Beads and the City Trip AND Saturday Tastylinks!

In case you're wondering where you are...this is my new blog template!  I'm really loving it because the colors match my studio and are so soothing and inviting.  Plus I love the musical aspects and the simplicity of the layout.  I also love that ballerina girl and her spunky puppy...and the tiny sparkly accent in the heart.  Not sure how long I'll love this template, but we'll see!  Let me know if you like it or not...I need your input!

Drum roll, please...

I'm so, so excited to finally be able to announce the first Beads and the City trip!  It's official!  We have a date, we have a plan and we're going to go rock the Big Apple with a beadtacular, craftastic four day event!  The $774.00 price includes three dinners, double occupancy hotel room (that means you have to share with someone else or you'll have to pay the full room cost), Wicked on Broadway, a trip to Chinatown, an entire day of shopping at my top secret bead and trim sources in Manhattan, a tour bus for the shopping days and a Bead and Bitch event at the hotel with yours truly where we'll swap beads, make jewelry, tell tall tales and share saucy stories and I'll have a fabulous swag bag for every one of you! We did everything we could to make it as affordable as possible...but no, the bus can't come and pick you up.  You have to get to the hotel in NYC and we'll take care of you from there!

Plus we'll have some celebrity craft guests joining us for the fun!  Really...what are you waiting for?  If you can't make Bead and Button...come Bead and Bitch with Madge on Broadway!

Contact jaci@scrapmap.com to sign up!  We're going to have a blast!

It snowed here.  It snowed a lot.  It's still snowing.  The plows are few and far between and keep dumping mountains of snow at the end of our driveway.  We're digging in for a two day respite from civilization.  Our dog is so happy she got lost in a snow drift...we found her.  I'm sure she can't wait to do it again.  She's apparently part cairn terrier and part husky.  Who knew?

Crafty shout outs to the delightful Shabby Garden blog where my Retrofabulous Holiday Wreath was recently featured!  Thank you!

Here's this week's crafty sampling from the Crafty Bloggers Gang!

About Family Crafts
Sherri wonders what you could create using buttons?

Aileen's Musings
Aileen has a funtastical mini tutorial on creating a mailable canvas valentine and birthday card!

Cathie Filian
Enter win Cathie's HUGE 101 Snappy Fashions Giveaway!

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Craftside's got how-tos on making a double sided hanger out of a soda tab, burning the edges of silk, a good list of essential oils to add to homemade paints, a gift tote bag tutorial and some really wacky mannequin outfits from CHA!

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy is so excited! She has some new craft books to read, yes!

Cross Stitch at About.com
Stitch up some witty signs for your laundry room using patterns Connie created using help from the About.com Laundry Guide Mary.

Mixed Media Artist
Snow painting? Sure...go shovel up a small bucket full and meet Cyndi at her blog!

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
See how to make a Paper Flower with a quilling paper fringer inspired by one from the beautiful book- Home, Paper, Scissors by Patricia Zapata

The Artful Crafter
How to make laminated tasseled bookmarks and personalize them for any occasion. And don’t miss Eileen’s follow-on tutorial on making your own tassels (should you run out mid-project as she did – lol).

Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter
Make a romantic ribbon wristlet with The Impatient Crafter for iLoveToCreate.

Madge's Monday Updates!

(Thanks to John Fritzinger at Beadalon for taking this shot!)

Here's a sneak peek at the earrings you can make with me at Michaels Manhattan next Saturday October 25th! (I'll also offer a floral design.) I'll be signing copies of my best selling first book The Impatient Beader and assisting folks with this fun Make it/Take it! Big thanks to Beadalon, Fiskars, Ranger, Tim Holtz, Krylon and iLoveToCreate for donating materials. I'm super excited! Plus I'm really glad I found a use for the huge bag of plastic flies I got at Five Below. Tee hee.

I would add a chain with a big plastic spider on each earring, but I was thinking subtle.

Har har.

While we're in NYC we're also going to be filming a two part segment with my friend Brini Maxwell for her NPR Podcast videos. As soon as that goes live, I'll let you know! I'm really excited!

Speaking of Brini...we're retooling the Crafty Cabaret Caribbean cruise to make it shorter and less expensive. As soon as that's arranged, I'll provide the link here. We're still planning on Fall of 2010. I'm also finalizing the details on Beads and the City May 13-16th 2010! So stay tuned for the 411!

I'll be back tomorrow with Terrorific Tuesdays. Until then, craft on with your bad selves.

xoxo
Madge

TastyLinks Saturday!

Stay Tuned for More Info!

