Wonderful Times were had at Terri Brush Studios!

Oh my gosh, what an awesome experience this past weekend was! The whole weekend was magical. Remember when I said I was going up for the Saturday Workshop with Terri Brush and Natalie Hansen? Well, it turns out I was able to stay for Sunday too! And guess what else? I picked Natalie up on Friday at Portland Airport to take her to Chehalis to teach with Terri and I got to spend 2 nights there too! Oh my gosh, I can't tell you how much fun I had, how many wonderful women I met, and how very much I learned!
Such pretty packages waiting for us for class!
Terri had one of her friends, darling Donna come in to help prepare a wonderful lunch for all of us. Look at the darling parasols on top of our yummy salads! (Hawaiian chicken). More about Donna later too!
Usually she uses her sunroom for classes she does from her home. It was too hot for that, so she moved it into her beautiful dining room! (It's very big too, thank heavens)!

Sweet Shasta (on the right) was there from San Diego. Denise is on the left.
Below is Natalie Hansen, the most wonderful PMC workshop instructor from Lodi, California (center). Shelley with the pretty smile on the right (I sat next to her the first day... so sweet)! On the left is Julie who was fun and sweet too! She breeds bassett hounds! She is very artistic too. I'm not positive, but I may have been calling her "Susan" all day for some reason! Geez! So sorry if I did, Julie!
Denise and Shasta on the left, Miss Jennifer in the white shirt and plaid shorts, darling Donna in the background, and phenomenal Carol in the black shirt.
Beautiful mannequins everywhere adorned with Terri's jewels!
Natalie and I got stuck in traffic when we left PDX on Friday. For hours. It was bumper to bumper all the way, so Terri had to re-arrange our dinner reservations. We finally arrived, and by the time we did, Nat and I knew each other like old friends. (See, I can call her "Nat" now).

Since Terri and I have become email and blog friends over the months, I picked Natalie up at the airport and that meant that I got to stay at Terri's with Natalie too! Oh my gosh we had fun! (Think slumber parties with fun people who love the same things you do and love t o learn and create)! We crafted and created until the wee hours. Of course we were tired, but we were having so much fun that we were running on adrenaline! Terri took me into her home and treated me like a cherished family member. (More on that later).

We made jewelry using solder techniques, torch techniques (YES... me with a torch... scary proposition I know) and Natalie taught us how to make jewelry out of precious metal clay and we fired them all in a kiln. Holy Moley!

I of course have been soldering for a few years, but I learned even more with Terri. I told her I would not be using a torch well in advance of my arrival, but it seems she paid no attention! Out came the torches! I actually made an entire Sterling Silver bracelet, including all the links by myself! (Don't get excited, of course we were carefully supervised... Natalie and I were both a little worried, and but nobody burned their pajamas or Terri's house). We hammered each link, we torched them, cooled them, tumbled them and antiqued them with patina. Yep, I know I'm using jewelry artist talk... don'tcha love it?

Also during the "slumber party" (why do they call it that if nobody gets to sleep)?? Anyway, then we worked on Terri's new project idea. I said that Natalie and I were her "test dummies" for this new project. It involved collaging, soldering, torching and hammering words into the metal, doing a patina, etc.!! Fun! They came out beautifully. I must have been REALLY excited, because I didn't take pics of them together. I think Natalie did, so I'll check with her when she goes home to California next week.

Saturday morning we were tired, but raring to go! The other ladies would be there soon!

Lots more tomorrow! (Including more pics of Terri's gorgeous home).