Jill

Cruisin’!

I’ve been waiting, hoping, and and dreaming I’d get to announce this one day. And now it’s the real deal – no more dreaming necessary! Because…

I will be one of the instructors on the
2012 Bead Cruise!

And what an amazing cruise it will be!… Read More

I have a confession to make

Sometimes, I am late to the party.

When I first learned beadweaving everyone in the industry was basically using Nymo or Silamide. Before long though, one of the beading teachers at the local store started talking about this new thing – Fireline.… Read More

Head Shots!

Like many people I know – I hate having my photo taken. I’ve gotten better about it over the years, mainly because when my grandmother died many many years ago, one heartbreaking moment was my grandfather confessing that the day before she got so sick she had to go to the hospital, they were scheduled to have a portrait taken of the two of them for their 50th anniversary.… Read More

Albuquerque Classes Report

I was lucky enough to be invited to teach Pitaya Necklace to some really amazing beaders in Albuquerque last weekend. It started out small. A regular customer of mine, Bonnie, saw me at my booth in Tucson, and asked if I might be able to teach a private class in Albuquerque when I was in the area for Bead Fest Santa Fe in March.… Read More

Secret news – not secret any longer!

I have been holding some really important secret news close to my heart since mid-February. It’s been KILLING me to not be able to share with you! Because you guys know, I share everything! But today I got permission to announce it….
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“Simple” Designs

The simplest of designs are often the hardest to accomplish. When there’s not a lot of layers and extra beads to hide behind, every single stitch counts. The beads must lay just so. Be exactly right. And sometimes it’s easy to mistake an elegantly conceived piece as simple.… Read More

Whirl & Twirl

At last, I arrived back home Wednesday afternoon. It seemed like twice the distance I drove getting to Santa Fe! The strong pull to be home home home was the culprit, I’m sure. I spend much of the next 10 weeks getting to BEAD!… Read More

Bead Fest Santa Fe: By the Numbers

766 – miles from my front door to the Santa Fe Convention Center
14 – hours it took me to drive nonstop on Thursday to get there
12 – the time of night I arrived
2 – the time of morning I went to bed because I was glued to the Japan earthquake/tsunami coverage on tv
6 – the hour the alarm clock went off
3 – number of curse words used when the alarm clock went off
20 – happy students who now can make Kumihimo with Beads
4 – vendors from whom I made purchases (Beyond Beadery, Alacarte Clasps & Wirelace, Oak Grove Studio, Artworks by Cathy J.Read More

Packin’ up the suitcases again

One more big trip to get through, and after that, while I do have a quick overnight trip to Lake Jackson, and a vacation weekend visiting a friend in Phoenix, I will be HOME until the beginning of June.

And what do I plan to do while I’m home, you might ask??… Read More

Pretty Tucson photos

I still owe you the STORY of Tucson Tales, The Finale, but in the meantime, here’s some fun photos!

We have a LOT of fun in Tucson!

The top photo is an overview of the loot I brought home. Smaller photos are close-ups.
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Beading Shortcuts

I’m probably about to disappoint you. Because I’ll bet you read the title of this post and got all excited to learn some tips to make your beadweaving faster and more efficient. But guess what?? Nope.

Instead I felt compelled to tell you all that I’m not a big believer in beadweaving shortcuts.… Read More

Writing the Blog

From June:

I know it’s been a while since we’ve updated the blog. That’s partly because life is comparatively calm right now, and I can’t think of anything to write. Well that’s not exactly true, stuff is going on, but it’s stuff I can’t talk about yet.… Read More

Tucson Tales, Part II

The buildup before coming to Tucson is immense. So much planning and creation and anticipation. The appointed day finally arrives and it’s instant and pure joy! Seeing my beady friends from across the world, vendors and customers alike. I miss them mightily between shows.… Read More

Tucson Tales, Part I

I sat down tonight to write an email to Mom to tell her all about the craziness of this day, but then I decided y’all would want to hear it all too. So now it’s a letter to ALL of you!… Read More

Same Song, Same Verse

From June: It seems like no matter how much we try, we can’t seem to get ahead when getting ready for a big show. Originally we weren’t going to do a show at Tucson this year – Jill was just going to shop.… Read More

Happy 2011!

You know, I was thinking last night, wasn’t Y2K just a few years ago? How did we end up in the double digits of this century so fast??? It kind of makes my brain hurt!

You know what else makes my brain hurt?… Read More

Participating in The Best Little Bead Box project!

Please forgive me for cross-posting, but I wanted y’all to know about this cool project I got to participate in if you don’t know about it already!

I really don’t know how he did it, but my postman managed to get both GIGANTIC Best Little Bead Boxes stuffed into one of our community mailbox lockers.… Read More

Holy Cannoli

Man, when I owe you a blog post, I REALLY owe you a blog post! I have yet to tell you all about the fun and interesting Beaducation video shoot (went great – I’m known as One Take Wiseman there!) And I do have stories and photos.… Read More

BABE report

Bead people are SO MUCH FUN! I’ve discovered it over and over again as I travel to new places from coast to coast and it makes me happy. We share passion for color and texture and beautiful things. We have a joie de vivre that shows in our faces and interactions.… Read More

The annual technology meltdown

At least once a year you get one of these blog posts, don’t you? The sad, frenzied madwoman, trying to cobble together a host of printers and faxes and scanners and whatnot to get her danged job done! Where’s my IT Help Desk when I need it??… Read More