I didn't get much opportunity to get out on the show floor and go shopping at the Bead & Button show, but I did manage to find a few of my favorite bead makers and I came home with a tiny stash of treasures. Above, a set of polymer clay beads by Heather of Humblebeads and a variety of handcrafted silver, bronze, and shibiuchi pendants by my friends at Zoa Art.

ooh look! more goodies! Above, a silver sugar skull charm (on ribbon) by Anne Choi. I bought two of these little guys, and gave one to some one special. *squish*. The rest of the loot is pewter and shibiuchi charms and a clasp from Green Girl Studios. Aren't they all delightful? I am looking forward to playing with them!
 

Today I am partaking in two things I have been craving since last week before Penguicon. The first is diving into the order of Vintaj brass that I ordered and received over the weekend. ooh, it was so hard to play catch up with work and not just take these up to the studio to play with! Yeah, I drool about metal, so what? hee. These are mostly pieces that I haven't used before, so they will take some fussing and creativity to use. The possibilities are endless! I am excited to work with them. I want to wrap a few of the metallic hearts in new ways, because they seem to be a really great finished item, and if I get enough distinct styles, I think I can present it as a class. *bounce bounce* its playtime now!

The other craving I have had is for sushi. Now, I am a newbie to sushi, really. I am not really into fish at all, but I love the rice and nori and wasabi and ginger. I really have enjoyed the roll-your-own parties we have had because I can pick what else I want, but I have never really seen kinds at the stores that I will eat the way they are packaged. I have also been a bit intimidated by going to the sushi bar and asking questions and ordering on my own. But the craving was too much today! I headed to Noble Fish, and a very helpful young man asked me what I liked and made some suggestions. I had a carrot, cucumber and avacado roll, and a tofu and green onion roll. OMG they were so good! Now I feel a little more comfortable and will definately order again. (any suggestions for non fishy ingredient combinations? I like the idea of cream cheese and colored peppers as well) I think I would have liked something else in the tofu and onion one, maybe some more carrot? Ooh and the fresh ginger and wasabi was so good! wow that stuff can be spicy! mmm. Also I bought some sushi rice to make my own, along with some Miso soup base (need a recipe there too). So I may be experimenting with that soon.

ok, thats enough babbling for today, time to play with metal! whee!

So continuing my promotion of the new Lucky Candy line on the Earthenwood website, I am showing the Candy Swirl beads above and thinking about the color inspiration. I wanted to do something very rainbow colorful, and contrast the colors with black and white. I wanted something very candy shop looking. Have I mentioned I love candy? It's funny how certain flavors bring back memories, isn't it?

So yesterday was fun!