This Blog is Moving....

Reading my last post made me laugh. I laughed because when I wrote it, over a year ago, I was going through big changes. I was moving my studio and trying to figure out how to build a Nutritional Therapy Practice AND keep going with Larissa Spafford Designs. It's funny because I am still figuring it out. AND I'm still going with both!

I have just completely redone my entire website. I'm really happy with it, in fact, it's my favorite one yet. I'm also working on something else....

I've only told one or two people, so you are among the first to know, I'm working on an online store! It's a little daunting just typing it, but I'm doing it! I have no idea how long it will take, but it's happening.

For now, this blog is moving to my new website where I'm going to be posting more regularly. Thanks so much for reading!!!!!

Life is full of surprises if you are open to them...

I like change. It keeps life interesting and exciting. It can be difficult to go through, but when you're on the other side of it, doesn't it usually seem like it was for the best?

I love making glass beads and jewelry. I love having my studio at The Workhouse. That makes it even more difficult to be saying and doing this... I am moving my studio back to my garage.  It has been a great 2 1/2 years, but it is time for me to move on. April will be my last month of The Workhouse being home to my studio. It's definitely bitter sweet.

Why the change? I have another passion and career! It has been quietly brewing for many years. It was brewing so quietly that I didn't fully acknowledge it's existence until after it hit me, seriously, like a lightning bolt. Have you ever felt like you were just meant to do something? Like you just had to do something? That is how I still feel about beads and jewelry and that is how I feel about being a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner (NTP). I didn't know that NTPs existed, but as soon as I did, I knew that was what I needed to become.

It was just before Thanksgiving 2014 when I discovered the NTP training program. It was only a week after that before things came together and I was enrolled. Some people like to take their time and ponder their options before making major life decisions, not me, when I know, I know. Luckily school didn't start until February, so I had some time to adjust to my decision. It seemed crazy to take on something new when life was already so full. I remember thinking on multiple occasions, and even laughing about it, "I have no idea how I am going to do this, but I know I am." And I did! In October 2015, I graduated as a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner (NTP).

I have since been juggling Larissa Spafford Designs and getting my budding Nutritional Therapy practice going, along with everything else that comes with life. I have been doing some serious soul searching and wondering how I can continue to do both things well. The answer I have come up with is I can't do it all. Well, I probably could, but I don't want to. I want to have free time, to enjoy time with my friends and family, to have time to do other things I enjoy. I want more balance. To have this I am going to work less on glass and jewelry and more on Bend Nutritional Therapy.

Some things aren't changing though...you will still be able to find my work at The Workhouse, Red Chair Gallery and my Etsy shop. And...beginning in June I will be teaching nutrition workshops at The Workhouse!




 

February 26th Begining Silver Metal Clay (PMC) Class

Hi!  I have another beginning silver metal clay class coming up Thursday February 26th from 5:30 to 9pm.  Registration closes at 10am Wednesday February 18th so I will have time to order supplies and have them arrive in time. You can find more details and register online by following this link:

https://squareup.com/market/the-workhouse

These are some examples of pendants I have made using PMC. In the class you will make a pendant you can wear right out of class!  Absolutely no prior jewelry making experience is necessary. Hope to see you there!

The pmc class was a success!

Here are some pictures from my Beginning Silver Metal Clay Pendant class in September. It was so much fun!  I'm going to continue to teach the class every quarter at The Workhouse. The next class will be Thursday, February 26th, 5:30-9pm. You can sign up here.

Learn how to work with Silver Metal Clay, I am teaching a class July 17

Would you like to learn how to make your own silver pendant using silver metal clay?  I will be teaching a class July 17 at the Workhouse in Bend!  Silver metal clay is the material I use to create the silver spiral caps in the earrings shown. It is so much fun to work with. If you have been wanting to learn, now is your chance. Tell your friends! Here's some more info about the material and the class:

Beginning Silver Metal Clay
Thursday, July 17th 2014 
5:30-9:00 pm @ The Workhouse

Silver metal clay (also known as precious metal clay) is an amazing material that can be worked with like clay. As it is fired the binder burns out and leaves behind pure silver. Silver metal clay is loved among jewelers because of its ability to capture imprinted images and textures as well as its malleable nature. Through this hands on class you will gain understanding of the process of creating a silver clay object from beginning to finish. Working with basic techniques students will explore the possible applications of silver clay while creating their own pendants that will culminate in a completed necklace that can be worn straight out of class! Other possible applications include making pieces such as components for bracelets, dangles for earrings, and silver beads.

