Facing More Than Bead Related Challenges

Along with the monthly Halcraft Pretty Palette challenges I've also decided to participate in Out On A Whim's first annual BEad Inspired design contest, and quite possibly in All About Beadweaving's Amulet Bag challenge as well.

I'm really loving the rich olive, topaz, russet, and ivory colors in the Autumn kit!

 

Compared to last year when I hardly did any bead work it seems as if I'm going just a tad bit crazy with the bead challenges, but I spent most of 2015 in The Black Hole of Depression and Despair and it feels good to be creative again.

 

I re-herniated 3 discs in my lower back in late January of last year, was in massive amounts of pain, and could barely walk which is why I sank into that terrible hole and hardly did anything at all, let alone beading; and most of what I did do I can barely remember.

 

I can recall only 6 things:

-losing my part time job at a dance studio

-a Western Spotted Skunk taking up temporary residence IN MY KITCHEN!!

-Indigo finding her bliss in synchronized swimming

-my Grandma passing away

-back surgery

-Indigo taking 3rd place at her first swim meet

 

This adorable l'il stinker was safely trapped and released into a nearby nature preserve.

 

My back is slowly getting better although I may have some permanent nerve damage which has left me with a partially numb and weak leg.  Following surgery in late August the doctors said it can take up to a year for the damaged nerves to heal, so there is a fair amount of hope that I will regain more, or possibly all, of the use of my left leg.  

 

If not...well...I'll deal with that when the time comes.  Indigo thinks I should give the synchronized swimming thing a try.

 

Either way, the depression has lifted and I'm slowly getting back into beading, dancing, yoga, and all the other things I love to do, which includes finishing the bead, crochet, cross stich, and other crafty WIPs I started last year. Here's one of the first!!

 

 

 

Feburary Pretty Palettes Reveal

I've decided to spend this year beading along with the Halcraft Pretty Palette Challenge by exploring different ways of creating beaded wall hangings.

I had intended to stay with the pink, lacy, Valentine's Day inspired theme but my 7 year old daughter wanted to pick out the beads and she chose a multicolored strands of dyed howlite hearts and butterflies.

I'm only moderately pleased with the way this month's challenge piece turned out.  I'm not sure if it's the larger windows made with long strips of peyote stitch or the weight of the stone beads that caused the waviness.

Either way, this is about learning and exploring which means I will definitely be revisiting peyote stitch again.

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

A Chilly Challenge-Revealing What I (Unofficially) Made for Halcraft's January Pretty Palettes Challenge

I decided to make something for the Halcraft's January Pretty Palette challenge just a few days before the reveal date and the project I chose, a 4 1/2" x 5 1/4" wall hanging, was a little too ambitious, so I missed being able to officially participate.

Earlier in January I made 2 necklaces for Art Jewelry Elements "Buried Treasure" challenge and I didn't want to make another piece of jewelry which is why I decided to make a beaded object instead.  And my walls can always use a bit of bling!

The wooden dowel I had cut and painted white has mysteriously disappeared so I had to photograph this flat.  Incidentally, the cat, dogs, husband, and child have all claimed no knowledge of the aforementioned dowel.  Oh well.  As soon as I paint another one the first one will turn up and I'll be ahead of the game.

 Seed beads, glass pearls, Swarovski crystal beads, Czech pressed class, and Bead Gallery 12 mm iridescent acrylic ball beads.

The 22 mm beads that were on the  two strands that I bought were too large for the wall hanging so I decided to combine a few of them with some vintage glass beads that have been in my stash for, well....let's just say...awhile. 

If you would like to see what the other participants made click on the link at the top of this post. 

Art Jewelry Elements "Buried Treasure" Challenge

After nearly a year of doing hardly any bead work I decided to reignite my creativity and love of beading by participating in a few challenges through out the year.

Up first are two delightfully fun and quirky necklaces I made for Art Jewelry Elements annual "Buried Treasure aka Use Your Stash" challenge. 

Sharon Peters lamp work cat bead and spacer beads, seed beads, copper spacer disks, and Swarovski crystals.

