SuzeBlogz

92 on Saturday

When it hits 92 degrees F on a weekend some people like to stay put in their air conditioned houses...or hang out at a pool...we rode over to Ocean Grove Beach for their 9th annual juried art show.

If you remember, I took Elizabeth & Susan to Ocean Grove last weekend cause its such an interesting place. The architecture alone is worth spending a day there.

and, some of the very inventive creative landscaping !!

even the littlest people enjoy Ocean Grove !!

(hello Jared !!!)



but,I was intent on finding my friend Michelle Bernard

who owns "Yesterdays Trash" and takes a booth there every year to sell her amazing hand made creations...jewelry AND unusual art..

Her hand made  TILLIE Knock Down Dolls are a big favorite

and her vintage pieces fly off the table

walking a bit further...
 

there's always some junk that you never know how it made it into a juried show...

and thrn there's something really stunning...

BUT...92 is just a wee bit too hot to be out there walking around the sand all day...

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in the evening The Lenster and I headed out to Long Island for a 60th birthday party for Lennys motorcycle buddy Stu.

Stu with his gorgeous 81yr old mom

they live in a stunning English Tudor style home and the backyard was turned into partyland

Buffet style

all thrown together by his amazing wife Eileen, who got up to read her "Top 10" list of the things she loves about Stu...it was fantastic !

and this was 'our' group of some of his biker buddies..not exactly Hells Angels !!

we had a marvelous time..Happy Birthday Stu

so, whatz on for today....no clue...we'll just wait to see how it goes !

Deported !

Oh...did I say DEPORTED !!!

L O L

All packed up to DEPART !

Elizabeth & Susan headed out to spend a few days in Philadelphia then they head back to Toronto...we had the BEST time together. I double checked after they DEPARTED and found Elizabeth left her computer charger (by now I'm sure she's bought another !) and some delicious cookies....wahoo..those are MINE now !!

It was tooooo quiet in the house...I got busy making 2 commission pieces that a friend ordered

I even finished off the clasps with wire protectors..

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then I finished off one of the Epoxy Clay pieces for MYSELF that I'd started working on last week. If you recall...Here's how they started out..

I used a tiny bit of Rub n Buff, Perfect Pearls and Stickles on the clay surface

I LOVE IT

Elizabeth brought me a wonderful felt & fabric necklace as a present...now THIS is really cool. I need to learn how to do these...!

well..my outlook for today is....

off and running....

who gets to be this lucky...?

me...me...me...me

I get to be this lucky...

I have wonderful, cool, talented loyal friends

today Julianna Hudgins (l) came by for the day to see Elizabeth, her mom and me.

we went to lunch at the clubhouse in my development

and I gave them all a tour of my development

whch is on a golf course

and has a fabulous swim & cabana club

and then we came back to the house to watch Julez in action with Beadalons Artistic Wire

She is the QUEEN of wire.... or maybe she's just the Queen period !!! She has always been involved with wire and did amazing demos and classes for Beadalon at CHA.

she does the MOST remarkable things..


and makes it all look so simple...

and she showed us how she also coils beads


In the meantime....Susan is not too shabby a jewelry designer herself....

look at what SHE designed and made

and this one is ALL done with PMC

I mean seriously folks...I have some TALENTED GIRLFRIENDS !

Small drawback to the days events.....

I must have brought a wasp in with me when we were outside cause it got up under my shirt and STUNG ME. I've never in my life been stung by anything before...YIKES...it stung all right, but, lucky for me..no allergic reaction !

I ripped off my shirt.....(good thing I was in a house full of women) & then Elizabeth murdered the bad creature !!

 (sorry...I wasn't feeling much like putting him back outside!)

and after some ice, vinegar to kill the sting and anti-itch cream life was much better.

Tomorrow...the Canadian entourage goes home...

I'm already sad and it isn't even morning yet.

to the beach....

but..... not just any beach...the Asbury Park boardwalk...

famous you know...

in case Elizabeth looks familiar to any of you...especially those in Toronto, Canada, it's because she owned 'A Scrapbookers Dream' in Bolton, which she just recently closed.

so...a little stroll along the boardwalk

led us, of course, to one of MY favorite shops...Carla Gizzi

I always love the unusual things Carla carries in her shop

a little further along the boardwalk...water parks

(check out the Stone Pony in the background.....think Steve Van Zandt.Stevie Van Zant & Bruce Springsteen)

the New Jersey national 'rats with wings' bird...the scavenger Seagulls....they'll steal ANYTHING, and...they are EVERYWHERE !

then we stopped to eat at Langostas

so fun that every menu had a kids drawing on the front...

and Elizabeth enjoyed one of their famous Mojitos

and then MORE SHOPPING...

