just sand it...., sand it........"
(to the tune of "Beat It")

(bandages and a couple weeks off from sanding and buffing- all is good)
Hope I made you laugh! 
Shop and Save!!! ARTS and CRAFTS Spring Shows

For Locals I am vending at First Fridays in April, May and June this year
right outside of Studio8ten on corner of S. Las Vegas Blvd and Gas Ave.
I can now proudly accept mastercard and visa and will be collecting sales tax for the state of Nevada.
Yes,  I am officially in business!!!

 What is First Friday?  

A potpourri of local artists, musicians and vendors all celebrating life and art in our own 

"Glitter City"

(Las Vegas)
Here is the flyer:

DIRECTIONS:

WALKERS- If you are concerned about walking over to Studio8ten from the Arts Factory area off Charleston watch for escorts.  There are volunteers who will accompany you all the way to and from the Studio.  PS They will have flyers with special discounts and free raffle tickets to entice you to come. 

DRIVERS:

Actually you may want to start there as the parking behind the studio in the Law firm parking lot on 4th is free.  If you take the 15 to Charleston heading east simply take a left on 4th, you will see a large law firm on the right a couple blocks down where the parking is free and the back door to the studio is right there.  Tents will be set up in back and walk through the studio to see several vendors including moi in front. 

There will be live music, raffles and children's art activities so you can shop without distractions.

Studio8ten is one location of the Transition Services Inc. non-profit organization that employs people with disabilities and you will be amazed at the products they make and sell too.  It is well worth the trip. 

If you attend First Friday and please do join the fun,

 I will be passing out coupons with the code for 15% off 

on online purchases from my two shops; Aquariart and Heatherp22 Shop.

Come by and get one - you will be glad you did because

  it will be good for any purchases made online 

the first two weeks of each month April, May and June 2011!!!

In addition I will offer 10% off anything you buy at First Fridays in April, May and June.

For my out of town Blogger friends- 

you can use this code to receive the 15% off the first 2 weeks of each month; April, May and June: 1stFriday15

I have to include you because, well 

I like you and wish you could all be there to celebrate with me.
Oh Happy Day!!
I am done talking this week!!!! 

Hey I am still here during the week... just busy

I stopped in to say: "Psst-

I am listing my New Spring Cuffs starting today on Etsy !!"

(click the giant sentence to go directly there)

I may put a couple in the Aquariart shop too as they qualify as Fiber Art. 

I hope to gather my audience around this concept of creating fiber art to wear. 

I know it is not just my idea.

It really is very comfortable to wear perhaps due to the fact that most of us 

(nudists and neanderthals excluded)- * read the fine print

 (no harm intended just a joke)

have already worn fabric most of our lives

beginning with the dreaded diaper. 

(Hopefully I won't have to revert to that style in old age!!) LOL

Also

I just happened upon a wonderful giveaway this morning over at

Marcie's - La Bella Joya
 She is celebrating her 300th sale on Etsy!!

 Wow! 

You can see why when you look at her shop 

She not only makes meticulously amazing beaded items 
but sells tutorials for her beautiful designs 

she has lovely fingernails-
I am guessing she doesn't work in clay! LOL
AND

she is having a sale too!! 
(click here to get a coupon)

Click HERE to find out how to enter the giveaway. 
DISCLAIMER: This post is purposely remedial for beginner clickers.  
Anything large and colorful will take you somewhere. 
Hopefully to the places I am talking about. 
I reserve the right to make mistakes though as I am menopausal... LOL
Have a great week- Back to work - it's a polymer clay play day!! 

Inspirations from Mother Earth

pink lame flower close up of beaded center

I have finished most of the cuffs I started last week for the Aveda Eco Fashion Show and Art Walk 

that I will be vending at this Sunday (tomorrow) from 3:00 to 5:00pm. 

 For locals the school is on Tropicana and Eastern in the strip mall on the NE corner.  

Close up of the Button

The Art Institute Students will be displaying art and 

the fashion design students will have created the items in the Fashion Show.  

I am very excited to see what all these young artists have come up with.  

So here are some more pictures of my finished Cuffs.

The entire cuff.

Closure  and beading details

Inspirations from Mother Nature, machine free-motion stitched, 

handmade organza 

and lame flowers

  singed with a tea candle, beaded and embellished with ribbons, pearls, frayed silk......

I also made three little flower pins.

Snake Woman Cuff

My polymer clay face beads were put to good use on a few of them.

This one is my favorite- The Apple Blossom Goddess

Back to work- I have to gather and organize all my inventory for tomorrow. 

Have a great weekend everyone!! 

Spring, Glorious Spring!!

I had a fabulously productive week inspite of two meetings I had to attend 

and some home service repairs going on, 

a sample beaded flower and two crochet patterns I needed to write up  chart and deliver, 

a belated birthday lunch with Barb and Teresa and 

I can't remember what else. 

