I held a copy of Naughty Secretary Club today!

Two blogs in one day, well that’s just crazy! Since both blogs are really more pictures than they are writing I figured what the hell. I’m home from my first day at BEA convention and boy am I pooped. Love the hotel, but they need something a little better than a shear curtain to keep the sun out. My room was lit enough to do brain surgery by 6am and my circadian rhythms got me right out of bed. It was just as well I ordered breakfast and watched Regis and Kelly. I headed for the convention about 10 and braced myself for a lot of walking. There are a ton of people there and the place is huge. I didn’t even make it through one hall today. All your favorite book vendors are there F&W, Chronicle, Tashen, Harpers Collins and more. I love books so and there were so many to add to my wish list. I even got a free copy of Guerrilla Publicity! Lots of celebrities too. I saw Dionne Warwick, Mario Lopez, Mary Lou Henner and George Hamelton! I didn’t talk to them, but I did see them and stand within 20 feet of them so that counts. Here are a few of the other highlights of my day…

I stumbled into the Princeton Architectural Press booth where they had mock ups of Handmade Nation, postcards and tote bags to give away. I asked the lady in the booth to take my picture holding the book. Looks like my profile in the book is in the chapter entitled South Central along with Jenny Hart, Whitney Lee, Kathie Server and Knitta.


Another unexpected surprise was that my friend Travis Nichols from Austin was the convention. He has a new book coming out called Punk Rock Etiquette that I got a signed preview copy of. The book is hilarious and the illustrations are amazing. After all Travis is a rock star and a cartoonist so how could it not be.


My signing in the F&W booth was from 2:00-3:30 and will be the same tomorrow (Friday). We had free Naughty Secretary Club T-shirts to give away, promo copies of Naughty Secretary Club to look through and I bought a few pieces of jewelry to give away which seemed to make some really cute girls very happy. It was so fun to see my book all around the booth and to actually hold a copy in my hand. It is a square shaped, wide as a normal book just not as tall. I had no idea. I kind of love it. It was so fun to see the reactions of people to all the jewelry I brought with me. I also got to see some old friends like Stephanie Girard of Sweater Surgery and Tamara Berg who was a guest on Craft Lab.




I need to freshen up a bit as I am going out to dinner at Spagos tonight. I wonder if Wolfgang Puck will be there. If you are at BEA here in Los Angeles tomorrow be sure and stop by the F&W booth around 2pm!

Touchdown Los Angeles

My trip to Los Angeles started with a cancelled flight, which is never good. I finally got to Dallas where I got a flight to LA. I had to sit on the very back row which sucked, but the interesting thing was that Carmen Electra and her boyfriend sat in the seats next to me. She seemed very nice and complimented my Runways T-shirt. The worst part about it is that I had a window seat and I feel guilty enough asking anyone to get up so I can get out and go to the bathroom. Somehow when it is someone famous it becomes even more nerve wracking so I just waited until we got to the airport. Silly I know.

The second most exciting part about my day was the fact that my hotel room is badassical. I am on the 17th floor and have a balcony on one side of the room and a huge private sun porch on the other. Amazing views of the city and I overlook the Fox Studios. I took some pictures to prove it. Today will be a long day I have the BEA convention and dinner at Spagos with F&W executives. I’ll twitter updates throughout the day and take lots of pictures!

Look Books: Your Best Bet for Getting Editorial Coverage in Magazines

A few months ago I did a post called How I Got Into Seventeen Magazine and You Could Too. Several people emailed me afterwards asking questions about what a look book was and how I put it together. Several other people made comments about the fact that they too made one of a kind items and by the time they put something into a look book to send out to a magazine that item might be sold. I just had my look book redone and am posting it here for you to see and answering a few questions. The look book is two sided, on shiny paper and folds up and is stapled like a booklet.



This is the cover and the back page. I wanted my logo big and lots of jewelry. I also wanted my name. Lots of people go by a company name, but no one knows their real name. When I write an article as Jennifer Perkins I would like for that to be synonymous with and just as familiar as Naughty Secretary Club. I feel like people are doing themselves a disservice when they hide their name. Sure your brand name takes precedence, but people want to know there is a real person behind that brand too.