Sharon Peters lamp work cat bead, Czech pressed glass, Delicas, gold filled rounds, and Swarovski crystals.

The hardest part of this challenge was holding myself to the idea of using only beads, findings, and components that came from stash and not buying anything.  Later in the year I might challenge myself to another round of beading with my own buried treasure.

Three Months In One Of Some Color Fun

From top left to bottom right:  March, April, May

 March Color of the Month:  Aqua:
Fusion Beads chose "Aqua" to be the Pantone Spring 2015 color for March and this is one of my favorite Swarovski crystal colors to work with.  In fact, I have more shades of aqua colored beads in my stash than any other color, including violets and purples.
 

I used 4mm aqua rondelles, aqua opal daggers, and sterling silver rounds for the simple and elegant bracelet.

April Color of the Month:  Custard:
On it's own Lt. Topaz, the Swarovski equivalent of Pantone's "Custard," is a lovely, golden yellow color, but it looks absolutely horrible on me and that made it a hard color to work with.  Instead of struggling to make something that I wouldn't like or want to wear, I decided to use 6mm crystal Lt. Topaz butterflies as an accent and pair them with "Woodbine" (from Patone's Top 10 Men's Colors for Spring 2015) in the form of olivine and tan swirled 8mm fire polished rondelles.    

May Color of the Month:  Lucite Green:
What a fun color to work with!  The enamel flower charms remind me of a small mint green Formica and aluminum table my Grandmother had in her kitchen, and the chrysolite opal crystals of the shimmering sheer curtains she had throughout her house.     

 

30 Day Bead Challenge-Part 3

Days 6 & 9:  A Hollywood inspired piece and a lovely long necklace:
Mary Pickford is one of my favorite silent screen stars.  She co-founded a major motion picture studio, made a staggering number of films (approximately 230), and she loved fine jewelry.  One of her favorite pieces was a stunning 40" long pearl and diamond sautoir that she reportedly wore as an "every day" piece of jewelry.  It was also part of the jewelry she wore when she married Douglas Fairbanks.  You can see a photo of her wearing it on her honeymoon with him here.

Pearls and diamonds are the epitome of luxury, style, and sophistication, but they just don't have much appeal for me so I used her necklace as the springboard that lead to this: 

 This is more my style.  Amethyst Swarovski crystals, Preciosa crystal rondelles, sliders, Czech glass daggers, and seed beads.

Close up shot.

Days 10 & 11:  Skipping these.

Day 12:  Bicones!

I decided to make a broken 3 strand vintage Japanese pearl necklace into the closest version of a classic pearl and diamond necklace as I'm ever going to get.

 Ruby Swarovski crystals, powder rose Swarovski pearls with vintage Japanese pearls and clasp.

Day 13:  Make a jewelry design with a color of metal you have used before:  I'm skipping this one since there isn't a metal color that I haven't already used.

Day 14:  Find a bead that has been in your stash forever and use it in a fabulous new design:  That's exactly what I have been doing all along!   

I'll be skipping over the third week of the challenge so that I can work on Day 20's theme of celebrating Mother Nature and it's going to involve this little box here.

 

30 Day Bead Challenge 2015-Part 2

Day 4.  Favorite Swarovski crystal or effect:
All Swarovski crystals all my favorites!  Bead mixes are lovely to look at, and I defintely squirrel them away in my stash, but I prefer order and patterns over random bead placement so they are hard for me to work with.  But, that being said, I decided for at least one day to embrace randomness.

Wisteria crystal mix from Beyond Beadery.

Purple Haze crystal mix from Fusion Beads.  Unfortunately, this mix has been discontinued.

 

Day 5:  Skipping this one.

Day 6:  A Hollywood inspired piece.  Working on it!  

Day 7:  Go wild for wire!  I've been playing around with Viking Knit;  whether or not I have something worth showing remains to be seen.

Day 8:  Give your beading space a make-over:  Are they kidding?  I'm right in the middle of some challenges!  My beading space is, and will be a disaster, for quite a while.

