Jami's Blog

Picture Post

I am embarrassed to see that it has almost been a month since I've posted. Don't know were time goes but I have been plugging along in the studio. I seem to immerse myself at times and bad habits form. I've gotten addicted to mousehunt on facebook cause it's mindless and a touch competitive. I have a show coming up at the Crossroads for First Friday. I don't know what to call it anymore, power and light district, crossroads. Yea, I think it is The Crossroads. Anyway...... Genevieve Flynn is having small art show at her studio. Local buds, please stop by and say Hi!

Oh yea, this is supposed to be a picture post!

Busy like bees....

I am almost finished with the purse from hell. It has taken me too long to do it and I've almost trashed it a couple times but I stuck with it and now I love it. It will be my purse and I'm not making another one for awhile! :)
I have had a fun couple of evenings. I've finally made the moons align correctly so I can attend several local art groups I've always want to check out. Firstly was the local KC Etsy Street Team. I met some really nice people and can't wait to find out more about their specialties. They have a website to check out with a blog and links to etsy http://www.kcetsy.com/
Tonight I attended and joined the Fiber Guild of GKC and really enjoyed myself. I will admit my favorite part was the show & tell and meeting Lint, the baby lamb. What a fun time! I am hoping to do their fall Creative Hands Show. I so love the diversity of art there. Knitting, weaving, quilting, spinning, dyeing, felting, pottery and jewelry. I'll fit right in with my ADD. lol The Fiber Guild's website is http://www.kansascityfiberguild.org/

Happy Father's Day

This is a wonderful picture taken by daughter Laura in Scottsville, Virginia
I am so incredibly proud of the her for taking, developing and hand coloring this photo.
The photo is of her grandfather and to me is very powerful in many ways.

Merry Christmas!

What Kind of Knitter Are You?

You appear to be a Knitting Guru. You love knitting and do it all the time. While finishing a piece is the plan, you still love the process, and can't imagine a day going by without giving some time to your yarn. Packing for vacation involves leaving ample space for the stash and supplies. It can be hard to tell where the yarn ends and you begin.http://marniemaclean.com Take this quiz! Quizilla | Join | Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

Stuff on my table....

This past weekend was our fall bead show weekend here in KC. A gem and mineral show as out at KCI Expo Center and the Bead Renaissance Show was down at the Business and Technology Center.
I went to the Gem show on Friday and the Bead Ren show on Saturday. I had a lovely time seeing friends and of course shopping!
On my list was 4 mm faceted stones for tube setting and 20 gauge silver sheet.
I managed to get both and also a few extra things! lol
PMC veneer kit, some textured brass, a clay keeper for pmc, some lovely beads fron Cindy Craig and some gorgeous amber bead strands to match.
I've already begun the project I am using Cindy's bead with and am marinating on the tube setting off mandrel boro thingamaroo. Sometimes the marinating projects have to age awhile!
Hope to have some pics soon!

Etsy anyone?

I finally took the Etsy plunge!
Jami's Etsy
It seems like everyone is raving over Etsy and I admit I have found a few things on there that really inspire me to spend my money on fellow crafters versus imported crap at most retail stores. I was lusting over a gorgeous skirt that was just listed and it sold right out from underneath my firefox screen. I mean it was listed only minutes before!
I listed a few sets of beads and really had a learning curve over photography for the site.
I tend to crop my photos to a rectangular shape and Etsy wants them square.
I don't like how they crop your image but I guess as long as the larger image can be viewed, it is ok.
All in all, I am pretty happy with what I accomplished.

Classes are worth it

I am a happy camper. Today I took a class by Dan Grumbling on imploded flower marbles. I have been struggling with learning this on my own for quite awhile now. It helped so much seeing someone else do it and having them explain the shading and why things happen the way they do. I am always wanting to know why? Why did this happen? Why do you do it this way? Having the answers and reasons makes understanding and learning more complete. I can't wait till Tuesday when I can pick up my two marbles I made! I'll have to play some tomorrow to keep it fresh in my mind. By taking this class I feel I have saved myself months of frustration and experimentation!! It was a good day!! :)

A song playing now

I have two need CD's that I am really liking a lot.
Annie Lennox has a new one called Songs of Mass Desruction. Wow, just wow!
and Eddie Vedder has one out called Into the Wild.
If you live in a cave go find out about the movie Into the Wild.
Sean Penn directs it. I so love Sean Penn!!! Anyway, Eddie's voice is just magical on the CD. The song Society is just haunting. Hmmmm.... strange that both CD's have big messages in them.

I'm gonna have some glass stuff to show soon.
I'm taking a class on imploded flowers tomorrow barring any unforseen complications.
The class is on soft glass marbles. I have been working on them in boro so this class should be a good change of pace. I'm excited!!
Happy Friday!

Podcasts that rock

I love the digital age. Downloading music, browsing inspiring art online, researching projects, techniques and mediums. One new find that I would like to pass on is Craftcast by Allison Lee. She interviews various artists from many different mediums. Some of the one's I've downloaded from IPod are: Bruce Baker, Alan Revere, Kristina Logan, Kate McKinnon, Robert Dancik, and several others. I download it to my laptop and either take it in the studio or burn a CD to listen on my stereo. It is like food for your creative stomach!
Here is the link: http://www.craftcast.com/

Knitting Ravelry

There is a wonderful new site out there called Ravelry. It is for knitters and is a place to post information on knitting patterns, yarns, projects, etc. It is huge already and is still in the testing period. You sign up for the waiting list to join and after a long period of time you get your invite to join. I received my invite this week and am loving the site hugely! I have been posting photos gradually to flickr of my knitting projects and then adding the projects to Ravelry. You link to other people who have knit the same projects.
One of the benefits is that if you are considering knitting a project you can search Ravelry and see people completed items, the colors they used and the review of the projects. I am hoping it helps me be a better decider on what to knit. Let's face it, we've all knit things that turn out wrong, either wrong for our bodies or wrong yarn choices. With Ravelry we can drool over the photos and the yarn and save hours of googleing!
Here is my link for other Ravelriers!
http://www.ravelry.com/people/Jami

Creativity

I am a very bad blogger. I have good intentions, excellent intentions of using this blog to its potential but I tend to get overwhelmed and the list of things to do, ideas to pursue, energy needed to do these tends to wins out. I think my problem is I am over-creative. I went through a long period of not wanting to think and not wanting to dream. I read that this is normal and cyclical. So, I am over that period and now all I think about is new things to create. I have so many ideas brewing and every single one of them takes a lot of work. From the design idea to finished creation would take days. Many of them would fail. Many would succeed. What prevents me from following through is the new burst of an idea that totally side-tracks me. House work side tracks me. Keeping in tuned with DD's constant teenage drama side-tracks me.
Today's goal is to be aware of the side-tracks, journal the ideas, keep time management better under control.
So, having said that. I am off to the studio for a couple hours!

A New Beginning!

Hello blog world! My name is Jami and I am a craft junkie! I am a crafter/artist who dabbles in many avenues of creativity. My purpose for starting this blog is to make myself follow through and finish projects by chronicling my progress and thus (hopefully) resulting in many finished projects!
In addition to project progressions and completions I also will be posting reviews of supplies, books, videos, kits, dvd's and whatever else suits my fancy. Occasionally there will be tutorials. I am always happy to share information and techniques so please don't hesitate to ask.

Waterlily pendant created for my mother. Sterling sheet & bezel with spinel gemstone