more silver bella...

I'm sure you are getting tired of my gushing about Silver Bella, but I still have so many more photos to share and stories to tell. Unfortunately, I don't have all my projects finished, and since getting home, have been so busy there has been no time to work on any of them. So, I am going to post projects as I finish them, and wrap up my Silver Bella posting with these final photos {and the link to the Silver Bella pool on flickr, so you can check out all the completed projects}...

I was thrilled to take soldering with Sally Jean as my first class. We made three little charms each, and I am so hooked. I will be buying my own soldering iron as soon as possible. I met Sandy, another Canadian Bella, in this class and on our last day in Omaha we made a trip to Archivers together, along with Renee and Natalea. I also ran into Janice of Papier Valise, who was assisting Sally Jean in her class, and who I met at a scrapbooking event last year in Edmonton. I love to shop at Papier Valise!

My second class was the Winter Faerie Shrine with Kim Kwan where we altered a cigar box into an adorable piece of art. Kim was so much fun, she is the self-proclaimed "Bad Bella". I'm almost finished my box, photos to come.

I loved stitching with the sweet Rebecca Sower in my Fabric Art Adornments class. I will be making more of these charming bracelets for sure...

Look at the care that Rebecca puts into her class kits...

One of the highlights of the weekend was the Silver Bella luncheon with Mary Engelbreit.

She was so great, so down to earth and open. And she did address the topic about her magazine publisher, but sadly we will still have to wait and see what happens. ME assured us that the magazine will be back, possibly in a new format, sometime soon...

I had a great time at the luncheon with Renee, and was thrilled when Mary Smilove of Sweetpeas & Snapshots joined us at our table! Is it weird that I love her shop so much {from seeing it featured in magazines and online} even though I have never had the chance to go there in real life.

After the luncheon I met ME and had my print autographed...

and had to run to make it to my next class, Holiday House Tour with Charlotte Lyons! I ended up getting there before some of the other Bellas, so while we were waiting for class to start, Charlotte told us some stories about her and ME! How cool is that - stories from when they first became friends, and about their children, and how ME got started, etc. And then, ME walk into our class to talk to Charlotte...

I couldn't believe ME and Charlotte Lyons, two artists that I admire so much, were right there, in the same room as me...I {heart} Silver Bella!

I sat with Andra in the House class, who I met at the ME luncheon. She was so fun to craft with, and she gave me the cutest pin cushion ever, that she made {the strawberry that she is holding}...

Here are some of the houses from our class {mine is the second one from the left at the very back}...

My final class at Silver Bella was Better Backgrounds with Carolyn Peeler {also a Canadian Bella}. So cool to learn all her tricks and techniques for mixed media collage. This is what I came up with in her class {a little something to hang in Miss S's pinkalicious room maybe?}...

but I think it still needs some finishing touches, to be added soon.

And that should be {although I'm not making any promises} my final lengthy post about Silver Bella. I'll leave you with these photos from the charming Old Market District in Omaha...

Ciao Bella!