Recipe for a Give-Away!

Color is brewing in my studio and the scent of 'Give-Away' is wafting through the air!

Here is a recipe for COLOR from my house to yours (read on for Give-Away details!):

Pour beads into large pot and stir. As the fire burns and cauldron bubbles... the new Seed Bead Medley line is up and running - a perfect complement to the projects in my upcoming book: BEADED COLORWAYS (but more on that, and how to enter to win a really cool Color Package, coming soon!).

Samples from Seed Bead Medley
[Harvest, Tropical Punch, Velvet Cloak, Antique Copper, Mossy Rock, Red Clay, Silver Sand, Tropical Surf, Golden Raspberry]

Add a dash of spice and new colorways simmer in my Bead Soup Collection.

New soups shown in Mossy Rock and Spring Rain

Stir in even more color and bring to a boil. My new Fiber Bouquets will be ready to enjoy in time for Wander with Flair at Studio Beads (wouldn't they also be fun with fabric and photos in Wander Through Photos at Beads by Blanche?!). How could I stop at beads? These fiber bundles include 15 - 20 strands of delectable color, hand mixed to coordinate with, yes of course, my Bead Soup Collection.

Fiber Bouquet shown in Harvest

You are invited over for a taste of color (I may even put you to work stirring!). Simply...

Enter a comment
and one special reader will win a COLOR package

(1 each from the Bead Soup Collection, Seed Bead Medley and Fiber Bouquets)

Sample shown in:
Cardamom Fiber Bouquet and Bead Soup Collection, Copper Penny Seed Bead Medley

Serve and enjoy with a beadweaving project (Instructions now available on-line).

The drawing will be next Sunday, November 1 - hope to see you!

Beads by Blanche

So excited to teach at Beads by Blanche in Bergenfield, New Jersey next month. Come join in for a weekend of color, freeform style, bead soups and mixing various mediums into wearable art. I will be there November 14 15 and would love to see you!

Bead around photo transfers in Wander Through Photos

Create pendants, tabletop decor or fabulous holiday gifts with Flower Garden (an offshoot of Beads on Metal). You will learn metal working, freeform beadweaving and how to merge the two in endless designs and possibilities!

By the way, check out some fabulous finished work by students from the Autumn Festival: Adrienne, Carol . Dini promises some photos soon!

Autumn out my window

1 - Looking out the barn
2 - Cork tree
3 - Mountain Ash
4 - Sumac
5 - Chinese Lantern
6 - Sumac
7 - Blueberry
8 - Stewartia
9 - Lichen on Stewartia
10 - Spirea
11 - Kale
12 - Kale with a friend
13 - Kale

It rained yesterday

Really rained. Not just a typical northwest drizzle. Gutters overflowed into waterfalls off the roof, ditches became rivers gushing across the road. I was caught driving, traffic slowed to 15mph, but as we navigated through buckets and buckets of water, there was blue sky ahead and with it a glorious rainbow.

My cozy rocking chair beckons. Perhaps a good book, a glass of wine (hot chocolate for the boys) and a crackling fire...

Whirlwind of colorful beads and women

Beachcomber Pendant by Betty
(using Hydrangea Bead Soup)

Beads on Metal Pendant by Adrienne
(using Autumn Leaves Bead Soup)

Wander with Color Necklace by Adrienne
(using Grass, Spring Rain, Deep Teal, Dark Chocolate, Olive Grove Bead Soups)

Wander with Color Bracelet by Kerstin
(using Dark Chocolate, Grass, Tropical Punch, Fuchsia Bead Soups)

Beachcomber Pendant by Dini
(using Twilight Bead Soup enhanced by Dini)

Start of Wanderlust Bracelet by Joie
(using Spring Rain Bead Soup)

It all began with Adrienne from Wales... Our conversations last winter snowballed into an Autumn Festival with 5 days of classes, food and wine and even a bit of massage on the last day.

What amazing, creative, fun women! Some came for a day, others for the whole week, all were a joy to have in my home.

Colorful, prolific Dini joined in for all 5 days!

Turns out Carol lives in my home town right next to my old high school!

We beaded in the 'barn'

and ate downstairs - Kristi and Pam from Bellingham Washington, Adrienne from Wales, Dini from southern Oregon, Betty from North Carolina, Carol from Gig Harbor.

Dini and Joie (co-publisher of EYE FOR COLOR, did I mention college roomie and dear friend?)

The 'gang' from Tacoma - Jacquie, Candace, Lynda Janeen - friends for decades (we heard lots of good stories)

Kerstin from Bellingham joined for the weekend - so good to meet her in person after long admiring her amazing photography. See her photos from the workshops here.

I didn't capture a photo of Charron from Winnepeg - she hopped out early to travel up to Vancouver for Canadian Thanksgiving.