BEAD SHOWS & SUCH...

I hope this post finds you as anxiously anticipating the first days of Spring as I am! I'm ready for this Minnesota snow to start melting & for the early Spring bulbs to start coming up! 

Along w/ Spring comes my first bead shows of the year. I'm busy getting ready for my 2 March shows coming up these next 2 weekends! It's going to be a little nuts.... my work will be @ the Twin Cities Bead Bazaar the whole show, but I'll only be there on Saturday morning until noon or so & then will leave my good friend, Wendy Mosman, to man my table for the full weekend (she'll have some of her amazing work there as well!). I'll be heading to Omaha, Nebraska for a class w/ Melanie Moertel, from Germany! 

I'm so excited to be taking this class... & as much as I know my sales would be much better w/ me there, I couldn't pass this rare opportunity up! I'm so excited to be taking this class w/ 3 girlfriends... all of whom took Andrea Guarino's class w/ me in Austin, Texas in 2009. It'll be a blast... we'll be staying in a comfy house where we can just hang out & talk about glass all weekend! :o) 

I'll get home from Omaha on Tuesday afternoon & then will head back out on Thursday to my next show in Madison, Wisconsin! The Art Glass & Bead Show is such a fun show, I'm really looking forward to seeing returning customers & other artists & vendors. Sad to not be doing the Make & Take this year, but my commitment to doing the Challenge Bead kept me busy & gave me a later start on getting it together for these shows. Next year, hopefully. So much fun... especially when students come back for more. 

I've begun making MICRO acorns now.... so cute! 

Anyway... here are a couple of coupons for both shows. Print one (or both if you're following me. LOL) & bring it to my booth for 20% OFF any single item of your choice!  

 

Hope to see you this Saturday morning @ the Twin Cities Bead Bazaar or next weekend @ the Madison Art Glass & Bead Show! Lots of fantastic glass for you to check out!

Until then...

TWIN CITIES BEAD BAZAAR...

The Twin Cities Bead Bazaar is coming up this weekend & I'll be there!! It's a great show w/ vendors from all over the US. Lots of great art glass bead artisans!!

Here's a coupon for 20% off any one item @ my table... print it out & come see me! 

See you there!!

~ Julie

GLASS, FRIENDS & FOOD....

I've finally begun making travel & lodging plans for the Madison Art Glass & Bead Show that I'll be doing March 17th & 18th in Madison, Wisconsin. This will be my 2nd year as a vendor & I'm really looking forward to it. Last year was such a great show & a great time w/ friends.

I'll be driving out there w/ my friend Susan Jones of Susan Jones Designs, who is an amazing glass bead artist & a fun roommate. It will also be my 2nd year to teach at the Friday night Make-n-Take. Susan was my assistant last year & has offered to help me out again this time around & I'm so happy!! :o) She was so much help....6 groups, 10 students per group in 4 hours (that would be 60 people, if you didn't do the math)... it's CRAZY & I can't imagine doing it w/out her.

If you've never seen Susan's work, you've been missing out. Her wonderful, colorful style reminds me a little of the German glass bead artists...w/ the super fine lines, dots & details, wonderful murrini & great use of color.

All of the beads you see in this post are Susan's. The first beads I saw of hers were her little Flowbots... Invasion from Minneglasspolis. She's a big sci-fi fan.

You can buy her pieces in her Etsy shop or at the many art shows & festivals that she does around the Twin Cities throughout the year. She's selling in Tuscon for the first time January 31st - February 5th @ the To Bead True Blue show, good luck, Susan!! She'll be selling @ both the Twin Cities Bead Bazaar & also @ the Madison Art Glass & Bead Show where I'll be as well. Susan is providing the challenge bead for the Madison show's Bead Challenge!

So...what does glass & Susan have to do w/ food, you ask?? Well, I was turned on to Thai food not too many years ago & when Susan & I were in Madison last March, we went out for Thai twice. The first night we went to this little hole in the wall, I don't remember the name of the place, but needless to say, it wasn't where we went the 2nd time. We ordered the same dish, it was pretty yummy, but Susan didn't eat all of hers & told me later that she found several short black hairs in her dish. Um...ew. I asked why she didn't say anything & she said that she didn't want to ruin my dinner. LOL. I guess I enjoyed my black hairs. :o) The evening after the end of the show, we searched all over town using my handy GPS for a NICE Thai place & came across the loveliest Thai restaurant... Sa-Bai Thong. It was so good. We already have plans to go there the night we get in to start our weekend out right. :o)

Susan turned me on to Sticky Rice with Mango for dessert. Oh my goodness. So yummy. I've sought it out whenever Brad & I are up for Thai & even found the perfect recipe for it on my favorite recipe website, Allrecipes.com Click on the image below, it'll take you directly to the recipe.

The only thing I do differently w/ the recipe is that I've cut out the sugar by using agave (& only half as much as the recipe calls for). It's so good... the perfect dessert. I have some cooking as I write this... I think it's ready, time to go cut up the mango...

Till next time...

