Pittsburgh Neighbors: SueBeads

Well, while I was out shopping all afternoon, SueBeads was putting up her blog entry about our trade. Read all about it here.
We had a mutual admiration email exchange a while ago and worked out a trade (and also discovered we live just a few hills apart!). I was enamored of the little enamels in her shop and I wanted to make something out of polymer clay to go with them so I could have a new necklace. It was easier said than done.
I made one set of beads and had the things completely strung and then decided I just wasn't loving the result. So I tried again with a totally different look...still, not quite it. So, the third time I went a bit simpler and smaller so as not to overwhelm the enamels. And now I love it!!!

Here's necklace attempt #1. I put these beads on etsy the other night and they sold yesterday.

Here's necklace attempt #2. These are currently for sale on etsy.

Third time's the charm! Here's the keeper! The gold spacers were purchased at a bead show in February.

I'm going to a Dayle Doroshow workshop sponsored by the Pittsburgh Polymer Clay Guild this weekend and plan to wear it!

Spring Has Sprung: Box and Pot

In honor af Arbor Day and the sunshine the weather lady promised for today, here is a photo of my Spring Has Sprung style that I came up with on a horribly rainy Memorial Day weekend in 1997. It was fairly labor intensive so I got tired of it after a while but I have an idea to try it again on beads! (shock!) As with my pastels and clay work, this style features the layered color effect that I'm always drawn to.

Kitties: Cici and the Remote

Rob's Cici is not the smartest cat in the world...perhaps she watches too much TV when he's not home!
(However, please note how nicely she color-blocked herself. She must be a fan of Project Runway!)

Beads: Big Rondelles

New beads today...more coming soon...

Eye Test

Sea Waves

Snake Charmer Basket

Events: Art All Night in Lawrenceville

Pittsburgh Polymer Clay Guild had a demonstration table at Art All Night in Lawrenceville held last night in the gigantic old warehouse of the former Iron City Brewery. It was my turn to man the table at 9 so Rob and I went early to check out the art. Plenty of interesting tattoo and piercing creativity on display as well!
Two of my favorite art pieces were:
Bruno Sammartino by Mario Zucca. He has a lot of images on flickr that you can check out.
Jack Puglisi did a large (18"x24" or so) pointillism picture of a girl sitting in the grass. It was made up of eeny weeny dots. I can't find any of his work on the web except this picture of Lincoln.

Everyone and anyone are invited to show one piece of art at Art All Night. I didn't take anything because you had to drop it off in the afternoon and I didn't want to go over there and then back at night and back the next day to pick up. But if I had, I might have taken my bar scene pastel. It would have fit right in!

Earrings: More from Nancy Jones of ByTheBead

Sonoran Sunset

Renatta

Purple Lace

Super Cool: Pixels by Patrick Jean

If you haven't seen this video yet you must go watch it immediately!!!! Pixels by Patrick Jean. Genius!
At one point almost 20 (!) years ago, I was seriously possessed by Tetris!

Beads: Mint Marble

Set of five, now on etsy.

Garden: My Redbud Tree

I love spotting the pretty purple Redbuds in the woods as I drive along the highway...it's a sign that spring is really here! Here's the pretty one in my front yard. My favorite!

Home Improvement: Or, my mom has great kids!

I love paint! Nothing can make a more dramatic change for less $. And it's so easy. I highly recommend Purdy Paintbrushes! The edge on them is so sharp, you can paint along the ceiling edge and along the baseboard without taping!

My stepdad was out of town so my brother and I went to my mom's to paint their bedroom. It was plain white and she had an idea for a yellow and blue room. Look how nice it turned out! New white blinds and white curtains are coming next. And at some point in the near future, a border of a faux painted chair rail, a rope trim, or wallpaper border will go in the white chair rail space.

The colors we used were Valspar 4010-6 Baritone Blues and Olympic Belgian Waffle B14-2. (The Belgian Waffle is actually a nice buttery yellow though it looks more beige here.)

We painted the space between the bedroom entrance and the bathroom all yellow so it's like the bedroom has its own foyer. 

Joe and I were rewarded with a trip to the Pizza Buffet at Greco's! Yum!

Virtual Paintout: Canary Islands

This is my April pastel pencil drawing for Bill Guffey's Virtual Paintout. This time we visited the Canary Islands. This funky apartment complex at 2 Camino Los Tableros, Moya, CN, Espana caught my eye. I proceeded to take major liberties with the colors!

Click the link to go to Google Maps. Once there, click on the red A and select "street view." Use the direction arrows at top left to spin around to find the buildings on the hill.

Pastel pencil, 9”x12”

Beads: Faux Marble

I like how these little guys turned out! Just listed in my etsy shop.

New Beads: a mish-mash

New beads listed in my etsy shop today.

Project Runway:Tim Gunn, Behind The Scenes

I love Project Runway and I love Tim Gunn. He does a post-show video blog and tells you exactly what he thinks about the designs and the events. Very interesting. Go watch. (This is on Facebook...not sure if you have to be a member to view it or not.)

Mother's Day: Moo cards for travel

Rob's parents do a lot of big trip traveling every year...a trip down the Amazon, a visit to China, a few days in Belize...they're always headed somewhere. Occasionally his mother wants to give her email address to someone they meet. Rob has electronic files of their vacation photos so he's making her a set of moo.com business cards for Mother's Day.
On the front of each card is a different photo of her in some exotic place and on the back is a photo of both parents, their names plus city, state, country, and email. He also bought her a passport cover and matching business card holder from GracieDesigns on etsy to complete the gift. Isn't he a clever boy?

American Idol: Crystal Bowersox!

Except for a few bright moments, American Idol has been underwhelming this year but Crystal Bowersox has talent to spare for the rest of the gang. She has the most fantastic voice! I've bought all her Idol studio recordings and they are great. The judges are always harping on the contestants to be "believable" and "to connect with the emotion of the song"...they never have to say that to Crystal. She does it ten times over, week after week. I looove her. If you have iTunes, go download all of her studio songs or at least listen to the snippets. Check this "Hollywood Week" performance (singing starts at :38).