Four Days Shy of Three Years

Things were not looking good for the zigzag this morning.  So I took a couple quick photos just in case it was its last day on my wrist. I realize a very tiny few of you know what I am talking about.  And that those few might not even be reading this.  But I had to post anyway.

I used C-Lon thread to stitch this bracelet on my wrist almost 3 years ago...June 17, 2016. I hoped it would last a week-long vacation in Maine.  I am in awe of what all this bracelet has been through and all it has endured.

Water alone seemed enough to do it in ~ salt water, lake water, chlorinated water, shower water, dish water, and anyone who knows me even a tiny bit knows how I obsessively wash my hands.  

And as I was getting dressed today, I heard a "kshhh" as something hit the floor.  It was my bracelet.  Four days shy of 3 years.  Four days shy of THREE YEARS.  I am going to miss it.  I will probably think it is still on my wrist for weeks to come.  The phantom zigzag.  I am going to miss people telling me how much they love it ~ the only thing that was greater than my shock of its longevity was my shock of how many people (friends, acquaintances, strangers) told me they liked my bracelet in its simplicity and understated colors...they would ask to touch it...and found it amusing I stitched it directly on my wrist. 
What really surprised me was that I knew the moment it left my wrist.  I always thought that it would come off  suddenly in a lake or during another dorm move and I would notice hours later and never see it again.  But it was gradual over the past week.  I could see the end nearing.  And the end was right here at home...where it began. 

TWO YEARS & A DAY

This post is not much different looking than my last post from ONE YEAR AGO.  Yes, thanks to my full embracement of Instagram, I no longer blog.  I swear to certain people that I have not given up on blogging (You know who You are), but the dates prove otherwise.  Will I return?  Does it matter to anyone since most of us are connected on Instagram and Facebook?  Je ne sais pas.

But that is not what this post is about.  The post is about my simple zig zag seed bead C-Lon thread bracelet that I wove onto my wrist 2 YEARS AGO YESTERDAY!  I cannot believe the staying power of this little sweetie.  Sun, shower, soap, gloves, sleeves, lake water, salt water, chlorine, moving The Bug in and out of dorms several times ~ the abuse this thing has seen!  And still it holds on.

And it brought me back to my blog a year later.  And I am sure it will bring me back when it meets its end or when it celebrates three years.  And maybe I will come back in between.  Or maybe I won't.  But just in case I don't, you can always find me at :
https://www.instagram.com/onekisscreations/

One Year and Two Days

This is not the most exciting picture I will ever post, nor is it a piece of jewelry to oooh and ahhh over.  It is simple...in color and design.
A year ago this past weekend, on June 17, 2016 I packed for a Maine vacation.  I was exhausted and worried I wouldn't sleep.  The night before a trip is always a sleepless night.  BirdMan was next to me in bed, watching a movie, passing in and out of sleep.  I got the beads out and beaded this dainty little zigzag stitch right onto my wrist.  No clasp, no beginning, no end.  He didn't even know I was weaving until I sparked the lighter to burn the thread ends a bit.  I figured it would last for the week we were in Maine and fall off, but nope.  Then late August came and we moved The Bug to college and I knew it would break off that day, as we loaded and unloaded a seemingly endless truckload of boxes.  I had a premonition that she would find it in the stairwell and use it as a bookmark.  But when we arrived home that night, it was still on my wrist.  Once September 17th rolled around, I couldn't believe the C-Lon thread endured a whole season of chlorine pools, freshwater glacial lakes, the salty Atlantic Ocean, and lots and lots of sunshine.  And I started to mildly mourn, as I knew the end must be near and I would no longer see it on my wrist.  But months passed.  And on the 17th of each month, Sunshine Girl would tell me that if it lasted a year, I had to do a blog post about it.  So Here We Are ~ Me, Miyuki Seed Beads, and C-Lon Thread ~ One Year Later.  A few times over the past year, I said, "If I knew it was going to last so long, I would have made something fancier or used red or black and gold or something with a bit of punch to it."  Sunshine Girl insisted it was the perfect color and the perfect stitch and nicely understated for everyday wear.  The beads and the C-Lon look as good as they did the night I  made it.  No wear, no stretch, no fray, no discoloration.  I wonder if the end is near or if I will be writing a two year post?

