FINALLY!!

February is finished - I don't know why it took so long but it did - Time to put all the beads away and start on March though I think that I may start April and take it to ArtFest with me to work on there.

Slow going in November

This page has me perplexed, but the whole month of November was pretty unsettling thus the November page is unsettling - well at least to me - there's lots going on, most of it in my head but the basis of the November page is opposition - colors (things/people) who should 'go together' but don't, just like orange and blue are complimentary colors but aren't quite complimentary on this page - the page is a little jarring to me - I think it needs a mirror - I'll see if I can find one.
Hopefully I can finish the page this week and move on to the December page and something a bit 'prettier'.

Beginning November

I've begun my November page a bit early, knowing that I'll probably end up doing my December page a bit late - it all evens out in the end. Once again this is a page that I have no plan for - Well I did kind of have a plan, but just like all of my other pages, it went out the window as soon as I sat down to bead. I don't know where the orange beads came from - suddenly they were just there and I rather like them there now that I'm used to them. We'll see where I go from here. I'm so happy that I decided on a rather largish sized page this year - it gives me more room to experiment.

October page finished!

Earth tones are not my forte. In fact, I don't even own a pair of brown shoes much less anything else in those tones but October was a month of challenges and so I challenged myself with earth tones. I'm very glad it's finished. I grew tired of it long before it was finished. But as a person who often doesn't finished things she's not pleased with, I am proud of myself for completing it.

February Bead Journal Page

I finished my February page - it began with a mardi gras theme. I'd purchased some amazing fabric designed by Mark Lipinksi called Katmandu and the fabric just screamed out for beading. I wanted to experiment with building some 3D flowers with beads and sequins and this fabric seemed to be a good foundation for that as well.

And so the month of February is titled "life isn't always a carnivale (or patience is a virtue)"

February

I started my February Bead Journal Page today - It's loosely based on Mardi Gras colorwise anyway. I changed up and did some regular thread embroidery on the fabric before I began the beading. I'm taking an on-line embroidery class and the first assignment is a white on white/neutral piece and I needed some color AND I needed to practice my stitching so this month's page covers both of those things..

Here's the beginnings of the white on white postcard sized piece.

January Bead Journal Project Page - Completed!

This afternoon when I came home from work the bead I'd ordered for the January page was in the mailbox so I quick like a bunny, finished the page. I guess it is rather unorthodox to embroider a full page while leaving a 'hole' for just the 'perfect' bead but that's what I did - I guess I'm pretty lucky to have found something - the 'perfect' bead would be the lampworked lentil in the center - made by an amazing artist on etsy. I'm happy to have this done - I may be travelling unexpectedly as I received a call today that my mother had fallen and broken her pelvis and was hospitalized. She lives in Phoenix so a visit would be a bit more than a 'day trip'. In any event, the page is done and I'm quite happy with it. It's much more sparkly in person.

January Bead Journal Project Page

Day one of beading
I've been sick with the flu for the past few days but spent a good deal of time working on my January page inspired by the Nutcracker Ballet - sort of a combination of dance of sugar plum fairies and dance of the flowers.


Day two of beading.

November Page

I completed my November Bead Journal Page in 2 sittings so there aren't progress photos of this one. I started Thursday after work and finished it at 2 this morning. The past few weeks have had challenges and one of my not so great characteristics is that during times of challege, I tend to get rather stubborn (to put it mildly). And so the November page is titled "not everything is black and white" (or don't be a pighead). It didn't change my perspective on the world much but it did make a me laugh a lot and that in itself is a very good thing.

2nd October page done before midnight

those things that go bump in the night

The first October page is completed!

I've decided to prepare two October pages and then use whichever one is my favorite for the bound book - Here is the first one - I'm quite happy with it.

October Bead Journal Page - day 3

I'm not certain that I care for those large red navette sorta shaped beads but they are there now and I'm pushing through with the 'no ripping out' goal. Like many things, they'll probably be okay once I get other beads around them.

