Underground Bead Society of Alaska

December Celebration

2006-11-09T18:25:00.000-09:00

We'll have our annual Chinese gift exchange at the December 15th meeting. No one is obligated to participate, but if you would like to exchange a gift and join in the fun, please bring a wrapped, bead-related gift (spend no more than $20). Everyone is also welcome to bring a holiday treat to share.

Before the festivities begin, we will share the results of the November bead sale as well as a discuss the possibility of moving the location of our monthly meeting.

See you soon!

Lynette

November Event

2006-11-09T18:22:00.000-09:00

Hello Underground Beaders!

First, I'd like to encourage all of you bead shoppers to check out the Bead CrayZ Bead Shop in Eagle River. The hours are M-S from 10-6pm. There is a pleasing inventory of glass beads. You'll find many great additions for your holiday jewelry projects.

Our second annual bead sale takes place November 17th. For those of you that have signed up for space at the sale, you can start setting up at 12:30. Those that have signed up to bring refreshments should drop off their goodies before 4:30.

The sale is open from 4:30 - 8:30. All members are welcome to stop and check things out.

Hope to see everyone there!
Lynette

October Gathering

2006-10-23T12:42:00.000-08:00

We had a great gathering in October. There are many new members to the UBS. We have such a range of beaders in our group--it should be an exciting year for us. I hope that some of the members will stay in touch between meetings on the blog. It is a great place to share ideas and keep connected.

Our next meeting will be the holiday sale. Be sure to come early and plan to have some fun.

See you in November.
Lynette

Upcoming UBS Events

2006-07-25T14:50:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! I hope everyone had a great summer. I look forward to getting the group back together September 15 to share summer adventures and beading projects. I know that summer in Alaska sometimes takes us away from our beads, but I know that there are some of you hard-core beaders that take your projects out on the boat or work around the camp fire. We are a resourceful bunch for sure.

I hope everyone will be at our first meeting of the year, Friday, September 15 at 7 p.m.

See you soon,
Lynette

Another Successful Year

2006-05-28T20:22:00.000-08:00

Summer has finally arrived here in Alaska. People are getting outside to enjoy all that this wonderful state has to offer. With the warmer days we get busy in the gardens, catching the season salmon, hiking the ridgeline, riding the waves with jet ski, or in my family's case, a Mokai.

I'm sure that in all that time spent in the great outdoors, we will find a few minutes in the midnight sun to play in the beads. I know that some of us take vacation outside of Alaska and it's always exciting to see what goodies (beads of course) will make it back in our carry on luggage.

We had our last meeting for the season in the month of May. The topic of discussion and show & tell was "some of our favorite things." It was a great gathering where we shared our favorite finished or unfinished things. Things that we made or were made for us. The variety was breathtaking.

Reflecting back over the year, we've done some great things. From a group that started out with three, we've grown to over twenty in the past two years. We have quite a talented group of beaders to say the least. I'm pleased at each meeting to see the work members have done. With all the different talents, styles, and artistic vision there is so much that each of us can learn from each other. I look forward to see what our next Underground year has in store.

I hope each and every one of you will have a safe summer filled many opportunties to make memories with your family and friends. Take some chances with your beading and learn new things. For some of us, that means beading outside the box. I'll share a great quote that I received on an email recently: create as if there were no critics. Too much time is spent worrying about what other's around us think. That's what is great about art, there is no right or wrong way to create.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
Mark Twain

Have a great summer & we'll see you in September (the 19th @ 7pm).

Lynette

Hello Underground Beaders!

2006-03-27T16:45:00.000-09:00

Spring is in the air and our April Meeting is soon approaching. Mark your calendars for April 21st. For those of you who are working on bottles of hope, please be sure to bring them to this meeting so they can get distributed.

Any bracelet exchanges to make? There will be a digital camera at the next meeting to take pictures of those awesome bracelets that have been exchanged. Let's get some new pictures on our web page.

See you at the next meeting.

Projects

2006-03-03T12:01:00.000-09:00

Our year is coming to an end soon. Please wrap up any bottle projects that you have been working on for the "Bottles for Hope" project. Bring your bottles to the next meeting, March 17, 2006. I will accept bottles up through the last meeting in May.

Those of you who have exchanged bracelets should be bringing those to the next couple of meetings for their photo opt as well as to exchange back to their owner. It has been a fun project. I hope everyone has enjoyed this one. Maybe those that didn't participate this year will want to do one next year.

Have a great March and we'll see you on the 17th!

Happy New Year UBS

2005-12-31T16:05:00.000-09:00

Just want to wish all UBS members a Happy New Year. I hope that 2006 will be filled with many shiny beads and successful projects.

Our next gathering is January 20. Many members have already exchanged bracelets at the last two meetings. Be there to see the unveiling of some interesting results.

Stay safe.
Lynette

December Celebration

2005-12-13T10:59:00.000-09:00

Our next meeting is on Friday, December 16th. Remember that it's the exciting Chinese Auction event. If you want to participate in the auction, bring a beady gift--no more than $20.

Have a great holiday UBS!

Fall Bead Event

2005-12-13T10:56:00.000-09:00

The bead event was a success! The place looked absolutely great and we entertained many guests. It looks like this may just become an annual event for the UBS.

Thanks to all who participated.

October Meeting Notes

2005-10-22T19:12:00.000-08:00

We're gearing up for the holiday sale on December 2nd. For those that want to sell items, bring your displays at the November meeting so we can go through our setup. Even if you don't want to sell items, you can help with the decorations at the sale. For those members that weren't able to attend the October meeting, you can still sign up to help set up or to sell items.