The fabulous Robert Legere beach shop

I was sort of doing flip-flops in this store...I wanted to take EVERYTHING home....like EVERYTHING....

but...we had to move on...to a store called Borgata

I just wanted to buy the head mannequin...not for sale...damn..

Looked like it might (finally) rain at this point...so...hop back in the car and take a little ride through historic Ocean Grove, home to some of the states most incredible Victorian style homes and beachfront B&B's

By the time we got home....where we intended to have some play time....we were a little knocked out!!

Good thing I have a massage chair...

BUT

the night is still young and tomorrow we have a surprise special guest coming to visit..

stay tuned.....

in the meanwhile....remember my motto....

dont forget my ETSY site...still some way cool things going on over there...

keep going...

Poor Susan was having a bit of back pain so I arranged for her to see my most fabulous massage therapist Doug first thing in the morning...that meant...dropping her off while Elizabeth and I look to kill an hour...

Now, of course, all of my friends are shopaholics..and, Doug's office is right down the road from the M-A-L-L ....

HENCE......

we get to the mall before the stores are even open...BUT...the mall does let you in to walk around and one store is always open early...

we get Elizabeth her Starbucks fix and we kill an hour at the APPLE STORE learning all about the new Lion Operating System for Mac.

I may even be brave enough now to go ahead and download it without concerning myself over whether they've fixed any 'bugs' yet or not !!

I'm still at the 'pondering that' stage....

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then we go back, pick up Susan and go back to shop...we meet this cute little Chinese lady who's busy trying on hats

she wants opinions...

we have plenty....none of them good....

then Susan tries

and Elizabeth tries

Im not entirely crazy enough to do hats..I do glitter bras...

and I do shoes

(there will be NO calling attention to my one UGLY unpainted toenail...it's too long of a story !)

and the sweet little Chinese gal tells us she needs a hat cause she wants to keep the sun off her face BUT she really prefers her umbrella...from China

and she's sort of following us around and chatting up a storm...meanwhile I'm totally coveting her umbrella

where did my nerve and verve go??? I should have asked her if she'd to sell it to me !! Damn !! I've never been shy before !

I DO contemplate the blue wig...but...

I'm not the "Risque Bliss' Type !!!

A little stop at Nordstrom where we meet 'Rudy"

I had no idea Nordies was animal friendly.

Lunchtime we head over to P.F. Changs where its all about the desserts

and by 5 pm we'd had it....shopped out !

DINNERTIME....

well...considering it only hit 96 today we got a lot done !!

tomorrow we may just stay in and have a play day!

how to tire out your friends

so excited....Susan & Elizabeth have arrived from Toronto, Canada !

Lets immediately start schlepping them around !!

First day here...(they practically just walked in the house) and we rush to take them down the shore ( that's New Jersey speak for 'the beach/water' )to Manahawkin to a place called The Dutchmans

never been there before....they had a German food type menu

and a BAND !

not just ANY Band...Contraband (clever !!) who are friends of ours

(dad John on R, son Johnny with the hilarious shirt on L)

John...(on the R, blk shirt) has been our really close friend for 20 years...but we hadn't seen him in a long time and wanted to surprise him (& his wife Robin)...which we surely did !!!

so..that was just a really great evening !

Up and raring to go this morning...energy abounding...

we 'schlep' Susan and Elizabeth for breakfast to our favorite diner...where we take all special friends...The Jackson Diner

where, once again, it's all about the food

like Blintzes !!!

next door is the cutest puppy place...(no, they are not from mills...no lectures)

next we scoot up to the bead store....we spend a  l-o-n-g time there....we buy tons...we are tired and poor now....it's 104 degrees F outside..perhaps we should stay longer in the bead store...

but NO....we whip them down to our other favorite haunt...Calgo Gardens

rush..rush...Elizabeth buys a beautiful necklace there

off we go to Harbor Frieght...The Lenster finds stuff...

Elizabeth finds stuff

Susan is beginning to fade......we take Susan home...

and off we go to stop and see Jen and Jared who are partying with old friends

we only know good party people....

it's now 10 pm....everyone but me has pooped out...I still have energy but I've lost the fan club...

tomorrow starts a whole new adventure!!

Still playing

Tomorrow my wonderful friend Elizabeth will be coming to visit from Canada

and this time she's also bringing her mom Susan who is a phenom of a fine jewelry designer (like real stones & real crystals)....my luck, huh!!??

Our hope was to go into NYC for a day or two and sightsee and shop...hit the bead places, maybe Tinsel Trading, maybe M&J Trimming, maybe do the Hop on - Hop off bus like we did last time....BUT...it's supposed to be at least 100 degrees for the next few days...we're gonna have to play this by ear !!