The back cover of the look book is an ad for my new book The Naughty Secretary Club: The Working Girls Guide to Handmade Jewelry. Since I am taking this current batch with me tomorrow to BEA in Los Angeles and that is my biggest announcement on the horizon I thought it was important to dedicate an entire page of the press kit to this.



The next page in my press kit is my bio and my contact information. Some magazines will just want to use my jewelry for a photo shoot and others might be interested in writing an article about me. I want to be sure the press kit has both. This is pretty much the same bio that is on my website.



Who doesn’t love bullet points? When it comes to busy magazine editors they all do. Some might love reading my bio and others might find it daunting and would prefer the bullet points. These bullets let editors know a few fun facts about Naughty Secretary Club: I’m an Austin Craft Mafia member, I host Craft Lab, the books I have projects in and more. Just quickie highlights. Most importantly there is more jewelry on the page.



Editors like to see what kinds of press coverage you have received. As the saying goes: No one reads your press, they weigh it. These are a few of the mastheads of magazines I am most proud of. The second page are a few tear sheets of where I have been featured. This page gives editors an idea of how your work has been previously featured and how they might work with you. I actually might go in and add another page of tear sheets before I have a huge batch of these printed up. Again there are more jewelry pictures sprinkled around the page.

Also, if you are just starting out and don’t have a page full of magazine pictures to fill the pages with don’t fret. It is not the most important part of your look book and hopefully after you send yours out you will have some to fill the pages of the second edition.

What I do not have shown here is the cover letter (and of course business card and free jewelry sample) that I will also send along to magazine and blog editors with this look book. This is where I will introduce myself and let the editors know that my work is mostly one of a kind and they should treat the ever revolving stock on Naughty Secretary Club as the most up to date look book. Very seldom have I had an editor want to pull something they specifically saw in my look book. A look book gives them an idea of your work and style, it puts you on their radar. From here they know to contact you if they are shooting something that they think your work might fit with. Editors will not call and say can you send the necklace on page two in the bottom right hand corner? They will call and say we are looking for huge chunky necklaces with lots of colors and pearls can you send us some samples.

Hopefully this helps give you a better idea about look books and press kits. This is my new press kit and it is different and shorter than the last one I sent around so I am curious about what the response will be. I’ll keep you posted. Does your look book have a completely different look? Do you think I am missing something? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this or answer any other questions.

Jelly Beans and Shot Gun Shells

This weekend I channeled my inner Jonathan Adler a bit. As I cruised the aisles of various Marshals around Austin looking for a new suitcase to take to Los Angeles I kept eyeballing these oversized glass candy jars. As a child my best friend Erin always had candy jars at her house. Her mother had a big display in different shapes and sizes filled with various candies; I was partial to the lemon drops. Anyway the candy jars at Marshals were about 3 times the size and there was something about them that spoke to me. I remembered a picture in My Prescription for Anti-Depressant Living by Jonathan Adler. The room had a baroque fireplace, clown painting, a piece of odd French furniture that I can not think of the name of (please comment if you know) and 2 big jars of Jelly Beans. It was like kismet that I would think of this picture because just the week before I had been trying to think of what to do with my shot gun shells. Last year at a flea market an old man in overalls was selling giant zip lock bags full of spent shot gun shells. Who knew they came in bright colors like apple green, lavender and teal. Anyway they were a dollar a bag so I snatched up all that he had. They have been hiding in a closet ever since and I was just thinking I needed to get a big clear vase to fill with them. Candy jars are better, way better. I snagged up all that my cart could hold and helped the annoyed looking checker wrap them carefully in paper. As if the interior design Gods were really trying to tell me something the next day I went to Sams. I had no plans to buy home decorating items in a bulk store, just toilet paper but there I was standing in the candy aisle because Chris was craving nuts (we opted for pistachios). As I waited for him to find his nuts there right in front of me were the giant 10 lbs bags of jelly beans. I thought I can do shot gun shells in half and jelly beans in the other. It was brilliant! The minute I got home I barely got the lifetime supply of paper towels and diet cokes out of the car and I was dumping shells and beans into candy jars. I placed them proudly on the top shelf of my entertainment center and basked with pride. I thought I might have to move my Foo Dogs and collection of Asian art from behind, but I think somehow they all go together ok. I also like that the shelf is high enough that I will not be tempted to raid the jelly beans, they are after all the gourmet kind and who can resist a toasted marshmallow jelly bean.