We're heading into the city of brotherly love today to explore some cool products with the folks from Viva Decor. I'm super excited because they're odor free (great for a gal with asthma), incredibly innovative and the colors are to die for fabulous. I love vibrant, saturated, technicolor tones. As much as I dig old rusty things, I dig pop art and mid century modern...and art nouveau...and art deco...and impressionism... I'm a woman of many moods, how about you?

Give me the entire spectrum so I can play freely and break the rules, please and thank you.

My studio looks even worse today than yesterday. Why can't I be as good at cleaning and organizing as I am at making messes? It's such fun when you're in the creative mode and the glitter is flying and you're pulling every last paint color and brush out of your closets...then you wake up the next morning and it feels like a crafty hangover.

How did this happen?

Where are the magical helpers to clean it all up for me when I'm finished?

Here are this week's links from the Crafty Blogger gang and I'll see you Monday. Until then...craft on with your bad selves.

xoxo
Madge

Vickie Howell-Craft.Rock.Love Get a signed bookplate for your copy of Vickie's book, Pop Goes Crochet!

The Crochet Dude Drew talks about the crochet conference he just returned from and you can listen to a podcast interview with him and Zontee from Lion Brand Yarns!

The Artful Crafter Eileen just took her new Zutter Bind-it-All out of the box. Woohoo! Look at what a bona fide binding newbie can create with the Bind-it-All.

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery Yoga ball never "looked" so fun, How to paint a yoga ball to look like an eye for a lawn Halloween Decoration

Naughty Secretary Club Jen shows how to transform old lace curtains and a cheap wooden embroidery hoop into a one of a kind earring holder.

Mixed Media Artist Have you ever used an online publisher to create your own artist book?

Cross Stitch at About.com One of Connie's friends is really big into Egyptian history and culture, so she has some pattern ideas for gifts. If you like Egyptian-themed decor, you will love these charts!

Crafty Princess Diaries Tammy talks about booth set ups for art shows as well as trade shows.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world Craftside has tutorials on how to make two punk rock scarves one with yarn and one with fabric, info on participating in the Good Mail Day Challenge, One Person's Oddity and a Polaroid Postcard design, a bunch of mixed element jewelry and tips on laying a pattern out on plaid fabric.

Cathie Filian Cathie is holding a charity dog costume & book auction. All the costumes were handmade by Cathie and featured in her book Bow Wow WOW! The proceeds benifit the Humane Society.

Alexa Westerfield a.k.a. Swelldesigner Alexa visits the San Francisco Zine Fest and gives a recap of what she saw!

About Family Crafts Who are your favorite popular characters? Are they included in this collection of free coloring book pages?

The Impatient Crafter Check out this Haute Couture inspired felt, ribbon and glass bib necklace Madge made for I Love to Create teens!

A Window into Madge's World

Madge waits, demurely, for her next adventure. Photo copyright Avalon Potter
Madge says, "Bring it on, baby." Photo Copyright Avalon Potter

Today, if you'll indulge me, I'd like to write. I'm running out of free projects to share...so I'm going to share some of what I do every day. I think there's immense value to folks who think they'd like to do what I do to see that...it's a lot harder than it looks...and it's much like being on a tightrope without a net...including the circus costumes if you're me.

I lost the part time job that pays a fair share of our bills recently and it's put immense amounts of pressure on me. I'm still 'employed', but I have to wait until a new position opens up. Since there are only a smattering of these positions, it could be a long wait. I'm not sure how long we can afford for me to wait...so in the interim I'm ramping up my efforts here at Studio Madge. If you're one of the many companies that reads my blog...please feel free to contact me to discuss possibilities. (She says without an ounce of shame.)

I've had a concept for a book series in mind for a while now and I've finally forged ahead with the proposal for the first title. I'm very excited to report that so far it's being met with excitement from the publisher. This would be a departure for me. Actually it would be less of a departure and more of an expansion or maybe it would be more aptly described as a tangential pathway. I can't clue you into what it's all about because I have to sell it first and then write it and then wait for the publishing date to approach so that I can finally spill the beans. I can say that it's bigger than a bread box and it's also bigger than my current focus. It's kinda like taking everything I've done in my lifetime and mixing it all up in a pot and saying...Stew's ready!

Yeah, it's like that. I think it's a mighty tasty stew, too.

I've also been working on scoring a TV show. I have some good folks working with me, so I'm confident it will happen eventually. It's tough right now because no one wants craft shows. The old model is broken, but we knew that already. No one wants to see the same host/guest/project format. It needs to be mixed up and given a new life. I don't really want to do just crafting...I want to be more of a Lifestyle Expert...but with a big twist. I'd like to think of myself as Julia Child with a glue gun or a slightly irregular Martha. I'm not afraid of showing the seams, making messes, being bold...and I want to inspire women to break out of their normal routine and try something outrageous. So...that's the plan. I'm getting closer. I know with absolute certainty that it's my destiny. It's what I do best and no one else is doing it like I would.

