What Is It??? And What The Heck Do I Do With It???

Since my last post I had a terrible headache for two days and didn't do any beading at all.  Then I felt like I was just in a funk or had the doldrums.  I missed my bead therapy!!!  Needing to bead, I sat down and started working more on my current project that is taking forever.  I measure it every 30 minutes or so to see how far I've gotten, then I get bummed that I didn't get more done...because I just want this one to be over!!!  It's been on my table for what seems like an eternity.  But did I stick with it?  NO!!!  lol  I started something else.

A while back I did some clay cabochons if you remember, and I was looking forward to beading with them.  I ordered some beads from Artbeads.com to go with the pink and white cab that I made.  It's been sitting there for quite a long time.  Every now and again I would pull it out and wonder what the heck I was going to do with it.  Some of the beads were not the right shades of pink...one was too pale and the other was too hot.  And then I thought, "That sure is a whooooole lotta pink!"  Dang.  I just remembered my last post when many of you said you didn't like pink.  Now I'm going to be embarrassed to show this to you.

Ok, onward anyways because it's the only thing I have sort of done to show you.  I promise my next something or other won't be pink.

To try to counterbalance some of the pink I added a little green, and there is white to also soften it.  When I got to the outer edge I felt soooo dumb because I couldn't do a picot.  I thought, how basic is that and I can't figure it out???  So I stopped thinking about it and took a break.  Wouldn't you know it?  When I wasn't thinking about it a light bulb went off in my head and I could see in my mind how to do it.  Yea!  I'm not so dumb after all!!!  But I don't know.  It kind of looks like a cake.  Or the top view of a frilly hat.

I have no idea what to do with this.  (It's 3" x 2.75")  Put a pin back on it and call it a brooch?  Make a beaded bail, bead a rope and make a pendant on a necklace?  Or, put it in a drawer and call it practice, never to see the light of day again???  Well I can't do that.  That would be a waste.  Should I rip it apart and salvage the Swarovski's and other beads to be used another day?

I think I need to ponder this one for a while and go back to my boring project.  What do you all think?

My Project Is Done!!! :D

What does this little daisy clip art have to do with my newest project?  Not much, except maybe that I felt like my latest project really "blossomed".  And, hey, I think it's cute.

Ok, on to my project.  I felt so good making this necklace.  That's what I find so gratifying about beading.  I get to be creative, and it makes me feel good.  It's great therapy.  This piece really flowed for me.  I didn't have to think about it...it just came together.  No forcing it, no second guessing it.  You ever have a great project like that?  I hope to have many more because it was so utterly enjoyable.

The centerpiece is a cab by Beth Evans of Bellesanbeaus on Artfire.  She does amazing work.  It turns out this cab was a little bit of a mistake.  I had asked for shades of blue, but she mistakenly sent me shades of green.  And it's a good thing she intuitively knew exactly what I needed better than I know for myself because the green cab is PERFECT!!!  I also used Nicole Campanella's wonderful-to-work-with Beadbacking.  It's so easy to work with when doing bead embroidery.  You don't have to worry about backing your fabric with lacy's or anything else.  You just bead right on it, you can cut around it in the shape you need, and it won't fray or stretch.  And it's acid free.  PERFECT as well!  You can get Nicole's Beadbacking from her Etsy shop, Beadwright.

Another awesome thing is that I used everything from my stash.  The only thing I bought for this project was the clasp.  The little green cabs Beth gifted me.  That was so nice of her!  Again, she intuitively knew what I needed.  I also mixed in some orange, which is not a color I normally work with.  I find it a very difficult color and orange and I don't play well together.  But this week we called a truce, and look how the orange just shines with the green.  I love the orange lucite flowers that rest near the collar bones.  (They're a little higher on my "model" because he's only 11 and a little smaller than a person it was actually meant to be sized for.)  But Matthew was a good sport and jumped right up when I asked him to model for me.  He's kind of funny because he's in his underwear only and he was real paranoid that I didn't show his boobies in the pics. hahaha.  Kids are fun.

I've never made a necklace where I did bead embroidery and had to put the pieces together.  I wasn't sure how to do that.  Then I remembered the wise words from Robin Atkins, the bead embroidery goddess..."Just do it!"  I don't know how other people do it, but my way seemed to work!  Yea!

