Jill said it better than I ever could....
AND she has a book cover to show....so here she is:
     http://networkedblogs.com/vgF2D

People I love....
From time to time I would like to share a bit of info about some of the amazing people I've met and become friends with in my sparklie world.  I'll be doing a lot of this, 'cause this sparklie trek I've taken has led me to a lot of really spectacular people!
And, because she convinced/coerced me into blogging again, I'm starting with Pat Reisenberger.  Pat is a serious over-achiever...she has more than one blog - and she keeps up with them regularly in a fun, chatty, manner that makes you feel you are just on the phone with her.  My favorite is her Crafty Retailer Blog:  http://www.thecraftyretailer.blogspot.com/  It is full of cool info about running your own business in the arts & crafts field.  Pat has tons of experience, she began marketing her business in the days before it was easy (with Facebook and LinkedIn and all the other social media sites) and has managed her own retail brick & mortar art/craft store.
Pat and I have been chatting and posting to each other for more than a year through our CYS Ambassador connection, but we met "IRL" at the CREATE YOUR STYLE in Tucson Ambassador Showroom last month.  She is as bright and warm as the sun from her Florida home!  Pat is also stunningly beautiful, and if this were Junior High I'd hate her.  But Pat is such a full kettle of bubbling goodness it was impossible to not be enchanted with her.  She designs primarily in felt and embellishes with Swarovski Elements in the most creative and innovative ways.  I can imagine her students are just spellbound by her, and some day I'm going to treat myself to one of her classes.
So...go over and read her blogs, The Crafty Retailer (above) and her really fun Urban Stitch Studio:  http://networkedblogs.com/uVNrL.  The woman is now RAISING GOATS!
I really regret that Pat and I didn't get our picture taken together...except this one.  Pat is on the far right and she is wearing one of her amazing felted and embellished scarves....I've got to get one of those...

Back to Blogging

OK, so like a large percentage of Bloggers, I started with the best intentions to write on a regular basis, and then...well, stuff happens.
So, I'm re-committing myself to keeping my blog up to date.

The good news is, I have good news to share.
I've been a busy lady over the past year or so, and now have a teaching schedule I can post up here, both Southern California and National.  I'll be putting that calendar up soon.

I also have projects published recently:
Wirework, Fall 2011
Bead & Button December 2011
Bead Design Studio December 2011
And...I'll have more projects coming, one in Bead Design Studio (Date TBD) and another project in Bead & Button magazine October 2012

And if looks like I've written 3 new blog posts all today...well, I just transferred a couple of my CREATE YOUR STYLE with Swarovski Sparkling Community Ambassador blogs over here.  In the future I'll be able to link my blogging to have everything appear at one time...ah, yes, as soon as I learn how!

Website is actually almost finished...will link to it soon.  I'd love to have your feedback.
So lots and lots of Sparkles and Smiles in my neighborhood - and I promise to share them!
Diane

Well, the suitcase is almost packed, and I'll be heading out to the Bead & Button show in Milwaukee for my very first time in just a few hours.  I've been remembering my first major bead show....about 6 years ago now, when I went to Tucson for the first time and I took my first 2 classes. 

It was February 2006 -- and among my goals for attending the show I wanted to meet Linda Hartung.  Many of you know Linda and her fabulous WireLace and AlaCarte Clasps.  I had read about her company, and I just had to see the products and her in real life!  Well, I took her class and I just loved every minute of it -- I was completely hooked on WireLace, and of course, I loved Linda from the first minute I met her.  BTW, I met Val Hirata in that class, Mimi from Mimi's Gems, and another good friend, Sara from JewelrySupply.com. 

I was so impressed with Linda's booth...it was one of the most professional set-ups I've ever seen.  And on one end of the booth were all these fabulous pieces of jewelry using WireLace and AlaCarte Clasps.  Linda was there, and told me she didn't design them all, some of the pieces were other designers work.  Well, at that moment I said to myself: "Someday...some day, my work will be on display in Linda's booth also". 

Folks, someday is HERE!

Linda has some of my work displayed in her booth now (the Chocolate River Lariat) AND I'm doing demo's at the Bead & Button show for her!  Somebody pinch me and reassure me that I'm awake, please!  This is truly a dream come true for me....and something else, something I think about every day.  Dreams DO come true, and we can make them happen!  We just don't ever know when, or how, or where.  We just need to dream the dreams, believe they will come true, and do everything we can to make them come true, and then......then....well....somehow, someday, they will.

