"When Creativity Knocks" and the Bandanna Technique!

Hello, Everyone! Sorry I've been remiss in posting. A lot is going on in my life that I will be able to talk about shortly. I've been busy, busy, busy!

At the Winter CHA Show, when I was still with Ranger, I taped a segment of "When Creativity Knocks", an online craft show hosted by my dear friend, Ana Araujo and her daughter, Megan. Check out the link! There's a bunch of techniques, including using the Ink Blending Tool and Adirondack(r) Pigment Inks and Inkssentials(tm) White Opaque Pen to create Bandanna Memory Glass(tm) Jewelry.

Make sure to sign up on the site and check out the other tapings. When you sign up, they'll update you when there's another, new video up. I really think that Ana and Megan have such a great idea for their show, so be sure to show your support!

I honestly cannot believe that it is the Labor Day Weekend? Where did the summer go? I'm really looking forward to my next "chapter" and I promise I'll update you soon!

Bandanna Hugs,

Robin

Lights, Camera, Action! CHA Summer has come and gone!

Happy Thursday, Everyone! Wow, I'll say it now and I'll say it again, these trade shows are like weddings. You prepare, worry, plan and with the snap of a finger, it's over. It was a pivotal show for me. The first in 8-9 Winter Shows and about 4 Summer Shows that I was not with Ranger...I was me! Thank you to everyone who came by to see me at Streuter or Amate, and to those who hunted me down. It meant a lot to me.

Karma also played well into this show. Getting to work with the Streuter Gluefilm(tm) and Gluefoil(tm) with the Amate Pendant Trays, as well as the DIY Bangles resulted in my being able to show new and fun ways to create jewelry that will equate into many new classes for store owners and educators to teach, and to me, that's what it is all about! It was also funny-I had been hooked up with the Bind-it-all(tm) and Teresa Collins' new paper lines and if I was able to make any samples with them, it would be great. I was so short with time, but was determined to make something. I ended up making covers for a book with the Copper Gluefoil along the lines of the "embossed" bangles that I showed off in my previous post, beating it to death with Tim's Texture Hammer and aging it with Pitch Black Adirondack(r) Paint. It turned out great...of course I took a quick, horrendous pic of it. I'm going to try and get a better one. Well, everyone over at Teresa and Product Performers' booth loved the book and we ended up fielding tons of questions at Streuter of "how'd you do that?"

I am in the process of working on another cover and will also do one with a complete step-out. There were also a bunch of embossed Grunge "charms" that hung off the binding of the book. The inside of the book was my first "solo" attempt at using the Bind-it-all, and I can tell you I could have done a lot better. Subsequent tries were perfect.

As you can also see by the photos, I was chosen by my dear friend, Ana Araujo as one of "Ana's Picks" for When Creativity Knocks, co-hosted by her daughter, Megan, with camera work and editing by Scott Pfeiffer. I've known Ana for over a dozen years and she is clever, crafty and with Megan, they are a crafty powerhouse to watch! They did a quick taping at the Streuter Booth on Friday. I look like a goof in many of the pics because I was supposed to be acting "naturally" and just to "do my thing", which was to work on one of the projects I was demoing. You can see that I used a vintage, wooden dress hem marker to display the finished bangles, as well as Rebecca's vintage bird cage for bandannaed Maya Road chipboard glued with Streuter's Gluefilm and finally, some white bird-themed jewelry display stands from Urban Outfitters, which worked out wonderfully for the show!

I'm not sure when this video is going to air on their site, but in the meantime, check out Megan's insightful interview regarding the Orphan Works legislation with Brenda Pinnick and Joanne Fink.

I ended up busier than ever at this show, so took no pictures (shame on me!). I'm going to have to rely on my friends that did take some pics to share (pretty please?!).

This weekend I'm teaching Melt Art(r) with Amate Pendants at Scrapper's Cove in Milltown, NJ. There's still openings, so contact them to see if you can make it to the 3-hour class from 10am-1pm. You'll learn some great techniques on creating professional looking pendants, as well as some basic jewelry making tips, creating necklaces that will be ready to wear by the end of the class!

Enjoy your weekend!

Robin

I'm Baaaaack! Crappy Fingernails and All!

Hello, Everyone! I think I've almost found the light again...this is a different, post-CHA tunnel, not the pre-CHA one! As always, it was a blast. There's never enough time to catch up with everyone. I'm so glad to have made so many friends and aquaintances in this industry, but it gets so hard to catch up with everyone. To all of you that I didn't get to really spend the time with to catch up, I hope you understand. To those that I did get to spend some time with, yee hah!

I have many crazy, typical "happens only to me" stories to share. The first one I must mention is referenced in the blog title of today. My nails. They are ugly. They are awful. They are crappy. Did I say they were ugly? I got the bad nails side of the family (thanks, Mom!), not my dad's side of the family, where people have asked my Dad repeatedly over the years if he gets manicures (to which he happy lies and says, "of course!"). I also have a bad habit, especially when nervous, at picking at my nails. What can I say, it is what it is. I should walk around with gloves to stop, I know. My nails are also icky from the repeated scrubbing they get from being inundated with ink. blah, blah, blah.

Needless to say, the day before I left for the show, I got a manicure. More or less a "please clean this mess called my nails up as best as you can, I'll give you a good tip". She actually did clean them up. I cannot do the fake nail thing. I have no ability to then feel anything... With each new day of demos at the show and repeated cleaning and scrubbing of my nails every day, they got pretty...um...ugly again. So what happened on Tuesday? I was asked late in the day to do a quick, on the fly demo on video for The Pink Donut. When you check it out, please enjoy the lovely bags under my eyes which probably could pack an around the world trip and of course, my lovely nails...NOT! Needless to say, someone actually contacted my office about how awful my nails were...I did feel embarrassed about it, but geez, cut me a break! Now I'm nervous about how my hands looked when I taped Wednesday morning with Ana and Megan Araujo for When Creativity Knocks-they did such a great job...don't forget to check 'em out when they get rolling with their webisodes online.

So, hope you got a laugh out of Story #1. The next installment of "Robin goes to CHA" will be entitled: "Scooter takes out Anaheim Marriott Starbucks". Enjoy your evening!

Robin

Last Minute Stuff...Famous Last Words!

Well, I'm still finding things to do, boys and girls! I'm so happy, though, that my list is getting shorter, I think! I'm psyched to bring my jewelry and other samples to the show as well as seeing all of my friends and the new products.

One of the things I'm going to be doing is taping a segment with one of my bestest friends, Ana Araujo with her new show, When Creativity Knocks. I'm so proud of what Ana's done, and her daugher, Megan, will be her co-host. It's a great concept and I hope those of you attending CHA will definitely watch when she tapes around the show. I'll be taping my segment first thing in the morning on the last day of the show, February 13th.


When I get back, though, I will be at Paper-Potamus doing a workshop with Lance of Rusty Pickle and my buddy, Jen Starr, who's also going to be doing our Perfect Pearls(tm) Challenge at the booth. For those that do the Make and Take with Jen and provide their store business card, you will get a chance for an all-expense paid trip (not to exceeed $1,000) to Ranger U! Cool, huh!? Those taking part in the MITI (make it take it) will also get a little package of product to demo with back at their store.

On February 23rd, I'm teaching at Tinsel Trading! I'm going to be teaching a bunch of techniques, many I've not taught before, to create Memory Glass(tm) Jewelry. The Medallion Necklace shown is special for Tinsel Trading and will incorporate their product-I LOVED how this turned out. Check it out-hope to see you there!

Enjoy your evening! Robin