Dreamy Trip to Bead Land

I'm settling back in at home after a fabulous, fun filled, jam-packed, BEAD extravaganza whirlwind in Florida!

I can't wait to share some of the details with all of you, so I'll start at the beginning.

First things first, THANK YOU COUSIN CORPORATION!

Here are a few pics from day 1 beginning with the first ocean view from the "Cuz bus" - I thought the first photo turned out kind of cool with a reflection of our "driver" Chris, one of the sales reps for the large chain craft stores.

He took time out from his hectic schedule to get us safely where we needed to be and all the while shared his natural ability to entertain a crowd. :)

It's such an honor to be part of the fabulous creative circle ambassador program. I am now one of eight ambassadors and had the chance to meet up with the other two original ambassadors as well as the five newer ones added last August.

The Cousin team did a great job of bringing the entire group together in STYLE, providing wonderful opportunities to meet their staff, tour the facility and learn about their products from design through production and distribution.

Oh, and did I mention the view from my room?...ahhhh...

I took this beach photo from the balcony and have to admit I was in awe of the beauty of Florida throughout the entire trip.

Amazing!

Once we got settled we had a chance to meet lots of company folks and some of the Cousin family at a reception at the hotel.

We all experienced the sunset on the patio along with company owner, Jeff Cousin, doing the narrating.

I couldn't have scripted the experience any better in my wildest imagination!

For my travels to Florida from bitter cold Ohio, it was such a pleasure to wear a necklace with summery flowers in it and fabulously sparkly mirror beads.

The three strand memory wire bracelet was so sparkly and gave me something to admire while waiting to arrive.

I received these beads on my first trip to Cousin last year, so it seemed meaningful to wear them on the return trip. ;)

More info to come once I collect my thoughts about Days 2 and 3. It's like a dream...

Yay, F - L - A!

Yay, I can't wait to spend a few days in sunny Florida!!

Thank you Cousin Corporation!

It was sleeting earlier today here in Ohio...

In case you were wondering about the perks of Ambassadorship with Cousin, this is year two and they are once again bringing Ambassadors down to their headquarters in Florida for an intensive retreat.

Picture conference rooms with walls of beads and dress forms beautifully dressed and draped in jewelry. That's my kind of intensive retreat!!

Our schedule is pretty booked, but I know I'll see the sun, a resort hotel on the beach and LOTS of fun, friends, beads and jewelry making!

If the slogan, "life is good" hadn't already been made up, I think this would have inspired it! Ooh, I just searched the Cousin site and found this great pendant, ahh, LOVE IT!!

More details to come!

Tweet Me Valentine!

Happy Valentine's Day!

This is just so adorable, the first thing I thought of was the little Necco heart candy that says, "Tweet Me."

The little bird adds that little something special to this group of charms. They are part of the Cousin Corporation's "stacked up" collection.

I love the vibe of the filligree heart sitting on top of the sort of antiqued, tone down red charm, NICE! It just gives me a warm happy feeling. :)

A bunch of these charms together would make a really fun bracelet. They would also make a nice focal pendant for a necklace. I wish I had a pack on hand, but I haven't seen them in the stores.

Sounds like a trip to Walmart of Meijers...I wish it wasn't so late... The good news is, tomorrow is Friday, YAY! I can stop on my way home from work.

Can't wait to get my jewelry making weekend started!

Looking for Sunshine...

I'm missing the warmth of the sun these days so when I came across this pack of Cousin Shamballa beads, I actually perked up and felt my mouth turn into a smile.

Funny how just a color can do that to you! 

I was dreaming about all the jewelry I could make with a few packs of this fun bead mix. 

To be honest, I was feeling a bit selfish by thinking I would HAVE to make a bracelet for sure. 

Necklaces are wonderful and obviously worn to round out an outfit to give you a put together look, give you comfort to know you have this object around your neck or just to share with others to make them happy.

The thing is, if YOU need to see it, you need to look in the mirror. So, the secret to sharing the happiness of beads with yourself is by making a BRACELET!

These would be nice on memory wire, in fact, you could just string them on as is and add a few filler beads and voila! 

What do you think?  

I Love Bead & Craft Bloggers!

How about some mid-week inspiration?

Our bead and craft blogger friends are always up to something fun!

We're starting out with Carmi who is sharing all the fabulous 60+ designer submissions for her blog challenge, "Anytime is Resin Time!"

Enjoy!

Resin Crafts Blog
You'll never wonder what to put in resin again after viewing the 60+ artist submissions currently on the Resin Crafts Blog. Twenty more will be added next week!

ACreativeDream
A few more folk art dolls before moving on to mail art!

Art Bead Scene
Check out more Pinterest Inspiration Board advice from Kylie Parry!

Beading Arts
The Bead Journal Project has started up again for a seventh session! Here's how to get involved, or just to enjoy the eye-candy!

Carmi's Art/Life World
I have never made a baby mobile. It was so much fun to create one with Peter Rabbit imagery from Crafter's Companion.

Courage and Heart
Cherie's art this week reflects Bible verses talking about courage.

Hooking Up
Even the furry children need something soft to snuggle with. Here's an easy little afghan for them or a lap-ghan for you.

Mixed Media Artist
Cyndi is taking her resolution to use up previously made samples veeeeeery seriously!

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Marcia DeCoster's new book, Marcia DeCoster Presents, is a great inspiration! See Jean's review of this unique collection of interviews of 30 of the most remarkable beading stars in the world on jean's blog, and comment if you are a US resident for the GIVEAWAY, ENDING FEB. 6th!

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Busy, busy, busy! Andrew shares some of the things he's been up to lately!

Valentine Craft Project Ideas
Are you looking for some Valentine's Day inspiration? The Artful Crafter has everything from card designs, to decorated candles, recipes and more. Do you know what a bagalope is or how to make a multicolored heart shaped crayon? 

Valentine's Day Decopauge Necklace - Redo

Like many designers and crafters, I sometimes find myself taking a project back to the mat for little tweaks before calling it a day.

I'm happy now to unveil the final version of the Heartfelt Valentine's Day Necklace!

Thanks to the Cousin Corporation for continuing to help me grow creatively by giving their Ambassadors a different project to create each month. Yay!

Using these connectors to modpodge on heart paper was so easy and fun!

I really love these colors and think the purple, tanzanite and bright white along with the heart charms give this necklace a whimsical and happy vibe.

It's been a couple of months since I incorporated crafting into a project (remember the wine cork necklace and bracelet?)

Crafting is when I am in the zone, I'm at my happiest and you can bet my workarea looks like a hurricane struck.

I'm usually in sweats with my hair up and possibly have a little smudge of fat free chocolate pudding on my face. :) Mmm hmm, it's one of my real life happy places.

I'd love to hear about your real life creative zone happy place. Leave a comment if you have a sec.