Butterfly Brooch Exhibit

Isn't this gorgeous?  If you are near Los Angeles, the Natural History Museum is showing this exhibit through May 2013.  Makes me want to go visit.

More information is here.

If you are an artist, glass person or a jewelry designer, do any of these inspire you?  Which ones?  And what would you like to do with this inspiration?  I'd love to hear about it.

Jewelry Making Daily has a bunch of free e-booklets that can be yours for the downloading.  Tammy Jones has mentioned them before, but I just finally took time to peek and know that I want to read each one.  (especially the enameling one first)

You can find them here.

Let me know which are your favorites, so I can be sure to read them.

A Head Above The Rest

This is so my sense of humor.  What a wonderfully quirky costume for a lucky kid who is going through changes. (just  kidding about the last part.)  But honestly, I love this and that darling face smiling just makes it perfect.

Now if my kids would ever get married and have kids who loved bugs, I could possibly be a buyer.

Although I am thinking that having a hat like that would be an awesome vertical bead display at shows.  It really is delightful.

If you are lucky to have grandkids or children this size, you can find it here on Etsy.

Mystery Solved

The other day, I was asking what this pod is, and one very bright reader told me that it is a Burr Oak.  It sure looked a lot like a prickly little pod that we used to have in our yard, monkey balls or something like that,  but it is a Burr Oak.  You can see some really cool photos on photographer Bill Pusztai's website, here.

Val Cox New Frit...Painter's Series

Have you seen the new Painter's Series by Val Cox Frit?  There are some really yummy new ones and you can see them all here.

Royal Ballet appears to look good on just about every glass background color- or at least all shown.  I'm always looking for pretty pink blends for my spring beads.  

And I love seeing what's new in the neutral shades as well.  Sometimes I use them for fur and texture on my sculptural beads.  

Tell me how you like to use frits and what you think about the new series.

See you tomorrow!

Summer Is Not Over Yet!

My Mom's flowers were looking pretty in the early morning sunlight, so I snapped a quick photo.  Summer isn't over quite yet.  As much as I love autumn, there's something about these gorgeous colors coupled with the fragile petals and textures, that makes me hope this season lasts a bit longer.

Nature's Hats

I saw this tiny half a pod about a month ago and picked it up. I am not sure what tree bears it, but it sure looks cute.

Here is the flip side.  If you know what it is, please let me know.

But I grabbed a few, just in case, it would work as a funny hat for one of my beads.  I have been doing a series on humorous witch doctors, and thought this might add to sense of fun.

If you know what southern tree this grows on, please let me know!  Thanks.