The bottles of hope can be started at any time now. If you have extra bottles, bring them to the next meeting. We'll collect bottles to distribute to the cancer center in April. That leaves plenty of time to do a couple if you want. Karen Palmer has small bottles that can be worn in a necklace if you are interested in doing a small bottle necklace instead.

Our bracelet swap is still planned to take place this meeting year. Work on yours and have them available at either of the next two meetings for swapping. The more that participate the better the event will be. One suggestion was that larger beads should be used for the blank bracelet so embellisment can be made easier. Any size bead larger than 11 would be appreciated to those embellishing.

At the December meeting we'll have our annual Chinese auction. Gifts should limited to $20. Some ideas include: books, stones, glass beads, unique supplies, finished holiday-themed items, anything "beady" that you think will be traded for.

We welcomed two new members--Gerry and Cat. Gerry does leatherwork and wants to learn to bead. Cat is a talented artist with awesome beading skills. We look forward to their attendance at our future meetings.

Have a great month! See you November 18th.

Lynette

New Bead Store

2005-10-07T20:44:00.000-08:00

I couldn't wait to tell all of my fellow addicted beaders about a new store in Eagle River. Some of you may already be familiar with the owner. She used to open up her garage every third Friday of the month for a day-long sale by the Eagle River Walmart. She has now opened a small shop in her daughter's garage. The place is called Bead CrayZ Bead Shop (see the link to her website on our blog). She specializes in American lampwork, and recently bought the inventory from Beadbox (in Arizona) and is selling those products 50% off--hurry while supplies last.

The shop hours are Mon-Fri 1-7 and Sat 10-6. From the Valley, take Glenn Hwy to first ER exit. Take a left at the light just past AlaskaUSA, turn right on Dawn street--you can follow the signs from there. Phone (907)694-7467.

Oh, btw, she has a list of all UBS members and is giving us a 10% discount. Don't forget your membership card when you go shopping for beads.

Have fun!

Bracelet Swap Update

2005-10-03T16:30:00.000-08:00

Since the month of September was our first meeting of the beady year and there were several of our regular attendees missing from that meeting, Lisa and I agreed that the bracelet swap should be extended to take place at the November meeting.

If you haven't started your plain bracelet to put into the swap, you still have plenty of time. I'll share with you that I have a design in mind, but haven't started my own bracelet. I figure mine will be 1 inch wide and 7.5 inches long. I have decided to use three colors. A color for the border of the bracelet and a main color with accent on the main bracelet. I chose not to do a fancy design on the bracelet if it was just going to be covered in embellishment when all was said and done.

This looks to be an exciting project and I hope many of you will participate.

See you on the 21st!

Fall Bead Event

2005-09-21T14:27:00.000-08:00

Alaska Bead Society is having a Fall Bead Event at the Anchorage Museum of History and Art - free admission.

Date: October 15 & 16, 2005
Time: Saturday 10:00am - 6:oopm
Time: Sunday 12:00pm - 5:00pm

Join over 50 bead artists from the Alaska Bead Society for total bead overload!

Beaded Jewelry and Glass Beads for sale
Make-It-Take-It Table - make your own jewelry
Beadwork Basics - come and see how it's done
Lampwork Demo - watch glass beads being made

UBS Website is up!

2005-09-21T09:38:00.000-08:00

The UBS website is now live! Members, please feel free to foward jpeg or gif pictures (underground.bead@gmail.com) for the gallery. Let me know if you see anything that needs updating or changes.

Here is the link to the UBS site: http://anlms.uaa.alaska.edu/UBSHome.htm
You can also link through my site: http://anlms.uaa.alaska.edu/LunarHome.htm

Enjoy!

Bracelet Swap

2005-09-20T13:30:00.000-08:00

Here is a pattern for a bracelet that you could complete for the swap next month:

(easy) http://beadwork.about.com/library/weekly/blpinkstonbracelet.htm -follow these directions but use just one or two colors with no design. The bracelet should be plain so embellisment can be done by the grab bag recipient.

If you need assistance with stitches you can give Lynette a call at 745-2636.

Have fun!

First Meeting of the Year

2005-09-17T17:15:00.000-08:00

Last night's meeting was a blast! It was great to see so many of our members could make it and even to see new faces. I look forward to a great year with all of you.

We have some new officers. Thanks to Marie & Julie for volunteering this year.

UBS will have a bazaar at our meeting place December 2nd. If you have items you'd like to sell, don't miss this event from 4pm-9pm. We could use volunteers to help decorate.

Many people decided that the bracelet collaboration was a great project to get started on. One member makes a plain bracelet blank and puts it in a grab bag for another member to draw from and take home to embellish. The original creator receives their bracelet back the next month and everyone gets to share their stories about the process of creation. Swap will take place at the October 21st meeting.

If any one is interested in participating in the "Bottles for Hope" project discussed, collect some small bottles (mini liquor bottles would work perfect) to share or work on. The more we have, the more hope we can spread. This project involves members covering and decorating tiny bottles and making them available at local cancer treatment centers. A contact will be made by Lynette Schroeder-Einwiller so that the bottles will have a distribution source. Techniques in covering bottles can vary. Include a card or slip of paper with the artist's name and a inspirational message of hope.

See you at the next meeting, October 21st.

Official UBS Website

2005-09-16T14:38:00.000-08:00

Welcome back members! The Underground Bead Society is currently planning an official website and we hope to have it fully functional in September. If members have any information or suggestions that they feel should be included on the new website please feel free to leave a comment here. All suggestions will be taken into consideration when building the new site.