What a FANTASTIC weekend – artBLISS had the honor of hosting Richard Salley  for the 3rd time.  We have been very fortunate.  This time the icing on the cake was that his wonderful assistant, Martina Stein, also taught a class!

It felt like a reunion – meeting old friends and new.  A few ladies even traveled from South Carolina and Utah to be there.  A real gathering of soul sisters.  Then came the workshops:  Bits and Pieces, Sawing 101, Southwestern Rings and Balance Beam bangle.  I know we all learned a great deal from the metal master, Richard Salley.

I’ve enjoyed seeing the many workshop photos on Facebook.  Here are a few of my favorites from the weekend!

Richard Salley demonstrating in the Bits and Pieces class.

Top L to R:  Martha Irish, Dia Daniels

Bottom L to R:  Judy Cain, Brianna Wyatt

Student work:  finished Bits and Pieces pendants.  What an array!

I love how my pendant turned out, with all of the layers.  I combined pieces of etched, stamped, and crimped metal.  Oh, and I learned to set a little cab too!

 Friday evening was a nice refresher course with Martina Stein:  Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Saw?

 Martina is an excellent teacher, very patient, and with many life experiences to share.

 Top to bottom:  Tracy Statler, Michelle Timms, and Sally Russick.

A random tool line-up:  what a beautiful site!

 Here Richard is adding flux to a ring band in the Southwestern Rings class.

Making rings, Top to Bottom:   Carol Meyers, Melissa Meman, and

Laura Twiford

Martina helping Bette Brody with her ring.  Everyone received one-on-one assistance when it was needed.

Time to gather for lunch and share stories!  From Left to Right:  Michelle Timms, Melissa Meman, Sally Russick, Laura Twiford,

Bette Brody, Carol Meyers, and Dia Daniels

Hip, Hip, Hooray!  The rings are finished!

 Graduates of the Southwestern Rings class with Richard Salley and Martina Stein

Richard, Martina, Jeannette and I sporting our Southwestern Rings over dinner…..  all created by Richard, except for Jeanette’s!  She finished her own just hours before (top right corner).

Thank you Richard and Martina for a memorable weekend!

And now we’re all looking forward to the next artBLISS event!

- Cindy

…I’m looking forward to seeing many of this weekend at Richard Salley’s artBLISS workshop!  If you can’t make it, there’s always September!  I’ll try and post pictures after the weekend.

- Cindy

TODAY is the big Button Swap Blog Hop!!  I’ve been eagerly awaiting this day, after all, I’m crazy about buttons and love collecting them.  Way back at the end of March, a respectable number of bloggers signed up to take on this button challenge.  The participants were paired up, and buttons were mailed out from all over: Germany, England, Canada, Australia, Sweden, New Zealand and of course the U.S.  Everyone set to work creating something wonderful with their new buttons. And it did not have to be jewelry!  ….I can’t wait to see if we had any non-jewelry takers out there!  Another interesting factor about the swap is that any kind of button could be shared – from antique to hand made.

Thank you to every one who participated!  If you didn’t get to join in this time, I do plan to host the Button Swap again next year and hope to see you join the next time!

My Button Swap partner is Mimi Gardner of Baubles, Beads, & other Curiosities (love her blog name!).

Mimi sure surprised me and sent me an amazing assortment of vintage buttons.  The vintage part wasn’t a surprise – I think she got a good hint at what I like to work with by visiting my blog.  But she was so kind as to send me a variety, not knowing if I preferred working with silver or gold…  See the beautiful buttons she sent?  Which set do you think I picked??

I like classics – so I chose the timeless gold and black combination!  I used 5 out of the 6 buttons in this set.   Let’s start around the back ….here you’ll see one of the vintage black buttons used as a dangle hanging from the extender chain of the necklace I created.

I went a little over the top & ended up with something on the ornate side.  There’s nothing understated about mixing vintage earrings – yes I added one, can you find it? – and old brass stampings (Metalliferous & Beadin’ Path), after all.  The base of my focal is a brass filigree bow tie folded in half.  It was a clever way to hide the wirework used to attach the buttons through the flower stampings.  I incorporated a few floral components to complement the nature motif in some of the buttons.  My finished necklace is a compilation of handmade onyx and brass chain, knotted gemstones, bronze and brass components, and the vintage black buttons.

I recently purchased some beautiful beaded beads from the talented Sandra Sculli of Preserve Jewelry Studio, and couldn’t wait for an opportunity to use one.  Sandra really does amazing beadwork!

I definitely had fun taking the “after” photos.  To me, this is just as much fun as making the jewelry.  I headed out to the front porch, armed with old pieces of lace, a needlepoint runner, a 100 year-old book, and a couple antique Victorian albums.

And one more –  just to show you how the necklace looks when worn, I tried it on with a new sundress.

All the while I was making my button jewelry, I had my faithful studio companion with me.  We had fun making a ring together – yes, a button ring!  While I was taking pictures of the ring, the two of us goofed around with taking pictures of ourselves in a mirror.

I have to show you that new, old mirror.  I love this one – haven’t hung it up yet – but I have just the spot. I was so lucky that it happens to fit perfectly between the two windows where I intended to put it because I didn’t know the precise measurement (and there is no room to spare).  This mirror has some great memories associated with it – all 6 of us went antiquing in early April and that’s when we found it.  And on that day my husband and I seemed to fall in love all over again.  It’s hard to explain how or why, but I knew that it happened.  When we were purchasing the mirror, we happened to notice an Easter egg in the counter showcase.  There it was – 1995, the year we were married.  It’s not everyday that you find something from 1995 when it’s 2012.  We brought home that egg too.