No prior experience necessary! Tuition includes all supplies which consist of a beginning tool kit that students will get to keep as well as the silver metal clay. $115

More Information and Registration @ www.squareup.com/market/the-workhouse , or you can email classes@theworkhousebend.com, or register in person at The Workhouse

Astronaut Adventures Part 2

If you read my last post, you know that my son Jasper wants to be an astronaut and I am willing to do whatever I can to help him on his way.

That is why, early one Saturday morning, when I opened up a local newspaper and saw that astronaut Charles Precourt was here in Bend for the TED x Bend talks, I knew Jasper had to go.

OMG. After all we went through to see the last astronaut presentation, I could not believe that there was an astronaut right here in Bend. The problem was it was 8am on Saturday morning. TED x Bend started in 4 hours and the tickets were sold out. The website didn’t have any contact info. How did we not know about this until now, when it was almost too late?

Somehow he had to get a ticket. Or sneak in.  

I posted a plea for a ticket on my personal and business facebook pages, then on the TED x Bend facebook page. I offered to pay for the ticket AND include a custom piece of jewelry. I checked Craigslist and there was a post for a ticket. I called, but the ticket had already gone.  Shoot. Jasper texted a kid who had been given tickets by a teacher, but he didn’t respond.

Feeling like I had done as much as I could, we packed up the computer and headed to the mountain to go snowboarding like we had planned. At least he could watch the live stream in the lodge.

Gotta love technology! On the lift ride I checked facebook. Someone had a ticket to spare! So we left the mountain after one more run and got there just in time.

Jasper really enjoyed all of the talks. The best part was.....at the after party, Jasper met Charles Precourt. He was able to hang out with him and talk to him for two hours!  He even got his business card.

I like to think by doing this I am helping him get one small step closer to space.......

Astronaut Adventures

My 15 year old son Jasper recently announced that he wants to be an astronaut. I want to encourage him to follow his dreams, no matter how big, challenging or daunting achieving them may seem. People do become astronauts. Why not him? I believe he has just as good of a chance as anyone. 

This,  along with a coincidence, a whim and information from two websites I didn’t even think to check the credibility of, is why I took the boys to Salem to attend a presentation by astronaut Chris Cassidy.

When we arrived at the community college where the presentation was going to take place there was absolutely no sign of a presentation.  My heart sank.

I looked up the information on my phone. We were in the right place at the right time. I tried calling both the contact #’s listed. One was for Greg, a principal at a local school and the other was Brenda, who works at NASA. There was no answer so I left messages. We walked all over the campus thinking maybe it was in a different building. We asked everyone we saw if they knew anything about it. No one did. A man checked the school website for us. When that showed nothing he suggested we call security because they know about all the events that go on at the school. Nope. They knew nothing about it.

I felt like there was really nothing else I could do. What started out as me wanting to be a supportive parent and help my son be inspired, had turned into a major disappointment. Great. I was starting to feel like an idiot. The kids were tired and bickering.

One consoling thought was that our hotel had a pool. We could at least go swimming. Then we saw the pool. The water had a very odd yellowy brown tinge to it. No one was going in there.  Our room was big enough, but pretty dingy. There were two ripped armchairs that someone had attempted to spruce up by pinning squares of fabric over the dirty holes on the arms. Things were just getting better and better.

Jasper fell asleep watching something about space on his i-pad. I sat there for a moment thinking about the crapy situation we were in. I couldn’t believe that this was how it was going to turn out.