Monday night was the Las Vegas Polymer Clay Guild meeting 

 I shared my knowledge and information about selling on Etsy with the group. 

 We meet at a private school in the art teacher's classroom. 

She had a Mac (oh happy me!!) with the big screen in the room 

so everyone could see what I pulled up on the desktop.  

I quit teaching in the public schools 7 years ago

so I missed the boat on this fabulous technology that is available today for teachers. 

 Anyhow I think it went well, 

 perhaps more people in the guild will start up shops and sell their wonderful items online.

We also have a demo each month.

Here is one of the little boxes we learned how to make.

I only had a dollar and still won one in the raffle.  

My lucky streak is still going. 

Wednesday was our first "Art Quilt ect.."meeting at one of our local libraries 

that just happens to be only 10 mins from my house.  

With the escalating price of gas this is going to be wonderful for me and my mustang. 

We have a monthly challenge.

 I am behind one month but working furiously to complete them all.

 Be sure to check my new post on the Fiber Art page. (click on that word at the top of this post) Spring is here and the birds are singing. 

I have one little birdy who has a new home. 

Thursday while waiting for the air conditioning company to come 

and prep our unit for the summer 

I pulled out my silk paints, my metallic guttas, seta fabric paints, 

the wonderful adjustable stretching frame I bought from Dharma 2 years ago 

 and some great items to practice on. Here's what happened- 

First I set up outside in the back yard with the seta colors and some macrame purses 

my friend Margaret from " Art quilts ect" gave me 

because in her words "I knew you would do something fabulous with them."

They were part of the stash of former member who passed away.

She had donated her things to people in our group.  

I hope she is up there smiling down at me because I made them so colorful. 

When it got too windy and cold to be outside I moved in to the dining room table and set up the silk supplies.  

Here is my first scarf in awhile.  

First I created the flowers and leaves with antique gold gutta.

After it is all dry

this is my favorite part!!! 

 you fill in with the silk paints and play with water spots ect which adds texture. 

Oh the unusual colors you can create.  

I used only 4 colors of silk paint: magenta, yellow, citrus and  turquoise

to create all these different colors.  

So Fun!!!

Next - the tricky part- heat setting and steam setting the paints. 

Happy Weekend!!

PS for all the Bead Soup People - I am still hopping- I WILL GET TO YOU! 

Spring Fever Cuff Series

The scent of plum trees blooming,
pink petal rain on the bright green grass,
birds singing joyfully as the temperature rises,
warm sunshine on my face.
Spring is here!! 

Yesterday I spent quality time with My Muse. 

She takes me to really special places. 

 I have been sewing, inspired by our local quilt show.

 I am still determined to combine all my passions and make wearable art.  

So here goes.  

My new quilted cuff series in progress. 

There are four more!! 

I started with my husband's old jeans - I save them all in a plastic tub.  

I clipped, tore and frayed one leg into 3" X 8" pieces. 

Thinking I would make a comfortable quilted lining,

I practiced my free-motion skills on batiks and fun colorful fabrics lined with cotton batting.

 I liked the quilted fabric so much the lining became the new front side. 

Quilted Fabric "New" front side painted

After quilting and sewing these together they went downstairs 

to my dining room table for some paint applications.  

Using a brush, a brayer and my favorite Lumiere paints this is what happened.   

Denim back painted with brayer highlights the quilting stitches-
maybe they should be reversable?

Somewhere last week I stumbled upon a tutorial on making fabric flower petals.
I couldn't wait any longer to try that out.  

When suffering from Spring Spring fever 
(not really suffering just enjoying great weather- it was 80 degrees here yesterday!!)
One has oodles of colorful flowers on the brain. 

My husband actually remained calm last night 
while I played with the fire in the house using a tea candle.  
After melting, puckering and hand stitching with a sprinkle of beads 

this is what you get. 

Cheap Walmart red dazzly faux silk

Specialty Organza

I love them!! Aren't they gorgeous? 
Fortunately over the years I have collected tons 
of faux silk and organza fabrics I can make these with.  
I am so glad I did! 

The next step after they are all beaded and flowered up
is to make polymer clay buttons 
and braided elastic cord loops for closures.

The cuffs are almost ready for their journey.

They will first travel to 

The Aveda Institute Art Walk and Fashion Show 
on Sunday, March 27th from 3-5pm (for locals) where I will have a booth.

Then on to my Etsy shop in April if there are any left. 

Don't worry- I don't think I will get tired of making these for a long time.

Each one comes out so totally unique. 


While I have your attention I am also working on two challenges 
from my ArtQuilt Circle using the same technique.
Free motion quilting that is painted.

"Free motion Wood grain"

Here are the parts for the  "Shelter" Challenge. Can you guess what this will be?

additional parts

and
Here is the door for my "Favorite Place" Challenge in progress

Yes I have to hide all those threads between the fabrics, this is two sided; this side is painted with Shiva Oil Sticks using make up applicators and a stencil brush to blend the other side acrylic paints.

