Resin jewelry making classes

Finally!  I am ready to teach some resin jewelry making classes.  I will be teaching classes in the upstairs loft of Florida landscape painter Linda Blondheim, which is in the back (and upstairs) of Paddiwhack gallery.  Paddiwhack is located at 4128 NW 16th Blvd, Gainesville, (next to Fresh Market). 

Here's a little bit of information about the classes:

1. You can sign up and purchase the class through my online store.  (It is under categories, resin jewelry making classes).  You can also find it here:  Resin Jewelry making classes
2. Prices on the class will vary, but all your supplies will be included.  Additional supplies will be available for purchase.
3. There is a limit of 6 per class.  There must be at least 3 per class, otherwise the class will be rescheduled or cancelled.
4. Classes must be prepaid (unless prior arrangements have been made).  Cancelling and/or rescheduling your class slot with less than 72 hours notice may result in no refunds or exchanges for the class.
5. The class is two hours.  Since the resin project needs to cure, you (or someone else) will need to come back to pick up your project within 24 to 72 hours of class completion.  While I won't be there when you pick up your project, I am happy to make myself available for follow up questions.

Studio Kitty does it again

While my goal was to make an informative video about the resin bangle bracelet molds we sell on resinobsession.com (my other business), studio kitty Karma had other ideas. You can see her grand entrance about 30 seconds from the end of the video.

Who's in charge here??

Asian art jewelry - Harn museum of art

Spring is in the air!  Part of what I've been working on for the past few weeks have been more than just scrabble tile jewelry.  I've been working on custom scrabble tile jewelry for the Harn Museum of Art's Asian art exhibit (with its own wing!) which will be opening this weekend.









These images were supplied to me by the curators at the Harn and I digitally enhanced them to reproduce onto scrabble tiles finished with a dome of resin.

The pendants will be available for purchase beginning this Friday (March 30, 2012), in the museum's gift store. 

See the buddha pendants in the bottom of the picture of left?  There was a neat little story about him and his recent 'medical procedures'. 

To learn more about the Harn Museum of Art and their new Asian Art Exhibit, become a fan of the Harn Museum on Facebook.

Studio kitty napping on the job

I went to ship out an order the other day and found studio kitty Karma guarding the pile of boxes.  How kind of her.  The problem is that she was napping on the job.

I have the proof.

She looks like she is dutifully pulling off "occupy shipping boxes".

Yes, firmly entranced in her job.













Wait....wait....reposition.

Yes, better view.  Now I can see those who want to break up the "occupy shipping boxes" movement.








Hmm.  Will have to ship out tomorrow I guess.

Valentine's Day treats

So I decided not to be slacker 'wait until the last minute' mom this year and helped my kids make Valentine's Day goodie bags.  (I was just trying to show up the other moms, but I digress....LOL)

First, I started with an Avery label template.  This uses a page template, NOT the label function on word.











Go by your local craft store and get the small bubbles.  (I was lucky they had them in pink and red.)  The Avery labels size 5160 fit perfectly on these bottles.

I found a printable template for bag toppers (sandwich size bags to be exact).  They came two to a sheet and I cut them nice and straight with my paper trimmer.










Add in the aforementioned bubbles and a couple of pieces of candy into a sandwich bag.  (I used the cheap, non zippered ones.)  Fold the printables in half lengthwise and staple to the bags.

Instant cuteness!

In case you want the links to the printables, you can find them in my e-news from last week.  I don't know how long the link will work (my emails only archive for so long), so get them now!

ACRE Orlando jewelry booth

A couple of weeks ago, I spent a few days in Orlando, Florida, meeting other gallery and boutique owners interested in my jewelry.  Here are a few pictures from the event with my booth and jewelry:

My plan of pink, purple and green came out just like I wanted it to.  My jewelry and style is all about color, fun and whimsy!

I displayed the scrabble tile pendants on what else, but scrabble tile racks!  Who knew they would be a great fit for the pendants??

This is my new line of recycled plastic jewelry.

On closeup, you might be able to recognize where they came from:

These are recycled from plastic gift cards, credit cards and hotel room keys.  Both the pendants and earrings are cut into perfect circles and finished with a splash of extra color where the jump ring or ear wire enters the piece.  As you can guess, these are very light and easy to wear.  (and no two pieces are alike!)

I also had the resin and pewter pendant and earring sets at ACRE Orlando.  I think store buyers and owners enjoyed getting a chance to see in person just how colorful these pieces are!


I won't be going to ACRE Las Vegas this year, but am looking forward to next year's ACRE Orlando!

