After the stress of yesterday today is an absolutely joy- helped I'm sure by the presence of one of the World's greatest dogs- Isabella. She's a service dog for one of my students and I fell instantly and madly in love with her. She was the perfect combination of placid & excited, happy & calm, fluffy & squidgy. She came very close to being put in my suitcase...

I'm teaching for the next 4 days at Crystal Creations/ Beads Gone Wild in West Palm Beach Florida- one of my absolute favourite beads shops in the World. Ok, it's hard not to love every bead shop, but this one is extra special. Combine the sheer crazy range they have with their friendliness and displays of beadwork and this is somewhere I love being. I can't imagine there is a bead or finding they don't sell- even after 4 days I'll still be shopping and keep finding more.

Today's project is my Zinnia class which I'll be teaching soon At BeadFX in Canada and StitchnCraft Beads in the UK.

It's a fun class and everyone got at least 2/3 of the way through their flower, and some were even finished. I also finally got around to beading a smaller variation to show how exactly the same steps/ principle can be used around a 14mm rivoli.

As always it was great to see the different variations created and once again I found myself buying a new crystal to begin a new variation of my own...