The "boys" being Jack and Gus do wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! (no poodles were harmed for these photos, koolaide and natural hair dyes were used with great caution, as a matter of fact, they loved the attention they got!).

Merry, Merry Everyone!

I'm off on my mandatory furlough, away from my computer and the daily drag of getting up and out of the house. Yippee! I get to sleep in! I'll sign on with further beading adventures after the New Year. I plan on watching the ball in New York fall on CNN this year. They show it at 9:00 Pacific Time, so I can go to bed and have sweet dreams and not have to stay up until midnight. The "boys?" wish you a happy new year also. Bye!

I'm working on getting the hang of blogging. Humm, weight train or do blogging??

On the Second Weekend in December ..........

..........was our quarterly VPA meeting. We caught up with each others lives, had a fun bead exchange, did a wee bit of business, ate, beaded, and yakked. Plans were made for our retreat with NanC, which we are all looking forward to, and set our meeting schedule for 2009. I can't believe that the end of another year is nearly here and we're planning events into 2010! It seems like it was just turning 2000, when all the millennium bugs were to take over all our computers! The new year holds many new and exciting adventures for each of us; I know mine does.

So from the Baby (up in the corner) and me, Merry Merry!

First Weekend in December was Beader Heaven

Bright and early, Saturday morning, Vicki and I headed down to SCIART to set up for a holiday sale. Liz, Melanie, and Jo Ellen were there, and they let us join their "circle" in one of the main galleries. Everyone displayed their jewelry that was for sale, plus Melanie brought some of her hand-spun yarn. We had a great time creating havoc in the center of the room. Other artisans kept coming over to join in our merry making. Thank heaven Jo Ellen, Liz, and Melanie remembered that we needed to bring food, and they shared theirs with Vik and me at lunchtime or we would have absolutely starved to death. Vik made her very first sale. L, M, and JE also did very well. I just went to be a disruptive influence on them. By the time it was over, we were dead tired and slept quite late the next morning.

Sunday, Vik, Jo Ellen, and I went to Carole's "Creative Castle" for a class given by Janna. It was a bezeled huge rivoli with an absolutely beautiful beaded chain made from Charlotte's. The name of the piece is Chain my Heart. Corinne and Carole were working, however they managed to bop in occasionally to see our progress or we went out in the shop to spend and bug them. We signed up for a few more classes also. The whole weekend was a blast, fooling around with the other members in our group.

Don't forget this coming weekend is our VPA meeting at Carole's. It's our annual holiday party, bead/wire/art item exchange, eat-a-thon, talk-a-thon, and minimal "quiet" beading. See you all then!

The Further Adventures of Vicki & Pam

Wednesday, Vik and I took off for SCIART for another wonderful class with Deborah Jarchow. This time it was rigid heddle weaving. This loom has only one moving part, unlike the last class where we had four heddles (or flippers) to deal with. Of course, the loom I used was about 4 times the size of everyone elses, so I had a dickens of a time getting the thing strung up. If not for the help of Gerri, I most likely would still be sitting in the middle of their gallery trying to string 320 pieces of yarn (each over 90" long) thought tiny little holes. While it took the two of us the entire class session to thread the monster, Vik was finished before lunch and had begun the fun part of actually weaving. I'm going to have to stop thinking bigger is beautiful and remember that great things come in small boxes! Maybe in 4-5 years, I'll get my first piece finished. Boy, having to work sure does get in the way of going on these junkets!

BABE!

Vicki and I just returned from a 6 day trip to San Francisco. The first two days, we went to BABE (Bay Area Bead Extravaganza). We had a great time. The first day, we had classes. I took the "Star Sphere" class from Judy Walker. It was a lot of fun plus she had dicro Aiko delica's! They were so beautiful, though pricey. What a way to add some sparkle to a project. Vicki took a metal working class and then a metal painting class from Gail Crossman Moore. Gail let me play with bags of "eyeballs". I picked out some really cool ones. I don't know what I will do with them, however, I'll think of something. The following day, Vicki and I shopped and shopped in the vendors room. We gave ourselves a time limit of 2 hours. Needless to say, we were there until closing time. What fun it was. The vendor room was larger than it has been in the past, with 30 more tables of beads, tools, and gee gahs. The rest of the week we spent "doing San Francisco", in other words eating, drinking, shopping, and being merry.

Hope to see you all at "Beading without a Meeting" on Saturday. I'll bring the goodies I found for show and tell.

It's Halloween!

