Bead Cruise 2011

This year's Bead Cruise was a week filled with wonderful!
Wonderful teachers: Tracy Stanley, Dallas Lovett, Marcia DeCoster and Jean Campbell.


Wonderful food: sushi, lobster, jerk chicken, red beans and rice.

Wonderful alcohol: Margaritas, a Long Island Ice Tea that was so strong that I couldn't finish it (me!!), margaritas, and another couple of margaritas. Wonderful people: Bev, Sharon, Linda, Susan, Deb, Rosanne, Rita, Sharon, Sharon and Sharon!


Wonderful itinerary: Cozumel, Mexico; Georgetown, Grand Cayman; and Falmouth, Jamaica.

And a wonderful sunburn that has finally stopped peeling off my body about 2.5 weeks after the sunburn (note to others: face moisturizer at 15 SPF + face make-up at 15 SPF + sunscreen at 4 SPF does not equal 34 SPF. Just trust me on this one).

I took a metal class from Tracy in which I made my first completely handmade copper necklace, using snips, jeweler's saw, hole punches, rivets and jump rings. It turned out so very cool - I am really happy with it. I do not believe that I will be throwing away all my seed beads to continue this forever, but now I do know how to do it. Marcia - don't worry. I still love RAW. Plus beads are lighter around the neck.

I (laughingly) signed up for a class with Marca - called "Bird of Paradise" which I finished over the weekend. It's so sweet and I do love it!

I then took an additional class with Dallas Lovett for "La Fiesta" earrings - I knew when I signed up for this class that I was going to gift these earrings to Marcia (just because I can). Of course, I had to wear them to tease her and take them out of my ears when she saw them. They look so stunning on her!

It's time for a Bead and Button countdown

It's getting closer and closer! Every year, I am very excited to go to the Bead and Button show in Milwaukee and this year I am even more excited. I will be co-teaching a class with the very fabulous and famous Marcia DeCoster. Our class is on Tuesday, June 7th and is a variation of her wonderful "Under the Mast" necklace.

One weekend last summer, Marcia and I were texting forth and back with ideas and thoughts and practice pieces (this works, this doesn't, that's bad) and we ended up with "Under the Mast II" - it's truely Marcia's piece with my spin on the thought of "maybe we should add more." And look! I even have an official teacher page! Me!



There is still room if you would like to take this class. Go to the Bead and Button website at http://www.beadandbuttonshowstore.com/b11349.html

I'm very excited to have "instructor" status on a national level added to my resume. I love my teaching gig with Stony Creek Bead in Ypsilanti as Jenn and Sue are great to work with. But this is so cool!! I wonder what we can come up with for next year. Actually, we have a couple of ideas lurking in the back of our minds.