I e-mailed Greg and Barbara, asking if they knew of any other presentations happening in the area the next day that we could go to. Then I started searching for more info. I came across a facebook post about a presentation that had happened earlier that day. It had Theresa, the reporters e-mail, so I e-mailed her. Within just a few minutes she e-mailed me back saying she knew Chris wasn’t going home till Thursday and there may be other presentations. She was going to contact someone who would know and get back to me.

At that point I started to feel a little better and that there may be a sliver of hope. I went to bed, but didn’t sleep very well. I woke up at 6am to check my e-mail. There was an e-mail from Greg. He said we were welcome to come to any or all of three presentations at his school that day! I gently woke up Jasper and told him the good news. I e-mailed Theresa to let her know she didn’t need to contact the other person for us. Then I received another e-mail from the Brenda telling us to contact Greg, and if I couldn’t get a hold of him to contact her again and she would help. I thanked her and let her know it was already worked out. All at once, we had so many ways it was going to work out!

We arrived at the school just as the presentation was about to start. We sat right in the front row. It was a great presentation and Jasper even got to ask Chris Cassidy a question. Crisis averted! It all worked out. I am one relieved mom.

After I got home I received an e-mail from Theresa saying she ran into Chris Cassidy and his uncle having lunch in Corvallis. She said she hadn’t seen my e-mail that said we worked it out yet, so she barged in and told Chris and his uncle about my e-mail. 

Then this morning, I got a call from the NASA space center in Houston asking if we made it to the presentation and how we liked it. Jasper thought that was pretty cool. I did too.

Wow. So much has happened since my last post back in August! At that point I was kinda wondering what the next step for me was. Well shortly after that post, some things began to come together for a big change. I moved my studio from my home, into The Workhouse!!!!!!

I could not be happier about this move. My studio is now open to the public. I am able to work, talk to people, have my work on display and sell my work all in the same space! It brings everything I love about what I do together. It is like having my own store within a store. The Workhouse is open 7 days a week from 10-5. There is always someone here, so I don't have to be here all the time (although I have been here 5-7 days a week!) There are seven other artist studios here. It's such a great atmosphere and a great place to come to work every day.

Shortly after I moved in, a local show called "My Window" came and interviewed me and several of the other artists for a special segment about shopping local for the Holidays. It was pretty exciting. Each day for 5 days a different artist interview ran several times a day on several TV channels. Here is my interview!

I followed my bliss....until it wasn’t my bliss anymore..... Now what??????

I followed my bliss of making jewelry which led to making beads, which led me to every Saturday at the farmers market for 8 years along with almost every Port Townsend craft fair, and some in Tacoma and Seattle. Then I, along with my family, followed our other bliss of snowboarding to Bend, Or.

I followed my bliss to bigger and better craft fairs throughout the west coast and even as far away as Baltimore and Chicago. 

It’s amazing what being fueled by passion can do. It was a lot of planning, packing, money, work and time. Overall it was a great and extremely rewarding experience....peppered by a few sketchy situations. Both the artists and customers (and sometimes artists were customers) I met along the way were so inspiring, and encouraging.

But one day, I found myself saying the words ‘I’m starting to loathe’ packing up for craft fairs, and setting up and taking down my booth. Loathe is not a word I use, maybe ever, especially not to describe anything I do. That is when I knew, even though at first I didn’t want to admit it, even to myself, that it was time to take a break from craft fairs.

At first the idea seemed crazy, like there was no way could I do that. But then it became easy. It was really simple. I just didn’t apply for the craft fairs. I let the deadlines pass......every time I would get an e-mail telling me about a  craft fair application deadline approaching I would delete it. Honestly, it was actually really satisfying.

So here I am, towards the end of my first summer in at least 13 years that I haven’t participated in one craft fair or market. Not one. It’s no wonder I’ve felt a little confused about what I’m doing lately. Now it’s time to apply for next years shows. Some of the deadlines have already passed, and guess what? So far, I’ve continued let them pass and haven’t applied to one.

