Creativ Festival Recap

The Fall Creativ Festival in Toronto is an annual pilgrimage for crafters of every ilk: jewellery makers, knitters, crocheters, quilters, sewers, scrap bookers, felters, cross stitchers and so many more. I remember going to my first show many years ago with my Aunt Penny and Aunt Min. Penny is a weaver, beader, sewer and knitter. Min makes the most glorious quilts. Obviously, I come by my craftiness honestly, it's in my genes. 

It was also the first place that I got introduced to beading. I took a class with William Hodge. All about beading around the world. He showcased so many different types of beading including needlework of which he had made a beautiful vest and he also showed some Mexican beading such as gluing beads onto a skull. Little did I know what an impact this first foray into the world of Creativ Festival would have on me and my career. 

Fast-forward many years when I was the volunteer coordinator for the Toronto bead society and had to organize our booth at the festival. At the time I was crocheting with wire to make beautiful necklaces with beads and wire. I was lucky enough to meet Laura Timmons who also was crocheting with beads and wire. We hit it off immediately and my life was forever changed. Laura invited me to be her assistant in her classes at Bead&Button in Milwaukee and what a grand time we had. I was lucky enough to room with her and the inimitable Kristal Wick. My eyes were opened to a entire new world of beading. 

Since that serendipitous meeting with Laura, I've taught at the Creativ Festival numerous times and even taught at Bead&Button. In fact, I've never missed either show since. 

This year's Creativ Festival saw the debut of my fellow CYS Ambassadors in Canada, June Beach, Pat Reisenburger and Fernando DaSilva. Added to this mix was Calgary's Jamie North and Newmarket's Alison Layton. Although it wasn't formally announced until after the show, Alison is the newest addition to the talented group of CREATE YOUR STYLE with Swarovski Elements Ambassadors. 

I had a grand old sparkly time demoing for Dreamtime Creations and Silver Dawn Jewels. I think I did a good job of spreading the sparkle love and enabling a whole new group of people. 

As a CYS Ambassador, I attended training in Rhode Island, the headquarters of Swarovski North America. I've kept up with my training and try to learn as many different ways to incorporate Swarovski into my work. This came in particularly handy when I had to temporarily step in to start teaching Pat's class as she encountered travel difficulties. I was happy to be able to teach her class how to make a felted bar of soap and embellish it with Swarovski. 

I love what I do and hope I get an opportunity to inspire more people at the next show. 

Crystallized Nails

I am excited to be demoing two of my favourite things: flatbacks from Swarovski Elements and nail polish at the Creativ Festival on Saturday, October 12 at 5:00 pm. I have been blessed with finger nails that are really strong and grow quickly. I love to wear nail polish and like having nail art and crystals on my nails. So when I was asked to submit demo suggestions, I knew immediately what I wanted to do.

My "To-Do" was soooooo difficult (not)
1. Research nail art with crystals
2. Buy nail polish
3. Look through my stash of hot fix and flatbacks from the Swarovski Elements collection.

Here are my first attempts...


My research started and ended on Pinterest. I created a board called Crystal Nails. Then I searched for Swarovski Nails....Crystal nails....Bling Nails..... There were quite a few pictures that came up. Here are my favorites for your viewing pleasure.









Who says you have to only do your finger nails?
Toe nails need love too....

Crystal Rock Pavillion at Creativ Festival

I hope you'll join me and some amazing talent at the Crystal Rock Pavillion at the Creativ Festival October 12, 13 and 14, 2012. For more information about this great Canadian event please visit their website www.csnf.com

Creativ Festival Fall 2011

I've just arrived back in town from a successful trip to Guelph where I had a booth at the Grand River Bead Society Fair. It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces and to meet new people who share my passion for all things sparkly. Crystal Clay, crystals from the Swarovski Elements collection and bezel settings were flying out of my booth at record speed! A special thank you to Maryanne Walczak for all her extraordinary help this help: chauffeur, sales woman extraordinaire and butt kicker when needed. You should see her work a price gun!

Now my focus turns to the Creativ Festival which starts on Wednesday, October 19. I am teaching four classes and three make and takes! It still amazes me that I am teaching at this awesome Canadian event, as I have been an attendee for many years, even before I started making jewellery. My first crafty love is crochet and I also did cross stitch for years.I have also been known to sew my own clothes and made some pretty cute outfits for my son when he was a baby.  I'm pretty much an all-around crafty chica and this is my absolute favourite show.

