CHA and Tucson Shows with a little Whine

(Click on image to view close-up)

I'm hoping to snap some pics of the pieces I've made to wear to CHA and Tucson and share them with you before I go. These are all totally over the top, cartoonish, Haute Couture Madge designs. Yay!

CHA is the Craft and Hobby Association Show. It's the world's largest trade show for the craft industry. The biggest vendors and the biggest companies come together to see the latest innovations and product lines that will hit store shelves later this year. Tucson Gem Show is actually a series of smaller shows that spans several weeks in January and February each year. This is the biggest gem show in the world, it's huge, overwhelming, mind boggling to see so many stones, beads, rocks...your head starts to spin after a while!

Above is the flyer from my publisher that includes my book signings and a wickedly fun Jewelry Making Event co-hosted with my friend, author and designer Fernando DaSilva. Contestants will use products donated by Beadalon, SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS, Blue Moon Beads and JTV's Jewel School to create a jewelry design on the fly. Fernando and I will select a winner who will get a big swag bag filled with goodies! I also have two book signings with Bead Chic, so if you're there and you'd like a signed copy come and get one while supplies last!

I'm really, really worn out. Some of you know I've been on a long term course of antibiotics to kill a long standing bacterial infection in my lungs. Apparently when the bacteria start to die off, you get very drained physically. It's called a Herximer Reaction and is a result of the toxins that build up when large numbers of bacteria die off in your body during antibiotic therapy. The good news is that it means the medications are working, the bad news is that I am completely exhausted. I'm hoping I can rally for the events and the shows I have to walk next week. Even my video shoot yesterday was lacking zing.

I'm also feeling the strain of having to fight for recognition and respect in my new work environment. For the most part, no one at my new job really understands who I am or what I do. To be fair, it's so antithetical to corporate reality to do what I've done I can kind of understand why it's hard to understand. Still, I think I've earned the right to feel proud of what I've achieved. I keep visualizing the day when people finally get it and get me and I don't have to fight for every little scrap of success any more.

Is there ever a day like that?

I guess even Martha has to fight every day.

Le sigh.

"I just want to be loved...is that so wrong?"

On a lighter note, I have the cutest outfits to wear to the shows, so even if I'm slap wore out and feeling a little unappreciated, I'll look purdy.

xoxo
Madge

Busy, Backson

This week is packed to the gills and I leave early Friday for CHA, so I'm afraid there is no rest for Madge until after Tucson. It's about this time that I start to go into a panic mode. Will I get everything packed and will the suitcase be under the 50lbs. limit? Will my book signings and jewelry making event go okay? How many shoes do I really need to take and will any of them keep my dogs from barking as I walk for hours on concrete? (Madge has foot issues, along with other issues...but I digress...)

I still have to make some more new jewelry pieces to wear, plan out my wardrobe which is complicated by two trips that hit back to back and get everything squared away at work since I'll be away for a week followed by three intensive days of ArtClay training.

I have photographers coming out on Wednesday to snap test shots for a photo montage for the upcoming DVDs and a camera crew coming out on Thursday to shoot live remote for Jewel School. I have to get myself geared up to go and help Avalon since she's doing demos for ILovetoCreate in LA!

Breathe in, breathe out.

I must away to the cubicle, but hopefully I can get back here by early afternoon to get ahead of the curve on this stuff!

xoxo
Madge

This Little Piggy is Pooped.

A MUCH Younger, Less Stressed, Far Svelter Madge as Lady Guinevere in a Serious Conversation with King Arthur

Today is the end of my work week. I get Fridays and Saturdays to decompress. I'll still do some work on both days, I have a lot to prep for the big CHA and Tucson shows that are looming closer and I have to get ahead at work so I'm not behind when I get back. I am exhausted.

Ex hau sted.

I feel like I've been run over by a semi, dragged across the bottom of a river bed and pummeled with rocks.