Quickie Nighttime Cell Phone Photo

Always Ready for Ice Cream

I went out Treasure Hunting with my Dear Friend and her Mom.  One of the places we stopped at had this little sweetie ~ Mother-of-Pearl and Sterling Silver and the price was just right, so it came home with me.  The iridescence on the M-O-P is quite beautiful, though the camera had difficulty capturing that soul.  Fleur was so proud to wear this for a bit!  She often steals the spotlight from the jewelry she models, but we were able to make her beautiful colors work with this photo.

My initial thought was to make as skinny a spiral rope as I could possibly make as the neck strap and to make it  L  O  N  G to triple it around the neck.  I wanted it to mimic the look of the spoon handle.  By the time I got a mere 2 inches into weaving the chain, it was apparent that the chain was going to distract from the spoon.  So I went light and lacy instead.

At this point, Fleur was quite perturbed when I covered her up for this picture.  She doesn't ever feel the need to hide her colors.  She let me snap this one picture then she abruptly ended the shoot.  Diva.

You still cannot see the gorgeous iridescence in this photo, but rest assured it is there!  

UFO Blog Hop ~ May

Karen Williams  put out the call for another UFO Blog Hop and I signed up again.  I had another four projects in mind, but only got one done...and it wasn't even one of the four I had planned on doing.  Ain't that the way beading usually goes?!

A while back, I made this square to send to Amy for her Bead It Forward event.  My square turned out too big to send, as I used size 10 Delicas instead of size 11 Delicas.  So this botched square just floated around my workshop and house, with no particular purpose.  I came across it a couple weeks ago and thought, "Hmmm, I think THIS will be my UFO project!"

So I took this

And I beaded a cobalt AB back

And I added my Gram's Adventurine Beads as Fringe and on the long neck strap

I had JUST enough of those cobalt AB Delicas to finish the back of the bag and neck strap.  There was not one left when this was finished.  I had them for 10 years and never used them until this UFO project.  It is not a color I am comfortable using.  And obviously, I cannot seem to photograph it too well either.  I am glad I finally used them up.  I do like how Gram's beads are rather washed out.  It makes the amulet bag pop...as it should :-)

Here is the list of all the UFOers...we are all trying to get our projects to the finish line, no matter how many years they take :

Karen Williams, Baublicious

Francie Broadie,  FAB

Christine Van Dyke Altmiller, One Kiss Creations

Therese, Therese's Treasures

Kim Dworak, CianciBlue

Liz Hart, Treetop Life

Liz En, Bead Contagion

Amy Severino, Amy Beads

Cynthia Machata, Antiquity Travelers

Hope Smitherman, Crafty Hope

Christi Carter, Sweetpea Path

Bobbie Rafferty, Beadsong Jewelry

Margo Lynn Hablutzel, My World and It's Full of Books

Rocks Off On The Last Hump Day in April

 I've been beading rocks like my sanity depends on it.  And I do believe it does.

I am currently working on something different from what I have done before.  If it works out, I'll post it in the next couple weeks.  It will either be a Hump Day post or a WhatTheFriday?!? post, depending on how confident I feel about it when it is complete.



These are two of the better ones from the past week.

Lake Michigan quiet beauty.  Side A.  

Side B...or A...your choice! 

Gram's Button, Lake Michigan Rock, Netting, Miyuki Seed Beads and Delicas.

Lake Michigan Rock, Side A

Side A  ~ those lines!  

Side B ~ lots of lines and a little pothole. 

Gram's Button, Lake Michigan Rock, Ladder Stitch, Peyote Stitch, Miyuki Seed Beads and Delicas, Bugle Beads.  