Last weekend, at our VPA meeting, I beaded around this big chunk of amber (including bugs!) so I could wear it as a pendant. While getting dressed this morning, as Yoda from StarWars, I decided that this piece would be perfect for a Jedi Knight to wear! It's about 3 inches long and 1 1/2 inches across. I don't know if there are ants or termites residing in it. Since this became a piece of my Halloween costume, I've named it the "Jedi Stone" keeper of mystical powers.

October VPA Meeting

Last weekend, our group met at Creative Castle for our quarterly weekend meeting. After updating each other with projects we have been working on, or just what is going on with our lives, we got to down to business of beading and talking about what is to come in the future. We discussed our calendar of VPA and Beading without a Meeting dates for next year, future shows, travels, teaching, and of course, our weekend with our mentor, NanC Meinhardt, in January. It will be good to see NanC again. It will be the "kick in the @$T%$#%" that some of us need (me) to get going again on a show quality piece, rather than playing with or shopping for, beads. In November, we will have our Beading without a Meeting at Tracy's, then we'll have a VPA meeting in December to celebrate the holidays, plan for NanC's arrival, bead, and have fun.

Continuing after our Master Class commitment, this group has been a dream come true, for like-minded artists to meet monthly, as schedules permit, or at the quarterly meetings to get the camaraderie and the inspiration to create new art from those who were at one time strangers and our now dear friends.

Weekend at Jan's

Having some of the Vista Point Artists at my home a couple of weeks ago inspired me to get back to my next art project which I think I will call either "The Language of Hands" or "The Hands Talk to You". Yes, you can vote on which title you like best. I plan on doing either 5 or 7, depending on my ambition level. Had to get back to making jewelry for my Montana gallery and some orders in the meantime, but I WILL get them done! I really hope those of you who haven't been to Prescott yet will be able to come in 2010 as well as all of you who have been. Yikes! End of that decade!
Jan Anderson

Wonderful Weekend in Prescott!

For the month of Sept. the Vista Point Artists took their beading on a little road trip to Arizona! The Sept. Beading Without a Meeting was held at Jan's house in Prescott. Jan's house in Prescott must be a great place to make art come alive. I have still haven't been, but after seeing the photos in Rowena's Blog I really want to be there next year! So check it out and see all the New Work everyones creating!

Dreams do Come True!

Well its been a busy year for all the Vista Point Artists. Liz Smith has the #1 download from Beading Daily!

Susan Marsh had her piece accepted at this years Dairy Barn Competition!

"I Can't Hide My Lust for You"

Jan Anderson entered the Washington DC Bead Museum Competition and got 2nd place in the Seed Bead Catagory!

"Time is a Perception"

Melanie Schow also entered the Washington DC Competition and almost made it to the final round.
Good work everyone keep those creative hands moving!

Beading without a Meeting August 2008

In 2005 & 2006 members of our group were required to attend monthly meetings to come together to make time for their Art. After the Master Class ended some members felt that they needed to continue the monthly meeting format because it helped them stay focused on making time at home to do their Art. Below are some pictures of what some of these wonderfully creative people are doing!

Above are 3 photos showing the incredible work that Vicki Book is doing with this Wedding Cuff for her daughter.

The photo above shows Susan Marsh's latest Word work its titled "Message to Britney!" It is her 2nd piece for her body of work.

Above is Pam Stowe's latest in her body of work centering around Mythical Sea Creatures. To see Pam's Mermaid "Sweet Lanlani" be sure and go to the Picasa

Web Album at the top right of the blog and click on SLO album to see her amazing work.

Above photo is D'Elin Lohr's latest Tree for her body of work in which she explores her art thru the making of these fabulous Beaded Trees.

Tracy Sherwood is working on something special for an upcoming class that she's envisioning!

JoEllen and Vicki happy to be beading and relaxing together!

Hi everyone - new obsession

Vicki, Florence, and I took a two-day class at Channel Islands in weaving! I'm afraid that I'm hooked! It was a lot of fun. I managed to make a hammock for a Barbie doll. It's red, of course! I can hardly wait to retire (595 days, 23 hours, 40 minutes) so I can spend all the time I want creating wonderful things.

Having a Photographic Summer!

Just a quick note to let everyone know that even though I might not be beading with you every month at the Beading without a Meeting I still am staying true to my art. I've been taking a lot of photos of flowers lately because they've just been so beautiful this summer. So if you want to enjoy some for pics go to my flickr site. Some of photos are inspiring me with my upcoming Bead Journal Project.

VPA Member - New Work

This is a detail of the new work entitled Midsummer Night's Dream by VPA Member, Melanie Schow. It includes the lampwork of artists Robin Poff (focal bead), Gail Crossman-Moore (fantasy flower/pods), and Basha (glowing organic connectors). It is part of a series called Narrative Necklaces.