Friday, April 30, 2010

we need your help for hawaii's kids!

Kids Hurt Too (one of our charities close to our BG hearts) is one of the groups that got to work with ProjectFocus Hawaii!

ProjectFocus Hawaii is a local non-profit run by Lisa and Laurie, and is VERY close to my, and especially Jason's heart. He has always told me how much photography has meant to him and his creative expression, and how we believed that it could be a wonderful experience for kids. When we found out about ProjectFocus, it was like a dream come true. We look forward to working with them AND if they get VOTED TOP 10 PROJECTS AT THE END OF THIS DAY, THEY GET $25,000!

Please click here and vote! The last time we rallied, we got 50,000 books for Hawaii's keiki that arrived last month, yippeee!!!

Rally rally, come on peeps! Just vote.. you will have to either facebook, or fill out the form but $25k for Hawaii's kids at risk, is worth it!

Project Focus Goals

  • • Encourage children to have a "voice" through the camera lens
  • • Build self-esteem and self-awareness through use of photography
  • • Facilitate private school scholarships for deserving participants
  • • Provide mentoring opportunities for kids beyond scope of program
  • • Provide media exposure & visibility for our non-profit partners'

LOVE Jamie!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Charity Fair, for your mama!

Makana mai ka pu'uwai! Gift from the heart :)
Here's some pics of what you will see this Sunday May 2nd at our annual Mothers Day Charity Fair!!




IT'S GONNA BE FUN!!!
Slap on some sunblock, and head on down from 10 -2pm! We got baked goodies, jewelry, crafts, silent auction, raffle, and neat things - ALL for charity!! 25 - 100% off the monies we make go to various local organizations like, foodbank, meals on wheels, path clinic, kapiolani breast health center, kids hurt too, and MORE!

This is somewhere along the lines of our 11th one, and we hope you can join us as we look forward to raising $10,000 or more for our charities! We've hit that goal MULTIPLE times, let's do it again!!

See you Sunday!
byeee, jamie

Sunday, April 18, 2010

fibers are pretty too!




so now that we are officially on a kumihimo rampage, i'm totally into threads. look at our new pretties that just came in! michelle and i coordinated some of the hand-dyed silks and here's just some of our new combos!

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and in case you were wondering where michelle's color and design skills come from... take a look at what here mom made us for easter!! evelyn is so talented with her flower designs, and i've been a fortunate recipient for the last decade.

sometimes, i get the impression that people believe that being creative is inherent. like, you are, or you aren't. you are born that way, and the end. this is based on years of observing my customers telling me this "fact". like, my hair is brown and i'm not creative.

i think that creativity shows up in how we deal with things, roll with the punches, adapt to not having enough, or having too much. i truly believe we are all creative and allowing ourselves to feel inspiration and express that energy from within is key to our happiness and why we are here.

if you want to tap into your creative self, and need some assistance in doing so, email me. i'm happy to spend some time with you to jumpstart your creative flow!

aloha! jamie

Friday, April 16, 2010

be my friend!


my friend and sometimes assistant, clarine, made theses samples to inspire you! we brainstormed an easy project that was PRETTY and fun, and came up with these! want to make one, just let me know!

AAAAAND, i just added a "friend" column on the right... see it? see that it has 3 peeps? come on my friends, michelle... anna.... stop lurking and show your faces!!!!

although, when i think about it.. i really blog for me. but if there is an audience, i'm thinking about putting more "show n' tell" videos up - i have a bunch of neat ideas... demoing how to crystallize a gadget, metal stamping, kumihimo-ing with beads... anyone interested?

besides me, gina (who works for me), dee, and shea (who made my blog) now i'm laughing cause that's kinda funny!!!! hellloooooooo... is anyone out there????????

luv jamie

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

my favorite bangles

recently, i "re-released" a bangle that i made years ago, and to my surprise it REALLY took off this time around! i'm learning that there are no "junk projects", just inopportune timing! i can't tell you how many times in the past 12 years michelle and i've created something, and had NO ONE interested in it. we'd look at each other and sigh and ask "how come??"

we're like two little old ladies minus the rocking chairs - watching trends come and go... and sighing and shaking our heads together in disbelief :)

AnYhoW - onto some silver wire bangles....

i've been teaching it as a custom class, and with each new student, i learn even more (so terry, if you're reading this, email me!) so there's more to share with every new class. that's what's fun about CREATING - there's no mistakes- just new ideas!

michelle and angela surprised me with their mad skillz - cause i didn't realize that they've only taken basic wire wrap - i was in "jamie intense mode" and had them wrestling with 10 gauge wire (crazy thick), hammering, shaping, using metal stamps, specialty hammers, a bracelet mandrel and more!! i was soooo proud - they were daring, experimental, willing to try anything, and went for it! my favorite kind of student :)

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michelle's bangles: one featuring kyanite (a stone for communication and peace), the other energetically hammered flat and stamped with hearts!

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angela's bangles: one featuring prehnite (for comfort and feeling safe), the other stamped with baby stars!

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this pic features all the gem bangles (including mine with the chunk o' tourmaline, that i made as a demonstration)

so much fun!! let me know if you want to make one too! they're pretty simple in technique and evidently, all you need is basic wire wrap skills and a "can do" attitude! i'll help you select a gem that is "just right" for you!

luv ya! jamie

Thursday, April 8, 2010

i heart art clay!

got to play with art clay with cathy this week (before i got sick - which is why my post is sluggish in arrival)

nice part about blogging is that it requires very little effort, no talking, and therefore no coughing. love it!

made this camera charm for jason, it's about 1" in length. i rubber stamped it onto the clay and exacto'd the handle part out, so i can wrap beads onto it and make it a charmie! my impressions weren't deep enough, so i scratched them deeper before we fired it. art clay is forgiving!

this was made with a "snakey" tube and was SUPER EASY! probably took like a few minutes to make both. love things that are simple, AND cute! my faves - one has a loop that fell off (remember, i'm a newbie), so i'm going to refire it back on. art clay is forgiving.

i stamped a bamboo impression, then stamped "chikara" in hiragana (means strength in japanese). the bamboo stamping wasn't quite deep enough so cathy burnished it further, because, what?? art clay is forgiving.

it was so much fun! the hardest part is deciding what to make cause i had sooooo many ideas, and not enough time. in our one day, i made a BUNCH (more than pictured here), and will post them... but i want to turn them into jewelry first to impress y'all!

thanks cathy, you are a great teacher, and if i'm not sick on sunday, i'm taking the clayday play with cathy! resting at home, and storing up a lot of creative energy.

cough cough, jamie