I’m not saying I’m never going to do a craft fair again. I already felt a twinge of wanting to do one when I saw Art in The High Desert is happening this weekend. But for now I am taking a break. I’m focusing on the other areas of my art and business, the ones I do still enjoy and feel motivated about. At first I couldn’t even see any other possibilities, but now I’m seeing a lot.

The really good and very relieving to me news is that I am still completely and passionately in love with making glass beads and jewelry. When I sit down at the torch I feel like I am in exactly the right place and making even the smallest most basic bead makes me really happy. The other day, I sat down to make some large circles and flowers. They took me more than an hour each, but I was so engrossed that it seemed like only 10min. must have passed. 
One thing I do know is that I feel really good and am happy right now. I’m at peace with how things are and the uncertainty of not knowing how things are going to work out. It’s kinda fun and exciting that way. I’m open to the possibilities and hoping for the best :)

I've been working on some new designs for a while and here are some of my favorites.

 

 Here are some pictures that show how they were made

Glass rods, silver wire and gold leaf are made into beads

 

                                 
Various gauges of recycled silver wire become circles, links and ear wires.

                             Circles formed from wire ready to be soldered.

                           
             Circles after soldering and hammering, before being polished.

I made a little movie to show you how my earrings are made

Hearts

We don't really make a big deal about Valentine's Day around here. Mainly because we have our very own special holiday to celebrate this time of year. It is the anniversary of our very first date. Honestly, we don't remember the exact date, but do know it is right around my friend Kerri's birthday on Feb. 6th. This year was our 16th first date anniversary!!!!!!!!!!!! It just so happened that Robbie's mom was visiting so we were able to go on a dinner date without the kids. I really like celebrating our love on our own day.

I've only made hearts one time before as a special request from a friend. Other than that, I've never really wanted to until this year. I don't know what gave me the idea that I could just sit down and make awesome hearts right off the bat, especially after a two week break from bead making. It didn't exactly work out like that. These were a new challenge. I almost quit a few times, but I'm happy I didn't because I like how these turned out.

Being Grateful & Giving Away

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. The reasons are pretty simple. We spend time with people we love. We take time to think about what we are grateful for. This makes us feel happy and good. I like being happy and feeling good, and I like it when the people around me are happy and feeling good too.

I also really like eating yummy food. And snowboarding. I'm grateful for snowboarding. It has become our family's tradition to go snowboarding/skiing every Thanksgiving. Actually now that I'm thinking about it, it has become our family's tradition to go snowboarding/skiing on just about every holiday that falls between mid November and June 1!

I do my best to think about what I am grateful for every day. Lately, it's been first thing in the morning, before the sun comes up as I groggily drag myself out of my warm snuggly bed after hitting the snooze button three times. I'm not a morning person by nature. I usually feel like I could sleep for hours more. When I think about how grateful I am just to be here, that excites me to start my day. And large amounts of coffee. I am very grateful for coffee.

Another thing I am grateful for is you!!!!!  You who are reading this right now. Each and every one who has 'liked' my Facebook page, followed me on Twitter, looked at my Etsy store, joined my e-mail list and read my e-mails.

I am grateful to each person who has ever traded money for something I have created. For most people, this is trading your precious time. It all started with one person buying a few beads from a little dish that sat on our table in our apartment. I am grateful for each and every one.

I am grateful for each person who has ever come to my table or booth.Weather it was at my card table on the sidewalk in Port Townsend, a booth at a street fair, a Farmers or Saturday Market, a high end craft fair, or a shop or gallery.  I'm grateful for each person who has taken the time to look, ask questions, give compliments and smiles. At times smiles and true appreciation mean more than money. I am even grateful, though it can be hard to hear, for criticisms. 

I am grateful for my teachers. For workshops, classes, books, or just by the right person answering the right question at the right time. I am grateful for my students who are teachers too. Among other things, you have taught me how to teach. 

I am grateful for each and every person and every thing that has helped me on my way to where I am right now. 

