She Made~She Made : October

Therese picked the rose and the yellow agates for our October She Made/She Made challenge.

You know how your head gets stuck on something and you can't let it go?
My head got stuck on Blue Roses...from Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie.  Laura and Jim talk about high school when Laura said she had pleurosis and Jim thought she said "Blue Roses".  Lines from the play kept looping in my head.  The next thing I knew:

The chain is a spiral done with peanut beads and tear drops.

Let's go over to Therese's Treasures and see what She Made!

{Rolling Blog Hop Challenge} Tanya of A Work in Progress

A short while back, I asked some creative and inspiring women if they would like to participate in a loose kind of blog hop.  Instead of everyone posting on the same day, we will post as we get our projects done, with an end of November deadline.  I send them each a package containing vintage wooden spools like you see on the upper left of the blog (badge compliments of Hope's wonderful photography and Janet's tweaking...thanks ladies~it looks great!).  I found them while antiquing in NJ.


Today, Tanya of A Work in Progress is the Rolling Blog Hop Feature and here is what she made (click on her name to see more photos of her piece) :

                                                (photos from A Work in Progress Blog)

Oh please go and take a look at Tanya's close ups of these Gorgeous necklaces!  She has combined beadweaving and chain maille.  The look of the mix of the two is incredible~the stitches she used and the link designs compliment each other beautifully.  And her spools~are downright fun!  Frankenstein and a Jack-o-Lantern done in peyote.  Too cute!


I do not know much about Tanya other than the fact that she makes gorgeous jewelry.  She is always in my Top Two of jewelry makers.  Her jewelry looks so wearable and beautiful...whether the occasions calls for denim or silk.  She is a creative weaver, a worker of wire and metal.  She is someone who always shows stellar pieces.  She makes it look easy, even though we all know it is not.  Tanya is simply someone I have always admired, have blog interaction with, and just wanted to see what she could do with these spools.  She is also someone I would love to have teach me some new techniques and stitches.  It looks like patterns and designs and tutorials just click with her.


Here are a few examples of what makes Tanya so darn good at what she does:

Tanya's Original Design made for the Challenge of Travel 2012.


She was inspired by the Japanese flag and its meaning: circle of the sun.  It is hard to imagine Tanya's work can get better than this!  What an absolute beauty.  The link will bring you to a sweet beadwoven kimono too.









(photo from A Work in Progress Blog)

A Spinner Ring Tanya made when she took a class at Bead and Button with Robyn Cornelius.


The textures and the movement are playful and tactile. What a touchstone when things need to be pondered, or a place to work out some worries.












(photo from A Work in Progress Blog)

Bracelet from the Challenge of Travel 2013.

A perfect example of Tanya executing a pattern by Heather Collin.
There is also a necklace on this link that you should see!  Chain maille and beadweaving.  So good together.



(photo from A Work in Progress Blog)

Chain Maille.  Click on those two words.  You will see more and it is sooooo worth your time!


That drape...Can you feel it?!






(photo from A Work in Progress Blog)

And last but Certainly Not least...Tanya's Original Design for Bead and Button Bead Soup.  

Sayin' it again...it is hard to imagine Tanya's work can get better than this.
When I saw this, I said, "Now THIS...is IT".  This one has it all!  Metal, beads, weaving, funk, glamour.  Wow.   Just Wow!

(photo from A Work in Progress Blog)




Tanya, it was our e-mails a while back that got the ideas brewing for this.  I mentioned that Rosanne Cash has a song "44 Stories" and that I wanted to do a theme of 44 as I close out my 44th year of this life.  I couldn't find a theme I wanted to work with until I saw the spools.  Then I knew that the theme was something I wanted others to participate in.  I wanted to send out 44 spools, keep a few for myself, and see how it all unfolded from there.  And knowing some spools will go unused forever or for a while is ok.  Because not all stories are written yet.
Thank you, Tanya.  I deeply appreciate you being a part of this.

{Rolling Blog Hop Challenge} Hope of Crafty Hope

A short while back, I asked some creative and inspiring women if they would like to participate in a loose kind of blog hop.  Instead of everyone posting on the same day, we will post as we get our projects done, with an end of November deadline.  I send them each a package containing vintage wooden spools like you see on the upper left of the blog (badge compliments of Hope's wonderful photography and Janet's tweaking...thanks ladies~it looks great!).  I found them while antiquing in NJ. 


