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!!

 

 

 

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.

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!   

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. 


   

12 Weeks of "Artist's Way for Beaders"

Earlier this week Jennifer Chaslow VanBenschoten started a FaceBook group, "The Artist's Way For Beaders," based on Julie Cameron's book, "The Artist's Way."  It's a public group, all beaders are invited, so at least drop by the page, or Jennifer's blog, to see for yourself what it's all about.

I've already been doing the morning pages for over 10 years now, and for the most part I'm able to squeeze in a little bit of beading every day, so my 12 week challenge is going to be 30 minutes a day of play time, experimental, beading that may or may not lead to a finished piece.  If it does, great!  If not, it will find it's way into one of the many fancy photo boxes I keep handy for WIPs, false starts, and smeg-ups. 

My biggest challenge is going to be finding time for the artist's date;  one day per week that is set aside for just me to refuel and refresh my creativity.  First off, my daughter being in school for only a measly 3 hours a day gives me only about 2 hours of uninterrupted free time.  Secondly, my husband is a truck driver and is gone a lot.  Quite a lot.  Like for an entire week sometimes, so that leaves just about all the parenting to me.  And thirdly, there just isn't much in my neck of the woods that I would consider creatively refreshing.  The economy killed off the few small museums that were within a decent driving distance, and as the far west valley becomes overly populated all the cute little Mom & Pop style craft and book stores, yoga studios, etc. are slowly being pushed out of business by generic box stores.

I'm thinking my best bet will be a weekly yoga class.  A good yoga class always, always, always leaves me feeling freer, lighter, happier, refreshed, and refueled.  It's not the immersion into the artistic and creative world called for in the book, but if it's what works for me then it's all good.  And yes, this yoga class will have to be at the generic box store gym, because my favorite yoga studio closed its doors a few months ago, but at least the gym offers child care.     

I may also have to do some actual scheduling of my time to get myself through the next 12 weeks, if not the entire school year.  And I hate schedules.  I had crazy, control freaky "I own you." parents so anything that seems too regimented drives me absolutely raving, loony, bat shit, crazy.  I'll have to keep reminding myself that schedules are not a means of controlling or having power over someone, but are a way to keep my uber busy life running as smoothly as possible.   

Cats and Crystals

The theme for week 6 of Fusion Bead's Weekly Challenge was pet inspired jewelry or jewelry made for a beloved pet to wear.  I love my pets too much to dress them up human like, so the only option open to me was to make something for myself.  

I adore cats, love crystals, and lately I've been feeling the need for jewelry that leans more towards the casual, so I combined vintage and contemporary Swarovski crystal and sterling silver with some super cute vintage beads and a cat themed HomeStudio pendant to make this very red necklace.

Most people may not consider jewelry that's been made with crystals, especially of the vintage sort, to be casual, but when compared to something like this, it is.

I skipped making hair accessories for week 7 because I was just too busy doing other wonderful beady and crafty things.  But, I did take the time to organize my tools.

Yes, that's a tea cup in the background and yes, I do consider caffeine to be a very important and valuable design tool. 

I'll be skipping over weeks 9, 10, & 11 in order to make some spectacular film inspired jewelry that will probably take me back into the elaborate and a little too over the top for the grocery store category.

I've Been A Busy Beading Bee

Surprise!  I'm actually back to blogging.  Where have I been?  No where.  I've been here and beading like a crazy little bee.  But, what I've been working on are projects for Margie Deeb's latest book and sneak peeks are not allowed.

I can, however, show you these:  This first bracelet, "Miss Daisy" is what I made for Week 1 of Fusion Bead's Weekly Challenges. 

Next up we have Week 2:  Use a Crystal Mix in a Piece of Jewelry.  I paired their "Watermelon" mix with one of my favorite Swarovski crystal pearl shapes, the twisted petal, in peach to make this bracelet and earrings.  By the way, those earrings are a variation on a pair that I created for the Spring 2012 issue of Stringing magazine.  

On A Journey

This is just a quick post to let everyone know that I finally split this blog into two;  one devoted mostly to beading, and the other to my journey as a belly dancer.  Please give it a look see:  SaraBeth's Belly Dance Journey.

I was in a hurry to get the new blog up and running so I'll be tweaking it every now and then, whenever I find the time to play.  I've also decided to keep the same name for this, my beading blog, since there will be some cross posting and mainly because I like it.

I've started my next round of color report project for Spring/Summer 2012 and will be talking more about that later in the week after I've got myself caught up on a few things here and there.

What's In A Name

A rose by any other would name would smell as sweet, right?  Of course it would.  But this isn't about roses, this is about splitting my belly dancing bead blog into two separate blogs in preparation for the changes that are to come in both my beading and belly dance life.  

I'm going to keep the name "SaraBeth's Belly Dancing Bead Blog" for the beady part of my life simply because I like it, but I do need a few suggestions for the belly dance blog.  So don't be shy!  Speak up and throw a few ideas at me!

 

I'm still going strong with my 365 Days of Dance practice and I have something new and exciting planned for my 365 Days of ??? in 2012.  There will also be some interesting and fun things happening in my belly dance life very soon.  

I recently came to the conclusion that having my life speeding along at Mach 1 was no longer acceptable, so I've decided to rev things up a bit by remodeling the house.  I'll be temporarily giving up my bead closet for a bigger and better one, storing my stash in different parts of the house, and doing most of my beading for the upcoming Spring/Summer 2012 color report in the kitchen.  That, in turn, means we'll be eating lots of take-out and delivery on TV trays in the living room.

It's possible that I may be completely, totally, and utterly insane by December.
 

Isn't It Romantic?

N'est-il pas romantique?  Aren't all those random threads just lovely?  Here's some bits and pieces of the necklace that I've been working on in the orange, green, and brown colors that I blogged about earlier.