I always bead with an A Side in mind, but often B becomes the A Side for me.  In my youth, I bought 45's by the dozens at Sam Goody's.  I'd come home excited at the prospect of blasting Bruce Springsteen's "I'm Goin' Down" over and over and over again until the record was too scratched and warped, only to find the B Side ~ "Janey, Don't You Lose Heart" ~ was a MUCH better song.  Same with buying "Cover Me"..."Jersey Girl" was the B Side.  Come on...no contest!  My music taste has evolved, but my being seduced by the B Side  of ANY item is as consistent as the day is long.  

Say It With Me : Rocks off On Hump Day!

The weeks since the last post have been rough, so when I set my hands to beading again, I had to use rocks.  They are healing.  And we all need healing, whether times are good or bad.  We all need healing.
Settling into rocks, Gram's buttons, simple beading...I feel like I belong in this space, with these materials, using these techniques.  It is not elaborate.  The materials are not expensive.  Each rock is a bit of a puzzle as to how I am going to bezel it.  The chains take ten times as long as the bezel because I can never decide how I want the beads to go together.  But in the end, I am soothed and happy with the rock necklaces I create.

When I started out, that line down the center excited me.  So I considered this the A-Side.

But then the B-Side really started to grow on me.

Lake Michigan Rock, Miyuki seed beads and Delicas, charlottes, Gram's button.  

Rocks Off On Hump Day

It has been awhile since I got my Rocks Off ~

Here is a dainty little necklace I just finished in time for today.  I snapped a quickie before my day gets ahead of me and I never get this posted.  I need to get back to my real camera for blog photos.  It will never be my strong point, but I can give a little more than the cell phone photos.

Side 1 ~ Seed Beads, Delicas, Gram's button, Lake Michigan Rock

And the flip side, which I think I like better.

I had no intention of doing a rock today.  I was just messing around with beaded chain ideas.  I got about an inch into this chain and thought it would made a good base of a bezel.  I grabbed a rock, wrapped the little piece of beaded chain around it and I was right!  It is pretty much a square stitch chain and has enough give for cabs/rocks that are not perfectly round/oval.  I will certainly use it again.  Maybe I'll be back next Wednesday ~ sure hope so!

UnFinished Objects Blog Hop

I was looking forward to this Hop, for so many reasons ~
   : I haven't participated in a Hop in 14 months
   : it would bring me back to my blog and to other people's blogs
   : it is a Karen Williams Hop
   : I thought I had SO many UFOs...but it turns out, I had a drawer and a few boxes full of botched stitch              samples OR a pile of pieces that only needed clasps.  There were a few actual UFOs and some were                 finally finished and some are next up on the beading table.

So here I am, the day before the Hop, trying to get my crap together with photos.  My daughter and I have whatever crud is knocking people out of commission lately and the 2" of snow that was predicted for today turned into 10".  I did not venture out into the workshop to adorn Fleur with necklaces to photograph them.  Instead, I dragged my sick butt into the window seat and took pictures on the backside of a game board.  Sorry about that, but it was all I could muster.  I did manage to take a selfie because that one necklace really did need a real neck to display it.  That was the only moment I felt human today.

First Up, cabs sent to me from Jasvanti ~ the incarnations they went through, what they finally became :
                                                                                                                                                             

The left photo is from last March...a bracelet that seemed good in my head, not so good in execution.  It sat on the bead table for several months, was cut apart and turned into earrings.  The earrings were a total bust.  Then I made what you see on the right ~ a beaded chain, some beaded cabs, a pretty component that is either a shoe clip or scarf clip.   It sat in a box for months...until Karen put out the call to F our Os.

To finish it, I made more of the square stitch chain with delicas and size 15 rounds, added a lot of garnets and clipped that clip right in the center.  Check out the photo below ~ I found that interesting.

The next project was one Cynthia and I started and I never finished.  I asked her to teach me how to better fringe.  She gave me this gorgeous leather round with a compass stamp on it and the teardrops on the ends.  All it needed was a chain and I couldn't fully commit to what kind it would be.  The UFO Hop pushed me to finish a chain idea I had.  These crystal rondelles were the right color and size but I wanted them to seem like an old dug up treasure.  So I dulled their shine by filing off a lot of the finish.  Voila! I LOVE THIS NECKLACE and will photograph it again when I can easily and happily get to the workshop and hang it on Fleur.  It deserves a better showing.  I thought about another selfie, but that would have required a bra.  Sickness = NO BRA.  Not even for jewelry display.

