THANKFUL

Marjorie
This week my mind has been going in 10 different directions. Between CLASSES and thinking a lot about how my November project is going to come together and the holidays coming up, and I am trying to do each project within the month it is intended to keep it an actual monthly project. That is challenging in itself. This is the way I work. I think and think and think and then one morning it all comes together for me. I dream about projects and work them out in my dreams. It has always worked for me. It's like I process all the things I want to do in my brain and somehow it all comes out in the end like a smoothie or something. All the different items put together and Voila! I know that is weird, but I usually start with a 'feeling' I want to convey or a subject, and although I may not plan it out, I let it flow out using my beads. Well this morning it hit me what I should do and I hope I can make it come across in my tag. Not surprising is that today is the 2 year anniversary of my mother-in-laws passing and funny how it all came together this week, because my theme will be THANKFUL. Thankful that I had such a wonderful mother-in-law who was one of my biggest supporters. I can't tell you how many home-made things I made her that were less than flattering in my artistic learning stages and she always supported me giving me positive reinforcement. I'm THANKFUL that if it weren't for her I would never have my wonderful husband who is also one of my biggest suppporters. Without him I would be a lost soul I think. In general I simply have a wonderful family and network of people around me who are very supportive. Marjorie was a single parent in the 50's raising 3 boys and going to nursing school. She was an inspiration! She worked as a psychiatric nurse, treating the criminally insane, altzeimer patients etc., for many years and grew the most fantastic orange trees I've ever seen. I don't honestly know how she did it. I really miss her.

Ding Ding Ding Ding!

Ok, so finally the little light bulb over my head went on with a loud dinging noise too! You have been reading my ramblings and complaining about how I'm not happy about the hole of my tags being kind of rough and unfinished. I don't know why I hadn't thought of it sooner, since I taught scrapbooking for a few years and have about a bazillion of these little things in my embellishments stash. Can you say GROMMET? I have teeny ones, square ones, round ones, star ones, (ok you get the idea) in an array of colors and I've been scratching my head about this for months...Soooo Novembers piece will have the almighty grommet in it's little special place. So, I'm glad I got that out of my system and maybe next month I'll think of something entirely different... ;o) jEEEZ lOuIsE! I'm getting "oaf" (old and forgetful)

Footprints

Well today Matthew left. One week in the life of a 12 yr. old. I did hardly any beadwork this week either. We took care of him while his grandparents (our neighbors) left for NY. While we didn't know him very well, we got quite attached to him. His mom died last year, and dad is not around. We tried our best to give him a week of fun. His obsession is making Nerf guns..( I had no idea) My husband and he went to the local home depot and bought some things to "modify" his current gun. I jokingly told him he was a bit obsessed with these nerf guns" and we share an obsession, mine being beading. We have been having a fun time. My big contribution was trying to come up with a very simple project that a non beader can make and enjoy. He did enjoy making the bracelet and matching up the beads with the words in the Footprint story. This way he could tell the story to his grandmother personally. While it looks like a hodgepodge of beads, it is a simple story bracelet based on the story Footprints. I'm not all that religious, but I am spiritual I like to think, and I think this poem has great meaning to anyone who may be having a rough time in life. Knowing that his grandparents are very religious we thought it would be a nice gift. Each bead represented a certain word in the story. He was so excited to wrap it up in a nice box and pretty organza bag. Can't wait to see how she likes it. My life will be back to normal today, and hubby out of town for a looong week. I will have more time to work on my November BJP. If I'm lucky I will finish November early...

Bad Habit

My other bad habit spoiling "BELLA" our fur baby

I have a bad habit, it is the habit of comparing myself to others. My family all tell me that I shouldn't do it because I am my worst critic. That is just what I do though. I know I'm not alone in this habit. My habit has pushed me however, to go on and do better things with my life. In some instances it has stifled me to just quit and give up. The mantra in my head goes like this: "they are so much more talented, creative, (insert word)". I knew when I joined the BJP that I would have a tendency to do either of the two, challenge myself or be stifled. So far I have noticed how easily some can open up and talk about the most intimate details of their painful days and it is released in their beautiful beadwork. That to me is truly art, if you can convey your feelings through a piece of your beadwork or whatever medium you are using. I don't feel I have reached that point yet. Even in my beadwork, I try to stay on the 'lighter' side. I have my share of challenges in life and so far my pieces have been about the seasons and how the seasons feel to me. Am I trying to cover up negative feelings by doing just positive things like the seasons? I'm an honest person and I should be able share easily. My goal is to look deeper and try to convey some of my inner thoughts and translate that to at least one of my monthly tags. That is hard for me to do and it will certainly come out when I least expect it. Scrolling through everyones blogs I have felt joy, inspiration, sadness, envy, annoyance and most of all an even bigger hunger for beading than ever before. The holidays are coming up and that always has a way of bringing out the emotions in me. Novembers piece will be about family.

