Awards

Here are the 10 names I drew....remember, this is just a small fraction of the bloggers I'd like to give this award to!
Morwyn of Another Country...fantastic beader and member of the BJP.
Leslie, of Art Heart, who is not only a great mixed media artist but just wrote the most moving series of posts about her mother's death last month.
Jackie of Beading Gram, who is a wonderful supportive friend and fellow fiber/bead artist.
Robin of Beadlust, who has been my major inspiration for bead embroidery since I found her book, One Bead at a Time years ago.
Linda of Born Under a Bead Sign, another friend and incredibly talented bead artist who just had a beaded bracelet pattern published in the current Bead and Button magazine. Way to go, linda!
Diana, of The Lone Beader, whose beadwork just keeps getting bigger and better....YGG!
Janet of Life in Westcliffe, yet another friend and wonderful photographer who is primarily responsible for my being able to put my own photo at the top of this blog...thanks, janet!
Nina of Ornamental who is a wonderful artist, but it's her words that usually touch me deeply and I hope someday she can find the time to write a whole book about her artistic process....it would be a best seller!
SuzyQ of Beadweaver who finds the most fantastic beaders on the web for all of us to enjoy...and is a pretty darn good artist herself, although where she finds the time to bead is beyond me!
Sara of The Fabric of Meditation who has been an inspiration for doing more fiber work and who's studio is to die for...
I also have to add all the other participants in the Bead Journal Project and the Take It Further Challenge....all you foks just blow me away on a daily basis and I almost wish you'd stop, as you are all cutting into my beading time!
Or maybe I just need to develop some discipline...LOL!

You All Make My Day

After being a bit down, it was so nice to find that Paula of The Beauty of Life gave me a you make my day award, thanks, paula.....great timing!
The hard part is that you're supposed to give it to ten folks who make your day and I don't see how I can keep it down to ten! This past year has seen my blogroll go from 20 to about 90 and there isn't a one of them that doesn't make my day sooner or later!
So, I'm going to put all the names into a hat and just draw out the first 10...there's just no other way to do it, so if you don't see your name here, it's not because you don't make my day...just the luck of the draw!

Beaded Hand Portrait Shot Down

I'm a little bit sad today....the class I submitted for the Puget Sound Bead Festival was turned down. I have such a good time making these little hand portraits and they are certainly noticed when I wear them so I thought other beaders might enjoy making them too.

But, rejection is a major part of any art process, so I'll just get busy on another piece and by tomorrow I'll be back up again.

(I will be very interested in seeing the classes that were accepted for the festival, though!)

Done Except for Binding or Edging

Well, it came together pretty quickly once I figured out what I wanted to do...I "framed" the window with tiny abalone beads in several shapes, round, square, oblong, and then added a small net pocket in the center with tiny pearl glass beads....after that I made a tiny accordian book of O'Keeffe prints with the photo of her at the back and slipped it into the pocket...and finally added an unusual MOP button to hold the book shut while it's in the pocket.
Now to figure out how to finish it and it's done!

January TIF

It took a couple of days to come up with the direction I want to take this challenge but I decided I liked the idea of a window or an altar...I sketched out several shapes and decided I like this shape and it will work throughout the year....or something similar....
The theme for this month is Who Do You Admire and it was a tough one, as I have lots of people I admire but I finally decided on Georgia O'Keeffe as she was my first major inspiration and hope that a woman could make it in the "serious" art world. Plus her work just blew me away back in 1976 when I saw my first copy of the book on her work just published.
She's well known for her flowers and her landscapes but I couldn't pick just one of her pieces to incorporate into the TIF piece, so here's a photo of her, taken around 1920 by her not-yet-husband, Alfred Stieglitz. I also wanted to go with a more muted color scheme than you might expect and somehow this batik reminded me of the sand and hills of the desert where she made her home in her later years, Abiqui, New Mexico.