Enough, enough already!  I know...let's get on with it!  Ok everyone.  Here are the pics.  I realize that this probably won't be everyone's cup of tea, but for me it's just stunning.  And I guess that's what counts.  Matthew doesn't want me to try to sell it, but he reluctantly said I could lol.  Someday it will find the perfect home.

I originally was going to call it Lush Green, but I just had the idea of Greenman in Springtime.  I've always loved the Greenman, so maybe it's fitting that I make a tribute to him.

Greenman in Springtime

Normally I take my photos in the daytime in a nice shady area to get the beautiful natural light, but I was too anxious to wait until tomorrow to show it off.  I also learned how to do a spiral rope for this necklace.  I was pretty happy with it.  It took the 3rd try to get the color combination I was happy with, and I'm pleased with the way it turned out.  You can click on the photos to see a larger view.  Isn't that face cab fabuloso!?! Comments anyone?

Giveaway Celebration!!!

Can you believe it?  I have reached 100 posts!  When I started this blog, October 31st of 2009, I had no idea what I would write about on a regular basis, if anyone would ever read what I had to say, or how long I would continue to do it.  So far it has been a great journey!  I have met so many wonderful people and made such good friends through the blog world.  It has been great for me because I don't get out much, and I have never been good at meeting people.  Maybe it's just that I don't put myself in situations to be able to meet new people.  I live a very sheltered life, even having gone through almost 2 years of severe agoraphobia where I barely even left my room let alone went out and spoke to someone.

I have so very much enjoyed writing, reading your comments, emailing you back and talking about things and then visiting your blogs and getting to know you through your posts.  I appreciate your friendships very much.  In return for your kindness, I would like to give away one of my pieces.  I thought about making something new, but all of you probably already know I am really short on funds, and I didn't want to skimp on anything.  I wanted to give away something special.  So what I have decided to do is take one of my cuffs out of my online shops and give it away to one of my readers for my 100th Post Celebration.  I am giving away one of my bead embroidered cuffs that I call "Drops of Honey".  It is one of my favorites.  I just love the shell discs.  The colors are so rich and creamy...they look just like nice big dollops of honey to me.  Here are some photos of it:

What do you think?  Do you like it?  It is made with an aluminum cuff base with microsuede on the inside.  It could be yours!  All you have to do is be (or become) a follower here on my blog and leave me a comment...make sure you tell me how to reach you in the event you are the winner.  If you'd like a 2nd chance to win, post this to your blog with a link to the post, and I'll even do a 3rd chance to win by sharing to your Facebook page (you'll have to friend me, too.)  Leave me a separate comment for each of your 3 ways to win so I can keep an easy count.  I will do a random number generator to pick the winner.

The deadline for entering my giveaway is going to be Saturday, April 2nd at midnight EST.  I will ship this anywhere, so everyone is welcome to enter.  I will announce the winner on Sunday, April 3rd.  I hope you like my giveaway, and I hope to see lots of entries to make my celebration a party.

Thank you again for making my blogging experience a great one!!!

Branching Out...again

Hi, all.  Hope everyone has been having a great week.  Things will be changing around my house.  My son and his girlfriend finally got a car yesterday!  That means my taxi service duties will drastically be cut down.  I'm really excited about that!  That's all the news I have from the home front. 

But in the beady world I have decided to do something new.  Do you remember how I had bead embroidery videos up on that video website (not youtube)?  And then how I took them down because I thought they were crooks?  Well, I had someone ask about them, so what I decided to do was post them on another blog.  I wanted to see what Wordpress was like, and was thinking maybe I'd be able to meet a whole new group of people besides all you wonderful ones here on Blogger.  So I started a Wordpress blog, and I have decided to start posting my bead embroidery video series on it.  I am hosting through youtube, but I have the videos marked as "unlisted", which means you can't search for them on youtube.  The only way you (and all your friends you tell about it *wink*) is by going to my new blog and watching them from there.  I've only got a couple up right now, but if you bookmark the page you can keep coming back and checking for more.

Is there something other than bead embroidery you would like to see a video of?  Leave me your comments and suggestions and maybe I can make a video of your request.  To go to my Wordpress blog, click here. 

Also trying to think of what I should have for my giveaway for reaching 100 posts.  hmmmm. what to do, what to do.  Such dilemmas I have these days.

