This week I spent most my time preparing for a workshop that I will be teaching this weekend-an intro to riveting class. I really enjoy this technique, joining two pieces of metal without the use of a torch. You can practically rivet almost anything together- metal, plexi glass, glass beads to metal, photographs, and more. The possibilities are endless. In this intro class, my goal is to keep it pretty basic, by either joining two pieces of metal or taking a metal component and joining it to a metal shape. Students will be riveting their pieces together with nail rivets, eyelets and nuts and bolts. There’s a lot of material to be covered in four hours, but as I always stress to the students, focus on learning and mastering the technique and not to feel pressured to finish the project.

Next weekend, we (artBLISS) are hosting the marvelous Richard Salley for a three-day workshop. This will be our third time hosting Richard and it’s always such a pleasure. If you know Richard or have taken a class with him, then you already know what a great guy he is and amazing instructor and artist. That same weekend, Reston, VA is hosting the Northern Virginia FineArts Festival, one of the best art festivals in the country. If  you live in the area or fairly close, I highly recommend attending. I know Kathy Frey will be vending for the first time at this festival, and I am hoping to sneak a way and stop by and say hello to her and to see her beautiful jewelry in person. My fingers are crossed it will be a glorious sunny weekend.

Well, I better resume to packing up the class kits for the students. Have a great weekend!

Jeanette

JoAnna Caston

Dawn Gallop

Patti Vanderbloemen

Carol Wingfield Meyers

And a great big thanks to everyone who participated and helped us spread the word about artBLISS!

Are you ready for artBLISS 2012?

We are excited to announce that registration is open for artBLISS 2012!

Join us for 3 full days of workshops and activities.

Dates and Location:

Sept. 21-23, 2012

Sterling, VA

We have an incredible line-up of instructors this year. You’ll enjoy seeing some of your favorite instructors returning, and we hope you’ll join us in welcoming those that are making their artBLISS DEBUT!

Kerry Bogert

April Bowles-Olin

Diane Cook

Christine Damm

Stacie Florer

Erin Siegel

Beth Taylor

Please visit the site to see the full range of day and evening workshops.

In addition to furthering your jewelry designing skills, this year at artBLISS, you’ll find workshops that focus on your business! By popular demand, we are once again offering a jewelry photography workshop.  And new this year, a full-day business workshop – from branding to marketing!

On this year’s agenda…

Meet and Greet Reception – your instructors will be present to share their original artwork and show class samples.  Mingle and meet new friends while enjoying appetizers and desserts.  Demos will be offered and plenty of door prizes! Open to the public, details on the website.

Author Signing at the Meet and Greet!   Meet the authors of two of the hottest new jewelry books out this summer/fall.  Kerry Bogert will be signing copies of Rustic Wrappings, and Erin Siegel will be signing copies Bohemian-Inspired Jewelry!

Don’t Trash It, Destash It! Social – We will be coordinating a bead destash on location this year.  Bring your beads to swap and go home with a new stash!

artBLISS Annex – Cindy will be bringing a little treasure trove of  flea market finds for sale – from vintage jewelry to jewelry boxes.  These goodies will be available for your perusal.  I will be bringing a selection of indispensable tools.

Delicious lunches will be brought in on-site for your convenience.

Now for the GIVEAWAY!

Have you noticed our brand new website?  We have been working for some time behind the scenes with our wonderful web designer to bring you a more user-friendly website and we are proud to unveil it!

The new web design and artBLISS logo were created by the amazingly talented Brandi over at Brandi Girl Blog. Brandi sure has a way of translating a concept in to digital art.  She is flexible, patient, and is always a step ahead in the design process (thank you, Brandi!).The vintage Americana look really captures the heart of our retreat:  offering world-class workshops right here near the nation’s capitol.  The stars are custom doodles by Teresa McFayden!

Can you help us spread the word about artBLISS?

We will be giving away 4 prizes!  Two winners will be chosen from this giveaway post, and 2 winners will be chosen from those that register for a workshop during the opening week of registration!

Each of the 4 winners will receive a large, heavy cotton logo totebag…

Along with the totebag, each winner will ALSO receive metalworking supplies!  Win a new saw, blades, instructional DVD by Thomas Mann, and a tub of liver of sulfur gel (that will last for ages!).

