This is one of my newest pieces, and I am really happy with how it turned out. The idea for this necklace came to me one day while I was driving down the street. I had to pull over and sketch it out on a scrap of paper before I forgot, or got distracted by another idea. It's always satisfying to get a complete idea and be able to go make it and have it turn out pretty much how I imagined it. I just happened to have the perfect chain already too. The chain is long so you can put it over your head without a clasp. You can wear it with the glass and circles in the center or off to one side. Having options is so much fun.

These are my newest rings. The one on the left and the blue one second from the right were made using cabochons made by my husband Robbie. They are SO pretty. The colors are amazing. They change and shimmer depending on how the light hits them and have little silver flecks that remind me of tiny stars.

This weekend I'm heading to Lake Oswego for the Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts. I'm looking forward to it and hoping for great weather! I'll be in booth G-7. If you are in the Portland area come by and say hello!

In Love

I have fallen completely in love with metalsmithing! It opens up so many creative possibilities for me. I'm already full of ideas.

I'm very happy to say that I am now scheduling beginning lampwork bead making classes for spring and summer! You can see the dates that are available on my website. Just scroll down to the bottom half of the page and use the arrows to go to the months of April-August. If you would like to schedule your class send me an e-mail at Larissa@LarissaSpafford.com or call me at (541)318-4757!

After RAGS at the beginning of March I will be back in the Seattle area for the Spring Best of the Northwest. The image above is the postcard for the show. Recognize the necklace?

It's a good thing we had so much fun snowboarding right before the new year began, because we had about a 6 week dry spell with almost no snow! It's hard to believe that while most of the nation was being pummeled with snow we had almost none. I was starting to go a little stir crazy but being one to always look on the bright side, I took the opportunity to get a lot done in the studio.

Robbie the boys and I had a painting party. The color was a miss-tint from that we found at the Habitat for Humanity re-store. It was hard to tell what the color would look like from the tiny dot on the top of the can. I was a little worried that it was going to be way too mental institution green, but it ended up a beautiful turquoise blue. Robbie pointed out it's exactly the shade I would have picked from a paint chip and he was so right.

Robbie also built me a new glass rack AND a table for metalsmithing. The days of me taking over the kitchen counter with my jewelry work are happily over! I'm loving being able to leave a partly completed project out in the studio without it being endangered by a bouncing ball, stray nerf bullet, or tiny curious fingers.

I'm grateful that the lull in snowboarding gave me plenty of time to dream up new work and get started making some of them a reality. I'm hoping to have at least a few pieces finished for my two March shows. I'm very thankful that winter is back in full force and will be spending the next few weeks happily playing in the snow in the morning and working to finish new things in the studio in the afternoon and evening. Life is good. Very good.

My first show in March will be RAGS Wearable Art Sale & Show. Hope to see you there!!!!!

Happy New Year!!!!!

This is my husband Robbie. He is the one who puts the silver cores in my beads, cleans my beads, makes travel arrangements, goes to the post office, etc., etc. The list could go on and on. Without him I wouldn't be able to do so much. He is also my best friend. Besides our family, one his biggest joy in life is snowboarding. Can you tell? His love of snowboarding has spread to our whole family. The other day the words "I love winter more than summer" actually escaped my mouth.

The kids have been on winter break so I've been taking a break too. Beginning the day after Christmas, we went on a 5 day snowboarding marathon. Every day there was fresh, deep, dry wonderful snow to play in.

All I wanted for Christmas this year was tools for metalsmithing. Robbie got me a third hand and a set of files. I quickly spent all my Christmas money on tools, before I could spend it on bills.

I want to thank everyone SO much for supporting Larissa Spafford Designs in 2010. I am so grateful for each & every one of you that made purchases, gave compliments, encouraging words & shared stories. Even just taking a moment to stop by my craft fair booth, my website or my etsy shop is greatly appreciated.

I've had a great winter break and can not wait to get back into the studio when the boys go back to school this week. It feels like we've been on vacation for a really long time. There is only so long that I can go without doing anything creative!

Happy Holidays!!!!!

Happy Holidays from Larissa Spafford Designs!!!! Enter the coupon code HappyHolidays15 during checkout in my Etsy shop to receive a 15% discount.

Every year around the holidays, for pretty much both of my son's lives, I have been busy with craft fairs. This usually results in doing almost nothing to get ready for Christmas at our house until after the last craft fair. The last craft fair usually happens the Saturday before Christmas. There is always last minute Christmas tree shopping & decorating, and last minute gift shopping too. This year I was feeling pretty on top of it because we went and got our tree BEFORE we left town for the last craft fair. We put it in our garage and it was waiting for us when we returned home on Wednesday. We also began picking up a few things for the boys stocking stuffers way back at the beginning of Dec. when we were at the One of a Kind Show in Chicago. That is record breaking early for us.

For me Christmas is about being together & celebrating, not just about giving gifts. I love, love, love to give gifts, but I really want the boys to grow up knowing that Christmas is about more than gifts. But they are kids, and presents really are what they seem to care about most. Kai was about to hyperventilate a few minutes ago because he can't wait until tonight when we told him he can open one present.

Last night we had planned to have a few friends & family members over for dinner and then decorate our tree. Our plans changed when our friends car broke down on the way over and Robbie went to pick them up and take them back home. By the time Robbie got them home to Eugene he was tired and decided to stay the night. I wanted us to all decorate the tree together, so I told the boys that we would have to wait one more day to decorate. They didn't really go for the wait one more day idea, and one was crying and they were both saying how Christmas was ruined and how it did not feel like Christmas time at all. Great. I explained that traditionally people did decorate their trees on Christmas Eve. They did not care....one bit. When I asked them what we could do to make it feel more Christmas like they didn't have any ideas. Even greater.

We ended up having our own little party, just the three of us. I turned on some Christmas music, Kai made popcorn, and they drank eggnog. We got the tree out of the garage and into the living room and temporarily decorated it with some candy canes. Then we got out the art supplies and made wrapping paper for my nieces presents. After a while they were both SO happy and said it did feel like Christmas. I was one relieved & happy mommy, and I feel like Christmas to them IS about more than just receiving gifts :)

Indie Craft Loft!

This weekend I will be participating in the Indie Craft Loft at Gossamer here in Bend!

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind for sure. Seattle, Port Townsend, Thanksgiving & snowboarding, then Chicago. We just got home from Chicago yesterday and I'm already switching gears, and getting ready for the Indie Craft Loft this weekend.