Hope of Crafty Hope Fame, has posted her vintage spool creations and here they are (to see more of her photos of what she made, click on her highlighted name):

(photos from Crafty Hope Blog)

Hope writes that she hopes the French words on that first one aren't nasty :-D Aren't these wonderful?!  Paper, buttons, beads, and :Poof: ~wearable art, instant conversation pieces.  She is SO GOOD at taking the ordinary and the forgotten and making them memorable.  Please go to her blog to read how she made these and see all the other photos she took.  

I have been following Hope since I first started blogging.  Hers was the second "follower" button I ever clicked.  It took me a while to figure out how to comment.  But when I finally did start commenting, I was greeted with warmth.  Each Monday, Hope posts a menu plan for the week, complete with recipes and recipe reviews.  She goes thrifting and antiquing a lot and takes wonderful photos of her new old loot!  There are always a few goodies in these photos that catch my eye and it is interesting to wait and watch for them in her jewelry.  She can see the beauty in all these objects and brings them to life.  Just following her blog will make one see any object in a different light.  She is really talented that way!  And the photos she takes along the Gulf are incredibly soothing and inspiring.  Please, take a little time at Crafty Hope, enjoy her DIY posts, and learn something new :-) 


Here is some creative eye candy from Crafty Hope's Etsy Page:

Leather Feather Earrings


Hope cut these feathers herself.  The leather looks so luscious.  Can't you imagine how these beauties sway and how they feel?! 


(photo from Crafty Hope Etsy Page)

Etched Copper Flower Necklace

Hope etched this copper piece with a pretty flower design.  The ceramic beads she chose compliment the copper beautifully.  Love the colors here!













(photo from Crafty Hope Etsy Page)

Dawn Necklace


This piece shows what Hope does best...color palettes, blending of beads (polymer, wood, stone, ceramic, glass, metal), and flow.  This one has it ALL! 












(photo from Crafty Hope Etsy Page)

Bracelet featured in Stringing Magazine

That simple addition of the red seed beads makes the whole bracelet pop.  The quiet genius of Hope.  Lovely lovely bracelet.  She calls this Fire Toasted Marshmallow.  Are you salivating?  Can you smell the fire and hear it crackling?


(photo from Crafty Hope Etsy Page)

Copper Washer Earrings


Hope textured these washers and antiqued them.  The movement of these must be wonderful!









(photo from Crafty Hope Etsy Page)




Hope is also very involved in ZNetShows and has been Very instrumental in putting out their first Glossi.  Click on that whole line for the link :-)


Thank you Hope, for always being quick with an e-mail, helpful tips, and kind words.  And thank you for being willing to do this :-)  You were slightly ahead of me on this one, and it gave me a good chuckle!

A Time To Stitch 4

Therese and I have tallied up the participants and all of the stitch suggestions.  We are excited to reveal the participant list and the three other stitches for this challenge.  So with out further ado here is the list and the stitches.

Your Hostesses 

Therese Frank and Christine Altmiller 

Amy Severino

Janet Bocciardi

Cynthia Machata

Alicia Marinache

Paula Kramer

Kim Hora

Dee Alcalde

Degi (Kokopelli)

Maryanne Gross

Liz E

Sally Russick

Becky Pancake

Katherine Gale

Jasvanti Patel

Karin Slaton

Alenka

Sarah Sequins

Tanya Goodwin

Debbie Rasmussen

The tally of the suggested stitches:

RAW - 2

Chenille - 2

Spiral Rope - 5

Pondo Stitch - 1

Herringbone - 1

Flat Spiral - 1

Flat Cellini - 1

Chevron - 4

Brick Stitch - 1 

CRAW - 1

The ones with the most votes 1. Spiral Rope, 2. Chevron, and tied for 3. RAW and Chenille

The four stitches are: Net stitch (mandatory), Spiral Rope, Chevron stitch, and Chenille 

Therese and I decided that the third suggested stitch would be Chenille, since RAW was in a past ATTS challenge.

Challenge Rules:

The Net stitch is the mandatory stitch and must be used in one of your pieces.  You must choose at least one of the other three stitches for your other piece.

The Spiral Rope can be done in the Spiral Rope stitch, or any of the other spiral stitches, that is your choice.

RAW can be used in your design, as long as, one of the other 4 challenge stitches is use as the main stitch.

Therese and I are pretty easy going, so if you missed the sign up and would really like to be a part of this challenge, just leave a comment on either mine or Therese's blog and we will put you on the list.

We are looking forward to see what each of you have created and the stitches you chose to use on the blog hop day January 15, 2014.

(thanks for writing this up, Therese! ~cvd)

Cynthia's Two Year Blogoversary Hop

Cynthia asked Alicia, Bobbie, Janet, Therese, and me to join her in her Blogoversary celebration and today is Party Day!!!  She sent us all these gorgeous faces to work with.  We got some other items...some made it to the final project, some provided me with unmentionable language.  More on that in a moment.