All this gratitude makes me feel like giving something away. So, I am going to write each persons name who currently 'likes' my Facebook page (Larissa Spafford Designs) on a little piece of paper. I am going to put them all into this vase. 

Then I am going to randomly choose a name and give something to that person. I'm going to do this once a month. Each time a new person 'likes' my page I will add their name too. I'm not sure when I will get everyones name added, but I will let you know when I do! I'm hoping to do this by Thanksgiving. 

What are you grateful for?

Crayons & the Water Collection

I remember being a little girl and loving boxes of crayons. I especially liked the new boxes. There was something magically enticing about all those beautiful colors. Of course I had to line them up in rainbow order. Coloring was just a reason to smear those beautiful colors all over the page. I vividly remember an early homework assignment of outlining and coloring circles. I liked that one.

I remember liking their names as well. I would notice when they came out with new colors and names. Somehow, even then, I knew that there was a person who had the job of naming the colors. I thought that would be the coolest job. I kinda still do, so if anyone from Crayola is reading this, and in search of your next color namer, I would take that job! Another dream job would be creating colors. Beautiful colors of crayons, glass, or paint. That would be really fun.

Well so far I haven’t grown up to name crayons, but I do get to name colors of my beads!

Right now I’m coming up with names for my Water Collection. So far I have juicy tomato red, juicy pear green, fresh snow white and lavender dewdrop. I still need to come up with names for the grey and turquoise.

This is currently my favorite necklace. It is going away to it’s new home tomorrow, so I had to take pictures of it before it leaves. My beads and jewelry are like my babies. I got the idea for this one while sitting out in my yard this summer...or was it spring? Anyway, I wanted to make something that was inspired by water. I started with blue but could not resist making other colors too. The idea spawned a whole collection of jewelry in many colors that is still continuing to grow.

 

“...and when you want something, the whole universe conspires in helping you to achieve it”   Paulo Coelho

I recently came across this quote somewhere and wrote it down because I agree.

Last month I went to England and Paris! It was a short trip for a wedding. I was in England for 4 1/2 days and in Paris for 2 1/2. When I was contemplating going it seemed pretty crazy to go so far, and such a big expense, for such a short time. Now I think it would have been completely crazy to not go. I had the best trip ever!

How the whole trip came together was pretty serendipitous.

As soon as I received the save the date card I knew I wanted to go and was determined to find a way. The date was getting closer and it was just not looking like I would be able to pull it off. I had pretty much given up and accepted that I wasn’t going to make it and was ok with that. Or at least I had myself convinced that I was ok with that.

Then in Feb. my friend called me to say that she and her wife were going to try to go and I should come too. This made me want to go all over again, even more now. I remember saying “sometimes things have a way of magically working out when you want them too” as I hung up the phone. I decided to give it a few days before I said no for sure.

Monday rolled around and I still hadn’t had any massive sales, or won the lottery. I just really wanted to go and felt so determined that there must be a way that did not involve credit cards. I was driving down the street and remembered the quote. I pulled into our driveway and the second I walked into the door I grabbed a marker and wrote this quote largely in dark pink ink. I put it on my desk where I could see see it throughout the day and went about my business.

Just a few hours later, completely out of the blue, my mother in law calls me. She has decided to give me enough air miles for a ticket!  Woo hoo! I was going. Just like that. Good things continued to happen to help me on my way. When I went to shop for a dress to wear, as I was waiting in line to pay, a lady next to me gave me a $20 off coupon. I received just enough extra bead orders to fund my trip. And at the last minute I received a check, completely unexpectedly, from my sweet grandma. She was as excited for me as if she was going herself. So in just a few short months I went from not thinking I was going, to having everything I needed, pretty effortlessly. I am very grateful!

The Workhouse in Bend

Have you heard about The Workhouse? It is an ingenious mix of studio, retail and class space. I am so happy to say that my work will be available here! The Workhouse has a face book page, so follow along if you like. The Grand Opening is this Saturday! Music, drinks and a pop up tapas bar!