To enter the give away:

• Leave a comment (1 entry)

• Blog about the 2012 retreat (1 entry)

• Add any one of the new blog badges to your blog – see the various badge options here (1 entry)

• Post on Facebook or Twitter – please share the link (1 entry)

• Register for any artBLISS 2012 workshop during the registration opening week (March 31st through April 9th). (1 entry)

*Giveaway closes at 11:59 p.m., EST on May 2nd.  The winners will be announced on May 3rd.   Due to the large package size, the giveaway is regrettably open to U.S. residents only.
Here are a few of our new badges – we hope you’ll chose one for your blog!

Thank you for sharing our excitement!  Good luck & we hope to see you in September!

- Jeanette and Cindy

I am participating in a fun blog hop called the Wrapped, Stacked & Layered Bracelet Challenge, hosted by Tracy Statler with Make Bracelets.  The challenge was to build a stack of bracelets either by creating each piece yourself, or adding a few handmade pieces with commercially purchased bracelets.

Upon much pondering about which direction I wanted to go in, I decided to fire up the kiln and enamel some bangles. I randomly choose different color enamels to work with, not really paying attention if the colors worked with each other. Upon completion, the colors were not in great harmony, but what the heck. They were fun to make!  I added some ceramic charm dangles to a few of the bangles which I purchased from Jenny Davies Reazor.  It was great fun, Tracy! Thanks so much for putting together such a fun blog hop. Now I am off to see what everyone else created!  Below is a list of everyone who participated. Have a great weekend.

stringsattachedcindi.blogspot.com
carolynscreationswa.blogspot.com
cathiecarroll.blogspot.com
pinterest.com/chrisdeweerd
beatnheart.blogspot.com

storiestheytell.blogspot.com
tellyourgirlfriends.com
mamasgottodoodle.blogspot.com
copperdiem.blogspot.com
copperpennydesigns.blogspot.com
greenshoot.blogspot.com
twentytwelve-mmxii.blogspot.com
delle56.blogspot.com
elizabeth-marengoalhajas.blogspot.com
treasures-found.blogspot.com

erinsiegeljewelry.blogspot.com
ferrarioriginalsyahoocom.blogspot.com
facebook.com/handcraftedserenity
PaisleyDesignStudios.com
pixiloo.blogspot.com
hintjewelry.blogspot.com
silverrosedesigns.blogspot.com
daisychaindesignsjewellery.blogspot.com
jazzierich.blogspot.com
site.jkdjewelry.com/blog

jeanetteblix.com
glassaddictions.com
jerrisjems.com
howienjoylife7997.blogspot.com
overthemoon-design.com
katerichbourg.com
pinterest.com/kk0725/stack-it-up-bracelets/
kimmykats.com
kymhunterdesigns.blogspot.com
lamplightcrafts.blogspot.com

lelamccracken.blogspot.com
etsy.com/shop/goingtribal
inspiredadonments.blogspot.com
lorelei1141.blogspot.com
freshbakeddesigns.wordpress.com
lindysdesigns.blogspot.com
maryhardingjewelrybeadblog.blogspot.com
maureenmeanswell.blogspot.com
maybejustperhaps.blogspot.com
beadrecipes.wordpress.com

tekaandzoe.blogspot.com
miri100.blogspot.com
melissameman.blogspot.com
kenshostudio.com
beadingbymalindekoning.blogspot.com
havanabeads.blogspot.com
eclecticteaenshrinements.blogspot.com
roxidesigns.blogspot.com
stefaniessammelsurium.blogspot.com
thestudiosublime.com

sandivolpe.com
sharondriscoll.blogspot.com
sedillohillstudio.blogspot.com
sunshinebliss.com
sharonsjewelrygarden.blogspot.com
MiShelDesigns.com
aujourlejour-shelly.blogspot.com
blueberrycrazy.deviantart.com/gallery
uniqueboutique-creativetouch.blogspot.com
starhitchedwagon.blogspot.com

terrabeadworks.com
theresestreasures59.blogspot.com
sweetbeadstudio.com
missyrappaport.blogspot.com
mylifeunderthebus.typepad.com
fredbeansnook.com/blog

Though the bead soup reveal has passed, I am still in the process of visiting other participating bead soupers and seeing their unique creations from their bead soups.  With almost 200 participants, this will take me some time to visit each and every blog. But please know I will be stopping by! I have been swamped with my husband being away on business and two school-aged children and a fairly new puppy who has more energy than I every imagined a puppy could have!

