Make Jewelry this Summer with Dragonfly Designs

Join us this summer for one of our local camps! We have three convenient locations in the San Diego area hosting our programs this summer. The camps are designed to deepen and broaden the techniques taught in the afterschool classes. We take young jewelry-makers to the next level of technique with different, specialized projects each day. Everyone finishes camp with lots of new skills and creations to be proud of!

Half-Day Camp at the La Jolla Parks and Recreational Center Sessions: 
-Monday June 27 to Friday,  July 1
-Monday July 18 to Friday, July 22nd
-Monday August 15th to Friday, August 19th 
Contact to Register:
La Jolla Recreation Center
615 Prospect Street
La Jolla, CA 92037
(858) 552-1658


Half Day Camp at the Rancho Santa Fe Community Center
-Monday July 11- Friday July 15th
-Monday August 15-Friday August 19th
Contact to Register:

Rancho Santa Fe Community Center
5970 La Sendita
Rancho Santa Fe, CA 92091
(858) 756-2461
Click here to register online 



Single-Day Camps at Grace Lutheran School 
-Wednesday June 15th

-Tuesday August 9th
Contact to Register: 

Grace Lutheran School
643 West 13th Avenue
Escondido, CA 92025-5696
760-745-9546 


Please email Area Manager Molly Houston with any questions!  molly@jewelrybydfly.com

Meet the Staff!

Get to know the experts who make our classes and parties happen here in San Diego!  

Brenna Weatherby, San Diego Regional Manager

Brenna received her BS from UC Davis, and her Master's from San Diego State University. She re-discovered her childhood love for jewelry making while designing jewelry for her bridesmaids in 2006, and has worked as an independent contractor for the well-known beadwork company Jolee's Jewels.  In her spare time, Brenna designs jewelry for friends and family.

Heather Morgan, Instructor

Heather enjoys the creative, artistic environment that Dragonfly Designs offers. She discovered her love of making jewelry when she was a teenager, but pursued it more while planning her wedding, creating pieces for her bridesmaids.  Heather holds a B.A in English Education and Writing from Ithaca College, a Masters degree in Minority and Urban Education from the University of Maryland, College Park, and is a former high school English teacher.

 Leti Vallejo, Instructor
Leti has her BA in Performing Arts from San Diego State University.  She created Leti Creations and has been designing her own jewelry for over 5 years.  She specializes in bead work, wire wrapping, and texturing.  She loves to workout and stay active.  In her spare time she likes to connect with other local film artists and make movie magic!

Soleil Brigham - Instructor

Soleil has a degree from UCSB in Comparative World Religions and Asian Studies. She has enjoyed a passion for jewelry making for over 15 years and continues to grow in skill and creative expression.  Practicing yoga for 7 years now and having been a dancer all her life (with several performances in recent years), she's quite comfortable leading both adults and children in movement exercises. She has a joyful rapport with children and loves sharing her passion for creativity.  

Katie Cuddy,  Riverside County Area Manager

Originally from La Jolla, Katie grew up appreciating different art forms from a young age. She received her BA from Pine Manor College in MA,  where she further explored her creativity in both her major (Broadcast Communications) and her minor (Visual Art). After college she proceeded to get her Professional Makeup Artist Certification from Joe Blaso Makeup Center. Today, Katie expresses her creativity in different forms of art including makeup, scrapbooking, mixed media design and jewelry making. In the process of finding a way to combine her lifelong passion for children and art, Katie discovered Dragonfly Designs; she couldn't be more excited about this venture.

 

Molly Houston, San Diego Area Manager

Molly Houston has a BA in English from Boston College, and grew up in Brooklyn, New York City.  She is currently enrolled in the Graduate Gemology program at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), where she also earned her Graduate Jeweler degree in 2008.  She worked as a day program teacher for developmentally disabled children and adults before starting her jewelry career.  Molly is experienced in beadwork design, bench repair, and fine jewelry retail. 

 

 

 

Cardiff Elementary Class Gallery

This past Friday, I unexpectedly came across some pretty pastel alphabet beads, so we worked them into the projects for the week with some charming results. We kept it simple and made necklaces, and just laid out all of the letter beads to pick and choose from.  I wanted to see what the girls would come with completely on their own, so I didn't even suggest anything unless they asked me directly (what to make for names, gifts, personalization) - I wanted to see their independent choices! 

Sure enough, they made some lovely and meaningful pieces, and I sure was impressed with everyone's spelling skills! 

Although my camera was acting up and this came out quite exposed, its message is great and  I had to include it!  One student wanted to make a Father's Day bookmark for Dad.

The center section of one girl's purple necklace

A wood bead, shell and letter necklace, with lots of fun, festive colors, words and names.

Dragonfly Designs at the Sicilian Festival, May 22

The Sicilian Festival! 