Happy Two Years of Blogging Strong, Cynthia!  I can honestly say, meeting you has changed my life...in the best of ways. Thanks for asking me to be a part of this event.  You know how I feel about you...and it is not just for your beads...I'd love ya if you were beadless ;-)



The package arrived in the mail...in it was the focal face bead, sky blue frosted AB seed beads, white oval beads of unknown origin (i am leaning toward an agate of some type, though they could be bone), and white reclaimed sari ribbon from Darn Good Yarn.  The focal was made by Jana of Happy Fish.
I hatched a plan early on...like immediately!
As soon as I saw the face, I laughed as I said out loud to no one not even the dog, "Sleeping Indian."  Back in my Colorado Daze, it seems as though every town in the Rockies overlooked a range the locals called "Sleeping Indian."  There must have been dozens.  I took it as a joke after a while.  But they were all serious when they said the name of the range.  This guy...he had to be a Sleeping Indian Mountain Range...from Buena Vista or Creede or Durango or Gunnison or Frisco or Twin Lakes.  Take your pick!  I am sure there are a few dozen in New Mexico and Wyoming that I saw along the way.
So I had a loose plan...he needed to be a mountain range.  The blue beads needed to represent water and sky, the white beads-snow, the white sari-clouds.  Then the language began.  I tried every method I knew (even incorporating wire, if you can believe that!  me...wire!!!) to make that damn sari look like clouds.  I gave up.  So then the white beads became the clouds.  But the way I did it was so tailored.  What in the Rockies is tailored?!  It is nature for goodness sake!  Then there was the issue of the Sleeping Guy himself.  He would lay down but he just didn't look right.  Cut.  Cut.  Cut.
I put it down for weeks.
 I decided that ALL the Sleeping Indian Ranges in the Rocky Mountain region were conspiring against me.  Having majored in Anthropology and American Indian Studies in college, I knew when to reign it in---when to stop poking fun at something I guess I didn't really understand after all.  And I didn't understand how so many towns could have the same name range.  But I wasn't a local so how could I understand.  I was only passing through for 7 years.
And then my mind opened up.  And this came to be.  I smoothed his back by draping these red beads under him (courtesy of Liz from Bead Contagion.  Thanks Liz! They saved the day in yet another project!) and gave him movement and fringe with the original blue and white beads.  Still snow and rain and sky and clouds and water...and the color red...just not so much.  I still had no idea of how to support him, which made me pause for another week or so.  In the end, I decided he should be a pin.  Keep the focus on Jana's artistry, with my simple additions.  To say this was a challenge is an understatement.  But like all good things, this was one worth seeing through to the end.  Thanks Cynthia...for absolutely everything.

I cannot wait to see what the rest of the Ladies created!

Janet Bocciardi          Honey from the Bee

Bobby Rafferty          Beadsong

Therese Frank           Therese's Treasures

Alicia Marinache        All the Pretty Things

Cynthia Machata        Antiquity Travelers

A Time To Stitch 4 : Sign Ups and Suggestions

Therese and I are ready for A Time To Stitch 4 and hope you are too!


Netting will be the one stitch we all will do.

As for the other stitches, we are putting it in your hands.....you get to suggest a stitch, and the 3 most frequently suggested stitches will be what we will work on for this 4th challenge.


The dates for this challenge are:

10/16-22 : Sign Ups and Suggestions

10/25 : Reveal of The Most Suggested Stitches that will join Netting for the Challenge

1/15/14 :  A Time To Stitch 4 Hop Day



The Rules of the Challenge are:

1. Everyone does Netting
2.  You need to pick one of the other 3 stitches.  But you can certainly to more if you'd like~we're not stopping ya!


If you suggest a stitch, then you are also signed up for the Hop.  If you have no suggestions but want to participate, of course we will add you to the list.

When you sign up and suggest, please provide your name, blog address, and e-mail address.

You can sign up here or at Therese's Treasures.

We cannot wait to hear your suggestions!  This is going to be a fun hop :-D  Thanks so much for supporting our other 3 ATTS Hops.  We really do enjoy doing these and learn a heck of a lot.

Subconscious Results

I have been leafing through this lately.

And I saw this on Sunday.

When I sat down yesterday to make a simple ladder bracelet with  long black twisted bugles and some red seed beads generously sent to me by Liz of Bead Contagion, my hands had me do this instead:

It wasn't until the last segment that it occurred to me that I was deeply inspired by both the links above.

Thank you Lisa.
And thank you David Dean and Charles Eagle Plume (and thank you Cynthia for bringing the book and all its meaning into my life!).