 

 

When Pantone Gives You Marsala

I was a regular contributor to Margie Deeb's Color Reports and I've really missed them, so I decided that this year I'll be beading along with Fusion Beads as they feature one of Pantone's Spring/Summer 2015 colors each month. 

January Color of the Month:  Marsala:
What can I say about this dull, brownish, slightly orange, muddy burgundy color that hasn't already been said?  This has to be the least popular Pantone Color of the Year, let alone one that is suppose to be a color for spring and summer. 

At first I decided to completely ignore this uninspiring color and wait until February, but I'm proud to say that I gave it some more thought and decided to improve upon my designing skills by using a color that has very little appeal for me just to see if I could do it.  I'm happy to say that I created an incredibly beautiful and elegant bracelet that I love wearing! 

Burgundy Swarovski crystals, garnet & vermeil beads, lampwork rondelles.

February Color of the Month:  Strawberry Ice:

This fresh, warm, delicious peachy-pink color is much easier to work with!

Indian Pink Swarovski crystals and vintage pressed glass.

 

 

Coming soon-March Color of the Month-Aquamarine!

 

 

30 Day Bead Challenge-The First 3 Days

March is National Craft Month and that means Fusion Beads is hosting their annual 30 Day Bead Challenge.  It's never too late to start!  For a copy of the PDF calender click here.

Family, work, and a nasty back injury has kept me away from beading, and just about every other creative activity I enjoy, for far too long.  I'm super excited to be getting back into my Creative Life and I'm looking forward to the challenge of creating something new almost everyday.

1.  Eye catching earrings:

Made with leftover beads, chain, and findings from other projects.  Now my husband knows why I hang onto so many little bits and pieces.  I really do use them "someday."

2.  Favorite seed bead mix:

An all muted, neutral palette is an unusual choice for me, but this Delica mix is an interesting combination of amber and gray, with just a touch of olive.  The chain was an impulse buy from a local craft store.  It's sparkly and it was on sale!  How could I resist? 

3.  Gemstones:

I think this combination of Peruvian blue opals, carved crystal quartz, Cathedral cut fire polish, vermeil, and vintage Swarovski crystals is causal enough for working at a dance studio!

Web of Confusion

My January Bead Journal Project isn't quite finished yet;  I need to add more strands to the web and decide on a way to display this, but I decided to reveal it anyway.

At the beginning of this year I was feeling caught up in a web of despair, confusion, and self-doubt brought on by an argument I had had with someone a few months earlier.

I began this piece with the idea of using seed beads and crystals in shades of gray and black to match the world I was living in at the time; but, eventually pink hope and red passion made their way back into my life and into my bead work. 

This post is only a few short paragraphs long, but it has been difficult for me to write. 

Even if it was only for a little while I let someone filled with his or her own despair and self-doubt have power over me, and I wish I hadn't let that happen.

I like to say that "sometimes it's a bitch to be human and sometimes it's human to be a bitch."  I'd like to add to that by saying "Don't ever let a bitch treat you like you aren't human."

Just Beading Along On A Big Ol' Rock

For the Freeform Peyote Group Found Object Challenge I decided to do one of the things I do best...cover a rock with beads.

I normally use the quick and easy method of covering a rock with a base of 8'0 and 11'0 seed beads, then surface embellish until I'm satisfied with the over all look.  But this time I'm doing freeform peyote around a center piece of chalk turquoise 2 or 3 rows at a time, then going back and sewing each round down into the base beads.  Time consuming, but in the end it will be worth it.

So, without further ado, here is the list of all the other amazing and creative pieces my fellow challenge participants have done:

Mandi Ainsworth -host
Karen Williams – host
Nancy Dale
Regina Roper
Lisa Jones
Romana Tschunko
Catherine Chinoy
Annita Wilson
Therese Frank
Naan Pocen
Lies Koster
Halina Trolle
Sally Russick
Judy Pennington
Anna Belous

A big THANK YOU to Mandi and Karen for hosting another great challenge!
  

Making Progress

Slowly, but surely I'm making progress with my 100 Days Challenge. 