Take It Further Challenge

I've just joined Sharon B's Take It Further Challenge and it looks like great fun. It's a bit more structured than the Bead Journal Project, but not enough to be constricting, more of a challenge, I think. I seem to work better with a bit of a deadline and this will give me another one to shoot for. Plus it starts this month and goes for a year, so when the bjp is finished in May, I'll still have something else to work on.

I've gotten a bit done on the next piece in the basho series but not enough to post yet...I think this afternoon will be spent doodling ideas for the TIF challenge.

First New Year Post

Decks all cleared for tomorrow's beginning of the january BJP and (finally!) next piece in the Basho series!

Last Post of 2007

It's been a beautiful day here at the beach...cold, but then it is winter...so we're all taking it nice and easy...

As you can see, the cats are sending off the old year with their usual enthusiasm....maybe I should have given them a catnip cocktail to liven them up a bit...or not.

Beginning the January BJP

The eighth month is coming up and I've got the fiber and one of the faces selected, but that's as far as I've gotten.
I like the looks of them all together but am still undecided as how to finish and display them.

Xmas Work

I made this RAW bracelet in lavender AB true cuts with freshwater pearls and a clasp I really like the looks of...unfortunately, the bracelet has to be snug or the clasping hands slip out...I hate it when a wonderful looking design works badly...sigh!

Back Home and BJP Finished

I finished december's bjp at my mom's house in washington....the two bluebirds were a gift from her that I thought the piece needed as the winter solstice is when we start moving toward summer, just as the summer solstice is when we begin to move toward winter...or maybe that's just me...

And Good Night...

Finished Xmas Presents

I finished my mom's presents and they are in their little gift bags ready to go with us up to Washington to her house...the brooch/pendant MOP cameo is surrounded by fw pearls and then some rose colored charlottes in size 11 and 13...the tibetan turquioise has a beaded bail...I've got a silver chain to hang it on...hope she likes them!
Now it's time to finish that december bjp!

Etsy Shop

I've added some earrings and two of the bracelets to my etsy shop using these gemstone beads I just purchased....the color was too wonderful to pass up. I made both a bracelet and earrings for me too and just love them, so thought someone else might like the colors as well....the little scarab beads are african jade and the heishi are indian jasper.

Blues

Yesterday was a beautiful blue day so I made a blue bracelet to go with it...it has a blue scarab bead and a silver hummingbird dangle.

More to Go

but I'm getting there!

I'm also starting some presents today...for my mom and a couple of friends...

Bit Further Along

I added "the wind" (little face at top) and some leaves/hearts blowing in the wind...now I need the wind path and it's done.
This month I'm not sure if I'm a woman dreaming of a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming she's a woman...

Who Knows Where the Time Goes

That's the title of my december bjp (and one of my favorite barbra streisand songs) which I started today...on the 6th, my husband and I celebrate our 36th wedding anniversary...sometimes it seems like it's been a lifetime and sometimes it feels like it's gone by so fast...I just know there have been days when the only thing that's got me through them is knowing he'd be there with me...my best friend, my dearest love and one of the most intelligent people I've ever been lucky enough to know.

Pay It Forward

Having been introduced to the Pay It Forward idea by Jackie of Beading Gram, I'm offering 3 face pins to the first three readers here who would like to join this wonderful movement! You just commit to sending 3 pieces of your handmade work to another 3 people...and it doesn't have to be done in the next week or month! Just make the commitment and let folks know what your timeframe is....I'll be sending out the pins just after the new year, as this month is already too full to make any new commitments, but January is still wide open, LOL!

Wind!

We were very lucky this time as the worst winds (125-130mph) hit the coast north of us...we got 81mph winds and our electricity is still on!
The only casuality in the near neighborhood was one of the small firs across the street. You can see the manager is already out with his chainsaw taking care of it.
Here's a view the other way so you can see all the huge firs we have in the park....they weathered the storm beautifully as they have for the past 150 years...
Sadly, we heard that one of the oldest Sitka spruces in the US was in the direct path of the winds and was snapped off...