Sunday, February 6, 2011

what a week, part two

Just a couple of days after returning home from Olympia, I was off to Tucson to enjoy a visit with Libby, my friend and fellow jewelry artist. The trip was planned to coincide with the Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show events that take place each year in Tucson. Libby guided us through 3 of her favorite bead shows during my short stay. It was a bit of a shopping frenzy, I must admit, mixed together with a load of inspiration.

One of my favorite vendors was Sandra Younger of The Knotty-Do-It-All, a design board that makes knotted cord jewelry much easier to create. Sandra made a bracelet for me using one of the charms I got from the Green Girl Studios booth, and I came home with one of her boards.
I found some nice things at Akonye Kena's booth; some hand-dyed fabric, a couple of bags, and a handmade photo album. This organization partners with young artisans in Africa to provide a venue for selling their goods, including colorful beads made of recycled paper.

A few other little treasures that found their way into my bags.

The time passed all too quickly but it was a great seeing Libby and catching up with her, eating great Mexican food (!!!), and experiencing a little bit of Tucson.

5 comments:

Robin Olsen said...

That sounds like a perfect week! I'm, of course, drooling over that hand dyed fabric. I love your birdhouse and all the things the three of you made!

Tory Brokenshire said...

Suzanne it sounds like you had a great time. I'm so happy you found treasures to bring home.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad that you had a good time in Tucson despite the chilling weather. I hope that you'll come back next year and stay an extra day. I'll take you to the tamale factory and you can take home a dozen handmade tamales to your family, we'll go to the TEP tents because the can't be as frigid as it was last week, we'll eat more Mexican food and I'll make more blood orange margaritas.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad that you had a good time in Tucson despite the chilling weather. I hope that you'll come back next year and stay an extra day. I'll take you to the tamale factory and you can take home a dozen handmade tamales to your family, we'll go to the TEP tents because the can't be as frigid as it was last week, we'll eat more Mexican food and I'll make more blood orange margaritas.

Lisa said...

Oh my...Tuscon sounds wonderful. I think I need to get one of those boards...I have been trying to figure out a way to know some jewelry and this sounds perfect. Yes...will be at ArtFest so I hope to run into you. What classes are you taking?