I decided to kill two birds with one stone, (pun intended) by using the beads I bought in a kit that I wanted for just the instructions with the goal of joining a beading challenge and now I'm covering a rock with beads for the "Found Objects Free Form Peyote Challenge," being hosted by Mandi Ainsworth and Karen Williams.

 

For anyone interested, the last day to sign up for this challenge is Saturday, October 12th, and the reveal date is Friday, November 15th.

The big messy pile of assorted beading, crochet, and cross-stitch kits you see there on the left has now been sorted and organized.  Realistically I won't be able to get through all of this by the end of the year, but it's a start!
 

I can't say enough about how strong and peaceful I've been feeling as a result of starting and ending each day with yoga and meditation.  I think it's safe to say that yoga is my greatest passion because it enhances all of the other things I love to do.

I've also added another bonus challenge to my list, but for now it's a secret.  All will be revealed sometime in late November.

100 Days of "RE"

Reorganize, revitalize, reclaim, rethink, reconnect;  those are some of the things I'll be thinking about and doing over the next 100 days. 

Fellow belly dancer Gina of RaksGina is hosting the 100 Days Challenge again this year and I am totally on board for this for the second time.  In a nut shell, it's at least 10 things you want to do or experience during the last 100 days of the year.

This year I put some thought into what I wanted to accomplish and here is what I came up with:

1.  Reduce the number of beading, crochet, and cross stitch kits I've bought over the decades.  It's a ridiculously large amount and I can use the space.  Pictures to follow in another post.

2.  Reclaim my body with yoga.

3.  Reclaim my mind with meditation

4.  Reclaim myself by doing at least one nice thing for me.  Like so many other moms I fall into that same trap of taking care of myself last.

5.  Reconnect with my creative muse by learning at least one new bead related technique like Viking knit, micro macrame, or crystal clay.

6.  Reduce the "to read" pile.  I'm only doing this so that I can justify buying more books.

7.  Reduce, the countless number of boxed up magazines I have stored in the garage in favor of having back issues on DVDs.

8.  Reconnect with the beading community by joining at least one bead challenge.

9.  Recharge my creativity by participating in either NaNoWriMo or National Seed Bead Month.

10.  Revive this blog for the next 100 days and see where it leads.

11.  BONUS GOAL:  Rethink what I want to do as far as dancing is concerned.  Two less than stellar troupe experiences, plus having an up and coming little dancer to think about, has left me wondering who I am and where I belong in the dance community.
     
*100 Day Challenge banner created by RaksGina.

Close Encounters of the 6th Purple Kind

I know.  I know.  Long time, no post.  But in my defense I have been beading, beading, beading away.

Just a few days into Fusion Beads 30 day challenge my beading muse began bombarding me with ideas for jewelry that I'll be submitting for publication. I've had to say goodbye to the challenge in favor of developing ideas, writing tutorials, and taking pictures.  It's been a long time since I had anything published, and I'm looking forward to getting myself back into it.  

In the meantime I thought I would share with you a deliciously purple necklace I made using a Caldera triangle from Kate McKinnon's book Contemporary Geometric Beadwork.  It's the first in a series of necklaces that represents each of the 7 basic chakras. 

In other non-bead related news I just finished a 30 Day Belly Dance Challenge and I'm currently participating in a 21 day meditation challenge.  The harder of the two has definitely been the meditating.  I can commit to dancing anytime, but sitting still and training my mind to be quiet for as little as 10 minutes is taking some monumental effort, and in some ways is more exhausting and rewarding then dancing.

Also, starting in April I'll be doing a 28 day yoga challenge with fellow beadiac Jennifer Chaslow VanBenschoten.  Please join us if you can!   

National Craft (and Bead) Month

To celebrate National Craft Month the folks over at Fusion Beads are hosting a 30 Day Bead Challenge, and to get things started the first challenge is to make a pair of earrings. 

I was feeling a bit ambitious so I made two pairs using my new favorite Swarovski crystal color, Astral Pink.  Sorry the photos don't do this rich, exotic color the justice is deserves.  Trust me;  these earrings are amazing.