In the meanwhile, I have been playing around with an earring design in my head which are  fairly simple and fun earrings to make. I call them Wire Crinkle Earrings. I will be posting a tutorial on how to create these within the next week. So, if you are interested in learning how to create these whimsical earrings which can also make cool necklace links and charms, please check back. I hope to have the tutorial completed by mid-next week-at least this is my goal.

Lots of other fun things happening behind the scenes which will be shared very soon!

Have a great evening,

Jeanette

Mark you calendars!

The annual artBLISS retreat will be held on September 21-23, 2012

Details coming soon!

*Be sure to join our mailing list to keep up to date!

I received my very lovely and delicious ingredients from my bead soup partner, Jelveh.

The beads were beautifully packaged in a golden-colored box topped with a lid of decorative spiral patterns (hand-drawn by Jelveh). To open the box with ease, a lovely bead was attached as a pull.

Inside my package I found amazing lampwork beads..

sterling silver beads and toggle clasp…

more lampwork, charms, green jade beads & blue nugget-shaped beads…

Thank you, Jelveh, for the most lovely package of bead soup.  I look forward to bringing all these amazing ingredients together and create a piece of jewelry that will showcase your stunning lampwork and all the other goodies you included-but it must wait until after…

Enjoy your Sunday!

Jeanette

I am participating in the 5th Bead Soup Blog Party. This will be my third time. My amazingly talented partner is Jelveh with Jelveh Designs. When Lori paired me with Jelveh, she was no stranger to me because I adore working with lampwork beads, and Jelveh’s work had caught my eye many years ago!

Choosing bead soup for my partner and partners in the past is and has always been such a struggle for me. All one has to do is choose some beads, an attractive clasp (handcrafted or store bought), and a focal. I managed at the very last minute to make a decision about all the ingredients to my bead soup, and here it is!

Oops, I just remembered I shouldn’t show an actual photograph of the bead soup before Jelveh has a chance to see it first! The big reveal of everyone’s bead soup transformation into beautiful jewelry is March 3rd. So please check back and I promise to have a list of links for you to follow which will make the blog hopping seamless!

Regarding the puppy update, he pretty much takes up all of my time these days. Oh my gosh, I just looked down this very minute and found that my daughter and puppy just fell asleep next to each other. My husband took them both on a long walk to release some pent up energy, and I guess it worked…on both of them!

And lastly, for those who live in the DC area, Cindy and I are hosting a workshop with Richard Salley. Three very cool new classes. Definitely will take your skills to the next level! I am pretty certain the ring class is sold out but we still have a few more seats in the Bits & Pieces and Balance Beam Bracelet. Please visit ArtBLISS for details or email me directly if you have any questions!

Jeanette

Wishing everyone a Very Happy New Year!

My new year started off by receiving a phone call Monday morning from my breeder in Tennessee telling me that my puppy was on it’s way to Charlotte, NC and hoped this meeting point would be a better alternative than driving to Tennessee. It was, but I had to leave within the next hour to meet the couple who was returning home to Charlotte, NC from Tennessee with their puppy and mine! I hung up the phone, told my mom who is visiting for the holidays, we are going on a road trip..NOW.

We threw essentials in a suitcase, I kissed the husband and kids goodbye, and we were off! What should have been a 7 hour drive turned into a 10 hour drive due to weather conditions, but finally arrived at 10:30pm to collect my sweet pup..

This sweet puppy is a soft-coated wheaten terrier and as he matures, his coat will turn a wheat/white color. We adopted our first Wheaten, Cabot, 11 years ago who unexpectedly passed away on Mother’s Day. I can’t even tell you how devastated I was, but those who are pet owners know the gut wrenching pain of loosing a pet. I still miss him dearly…

Our family looks forward to opening our hearts to our new addition with open arms. Though this is a jewelry blog, I am certain you will occasionally see more photos of this sweet puppy, who does not have a name at the moment…

This weekend I will be teaching my first class for 2012 at the Reston Community Center outside of Washington, DC. If you live in the area and would like to take the class, we still have some seats available:) Have a great weekend!