A New Journey

Hello, everyone!  I just wanted to tell you about the project I am working on.  Just recently a representative from a website called Videojug contacted me.  She had seen my blog and really liked it (yea!).  Videojug is a website that is about all things hobbies and interests.  People contribute pages with instructions, videos, photos, etc. to help others interested in that hobby.  Jemma asked me to contribute pages for them!  Is that kinda cool???

So yesterday I had my daughter video tape me (or my short, little, stubby arms at least lol) giving a "getting started" demonstration into the world of bead embroidery.  I discussed needles, thread, fabric, backing and showed how to knot on and knot off the thread properly...a crucial task to learn well when doing bead embroidery.  I plan to do a whole little series teaching a variety of stitches from beginner to advanced.

The other fun thing is that Videojug is doing a contest this month...whoever submits the most and best quality videos will win $1000!!!  The prizes go down to $100, and they are giving away $3000 total.  I told Sami that if she videos for me and I happen to win, she gets 10%.  lol.  Whatever it takes to get the help, you know? 

The video is too dark if you ask me, and you can tell I was nervous doing my first video, but I'm satisfied with what I did.  The next ones will only get better.  I think I will need to do the videos in the daytime from now on with the natural light coming in the window to help brighten things up.  I also had to learn how to use YouTube, which isn't as easy as people make it out to be if you ask me.  My video was too big to upload directly to the site, so I had to link it in from YouTube.  I just have to make sure my videos are not longer than 10 minutes in the future.

But, I'd like to invite you to see my first page submitted to Videojug.  I hope I got the link right...you can click here to view it.  Feel free to leave me comments, critiques and criticisms here or on my Videojug page itself.

Oh, and I forgot to mention.  I can make some extra $$ through this venture.  I get a 50/50 split on revenues generated from ad clicks.  So, you know, if you want to click an ad while you're there... ;)

And one more thing.  I'd like to thank all the veterans out there who have served to make this great nation what it is today.  If you, your hubbies, sons or daughters are veterans...thank you from me.

Hand Dyed Dominos

Here is another fun thing that I like doing...hand-dying dominos.  They make awesome pendants for necklaces.  You can put a glue-on bail and then just a strand of leather with a simple clasp to make a cool, unique necklace.  Or you can use them as cabochons and bead around them for fancier designs.  I have used a domino in my bead embroidery before and it turned out really neat.  Although my camera couldn't pick up the shades of red very well, so I was kind of bummed about that.  Anywhere that you can use a stone cab, you can use a dyed domino.  The colors are permanent and won't rub off or anything like that.  Here are pics of some that I have done.  If you would be interested in having one of them, let me know here or contact me offline.  I will sell them for $12 each, including shipping.  They measure 1" x 2".  Either way, leave a comment and let me know what you think of my designs.

As always, you can click on the pic for a larger view.  I am still working diligently on the embroidery piece that I showed the sneak peak of beads for.  I am about 2/3 of the way done.  I am hoping that I can get it done by tomorrow or the next day.  So stay tuned for that!  :)

I hope everyone is having a fun holiday weekend.  Please stay safe!

Sunburst Cuff

Here is my latest creation.  I read a post by Robin Atkins on her blog, Beadlust, called How to Blend Colors (click to check out her post...good reading).  I've been toying with the idea of blending colors for quite a while, but the thoughts never materialized into anything but that.  I was a little bit at a loss.  I could visualize what I wanted, but I think I was intimidated to try it.  Her blog post gave me the confidence that it's not that hard of a concept, and it can have some great results.  My cuff here probably isn't exactly the way she would do it, or the way that it might "supposed" to be done, but I'm very happy with my own variation and the results of it. 

I call it the Sunburst in the middle because that's the first thing that came to my mind, but if you can think of a better name for, please by all means give me suggestions.  Anyways, it starts with the sunburst in the middle, then goes from green to blended green and gold to gold on the back side.  Of course, just like looking at a pixelated picture, it looks more blended when you step back from it. 

