We've had a very busy autumn, preparing for the make it! show coming up next weekend *eep*!  Judy & I are also going to have an open house the following weekend (Dec. 5th form 11 to 5 & Dec. 6th from 1 to 4) so if you can't make the make it!, make sure to make our open house. :)  

Here's some highlights from the last couple of months... this might be a long post so grab a coffee or a glass of wine. 

I've been out walking in my neighbourhood every morning, taking in the stunning colours of the season & feeling very grateful for all the magical moments I've encountered ~

I could go on... really, it's been a sublime fall. Even in our yard, we were treated to gorgeous displays of colour ~ 

Above, our smoke bush gave the best display yet!  But alas, the snow did come on the 2nd of November.  

It was rather wimpy though & didn't last, but since it's become a little more frosty... 

And the birds & squirrels have been busy in the yard, stashing goodies.  Even the Pileated Woodpeckers are filling up! 

And this little one is so peanut crazy, she'll take them straight from my hand!  I can only imagine how huge her cache is. :)

As for the Bead Tree, Judy & I were accepted into the Alberta Branded gift shop at the Alberta Legislative Grounds, which is a gorgeous gallery that I would recommend checking out even if our jewelry wasn't in it.  We also now have some of our jewelry in the gift shop at the Art Gallery of Alberta, you know, this place:

We're pretty stoked about it!  Actually, we've been so busy working on our upcoming shows that we still haven't gone to see our jewelry displayed, but I did manage to snap a quick photo of some of Judy's lovely miniature tree necklaces right before we "handed them over" ~  

Oh & another super exciting thing happened recently.  I had the amazing fortune of being Claudia Trimbur-Pagel teacher's assistant for 2 full days here in town.  It was incredible to watch her work & she's such a lovely person too.  Here she is demonstrating her near perfect stringer control ~

And below, some of her unique beads ~

I was totally inspired & have been working on a new series that reflects some of the techniques I learnt during that time.  Pictures to come...

Well of course there are a lot of new pieces to show, but I will post again before our show next weekend at make it!.  I hope you get a chance to swing by, it will be a great chance to do some Christmas shopping & again, Judy & I will also have our annual open house Dec. 5th & 6th. I will be sending an email invite to everyone on our list so expect something soon in your mailbox & if you would like to be in touch & aren't on our list, feel free to follow the Bead Tree on Facebook or to sign up for our newsletter (links below). Thanks for visiting!  I'll leave you with this wonderful photo of Maggie who we said goodbye to 2 years ago today & who came for a visit in my dreams last night.  xo