I Miss All the Fun Austin Stuff

I go out of town for the first time pretty much all year and of course two awesomely fun things happen in Austin and on the same day to boot! Craft Magazine along with one of my favorite Austin bloggers, Rachel Hobson is hosting a release party at The Workshop (where there will be Naughty Secretary Club door prizes)! The exact same day across town Rare Magazine is hosting a shopping extravaganza called the Rarest of All. If you are free in Austin next Sunday be sure to stop by The Workshop and The Monarch for all the festivities. I’ll be there in spirit.

Speaking of Rare and Craft…. Word has it there might be a little something fun in an upcoming issue of Rare about fun ways to recycle the magazine when you are done with it. Just take a peak at the cover of The Naughty Secretary Club: The Working Girls Guide to Handmade Jewelry for an example. Also thanks to Craft for mentioning my latest round of classes on your blog! Woo-hoo! While you guys are here in Austin partying with Craft I’ll be in Los Angeles attending a crafty BBQ hosted by Craft Magazine’s Jenny Ryan and Creative Juices Cathie Fillian!

Win $100 Worth of Jewelry Playing Outfit Party!

I have spent the entirely too much time playing on Polyvore today. Have you joined yet? You need too! Not only did I join, I started a Naughty Secretary Club group. I have blogged before about Polyvore and mentioned that it is like playing online outfit party. They have tons of clothing and accessories to choose from to make your own images just like these. PLUS you can install a clipper on your computer so that you can import images from other shopping sites and add them to your outfits, like say some Naughty Secretary Club Jewelry.

I am so excited to see what kinds of outfits people put together using Naughty Secretary Club jewelry I decided to run a contest about it! All you have to do is sign up for Polyvore and join the Naughty Secretary Club group. From there put together some outfits using Naughty Secretary Club or Hot Pink Pistol and add them to the group. We will pick our top 5 favorite outfits and not only post them here on the blog but we will also give you some awesome-o prizes!

FIRST PLACE - $ 100 worth of Naughty Secretary Club Jewelry
SECOND PLACE - 50 worth of Naughty Secretary Club Jewelry
THIRD PLACE – $25 worth of Naughty Secretary Club Jewelry
FOURTH PLACE - Naughty Secretary Club T-shirt
FIFTH PLACE – Copy of Bead Simple by Susan Beal

Remember in order to win your set has to include at least one piece of Naughty Secretary Club or Hot Pink Pistol. Good luck and be sure to keep checking the group to see what kinds of fun outfits people are putting together.

Blogs, Beads and Random Linkage

Its time for Beads and Blogs again, this week adorned by pictures of the new Hot Pink Pistol Necklaces at Naughty Secretary Club. As always we have 5 random links at the end to spice things up!

About.com Jewelry Making
Tammy was having some major deja vu while reviewing this mainly metal jewelry making book.

Art Bead Scene
Do you love stamping? Check out Art Bead Scene for a review of metal stamps and a link to a tutorial!

Jewelry & Beading
Get your "Mental Gears" working...and win a free pendant!

Naughty Secretary Club
Anyone headed out to BEA (Book Expo of America) in Los Angeles next weekend? Stop by the F&W booth (#1351) to keep Jen company and to score a free Naughty Secretary Club T-shirt. You are going to need one for a project in The Naughty Secretary Club: The Working Girls Guide to Jewelry.

Savvy Crafter
Burn Baby Burn! Thinking about trying soldering? Candie tells about a great torch option...

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Jean explains why she loves a certain necklace she made for summer, and looks forward to writing about jewelry in the upcoming month!

and onto the random links of goodness...

1) Top 50 Eccentric Shoes according to Trend Hunter Magazine.

2) Lark Books is looking for a few good submissions, including some having to do with plastic jewelry!

3) Trunkt, the premier directory of creative entrepreneurs. Why haven't I know about this site before!

4) Oh how I love me some Vickie Howell. Have you heard that she has a new knitting video series for Lifetime. Um ya she wore Naughty Secretary Club jewelry like The Hots Earrings seen in the picture.

5) Lastly you need to watch my friend Kathy's video plea to Ellen Degeneres about glitter.

