Welcome to a New Year!

Well, it is 2010 and here's hoping for not only a better year but a busier one. I have made a promise to myself to create one thing a day. Whether it be a card, piece of jewelry, scrapbook layout or even adding to my previously defunct and abandoned blog. I need to be more creative this year. I have been priming myself for bigger and better things and now it is time to be more productive!

I refuse to call it a resolution as I don't want it to be about just this year. I want it to be about moving into the future. One new and fun change has been the addition of a business venture. I decided to jump into becoming a Close To My Heart Consultant.

A friend introduced me to their products and I just love their easy to follow layouts. I have been avoiding the whole scrapbooking scene since I have mostly felt intimidated. I have a friend/neighbor who is crazy creative when it comes to her page layouts. I mean she made a tiki hut out of strips of paper. She's amazing! While I don't think I could be that creative, I would like to start documenting some of my childrens' memories since I have a handful of pictures from my childhood. I think they might appreciate it when they have kids of their own.

So while I am able to take some "side trips" with scrapbooking, I can leave myself more open to my jewelry making. I am going into my fifth semester of Art Jewelry at MCC. I am pretty excited about the syllabus this semester. Right now I am playing with different enameling techniques. I already have a great idea for the "Series" project! My brain is buzzing with new ideas. I just wish that I could be taking the morning session with my very creative and inspiring friends. But I do get to catch up with my evening session friends who I haven't seen in awhile.

Next week I will be teaching a six week Jewelry class at River Art Studio and Gallery in Algonquin, Illinois. I have completed the first two "lesson plans" and need to document the next four. I am going to attempt to make some class kits tonight. I will try to finish that off this weekend.

Already I will be very busy. I just hope I can keep up with myself and my family!

It may be cold outside, but it's HOT Metal inside!

Brrrrr! It is cold outside! I live in Illinois just outside the Wisconsin border and looking out my back window it is a frozen tundra as far as the eye can see! My temperature gauge says -5 degrees but my DH tells me the wind chill is -32 below. I guess I am not going to Costco this morning.

However, the bright side to this is that I get to play in my work studio! I just got some new Kazuri Beads and I have purchased some awesome new gemstones from my local bead shop, Katherine's Bead Boutique. Even better, remember that horrid mess of a work studio I had last year? Well, last week I finally got to tidying up and I can actually find everything, well most everything.

I guess the one advantage to being trapped in your house, especially if you are a crafter or artisan, there is always something to do!

In January, I started this wonderful class at McHenry County College, called Art Jewelry. It is so exciting! It combines metalsmithing techniques with an emphasis on Wearable Art. And our text book is the Tim McCreight bible, The Complete Metalsmith, which strangely enough I have read cover to cover at least four times.

I just finished the focal piece of my first project yesterday. The project involved the use of cold connections and patterns using piercing, stamping and texture. I chose to work on a mini book with a tube rivet hinge. The hard part was actually designing and doing a demo piece so that the front page opened properly. I already had a design in mind as soon as I found out it was all cold connections I just didn't know how it was going to come together. I learned alot about the importance of measuring and what steps need to be accomplished in what sequence. I spent about 30 hours on the focal piece and while it is not perfect, I am happy with how it turned out! Now that the hard part is over, I just need to design a necklace with it! I'm thinking turquoise!