She Made~She Made February and Thursday's Thing* and, well, just read on!

Today's She Made~She Made Challenge is taking the place of Thursday's Thing * .
Or maybe, it is one and the same.  My Thursday's Thing* is my friendship with Therese.  What a difference she has made in my life.  Her warmth, concern, humor, eye candy, gentle push to try new things...all these things have helped me grow and have made me a bit more brave and a lot kinder to myself.  I love her more than beads. 

Therese picked these beads for February ~  fire cracked agate and Juli Cannon's Studio Juls heart. 

First up is my fire cracked agate.  Again, I apologize for the photos.  Still No Freakin' Sun in these parts.

I fought the urge to use bronze with these and instead used a matte grey, metallic green and a pea green pearl.  I am contemplating doing it over in bronze though.  I think I went grey because Every Darn Thing in my life if currently grey.  There has been nothing but grey skies and white on the ground for what seems like For-Freakin'-Ever.  I go back and forth with really liking it and wanting to go bronze.  Thoughts?

 Next is the heart.  I have to be honest here.  The second I saw the heart, I thought two things.

The first thought was:
   (get ready to Squeal, Bobbie!)

The second thought was, this heart would become a mascot in my workshop.  Here she is:

 

She now hangs out with Vincent, my Frog, my other little Lady, and a few hundred Rocks.  I gave her a full head of hair that still allows her fat bottom to show.  I had so much fun making her!

I am running right over to Therese's Treasures now to see if Therese was a bit more tasteful and respectful of her heart :-)


One last thing to tell you...tomorrow, Therese and I will be announcing our next A Time to Stitch Hop, so please check back in to see what stitches are in this hop and to sign up if you want.

Thanks for stopping by :-)  Happy Thursday!




*Appreciate what you have.  Want for less...unless it is beads or music.

Freeform Peyote Challenge:::Choose Your Own Adventure

Hop day has arrived!  It has taken me 14 months to get here.
Freeform Peyote.
Did those two words excite you or send fear cursing through your veins?!

A big Thank You to the Hostesses, Karen Williams (author of the book that carried me through, "Freeform Petote Beading : Design & Creation of Original Wearable Art Jewelry") and Mandi Ainsworth.  They gave some of us the kick that was needed to break through the mental barriers of freeform.  Yes, I did say mental barriers of freeform.  Silly, I know.

I got Karen's book for Christmas 2011 with the intent on learning Freeform Peyote in the winter of 2012.  I kept procrastinating.  I was too scared to pick up a needle and thread and try it.  One year later, Karen and Mandi presented this challenge.  Still scared, I waited until the second to last day to sign up.  Nothing like the last minute to make a decision.  No regrets!

The following photos are my very first, second, and third attempts at Freeform Peyote.  I still have a lot to learn, but I think I am off to a pretty good start :-)

  First Attempt with a button clasp.

 Second Attempt with a snap clasp. 

Third attempt with a rock as the clasp.  

Thank you for taking the time to be here to see what I made.  Please go take a look at what the other Hoppers created:


Adventure Guides
Mandi Ainsworth
Karen Williams


Bobbie Rafferty
Sarah Meadows
Katherine Gale
Leanne Kirsch
Jean Hutter
Nancy Dale
Judy Riley
Natasha Wiegelman
Pam Chesbro
Stephanie Woods
Romana Tschunko

Mary Harding
Melody Marie Murray
Shirley Moore
Marj
Sally Russick
Therese Frank
Tanya Goodwin
Christine Altmiller
Lea Paličková
Ivona Šuchmannová
Jennifer Chasalow VanBenschoten