I'm Teaching New Jewelry Classes!

Have you just been beating yourself up about missing the last 2 Naughty Secretary Club jewelry classes here in Austin? You kind of should be because we had tons of fun rummaging through the big pile of vintage crafty curios I brought to make our charm bracelets. We had almost more fun one Saturday morning making fabric jewelry. Sadly I can not for the life of me find my pictures from this class! If you missed the class and the fun, stop the deep pangs of regret in your heart and call (512-707-2405) or email Craft-o-rama in Austin to sign up for the new batch. I’m teaching 3 classes including a brand spanking new one, paper jewelry!


Collage Cuties Class: Tues. 6/17 6:30pm-8:30pm
Love what you see on the scrap booking aisle, but don't care a thing about it? Incorporate all the fun papers into your jewelry! In this class you will make a bangle bracelet, large disc earrings and necklace using paper and decoupage medium. Learn to look at pictures in magazines, junk mail, wrapping paper and more in a whole new way. Feel free to bring any paper you would like to class, but Jen will also bring a large stash of her collage curios like vintage wrapping paper, wall paper, book illustrations, old cards and more for you to choose from as well as jewelry supplies and decoupage medium. Fee is $40.



Fabric Jewelry Class: Thurs. 6/19 6:30pm-8:30pm
And you thought fabric was just for sewing, oh no it is for jewelry making too. In this class we will talk about ways to use fabric in jewelry design. Each student will be able to make a ring, pony tail holder and two different bracelets! We will learn how to use a button covering kit, make a fabric quilting yo-yo and ribbon wrap a bangle bracelet. Not to mention lots of discussion throughout about incorporating in unusual elements like fabric into your jewelry design. I will bring my huge suitcase FULL of vintage fabric for us to play with! Fee: $40 and includes materials



Charm Bracelet and Earring Class: Sat. 6/21 11am-1pm
Learn the fundamentals of jewelry making while whipping up your own one of a kind Revamped Vintage Charm Bracelet, and matching earrings. This fun and informative 2 hour class will cover the basics of jewelry making like the difference between head and eye pins, wire wrapping, and how to open and close a jump ring. Class supplies include everything you need to make your charm bracelet and earrings including a giant assortment of vintage beads and charms from the Naughty Secretary Club stash for you to choose from! You will need flat and round nosed pliers as well as wire trimmers for this class. You will be able to buy a set from the instructor on day of class as well for an additional $10. Fee: $40 and includes materials.



I hope to see you in one or many of the classes. Later this summer I might be doing some classes on how to start and run your small business as well as how to market your small business!

P.S. I wanted to give a shout out to one of my students the Paper Squirrel. Check out her fun Etsy store for amazing vintage supplies!

A Beadalicious Interview with Sonya Nimri

I first met Sonya Nimri on an episode of Craft Lab. She showed up with a ton of duct tape in a rainbow assortment of color and we proceeded to decorate a room with a circus theme. She had me at rainbow colors, but throw in a circus and all bets are off! This was my kind of crafty girl. Just when I thought I couldn’t dig her crafty chili anymore she comes out with a wonderfully luscious new jewelry book called Beadalicious. The book focuses on reinventing, revamping and up cycling old jewelry. It is a familiar theme with a fresh spin. Think of earrings shaped like cherries and sparkly resin filled sea shell pendants. Did I mention the recipes and the rain boots? For anyone who is smitten on how-to jewelry books Beadalicious is one you should have in your collection. As someone who themselves is in the process of putting a book out I wanted to get the full scoop from Sonya about Beadalicious so I did a little interview to get the goods.



The tag line on the Beadalicious press release says “those may be your grandmother’s beads, but this is not your grandmothers jewelry”. Were either of your grandmothers fashionistas with a great stash of baubles that helped inspire any of the projects?. I have both of my grandmothers costume jewelry and one had enough to fit inside a box of cards and the other had 2 giant jewelry boxes full. They were both equally loveable, just one happened to be a little more fashion savvy.

Neither of my grandmothers actually wore much jewelry. They grew up overseas so where they were from costume jewelry wasn't in fashion at the time. Most of my jewelry comes from my husbands grandmothers who were costume jewelry horders! I have tons from them. Some of it is really wild and outdated but after you take the beads apart and recombine it with newer beads, it becomes just fab. That is probably what's good about it not being from my side of the family, I'm not too attached to it and don't mind disassembling it all.