This week I had to create three live designs on TV, prep projects and shoot two step by step videos, create a project with instructions, an article, a newsletter greeting for the newsletter, write instructions with hot links and product numbers for the blog, meet with production to start nailing down wardrobe and preliminary details for the upcoming DVD shoots, meet with planning to go over details of Sunday's show which I'm co-hosting for the first time, order product to demonstrate in the live shows, answer the Jewel School daily customer emails...email vendors for meetings at the shows, navigate the complexities of corporate interaction...and by mid-day yesterday I was already wilting.

Just to clarify, I'm not highly skilled at the complexities of corporate interaction. I'm finding it utterly frustrating and tedious.

It's funny how little people understand about how much work it takes to create a design or come up with a concept or learn a new technique or make sure that what your doing shows off the materials to their best advantage. It sounds so easy, just slap some beads on a string and call it a day. It's not that easy. Most of my time is spent not making something fabulous, because that's how I figure out what does and does not work. One design can take many attempts and many hours to get just right. I simply can't give a half baked performance or share a half baked idea. It's not in me.

Calgon, take me away.

I am waiting for this week's video to go live, as soon as it does I'll share the link. There should be a new blog here any minute too...

Until then, you can find Madge in a puddle sipping on some Sauvignon Blanc whilst staring at the Smokies.

xoxo
Madge

Peekaboo! Sneek a peek at the Saturday Tastylinks!

Peekaboo Mixed Media Necklace Copyright Margot Potter 2009

I got bored. So I made a new blog header. I felt like maybe I needed my actual design work in my header. This necklace is featured in my new book Bead Chic. Did you get your copy yet?! I'd put my picture in my header...but maybe that's just a little too much Madge. I'm feeling rather black and white and gray right now, which makes my 'i color outside of the lines' mantra seem slightly ironic. So be it.

I like irony.

I do not, however, like ironing.

Just for the record.

I did enjoy Iron Man though. The movie...and the song.

That about covers that.

How are you enjoying the videos? Do you like them? Is there anything you'd like to see? I've got to make one every single week, so if you've got ideas please, please share with the class. It's Jewel School...get it?

Har har.

And without further drivel, blather and ado... Here's what the fabulous crafty bloggers have for your entertainment, education and edification:

The Artful Crafter
Come one; come all. See The Artful Crafter Parade of Valentine Crafts.

Mixed Media Artist
There are lots of products that will give a translucent finish to paper. Cyndi experiments to see which ones work the best!

Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter
Madge shares basic beading techniques in this week's video on demand for JTV's Jewel School!

Cross Stitch at About.com
Join in the Cross Stitch Forum SAT, SWAT and don't forget about the January Forum Challenge and the Duh One Challenge. Learn about these opportunities and other stitchy wonderfulness going on on Connie's site.

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy is duckie over some baby yarn she's using for a new baby afghan.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
This week at Craftside there is a free penguin graphic download, a doll boot pattern and sewing tutorial, a video interview with Carri Hammett author of Mittens and Hats for Yarn Lovers and the pros and cons of petroleum verses synthetic oil.

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi tests glitter in a spray format to create beautiful sparkly cards.

Aileen's Musings
Aileen shows you how to make a glittery crown any birthday Queen would be proud to wear!

About Family Crafts
If you can't beat winter, celebrate it everyday with these simple crafts and activities!

ILoveToCreate Teen Crafts: Volleyball Spirit Socks

Volleyball Spirit Socks
Avalon Potter for ILovetoCreate Teen Crafts
"Teen crafted, mom approved."

For my project this week I decided to create some knee high volleyball socks! I have recently been preparing for a volleyball tournament and when you play volleyball your uniform usually includes knee high socks. Instead of buying a pair of fancy socks, I decided to decorate them myself! It is fun and easy and is even better once you try them on. You can adapt this project to any sport or if you're not sporty, just for fun!