Next up : beaded chenille stitch beads.  They have been sitting in an Altoid can for a couple years or more.

For the one on the left, I added matte hematite and garnet beads.  The one on the right got chunky glass beads.  They both got my Gram's buttons.  

Two or so years ago, Cynthia helped me practice bead embroidery around a cab...not my favorite thing to do.  This cab sat in a tin box for the two years.

 Last week, I beaded a garnet and picasso bead chain for it and made a peyote panel to sew it onto.  I finished it off with Gram's button.  I am pleased with this little sweetie!

I am going to stop now.  And take a nap.


Thanks for the push to clear out some projects, Karen...we needed it!

Here's the UFO Blog Hop List ~ Please take a look at what they have finished!

Karen Williams, Baublicious
Christine Van Dyke Altmiller, One Kiss Creations
Amy Severino, Amy Beads
Therese, Therese's Treasures
Kim Dworak, CianciBlue
Liz E, Bead Contagion
Margo Lynn Hablutzel, My World and It's Full of Books
Cynthia Machata, Antiquity Travelers
Cathi Salzarulo Kent, The Cat's Meow
Liz Hart, Treetop Life

Unfinished Objects ~ UFO Support Group Hosted by Karen Williams

Karen Williams is pulling together a UFO Support Group.  You know you have unfinished objects laying around.  They want to stop being objects and start being earrings, necklaces, bracelets, quilts, pillows, purses, poems, memoirs, recipe books, vases, mugs, trays, sculptures, tiles, wind chimes, mobiles, dream catchers, sun catchers, clothes, tables, benches, and the million other things you might be making.

This is one of my more recent UFOs and even this is nearing a year old.

I have UFOs that go back a decade.  This Support Group will be a great way to properly clear the worktable, unload those drawers, finally send the pieces beyond help to the chop, maybe even let some mediums completely go and let them find another home.  And with some focus and determination, maybe finishing UFOs will follow me into other aspects of my life.  One can only hope!!!

Please go over to Karen's Blog for sign ups ~ I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone brings to the table.


2017...the year of personally getting stuff DONE.

Two Months Later.....

Well, not quite two months ~ but almost!
The Road to the Blogosphere is Paved with Good Intentions.

I am trying to figure out how I can be more attentive to my blog. How is it I had time for it for a few years and just don't anymore?  I really think it is because I rarely use my computer anymore.  I use my phone for everything except blogging and e-mails that are longer than 5 sentences.

Are blogs dying off?  It is super simple to just post things on Instagram and Facebook.  Granted, the photo quality is poor ( I will pay more attention to my camera on my next phone), but that never was my strength anyway.  Just last week I got 500 business cards printed and took the etsy site off the card, but kept the blog on, so I guess I should re-commit to this...maybe use it as a way to catalog what I have on hand.  Maybe use it to express myself a little deeper.  Maybe use it to figure things out ~ beaded and unbeaded things. I am at a time of transition in my life, but I just don't know what I am transitioning to/toward/into/whatever! I am far from unhappy.  In fact, I am feeling lighter in my heart every day (personally, not globally).  But I feel a change coming and am getting ready to embrace it.  I just wish I knew more about it.  Time will reveal all.  Or some, anyway.

Cynthia and I got together in November for a much needed weekend of Beading and Talking and Silence and Eating and Shopping.  It was Bliss.  I could have stayed until January if I didn't have a bottomless list of commitments. I asked Cynthia to show me the way of the Fringe.  It was one of the main reasons why I started beading all those years ago, yet it always alluded me.  I am still working on the sample piece she used to teach me and I do believe it is going to be spectacular when it is done.  In the meantime, I have been fringing away, with varying degrees of success.  I still have a ways to go, but I am enjoying the learning process immensely.  Touching fringe, seeing fringe, the sway of fringe, the weight of fringe (when done right, as I am still learning) ~ really REALLY excites me!  I don't even mind that is is so damn time consuming.  As of now, all I can say is MORE FRINGE!!!

size 13 charlottes, size 15 seed beads, 3mm bugles, agates ~ my favorite so far!!!

