Lots of craft/bead & gem stores offer classes in different media. Some are one class, some are a weekend, some are longer. You should check out what craft stores are near where you'll be and check each one for any classes they're holding while you're there.

edit: Check this out! Some of these bead places have classes mentioned on their websites.
bead craft Shops in Los Angeles - YELLOWPAGES.COM

Thank you, Jan *hugs*

I figure this counts as craft talk. My digital camera is having trouble holding a charge, and while I completely love it for the clarity it has in taking scenic photos, I'd also like a new camera that can take awesome photos up close for my craft projects. Anyone especially love their digital camera? I'd say price is not an option, but it obviously is. Feel free to hit me up on MSN or PM if this is going to roll out into the world of non-crafts, but maybe other people would like to know how best to share their work.

My old digital camera has a 4.0 megapixel thingum and was terrible for close up photos. But I've used my uncle's Nikon D40X to take close up's which are perfect! I've been thinking of dipping into my car fund to buy one of them just to take pictures of my embroidery, lol.

KellyMorgenJewelry on DevArt uses a NIKON D2X to take pictures of her crafts. Check out this great picture she took of one of her necklaces.

This picture on DevArt was taken with a Canon PowerShot S3 IS which also looks brilliant!

Maaan, Ern, now I really want a new camera.

I was shopping around/researching cameras before Christmas, and had pretty much decided to get myself a Canon Powershot A560 because I, too, needed something to take pics of close up little things (my jewellery) for a good price. I ended up getting an A570 for Christmas and it takes GREAT pics. And video. I highly recommend either model.

Thanks, Jan and Nabs. I appreciate your input. We'll see what I come up with .

Regardless of what model you get, it's always good to have a sturdy tripod (I have a cheap mini one that I use) to minimize movement when you're on the close up setting. Also, if you use a flash, it's better to position yourself further away (not on the close up setting) and use the zoom, otherwise the flash has a tendency to wash out what you're photographing. So, use other lighting sources as much as you can (your lightbox idea, is fabulous for this).

All of this talk about cameras makes me mindful of the fact that I'm the complete idiot who uses a digital camera she bought off eBay for $19.99, her cell phone and a bunch of one time use cameras! Perhaps I should consider upgrading.

If you're looking to take close up shots, a macro setting is a must. It means you can take pictures in focus as close as a couple of centimetres away.

I have an Olympus FE-220, which has loads of different settings, but is also a good all round camera. I have some lovely detailed shots of some of my jewellery (I can post some examples if you want), but equally its good for just snapping randomly. Its lovely and small, so great for me as I love to take my camera out and about cos the one on my phone is rubbish, but at the same time the viewing screen is pretty big. Plus it has an anti shake setting...awesome if you can't hold the camera still and don't want to carry a tripod around if you want a decent photo whilst you're out and about.

I'd just like to say I can't wait till challenge #4. I might try to do something!

Holy cow! That is one AWESOME sweater, Kris! I can imagine Molly wearing it, though I admit, I cannot imagine you wearing it at all. hehe!! Who's it for?

hehe It's called a Halloween costume. Touz thinks I should sell it on ebay around that time. It's like the one she wore in CoS whe she was scolding Ron and the twins for flying the car to get Harry.

Oh you would make a killing. haha!!

Agreed.

I am on my summer break now and looking for crafty things to do. Any suggestions on small, easily portable craft things that I could do?

Crochet amigurumi! Fill a tote bag with a couple balls of your favourite colours of yarn, a handful of plastic pony beads for eyes (or security eyes from your local sewing centre), a zip lock bag of polyester fibre fill and a couple of crochet hooks, a darning needle and some small scissors, and you're laughing. Depending on the kind of toy you make, you can whip up one of these in an hour (Octopus, horse.. anything with lots of legs or hair takes me a few hours, but lots take much less).

I carry a large shopping bag with me everytime we go out to my mother-in-law's house (almost every day) or drive into the city (like last weekend). Once you know basic single crochet, increasing and decreasing, it's SUPER easy to make pretty much whatever kind of animal/doll you want. I made a mermaid and a turtle last weekend and gave them away to new little friends. I've made two more turtles since then, because my kids liked it so much. LOL

I've got the single down, Jan, but I've yet to attempt increasing and decreasing *fears counting stitches*

I don't know how to crochet. How do I start?

Increasing and decreasing is easy. To increase in sc just do two sc in the same stitch. To decrease you just start the sc like you normally would except instead of yarning over and pulling through the loops on your hook at the end you insert your hook into the next stitch, pull up a loop, then yarn over and pull through all the loops on the hook. That's probably a confusing explanation but Crochet Cabana has an excellent tutorials on increasing and decreasing. Or you can watch excellent videos on Nexstitch.

Those sites are also great resources for learning to crochet. I taught myself to crochet using Crochet Cabana and tunisian crochet using Nexstitch.

I put a demonstration video on YouTube for some friends who wanted to know how to make amigurumi, and afterwards, I found out that there are just LOADS of "How-To" vids on there for crochet, knitting and every other kind of craft. Maybe they can help!

My YouTube channel is YouTube - WireMySoul's Channel. I tried to give detailed explanations/demos of increasing and decreasing for beginners, and not to toot my horn, but I have received lots of good comments on my vids. My first one is a two-parter: Crochet Tutorial - Amigurumi 1 (has 9,000+ views) and Crochet Tutorial - Amigurumi 2 (has 6,000+ views).

One of my favourite subscriptions is for another chrochetter (is that a word?) named Teresa, at YouTube - tjw1963's Channel. She has so many really great crochet demos on there, I highly recommend her vids!

I want to learn how to make those nifty amigurumi dolls, but I can't crochet at all! Tried teaching myself with youtube a while ago and I couldn't even hold the hook right

Nabs - Knitting was the first thing I learned to do, too, and it took me a long time to learn how to crochet, like forever! I had a hard time even making the chain, then it was almost impossible to start the first row off the chain, so I know what you mean. I thought I would never get it, but then I took a basic crochet class that was 2 or 3 hours long at one of the craft stores and it helped a lot, because they actually come and show you how to hold the hook and make sure you learn all the basic stitches and everything, plus the lady I worked with was very, very patient. Maybe this will help, I hope! Sometimes it's just impossible to learn unless someone works with you personally.

I've been thinking of doing that for a while now... the craft shop I go to near my house offers free lessons, so it would be quite silly of me not to go. Who knows? lol I may finally get to make those Amigurumi SSers!

OMGolly I love Rachel's Dark Mark cookie! What a great idea those would be for a Potter Party!!

All right. Time for a new challenge... and Erin's passed me the mantle of power. So I'll be posting a new challenge today.

It looked deliciously evil, that's for sure.

I can't wait to see what you've got, Jan.

*cackles* It's a pretty wide one.. I can't wait to see what people come up with for "Hex!"