This pair is based on Fusion Beads "Maple Sugar Earrings:"

And this second pair is accented with Fuchsia crystals:

Tomorrow's challenge is to string up something simple, and for that I made a bracelet to match, as well as a quick and easy necklace to complete the set:

It's going to be an exciting month!

The Adventurous Egg

YAY!  Today is the day of the "Freeform Peyote Choose Your Own Adventure Reveal!"

The wooden eggs I found stashed away in my bead closet are 1 1/4" to 3 1/2" in size.  Seeing as how I was facing a time crunch I decided to start with the smallest ones and I plan to eventually to cover them all with beads.

 Egg #1:  Two different views:

 

Egg #2:  Experimenting with changing the beading path from horizontal to vertical:

 Egg #3:  Green! 

Adventurer Roster:  Visit these other blogs to see what my fellow adventurers have created:

Mandi Ainsworth - Adventure Guide
Karen Williams - Adventure Guide

Bobbie Rafferty
Sarah Meadows
Katherine Gale
Mandy Duffy
Leanne Kirsch
Jean Hutter

Nancy Dale
Judy Riley
Natasha Wiegelman
Pam Chesbro
Stephanie Woods
Romana Tschunko

Bette Greenfield
Mary Harding 
Melody Marie Murray
Shirley Moore
Marj

Sally Russick
Therese Frank
Tanya Goodwin
Christine Altmiller
Lea Paličková
Ivona Šuchmannová

Jennifer Chasalow VanBenschoten
Kay Haynes
Tammy Bowman  
Alisa Lehman
Lori Callahan
Tami Norris

Jane Kettley
SaraBeth Cullinan
Tami Norris
Julie Schmidt Bowen
Tammi Clapper
Cynthia Machata

                                                                                                                   

A Creative Confession

I have a confession to make, but before I do I would like to say a big "Thank you!" to Karen Williams at Baublicious and Mandi Ainsworth at Bead Circle for creating the "Choose Your Own Adventure Freeform Peyote Challenge and Blog Hop."

This isn't the first bead challenge that I've entered, but it the first one that I have actually completed.  I know that sounds strange, especially since I've been beading for so long and have had my work published in books and magazines since 1998.  But there it is:  something I've been secretly embarrassed about for a long time.

Every time I've ever signed up for a beading challenge my brain, my muse, my creativity, all of it, just shut down, and after an number of false starts I would drop out, drown my sorrow in chocolate and ice cream, and secretly be depressed about my failure.

The problem has always been with a spiteful creature I call "The Anti-Muse," the inner critic that takes over and starts hurtling all sort of abuse and insults at me until I give up and the little jerk wins.

There is an unfortunately predictable pattern here:  first comes the excitement and the brainstorming as I mentally bead up several projects that I think I want to try; then, after selecting the one fabulous project that is going to astonish and amaze everyone, and pulling all my materials together I sit down to start making my masterpiece, and...

...nothing.  Nothing except The Anti-Muse and a brain that has been wiped clean.

But this time something was just a tiny bit different.  

One of the questions the ill-natured Anti-Muse asked me was just exactly why I needed another over the top piece of beaded jewelry that I would never have the opportunity to wear.  "You are, after all," she sneered "only a schlub, a stay-at-home mom and chauffeur." At that point I was ready to quit.  But before I did I rummaged around in my bead closet until I came upon a box of wooden eggs...

And for now, this is where my confession ends.

Tomorrow is when myself and the other 32 participants are allowed to reveal our challenge pieces so you'll have to wait until then to see some pictures of what I've been working on in all shades of greens, golds, purples, and violets.  I get up and leave the house fairly early on Saturday mornings so it will be late afternoon before I have chance to post them. 


   

The 100 Day Challenge

A fellow belly dancer, Gina, recently issued an interesting 100 day challenge.  Why wait until the New Year to start on the list of goals and resolutions lurking around in the shadows of your mind?  Why not do it now, during the last one hundred days of the year?  The challenge doesn't start until September 23rd so there is still plenty of time to get that list together and it doesn't have to be anything even remotely related to belly dance.  If you don't want to share your list on Gina's page, then post it on your own blog, FB page, on the refrigerator, or anywhere that works for you, just as long as you make yourself accountable for it.

