rainy monday and some catch up...

First...thank you all SOOOO much for all your prayers and wishes for my sweet little Atticus' safe return. All is back to normal. That was definitely a very rough little patch.

I hope you all had a lovely Easter holiday and weekend. We had a fun one. Miranda, her friend Trevor and our friends, Harriet and Anita, came over for dinner. And I made...get this...halibut! It was DIVINE! I was inspired by a recipe I saw in Portland's Mix magazine. As you may or may not know, I've been vegetarian for about seven years and in an effort to increase my protein after going through "the change," I am introducing some fish. I've been wrangling with this for months because my reasons for being vegetarian are ethical and ecological. But I've been taking it real slow and it seems to working for me. For dessert, I followed a Quinoa Pudding recipe I got from New Seasons. It was another hit! Yum yum all around!

I have the day off today so I am home and man, I'm so happy about that! It is RAINING like crazy out there so it's a great day for coziness and crafting and listening to this spectacular singer and Miranda is in the kitchen making her famous egg salad from dyed eggs that Harriet and Anita brought over for us! I have a few things artsy that I'm looking to finishing up. I have a circle journal to work on, a Wreck This Journal circle journal to finish, and the focal piece to finish for a necklace round robin I'm doing with some of my favorite Silver Bella pals! Speaking of Silver Bella...tomorrow is registration! I'm pretty thrilled because I am going with my friend, Jill! It's gonna be a blast and a half!!! Who else is going??

Last weekend was ArtFest and I'm not quite sure what was going on with me but I hardly took any pictures! I'm guessing it's because I've been exhausted and so low energy from all my foot drama. I don't know what level of pain I would have been in had I not had a steriod shot the week before because even with that, it about did me in and I was struggling (BTW it's lots better now!)

I traveled with my dear friends, Ilene and Cassondra. We started in Portland and made our way to Port Townsend, stopping in Kalama for some fabulous antique shopping and a perfect lunch! Cassondra and I signed up to be roommates in a dorm but we were put in a house instead. Oh my. That was dangerous because now I fear I will always want to stay in a house! And we had the nicest roommates! I'm so glad it worked out that way because I'm sure I would have never had a chance to meet Becca and Amy.

Check out the DELICIOUS apron that Cassondra made for me...

Cassondra knows I love bark cloth and pom poms! So gorgeous! Thank you again Cassondra! 

Oh and Ilene brought me a package of amazing cookies and a book about Sea Glass. She knows me so well!!! Thank you again, dear friend!

Here are the pictures of my projects and a few others...

Melissa Manley's Muse's Talisman class...

Details...

Couldn't resist gluing a little moth wing to this.

 I LOVED this class and adored Melissa!
 

Here are pieces created in Richard Salley's Enameling 101 and Melissa Manley's Lustruous Beads classes. Richard's class was incredible! What a great teacher! Most of the pieces were made in Richard's class and then I made one bead and a few pendant pieces in Melissa's class. I was utterly exhausted by day three and was very content to just hang out, punch out metal and do a few things on my own.

A few close ups...

I am all about butterflies right now so I made a quick little butterfly stencil and experimented.

And these little pieces I'll be turning into some earrings...

 

And lastly, a few pictures from beach exploration. I gathered beach glass on two different occasions...

 
...absolutely one of my life's favorite activities.

More pix...

 

Okay...time to get back to work to clear the creative decks, so to speak. I signed up to join for this talented friend's online course! I'll be back soon to because I want to give this it's own blog post!

Comments

[Jean Morgan]

So very happy to see you back again. Exquisite pictures. Love the sea glass so much, et al. Thank you dear Michelle. ♥

[Wanda Clark]

I can't wait until November. You'll have to email me with your class list after you register...maybe this year we will have a class together. Are you going to vendor this year? So excited...the wait may kill me tonight. :)

[Jana]

Hello Michelle! Welcome back to blog-land :). Always fun to see your posts & what you've been creating! Guess I ought to do a blog update too... you've motivated me!

[natalie hansen]

Love the necklace! And enameling looks fun! I think I may "need" to learn that!!

[Cheryl Stoneham]

Hello my friend! Glad you had a great time aat ArtFest and I will be joining you all at Silver Bella again! I'm coming by myself but not worried about that.....I have so many good friends to spend time with! I'm also taking Hope's journaling class. Very excited...I hope it will get me "sparked" into journaling more! I just finished my necklace "focal point" and am getting one shipped to me tomorrow to work on! yay!
Take Care...
XO
Cheryl

PS - Love your new blog banner!

[Maija Lepore]

I'm so glad your sweet Atticus made it home safely!!!!
Looks like ArtFest was a huge success for you!! GReat creations Michelle!!