TWIN CITIES BEAD BAZAAR...

If you're in the Minneapolis / St. Paul area (aka. the Twin Cities) this weekend, come see me at the TWIN CITIES BEAD BAZAAR...October 24th & 25th, 10am - 5pm, $3 admission, good both days. It's at the Eisenhower Community Center, 1001 Highway 7 in Hopkins, Minnesota. It's a great show w/ awesome vendors.... not only many phenomenal handmade glass bead artists (like myself!!), but Beads, Findings, Silver, Beadwork kits, Vintage Glass & Swarovski, Ceramic Faces, Seed Beads, Findings, Vintage Jewelry, Vintage Cabs, Bali Silver, Bead Storage, Stone Beads & Cabs, Pearls, Czech Glass Beads
Trade Beads, Beading Supplies and much much more!! It's really a great show.

I will have not only a great array of my glass beads available, but also my copper electroformed glass acorns & birdhouses as well as some beautiful pendants, finished necklaces, bracelets & earrings, too! I might even have some of my glass handled utensils & bar ware. I also have handmade findings, like changeable bead holders that make it really fun to have a great collection of art glass beads that you can easily change at will into a pendant without having to make a commitment. :o)

I have handmade ornaments, too!

Print this coupon for a 20% discount on any one item at my booth

This will be my 2nd time having my own space at this show... the spring show was so fun & so successful for me, a great kick off for my first year of shows & this will be my final show of 2009. It's been an awesome year.

CHECKING IN & YUMMY BEADS...

Just wanted to do a quick check-in...

I've been pretty busy getting ready for fall shows & traveling. Spent almost a week w/ some of my favorite glass friends in Chicago & St. Louis a few weeks ago (completely surprised the St. Louis ones... so much fun!!), will be hanging out in Des Moines this weekend & our local TWIN CITIES BEAD BAZAAR is coming up the following weekend (October 24th - 25th, come see me!)... then I'll be heading off to Austin, Texas to take an Andrea Guarino class with a few of my Chicago, Missouri & Minnesota glass friends... I'm SO EXCITED!!!

I've been torching a bunch lately & have an ice cream bucket full of beads waiting to be cleaned... I took a few pictures of them in the water for you... check them out, I think they're pretty yummy. :o)

(click images to enlarge)

Aren't they fabulous?? I can't help it, I'm completely infatuated...so excited about what I'm making these days....

BUSY BUSY GIRL...ALIVE & KICKING...

Yep... dropped off the face of the blogging world again! Sorry. Thanks for the eMails, I really appreciate it when people contact me to make sure all is well.

Yes... all is well... life is good! Really REALLY GOOD!!

Looks like I've been absent from my blog for almost 2 months! Yikes. I'm not supposed to do that. :o)

In February, I spent a fabulous long weekend in St. Louis for the first annual Midwest Glass Experience @ Third Degree Glass Factory. It was a blast!! I love getting to see my favorite Missouri people (yes, there are some Chicago, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Iowa, Arkansas & more people thrown in there too!)... spending time playing w/ fire... learning new things, etc. I took classes from:

Anastasia from Germany... what a doll & a fantastic teacher. I love her bead style & had a blast learning how to make her tree beads & work w/ enamels & super fine hair stringers.

Michael Mangiafico (Fig on LE)... awesome teacher, fun guy... made an awesome ant & naked lady. :o)

& Libby Leuchtman... another awesome teacher & co-coordinator of the event. I loved learning how to make complex discs & did some off-mandrel work for the first time.

Yes... I need pictures. :o) Will add some here in a bit.

.........got home & got busy building up stock for both the Twin Cities Bead Bazaar (TCBB) & the Art Glass & Bead Show in Madison these past 2 weekends.

Both of these shows were FANTASTIC!! Such a blast & very successful! (yes!) Left me thinking "WHAT RECESSION?" :o) My 2nd & 3rd bead shows on my own & the first shows of the year. I was seriously worried that people either wouldn't show up or wouldn't be spending... neither was the case in either of these shows. In fact, the TCBB had record attendance!! Gives me hope that the year will continue to be successful. I'm really loving getting my pieces out there... love the feedback... love meeting people.

Coming up next for me is an Art Festival & Farmer's Market at Nature's Nest Organic Farm and Bead & Breakfast in Montrose, Minnesota in mid May (see my SCHDEULE on my website for details) and then the Bead & Button Show in Milwaukee in June. (come see me & Coliebug Beads @ booth #1138)

...I'm also preparing stock for my first art gallery!! I've been asked to participate in a gallery on Madeline Island that will be opening mid-May, just in time for the busy summer tourist season! I'm so excited! My good friend & mentor Jennifer Ionta recommended me... we'll be spending some weekends up there throughout the summer doing glassworking demos on the torch & just being there to answer questions about our work. Check back here on my blog & the schedule on my website throughout the summer to see when I'll be up there... would love to see you!

Okay... enough catching up for now. LOL. I'll add some pictures soon... I have something new to show you. :o)

Till next time...

~ Julie