Here's my list, in no particular order:
1.  Clean out closet and revitalize stale, boring wardrobe.
2.  Lose weight.
3.  Finish up a few crochet projects.
4.  Yoga.  Everyday.
     -I just bought Rodney Yee's "Yoga:  The Poetry of the Body" and downloaded "Yoga
       With Weights" on the e-reader to keep things fresh and interesting.
5.  Start a vegetable garden.
6.  Reduce the "To Read" pile of 20+ books down to zero.
     -This is mainly so that I can justify buying more books.
7.  Transplant rose bushes.
8.  Organize notes from Flamenco class.
     -Right now they're in 3 different places:  a notebook, on the sticky note app of my
       phone, and on the e-reader.     
9.  Take "Teaching Yoga to Kids" class.
10.  Write.  Everyday.
       -It doesn't have to be good, it just has to be done.
11.  Organize yarn stash into just one room. 
      -Only the bathrooms and kitchen are currently yarn free.
12.  Treat myself to a super awesome spa day.

I deliberately kept my list simple.  My summer hibernation is barely at an end and my calender is already overflowing with bead related deadlines, workshops, classes, recitals, rehearsals, and volunteering, along with the usual never ending Mommy-Do list.

Some really exciting things are happening in my life and I'll be blogging about a few of them over the next few days.

I Love Lucy and Her Jewelry!

Lucille Ball is one of my favorite actresses.  I've always admired her for being strong, outspoken, gracious, and just down right drop-dead gorgeous.  When the male dominated industry of Hollywood moviedom didn't know what to do with this fabulously funny and intelligent woman she made her own way in the fledgling field of television.  And she wore fabulous jewelry along the way.

In this photo for a publicity still for the movie "Look Who's Laughing" she's wearing a uniquely beautiful necklace and bracelet set designed for her by Joseff.  I haven't seen this movie so I have no idea if she actually wore it in the film or not.

And here's my version of her Joseff necklace; a seed beaded herringbone rope adorned with Kashmiri beads, Chinese crystals, and Czech glass daggers. 

This second piece, a sparkling herringbone and crystal bracelet, was inspired by the wide diamond bracelets that were so popular in the 1930's.  Everyone from high ranking studio star to hopeful starlet was wearing them.

 
P.S.  This apple picture is a cryptic nod to a favorite movie of mine starring Barbara Stanwyck as a fortune hunting con artist who gets her man by conking him on the head with a half-eaten apple.  Any guesses as to what that movie might be?

I Make My Own Crazy

Week 2 of The Artist's Way for Beaders (TAWFB) has been about recovering a sense of identity and one of the topics has been about identifying and dealing with "poisonous playmates" and "crazy makers."  The first 2 times I worked through TAW I successfully dealt with all those nasty Negative Nellies, or so I thought.  Now, here I am doing this a third time and I find that I am, as the saying goes, my own worst enemy.

I make myself crazy with all my self doubts and self defeating attitudes.  I thought I had laid all those horrible beasts to rest, but that's not the case.  Just like a bunch of zombies in a Z-grade horror movie they have crawled up from the depths, but instead of calling out for "Brains!  Brains!" they're sucking away at my self-esteem.

At this point I have no idea as to how to effectively deal with this.  How does one go about eliminating one's own army of Self Defeatist Zombies?  Baby steps of taking out one useless walking corpse of self doubt at a time, or just shred the whole bunch in one big explosion?  Is it ever possible to eliminate them all?

Either way, it's something I need to work on and I'm open for suggestions.

Two other tasks for this week were to make a list of 20 things I enjoy doing and a list of 10 things I would like to;  I'll give you 5 of each:

I enjoy:
1.  Word puzzles
2.  Jigsaw puzzles
3.  Hiking
4.  Biking
5.  Rock climbing

I would like to:
1.  Repaint my yoga/beading/dance room
2.  Collect antique tea cups
3.  Visit France
4.  Dye my hair purple and get a new hair cut
5.  Go on a retreat:  yoga, belly dancing, beading, writing;  any of these would do nicely