Beginnings

Back when I first became interested in beads, it was due to the many hours I spent as a child at museums in New York.  Whenever I was told we were going to the Museum, I would cross my fingers that it would be the Museum of the American Indian.  Sometimes it was, but not often enough.  When we went there, I would lose myself in the beadwork.  Simple colors, elaborate designs.  Simple colors, simple designs.  It didn't matter.  It was beads and it was all good.  These pieces were made last week and brought me back to where it all began for me.

I am starting a gallery tab with further information on each piece. It is time to expand the blog just a bit :-)

Brick and Ladder Stitch,
Old button from my Gram's stash,
Black Suede, jump rings (red beads from Liz at Bead Contagion)

Square Stitch, Stringing, button from Gram's stash, button hole idea from the Sunshine girl, red beads from Liz.

Flat Spiral,  red crystals from Liz, button from a button store (that I had no need to be in but bought a lot anyway!) in NYC with Cynthia of Antiquity Travelers .

Little Quilt Squares.
Peyote/netting stitch.
Jump rings, lobster claw clasp.

If you saw this on Facebook, it inspired a few more bracelets!  One I will show you now and the others will be here in a couple days.

I LOVE THESE!!!

Same description as the one above with black as the base color.















Thanks for stopping by :-)  Hope you have a great week and GOOD WEATHER.

She She She She She She She Made~She Made February

A while back, Therese was at an Arts Festival and came across these Susan Clayton Clay Faces and asked six other ladies to make something with them and join us for our February She Made~She Made.  Please take a few moments and see what the ladies made and also go over to see Susan's beautiful and expressive sculptures.  You will be so glad you did :-)

Here's The List of Lovely She Maders:

Therese ~ Shirley ~ Bobbie (who was vending at the same Arts Festival) ~ Tanya ~ Hope ~ Cynthia ~ Alicia


I kept this face with every beading project I was working on from the moment she arrived at my house.  I was hoping she would reveal herself to me.  She didn't have much to say except "Keep It Simple and Keep It Warm~This winter is a beast!" There was also a need I could not shake...I want to be able to always have the ability to see the back of her if I need to.  The back of her head has a thumbprint on it.  It was important to me to not glue it or permanently cover it up.  I want to know I can place my thumb there if I want to.  I decided to use a swatch of fabric I picked up from an upholstery store and an old button from my Gram's stash.  I worked on her for a couple weeks, just with the fabric and the button and her sweet face.  I was trying to make a cape.  Finally, late last week, she insisted it be a scarf for these brutal winter days.  So I honored her request, but a pin on the back and I know at any time I can snip a couple threads and see her thumbprint on the back.  I knew she would tell me what to do.  She has that silent strength about her.  I adore her.

Thank You Therese!!!
You are a great partner~it was fun expanding our SM~SM :-D

Creative Continuum of Seven Artists~February

Today is the second of Seven dates from now through July we will be posting work we made with goodie bags other Bloggers sent us.  Alicia had the idea that we each send out six packages with beads or focals and on the 26th of each month we reveal what we made with a certain participant's package.

I am honored to be in this group of Seven...these ladies are a creative bunch.  

Participating in this Event and their Package Month and theme are : 

Monique of A Half-Baked Notion  :  January ~ National Gallery of Canada

Moi  :  February ~ Round and Round 

Sally of The Studio Sublime  :  March ~ Contrasting Colors

Therese of Therese's Treasures  :  April ~ Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

Alicia of All The Pretty Things (and the brains behind this lovely continuing hop :-D )  :  May ~ Seasons

Cynthia of Antiquity Travelers  :  June ~ SomethingOld/SomethingNew/SomethingBorrowed/SomethingBlue

Emma of A Polymer Penchant  :  July ~ not sure if Emma picked a theme but I would say, Beauty!  

 I made two necklaces~one with a rock, another beaded around a shell marquis ring.  

So without too much further wordiness, because I feel like crap at the moment (the curse continues, Monique!), here are my necklaces :-)

The Chain~Seed Beads

 The Rock~from Lake Michigan

The Necklace~I got the black beads at a bead show.  They were tagged as vintage.  I really like their shape. 

The Chain~Seed Beads and Fire Polish Beads

Focal~Shell, Seed Beads, Fire Polish Beads, Twin Hole Beads

Thank You Alicia~I am having such a good time with this hop!

van Gogh and Beady Love in the Midst of All This White and Grey

If we are friends here and we e-mail each other or if we are friends on Facebook, then you probably have heard me complain about this.

Liz of Bead Contagion decided to send me a pick-me-up and filled a padded mailer with beads in a very van Gogh color palette.  I got the envelope yesterday afternoon and by bedtime, I made these.  The plan was to make a necklace, but I soon reconsidered.

I made a commitment to donate 60 pair of earrings to Ears To You and have yet to send any out.  For this project, I ordered niobium ear wires in various colors and thought the 5 yellow pair that came with the rainbow pack would sit around my workshop for a few years waiting for a project.  But they go perfectly with these beads!  So that finalized the decision to make these rounds into earrings.

 So here they are~the kick-off to my 60 pair!  Only 55 to go!!!  Thanks Liz~ for your generosity, inspiration, and COLOR!!!  You swept the grey away :-)

(no flash)

 

 (flash.  how cool is the glow of those center beads?!) 

Prepping for The Creative Continuum of Seven Post Next Week

Alicia of All The Pretty Things
put together a group of Seven bloggers.   We each sent out six packages with beads or focals and on the 26th of each month we reveal what we made with a certain participant's package.

February is my month.  I chose a theme Round and Round.  I bead in circles a lot.  I like the rhythm and the flow of expanding the circle.  I could not decide if I wanted to bead around rings, beads, or rocks so I did a little of each and sent them on their way.

