Video Feedback

Thank you Jenny!

The sweetest thing happened.  

The kindest post was made about this amazing cuff.  This beautiful bracelet, from sweet Jenny at La Dona Boutique bought my tutorial video, about soldering with rhinestone chain.  Here is her first result after trying the technique I demonstrated. 

You can go to her blog and read all about my video, her work as a result of it, and many more wonderful things on her blog.

Wow Jenny, I would say you've got it!  Great job, on the layering, use of chain, etc.  I am knocked out, really.  And thrilled that I could help.

Thank you to all those who have purchased the video, and the wonderful comments I am receiving as a result.  If you would like to see it, you can click on the link on my sidebar and purchase it. Send me pics of your work as a result, I would love to post them.

Do you want more "how to" videos?  

Let me know what you would like to see, and I'll attempt to make that happen over time.

I was thinking of putting the bee and rhinestones on Etsy as a kit.  Would you like that?

Have a wonderful Sunday everyone.  Make some really cool things and share pics!

Hugs,

Riki

How to video now available

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July holiday. 

I sure did. I was so lazy. Did our small town, hour-long parade downtown, (took Maddie and she did great).

Then went out to lunch, over looking the water and the ferries coming in.  Took a nap in the sun on our deck, (yes, sun here in the Pacific Northwest, we had forgotten what it looked like). 

Then went to the island's 1800's resort hotel, Hotel de Haro, and watched log rolling contests, walked the docks to people watch and laugh at their stupid boat decorations drunkenness, and then home to dinner and fireworks show on tv and our resort.  Whew!

Now off to Zumba this morning, draggin my tail!

But I wanted to share something REALLY exciting with you first thing this morning.  I have made a new video, available for purchase to view.

How to Solder 

with Rhinestone Chain

Yep, I made a video of how to do this. WH assisted, and we created a sweet, six minute HD video, showing you a detailed, step-by-step video, complete with all the instructions and supplies.  It shows you how to solder rhinestone chain to a brass stamping.  I also show how to patina your piece, giving it a warm, aged look.

After looking at this, you can start to make all kinds of new creations, having even MORE fun than before, with the sweet rhinestone chain you have, or can purchase.

I've put a link on my sidebar to connect you to my Etsy store for purchase.  Its so much fun to add a little bling to base metals, or stampings, I love it.

Have a great day wherever you are!  

Hope you recover from too much fun this weekend.

Hugs,

Riki

Classes in the Seattle/Portland area

Announcing.....

new Summer Classes!

I am so excited to announce these two great workshops, in the Seattle/Portland area.  I will be teaching at the lovely Terry Brush Design studio in Chehalis, WA.  

C'mon now, you asked for some classes closer than California!!

The workshop dates are:

Saturday  August 20th  10a-5p

Sunday August 21st  10a-5p

We have two wonderful classes packed full of amazing skills.  Please click on the flyer to enlarge it so you can read all about it.

  

Feel free to email me with questions at rikis1@mac.com, send a check, or just click the Paypal button, to pay and reserve your spots.  This will be so much fun, we're going to have a ball, and learn at the same time. 

Hope you can join us. 

Spaces are really limited, so please book now!

Hugs,

Riki

Back to Camp Schumacher

Ahhhh.....

We are back on San Juan Island, in Washington state, for the summer.  It is so beautiful here.  And Maddie is loving it!

After spending two weeks getting our property all cleared off, since it was overgrown with weeds, we finally got the job done.  Every bone in my body hurt for two weeks, then I actually started getting used to it!

So between weeding, planting flowers and making the workshop ready for my first show, the Island Artists Tour, we found some time to take a few hikes on our beautiful island.

Here is Maddie, enjoying the afternoon outing.   

It was great to get out, get some fresh air, and see the scenery.  

Now is she cute or what?

Here is a nice vintage point of a park called English Camp.  This is a sweet lagoon where the British had their camp, back in the 1860's, protecting their territory.  It wasn't decided yet whether Britain or America got these islands. They almost had a war over it!  But things got settled peacefully, not one shot was fired, and the US ended up with them.  We can see Canada from our house.

Here's a shot of my studio during the tour.  I grabbed that opportunity to get a shot, since so many people were there!  I told them to all look interested in my jewelry, ha ha!  They thought it was pretty cool.

Did I mention Maddie turned one year old?  Party to follow!

 And she has a new playmate, Sally.  She is another Havanese, so they are best friends! I take her to her house a couple times a week to romp and play, its too cute.

Here they are playing their sweet hearts out.

