I've been a little busy lately . . . In February, I headed up to Pismo Beach with Joy for a FabUlous 2-day class taught by Diana Frey and Riki Schumacher, A Charming Romance.
We stopped in Carpenteria for some quick vintage shopping, had a delicious lunch at The Enterprise Fish Company in Santa Barbara and then made a beeline to Lina G's in Morro Bay for a vintage trim fix before scooping up Charlene at the SLO airport.
Our class was at Riki's beautiful beach home where we got to see her to-die-for studio in person. You can see a video tour on her blog. We also had our class mascot, the adorable Miss Maddie, watching over our every move. She even managed to get some chocolate out of Charlene's kit box; not enough to cause concern, but she was definitely part of the class. 
This was a technique class where we created charms with silver PMC (precious metal clay), did some brass etching and learned to use some seriously cool tools! Then after our charms were fired, tumbled, patinaed and polished we (OK, Joy) attached our charms to our bracelets for a truly inspiring project. We had a great group of talented students who made some FabUlous charms. How cute is that little elephant made completely by hand by a 16-yr old! Of mine, my personal fave is the textured bead caps at the top of the pic - love them!
Diana is teaching at Art is You in Petaluma this September and we were honored to be able to see the two projects she's teaching in person. The Madame Bijoux Boxes are to-die-for and the Twisted Sistah cuff is the matching piece to the necklace in my header and ya know how I feel about that! If you have a chance to take either or both of these classes, do it! You will love every minute of it. Diana also shared samples of her next studio class, A Queen's Ransom. Needless to say, we lost our minds when she took those babies out and we've already booked our spots. If you think the pictures are stunning, you'll be agasp when you see them in person - OMG!! Check out Diana's blog for her upcoming online classes and tutorials, they’re all just as FabUlous as she is.
Joy was wearing a necklace made by Hope Ellington that I had eyed but didn’t purchase way back in 2009 at Silver Bella vendor night. That necklace has been in the back my mind ever since and there it was! I had kicked myself for not buying it and now I had the opportunity to see it again up close and personal; how cool is that! So, when I got home, I tried my version and I absolutely love it!
This past weekend was packed with shopping and another FabUlous class by Riki Schumacher. First stop, The Vintage Marketplace where I met up with my shopping buddy, Cynthia. As always, the vendors did not disappoint; there was vintage FabUlousness everywhere you looked and we had an absolute blast. The venue is the perfect size; you can make it around a couple of times just in case you might have missed something.
I really blew the budget this time but it was so worth it! Here's my haul . . .
The FabUlous top is from Paris Montana. This was Heidi's first time at The Vintage Marketplace and she fit right in with her textural vintage luxe style. Her things are over-the-top-FabUlous, so ya know I was totally in! The pink chandelier crystals (oh so hard to come by) are from the adorable Trisha of Vintage Bliss. She & Heidi are traveling buddies and I'll see them again at the end of the month in Texas for Round Top - YEE HAW! The flower pin with vintage rhinestone clip center is from Sherry of Glamarella Junk, the pearls and some of the bling are from Sara of Sweet Magnolia's Farm. She is just the nicest person and brought a FabUlous selection just for me! The pearls still have the original tag on them - so cool!
After the Vintage Marketplace, we made a stop at TJ Maxx cuz ya know we ARE Maxxinistas! Cynthia made a quick sweep of the entire store with a full load so she checked out quickly, dropped her purchases in the trunk and came back in only to end up with a second full load at the check out! LOL And, of course ya can't be in the same shopping center as Hobby Lobby and not go in so we made sure we got our HL fix too. We were on a roll and quite the shopping Divas.
My weekend ended with Riki Schumacher's Birds in Flight class at the home of the owner of Gilding the Lily in Fullerton. We had a great group of talented students and learned Riki's techniques for flooding solder over prepared, hand cut copper, soldering rhinestones with a butane torch (do ya see that flame?), drilling and setting eyelets and wire wrapping. What a great class and a little birdie told me she may be back for future classes so check their class schedule for more FabUlousness from Riki. She's also teaching online for Artful Gathering this summer and has some awesome tutorials for purchase as well. You can find all the info on her blog.
I found just the right vintage piece for the finishing touch on my necklace when I got home and I love the way it turned out . . .
My next adventure will be my annual trip to New Orleans to see my dear family friend for her birthday. I had to push back my trip a week this year as Round Top changed their dates and I always fly from New Orleans to Texas to meet up with my Texas gal pals. So we'll be celebrating Miss Leah's bday a week late, but she doesn't mind as long as I get there. So, I'll catch up with ya'll in April when the dust settles a bit.