Czech beads,  size 10 and 11 delicas, 3mm bugles,size 15 seed beads, Gram's button

Czech beads, size 10 and 11 delicas, size 13 charlottes, 3mm bugles, Gram's button

One the hand that made it

Gram's Button

Rocks Off On Hump Day...Late October

When I blogged last week after almost 4 months off, I didn't know I would be bringing myself back to the blog world with my Rocks Off post or that this week would be another one.  I have other bead projects that need to get done, but I just cannot keep my hands off the Rocks.  

Cell phone early morning on the bead table photo...maybe when I get the blog rolling, I will break out the good camera again.  For now, quick and convenient is how I need to do the photos.  Something had to give in order for me to start up again.  And taking good photos (or what I perceive are good) stresses me out!  Who needs stress when it comes to beading?!?  

So here's the latest :

The top two Rocks are from Lake Michigan.  The bottom one is a sand encrusted Sand Dollar from Monmouth Beach, New Jersey.  I don't know if you can see the dark green Rock good enough to see the light green line cutting through the center.  It is really cool!  The beadwork around all three were meant for three entirely different Rocks.  It happens more often than not when I bead around Rocks.  I get to a certain point in beading the mandala or bezel and it stops working for the Rock I picked out.  Instead of cutting it all apart, I hunt through my many many vases of Rocks until I find another one that will work with the weaving and pop it in.  It is a challenge finding the proper size/color/texture to go with the already existing beadwork. 

The freshwater pearls in that first Rock are a gift from Jasvanti Patel. She sent me these pearls and some gorgeous onyx cabs. They came quite a while ago when I took a break from beading.  I have beaded up the cabs several times but cut them all apart each time.  So far, they had brief lives as bracelets and earrings.  I keep them on the bead table at all times and feel like the final inspiration is so close I can feel it tickling me.  These pearls were earrings and bracelets, only to be cut cut cut.  I think this bezel and very very long chain (to be doubled) is a keeper.  Maybe the pearls will pass on their happy vibe to the cabs!  

If you haven't seen Jasvanti's work, you should!  Her beadwork is elegant and stunningly beautiful.  Jewelry by Jasvanti is your next stop!  

See you next week! 

Rocks Off On Hump Day!!!!!

Yes, finally!!!  I am working on Rocks again and it just happens to be Wednesday ~ everything lined up nicely ~ Woo Hoo!!!  This is brief, as I am not supposed to be here right now, but I had the urge to blog...even if only for a brief moment.

I wanted to bead some rocks in a bit of a different way ~ a way that would cover almost the whole rock, yet let most of it still show.  Cover but be seen...how to go about that?  I also wanted the rock to remain rather loose in its beading, so it can spin a bit.  This particular Lake Michigan Rock doesn't spin as much as I was hoping, but all the rest of it turned out the way I imagined so I am leaving it.

I will make a chain for it later tonight or tomorrow over coffee.  But I wanted to get this posted now, because it is Wednesday...and Rocks Off on Thursday just doesn't have the same punch.  Excuse the photo ~ I took it on my phone because I didn't want to bother with the real camera when I knew I would never capture those bugle beads properly.  That finish is a bitch to photograph no matter what type of camera is used.

Hope you all are having a wonderful, Colorful, inspiring Fall!

I had to add the profile bugles to keep the mandala spikes evenly spaced, though they looked pretty good all free and doing their own spacing based on the contours of the rock.  Maybe I will let the next one go a little more wild. 