That's the latest from Camp Schumacher.  

I hope to have some fun news to announce very shortly.  I'm working on getting some classes organized in the Seattle area this summer. 

 I'll let you know pronto!

How is your summer going so far? Would love to hear.

Hugs to all.

Riki

New Fall Class!

Oh boy, oh boy!

A new class for the fall...making bezels!

Diana Frey and I are sooooo excited to offer this class.  It is going to involve a TON of techniques. 

 If you have been wanting to learn to solder with a torch, work with resin, learn more cold connections,  more involved wire techniques, the art of composition and design principles...

this is the class for you!

We are going to make bezels of all sorts, and some from the found objects you bring to the class as well. Then we will fill the bezels with resin and everything from found objects, to photos, to tin types!  So much fun.

Mark your calendars, hope to see you there.  We'll be teasing you with bezels we make up for the class in the next month or so.  

So bring your imagination, a friend, and a sack lunch.

Hope to see you, sign up quickly, space is limited.

(Be sure to hop over to Diana's blog and check out her new design, it is lovely.)

Hugs to all,

Riki

Round Top, Texas Part 3

Yes, more fun to share!

I have been wanting to get back to sharing a little more about the amazing trip to RT, but life just keeps getting in the way.  Soooooo, without further ado....

you might be wondering why pictures of this amazingly sweet apron??

I shared how I met so many new blogging buddies on that trip.  One of them was the amazingly talented Karen Valentine, of My Desert Cottage!  We did a little exchange...one of my creations for one of hers.  Well, was I a winner in that trade!!!

This is her fabulous creation below, and my pictures do not do it justice.

After all the Magnolia Pearl influence, we were all drooling over masses amount of laces, buttons, hand crocheted doiles, all the trimmings.  I saw a cute little apron on a gal and thought it would be perfect for my summer shows, to hold money, pen, glasses, etc.  And Karen said she could make me one, so we agreed on a trade. 

Is this beautiful, or what?? Look at all the detail she did.  I love everything.  The seams are so sweet, on the outside and cut into little sections.

All the applique, the creativity, the composition.  Wow, blew me away.  I was doing the happy dance for days!!!  And this sweet apron, with my "Pearl", wow.  How fun it that going to be?

Look at all the fun detail she included.  Karen, you are not only an amazing seamstress and artist, you are a very talented blog designer.  So check her site out if you are thinking of any changes on yours, or know a friend who is thinking about designing one!

This is NOT Karen! Ha ha.

This is the infamous (in Texas) Paris Montana.  She had a little Airstream parked, where she and her mom, also stunning, slept every night. Many did that.  How do you like that outfit?  Give burlap a whole new look, huh? Scratchy?? Ewwwe. 

One of the hundreds of pics I took of all the goodies on display at a week's worth of shopping.  This amazing chatelaine could be yours for a cool $1200.  I have never seen one like this...all filigree!  Wow, spectacular.

Want it!!

And being the dog lover I am, had to show off these cutie pies.  It wasn't all old stuff at this show, there were quite a few breeders there selling their new pups. Are those the sweetest faces?? I wanted them all too!  Not as cute as sweet Maddie of course!

And last, but not least, I teased you with a little item I sewed up, and said I sent it off to a secret friend.  Well, it was actually hand delivered to Diane Cook.  I made up a little jewelry pouch with muslin, vintage lace, wool felt, and stamped it.  

I tried to fill every nook and pocket with rhinestones for Diane, because she loves them.  I apologize for the quality of the pics, they are horrible. But I wanted you to see what I did. Must have had it on micro, oops.

Here's what the finished product looked like. I was pleased with it, and Diane seemed to love it too.  It was a total stretch for me to make something like that, a first.

So that is my March challenge...try something new!  I did, and I loved it.

I have an April challenge completed, just need to shoot it.  What new thing did you try so far this month?  Planning anything??

Thanks for looking.

love and hugs to all

Riki

Round Top, TX Part 2

Here's a sample of the Round Top goodies!

Where has the time gone?

 I promised to show some pics of all the goodies I bought while slaving away in Round Top, going through boxes and boxes of items, on tables, under tables, tucked away places.  Every night I was covered with dust head to toe....so much fun!

I started a collection of the sweetest shaker jars, there are about five of them here.  I'm going to put small items, like MOP buttons and things like that in them.  Aren't they adorable?

 I got a huge amount of old hardware, lots of lockets, watches, some bling, stuff like that.