The photo was taken on my phone in a moment of panic.  I wasn't sure if I should send these out or not, snapped the photo and asked Cynthia her opinion.  If it wasn't for the panic, I would have nothing to post here.  I always forget to take photos of components before they are made into a piece of jewelry.

So here are the focals I put together.  Please check back on Wednesday, February 26th to see what we all made with them!

Goddesses

I was in Creede, Colorado a few summers back and came upon an odd Sterling Gaia pendant at an art gallery.  She was sitting around waiting for a chain of some type.   She was not something I liked too much.  She was not something I was looking to own.  The raw materials alone made the price too low, but it was still too high for me to buy since I thought she was a bit too odd for my liking.  I was at the gallery for well over an hour.  The Bug got an item, Sunshine Girl got an item, and I was just browsing.  I went back to her almost a dozen times.  The store owner told me his wife made her, along with most of the jewelry in the store and he was the one who made all the paintings.  It was a creaky old place, with low ceilings, uneven flooring, and a comfortable feel.  Slow talk, warm smiles, beautiful art all around.  The girls left to go sit with the Bird Man out on a sidewalk bench.  This left me to talk and talk and talk with the old man...or rather listen listen listen.  I love stories old men tell.  I could listen for weeks on end.  I have been this way since I was a little girl.  Well, you probably know how the hour ended.  I left with Odd Sterling Gaia.  Paid the full price of her.  She has been bumming around my beads ever since.  Once I started with the Sari ribbons, I knew she would find her home.  But that didn't work like I wanted it too.  So then I added beaded leaves and flowers on the sari to make it all Mother Nature's Wild Ride.  No good.  Then I showed her to Cynthia.  Some ideas were implemented.  Still, she is just a pendant.  And she is not in this post, other than in these words.  One day soon, I will show you what she looks like.

As a result of Cynthia seeing her and offering up opinions, she decided I should do a Goddess series and send me these Three Goddess pendants.

The Blue Goddess was finished a while ago and is a lariat.  The pendant was made by Chris Pellow.
The Grey Goddess and the Raku Goddess were done this week and are necklaces.  I do not know who made them and I apologize for that. (UPDATE:  in comments, Cynthia helped me and said the Grey Goddess is made by Jana of Happy Fish Things , and Raku Goddess was made by Dan and Amy Mealey of Xaz Beads .)

Maybe these Goddesses, now that they are neckworthy, will help Gaia reach a higher potential rather than floating chainlessly around my workshop.

Antiquity Traveler, I owe you a deep thanks and a big hug.  You are my favorite Goddess of all!


Blue Goddess ~

Grey Goddess ~
                          red beads and blue pearls are a gift from Liz of Bead Contagion.  Thanks Liz!

Raku Goddess ~
                          brown beads from Cynthia, blue sparkly faceted beads from Sunshine Girl.  Thanks ladies!

Creative Continuum of Seven Artists~January

Today is the first of Seven dates from now through July we will be posting work we made with goodie bags other Bloggers sent us.  Alicia had the idea that we each send out six packages with beads or focals and on the 26th of each month we reveal what we made with a certain participant's package.

I am honored to be in this group of Seven...these ladies are a creative bunch.  

Participating in this Event and their Package Month and theme are : 

Monique of A Half-Baked Notion  :  January ~ National Gallery of Canada

Moi  :  February ~ Round and Round 

Sally of The Studio Sublime  :  March ~ Contrasting Colors

Therese of Therese's Treasures  :  April ~ Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

Alicia of All The Pretty Things (and the brains behind this lovely continuing hop :-D )  :  May ~ Seasons

Cynthia of Antiquity Travelers  :  June ~ SomethingOld/SomethingNew/SomethingBorrowed/SomethingBlue

Emma of A Polymer Penchant  :  July ~ not sure if Emma picked a theme but I would say, Beauty!  

Monique sent us packages with two focal components and some wooden and glass beads.  The focals are polymer pieces she made.  The first is this darling bird silhouetted against a faux wood (polymer) background.

Monique sent me all the beads except the seeds.  The wood, the glass flowers, and the beautiful bird focal.  I strung it on green fireline.  My husband is The Bird Man, so it was very appropriate this is the focal I received.  I put the orange leaves on the side the little bird is flying toward...a hummingbird to the nectar.


I want to feature more photos but Blogger is being a royal pain and not letting me do much of anything.  It took 2.5 hrs to post this one photo.  Fingers crossed the next one goes faster.  (Monique, our "luck" with each other continues!)









The other focal Monique sent is an incredibly gorgeous polymer mosaic heart.
I do not like hearts.
But this ~ I LOVE!!!!!  I mean, really really LOVE.
(I do not like hearts but have a heart shaped rock collection.  Go figure.)

The Bug (aka Fish Kisser) and I are both arguing over who gets to wear it, so we will share...which is something I do not do with jewelry.  I give, but I do not share.  But I am trying to have a Big Heart with this and share.

I had a few chains in mind, but if I was going to make heart jewelry, it would have to be a bit tattered and pieced together.  So I made these cloth beads and wrapped wire and red and gold fire polish beads around them.  They will fray a little, shift a little, have that darkness and sparkle.

I wore it to a medical facility a week ago and all the nurses were asking to touch it.  Love that!








This was a really fun challenge.  I got the main project ~ the bird focal ~ done in a couple days.  It is exactly how I sketched it and I am very happy with it.  The heart floated around within sight for weeks, but when I decided on a look, it turned out so much better than I hoped. It has life in it.

Thanks Monique and Alicia!!!

Now please click on the names above to see what they made with Monique's gorgeous polymer art.