Making fabric covered pedestals

Boy this post has been a long time in the making....

Once upon a time, there was a jewelry artist.  A jewelry artist who needed to create something splash for a booth at a wholesale art show.  She played around with some ideas and eventually came up with a booth involving pink, purple and green.  (Yes, those colors, but not necessarily in that order).  With the pink and green done, the last thing to accomplish was the purple.


I chose a rich purple fabric in bengaline.  I ended up spending more on the fabric than I wanted to, but I wanted to make sure I had something heavy enough to cover the pedestals and wrinkle resistant as well.













The cardboard pedestals I had already made out of cardboard boxes.  The white stripe around the top is a velcro strip.
















Don't tell my home ec teacher mother, but I just eyeballed the edge and pressed down the seam with the iron.

I sewed down the edge.














Then I sewed down the edge with the other half of the velcro tape.














The velcro along the top sticks to the velcro on the box and presto! -- instant cover for the pedestal.  (And by the way, the boxes collapse and travel flat as well.)


Part two of this post will show you what they looked like at the ACRE Orlando show!

Resin jewelry and my new Resin Obsession

Seriously.  I'm not making that up.  My new resin obsession is the business, Resin Obsession.

Hmm.  Like didn't you have enough to do lady?  Why would you want to do this??

I would counter that statement with why wouldn't I want to do this.

I've been making jewelry since 2001 and started making resin jewelry in 2006.  I found that working with resin allowed me to take care of my 'color' obsession with jewelry.  I no longer had to find stones and minerals with colors I liked, I could make my own.  After doing some experimenting, I found a way to make jewelry I liked (and customers liked too). 

Along the way, you meet other resin artists.  Cindy Carter happened to be one of them.  I always enjoyed reading her blog and had bought a few of the Resin Obsession products.  She was incredibly helpful and very easy to work with.

As luck would have it, when she posted that she was looking to sell the business, I was ready to do "something else".  Now mind you, I didn't have my mind made up that this was the perfect opportunity for me, but it was the perfect opportunity to explore.

I'm a big believer in Karma.  (Yes, that's where my cat's name came from)  Cindy sent me information and we started talking.  It was a good talk.  A good, we must have been friends in another life, honest sharing, immediate good feeling talk. Once the business side of me got done analyzing the business and decided it would work, the personal side of me already knew it would.  That was mid October 2011.

We started the transfer of the business in mid November.  The thing I remember the most was when the 30 or so boxes showed up and I immediately thought, "What was I thinking????  Like seriously, where am I going to put all these resin materials????"  (Pause the business for a few days while I tell hubby that we have to move all three boys into one bedroom so I can have the other.)

Trying to reopen a business during my normal busy time (art shows and holiday gifts anyone?) would not have been my first choice, but it's the way it happened.  Since there were only so many hours in the day, the blog got put on hold.  (Now you know why I didn't post for 6 weeks.)

Things are going well and I am touched by how many people have sent well wishes.  Cindy truly built a resin community and I will do everything I can to love and nurture it the way she has. 

(And by the way, you can stop and see the newly reopened Resin Obsession at www.resinobsession.com)

Happy Birthday Karma

Okay, so it's been a while since I've posted (that will get discussed in tomorrow's post), but I wanted to share what I got for Christmas. This year, I put something on my list that I would never buy myself, but thought maybe my Secret Santa would. Luckily, I guessed right.

I wanted a cake pan in the shape of a bread slice.

Uh, really? Like why would you want something like that? 

Maybe because my kids have taught me that you can never have too much fun with your food.

Every January 1, we celebrate Kitty Karma's birthday.  What better than to use the new cake pan to make a pumpernickel and mayonnaise look alike sandwich?


 I completely cheated and used a box cake mix.  (and remembered why I quit using them to begin with -- they taste like the box they came in)












The finished cake will come out looking like a slice of bread.












Finished chocolate cake:  very poofy in the middle.  It also took about twice as long to cook as a regular round or sheet cake pan.









I used a long serrated edge knife to cut off the poof and slice the cake in half.











And here's the best part:  the cream cheese icing.  (I did make that.  My icing beats anything in a can.)

So three little boys sang Kitty Karma 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY' and I think she thought she was going to get whacked with a beater.  I tried to tell her she had nothing to worry about as long as there was still icing on them.  (No little boys were going to waste icing.)

In case you're curious, Karma turned six.  She asks that you do not send gifts, but instead make a donation to your favorite charity (or buy some of her mom's jewelry)