And Just Like That, The Last of June

So much time has gone by, and no beads ~ no weaving, stringing, new purchases ~ to show for it.
It is ok.  I am at a place of acceptance and understanding with this drought.  I know why it came, I know when it will go.  I miss the beads, but they are quietly waiting for my return.  No guilt or pressure from them.

This past year has been unusually booked solid for my family.  And since I am not a multi-tasker, the beads had to be set aside so I could focus on all the big things that came our way.  It has been all good things, but just a lot.  I am bursting with want and need to bead so at the moment, I am content just knowing I WANT to do it.  I carry my beads with me everywhere.  They haven't been opened in so long.  But having them by my side is good enough for now.

We were recently in Acadia National Park.  The senses were filled, the mind was calmed, and there were Textures all around!  I always gravitate to nature for inspiration and replenishing.  But it is curious to me that two of my favorite photos from the trip were built by human hands, as was one of my favorite photos from a trip to Nashville in March.

Carriage House in Acadia National Park.  The mix of details, lines, textures excites me! 

The Underside of a Carriage Road Cobble Stone Bridge, Acadia National Park.  I mean, look at those Rocks!!!

John Steigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge in Nashville, with a ghost-like presence of the "Batman" building that looms high in the skyline.  Those metallic lines against that blue Tennessee sky! 

There is a collective halt in blogging lately.  I am curious if you are all still being creative or if that has temporarily halted too?  Thanks for reading, thanks for being a part of this little community.  And if I haven't visited your blog in a while, that will change soon.  I miss you all!

April Came and Went

And now it's May.  But here I am, at long last.  Whether I am talking to myself or not, I am just happy to be here!

To tie up a loose end, I finished the Artist's Way on May 1st.  I was pleased with my pace this second time around but I doubt there will be a third time for me.  I am glad I stuck with it, though.  I do want to make Morning Notes and Artist Dates a regular in my routine.  Both clear the mind of crap that lingers too long.  And they also enhance creativity.  More good came out of those two activities than the tasks in each chapter.  For me, anyway.

The one blog I have been able to keep up with on a weekly basis is Amy's.  For the month of April, she did an A-Z challenge and used food and drinks as her subject.  If you haven't seen her post for A-Z, you really should go take a look.  Those food photos will stimulate your appetite and maybe even your creativity in the kitchen!

Here is the ONE item I managed to make in April.  I am in love with the twist in the chain.  There will be more focals dangling from chains like this in the future.  The focal is from a bead shop and the small agate rounds are from Cynthia.  She knows how much I love them! Cynthia, send me your source...I need to order more!  They are perfect for so many projects.

I am hoping to be here more often, but we will see how it goes.  This school year, there were so many places my attention needed to be and I just didn't have the head for beading and blogging.  All good stuff, but I can't multi-task, so this is the part of me that shuts down first.

I hope May is good to each and every one of you ~ thank you for being part of my little world.

Rocks Off On Hump Day

Just a little something.
And a little something is all that is needed at the moment.
Hope this week is being kind to you.

Lake Michigan Rock

Artists Wahhhhhhhhhhh! I Just Don't Wanna

Weeks six and seven of the Artist Way have passed and I am finding myself brimming with so many ideas about my future job prospects that I just don't want to forge ahead and finish the program.  I will though, but I might speed things up a lot.  I am ready to get to work and try out all the things that are swirling in my head.  More to come on all that when the time is right!

None ~ absolutely NONE ~ of my ideas were about beading.  That scared me enough to send me into the workshop yesterday. I forced myself to bead and I made these two necklaces on some thick C-Lon crochet thread I had leftover from a failed bead crochet project from another lifetime ago.  I didn't think, I just slid beads on the thread.  I am debating the first one, and really like the second.  The Rhythm of Stringing is very healing and inspiring.  I am headed back out there today.  I am hoping to weave, but willing to string some more.  The beads will let me know.

Agates, garnet rounds, and fiber beads I received from Honey From The Bee/Janet (love those fiber beads!)

Agate daggers and matte hematite rounds 

Sorry about the photo quality.  I didn't take time to tweak anything...just trying to go with momentum.  Sometimes, that is the way to roll!