If you and your family will be downtown on Sunday for this wonderful annual event, stop by the Kids Area (at the corner of Beech and India Streets) to make a free beaded stretch ring and meet our staff!

Stretch Rings

 Click here for directions and map!

Getting to Know Stacee Gillelen, Owner and Founder of dragonfly designs

Dragonfly designs began in the Bay Area, and in the summer of 2010, the company expanded far south to San Diego, yet another richly creative and artistic region of California.  How, we wondered, did Stacee get started in the first place, and how did she choose this area for this brave and exciting expansion? 

Q: What inspired you to establish a company like dragonfly designs?

A: My passion for beading began one day while I was 'making jewelry' with my three young daughters. I discovered how to attach a clasp, and a love affair was sparked! I started taking classes at local beading stores and couldn't stop practicing my new-found skills. Soon, I was dreaming about beads and patterns that I would make into jewelry. With beads, I found yet another artful way to express the beauty I found in nature and in my imagination. In February of 2005, I launched Dragonfly Designs.

Stacee and her three daughters

 Q: “Jewelry with a conscience”; what a wonderful notion.  Tell us more!
A: I feel immense gratitude for the abundance in my life and for the opportunities I have been given. I also feel a personal responsibility as a global citizen to give something back to the community, which is why I am choosing to donate a portion of each sale of Dragonfly Designs jewelry to an organization that works to improve the human condition (especially for women and children), promote equality, and protect the environment.

Q: Of all the areas in California to expand your company to, how did you choose San Diego?

A: I had been thinking about expanding the business, and wanted to see if I could manage dragonfly designs when the instructors weren't in driving range from the home studio here in South San Francisco. My husband is from Southern California, and grew up on the beaches of Del Mar.  His family is still in San Diego, and we spend lots of time during the summer in the area! In fact, my three girls do Del Mar Junior Lifeguards each summer.  

The Gillelen girls soaking up the sun in Del Mar, summer 2010

What I love about the San Diego area is its athletic, outdoor feel! Children play outside so much, and that fits right in with our natural, whole approach to camps and classes.  Our company values the importance of being out in nature, experiencing life, beauty, creativity, art and yoga.  Because I'm already familiar with the area, and I spend a portion of the year with family in San Diego, I knew it was the perfect location to try an expansion.  My family and I still fantasize about moving to the area one day, and it’s been a good market to broaden the reach of dragonfly designs.

I've met the most incredible instructors and am so proud to have them representing dragonfly in San Diego.  

Quick Class Gallery from Cardiff Elementary School

On Friday afternoons at Cardiff Elementary, I get to see some very talented minds and hands beading every Friday afternoon.  It is a very lively and witty group of girls, mostly K-3rd Grade.  I just wanted to show two projects of theirs today, and then keep going with their gallery every week!

A student-made stretch ring with a surprisingly wonderful color combination! 

I was delighted when my student gave it to me as a teacher's gift, and I wear it quite a bit. 

Details of the always-beautiful Woven Copper Chain Bracelet.  Students weave/sew beaded Accu-Flex back and forth through a copper chain, and we crimp it all at the end for a polished result.

This is one of our medium-to-advanced project offerings, but these girls made them beautifully. 

 Thanks for reading, and keep following for more class creations!
--Molly

Class Gallery from Willow Grove Elementary

Making your own jewelry is fun, and so is showing it off! Our spring session of students at Willow Grove Elementary has quite a bit of creative talent and I, their teacher, wanted to share some of these pieces with our readers.

These are some student favorites from our lessons doing the Beaded Bracelet with Dangle project, and the Three Strand Necklace. My personal favorite part of teaching these classes is the luxury of observing kids making creative CHOICES.  How they pick and discuss these choices is endlessly endearing and inspiring to me - you can bead for decades and could never think up the same fresh ideas coming from a 5-year old mind.

Here are some bracelets that reflect this careful choice-making process.

A very cool contrast of bright shell beads on dark blues and blacks.

An unlikely and very fun combination of shell, glass and wood beads, also lots of brights on darks. This young lady opted for these two giant shell beads instead of a dangle.

And then from our day making the Three Strand Necklace, here are the results:  Many of these were said to be Mothers Day gifts last week, to I measured them to be Mom-lengths.  The setup comes with three strands, but it's interesting to encounter the occasional student who is adamant about turning it into a two-strand necklace, saying it will be important to their design! I allow them to make two strands, and then we save the third Accu-Flex strand for a future project. 

This girl amazes me every week with her precise pattern-making.

Detail of the patten!  This was a Mother's Day gift for a very lucky mom.

Playing with different sizes and textures!  A big, bold necklace I liked alot.

I loved this student's choices of some of the largest and tiniest beads all in one. She wore this one home very proudly. 

Stay tuned for more next week from these little artists!
-Molly