{Rolling Blog Hop Challenge} Janet of Honey from the Bee {The First of 13 Participants}

A short while back, I asked some creative and inspiring women if they would like to participate in a loose kind of blog hop.  Instead of everyone posting on the same day, we will post as we get our projects done, with an end of November deadline.  I send them each a package containing vintage wooden spools like you see on the upper left of the blog (badge compliments of Hope's wonderful photography and Janet's tweaking...thanks ladies~it looks great!).  I found them while antiquing in NJ.

Today, Janet of Honey from the Bee kicks off the Rolling Hop!  

And here is what she made with her spools (to see more images of her spool creation, please click on her highlighted name):

(photo from Honey from the Bee blog page)

When you go to her page, you will see the several ways this Beauty can be worn.  It is gorgeous~with a silver rosebud charm, mother-of-pearl buttons, and an incredibly beautiful lampwork bead made inside a bobbin!  How did Janet have that perfectly complimentary bead to go with this project?!  The magic of the Hive.....always having the right ingredient :-)  

Janet's blog is one of the first blogs I started following when I began this cyberjourney.  She has become a good friend and someone I look forward to hearing from every day, whether it be here, in an e-mail, in my regular roadside mailbox, a "like" or a longer comment on Facebook.  Her blog shows her jewelry, talks of environmental issues, is full of photos of all the nature that surrounds her, is a lovely travelogue, and showcases some of her fiber creations.  Her heart is big, her generosity flows,  and I am honored to call her Friend and wear a few of her creations.  Her style is conscious~it is beauty~it is art~it is history~it overflows with nature~it is all her own.   Time to show you a bit more of what she does!  These are a small sample of items seen in her Etsy shop, but go see some more for yourself:

Peace Earrings

Janet etched these bullet cases and added vintage flower beads.

The look is striking and lovely.  

(photo from Honey from the Bee Etsy Page)

Amber Dangle Earrings

The fiber!  The ceramic drops!  The metal!  The bright Sunny colors!  

(photo from Honey from the Bee Etsy Page)

 Pine Cone Brooch ~  Oh Yeah!  

Nature is a common thread in Janet's blog posts and in her jewelry.  She is so so good at letting that inspiration take over.  

(photo from Honey from the Bee Etsy Page)

Dinosaur Bone Set in Silver, with beadwoven African Helix rope

Stone setting, silver work, wire work, beadweaving...Janet does it all :-) 

(photo from Honey from the Bee Etsy page)

Sticks and Stones Bracelet 

 Don't be a Bully.  

Words do hurt, as do sticks and stones. They can wound us for life.  This is a good reminder to watch what we say and try to be more positive to those around us and also to ourselves.  

(photo from Honey from the Bee Etsy page)

Please take a few more minutes to explore Janet's work and words further.  She is well worth your time!

Thank you Janet, for your kindness, your friendship, your generosity, and your willingness. 

And for getting this party started!  

Sari Monday

Darn Good Yarn Reclaimed Sari Ribbon woven through ladder stitched bracelets.  I ruffled the heck out of them with all those little seed beads.  The Bug squeals every time she sees them and has also requested I make a few without the sari~just leave the ladder open.  So~I will be doing that...and maybe teaching her how to do it too :-)

On the black & red one with the blue & red sari, those red beads came from Cynthia.  They were part of a mix she gave me.  I wasn't sure if they would ever make it into a project but they begged to be in this one.  The beads come to us for a reason...even if we don't know it right away.

Thursday's Thing*

The Pepper Grinder.

A simple thing to appreciate.
We got it this on our honeymoon on Martha's Vineyard, over 18 years ago.  We were young and had almost no money but we stayed at a B & B and dined very well each night.  Days were spent looking for the quietest beaches, going on sailboat rides, eating baked goods, bead and music shopping (what?! I was a newlywed, but I was still ME!), browsing through the book barn, grabbing the brass ring on the carousel, blowing bubbles and watching the kayakers laughing and wondering where they came from, bowling, lounging, going to a winery.....
We got the grinder at the winery.  It was pretty stinkin' expensive for what it is, but we figured it was vacation and we really wanted a grinder.  I think we saw it as our first step to being grownups.  A peppercorn grinder.  Woo Hoo.  We had arrived.
It floats back and forth between the dining room and the kitchen.  Each time I am out shopping, I want to buy another one so we can have one on in both places.  And I find ones that I are more pleasing to the eye, but they don't have the history of this one.  So I don't buy them.  Each day when we grind, we silently remember who we were then and see how far we have come.  Honeymoon love...daily love......


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