Did I make you want to sew, bead, burn fabric (carefully)? ... I hope so! 
I also hope your weekend is fabulous- 
I am off to go outside and enjoy the great spring weather here!! 

And the Winner of the Art Deco Set is..................

I apologize for being a few hours late posting my winner:

DEE from Runako Designs!!!
I got home too late last night from a celebration 
for the featured quilter in our local Quilt Show.  
Deb is a very good friend, 
the leader of our art quilt circle and 
a very talented art quilt artist. 
We were celebrating her celebrity this year!! 
(for more about that scroll down)

HERE IS THE GIVEAWAY PRIZE!! 

This was my second creation in the Recent Bead Soup Party 

made from my partner Angela's wonderful ingredients. 

The Bead Soup Parties 

The Bead Soup Parties are sponsored by Lori at Pretty Things. 

She will be hosting this next party in August so be sure to check back 

or 

perhaps you would like to join the fun!! 

To choose a winner 

I entered 1- 89 into a random number generator online. 

It spit out 45- so I counted down my comments list. 

Comment #45 was Dee from Runako Designs

89 comments are the most comments I have ever had on my blog 

so the old fashion strips of paper was a little too much to do. 

Unfortunately I did not have enough time yesterday either 

to find a widget that I could put on my blog.

So you will have to just trust me. 

ANYHOO- Dee please send me your shipping info and 

I will mail off your new Art Deco Set! 

About the Quilt Show....

Yes, I live in the desert in Las Vegas, Nevada.

I know you all think that means I live on the strip near Caesar's Palace

and gamble like a crazy woman, party all the time and smoke cigarettes.

None of that is true. There is a wonderful community of artistic people here. We live in neighborhoods all over town and somehow find each other and share our passions just like 

some little old town in East Timbuktoo.

This is a place I never dreamed I would end up though.  

I do enjoy the shows-(We saw the BeeGees Tribute for my birthday!)

Our local quilt show is one of our two  local guild's annual events:

The Desert Quilter's of Nevada Quilt Show. 

(Click the Purple above to see one of Deb's beautiful leaf print quilts on the site)

I entered only one quilt this year

"Dada Tatu Ya Ahadi"

swahili for 

"The Three Sisters Promise".

This is an art quilt that started with a little game 

where a group of us filled a little dish with 

suggestions, techniques... on little slips of paper.

We then passed the dish and chose one at a time.  

Each of us started our quilt designs based on these prompts.  

Mine started with a piece of cloth I had tie-dyed with coffee grounds.(left hand side) 

The first prompt suggested I free motion stitch on a fabric of my choice

so those fun white outines around the white star bursts evolved. 

At some point I ended up adding three polymer clay faces 

made by my friend Mary and 

the Three Sisters were born.  

(they are a little inspired by Vegas Show Girls*!)

I am still trying to find the African Folktale - there is one with that title. 

All I know is they are happy, dancing for joy and mean a lot to each other. 

(my muse tells me all this)

I started this over 2 years ago and finished it after 

one of my best customers traded some bark cloth from Africa 

(the bodies of the three sisters) 

for some jewelry. 

It always amazes me how things like that happen,

My muse was just waiting on that barkcloth I am sure 

because it is the perfect color and texture and fiber for the arms and torsos. 

AND

It's from Africa-- DUH!! 

She whispered in my ear:"Tear it and stitch it down with invisible thread." 

Well, yesterday as I walked around the show wide=00=eyed and totally inspired 

I found to my surprise I won a first place ribbon in my category!! 

@^%$#&*!! 

(translation computer for a squeal of joy!)

For Bead enthusiasts, part of the fun I had on this quilt 

was embossing some copper with the words in the title and adding a patina. 

I also had to add hair adornments; 

polymer clay pieces (white bone bead and earrings)

 and beading (tube beaded hair and the collar on sister #1) 

All the beading was done by me except the trim on the top and bottom. 

I love using burlap as a background too it has great texture. 

There is no backing fabric just black batting on the back so I painted it 

with Jacquard Lumieres so the stitching would be visible on the back side.  

Wish I had a picture of that but I don't- maybe later. 

Unfortunately I have to go catch up on all the house and yard work 

I haven't done this past few weeks due to so many deadlines.

But you can all:

Have a wonderful weekend!  

PS I have not finished the Bead Soup Party Hop yet. 

I will get to you all and I promised myself to take my time 

look at other posts on your blogs and really see what you all do!!

 I am having a blast, meeting wonderful fellow beadaholics 

and making new friends. 

 I will comment on each and every Soup Entry!  

Thanks again Lori for this fantastic opportunity- 

You are the Bestest of the Best!! 

The next post down has both of my bead soup entries.