Glass: Pittsburgh Glass Center

If you have never tried lampworking or any other glass technique, you should try it. I've taken a few classes at the Pittsburgh Glass Center -- lampworking, fusing, stained glass, and paperweights. I didn't do it enough to get good at anything, but it is really fun. Someday when I have more money, more time, and more space I will try lampworking again.

Check out their class listings.  If you're in the Pittsburgh area, you can take a one-day or multi-week class. However, even if you're from somewhere far away, they offer week-long intensive classes for all skill levels. Make a vacation out of it!

Artist: Adebanji Alade

In honor of the sketch crawl I was going to participate in today but decided I didn't want to drive an hour both ways in the snow to get there, you can look at these incredible sketches from Adebanji Alade. Just looking at these makes me want to practice, practice, practice so I could try to become a tiny fraction as good as he is. 
He offers many tips for anyone who wants to sketch people you run across in your daily travels...subway, coffee shop, wherever.
Check out this sketch that he turned into a color mixed-media piece. Look at the green on the brim of the hat. Gorgeous!

Artist: Lynda Moseley, SCDiva on etsy

Lynda Moseley, aka SCDiva on etsy, has recently come up with faux jade polymer pieces that everyone loves. I bought her green jade Koi focal bead and it arrived yesterday. It is as smooth as glass! It prompted me to buy her finishing tutorial so I can learn her secrets!

She has done a lot of transfers on polymer...check out these super cute "circus" beads.

Projects: Necklace with Clare Scott beads

I got Clare's beads in the mail last week and bought all the "fixin's" for them over the weekend. I have a loose idea in mind but haven't started putting it together yet. You'll see photos when it's finished...

Travel: Weekend Trips

Rob and I like to go to far or nearby places, find a nice bed and breakfast to stay in, and explore the area for a weekend. We're about to go off on a belated Valentine's trip so in honor of that, and Shaun White's gold medal on the half-pipe, you can read a Shaun White tidbit and my mildly humorous observations in the tale of another weekend getaway.
You can read about other weekend trips by clicking on the white city names here.

New Beads: Focals

I'm on a new kick and really liking the results!
See a few others on my flickr page.
These will be on my etsy site soon.