I love that you snuck in recipes as your sidebars. I must confess my favorite margarita cupcake recipe makes an appearance in The Naughty Secretary Club: The Working Girls Guide to Jewelry. What inspired you to include recipes along with jewelry projects?

I love food and grew up loving to cook as well as craft. The title Beadalicious implies juicy, mouthwatering, creamy- everything to do with food. Bringing in the elements of juicy fresh cherries, deep sticky caramel, and creamy dips just seemed to go. Plus, beading works up an appetite- and a girl's gotta eat!

The name Beadalicious is a bit deceiving because as I mentioned not only does the reader get amazing jewelry projects and recipes there is also the extra goodies section tucked away in the back of the book. It’s like a hidden bonus track on a CD with daisy covered rain boots and book mark projects. As an ADD crafter I loved that about the book! What made you decide to throw in these fun non bead related projects?

For me beading isn't just about jewelry and I wanted my book to reflect different ways of using beads to make fun gifts for friends or just ideas of ways to use them besides the obvious. Also, many times beads come in bulk and after a project is over you still have a gazillion more beads that you may not feel a need to make yet another necklace with.

I often travel to Los Angeles whether it be to see friends and have geleto in San Monica like you and I did or to film a few episodes of Craft Lab. Even after all my travels I am not sure where the best thrift stores in town are hidden. For all of us that collect vintage costume jewelry to re-create into something Beadalicious where are a few of your favorite haunts?

I can't wait till the next time you're here for another round of gelato! I'm such an addict and have an adorable place in Venice that we can ride bikes along the beach to the gelato place from. Thrift stores are really hit and miss depending on their shipment. I once scored three huge boxes of vintage fruit beads from a bead shop that had closed down at St. Vincent's in Culver City but have been back since and haven't found anything there. I shop at Goodwill and Salvation Army in Santa Monica, and love the Rosebowl flea market in Pasadena. I don't actually have a "hidden spot" I go to regularly. I try my luck at different places and always keep my energy open to new beads coming into my life from wherever they may appear.

The name Sparkles on the Half Shell cracks me up, but it also happens to be one of my favorite projects in Beadalicious. I love the brooch version! If you had to choose one project, what was your favorite to make? What about from Just for the Frill of it?

Wow, Jen, That's like choosing between children! I can't say, I really love them all. I would say the one I wear the most is the "cosy nest" ring. It's a ring in the shape of a bird's nest. I get tons of compliments on it and it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling like I have someone's delicate, precious, home resting on my finger. From my first book, Just for the Frill of It, I'd say my favorite project is the purse with ribbon trim and wooden handle made out of the neck of a turtleneck. It goes with everything!

On the flip of that was there any one project in Beadalicious that about drove you to drink? There always seems to be that one project that is great in theory and concept, but when you start making it into a reality it about kills you.

All the projects are really simple to make. But, I would say figuring out how to translate the "Cat Lady" from what I was seeing in my head was the most confusing part of writing the book. I knew I wanted it to be really long and Bohemian-Elizabethan. It was draping in all sorts of weird directions at first, and I couldn't get it to hang right. It took a while and a few greyhounds to get me though it but now, for the reader it would be quite simple to make with the directions and graphs all laid out.

I myself am partial to huge earrings (I can’t wait to make the Black and White Ball Earrings). What is your preferred jewelry staple? I find people are typically partial to one type of jewelry above all others. The world wants to know is Sonya an earring, brooch or necklace kind of gal?

Sonya is a ring kind of gal. I like to play with them on my finger and spin the beads and band around. My Bohemian Wrapsody ring is ideal for fiddling with.

You are a lady who always likes to have her crafty irons in oodles of fires. What is on the crafty horizon for Sonya Nimri? Any new books in the works? TV appearances I should set my DVR for (our foam crafts episode of Craft Lab is on HGTV June 16th by the way)? Booths at CHA were I might find you in July?

