Tucson 2026 Rock and Gem Show

Recently, I had the pleasure of attending the Tucson Rock and Gem Show. Although the show was a bit quieter than in previous years, it still was a wonderland of nature's geological beauty. There was also a marvelous aray of tents and rooms brimming over with affordable and millionaire-only-priced jewelry/gemstones.  

 Yes!  This dinosaur skeleton was actually on display in one of the tents at the Tucson 2026 Gem and Mineral Show. It was a small specimen compared to others but it was still way bigger than me.

Even in the tent area of the show, there were amazing displays and collections.  One of my favorite displays was a gigantic carved jade dragon.  It was certainly museum worthy and it was exciting to be able to see it up close. If you are a rock hound or gem collector, you really need to attend the Tucson Rock and Gem Show at least once in your lifetime.  Even if you can't afford the museum quality gems, you wil surely find something in your price range that you will treasure and display in your home forever!

  

We didn't buy any of these gorgeous Ethiopian opals which were being sold by the carat. The colors radiating from them was blinding! 

We also only stroked the boulder opal slabs but did buy a few small pieces with the intent of someday mounting them into jewelry.

In the Tucson convention center there were amazing displays of one-of-a- kind mineral specimens.  They were breathtakingly beautiful and it was unbelivable that people discovered them and were able to mine them in such pristine condition.  Although, I would never be able to afford the museum worthy mineral specimens, it was fun to gaze at them and wish. Although this quartz cluster is not really a rare occurrence, it is still an eye-catching display.

This gigantic cluster of gem grade aquamarine is so gorgeous that I can't believe it grew naturally and was carefully excavated before being displayed for everyone to enjoy.

    

There were lots of amethyst formations on display and surprisingly they were affordable. I guess amethyst is not as rare as other minerals.

I don't know what kind of minerals make up this delicate formation.  I was overwhelmed by the delicacy of the crystals.  How is it possible that the crystal structure did not collapse?   

At the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show it is possible to purchase some beautiful gems and jewelry. If you can, you should attend the next show to see if you can uncover some real treasures at affordable prices. Besides learning tons of information, I guarantee you'll feel like you've excavated hidden minerals and dug up jewelry fashioned for royalty!

Easter 2026 Shaker Card

I purchased a pack of Easter die-cut ephemera and pack of Easter confetti from HM Ben Franklin Crafts and decided to challenge myself.  I wanted to see if I could design a shaker card using just the ephemera pieces and confetti.  I started by cutting a hole in a large piece of ephemera. There were words which I cut out.  I attached a clear piece of acetate behind the opening and added foam tape behind the plaid frame. A piece of Lawn Fawn pastel paper was adhered to a standard card blank.  The plaid frame was partially adhered to the card and confetti sprinkles were inserted before sealing the frame to the card.  

 

The 'Easter memories' and 'what a Beautiful day' ephemera were adhered. The butterfly was cut off the 'Beautiful day' piece and fussy cut before being attached to the card with a foam adhesive dot.   This was a very simple card but I think it turned out well.  I am pleased that I was able to make a special card using just a few supplies. I hope that you will check out the beautiful Easter card making supplies being sold at HM Ben Franklin Crafts.  I'm sure you'll be inspired!

Chenille Kitten Kit

 While traveling, I decided to make another furry chenille friend. I chose a kit for a kitten from HM Ben Franklin Crafts.  As with the other kits I've tried, this one was super easy and resulted in another cutie pie despite the fact that the instructions are in Japanese and I don't read Japanese characters.  (The Easter bunny and chick in the photo were purchased from Daiso.)

The kitten is sucking on a pacifier and is wearing a bib.  The wire going through one ear is a key chain that can be removed if desired. The big pink stuffed bow and heart charm look cool when attached to a handbag.

The instructions in these chenille kits are pretty straight forward even though they are written in Japanese characters.  However, I did end up with a four inch piece of chenille that I was going to just wrap around the kitten to make him fatter but then I realized that he didn't have a tail so I curled the extra inches of chenille into a tail.  I guess they forgot to write in the directions for making the tail.  Hahaha!  Every kitten needs a tail....don't you agree?

Picture Frame Keychain Kit

 Gosh, you gotta check out all the new cool kits at HM Ben Franklin Crafts!  Recently, while shopping at HM BFC, I couldn't stop adding items into my shopping cart.  One of the most interesting kits I discovered were the picture frame keychain ones. They came in many colors but I limited myself to two colors....going to go back later for other colors (hahaha!).  Although the store had separate parts you could buy, I thought I should start with a kit so I would be sure to get everything I needed to complete a project.  After laying out all the parts for the project, I decided that I wanted more color so I added some cute puffy animal stickers ( Angels Craft).

HM Ben Franklin Crafts also has tons of adorable charms and doo-dads to add to your projects. In the photo above you can see the other frame kit I chose and some of the fun charms I plan to add to my next keychain.  By the way, the clear colored gel that comes in the kits has a screw on tip that will extrude the gel like cake frosting.  Also there is enough gel leftover to make other frames.  In future posts, I plan to show you the other fantastic Japanese craft goodies I purchased from HM Ben Franklin Crafts.  Please come back soon to check out new products I found at HM BFC and see the  projects that I've crafted.

Kimono Fabric Swatch Calendar

I was tidying my craft desk when I discovered another pack of mini 2026 calendars.  Yikes!  I wasn't planning to make more calendars this year, but I didn't want to waste the calendars.  (They are not craft supplies that can be saved for another year.) Now that the post office is getting stricter about the thickness of mail, I had to think of  a quick, attractive, and flat solution for decorating the calendars.  As I am a collector of many things, including vintage and unique fabrics, I decided that a unique swatch of fabric would be ideal to decorate these calendars.  I chose a Japanese kimono fabric with lots of gold highlights.  It was easy to cut (3) and fold the easels from 12x12 grey card stock.  The calendars ended up being 4"x4" and should fit in an regular sized envelope. I used double sided adhesive tape to put the calendar base together and glued the fabric onto the front with Beacon 3 in 1 glue. I was planning to make a raveled edge on the fabric swatch but the fabric was very difficult to unravel. I ended up just cutting fabric into squares and leaving irregular edges.  I am pleased with the look of the finished calendars and the ease of their construction. Although it is rather late in the year, I hope that recipients of my calendars will appreciate and use them throughout the year. Calendars can exist off a hand held device!

Hello Kitty 2026 Mini Calendar

Happy Girl's Day!

I thought I was done with making calendars for this year, but then I found four more under the clutter on my craft desk.  Since I recently purchased (in Japan) a new Hello Kitty stamp (Sanrio), I decided it was time to ink it up.  I paper pieced the image by stamping on printed washi paper and fussy cutting out the umbrella and Hello Kitty's kimono. These pieces were then glued to the whole stamped image. The rest of the image was colored in with Copic pens. The stamped, colored and paper pieced Kitty was glued to the calendar base that already had the calendars (from HM BFC) adhered with double stick tape.  

As final embellishments, I glued on some artificial cherry blossom (from HM BFC, I think) and added a few sparkling gemstone stickers (to add some bling and cover some ink smudges..LOL!)  I'm glad that I used up the final four 2026 mini calendars because I think they turned out to be rather attractive and now I have a few more to pass out to friends.  Who doesn't need a mini calendar?

P.S. If you want the instructions for making the mini calendar easels, refer to a previous post (Feb. 1st)