I used a circular peyote stitch around the porcelain cab, then surrounded that by a circle of short stacks with dark olive green 6/0's topped with 11/0 gold beads. I extended the burst with 9mm gold bugles tipped with 15/0 light olive green beads.  The rest is done with size 11/0's in a simple backstitch in olive, gold and transparent amber, but I was surprised at the amount of time it took to think through each row and plan which colors would go where.  Again, I am very happy with the edging that I learned from Lynn at Beading Heart Art.  All in all, I am very pleased with this cuff.  I think I am getting better with each one.  *pats self on back with satisfied smile*

So, here it is...you can click on the pics for a larger view.  I would suggest looking at it up close at your seat, but also try stepping back from your computer a ways to see the colors blend more.  Let me know what you think! 

Sunburst

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog and taking the time to read what I have to say and to look at my pics.  I appreciate you coming by, and I hope you come back again!  Comments, thoughts, criticisms, critiques, just a hello...all are welcome.

Dots

I finished another cuff bracelet last night.  I really kinda like this one.  Simple, but fun.  I found these little rectangle black shiny beads with colorful spots on them.  So I just mimicked the colorful dots throughout the bracelet.  I am ecstatic about the edging.  I had seen pictures of cuffs that use just a one bead edging that I thought looked really sharp.  If I only knew what it was called I thought I could look instructions up on Google or find a video on youtube, but I didn't know the name of it.  I saved some pics from other cuffs and sent them to my good friend Lynn at Beading Heart Art and asked her if she could identify the stitch for me. She did better than that...she made a video for me!!!  (On a side note about Lynn, please click on her link and look for her post called "Done!" and take a look at the amazingly gorgeous handbag she made for this year's Beading for a Cure.  You'll see why she's my bead idol.  I call her a Bead Goddess!!!)  It's a good thing she did send the video because I never would have gotten it if it was just written instructions.  My edging on this cuff turned out so nice and even.  I am simply happy with it.  And I'm pretty pleased with my backstitching too.  For as simple as this one looks, for some reason it took me quite a while to finish it.  Maybe because I was trying to make the stitches even and nice.  I don't know.  And I wish I knew what the little rectangle beads are called.  The bead store where I do most of my shopping is pretty poor at labeling their beads and stones.  Anways...

Dots

And, for those of you who were wondering...my beading class went great!  I hid my nervousness well.  I made an outline so I stayed on track and didn't get lost, and man did that help!  During the class a woman and her daughter came in and stopped to see what we were doing and looked at my work.  They both seemed very eager to learn and to take the class.  Also, the owner of the store said that some others really wanted to take the class but that it was a bad day for them yesterday, so it looks like we will be scheduling another one coming up pretty soon.  I didn't get through everything on my outline and it took 2 hours!  I can't imagine what it will be like when I get someone who is slow or just doesn't get it.  Fortunately I loooove beads and have patience for it.  So it will be ok.  I took my camera, but taking pics wasn't on my outline, lol, so I forgot. 

Well, that's about all I got for now.  Have a beadiful day!!!

A Couple of Firsts

Here is the cuff for my first sale.  I'm very happy with it!  I have to give a great big shout out to Bobbi at Beading at the Beach for giving some awesome advice on making my peyote better.  I think her tip worked, because my peyote around my cab is nice and even with no strings showing. 

Jennifer (the lady that ordered the cuff) only said that she liked the colors in my mom's cuff and that she wanted gold beads in it.  I think I have filled her requests with this one.  My husband is not too interested in my beading, but even he said this one was really good.  That made me feel spectacular!

I wish you could see it in person.  My picot edging was really nice and even too, although you can't really tell in the pics.  Rather than looking at the top edge, because I think the front side and back side overlap and make the edging in the pic look messy, look at the picot on the bottom edge.  It's my best yet.

I for sure undersold myself on this one.  I gave her a price, but after looking on Etsy and stuff later, I could have at least doubled what I asked.  But it was my first sale, and I was just happy about it.  I can always go up a little in the future.

AND it was confirmed yesterday that I am going to teach my very first class!  It will be on improvisational bead embroidery.  I specifically asked for the class to be small...not more than 5 people...because I have a lot of problems with nerves and anxiety.  I don't want to get overwhelmed my first go around.  It wasn't that long ago that I was agoraphobic and wouldn't even step out, let alone be in front of people.  I wrote up my handouts last night and either today or tomorrow I will be going to the bead shop to pick out beads for the kits.  We haven't set a date yet, but it will be in the next couple weeks.  I'll take my camera and see if anyone minds if I take their picture to write about it and post on my blog after it happens.