At the moment, I'm working on a video for Craft: magazine's blog- it's going up next month. I'm also developing a video series for my website sonyastyle.com, easy fun crafts- each one is about a minute long. Besides that I just finished working on a craft dvd series with Raven-Symone that will be for sale at Wal-Mart soon. This Summer I will see you at the CHA! Yeah, I'm so glad you're going to be there. I missed you at the last one! I'll be at the Duncan booth in July as a guest designer and the Watson-Guptill booth signing both books.

On a personal note, I've got a big bun in the oven at the moment. He's a gigantic boy with really long legs and huge feet. He's due right before Halloween so at the moment I'm deciding on his very first Halloween costume. Also, I'm trying to figure out what to name him. It's really quite a task that will have a huge impact on this poor kid's life so I'm trying to be very thoughtful about it.

Thanks Sonya for the amazing interview and good luck cooking up that big ole' baby of yours. I smell a baby craft book next!

Naughty Secretary Club at BEA in Los Angeles

A book convention, how exciting could it possibly be I thought to myself? Don’t get me wrong I was excited for the trip to Los Angeles, excited to chat with the PR guy at F&W and excited for dinner at Spagos. However, I didn’t know BEA was such a big deal and that I was excited for all the wrong reasons. Thanks to a few author friends cluing me in I now know that the Book Expo of America is kind of a big deal. Once I started looking through the list of the authors that were going to be there I could see that for myself. My eyes were of course drawn to names like Dionne Warwick, Bobby Brown, William Shatner and Alec Baldwin. Ya, ya, ya there are going to be New York Times best selling novelist there too. But more importantly, what if I take a bathroom break and I am waiting in line next to Dionne Warwick! Do you think she would be able to psychically tell me how many copies of The Naughty Secretary Club: The Working Girls Guide to Jewelry we are going to sell?

Either way I am super duper excited and now honored to go. I guess I better start planning my outfits and maybe make an appointment to get my eyebrows threaded. There is an autographing schedule happening in the F&W booth which scares me slightly. Not that signing my name scares me, the idea of no one wanting me to sign my name scares me. I envision the booth during my allotted time looking like a ghost town with tumble weeds rolling through. Let’s hope not! I’ll pay you a dollar if you come by and act like a fan to impress my publisher! Ok not really I’ll need to save my royalty checks. Here is a list of when you can fer sure find me in the booth doing jewelry demos and talking about The Naughty Secretary Club: The Working Girls Guide to Handmade Jewelry. We are even going to have Naughty Secretary Club T-shirts to give away! I have not seen them yet so that scares me slightly, but you can always order one from the website and just wear it there!

F&W Publications Booth #1351

Friday May 30th 2:00-3:30pm
Booth reception 3:30

Saturday May 31st 2:00-3:30
Booth reception 3:30

Check it out I am even listed on the official BEA autographing PDF right below Ty Pennington!



There are going to be lots of other authors there that look interesting and fun to meet. I wonder if I will get free books! I want to try and meet Daniel Vosovic from Project Runway and author of Fashion Inside Out. I’m excited about a lot of the books that will be in the F&W Booth with me as well. Wendy Molynex’s Everything is Wrong With You, Forgotten Fashion by Katie Hahn plus Stefanie Japel and her new book Glam Knits! I don’t knit but from the looks of her blog Laurie Perry author of Crazy Aunt Purl’s Drunk Divorced and Covered in Cat Hair and I would get along just fine. Speaking of not knitting I know enough about it to know the name Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and her book series the Yarn Harlot. Between my own demos in the F&W Booth and running around trying to snag free books and goodies I should be pretty busy!

Bedroom Bonanza Part 2

I never thought these words would escape my lips or be typed by my fingers, but I am thinking I might paint the master bedroom white. For those of you just tuning in, let me catch you up to speed on things. My husband and I are finally moving into our master bedroom after 5.5 years of it functioning as my studio. The only thing I know about the decorating theme is that I want to keep the current widow treatment in the room because it is made with the most dreamy Barkcloth that I happen to have enough of to make a matching duvet with. I have been trying to choose a wall color based on this fabric and went to look at paint swatches this weekend. The room is currently bubblegum pink which is a little intense for a bedroom. Chris does not want to go with yellow since that is the color of our current bedroom. That leaves me with white or mint green. Actually the color that matches the best is called Elf Shoes! Between wall colors and deciding between hard wood and carpet this is a lot of decision making. On top of that we are leaving our current bedroom the exact way it is now and converting that into our spare bedroom. So furniture wise I am also starting from scratch. It made the most sense for me to start with choosing a bed. We have an actual bed, what we need is a headboard with super umph. This is part 2 in the Bedroom Bonanza series of Bedroom pictures I am looking to for inspiration.



