WELCOME

Greetings fellow Blingsters!
My first blog is a momentous occasion, let’s cling our glasses and cheer (it counts even if your glass is filled with orange juice!). I have been encouraged for many moons now to create a blog so I can fill y’all in. Katie Hacker (http://www.KatieHacker.com), great beading queen, author, TV celeb and friend wins the MEA (Most Encouragement Award). I’ll be sending her plastic…er, ah, I mean lovely priceless bronze award statue in the mail this week! LOL!


Welcome all and thanks for reading. I plan on blogging every week although if there’s any major excitement or I win the lottery, it may be longer between blogs!

WRITERS PARADISE
I just returned from my first ever author sabbatical! I am under contract with Interweave Press (http://www.InterweavePress.com) for my first ever glossy paged book (the first book I wrote, Sassy Silky Savvy, did NOT have glossy pages). I am more than excited about this new book which will be launched fall 2008. I will be divulging ALL my Sassy Silky secrets along with 29 new fabric beads created just for YOU my dear Blingsters. Some are shiney, some are leathery, some are vintage and everything in between. My book will include all the steps and real purdy pictures too! Swarovski (http://www.create-your-style.com/website.php) is co-sponsoring my book so you can be sure there will be plenty of bling. Anyhoo, I got to spend a week on my beloved Lake Minnetonka, MN where I grew up. My second family was gracious enough to let me stay in their fabulous home if I took care of Dave the cat. Such a deal I said! Thanks so much Jan & John for sharing your peaceful abode with me, it was so healing for my soul and I feel like a newly refreshed artesian once again; bursting at the seams with abounding creativity! Plus the book is almost done thanks to Dave the cat! Meow…

CHATTING IT UP
I will be speaking at the Sept. meeting for the Denver chapter of the American Sewing Guild (http://www.asgdenverchapter.com/index.html) this Saturday. I’m looking forward to meeting some new sewing sisters and hope they have cookies! I do quite a bit of speaking and teaching for clubs and guilds all over the country. Let me know if you’d like a visit!

QUILTS QUILTS QUILTS
I’ve been busy preparing for the most-stupendous-fabulous-overwhelming quilt show in the country, the International Quilt Festival (http://www.quilts.com) in Houston October. I’m teaching 4 classes and doing 2 Samplers (already sold out). See my website for class pictures and information (http://www.kristalwick.com/events.htm). Still a few spots left but these classes will sell out before the show starts so if ya want em’ grab em!

LOVEBOAT HERE WE COME!
I was recently invited to teach on the Princess Cruise Lines (http://www.princess.com/) next year. Should I confess to packing already? Shhhhh, don’t tell…
I will be teaching jewelry classes on board while we’re at sea. Hmmmmm where shall we go? I am mainly concerned with the whole bathing suit situation (ladies can I hear an AMEN on this?). I am requesting from you dear Blingsters your most creative diet. Send them to me through my website: http://www.KristalWick.com and the top 5 winners get FREE goodies (could be finished jewelry, Sassy Silkes, my book, etc.). Help me help YOU!

FAVORITE LATEST READ
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (http://www.elizabethgilbert.com). I am almost done with this luscious book so don’t tell me the end if ya know it! I just gotta share with you all how WONDERFUL this book is. I can almost taste the pasteries she devours in Italy! Thanks Elizabeth for a phenomenal experiential journey that was a large part of refreshing this artist’s heart & soul!