Snowdrifts and Christmas part 3 (DONE!!!)

Just in time for Christmas...it's finished!  I actually finished the beading about a week ago, but hubby needed to paint the frame and put the hanger on the back.  I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out, and each of the elements reminds of a different aspect of my Christmases.

Wishing all of you a very merry, love-filled Christmas and a happy (and safe) New Year!

No Two Snowdrifts Are Alike

No two snowflakes are alike.  Well, neither are snowdrifts.  I had a major "doh!" moment the other day after getting the majority of my snowdrifts done on my Christmas project.  I have been used to making pieces that are 5x5.  Naturally what did I do?  Made it 5x5, of course.  However, I intended my BJP projects to be 5x7!  oops!  So, I had to start over making it the size I wanted it to be.  And, in doing so, I realized that my snowdrifts from the first and second pieces look nothing alike, which isn't a bad thing.   I just thought it was a little interesting...we may intend things to look the same, but they rarely do.  Each has their own characteristics that aren't duplicated.  The wind was just blowing a little differently the second time around.  Here is a pic of my newly completed snowdrifts...

I just want to wish everyone a healthy, loving, belly-full and safe Thanksgiving weekend!  Let's all remember our blessings...we all have them even when things seem to be at their lowest and times are tough. 

Snowdrifts and Christmas

Well, my Christmas colored beads came in and I decided why waste time to get started.  I picked a fabric I had on hand, an off white material with a thin, black outlined flower/leaves pattern.  I set out some beads and got started.  But it just was not happening for me.  I would start something and tear it out because I was distracted by the pattern of the material and feeling uninspired.  This material was just not going to work for me.

I went to JoAnn's and found their Christmas prints that were on sale, and there were a lot to choose from!  Now I had to decide which one was going to be best for me.  I remember in class Robin saying that you need to start with a fabric that you love.  How true that is!  I discovered that using a "whatever" material was not the way to get creative juices flowing.  So I started thinking back to my childhood memories and what made them so memorable and special.  There were reindeer, snowflakes, stripes, plaids, santas...you name it, they had it.  But I kept going back to one particular material that has candy canes all over it.  The thing that made this fabric so special and the one that I chose was that it reminded me of the Christmas trees we used to decorate as kids.  My very favorite year was one that we had teddy bears and candy canes with beautiful red velvet bows tied around them.  Now, the material that I picked didn't have any teddy bears or any red velvet bows, but it brought me back to that place...exactly where I wanted to be to start my project.

The next thing I remember about Christmas growing up was snow.  How I miss the snow and the changing seasons.  Here in Phoenix, AZ we don't have the pleasure of changing leaves, the first snowfall, snow days from school, the warming up and greening trees of spring.  I remember going Christmas shopping in the evening when it was dark, the lights lining the streets, the decorations on the stores and light posts, even the red tail lights of the cars seemed to add to the colorful magic of Christmas in the midwest.  And then there was the snow.  Sparkly, drifting, crisp and cold.  I loved it.  And I miss it so much!  So, snow is where I started.

I started with white bugle beads to make a shape for my "snowdrift".  Then I added rows of various kinds of white and silver to represent the layers, the "fluffiness" of the snow with the silver ruffle on top.  (You'll have to excuse my poor picture...my camera doesn't take photos very well indoors.  I usually take them in the shade on my back patio during the daytime for the best lighting, but I wasn't patient enough to wait.)  So here is my first snow.

You can see the wonderful, colorful candy canes surrounded by the evergreen that first put me "in the mood".  Some of the beads are translucent so you can see a hint of the candy canes beneath them.  The piece will cover the material, so I decided that a hint of my inspiration showing through was all right. I realize it doesn't look exactly like snow, but it's my interpretation, so I'm going with it.  And it made my daughter think of snow before I told her, so I must have done something right.  Then I got stuck.  I have a lot of ideas going through my head that I didn't know where to go next.  So I remembered another thing Robin said.  When you get stuck, make another pathway.  So that's what I did!  I used the white bugle beads and made another snowdrift shape and then just repeated the layers.

