One of my favorite days of the year has arrived! St. Paul Craftstravaganza is almost here. This year it’s bigger and better then ever! They have expanded to two buildings and are now hosting 140 artists. Wow! I hope you can make it, I have a lot of new designs to show.

I had no idea what was going to happen when I moved to California 17 months ago. All I knew was that I needed a change and that no matter what happened I would always have Minnesota to fall back on. That beautiful midwestern city that has supported and nurtured me my whole life. But, the sunny days and idea of spending quality time alone atop a mountain was calling. I packed up my car and headed west to Los Gatos, California. After 5 months of working at my jewelers bench everyday, traveling out of town every chance I got (about every two weeks) and doing a little consulting work for Nunn Design, I was ready for a little more structure to my schedule, which was a surprise to me.

I landed a job at Beaducation.com by chance and started March 1st of 2011. Who knew that this opportunity would be the life preserver I needed to give me a kick in the butt. Working with inspiring and truly supportive people has been a wonderful experience. Working for a company that nurtures your creativity and individuality is an experience that will forever change the way I work with others. I am happy to go to work everyday and feel a part of an awesome team.

I am now writing a jewelry making book for Interweave Press with the encouragement and support of many friends, I continue to make jewelry for my Everthine Jewelry shop, starting a dog tag shop on Esty called Fetch, and working at Beaducation. I continue to travel a lot and love seeing new places and experiencing new things all the time.

I guess the purpose of this rant is to say… taking the chance was the right choice. The opportunities, experiences and work that I am doing is challenging and I am learning priceless lessons. And, I am homesick and miss my family and friends everyday, and every time it gets hard, it takes a lot of courage to not run home to Minnesota. But, I wouldn’t change a thing, these last 17 months has taught me more about myself and the world around me then I’ve ever learned before.

Atop Santa Cruz Mountain looking west toward the Pacific.

On April 1st my boyfriend Nick and I took a day trip north of San Francisco to Point Reyes. Here are a few picture from that day. Pictures from the top: Happy California cows a little north of Sausalito, Stinson Beach, The Golden Gate Bridge with San Francisco in the background, bluff overlooking the ocean somewhere on Highway 1 between San Francisco and Half Moon Bay at sunset. It was a great day.

I have a new class available on Beaducation.com (the wonderful company I work for) and it’s FREE! In this 20 minute class I cover how to create your own designs out of sheet metal using a jewelers saw. After this short class you’ll be on your way to making any shape you can imagine!

Here is the class description from the class detail page on the Beaducation.com website; The sky is the limit in your designs when you can create any shape you can imagine. Instructor Aisha Formanski will show you how to use paper and plastic templates, and tracing methods to saw and pierce your own designs. Mastering this ancient tool is fun and rewarding and well worth a little practice.

A few weeks ago I drove up to Berkeley to take a class with Joe Silvera. Joe and his wife Anat teach a variety of classes out of their studio and I had been meaning to take a class with them for over a year. This one day class covered shaping and finishing hammer faces and making your own steel stamps. I use a large variety of hammers and have always wanted to make my own steel stamps so I was SUPER excited to take this class! Joe is a wonderful teacher and truly knows his stuff. I left the class with a great understanding and excited to take the knowledge and push it further. Joe teaches all over the country and also wrote a book called Soldering Made Easy that covers the basics of soldering for jewelry making. And, for those of us who like to see what we’re learning in action there are also DVDs. If you make jewelry and are looking to expand your knowledge I would sign up for a class with Joe and Anat Silvera a.s.a.p.!

It’s been a whirlwind of writing, creating project samples and editing lately. I’ve been working towards my “half book” deadline and it’s beginning to take shape. Writing my book has been a great lesson in patience. Writing is a solitary task in this case and I am dissecting and explaining a technique that is truly my own. I am constantly rewriting, changing the approach and second guessing my choices. But the hard work is paying off! I have strong projects, instructional step outs and patterns and I can’t wait to have my published book in my hands.

My beautiful new logo was designed by the talented Rae Danneman. She is a wonderfully creative designer who is a master of multi-tasking. Visit her pop up vintage shop Mighty Swell in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Look through a window into what inspires Rae by following her on Pinterest. Thank you Rae for creating an image that captures Everthine Jewelry perfectly.

My first full length class for Beaducation.com has launched! This FREE class will teach you how to rivet and engrave to create this beautiful pendant! There are also some great tips that even the most advanced jewelry maker will enjoy.

Another successful No Coast has come and gone. I received a lot of great feedback about my jewelry and I truly appreciate it. I spoke with a lot of people about custom orders, please contact me at info@everthinejewelry.com if you would like to discuss a custom piece for yourself. I made a bunch of new crafty friends and saw a lot of familiar faces from past craft sales. This is always my favorite event of the year and this year was the best yet!

It’s the holiday shopping season and I would like to chat about buying local. As you have all ready heard, it’s a great idea! In the D.I.Y.  jewelry world, less and less items are made, produced or sold here in the United States. Most of the beads, stringing materials and tools are made overseas. I recently purchased myself a set of Tronex. Tronex tools are made here in California and I purchased them through a small local business, Beaducation.com. Now, I could have purchased a variety of different sets from a handful of manufactures and I could have popped onto Amazon to find the cheapest seller, but it felt better to support the small local businesses here in the United States. Not everyone can afford a set of Tronex pliers (I only could because I received my book advance), but you can make the choice to purchase your set at a local bead store in your area. Every time I use my pliers I am happy that I am supporting my local community.