Bella Market

 I wanted to share with you a few of the treasures I found at the Bella Market on Friday night.

My big Bella sister was the very talented Kim Hanauer who was also a vendor at the market.

She had wonderful vintage ephemera, vintage wallpaper, rhinestones, altered bottles and jewelry pieces that she created herself.  Among those goodies were several vintage purses adorned with tiny frozen Charlottes.

 This is the one I picked out and brought home with me.

I love it.

Don't you?

 I also bought this fun and funky necklace to give as a gift.

Life is a Journey

 Lonnie Jenck of Farmgirls

 And also this necklace created by Natalie Hansen

Breathe.....Life.....Home

 This beautiful red heart is a special piece that I purchased at the table of the gracious and lovely Charlotte Lyons who was selling them for her friend Rebecca Sower's Haiti By Hand.

 I love the fact that all proceeds go directly to the creator of this beautiful piece and helps her support her family in Haiti.

 

 Charlotte Lyons

 

 I loved these monogrammed patches from Kaari Meng's

French General....

...moda fabrics...

 These great numbers came from the vendor table of Kerry Lynn Yeary who was my teacher for the Oh,Tannenbaum class.

She has told me that I must show my completed project....so I will do that later this week....it needs a little foofing since being squished in my suitcase on the flight home.

Of course, that Christmas number 25 is a 52 backwards!

 These metal numbers and letters came from the booth of

Jenni Bowlin

 

 JBS Mercantile Co.

 All these wonderful sponsors of Silver Bella contributed goodies to our welcome bags...

 I participated in a swap hosted by Sheila Rumney where we each contributed twenty different vintage trims...

Numbers from Kim Hanauer

Flash card from Jenni Bowlin

Yes, that's me.

52 Flea

Mr. Flea jokes that I come with a lot of baggage...

...so I thought this flash card was perfect.

I hope you have enjoyed these posts about my Silver Bella experience.

Tomorrow I will wrap it up with a few fun shots of the Bellas in their finest and a special gift from my sweet and thoughtful friend Zita of Mlle Magpie.

Hope your week is going well!

:)

My Experience at Silver Bella

As a girl who has never glittered anything before, you might wonder....why in the world did I sign up for Silver Bella?

  For, at this art retreat in Omaha...
glitter is King...or rather Queen!

Last May, I rather impulsively registered to attend.
I had read quite a lot about the annual art retreat on the blogs of creative women I admired.
  Having just left my longtime career behind I was looking forward to exploring my creative and artistic side
beyond taking photographs for 52 Flea.
Back in January I  attended a Sweater Craft class given locally by the lovely and talented Charlotte Lyons and enjoyed the camaraderie,warm friendship and encouragement extended to me by Charlotte and the girls in this class.
They spoke about Teresa McFayden's  Silver Bella with great enthusiasm.

 When registration time arrived I discovered who the teachers of the varied classes would be...

...names like Lisa Kaus, Charlotte Lyons, Kaari Meng of French General, Sally Jean Alexander, Lynn Whipple, Beth Quinn, Kerry Lynn Yeary, Betz White and Colette Copeland were announced. And then, I found out that Jenny Doh would be the guest speaker at the finale dinner.

And so...I decided to go.

Alone.

 From the first time I entered the forum on the Bella website...
so many women reached out to me.
I was looking forward to meeting these people face to face and to be a part of this community so chock a block full of creative and talented souls.

 I was assigned a Big Bella Sister named Kim Hanauer who emailed me, called me and sent me an inspiration kit to help me get started on my creative journey.
When Kim found out about my Mom's diagnosis she called to share her own experience with her Mom and sent a beautiful tape and book for us to share.

She was the first of many who asked about my Mom.

Women all seem to have a bond as we share so many of life's experiences.

And that was one of the things that I took away from Silver Bella.

Women need other women.

My Mother used to tell us to be good to each other as sisters and nurture the relationships with our girlfriends. 

She knew that we would need to lean on them in years to come and that sometimes only another woman could possibly understand whatever situation we were dealing with.

My Mom is very wise.

 Here are a few other things I learned at Silver Bella:

1. No matter how creative and artistic you are...

...crafting skills need to be learned and practiced!