I've been to Elizabeths house in Toronto many times

I even have my own room there..TV..private bathroom...and their cat!

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I had such a good day yesterday with the Epoxy Clay that I played with those pieces today to finish them off. I am so in love with what I did with this one I AM KEEPING IT FOR MYSELF !! I have a gut feeling this is allowed....

BUT...no fear....I did make up the other one and its up on ETSY..

like everything else on my ETSY site...just one of a kind and VERY AFFORDABLE...get busy peeps!!

BE A SUPERSTAR

 

 


with a very cool magnetic lock

and, there will be more coming cause I filled two more pieces today

cant wait to see what they look like after they harden and I Perfect Pearl them !!

No Pressure

Its really a good feeling for me when I know I'm relaxed and not feeling obligated to blog every day like I used to...in the good ole days!

 Summer is slowdown time...Pool parties with our friends are something we have a lot of fun at even tho I don't swim and actually hate the water !!

for me its all about the food and the friends....this party had sushi!!

During the summer our synagogue holds its services outdoors at the gorgeous Calgo Gardens

no shortage of Vitamin D here....7:30-8:30 pm on Friday nights

and then of course there's the business of making jewelry...here's the latest

While everyone from the Ranger gang is at summer CHA this week I whipped out my Melting Pot in their honor so I could incorporate my new love of etching and embossing brass by embedding it under UTEE. Okay...admit it...this is like way cool. The bracelet and ring are a set and both are adjustable.

*****

This necklace (finished length 22 inches) is called FLY

check out the embossed circle from Vintaj (they're at CHA this week doing demos with their findings, The Melting Pot and UTEE) and the cool pendant from Kabela Design hanging on a tree branch from Nunn Design. Remember those no hole brass beads..?..those are the Zamora Beadz that used to be in my line.

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I picked up some Epoxy Clay from Kabala Design so today I filled a pendant with it, pressed a rubber stamp into it & a decorative elemeny and left it to harden the entire day

THEN....PERFECT PEARLS

AND, A SPRITZ OF PP MIST TO SET IT. Oh boy..do I love it !

so..I tried it again...set a huge faux stone into it

WAITED...

last one

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I was also digging through a bunch of old photos I'd taken to find some real favorites that I want to put together in a Unibind Photobook just for Lenny and me...came across these..there are many more..this is just a sampling. I know someone is gonna ask what camera I use....let me just say..I have always been a SONY lover and have multiple SONY cameras...most of these were done with the digital SLR Alpha.

CHINA

CHINA

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH

FRANCE

MONETS GARDEN

LOUVRE

BALI

BALI

NEW JERSEY

promise..I'll stay busy again tomorrow !

 

$50 in your pocket

I'm heading out the door in mere moments but I wanted to get this out in time for you to give serious thought to coming to ART IS.....YOU this October

Sallianne & Ellen, The fabulous gals who run ART IS.....YOU sent me an email...

It said...."Suze, we have created a special coupon just for your readers/email/newsletter peeps

 

They must purchase a one day workshop this is the link:and when checking out they use the special coupon code: SUZE (in capital letters) and they will receive a $50 discount and be automatically registered into your workshop.  It will only work from Friday 15 to Friday 22 July, 2011

 

Details you will want:

 

A Niche in Time with Suze Weinberg

 

Monday 10 October 2011

 

Danbury Plaza Hotel

18 Old Ridgebury Road
Danbury, Connecticut 06810

Workshop Details: http://www.art-is-you.com/mysitecaddy/site3/weinberg-anicheintime.htm

  

Registration Link: http://www.art-is-you.com/mysitecaddy/site3/shop/product.htm?productID=13210 

Coupon Code: SUZE "

I hope you'll be able to come and take a wonderful Beeswax/UTEE class from me. This is my 3rd year teaching for this amazing retreat.

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just listed a fun piece on ETSY...done with UTEE...go check it out

Have a great weekend !

Refilling the empty ETSY shelves

I hope ETSY appreciates me...I'm half asleep BUT..I'm plugging away cause I made so many new things between yesterday and today....I was on a roll of some sort..... and I need to get them up and running

 

if you love glass beads and especially cats or hearts...this one is perfect for you. Its called "Pussycat Pussycat I love You"

and then theres

DONT BE JADED

How about "I HEART YOU"

Its simple but it speaks volumes!

This should take you back to the days of CASABLANCA

If you love color and you're bold & daring !


BUDDAH RISES

Buddah came from an old antique earring...one of a kind.



Ive been on a definite roll !!

Go check things out...

there must be somethin' you wanna buy...right???