Oh!  And here’s the ring that I made using the glass floral button that Mimi sent.  It is so sparkly & I love wearing it.  Keri Lee Sereika has a great tutorial on how to make this ring.  I’ve seen many ring tutorials out there, but loved this one for the concise, step by step directions.  If you happen to have any shank-style buttons left from the Button Swap, why not try making one too!

My little guy showing off his ring (he chose the button).  He’s already shared it on the playground – took it right off and let others wear it too.

I was all set to work with the 2nd group of buttons but ran out of time.  I’ll keep you posted and share this piece on my blog hopefully in the near future.

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Before you head off to visit more button swap blogs, I have an announcement!  Remember this giveaway? These vintage mother of pearl buttons are going to one lucky Button Swap participant.  And the Winner is:

KIM BALLOR!

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Button Swap Blog Hop.  It is plain to see that many of us love buttons.  Now let’s see what everyone has created with their buttons!  Please visit the the Swap participants below – take your time & keep on hopping, even if it takes a week or two, or three….

Alice Peterson  and Kim Bender

Angie Blasingame and Billi R.S. Rothove

 Billi R.S. Rothove and Angie Blasingame

 Birgitta Lejonklou and Pam Farren

 Bonnie Coursolle and Tania Hagen

 Brenda Salzano and Hope Smitherman

 Cat Kerr and Heather Powers

 Cece Cornier and Jeannie Dukic

 Celeste Thurston and Christine Damm

 Christine Damm and Celeste Thurston

 Christine Stonefield and Dana James

 Cilla Watkins and Lori Bowring Michaud

 Cindy Wimmer and Mimi Gardner *You are here!

 Cynthia Machata and Julia Johnson

 Cynthia Riggs and Lori Finney

 Dana James and Christine Stonefield

Diana Ptaszynski and Erin Prais-Hintz

 Emma Thomas and Rebecca Anderson

 Erin Prais-Hintz and Diana Ptaszynski

 Erin Siegel and Sharon Borsavage

 Heather Powers and Cat Kerr

 Holly Westfall and Sally Russick

 Hope Smitherman and Brenda Salzano

 Jayne Capps and Kim Dworak

 Jeannie Dukic and Cece Cornier

 Jenna Meyers and Kristi Harrison

 Jenna Tomalka and Karen McKillip

 Jenny Davies Reazor and Sandi Volpe

 Julia Johnson and Cynthia Machata

 Kalaya Steede and Kylie Dickman

 Karen McKillip and Jenna Tomalka

 Karen Mitchell and Renetha Stanziano

 Karla Morgen and Mary Govaars

Kay Thomerson and Shannon Chomanczuk

 Kim Ballor and Laurel Steven

 Kim Bender and Alice Peterson

 Kim Dworak and Jayne Capps

 Kim Roberts and Partner unable to participate at this time.

 Kristi Harrison and Jenna Meyers

 Kylie Dickman and Kalaya Steede

 Kym Hunter and Lynda Moseley

 Laurel Steven and Kim Ballor

 Linda Djokic and Patty Gasparino

 Line Labrecque and Teri Baskett

 Liz DeLuca and Lorelei Eurto

 Lorelei Eurto and Liz DeLuca

 Lori Anderson and Niky Sayers

 Lori Bowring Michaud and Cilla Watkins

 Lori Finney and Cynthia Riggs

 Lynda Moseley and Kym Hunter

 Marianna Boylan and Tracy Statler

 Mary Govaars and Karla Morgen

 Mary Harding and Stacie Florer 

 Maureen Baranov and Tracy Bell

 Melissa Martin and Theresa Fosdick

 Michelle Hardy and Peggy Johnson

 Mimi Gardner and Cindy Wimmer

 Nicole Valentine Rimmer and Niki Meiners

 Niki Meiners and Nicole Valentine Rimmer

 Niky Sayers and Lori Anderson

 Pam Farren and Birgitta Lejonklou

* Pam Ferarri and Stefanie Teufel (will share their reveal on a later date)

 Patty Gasparino and Linda Djokic

 Peggy Johnson and Michelle Hardy

 Rebecca Anderson and Emma Thomas

 Rebekah Payne and Sue Kennedy

 Renetha Stanziano and Karen Mitchell

 Rose Binoya and Shanti Johnson

 Sally Russick and Holly Westfall

 Sandi Volpe and Jenny Davies Reazor

 Shannon Chomanczuk and Kay Thomerson

 Shanti Johnson and Rose Binoya

 Sharon Borsavage and Erin Siegel

 Shirley Moore and Veralynne Malone

 Stacie Florer and Mary Harding

* Stefanie Teufel and Pam Ferarri (will share their reveal on a later date)

 Sue Hamel and Terry Carter

 Sue Kennedy and Rebekah Payne

 Tania Hagen and Bonnie Coursolle

 Tania Spivey and Teresa Gagne

 Teresa Gagne and Tania Spivey

 Teri Baskett and Line Labrecque

 Terry Carter and Sue Hamel

 Theresa Fosdick and Melissa Martin

 Tracy Bell and Maureen Baranov

 Tracy Statler and Marianna Boylan

 Veralynne Malone and Shirley Moore

Thank you ever so much for stopping by today!

- Cindy xoxo