I'll be living one of my dreams this Friday and Saturday!

Sparkles and smiles,  Diane

                                                                                                     

Last year I wrote about the CREATE YOUR STYLE in TUCSON experience, the showroom, the classes, the parties, and by all means they were there again this year, just as sparkling and exciting. 

This year, I want to write about something else that happens in Tucson.   Something that happens to my heart.

It starts the moment I arrive.  Maybe it is the dryness of the air, the golden sunsets and layered blues of the sky, I feel energized, all the waiting is over and the magic is happening and I want to breathe it all in.

Then I go to the CREATE YOUR STYLE in TUCSON showroom.  This clean, crisp, sparkling room wipes away all my cares and transports me into a new world.  And there, there in that new world is Nicole and Krissie, and the hugging starts and happy tears are shed.  It has only been since October we saw each other last, but it both feels like forever and like yesterday...just the way you feel when you see family. 

Then one after another after another, a familiar face, a welcome hug:  from Kansas City, Pennsylvania, Milwaukee, and even from Northern and Southern California, and of course, from Austria....shrieks, yelps, joyful sounds fill the showroom, and fill my heart.

All the beautiful crystal sample pieces for the workshops are laid out in the showroom and I finally see up close and personal what everyone else is teaching...Darn!  I want to take them all. But I'm not a student here anymore, I'm a teacher, a Swarovski Ambassador, and a featured designer in the new CREATE YOUR STYLE Magazine.  My heart does a backward flip and simultaneous cartwheel when I see the pieces I had kissed good-bye so many months ago -- the displays are stunning, everthing glistens in the light.  How did I ever get here?  I'm pinching myself...how can this be real? How can this be possible? Don't they know I'm just a little girl who likes to play with my mom's sparklie "jewels" and draw pictures of dresses and shoes and handbags and pretend they are all mine, pretend I have parties to go to where I can wear the dresses and shoes and carry the pretty handbags?  And then, in a little corner of my heart is a glow, and warm realization that yes, this IS real, these are my accomplishments -- these are my realized goals, it IS possible, for me, for all of us.

          

And it goes on, as the week goes on.  Reconnecting with my darling friends...friends who I have met in Tucson over the years now (OMG, has it really been 6 years!) I've omitted most of the last names, cause after reading this it sounded like I was name-dropping something awful, but these are friends I could only dream of having, like Laura Timmons (one of the most amazing souls anyone could meet -- I remember I asked Andreas a few years ago to introduce us....little did I dream we would become such soul-sisters), and Lisa, Leslie, Deb & Deb, Brenda, my dearest June, Jamie, Kristal, Val, Monica, Katie, Lilian, Tammy, Diane, my absolute darling Linda Hartung  -- everyone one of these ladies has increased the size of my heart, and they keep blowing it up like it is some gigantic balloon.  And then...hearing about weather problems and flight cancellations, and my heart deflates a bit.  Peg, Sandy, and Anna won't be there...oh no, I was so looking forward to seeing them also. Jubilation later in the week when Anna WAS able to get to Tucson...lots more hugging, and boucing up and down while hugging happend then!  And Fernando...Nick, Christian, Walter....Tucson isn't just about the ladies!

                                      

All of this happens because of Swarovski, because of CREATE YOUR STYLE.

And so many new friends, Heather, Marlene, Pam, Rae, Kelly & Vivian, Anne, Dana, Kim & Kim, Paula & Paula, Jill & Jill, and Theresa, -- my heart just keeps stretching as all these lovely people jump in.  And of course, my roomie Stephanie; shared experiences, shared laughs and shared love enlarges my heart even more. 

There are favorite vendors to revisit -- Beckie, Nikia, Kay, Cindy, Rosalyn, Lisa and many new ones to meet.  Parties and more introductions, more reconnections, more hugs, even sightings of a few San Diego neighbors...a few slightly embarrasing photos taken; more friends and more memories made.  I never thought there was room inside me for my heart to grow this big.

Next year and in years to come there will be shrieks and hugs as we see each other again...and our hearts grow even bigger.

In Tucson.

Sparkles and smiles!