Funny Karim Rashid keeps coming up on my quest for the perfect bedroom. This morning Brad and Alicia from Hi Octane Jewelry sent me a link to a story on The Trend Hunter about the 31 most interesting beds. Right after her email my Trend Candy Newsletter from Trend Hunter appeared in my inbox with the same article. I of course was smitten on the bed by Karim Rashid. Then again you might recall I was digging the canopy bed look. Karim’s Sphere bed is a much more updated super modern version. I was thinking about Karim and beds because I read an interesting article with him in the February issue of New York Magazine saying how he only wears white and pink. Only white and pink, that's it no exception. That being the case I thought he might like the first groupings of bedrooms I put together that would match one of his outfits perfectly.




1) The Practical Encyclopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement
2) Kim from Desire to Inspire
3) The Practical Encyclopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement
4) Lala-a-gogo
5) The Practical Encyclopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement
6) The Sugar Monster
7) The Practical Encyclopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement
8) Fox-nahem Design
9) The Practical Encyclopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement
10) Kay from I'm Not Really a Diva
11) The Practical Encyclopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement
12) The Practical Encyclopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement

Hot pink and lime green were the colors of my wedding, but I’m not sure that means I want to paint my bedroom those colors. I am in love with mirrored furniture in any way shape or form and I also just bought a huge silhouette of a little boy at a thrift store to hang in the new bedroom. The headboard that is painted on the wall is really clever and one that my mother and sister have been rooting for. Is it bad that I am not angry at those beaded curtains? I actually have bamboo style beaded curtains across the windows in my current bedroom. They are a part of a whole elaborate tiki style window treatment with carved shoes at tie backs. Ok onto the pink and green bedrooms.



1) Jonathan Adler
2) Sfuhs - Domino Magazine
3) The Practical Encyclopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement
4) The Practical Encyclopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement

A black and white room is one of those things that in theory I love, but in reality I would never be able to make happen. However since my Barkcloth does have black and white polka dots I do plan on bringing the color combo into the room in some way. There are some patterned Ikea shelves that are a maybe, perhaps I will get a comforter set in black and white and have the Barkcloth made into a bench and throw pillows – the possibilities are endless. What I really love in these pictures are the free form canopy, the massive collection of B&W framed pictures functioning as a headboard and the elaborate black wooden headboard. My mom loves to bust out her power tools and has told me that she could create a headboard in any shape my little heart desired that could then be painted or covered in fabric. Another strong option.



1) The Practical Encyclopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement
2) Survive Style 5
3) The Practical Encyclopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement
4) Survive Style 5
5) The Practical Encyclopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement
6) Survive Style 5
7) The Sugar Monster
8) Survive Style 5

So many choices, what is a girl to do. This much I know: I leave for Los Angeles next week and Chris has offered to spackle and paint while I am gone. I have to make a life choice between Elf Shoes and White before then. This sounds like a question for the queen of home decorating, my mother. I’ll keep you posted on what we decide.

All About Ella - Dog Walks and Puppy Graduation

Ella was the center of our world this weekend. First up Chris, Ella and I participated in the 10th annual Mighty Texas Dog Walk with proceeds benefitting Texas Hearing and Service Dogs. We were trying to beat a world’s record of 10,000 dogs but apparently according to News 8 Austin there were 10,000 people and 5,000 dogs. I only saw a couple of other mastiffs, lots of weenie dogs and an adorable Pomeranian in a bejeweled wagon. The walk started on the Congress Street Bridge (I was so excited to get the picture of Chris and Ella with the capital in the back) and went down Caesar Chavez along the North side of Town Lake and back. There were lots of pit stops along the way to play in water fountains and cool down. At the end we got a little gold toned metal that I am going to make into a magnet. Needless to say when we got home the three of us were beat from walking in the heat. The afternoon was spent lounging and watching Charlie Wilson’s War while in the evening I did a little arranging of shelves and cleaning. I know this sounds ridiculous, but I wish my housekeeper would not pick things up on shelves to dust. When you have as many knick knack filled shelves as I do one Dream Pet facing the wrong way or Kokeshi Doll misplaced makes the whole room look out of sorts.




