Bead Rolling is a family affair!

My!!!! OH my!!!!!....I sure have been on a colorful journey lately!!!

Usually one night every couple of weeks or so, my Mom would fix leftovers (my Grandma Molden would call them mustgo's) ....you know...leftovers...a little bit of this... a little bit of that...whatever you had on hand in the fridge. No matter what leftover's we had, my Mom sure had a way of bringing it all together for a yummy meal. You might say that this bracelet fits that description because it's full of all sorts of great bead ingredients which make way for some delicious and tasty bead soup jewelry ! You'll find these and other bead making techniques in my latest book "Bead Techniques - Clay Jewelry with Bead Rollers"

This bracelet along with a Faux Jade Necklace, on display in the AMACO booth during the Winter CHA 07 trade show, caught the eye of the buyers and educational department of JoAnn Stores. Instructions for this project are available on the JoAnn's website.

The Faux Jade necklace is where my real family affair story begins. JoAnn stores decided that they would like to have live samples of the Faux Jade Necklace in select stores and asked if I would be willing to make them! I was honored. What I didn't know, was the necklaces were going to be featured in 235 select stores!

The project took an entire 8 weeks to complete. As I neared the deadline, I had everyone in the family involved. Mariah mixed the clay while my husband Dana, my mom & my dad, and Elise made the base beads. Then, they handed them over to me for stamping, hole poking and baking. Once baked, Mariah painted them, the rock tumbler sanded them and then we sealed them. I strung most of the necklaces in the car on a weekend trip to St. Louis. We all worked together and eventually completed nearly 2600 beads. Each bead had 7 different steps.

The good news?.. We finished on time. It was really alot of fun to have the whole family involved in the project, together in the studio, laughing, sharing old stories and creating new memories. (now when Im in the studio...and I get the bead rollers out...the kids say.."Run away...Run away!!..." - just kidding. They actually used this experience and design their own beads now)

As soon as I get my hands on a copy of the project sheet, I'll post it for all of you. In the meantime, if you happen to be in one of those select JoAnn stores and you see the jade necklace take a moment to remember a time when your family was all together working as a team....maybe doing some yard work or planting flowers ...or during a family gathering...or a planning wedding...whatever it is, I hope it brings you "warm fuzzies" and that you'll continue to create great family moments for many years to come.

Do you have great crafting with family stories??? Please share them!

Next time on the Art Buzz......HOT LINKS! Don't miss them!