I'm combining 3 different components from Lisa Kan's book, Bead Romantique, into this one necklace.  I'm actually much further along that what you see in the picture.  Think crystals.  Oh so many sparkly crystals!  And one sweet little herringbone flower.  

A bit of fringe?  Perhaps.  Or not.  Even though I'm working within in the confines of a specific palette and project I'm still not completely planning this piece from beginning to end.  I very rarely ever plan out what I'm going to make.  I usually start with a "somewhat idea" in mind and go from there.  The second color that I'll be working with is "Deep Teal" and I have somewhat of an idea that I'll be using some components from Marcia DeCoster's Beaded Opulence.  Or not.  


I'm genuinely surprised by how much I like this necklace.  Like I said before, this is usually not one of my favorite color combinations because it's too classically Autumn. 

 

Take A Deep Breath And Hit "Send"

 I've been a regular contributor to a variety of bead publications for the past 11 years, but I found myself to be a little bit nervous and a lot bit excited today when I sent off the electronic portion of my submissions for the Fall 2011 issue of Stringing magazine.  

I submitted 4 bracelets to be considered for the gallery portion of the magazine.  I had plans for making a few necklaces and some earrings, but those ideas fell by the wayside while I did battle with the Snot Monster.  

Motherhood has been the main focus over the past three years so my nervousness comes from feeling somewhat out of touch with the beading community.  On the one hand, I've never been much of a trend follower, but on the other hand, I do believe I need to at least be aware of what the current fashions are all the rage in Beadlandia. 

Wish me luck!  

In the meantime, you can see some of my recent work in the Spring 2011 issue of Margie Deeb's Color Report for Bead and Jewelry Designers.  And just for this color report, with each purchase, Margie is including a free PDF of instructions for my lovely, lovely Dolphino beaded beads, as seen in the picture above.

Now for a bit of belly dance news:

Three days of rehearsal while doing battle with the aforementioned Snot Monster has left me exhausted, but I've still been able to keep up with my 365 Days of Belly Dance challenge.  I'm currently at 89 days and 3,520 minutes of dancing.  

Sadly, with all these extra rehearsals I had to give up my tribal class, at least for now.  I may be able to return to class in mid-April after the Mujeres 3 show on April 9th.  Happily, I did sign up for 6 months of on-line classes with Ansuya and I'll be doing those at least once and possibly twice a week.   

Just Like I Promised

Last week, when I told you about Pantone's Color of the Year "Honeysuckle," I promised I would post progress pictures of my final project for Spring 2011.

To start, I thought I would spark your interest by showing the colors I'm working with.
In the photo above you see Silver Cloud, Blue Curacao, Regatta, Peapod, and Lavender.  Nice, cool, refreshing, tropical, but a bit sleepy, in my opinion. 

So I decided to liven it up with Honeysuckle!  A little bit here and a little bit there has had a big impact on the bead embroidered pendant I'm making. 

I've got a super busy weekend ahead that includes brunch with my 92 year old Grandma and a trip to a few bead stores in the way of a belated birthday celebration for myself so I'll post progress pictures next week.

Until then, happy beading, and happy dancing.

P.S.  I'll also try to find some time to photograph and post my pending bead haul.

Pink Punk

At least that's what I'm calling this necklace until I can come up with a different and better name. I'm also open for suggestions.

I actually have an idea for a pink punk necklace. I came across some enameled steam punk style charms, beads, and findings in all sorts of candy bright colors, and that got me to thinking......

But, I digress.

This is an unfinished project that I came across while looking for something else in my bead closet. As to what my original idea was I am completely clueless. And I also have no idea as to what the finished necklace is going to look like. It's so rare that I ever plan a project out from beginning to end. I start with beads, needles, and a vague idea of what I will make and let the project evolve from there. I love improv beading!

The part that may not be so improvisational is the neck strap. I've been toying with the idea of either a tubular herringbone strap or a silk cord that I can carry some sort of embellishing up onto. Then again, I could always do the embellishing idea on the herringbone strap with some beaded bead end caps and a button toggle.

Then again....I could do a multiple strand of seed beads; or a single strand of glass & crystal; or this could be the focal piece of a multi-strand necklace.

See what I mean? This is why my work is rarely ever planned out. There are just so many wonderful options available.

Hello 2010-Beading Goals

Happy New Year everyone!!! Did you make any New Year's resolutions? If you didn't, you're not alone because I didn't either. Resolutions seem too stern and inflexible to me. I prefer the forward momentum and flexibility of goals.

My main beading goal for this year are is to continue reducing the mountain of PIPs (projects-in-progress) to a small hill.

Two beading contests that have piqued my interest are "Haute Couture" and "Use the Muse." I'd like to unofficially participate in at least one of these before this year is over. I say "unofficially" because both of these are jewelry related contests. I've been making beaded jewelry for about 20 years and it's time for a change. And as an unofficial enterant I don't have to worry about a deadline.

A few years ago, when Margie Deeb held a violet and yellow color challenge, my entry was a liquid dish soap bottle that I covered entirely in beads. "Mannequin" took 1st runner-up. I had one helluva good time making it and it is one of my favorite pieces of beaded art.

More! I want to do more!

Even though this isn't a goal, and as much as I enjoy doing bead work for publication in books and magazines, I've decided to postpone that until the Toddler Tornado is in pre-school. Assuming I send her to pre-school. Educating my l'il darling is a whole 'nother issue. To home school or not to home school, that is the question. Oh! But I will continue to participate in Margie's color reports. I can't give up my color challenges!

But, I digress.....So, what am I doing this year? Making beady mountains into beady mole hill and recycling interestingly shaped plastic and glass bottles into beaded art work!

Namaste!