Materials
White knee socks
1” grey grosgrain ribbon
Pink Felt
Aleene’s Fabric Fusion fabric glue
Tulip dimensional fabric paint-slick black
Tracing pen
1” circumference circle template
Tube or rectangular form large enough to secure socks and hold their form


1. Place sock on form.

2. Take your pen and mark where you will put your volleyballs and bow on socks.



3. Take your circle cutout and trace it eight times with your pen on the felt.



4. Cut out the circles and use the fabric paint to make a volleyball design on each felt cutout.

5. Let those dry and start on your two bows.

6. Find out how big you want the bow loops to be and cut a piece of ribbon to the desired length. Glue down the two ends in the middle.



7. Add a little bit of glue in the center of the bow where the ends meet. Cut a small piece of ribbon just long enough to go around the bow, fold in the ends.

8. After all of the volleyballs and bows have dried place the first four volleyballs and bow out on your sock.

9. Use Aleene’s fabric glue to glue the volleyballs and bow on the sock. Cover the whole backside of the volleyball in glue and only the center of the bow. You can tack the bow and volleyballs down with thread if you like.

10. Use the dimensional fabric paint to create dashes moving diagonally between the volleyballs on the front of the sock.

11. Let it dry on the tube. Repeat for second sock.

12. Enjoy!

Snow Day.

It just keeps snowing...

Finally, a snow plow!

We are having another snowstorm here in East Tennessee and I'm really starting to feel the weight of winter. I had hoped that moving South would mean less snow, less cold, more sunshine and less wintertime blah. Alas and alack, so far not so much. It's a freakish year for weather here and I'm wondering if the snow has plotted to follow me wherever I go. The good thing about that winter blah is that it forces me to focus on creative ideas. It starts with some little fragment of a concept that starts tapping at my brain and if I follow it amazing things happen. I don't always have the time, given the amount of projects I now need to create in a given week, to follow the threads of these bigger ideas and see where they lead. This weekend I followed and they led me to create a bib style necklace of crystal and wire butterflies in a wide array of colors constructed from over 1500 crystals. It took 1.5 days and I'm not finished. I still have to connect them all together as they are precariously placed on top of an old wooden crate in my living room. Will I use shaping wire or jump rings? Which will provide the best structure but still allow for movement? Will this be uncomfortable to wear? Stay tuned...after the shows there will be pics!

I can be surprisingly patient when I become obsessed with any idea.

I'm playing with French beaded flower techniques, but I don't want to just follow a pattern. In case you haven't noticed, that's simply not my style. I'm trying to take the techniques and adapt them. So far, so good. I've got a second Mid-Century modern inspired crystal and wire jewelry set to begin today and then I need another show stopper design for CHA and Tucson. These will eventually become tutorials for JTV, so hang in there. I'm hoping to get the Jewel School customers to explore some fresh creative directions and that requires a lot of trial and error on my part.

Sometimes I feel as if I'm running so fast to keep this blog and the social networking sites going, to make the deadlines for my new job and to stay relevant when the amount of content on jewelry making and crafting on the internet is becoming overwhelming. It's just so much work and the traffic numbers go up and down and I start to feel as if I can't really keep up, especially when I'm not even sure if it matters. At what point does it all just turn into white noise?

Is this thing on? Hello?

I'm diving back into my imagination today and hopefully that defiant creativity will help push back those winter blues. Hopefully this little blog serves a purpose and stands out in the fray, and even if it does not it brings me joy to share my creative journey with others.

Until next time...craft on with your bad selves! Madge has reached her allotment of 'I's' for this post. Sheesh.

xoxo
Madge

The Global Genes Project and Saturday TastyLinks

I was contacted this past week by Elizabeth Joshi from The Global Genes Project. They have started a campaign to help raise awareness of children with rare genetic disorders and you can participate! The 7000 Bracelets for Hope initiative gives denim blue bracelets created by jewelry designers to parents of children with rare genetic disorders as a symbol of hope. I can't think of a better way to use your creative talents than to do something small and powerful by sharing a denim blue bracelet. It's just a bracelet, not a check, which to me is even more meaningful because you're putting your time and your love into something that will bring someone else a little joy. Here is where you can send your denim blue bracelet (the denim blue ribbon is their symbol-jeans and genes, see?):

Nicole Boice at the Children's Rare Disease Network
24701 La Plaza, #201
Dana Point, CA 92629.

