Retirement

As some of you may have heard by now...either by a birdie or by my absence at the Sewing Show, I have, with a lot of heartache, decided to retire from teaching.

For 15 years, I have designed bead and wire projects, manufactured them myself into kits and sold them at trade shows, on the internet and at various retail outlets throughout Canada and the US. I have also taught at trade shows, bead stores, schools, cub scouts, birthday parties and even at museums.

During those 15 years I have encountered many of life's challenges but I always made sure my committment to my business was never compromised. At one point, during an 8 month period my father and two of his sisters died from a heart condition that I was also (during that 8 month period) diagnosed with. Within a day of finding out that not only did I have this hereditary disease, but that it was quite far along, I was seeing specialists all over BC and surgery dates were quickly being arranged. However, the surgery dates were a week before I was to teach classes at the Sewing Show and my classes were already oversold with eager students. Much to my family's objections, I had my surgery date reset till a week after the show. I made that decision knowing that two of my aunts had already died and my father was in the hospital awaiting a heart transplant.

I taught at the show, had my two surgeries and two days after that, my father died (at the young age of 64) before he could receive his new heart. A few months later, I was advised that the defibrilator they permanently implanted into my heart was faulty. What could I do, I trugged on with life, went back to work, kept raising a very active 3 year old angel and a very scared sensitive 14 year old, kept being supportive to my husband who did a lot of travelling for his work. I kept being a Creative Advisor for a new international magazine, I continued to help organize a fabulous local bead show, I kept designing and selling my kits and kept trying to come up with new classes and the million and one class samples, that I'm known to always have in my classes. Because that is what I had to do and that's what I loved to do.

But I knew something had to give so I gave up designing and selling my kits and having a booth at trade shows.

The next year, while I continued to teach at trade shows, I would always hear students say they wish I would have my booth again. This always made me sad and I would often think about restarting that part of my business....and I really, really believe that's why I was smacked up the side of the head with being sick again.

About a year after my heart surgery, I got a simple cold but that damm cold just wouldn't go away. I coughed non-stop, couldn't sleep, was weak, dizzy, so achey and each week the doctors came up with a different diagnosis - cold, bronchitis, infection, pneumonia and each week they gave me different medications but for six months I was barely able to function. I was late on supplying descriptions of my classes and making samples, I was missing deadlines, my work was not up to my expectations and everything I was doing was taking so long. My body was so sick and I was so incredibly dissapointed in myself. Finally, after a few days of intense pain in my chest and thinking I had done something to my heart, I drove myself to emergency where three days later I was told I had a severe pneumonia in both my lungs and once again, the doctors were amazed I was still alive.

Despite that, three weeks after getting out of the hospital, I was teaching a class at a trade show because it was a commitment I had made well in advance of getting sick. And for the first time in 13 years, I had a terrible class and I still cringe when I think of how disorganized I was, how scattered my teaching was and how my jokes and stories sucked so bad.

Due to the stress and emotion of that past year (wherein my husband also lost his job of 16 years when the company went bankrupt) and the worry of almost losing me twice in one year, my family was falling apart and going into their own separate shells.

So I decided it was time to again give up a few more things, take a step back on a few other things and put aside my anger, my resentment, my pain, my hurt and most importantly, my self pity. I have an amazing husband, a bright beautiful daughter and an incredible son and more than anybody, they don't deserve to be dissapointed.

It still took awhile after my second smack up the side of the head, but I have taken the last step and advised all the trade shows, museums, etc, that I am retiring from teaching. Now I am letting all my students know that I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching you, I have made many, many friends, have laughed so much and been so inspired by you all !! Thank you.

That being said, I get giggly when I say "nothing" when asked what I'm doing on the weekend. I feel alive when I wake up in the morning and decide the family is going to skip out on school and work and we are going on a road trip down the Oregon Coast with Grandma (which was the best trip ever !!). I am thrilled at the stunning creations I am making for myself. I'm excited to take Cassidy to afternoon animated movies (Tangled is really, really funny). I'm truly enjoying watching horror\zombie movies (the older the better) with Dustin till the wee hours of the morning. And I love having the time to just lay in bed with my husband, talking about our day (good and bad) and how beautiful our two children are (even when they drive us incredibly insane).

