JaNuArY finished!

Polymer clay face

Herringbone stitched cording


"Blanket of Snow"

This months tag went by in a breeze, not sure why, maybe because I like the little face in it sleeping peacefully. After struggling with Novembers and Februarys tags I was hesitant to start January, but jumped in full force anyway. I had already picked out the very shiny iridescent fabric I knew I wanted to use for the night sky. It's a very shiny lame material. I made the little face of polymer clay. January tag is called "Blanket of Snow". I love love love snow. Living in California we don't get any except in the high mountains. But everyday I look out my window and see the beautiful snow caps of the Sierra Nevadas just poking in the sky full of that beautiful white stuff. Snow to me is magical and always very very quiet and peaceful. Growing up in Albuquerque we got a lot of snow and memories of full blown snow storms are very vivid. It literally blanketed the city and it's funny how it muffles out all city sounds. I always slept so snug and warm in my bed those nights. Hopefully this reflects a little bit of that. The snowflake pattern can be found on my main Bead Gypsy blog. The snowflakes here however have one more tip added to them. Now I only have December to finish up as well as this months. Hopefully I'm back on my beading 'roll' and beading for pleasure as usual.

FEBRUARY BJP

Garden Of Love

This months BJP is called "Garden of Love". How did I get to February ? I'm working backward now so I can catch up. (In my mind that makes sense) December and January are in the works still. I'm not completely happy with my work, but I guess it's just one of those months and maybe later on I will tweak it a bit or a lot! After using batik fabric as I have on all my past tags, I chose the center purple dichroic heart, which a friend made me a few years ago, and I wanted to use it as the center 'flower' . I glued this cabachon to the back and then did a peyote stitch around it. Everything else just kind of flowed from that center and although the turquoise was subtle I did want that color to be in it. It says 'believe' on the metal plate, which is just simply a note about Love in general. I struggled with this tag...and just couldn't get it going for a long while. Lots of things have happened in my life in the last few months i.e. My mom came out for Christmas (1st in 30 years) and 2 weeks later my brothers passing away, a wedding, and a birth, and my mind could not focus on beading. Beading just flows better when I am happiest. I'm not one of those who finds relief in painful soul art I guess. Don't hold me to it though. The red heart flowers at the top pulled some of it together for me and I did a russian spiral rope for the tags handle with random dangles of beads from its' ends. Although a small area, I found I wanted to continue with more things but decided it was better to stop than cram too much in.

Breathe..

What does this photo have to do with my BJP??? Nothing except breathing!!! Lance Armstrong rode through town and I watched him ride by in a nano-second. What lungs!! Up the steep hills of Oakhurst in the Sierra Nevada mountains near Yosemite, and down through Mariposa to our town. He is amazing, an inspiration, and a true idol for anyone. Leg 4 of the race and what a thrill to see all these bikers in town. Exciting...!!! It's one of the things I did this past week while I didn't work on my BJP. I'm thinking the block has lifted...as soon as I got most of my class samples finished my juices started flowing again coming into the home stretch like Lance (no we're not on a first name basis) although I will not even come close to a first place or even 4th place win. Gheesh I hate it when my ideas just don't come together. I am behind but making progress with my tags. I started working backward from February back to make it a little easier on myself and mentally feel like I'm somewhat catching up. February "Garden of Love" is almost finished and I finished November 'Thankful". PHOTOS to come...I promise, but don't get too excited 'cause I'm not thrilled about either of them. I have the beginnings of my January, not titled yet..so stay tuned. For December I have too many ideas and not enough time, and this one needs to be a special one which is why I think I'm procrastinating on it. Gotta just breathe and let it flow and move!!!!!!!!!!!!

NOVEMBER BJP

"Thankful"
I cut out a long heart shape of cardboard and wrapped it with that pretty silk ribbon found in the yarn sections at fabric stores. I wrapped it until it was pretty much covered and glued the end to the back. Then I used 28 gauge wire to wrap it with the beads and letters. I glued this entire piece ot the tag, and then embroidered the purple edging around it. A spiral stitch cord with small dangles was added to the top. All the small embellishments were then added to the tag with a small photo of Marjorie to finish it off.

For my November tag I wanted to do a little tribute to my mother-in-law who passed away a few years ago. If it weren't for her I wouldn't have my wonderful husband! She was an inspiration, a woman with three boys, divorced and going to nursing school all at the same time. Her career was as a Psychiatric nurse working with the very mentally unstable, altzeimers patients, and even dangerous criminals. Once retired from that, she opened her own business doing physicals for insurance companies (I think I'd trade to that as well). She was always my biggest supporter and cheerleader when it came to my art and experimentation with whatever creative endeavor I was on. I wanted to just convey my thanks for raising such a wonderful man (my husband) who I give thanks for every day and who is also my biggest supporter and cheerleader. I always looked up to her as an inspiration and in amazement. How did she do it? It just says a lot about her morals and ethics I think. She lived simply and practically.

NOT GONE

I haven't disappeared for good. Today I finally got out all my bjp stuff and plans for my tags out in open. Hopefully this week I begin to work on Nov, Dec, and Jan. Yes I said begin! Holidays just take all my focus, and then right in the middle of all the Christmas mess, I had to get my house more organized so that we could have it appraised which is a job in itself. On a very very sad note, on Jan. 11 my mom called all of us to say my brother had died suddenly. Sooo... talk about taking the wind out of any sail I had remaining, that did it. He was 'healthy' and just turned 50! It was a shocker..he apparently had a massive heart attack. No, not overweight at all...but he was a smoker..My husband and I loaded up Bella and drove the 900 or so miles with Bella in tow and had a lot of soul searching to do as we drove across country. We had been eating healthy for a while now, and I thank the lord I don't smoke. You just never never know when your day is 'gonna come. We are all just devastated. I'm sorry if I haven't commented on some of my favorite blogs, but will catch up on everything I have missed. Hope some of you missed me. The following quote rang so true this week...

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"At the end of your life you will never regret not having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict, or not closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent with a husband, a friend, a child, or a parent....Barbara Bush