It has been well over a month since we began online/homeschooling our son, Jasper. It has been a REALLY intense experience juggling his school, working at home and everything else. At first it felt like having a newborn again and it was an accomplishment just to get to take a shower that day. If I wasn't there to constantly monitor him he would get stuck on something and just sit there stuck.

Luckily I have THE best husband in the universe. We make a great team and together we came up with a plan that is working. We take turns being there to help when Jasper gets stuck. We each have subjects that we are better at helping with. Mine are math, science and language arts. I've dusted off the nether regions of my brain to re-learn things like balancing chemical and algebraic equations and remember parts of speech like misplaced participle phrases, infinitives and independent and subordinate clauses. Yikes!

In the last week or so something has definitely shifted and it's starting to not be so intense anymore. I seriously was starting to wonder if it would ever get easier and kept reminding myself that I can handle anything for just a few months. Jasper is finally being more self motivated. We don't need to babysit him as much to make sure he stays on track. I am so impressed with the work he is doing. When we first started he always did the bare minimum. His answers to questions would always be super short. Now he elaborates and is more thorough. He has always struggled with writing and now can write an essay in a reasonable amount of time. I don't know if we will choose to do this again next year but learning to be self motivated and thorough is invaluable.

One other positive thing that has come out of this experience is I've somehow managed to be really focused with and completely appreciate my work time. I am full of new ideas and good things are in the works. I've been trying to work smarter, not harder. I think that is my new motto. That and ....when you want something, the whole universe conspires in helping you to achieve it. But that is another story.....

Hello New Year! Hello Change!

Well so far this year has brought a whirlwind of changes. Change for the better. The biggest change is that we have enrolled our oldest son in an online/homeschooling program.

I can remember a day just last summer sitting in the sunshine of our backyard having a conversation about school options with my husband,sister and her boyfriend. I clearly remember being very adamant that homeschool wouldn’t really work for us because we work at home and need the time that the boys are in school to work. I remember going off about how I’m so busy with my business that there was no way I could possibly take on anymore. At that moment I felt I couldn’t possibly fit one more responsibility into my life. I felt like the majority of the homeschooling would have to fall on me, since between my husband and I, I have an easier time with academics, and there was just no way I could do that.

Now here I am, sitting next to a pile of textbooks and school supplies and my oldest son is enrolled in his new online/virtual/homeschooling program. I am his ‘learning coach’ and according to the online videos I’ve watched ‘learning coaches’ spend an average of 35 hrs. per week being a ‘learning coach’. How the heck did I get from that point in our backyard this summer to now?

It’s like the whole universe was saying, do this. Everything leading up to this decision fell into place so quickly and easily. It just feels like the right thing to do. Whenever I would completely convince myself that this just wouldn’t work for us and try to forget about it, someone would come along to nudge me closer to it.

We’ve built our whole life around doing what we love, and it just seemed wrong for our son to go off to a school everyday that he clearly did not enjoy and was not thriving in. In the short time we’ve been doing lessons, it’s already completely clear to me why he has been struggling and falling through the cracks. I’m relieved we are here to catch him, and ready for this new adventure.

A visit from the mysterious Christmas Elves!

It all started with a package on our doorstep when we came home one evening. It was a candle to burn every night to count down the days till Christmas. It was pretty fun to get a surprise package from mysterious elves. We had no idea the presents would keep coming, but they did! Every day for the last 12 days. The elves are pretty sneaky. We never saw them. We only heard them once on the second night. We heard a little noise outside but didn't really think much of it since we were not expecting the presents to keep coming. Later when we opened our door there was another package. This time it was two gigantic stockings. Sometimes we would come home to a package on the doorstep or wake up to one in the morning. Every time it made us smile and laugh. Thank you Christmas Elves, whoever you are. We've got some suspicions about who it could be, but really don't know. It looks like today, at 3:33 we get to find out!

Craft-O! Indie Craft Fair in the Old Ironworks District!

Support your local designers, crafters and artists this Saturday 10-6 in the Old Ironworks District (near the Sparrow Bakery). We will have snacks and drinks too!