Rather stunning color combos

Have you found typoGenerator? You type your text into the box, they generate it into an artsy image. You can create the most inspiring color combinations here . . . makes me want to go slather paint on something. Here's what I made today:

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Free ATC Clip Art

Click on the image above for a slightly larger, ATC-sized image

A nice lass for this time of year, I thought. She's holding . . . an evergreen bough? A sprig of rosemary? She's perfect for coloring with pencils, markers, transferring, etc. Have fun!

Bead Fest Santa Fe 2010 Classes

Pardon my absence of late. It's that time of year when school, family, work and life all collide and squeeze the blogging right out of my day. ;-)

Today I got the email that Bead Fest Santa Fe classes are open for registration. I was a little disappointed that Susan Kazmer wasn't on the roster cause I'll sign up for just about anything from her. But there were lots of other mixed media type metal classes. Didn't know the teachers though, so I signed up for these:

Micro macrame jewelry 101 with Joan Babcock! Joan lives in Santa Fe and produced a marvelous book that Suzanne Cooper showed me recently. I want! I've loved Joan's work for years, especially her color schemes. And even though there are tutorials on the web, I'm one of those "show me" gals. So a-micro-macrame-ing we go!

And this one is a copper etching class. And again, I even have a book that briefly describes the process but I look forward to getting some face time with a real live instructor. Her name is Gina Crow.

It feels so odd to be registering (and paying for) classes way off in March 2010 but I've learned the hard way it's pretty tough to get what I want if I wait until I make the hotel reservations.

Only one problem -- both of these classes are in the evenings, which is going to severely cutting into my margarita, er, fine dining time with friends.

In other bead news, I just realized (thank you Nikia of the rhinestone embellished vintage Coach bag!) that the bead show in Albuquerque is weekend after next. I get to see Betcey and Mark! Buying beads doesn't have quite as much thrill as seeing them because cause after all we have great bead shopping here all year 'round.

Trouble in Taos

This story made the national news. A new hotel owner new to Taos forbade employees from speaking Spanish in front of him because he was paranoid they'd be talking about them, and he wanted them to Anglicize their names.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_trouble_in_taos

Classic line in this story is when an employee tried to tell the owner they've been speaking Spanish in Taos since long before they were speaking English there.

So yeah, instead of trying to learn a little Spanish himself or market the cultural pride of the place, he tries to browbeat Taos out of the Taosenos. Go home dude, find another place to build your fiefdom.

Printable Rhinestone Sizing Chart

Here's a handy little chart shared by my new pal Jennifer from Etsy:

http://www.dreamtimecreations.com/chart/rhinestone_sizes.cfm

Giant Robber Banker Paper Dolls

I saw this photo at the Huffington Post today and thought "Why didnt' I think of that?" Course, they're not paper dolls exactly, they're giant signs. Taken at a protest outside the American Bankers Association annual convention, in Chicago.

Locust Tree at Night

We came across this tree while walking back from The Shed in Santa Fe and it looked so Halloween-ish we all tried to get a shot. The seed pods were rather spookey and by the way that's a street lamp, not the moon.