For registration to donate a bracelet and to find more information about this worthy cause visit:
www.globalgenesproject.org

Please share this with your friends, family and if you blog, your readers.

Now without further ado, please enjoy this week's TastyLinks from The Crafty Bloggers Gang!

About Family Crafts
Play along with this week's make-it-over craft challenge by submitting craft projects made using bowls.

Aileen's Musings
Find out what an Artist Trading Block is and sign up for a Valentine swap with Aileen!

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi uses a new punch to create these cute word sentiments.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
This week at Craftside there is a chance to win a 26 pack of Gutermann thread and a copy of 1,000 Clever Sewing Shortcuts and Tips, a free Valentine cherub shooting hearts graphic download, a link to a free "How to Draw" app for the iPad, tips on painting shadows and some apple recipes.

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy's new jewelry making book is totally official now, finally!

Eileen - The Artful Crafter
Jewelry closeout items at deep discount and a few things from your stash can make wonderful jewelry on the cheap. Check out Eileen’s Serenity Bracelet.

Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter
Never get burned by a glue gun again! Check out this FABULOUS Hot Glue Gun Helpers from Cathie Filian and Steve Piacenza!

Mixed Media Artist
Have you ever wanted to try combining collage with quilting?

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
Book Review-The Knitter's Guide to Hand-dyed and Variegated Yarn

Product Review: Hot Glue Gun Helpers

I was so excited when my crafty pal Cathie Filian from HGTV's Creative Juice first showed me the new line of glue gun tools she and Steve Piacenza developed for Plaid. If you've ever been burned by a hot glue gun, you'll be blown away by this super smart set of tools to prevent that from ever happening again!

The set includes a craft mat, which is a great surface to work on because the glue will not stick to it and it protects the surface underneath from getting burned. You also get finger caps made of the same non-stick and heat resistant material, so now you can press down into the hot glue safely. You also get a kicky little pair of tweezers to help you pick up smaller elements and place them into hot glue and on items you're decorating. There's a little paddle for soft pressing and a thicker press wand for heavy duty pressing and smearing the glue. Five simply fabulous tools all in a perfectly perky shade of pink.

Do I love these tools? Does a bear like honey?

This is an absolute 'must have' for any serious crafter. You can find out more about them here and you can buy them here!

Cheers,
Madge

I was sent a sample of this product for review, but I was not compensated. The opinions in this post are entirely my own. I don't review it if I don't love it. Period.

TastyLinks Sunday!

Happiest of New Years to You and Yours! We've made it through another year, hopefully mostly unscathed. It's time once again for your weekly dose of crafty inspiration from the Crafty Bloggers Gang. "We've got glue guns and we're not afraid to use them."(tm)

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi downloads a gorgeous set of graphics to make a 2011 calendar.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
This week at a Happy New Year Craftside there are tutorials on how to paint dots with watercolors, redo a scarf with nuno felting, a video tutorial from Traci Bunkers, a fun poster idea that combines two iconic bands and using your stuff to decorate in a fun way.

Crafty Princess Diaries
Crafting while listening to a crafty podcast is fun, but some podcasts are better than others.

Cross Stitch at About.com
Find out the most popular free patterns from 2010. Add them to your stash and stitch one or two up to ring in the New Year!

Eileen - The Artful Crafter
Eileen made some lovely earrings from a kit by Tammy Powley and dubbed it “A Kit that Delivers”.

Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter
Madge revisits a favorite New Year's Eve mixed media jewelry project.

Mixed Media Artist
Cyndi has finished a fun little quilt made from her hand-painted fabrics!