And it only took two smacks up the side of the head and 43 years to realize that !!!

Viva Las Vegas

My husband surprised me again by taking me to Las Vegas !!! Not only does my handsome man buy me tools for Valentines, help make my kits for my classes, do laundry and dishes, but he also takes me away on romantic holidays !! We've been twice before but this time we packed our days with adventures we hadn't tried before. We saw two big-time shows, rode up above Vegas in the evening on an air balloon, rented a convertible and drove the 11 hours round trip to see the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon (which was on my husband's "bucket list") and I even had my picture taken with Elmo - much to Cassidy's amazement !! What a nice refresher before the Christmas chaos begins !! P.S. That Statue of Liberty is made completely of jelly bellies !!!!

1900 kilometers, 4 days, 3 hotels, 2 states and 1 near death experience by a moose.....the dang best holiday I've had in a long time because we had no plans, no reservations and no real desitnation. My husband of 20 years and I got up one morning and decided to load our 5 year old daughter, 17 year old son and my mother into my new Murano and drive until we got tired. We saw incredible scenery, we laughed often and we enjoyed the simplicity of each other's company !!

New Classes !!!

Check out my latest classes at: http://fraservalleybeadshow.ca/
I will be teaching three classes this year - all new to the Fall Fraser Valley Bead Show. If you have any questions about the classes, tool lists, content, etc. please contact me and I would be more than happy to help you.
I can be reached at lise@beadedinspirations.com
See you soon......

Favorite Websites

In my classes i'm constantly being asked what my favorite tools are and where do I get them. Here is a list of the stores, websites and shows that I frequent the most:
Capilano Rock & Gem - North Vancouver, BC
Western Rock & Mineral - Cloverdale, BC
Mountain Gems - Coquitlam, BC
KMS Tools
Princess Auto
www.beaducation.com
www.jewelrylessons.com
www.etsy.com/category/jewelry (for infinite inspiration)
www.ottofrei.com
www.pugetsoundbeadfestival.com
fraservalleybeadshow.ca

Make sure to let me know any great deals you find and especially any fabulous new tools that I just HAVE to have.

Update on classes

Here is my next class:

Soldered Pendant
Sunday, April 25, 2010
1:30 - 4:30 p.m. - $50.00
Langley Museum, Fort Langley, BC

Learn how easy it is to solder while creating this stunning pendant using a butane micro torch to solder joints and connect components. Experiment with various finishing techniques to see which one works best for you. Once you've learned to solder, the sky is the limit in your jewelry designs!


To register, phone ­the Langley Museum at 604-888-3922 http://www.langleymuseum.org/whats_on.asp

If March doesn't kill me it sure will make me stronger....

Here's a quick update on my schedule for the next couple of months:

February 11 & 18, 2010
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Surrey Art Museum
Falling Flowers Necklace

March 6, 2010
1:30 pm - 4:30 pm
Langley Art Museum
Hammered and Framed Bracelet

March 12 & 13, 2010
Sewing and Crafts Show
Victoria BC
http://www.sewingandcraftsshow.com/
9:15 am - 11:30 am Beaded Flowers & Bugs
11:45 am - 2:00 pm Falling Flowers Necklace
2:15 pm - 3:15 pm Hammered & Framed Bracelet

March 14, 2010
Spring Fraser Valley Bead Show
Coquitlam, BC
http://fraservalleybeadshow.ca/
9:30 am - 12:30 pm Soldered Circle Cuff
SOLD OUT...ALREADY !!
1:30 pm - 4:30 pm Riveting Bangles
HURRY UP BEFORE THIS ONE DOES TOO

April 16 & 17, 2010
Sewing and Crafts Show
Victoria BC
http://www.sewingandcraftsshow.com/
9:15 am - 11:30 am Beaded Flowers & Bugs
11:45 am - 2:00 pm Falling Flowers Necklace
2:15 pm - 3:15 pm Hammered & Framed Bracelet

Go to my flickr site (http://www.flickr.com/photos/liseflymandesigns/) to see photos of some of the above mentioned classes. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos on there for my flowers and bug class, my soldered circle cuff or the riveting bangles classes, but I should have pictures of those 3 classes up on the flickr site soon.

Don't hesitate to e-mail me with any questions regarding the classes !