Two of my classes are sold out:

313c6	Wed 12:30	Fundamentals in Wirework - Stephanie Dixon
315c3	Fri 1:00	Crystal Clay Quartet - Stephanie Dixon

But there is limited space available in another two:

314c3

Thu 1:00

Crystal Crochet Cuff - Stephanie Dixon

Create this hot off the runway look cuff that you can wear 365 days a year!

Learn the technique of crocheting with wire incorporating of 250 SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS.

You won't believe you made it.

Pre-requisite: able to crochet a swatch of the single crochet stitch.

305c3        Thu 5:00         Starry Starry Night - Stephanie Dixon and Laura Timmons

This is the necklace that Laura and I taught on the CREATE YOUR STYLE  cruise in April 2011! Learn the crochet wire technique from two industry experts as you create this stunning necklace while playing with some very unique SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS, traditionally not found in jewellery designs. Work with Swarovski Cupchains, Chaton bandings and over 35 of the latest innovations and colours. This technique will not only sparkle your imagination but also embellish your creativity!

I really hope you will come to the Creativ Festival to check out all the fabulous vendors, take advantage of free seminars and make and takes, and be inspired by the latest trends in the craft world.

Sparklingly yours,

Stephanie

Busy Busy Busy

Did I say busy? You betcha! Why are you so busy you may ask... so here is why and the categories that they belong to...

Hi there, my name is Mommy:

Declan and I went to the home opener of the Toronto Marlies last night at Ricoh Coliseum. Although the team lost to the Binghamton Senators in the shootout (final score 2-1), a good time was had by all. We are season ticket holders - that's 40 regular season games. There are a lot of Sunday games this year which will be a challenge as Declan's games will be Sunday nights - so we will probably have to only go to first two periods in order to make it back for his own game. It was great to reconnect with other season ticket holders who we haven't seen all winter. Sharilynn and Mary from MWSL we there also and were kind enough to give us a ride home.

We gave Brent Aubin and Bianca Lajeunesse a present for their new baby, Kelly. We also saw Annette Pogge (Justin's mom) and Marci, his absolutely adorable girlfriend.

This is Brent and Declan.

Here we are with Justin and his playoff moustache. I am pleased to report that he has shaved it off!!!

We bought a Halloween gingerbread house and put it together this afternoon. That black icing looks gross and tastes...well, gross too! ugh!

I am beading fiend

I have a bunch of orders to fill for earrings, bracelets and earrings. The Markham Curling Club social committee has ordered a bunch of bracelets and earrings and I am happy that I found a cute charm of a rock and brooms. I have also been asked to do a make and take for Swarovski at the Creativ Festival. It is going to be a pair of earrings. They are beautiful. I will do a reveal after the sesssion, so as not to take away any thunder. I have been asked to teach at Bead Junction, but I am all booked up until January so look for me there, then. I have three classes (I think - maybe more) scheduled at beadFX - so check their website for the details. Hurry though, because the classes sell out fast. I was at beadFX with Ellie Peters and we had some fun. I had bought some beads of her Etsy site and she was kind of to deliver them. Talk about an enabler!! They are gorgeous little lampwork beads that I am going to use to make an assortment of earrings. Rosemary as always was a riot and promoting my classes in a slightly overly loud voice - gee was she trying to get my attention? What a hoot! I will also be teaching at techniques night in December for the TBS and teaching at the Bead Fair in November.

Queen of the Volunteers

I am the Volunteer Coordinator for the TBS and that also means that I coordinate the TBS booth at a variety of shows along with getting people to volunteer in it. The next show is next weekend at the Creativ Festival. Next week is also the Annual General Meeting of the Markham Women's Slo-pitch League. There is a movement afoot to nominate me for President of the League. Not showing up to the AGM is not an option. When I missed the TBS election meeting, I was still elected the Volunteer Coordinator. tee hee. I will be speaking to the Scarborough Chapter of the International Association of Administrative Professionals about upcoming colour trends and jewellery fashion in November.

CineSiege

One of the major events for the Department of Film at YOrk University where I work full time is CineSiege. It is the showcase for the best student films of the previous year. There is an amazing amount of work, by a great team, in order to pull this event off. October 20 is the date of this year's fest and it will be taking place at the Royal Cinema.

Bahamas here I come:

Somewhere in the middle of all the craziness, I am heading to the Bahamas for a week for a softball tournament. Thirty-six players from Unionville and Markham leagues are heading down on October 23. We have a game the night we fly in!!! Three days of baseball and then four days of fun in the sun.

I think I am too busy to be excited. I have to focus and make to-do lists or I will become unhinged and spin completely out of control.

If the blog isn't updated daily for the next little while - you'll know why!