September Bead Journal Project Page Completed

And I am very happy that it's done. I learned quite a few things doing this page. First and foremost, that if I'm going to do something like this again that I'll attached the canes/vines/stems/whatevers first, then do the entire background, then apply the flowers/leaves/berries/whatevers. Attempting to do the background beading around all of the details was not pleasant - particularly for someone without a lot of experience like myself. But it's done and I'm pleased with it for the most part. I can see all the mistakes but I suppose that is normal. Now in the drawer it goes with all of it's sister pages waiting for binding.

in the home stretch

September page - day 7 - not much more to go

Ready for thorns

I've dyed the cording to make the blackberry vines with and found some wonderful little dagger beads to use for the thorns - but alas and alack, laundry and dust mountains call me today - Hopefully there will be some beading time this evening.

Jump Start on September

It's felt like fall here for some time now - really it's almost felt like winter. I got an early start on my September page last night. I've been beading eggs for another collaborative project, and am working on one that is all teeeny weeeny pastel delicas and I just needed a break from eggs. I looked at the pile of doll forms that I have ready and they didn't speak to me either so I decided to start September.

Reminded of the sunfower that Charles is so tickled to have grown, I made a rough sketch of a sunflower on one side of the heart - the other side will have blackberries - a constant source of annoyance to me, particularly in September when it's time to put the garden to bed - there was no garden this year, my arthritis has pretty much forbidden much gardening as of late - but Charles grew container gardens on the porch, full of wildflowers (and his sunflower yanked from the yard where it was planted by the birds) - even without a garden, there are blackberries to deal with - the Himalyan blackberries are to the Pacific Northwest what kudzu is to the South. I don't want to poison them - the birds nest in the brambles and bunnies live in there too - plus everything trickles down and that weed poison will end up poisoning many things in it's path. They are near to impossible to cut down - the canes are thick and the thorns are huge and very sharp. The only real way to get rid of them is to dig them up and since they are taller than I am, that's a job I'm not ready to take on. In late September, after the birds have eaten the berries, I attack - with rock salt and vinegar - it keeps them at bay (kinda) - they've lifted my fence and grown into my pottery shed - you'd think I'd be more ruthless with them.

And so September will be my love and hate page - There are many things to love and hate about September - September is the month my father died and is the month my wedding anniversary would have been in if I were still married. It is a month of beginnings and endings - of sunflowers and thorns.

Bead Journal Project - August day 3

This one is beginning to have a mind of its' own. Charles thinks it looks like a headdress for Carmen Miranda or a Vegas showgirl. I'm thinking it needs fruit and I think that, somewhere in this house, there is a strand of glass fruit. I really like the addition of the black - it grounds the piece - or something - maybe I just like black beads. In any event - here is work after day 3.

August

I"m still facilating on a theme for my August page - my initial thought was a hot hot hot tropical theme - bright oranges, pinks, yellows and blues - then I started thinking about a conversation Charles and I had a way back about me viewing life in black and white - there's very little grey in my world so I thought of doing a page of black and white beads with just a bit of grey - i have a multitude of black and white beads and a multitude of black/white fabrics. It's a thought. I can always do black and white another month.

I received a magnificent lampwork bead in the mail today that I think might be the focus of the tropicana page. The creator of this beauty is Silverfish Designs on Etsy. I love using beads that are made individually by artisans. I know that I don't have the eyesight nor the patience to learn lampworking, but I am happy to be able to support artists even if it's only one bead at a time.

Bead Journal Project July Page 2 is done!

What I've learned from this is to do the embroidery FIRST if I'm going to have straight embroidery on a piece - embroidering around beads isn't easy.

happy birthday frida day 4

not too much new today - i sliced the pad of my left index finger yesterday and am surprised at how much i really need the use of my left hand - frida continues slowly - i'm eager to finish the base work and start on some embellishing -