Gems and Minerals Rock

Um, yeah, pun intended. I'm a geek. I believe I've said that before. This weekend was the annual Gem and Mineral show here. I love this show. I've always been a bit of a rock hound, courtesy of my dad, who infused my childhood with a general sort of fascination for all things even slightly mysterious. However, in addition to the oohing and aahing over the various fossil specimens and such, the show also has vendors, not only of rocks, but also beading and metalsmithing. Mmm...

So, my mom and I took our small budgets and hunted around in bargain bins and bead booths and came out with a few handfuls of fun cabachons and agate slices and other pretties, plus some beautiful glass beads by Jodie Marshall, a local glass artist (her stuff is SO yummy!! Check out her Etsy! To be perfectly honest, the items currently in her etsy don't do justice to the variety of lovelies I saw at her booth. (With the exception of this orange, blue and black set, which... drool...) Although, don't get me wrong, the stuff in her Etsy is great, but holy moly, some of the stuff at her booth... This woman is amazing, guys and gals. Just look at her blog. I only had to scroll through March's posts before I had to replace my keyboard. Oh, and Jodie, thanks for the spiral. It's beautiful.

So, yeah, very happy with my haul, and will try to post pics tonight if I can get decent lighting. That darn old camera is so finicky about lighting.

In other news, Check out the combination Mod Instant Swap and Challenge at Craftster. That's right, the mods are finally going head to head with a combination swap and challenge. We've been paired up (it's knitting vs crochet in my world... Vanillaxlight and I are swapping goodies,) and when everyone has received, we'll be posting our gifts and you, the Craftster public, will be voting for your favorites. Even Site Administrator and Crafty Goddess Leah is participating, so we're all on our best mettle, and we hope to see you over at Craftster for the vote.

That is all.