Market Days are Coming to Round Rock

Sherri Arrington and Annie Urban have teamed up to form Mainstreet Productions. The experienced event planners' first production is the new Round Rock Market Days. The market days will be the first Saturday of each month, at 221 E. Main St., Round Rock, TX. I'm excited to be a vendor at the first show, March 3, 2012.

Christmas Countdown and Upcoming Shows

Christmas is less than eight weeks away. (Funny how it sneaks up on me each year!) You can find me and my work at two shows this month: the Austin Craft Riot and the Bastrop Harvest Art Fest. Click each picture to go the the show websites for more info. I look forward to seeing you. :)

Galveston ARToberFEST Oct. 15 & 16, 2011

Galveston's 14th Annual ARToberFEST is this weekend on Postoffice Street and 22nd Street in downtown Galveston. Doesn't that poster make you want to dance?

The restored-again historic setting will host art, music, food and fun Saturday from 10 to 6 and Sunday from 10 to 5. Net proceeds will benefit two very worthy causes: AIDS Coalition of Coastal Texas, Inc. and Galveston Island Humane Society.

I'm delighted to be a first-time vendor at this show. I'll be in booth #92 on 22nd St. between Postoffice Street and Market Street. Stop by and say hi to me if you're there. The forecast is for ideal weather - sunny and in the low 80s. :)

Bead Soup Blog Party Sept. 2011 Reveal

My blog partner for this party was CeCe Cormier, aka The Beading Yogini. She makes wonderful lampwork beads, cool Apoxie Sculpt Clay pieces, awesome macrame jewelry, and more. She sent me this treasure chest of beads and findings for my soup.

There is so much goodness here that I love. I could easily have strung or wire-wrapped jewelry using only these goodies. I wanted to go a little further, though. :)


Look at all that! The rule is we must use at least the focal and the clasp. I have three choices of focals. :) I always liked owls (even way back in high school) so that's an easy choice. From my own supplies, I added a few beads, a lot of wire, some heat and hammering, an inked stamp pad and a little paint. The rest was CeCe's lampwork beads.

I'll let the owl tell you the rest of the story.

That tree-branch looking thing will be a perfect perch. Cut off that loop. Upsie-daisy! Let's get some talons glued in place and dried.


A nice full harvest moon would look so good behind me, don't you think? Too much white? Oh, well. I live in a forest anyway. Trees are good. Can you do trees? Speaking of white, can I be a barn owl. What? The white paint "isn't working?" What are you doing to me now? Gray? Oooooh ... yes, pewter sounds much better.

Ah, I'm all fixed up with my branch, twigs, leaves and... WHAT? You nailed me to the tree? You say that's my "third eye," huh? Yeah, riiiight, lady. No more yogi tea for you today.


I'm a happy little pewter, ahem, great gray owl now. My skull barely hurts. What? You want to hang me on something now? What's this about chains? Where's the number for the ASPCA?

You say the forest needs twilight colors, twiggy looking things, with hints of plants and bugs flying around. Sounds good to me. Are you done yet? It's almost midnight and an owl has to eat dinner, you know! (flappity-flap)







Check out all the Bead Soup Blog Party Reveal posts here.

Introverts Explained to Extroverts

I ran across this excellent article in the Atlantic via Beth Hempton's Facebook post.
Caring for Your Introvert
The habits and needs of a little-understood group

It is written by Jonathan Rauch, an introvert. He explains that introverts are not the weirdos extroverts think we are. (thank you!) I'm glad to learn that I'm not the only one who thinks of some extroverts as barking and yipping. :) Here are my favorite parts of the article.

"Extroverts have little or no grasp of introversion. They assume that company, especially their own, is always welcome. They cannot imagine why someone would need to be alone; indeed, they often take umbrage at the suggestion. As often as I have tried to explain the matter to extroverts, I have never sensed that any of them really understood. They listen for a moment and then go back to barking and yipping."

"We tend to think before talking, whereas extroverts tend to think by talking, which is why their meetings never last less than six hours. "Introverts," writes a perceptive fellow named Thomas P. Crouser . . . 'are driven to distraction by the semi-internal dialogue extroverts tend to conduct. Introverts don't outwardly complain, instead roll their eyes and silently curse the darkness.' "

"How can I let the introvert in my life know that I support him and respect his choice? First, recognize that it's not a choice. It's not a lifestyle. It's an orientation."

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This has nothing to do with the introvert article. It's my table at the Austin Bead Society Bazaar two weeks ago.