Tammy Bowman  

Lori Callahan
Tami Norris
Jane Kettley
SaraBeth Cullinan
Julie Schmidt Bowen

Cynthia Machata
Bette Greenfield
Kay Haynes
Alisa Lehman
Tammi Clapper

Oh Crap! I Forgot to do Thursday's Thing*

Whole Lotta Love

Last night was a Big Ol' Lovefest here...rated PG...or rather, PG-13 (thanks to Mr. Page and Mr. Plant). 
We played Pigs, we ate, we sang, we laughed. 
The Birdman sent me a dozen roses the day before.  The Bug made dinner and dessert.  Sunshine Girl made us all really sweet Valentine's cards and poems.  On mine she wrote about having a whole lot of love.  Naturally, the Birdman and I sang Led Zepplin non-stop for the next half-hour.  After dinner, while the Bug was preparing dessert, I pulled up "Whole Lotta Love" on youTube.  The Sunshine Girl suffered through it and mostly thought it was a freak show.  So I tried  "Immigrant Song".  She loved it when she was younger.  But apparently not anymore.  So I moved on..."Black Dog" was a bust.  I knew she would love the groove of "Dyer Maker".  She said it wasn't terrible.  So I reigned it way in and played "Going to California".  I knew this one would bring her in.  She gave it a "not bad" rating.  I wanted to play "Kashmir" and "Tangerine" and every Led Zepplin song in the world until she saw the light, but she took over and played Brad Paisley for the next 2 hours. 

I spread a little Love around myself...in the form of heart shaped rocks. 

I made this for the Sunshine Girl.  She made the clay beads herself and gave them to me.  I thought they matched the rock very nicely.  She bought the crystals to make a necklace for her teacher last year and gave me all the leftovers, so I used them here.

I made this for the Bug.  She was my arm model for the lariat post and loved the look and feel of it as a wrap bracelet.  Now she has one of her own :-)











I think Valentine's Day is kind of a BS holiday.  These people know I love them.  I tell them 20x/day.  But the kids get really excited about it so they make me want to put a little effort into it too.  I adore that about children.  They suck you in to the things you might otherwise ignore.  They have such a lust for life and beauty and happiness.  What a gift they are to us...a constant reminder to bring our best into each day. 

Thursday's Thing*

                                            

*Appreciate what you have.  Want for less...unless it is beads or music. 
(and I am very appreciative it wasn't more snow than it was...and for the beauty of the morning, no matter how fleeting)

L O N G Time Coming

I started this Lariat poolside in August and finished it last night.  What took me so long?  I only worked on it when I did not have to concentrate on anything.  I could mindlessly weave this one. The simplicity and the rhythm of this one really speak to me.  It is all about the color and the length.  And the possibilities.  I used 54 inches of a picasso mix and put pretty glass beads I got in Michigan at the ends.  I am getting a lot of mileage out of Michigan beads and rocks :-)

Here are a few ways to wear it (again, I apologize for photo quality...Eastern US=Grey Day) :

In other jewelry news~

I took Kim's Holiday Ornament she send for the Ornament Swap Hop and put it on a chain...YAY!  It will go back on the tree in December, but for the other 11 months, it will be worn on my chest :-)  What a beauty!

And lastly, Therese and I will have a She Made~She Made reveal on Thursday, February 28th.  We will be using these beads Therese picked for the occasion~fire cracked agate and Juli Cannon's Studio Juls heart.

Thursday's Thing* (It's Back!)

 

My Bag.  My Very Cool Bag.  My Very Cool Strangers Ask To Touch It Bag.

I walked in to a bead store a few years ago and the owner had several leather bags for sale.  She bought them all in Africa years and years ago, enjoyed using them through the years, and was looking to downsize her stash.  Lucky me!  I was willing to pay any price for this.  She asked for $15.  FIFTEEN DOLLARS!!!  Of course, being me, I said, "Fifty Dollars?" (which I was willing to pay) She said, "No. Fifteen."  Then I bought $250 in beads and went home.  The Bird Man said, "Cool bag."  I said, "Thanks!  I paid $15 for it!"  He said, "Wow!  I would have even bought it for that price."  He never asked what was in it :-D

So now, whenever I go bead shopping, I bring my Bag.  It hold lots and lots of beads.  And the Bird Man never asks what is in it.  

  *Appreciate what you have.  Want for less...unless it is beads or music.