October BJP

First let me say THANK YOU TRACEY N. for the freebie friday gift! What a nice surprise to actually win something, I look forward to wearing that cute pumpkin pin and earring set!!! If you haven't visited her blog, check it out, she's very talented.

I finished up last night in the wee hours. I decided to make a small spiral rope for the hanger of the famous hole, (boy does that sound weird).. and left the center beads of it just as is so that I could pull it through the hole in the tag. I made a different version of spiral this time which I had never done. Instead of working up the spiral with the beads and adding base beads as you go, I put on all the base beads first and then did the spiral beads through the base. It looks exactly the same, but you don't have to remember to put on the base bead. Anyway, I enjoyed working on this piece mainly because I love fall, the colors of fall, and encasing cabochons (the crow) is relaxing to me. The hole continues to be a challenge. This time I just left the center hole without beading around it and the edge is raw. Last months I beaded a medallion around it. In any case once the ribbons, or hanging things are put through it, it is pretty much hidden, but I know it's not as finished as I'd like and it continues to kinda bug me. I also did a very very simple whip stitched (I guess that's what you could call it) 3 bead black edging around the entire piece. My canvas is small so I am feeling kind of limited with what I can do on my tags, however I'm still happy I did not go bigger because honestly I don't know if I could finish a larger one each month. My plans for November and December are ambitious, I hope I can follow through with them...

GOOD DAY!

Another full day of Matthew! He's fun! However I only got a small amount of beadwork done today. 12 year olds do a lot of talking!! I have a class to teach on Saturday and I'm determined to get my tag finished by next week, so I can concentrate on Novembers tag and BABE! The Bay area Bead Extravaganza. I am planning on staying a few days out there in the Oakland/San Fran area to take in all it has to offer. Last year we took the train and it was fun and I'm looking forward to another great bead trip to inspire me. On another note, today a box arrived which had two copies of BEAD TRENDS magazine and a check in it. Why? Because finally, finally a design of mine has been published. I'm not real happy about the photo of it, but oh well, at least my name is in there. Here's my PHOTO of another color version of the same design.

Until Next Week

Well, I thought I could finish up my tag in the next few days, but I have a visitor this week. My neighbors grandson who is 12, is staying with us and is he a bundle of energy. Our house is quiet with just my hubby and I and our baby Bella (fur baby) so Matthew is an adjustment to our usually un-eventful days. Matthew is however, intrigued by my beads and told me now that he wants to come to my bead class on Saturday...He's also interested in making nerf guns and we MUST go to the hardware store for parts this weekend...soooo here we go. Beading will have to wait a few days. My husband is wondering how long it will be before I bead a Nerf Gun.

I love Fall

"Crow Season"
My October Tag is almost done. This one went much easier 'cause Fall is my favorite season! You might ask why I chose a crow as my center piece. I always remember that when I would start seeing crows it was in the fall and winter and it was cold outside. I have always associated crows with the coming cold months. I actually took quite a lot of photographs of crows on white snow one year for a college photography class project. Because they are so black, they are the perfect contrast to color and white. Crows like sparkly things as do I, and this piece has bits of sparkles on it. I used olive green swarovski crystals although the pic kind of looks yellowish. The brown foliage leaves that are starting to show up as the nights get colder and leaves are changing I picked up by the yard. The pumpkins are also a favorite of mine as I see everyones homes lined up in anticipation for Halloween . I hope to give a feel of the fall season. All I have left to do is put on the back, decide on the tag hanger, and possibly do beading on the edges.

Fall in the Air

Today we plan to go to the fair, I'm expecting tons of inspiration! I always always head to the gem and mineral building to see all the pretty sparkly rocks, gems etc. A few artists have their beadwork on display there too. I worked on my piece last night, and it just looks too simple and I wish I had gone bigger with my shape. I find I run out of room for things I want to put in. I guess my mind works in a bigger format than I thought it did. Most of the time one central piece is used as my focus and then I build and bead around it, which is what I'm doing this time. Doing collages and trading cards with found objects etc...is so much my thing, that I find my beads are the last thing I put on a piece and then there's no room. Today I see that the new issue of Bead Trends is about to come out...it's the one I've been waiting for 'cause I'm in it! Yippee! Just a simple pair of earrings being featured, nothing fancy, but the rewards for me are great!

Oh What to do...

It is the middle of the month and although I have begun my project for October I am not thrilled about it. When I work, I just go for it and see what flows out...it seems a lot of people on the bjp plan and really think things out resulting in amazing pieces of works. Lots of depth and thoughts going on. That will be my challenge for next month since Octobers piece was another let's see what flows out month. For October I chose an orange/brown background of batik once again with little curly olive green designs on it. I love Halloween but thought the idea of jack o lanterns and witches was a little too literal...so I chose a crow as my center design and built on that...PHOTOS TO COME...