So I have to say, if you LOVE antique shopping with a passion, and don't mind hot weather, and pouring through miles of vendors, this is the place for you,  Round Top, Texas.  It is an antique lover's delight!  This event happens twice a year, and it helps to have a friend who lives near there, to stay with or share a room at a motel with (thank you Diane Cook, you are the best. )  Diane also carefully packed up all these goodies and sent them to me, what a sweetie you are.

More goodies, more lockets. The prices were all over the place. I didn't find any reasonable rosaries, I remember one person said to look for those.  I will eventually get some pieces on to Etsy, but need to kind of "live" with them for awhile, you know what I mean.  They are like new little children that have come to live with me!

Here's a bracelet I made with one of the little hardware pieces I bought at RT.  Love making pieces like this!!

And here is a picture of me today, at an antique show in a small town near us, that my friend, Diana Frey took of me in my Magnolia Pearl!  

It is so much fun to wear, and I wondered how it would be received in California!  So far so good, got a lot of squeals from a couple of ladies that recognized it immediately, asking if that is what it was.  Too much fun to wear.  Check out their website, www.MagnoliaPearl.com.  Beautiful website.

That's the "rest of the story".  Go to Round Top if you get a chance.  Make it happen!
I'm just about done making a gigantic amount of jewelry for my shows this summer, but are we ever "done"?  Of course not, and I have a LOT of pieces to use now!

Thanks to all those who have purchased a kit.  I'm working on a new one, hope to get it out in a couple of weeks, we'll see.

Thanks everyone, hugs to you.

Riki

A Week in Round Top, TX

Yeeeeeee haw! Imagine this....

a full day of nothing but shopping for antiques and found objects, bling and beads, with friends, then eating great meals, playing and no work!   You get up the next morning, and start all over again, for a whole week!

That's what it was like in Round Top, Texas.  As you can see from the pics, we had no fun whatsoever! Round Top is just one of the cities that takes part in this event.  There are a number of surrounding little cities, with hundreds of vendors, buildings and tents, at all of them.

I made some wonderful new blogging friends.  This is a great group shot of the gang I hung out with.  From the top left, Sandy Navarro, Charlene Gray, Susie Hibdon, Karen Valentine, Joy Campbell.  Next row is lovely Rita Blanks, Cindy Crain, me, and the darling Diane Cook, my hostess for the week.

Thanks for your warm Texas hospitality to those of us visiting ladies.  A handful of us traveled from California, and Arizona.

Here is a typical lunch, with Texas sized ice tea, with free refills.  I must have filled that thing up about four times on the 91 degree day.  I almost melted!  But luckily, the weather improved.  Man was it hot and dry.  Then it rained, of course!

Here's Diane shooting one of our favorite Lace Lady booths.  This is a typical booth under a tent, and the tents went on for miles!  If you found something you liked, you had to get it then, because you might not find that booth again!  Or at least I couldn't.  

I just loved this mirror!  What a great idea, to attach vintage baby shoes to a round mirror!  So darn clever.

There are so many shots I took, it was hard to choose.  So many booths went to a lot of work creating those special touches, eye candy everywhere.

Here is Diane set up for a blog party on Sunday night.  Doesn't her display look wonderful?

Beautiful job Diane.  This woman is a saint, putting up with me for so many days, and is married to the nicest man on earth!  Thank you Allen, hope to return the hospitality one day soon.  Love you guys.

Have ya'all heard of Magnolia Pearl? 

NO???

Well, I had heard of it, but didn't really understand the attraction to the clothing, until I saw it in person.

I fell in LOVE, deep love, expensive LOVE if you know what I mean?

The lady that owns and designs this line of clothing, knows the art of display. I could have taken a hundred shots in her booth (which was six stalls, not one).

This sign is painted metal, with lights, and LOTS of burlap, everywhere.

This dress form with wings, was set up outside of her display, with live doves.  Is that cool or what?  Her theme this year was birds, so there were live birds everywhere.

This is Robin of Magnolia Pearl, with Susie (Vintage Susie) who helped me redo my blog.  I coined the phrase "getting Pearled" after buying some of her fun pieces.  Check out the website for a lot of romantic clothing, and darling models.

Sorry for not posting about this sooner, a cold got hold of me and tried to rip me apart when I got back last Wednesday.  I'm finally able to concentrate, and share the story.  

I have some pics of some of the goodies I bought.  They were hard earned, pawing through hundreds of booths, boxes, dust and then negotiating for a fair prices. Whew.  "I'm just sayin"... (that's Texas talk) I was tired by the end of seven days.