These ladies have serious skills!

2. Take risks...stretch.

Move out of your comfort zone.

You will be happy you tried!

3. Ask for help.

You will receive it with gracious open hearts.

5. It is not about a perfect end result...
...it is all about the process and the sharing.

Jenny Doh's closing remarks at the finale dinner were both moving and important.

She has posted them to her blog and you can read them HERE.

I enjoyed my weekend at Silver Bella.

I met up with some wonderful blogging friends...

  and I made many new ones.

Thank you to everyone who went out of their way to welcome me, chat a few minutes, lend a helping hand or share a few words of encouragement. Thank you for all those wonderful gifts of charms, chocolate, vintage goodies, supplies and art tips!

I truly appreciate it!

The photos above are not of my crafting projects!

Aren't they all wonderful?

Tomorrow , I will share a few treasures that I found at the

Bella Market on Friday night!

And, oh yes, I learned that I am ready for a Big Girl camera!

Hope all is well in your world !!

:)

Second Chance Antiques & Collectibles

As I try to gather all my thoughts, sort through all the MOO cards, and put names with the lovely faces of all the people I met...

I thought that you would enjoy a few pictures I took at

Second Chance....an antiques shop within walking distance of the Silver Bella  art event where everyone shopped for treasures

in between their fabulous classes.

Enjoy!

Hope you liked looking through just a fraction of what they had to offer!  A special thanks to Peg from Houston who I met on the shuttle and who kindly took me to lunch and Second Chance that very first day!

So much more to come!

:)

Silver Bella Update

 

 In the midst of crafting heaven here at Silver Bella.

The Silver Bella ladies are delightful and so warm and welcoming.

 

Everyone has brought their stash of vintage goodies and rhinestones, old photos and small found items to incorporate in their projects.

My first class was with Colette Copeland....called Project Runway!
The sweet dress above was created by a lovely lady at my table.
(I will get her name!)

Our days are packed and last night was the Bella Market!
I will have lots to show you in the next day or so!

Right now...I am off to class!  
Hope all is well and that you are having a great weekend!
:)

Silver Bella Adventure

 I am off on an adventure...

...to the famous Silver Bella art retreat!

I am unprepared and unorganized and at this point have been throwing all sorts of bits and bobs into my suitcase.

I really am just a crafter wannabe...

...the girls I will be hob nobbing with at Silver Bella all have serious crafting skills.

 I figure that if all else fails, I can just drop the soldering iron, needle & thread and glue stick and grab my camera in order to take pictures and blog about it all!

 Oh yes....I also ran over to Anthropologie to try to pick up something cute to wear....

I found these wonderful zinc tags and this lovely handmade paper.

And just look at these silvery crows!

I don't know what they have to do with

Silver Bella...

but I know at least two girlfriends who will love one tied to their Christmas package!

  Shhh....

Anyway.....wish me luck at Silver Bella! 

Not sure if I will have time to post 

but I will try to put up a few pictures to show you all how it is going!

One thing for sure is that I will be meeting some very sweet and generous girls who have been sending me kind words of encouragement!

:)

Artsy Cuffs and Photo Play

My thrifty trip home was lovely...
...yesterday was one of those perfect days to be on the road...
...beautiful clear skies...no traffic....no time table.

I did manage to find a few little things but have not had time to photograph them as when I got home...
...there were dishes to wash, laundry to do, beds to change and...
...the cat box.

And then dinner.

Sigh. You know the drill all too well!



In any case, remember these 3 tin kitchen cutters that I found this summer?

They fit on my wrist like bangels...
OOOoooo.....

My idea is to make them into funky artsy cuffs....
...and wear them to Silver Bella!




Here's my start...
It looks like a little crown...doesn't it?

OK, stop laughing at me.
I'm determined to create something spectacular out of my kitchenware.




Meanwhile, I updated my Picasa software and now have the capability of using Picnik to alter my photos.

The above is my very first altered photo.
I have no idea what I am doing but oh my goodness...the possibilities!

Uh oh....
...now I will never get anything done around here!

Well, the boys finally got somewhat of a supper last night and their shirts ironed.
Starla is happy with clean kitty litter.

Things are getting back to normal.
:)