LONG TIME, NO SEE!

Um, yeah... it's been a while!

Life has continued on.... glass, family, etc. Lots to keep up w/.

Jeri & me @ Bead & Button 2015

I'm doing a lot of traveling back home to Colorado, as my oldest sister, Jeri, has been dealing w/ cancer the past 4 1/2 years (after getting an 18 month prognosis!)... so, trips home have been happening basically every 2-3 months. Love her. So thankful to my family that they can take great care of themselves & allow me to do these frequent visits w/out having to worry about them @ the same time. Love spending time w/ her... every moment is so special. PLUS, I get to see my parents more than my typical once a year Colorado visit, as well as my little sister, Jill & all of the families. Cherishing this time we have...

Me, Jill & Jeri in Littleton, Colorado

The girls.. sister #2, Lisa, visits Colorado sometimes, too!

So... shows & teaching have taken a back burner. I've still been doing The Bead & Button Show (except in 2016, when my youngest son graduated the same weekend!), but most other shows have been on hold. 

I'm anxious to get back to teaching. 2014 was such an awesome year for teaching... Madison, WI, Winston-Salem, NC, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Kansas City, KS, Austin, TX... what a blast!!! It felt so good... so natural to teach. I was told that I was so organized & taught a great class! Loved my students, too! Here are some pics from my class in Austin, Texas...

Me w/ Rose & Jim Berry, of Blue Moon Glassworks in Austin, TX

The last blog post (2013!) was about the studio space Wendy & I were sharing... we rented the space for a year & then Krista decided to sell, so we went on our merry way. It was a fun experience, for sure!

What else has been going on? Hmmm.... well, both of my boys have graduated from high school & the younger one just finished up his first year of college. He's just now deciding whether or not he wants to continue on the 4-year track or move to a 2-year technical college & get his IT education over & done w/ a whole lot sooner. He likes the idea of just jumping in w/ both feet & will pick up the last of his generals to finish his BA after he's done & working. Both boys left home w/in about a week of eachother last fall, so we were suddenly thrust into empty nesting w/ no warning!!! LOL. It was shocking at first, but since we both really like eachother, we got comfortable w/ it fairly quickly. The youngest, if he decided to do the tech college, will move back home to finish that up.

Next on the agenda... I signed up to do BeadFest Philadelphia in August, so I'm pretty excited about that! I walked away from Bead & Button w/ a ton of inventory & thought "why the heck not?" So that's happening. AND, we've pretty much decided to turn a planned trip to San Diego this October into a trip to San Diego & BeadFest Tacoma, Washington!! Yay. I'm excited. Will spend several weeks on the road & end up in Tacoma @ the end of the trip. Will get a chance to see several friends we haven't seen in years.

Anyway... here are some new items I've added to my beadmaking repertoire ...

Booty...hearts, trees & owls

Owl pendant...

See the cowboy boots? Yee-haw!

Cowboy Boot beads...

Seam Rippers...

 

Seam Ripper & beads...

Trees...

Making sweet snowmen & snowglobes again...

 Check out my website's GALLERY page for each year's work...

ANYWAY... lots going on... I'll try to keep up & post a whole lot more frequently. Definitely find me on FACEBOOK... I update there much more often.

Until then...