Today was a very special day because after 8 classes Ella graduated Pet Smart Puppy Class! Sadly only 2 of her classmates, Guinness and Stella, showed up. We played games and got to show off our special tricks before we got our diplomas. Ella did an amazing sit, down, sit, shake that really brought the house down. If you look closely, you can almost see a tear of pride in the teacher's eye.




At the end of class everyone got a new chew toy and a ball as well as a diploma. I tried to take a picture of Ella in her regalia but she was not having it so I had to do a stealth photo where she didn’t know she was wearing the hat. You can see her classmate Stella the boxer gladly wore his little cap, tassel and all.



We came home and celebrated by filling up the baby pool and grilling some veggie fajitas. Lucy loves the pool more than Ella, but Ella loves nothing more than getting sprayed in the face with the water hose so she still got plenty wet and had a good time. I can still smell wet dog out here in my studio as everyone happily naps in the living room.

Blogs & Beads Plus 5 Random Links of Goodness

Blogs and Beads is being spiced up today with pictures of the latest addition to Naughty Secretary Club a dozen new Nouveau Bracelets! Don't forget the 5 random links at the bottom.



About.com Jewelry Making
Wire is a great medium for jewelry making, and with this new DVD review you can findout how you can turn straight wire into super cool bangle bracelets.

Art Bead Scene
Obessing over details leads Cindy Gimbrone to revise her MF Bird. No, she's not frustrated she means Modern Folk Bird.

Jennifer Jangles Blog
See the first ceramic beads Jennifer made.



Jewelry & Beading
What to do with those odd-shaped treasures you pick up on vacation this summer!

Katie's Beading Blog
Feeling the economic pinch in your purse? There are plenty of ways to make cool jewelry with stuff you already have.

Naughty Secretary Club
So many social networking web sites and so little time. Find out how Jen utilizes websites like My Space, Indie Public, Twitter and more to help promote her jewelry business Naughty Secretary Club and spread the crafty gospel.



PearlEsq.
Check out what blingy wonders Robin's been beading while recovering from her knee surgery!

Savvy Crafter
Need a card for your favorite beader? Candie may have just the thing!

Snap out of it Jean! There's beading to be done!
Margot will be posting in a cool crafting group but still visiting here. When I get the url, I will post it for that group. Until then, check out this repost of her fantastic pocketbook which I adore and treasure she made me!



And now time for the 5 random links of the week!


SPARKLE CRAFT - It's the end of an era, Sparkle Craft is closing their doors. After making some of the cutest handmade guitar straps and belts this side of the Mason Dixon line for years Tina is hanging up her sewing machine for a bit to allow time to write her new book and focus on her teaching schedule. You just have a wee little bit of time left to snag something made by one of the grandmothers of the Indie Craft world.


JEFF KOONS - Last week when I scanned in all those Jonathan Adler pictures for the Bedroom Bonanza Blog Post (Part 2 coming Monday!) I saw a picture that made me remember just how much I love the art of Jeff Koons. His sculpture of Michael Jackson and Bubbles is a personal fave.


BATHROOM GRAFFITI - My hair dryer broke this week and I am deeply considering ordering one of these that are shaped like a gun. Hillarious yes, but will it actually dry my hair worth a darn. Can you imagine trying to go through airport security with this in a carry on bag.


PIXIE MARKET - I recently went to a party for Tito’s Vodka. When getting dressed for this party I was determined to wear my new gladiator sandals, but it was cool outside. What is a girl to do? I know I will cut the toes out of my tights so they are not quite leggings, but not quite tights. My friends gave me a hard time about the look and I felt like perhaps I had a made a fashion faux pas. That is until I came across Pixie Market and saw the models sporting the same look. I felt somehow vindicated by the pictures.


JESSICA GRINDSTAFF - Actually not just Jessica, my passion is really for rosettes period. A few months ago I scored several prize ribbons at an antique mall that I have been taking apart and making into jewelry like the Best in Show Bracelet. Also look for a rosette themed project in The Naughty Secretary Club: The Working Girls Guide to Handmade Jewelry.