As you all know I am a terrible blogger. I do okay on Facebook, but that’s about all. So am proud to present to you my new social media/blog/sales manager Rora ( also known as my son Gavin). He is going to rehab the blog site, take over my etsy shop, and be all things technological that I am allergic to!
My husband and I watched this amazing documentary. A non artist decided he needed to figure out how the artist Johannes Vermeer (1632 – December 1675) produced such photo-realistic paintings hundreds of years before the invent of film technology. I found this documentary absolutely fascinating and would highly recommend it even to those not interested in art.
This is a list of upcoming events and shows I will be attending with my handcrafted jewelry. This is just what I currently have scheduled, I’m sure there will be more to come! Maybe not too much more, I can feel the panic start to set in as I look at the whole list! What have I gotten myself in to????? (Cue the maniacal laughter!!)
September 12,13 – Marigold Festival, Pekin IL
September 19, 20 – Morton Pumpkin Festival, Morton IL
September 26 – Finder’s Market Decatur , IL 9-3, Preview night the night before 3-7
October 3, 4 – Spoon River Dr, Ingersol Manor, Canton IL
October 10,11 – Spoon River Dr, Ingersol Manor. Canton, IL
October 24 – Finder’s Market Decatur , IL 9-3, Preview night the night before 3-7
November 13,14 – Mt Zion Christmas Crft Show, Mt Zion IL
I have blogged about GenCon before, but for those who don’t remember I will recap. GenCon is a 4 day Gaming and role playing convention in Indianapolis IN. Held at the Indianapolis Convention Center, this years convention was attended by over 56,000 people. In addition to all of the gaming events, there are workshops, lectures and special classes geared towards the amazing women who attend with their husbands. Trying to keep with my jewelry interests, I tried to find classes that could be considered educational for me. I chose a wire wrapping class. In this class we were given a oval pendant which students were going to wrap.
Also given to us was an envelope with 5 long wires and 5 short wires. Using these we would be creating a complete wrapped pendant. starting by straightening the long wires and facing then all the same way, I then took one of the short wires and wrapped it around the long ones several times.
This was then repeated 4 more times with the other short wires, about an inch apart.
Next I went over to the instructor and she showed me how to bend the wire set to match the pendant. I then learned how to make a bail to hang the pendant from a necklace, and how to finish off all of the extra wires into spirals. The finished pendant turned out so well. I was really surprised how well it turned out, and how easy it was. For those of you who know me, I have been wire wrapping everything I can get my hands on.
Last year was the first year I entered the Altered Book Contest at the Chatham Public Library. I heard about the contest from my amazing sister Jennifer, my enabler! This year I was running out of time and thought I couldn’t not submit a project. I had an idea in mind, but I didn’t think i would have time to make it happen. Somehow I knew I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I didn’t at least try to get something done. Well being the procrastinator that i am, the night before the deadline, I started. My idea for the contest was to make some sort of paper jewelry, since that is mostly my business now. I spent hours punching paper pieces, and gluing wires into them and attaching them. And Guess what??? I MANAGED TO GET IT DONE!!!! So here is my finished project. My necklace was liked so much that I won an award for Most Creative as well!
Wow i didnt realize it had been so long between posts! I have been super busy with craft show and new project and Marching Band events for my son! So while I get a proper pest going, here are some pretty flowers!
So what have you done on vacation this year? My husband and I just got back from a visit to my In laws in Kansas City. It was such a nice trip, I loved catching up with all the family. Most of hat we do is sit and talk, and I always feel like I should be doing something. So this year I took my jewelry kit so I could work and talk at the same time! It worked out soooo well!!!!! I got nearly 20 trees completed while I was catching up on all the family gossip! I felt so productive. This is really the way to go, so I don’t feel like I am neglecting anything. Its the best of both worlds!
I haven’t really had anything to blog about lately. So I thought I would just share some recently edited pictures. These are from the Riverfront in Pekin when I was out playing with my new lens. I like the way they turned out. Let me know what you think.
I have be recently doing some craft shows, and I decided I needed a bag to hold my money. Of course I work at Hobby Lobby, so I got a cute zippered bag from there. I like it well enough, its just a little plain. I mean, I like the pattern, but it doesnt scream JULIE!!!!!!! Well of course, I need it to scream for me! I had to make it scream of course, so I took my handy bag of markers and proceeded to go to work.
I colored and colored, and I LOVE the way it turned out! Now it screams JULIE!!!! I can hear it every time I look at it! Now it will make me happy just to see it, and get excited whenever I make a sale, so I can add to the bag!
The Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo, or C2E2, was held April 24-27 in Chicago. Straight from the C2E2 website describes the event as “a convention spanning the latest and greatest from the worlds of comics, movies, television, toys, anime, manga and video games. Bringing the best of popular culture to Downtown Chicago, C2E2’s show floor is packed with hundreds of exhibitors, panels and autograph sessions giving fans a chance to interact with their favorite creators and screening rooms featuring sneak peeks at films and television shows months before they hit either the big or small screen!”
My husband and I make a day trip there every year. I made a shirt to wear that said I WANNA WEAR YOU LIKE A TAUNTAUN. I felt like a true geek with that shirt on! C2E2 is a comic book show, but its way more than that. There are vendors that sell toys, comic, t shirts, jewelry and just about everything else comic or entertainment related. There are hundreds of amazing cosplayers, people who have dressed up as their favorite character, or variation of a character.
I was partial to the vendors that sold amazing handmade jewelry. I got some great new ideas to try. There was an artist that sold jewelry made from comic books. I found a woman who sold chain mail jewelry that was so soft, it did not even seem to be made of metal.
My husband and I also found some great new artist in Artist Alley, a large area packed full of comic book artists, fantasy artists, and authors. One artist we discovered was called Thirteenth Floor. I think I collected dozens of business card along with all of the artwork that we bought, so many people to remember! I cant even remember all of the mind blowing things we saw that day, the pictures are just a few of the amazing memories.