Speaking of Martha, I applied to be a guest on her show yesterday again. I don't have any formal 'in' so I just go to the website periodically and fill out the form. It's a total shot in the dark. What the hell. I think Martha and I would be funny together. We're totally different yet similar enough that I think we could find common ground. I really want to show Martha how to make jewelry properly. I keep seeing jewelry projects in her magazine and the instructions are...well...how do I put this delicately...incorrect. I know how much she likes doing things excellently and I'd love to show her how. So if you're connected to Martha and you read this blog, please don't hesitate to sing my praises. (She says without an ounce of shame.)

We are forging ahead with Beads and the City! Madge is taking you to NYC and we're going to bead shop until we drop! May 13-16th 2010. I will have info for signing up very soon. We can only bring 30 people, so the spaces will be limited. Also if you're interested in our Crafty Cabaret Cruise, please consider signing up. It's a small deposit and small monthly payments and you can elect to cancel up until three months before the ship sails and get a full refund. If you wait too long, we won't know how many people to plan for...

So my little Smurflings...along with the multitudes of other projects and deadlines I've got on my roster...you can see my work is cut out for me. My studio currently looks as if it's been attacked by a Tasmanian devil and I simply don't have time to stop and tidy it up. I've got largish rabbits to pull out of smallish hats and no time to stop and clean. Messes be damned...my muse is in the house!

Until next time...craft on with your bad selves.

xoxo
Madge

Three Big Things!

Copyright Margot Potter 2009 Butterfly for Houston Museum Holocaust Project
Copyright Avalon Potter 2008 Butterfly for Houston Museum Holocaust Project

So much to share, so little time! Eek! I have three big things to share today.

First I wanted to let everyone know we are nailing down the details of the Beads and the City trip for August 13-16th 2009 and the Crafty Cabaret Southern Caribbean Cruise for October 9-17th 2010. As soon as I have links to the sign up info online, I’ll post them here along with details about both trips! I hope you can make it!
Secondly I received my Create Your Style with CRYSTALLIZED™-Swarovski Elements Ambassador kit on Wednesday afternoon. Calloo callay! I am one of 21 designers who have worked with the CYSWCSE brand as teachers and consultants and were invited to become official ambassadors. A few folks asked for a sneak peek, so here is a little of what I got. I also received bead mats, a Create Your Style color wheel, the ginormous catalog, a look book for Spring/Summer 2010, a jaunty mouse pad and educational materials. As always, impeccably presented. I’m so honored to be among such a talented group of designers and to be an ambassador for a brand in which I wholeheartedly believe. Plus...we all know how much I love to sparkle. Here’s a little sneak peek at some of my kit.

My daughter and I worked on butterflies for the Houston Museum Holocaust project. You can see our finished designs above. We both used Tim Holtz™’s Grungeboard Elements, CRYSTALLIZED™-Swarovski Elements and Ranger paints to make these vibrant three dimensional butterflies. Avalon did a stellar job, I love the colors she picked! I followed her pop art vibrant color lead.

The Houston Museum is attempting to collect 1.5 million handcrafted butterflies for a display that represents the 1.5 million children who died in the Holocaust. My dear friend and gifted poly clay artist Michelle Zimmerman asked me to participate. Her father is a Holocaust survivor. Everyone is invited to join the cause and I truly hope if you’re an artist or even if you’re not, you’ll consider making a butterfly and sending it to the museum. If you’ve never read the poems written by the children of the concentration camps, you should. They are deeply moving and viscerally powerful. It is my hope that one day we will live in a world where this sort of thing is impossible. Unfortunately, we’re not there yet.

Here is the poem that inspired this project. Amazing.

I Never Saw Another Butterfly

The last, the very last
So richly, brightly, dazzlingly yellow.
Perhaps if the sun’s tears would sing against a white stone....

Such, such a yellow
Is carried lightly ’way up high.
It went away I’m sure because it wished to kiss the world good-bye.

For seven weeks I’ve lived in here,
Penned up inside this ghetto.
But I have found what I love here.
The dandelions call to me
And the white chestnut branches in the court.

That butterfly was the last one.
Butterflies don’t live in here, in the ghetto.

Pavel Friedman, June 4, 1942
Born in Prague on January 7, 1921.Deported to the Terezin Concentration Camp on April 26, 1942. Died in Aushchwitz on September 29, 1944

Finally if you posted about internet piracy and copyrights this week, send me your link so I can do a link round up for tomorrow. Thank you very much for your participation!

Love,
Margot