Sweet Bead Studio — Handcrafted jewelry by Cindy Wimmer

The ArtBLISS Inaugural Event has come and gone much too fast. My mind is reeling thinking about the weekend, and I am going to commit these wonderful days to memory. Thank you to each and every person who stepped in to the ArtBLISS world over the weekend….YOU made the event the best art retreat in town. Please allow me to share a few pictures with you, as I just can’t contain the excitement I felt over the last few days spent with friends (old and new) and with our amazing instructors.

We received fantastic support from our family. Jeanette and I are grateful to our husbands who helped from freeing up time for us to dedicate to planning (and for making our flyers and name badges!), to stopping by the event with out kids to root us on. We were also grateful for the support shown for the students and instructors whose spouses and children traveled with them so they could attend.

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One of our attendees surprised us with beautiful enameled bangles to commemorate the occasion….complete with a quote from the ArtBLISS website. Thank you Jean!

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There were reunions between friends….

And meeting some of our favorite artists for the first time (Deryn Mentock)…..

There was was plenty of hands-on learning like we all hoped for….

Show and tells after the workshops (enameled beads by Christine).

Charm swapping (ceramic charms by Jenny)………

Plenty of shopping….

Fun stamping at a Make and Take (thanks, Angela!)…..

And lots of chocolate….

What an inauguration! We hope you can join us for the next round!

In my next post or two I’ll take you inside some of the FanTasTic workshops that were held by this dream team….

Thank you for stopping by and sharing our excitement!

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Just in the nick of time, I finished my charms for the ArtBLISS charm swap. I just love the traditions that go along with art retreats. If you’ve ever been to one, you’ll know that trading is a big part of the subculture. I was indoctrinated when I met a very artistic science teacher named Maureen at Art and Soul in 2009. Luckily she’s coming down from NY (yeah!) and organized a charm swap for our event. To celebrate Fall, a leaf theme was chosen.

I made a bunch of origami cups, little pouches for my charms. I got this idea when I received earrings that I had ordered from Sandra over at Preserve Jewelry Studio. She makes such gorgeous earrings, like these and sends them in handmade paper envelopes. She shared her tips with me on how to make them, and double-sided is good.

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Well I have to admit my first charm idea just didn’t work out. When I showed them to my husband, he said, “What are they supposed to be?” “Leaves.” So then I turned to my familiar friend –wire- and just made some crystal wire-wrapped beads and added a brass leaf stamping. I oxidized them and even tumbled them for a bit. I admit they kinda look like one-winged insects or something….but they’ll have to do.