Now, I have started one more small snowdrift in the upper right hand corner (last one for sure...I think lol).  I have other Christmas colors I want to add...I just don't know how I want to do them yet.  I think I want to do evergreen kinky fringe with red "holly berries" and Christmas tree bulbs.  But I also want to do (can't remember what it's called offhand for sure) a twisted chain to outline some of the areas.  And a little gold would be nice.  But I have to pick and choose, because I want this to be "simple" like my childhood memories and not chaotic how Christmas seems now.

And I want to say also that special people come into your life and bring blessings at the most unexpected times.  I don't know if she wants to be public, so I will just say that a "bead angel" came and is bestowing on me some of her beads to help me with this project as well as some coming up.  How thankful I am!!!

I will post more of my "Snowdrifts and Christmas" as I go along.

Tranquility

My second piece I did, Tranquility, was the complete polar-opposite of my first project.  This one, done in shades of blue, amethyst, a splash of green and some pearl-colored beads, was done with thoughts of peace and serenity.  I tried some different stitches in this one, including the running water stitch and branch fringe.  I was completely happy with how this one turned out.

Every element I love in this piece.  I started off with the amethyst chips and the mirrors at the bottom and then the pearl and disc and leaf beads at the top.  There was a silver button with a floral swirl in the top right, but I just couldn't fall in love with that, so I ended up taking it off and I'm glad I did.  After the "chunky" pieces, I began to fill it in.  My final struggle to complete it was a blank spot in the middle.  My daughter, Sami, said it could use some green.  I wasn't sure about it at first, but now that it's done I think she made the right recommendation, because I have learned to like the green kinky fringe with the white beads at the ends as well.

I went shopping today for a few new things.  Greens, golds and coppers caught my fancy today.  Holy cow the metallics are expensive!  My husband is unemployed and beads are such a luxury...he has me on a very tight leash when it comes to my bead shopping.  So I have to be very thoughtful of every single thing I buy to make sure I love it right off the bat and will get good use of it.  I can't be buying things I "might" use in the future...otherwise I'd go nuts at the bead store!!!

Anyways, I will start tomorrow on my next project with the things I bought today.  Will post it when it's done.

getting started with blogging and my 1st project

I'm kind of flying by the seat of my pants trying to figure out how to get started with this.  I figure the best way to learn and get started is to just jump in the deep end and do it.  I've never done a blog before and will probably flounder a bit here and there, but as everything else in life I'll get better over time.

I've been beading for a couple years now as much as I can.  Beads are expensive and we're on a tight budget, so they're pretty much a luxury.  But I've recently started selling loom and peyote patterns at www.thebeadcoop.com and am making a little pin money each month now.  woohoo!  (If you'd like to see/buy my pattners click on "our designers" on the left and click on the number to the right of my name.)

I started off with square stitch and looming on a loom my wonderful husband built for me.  I couldn't get enough of it until recently...I was introduced to improvisational bead embroidery and took an amazing 2 day class with Robin Atkins (click to go to her website--has a link to her blog too).  Looming doesn't even compare to what I personally get out of embroidering!  I'm working on a loom project right now and it's almost a chore to finish it because all I can think about are the patterns and colors I can put on a piece of fabric.

I spent a couple months collecting beads in shades of purple and blue, a little green and red and various little doodads getting ready to take the class.  I had no idea what i was going to do with them, but I couldn't wait to get at it!  I was nervous about the class because I have anxiety issues and don't do well with too many people at once.  Well, my anxiety issues were a non-issue after all.  I was so excited to be in that class and learn from someone so knowledgeable and experienced that I was able to focus on the beading and not about having an anxiety attack.  The anxiety hit on Sunday night after the class was over and all the adrenaline subsided, but that passed and Monday morning I was ready to continue my project.

I had no idea where my first project was going to go.  I had so many thoughts going through my head.  I was thinking about the last couple years of my life dealing with being bipolar, the manic, the depressive, the roller coaster, the process of healing and becoming stable, my family being together now...so many things...I just couldn't focus on a single thought.  They were swirling in my head like a tornado.  It only took me about a week to finish my project because I worked on it diligently every day.  Here's where the piece went:

Unfortunately, the photo doesn't show how vibrant the colors are.  But I think you can get the picture.  So many textures and patterns throughout the piece were very reflective of my thought process, which is why I call this one "My Racing Thoughts".