Just Coasting Lately

I have just been coasting for the past month or so. I have little motivation to do anything. I'm hoping it's just an accumulation of sad events that have happened recently. We had an unexpected death in the family, one of my best friends was seriously ill and I received bad news from another relative. This all happened within a two week period. I'm not sitting around crying or anything, but find myself strangely apathetic. I'm finding it difficult to stick to any one thing long enough to finish it.
I find myself doing things that are relatively mindless, such as making 52 pair of earrings, and spending my time tagging things for our LBS, etc. I'm being productive, but not creative, if you know what I mean. I need a jump start to get my engine running full speed again. Does anyone have any suggestions? I can think of all kinds of things I want to do, but starting them is something else again.

April BJP and Extras

One more page done! This is my April page and it's called "Awakening" The inspiration for this page is a raku bead by RAMA. With her soft leaves just unfurling, it seemed the perfect focal for April. Of course, here in the West, the heat has come on with a bang this year, while other parts of the country are still almost in winter. My background fabric is a batik of frangiapani. I have been trying to do some new (to me) techniques this year instead of covering every inch of fabric with beads. Sometimes, it's harder this way.

Since I blogged last, I've been staying busy. Had a ball doing a Car Show here in Clovis. Sold a little bit, but was able to advertise for our LBS classes, so it was a good day. The best part, is that it was a benefit for the Shriner's. These folks do so much good for children who are ill. I hope I can always lend my time to projects like this.

I fell in love with these heart beads by Grace Ma . They lend themselves to being used as charms on a simple spiral bracelet. Grace's lampwork beads work well in bead embroidery projects as well as focals in other jewelry projects.

Spring Pond

Is it raining where you live? We just got a storm in from the coast and the rain is pouring, the eves are dripping on the patio and I wish I had a fire going. It's not cold, but a fire would be cozy, don't you think? I know we need the rain as much as ever. If we're lucky we may get some snow in the higher elevations. That would be even better. I know we sure don't want another fire season like last year.

This page is called Spring Pond. It's my March page for BJP. I found the cute bone carvings at BABE this past November and couldn't resist them. Of course I had no idea what I would do with them, but when has that ever mattered? Now I'm only one month behind. Yay for me!

What are all of you working on right now? Besides my BJP pages, I continue to work on my BFAC project. A friend of mine asked the other day if I was ever going to do anything but bead embroidery again. It made me laugh. I still do a fair amount of beadweaving and of course, I am still teaching both at Beads,Etc. in Clovis. I can't help it if the embroidery calls to me. I get a tremendous sense of satisfaction out of finishing each piece.

I am officially signed up for the Retreat at Tahoe. I can't wait. Several of us from here are planning to go. I've taken Marcia DeCoster's classes before and they are a treat! She makes even RAW fun. I know I will enjoy Beki Haley's class as well. Her work is always so meticulous. For me though, the big draw this trip will be Sherry Serefini's class. I have admired her work for years and never thought I would be lucky enough to take one of her classes. I will be in heaven for sure. LOL

On to my April and May pages now.

January and February BJP

I am slowly, but surely catching up with my BJP pages. This first one is for February. I loved the plummy colors in the batik fabric and found a bead from Grace Ma that fit perfectly. This page kind of symbolizes a new growth to me. Seeds are planted and lo and behold we see the flowers starting to appear. I've been experimenting this year, trying to get out of the habit of totally encrusting my pages. Sometimes that is difficult for me. I have a tendency to think more beads is always better. I'm trying to break that habit. Of course, working with focals such as this one is such a pleasure. Grace's beads are exquisite.














This page is for January. It is called Shadow of Winter. The focal face cabochon is by Klew. The swirled lampwork bead is by Vicki Cedarquist who belongs to our Central California Bead Society and always participates in our CCBS Bead Show each September. I love the subtle color changes in this batik and it was so perfect for this face cab.

Eventually I will get caught up with my pages. I 'm currently working on March and am already thinking about April's page. Procrastination is one of my most prolific habits and I do it very well. I continue to work on my BFAC project for this year.

I am finally beginning to see progress in my goal to spread the joy of bead embroidery. This week has been very special in that I have had some of my students bring me finished or nearly finished works of their art. I'm so pleased to see that they have enjoyed working on them. Some of them even plan to do more. This makes teaching worthwhile.

New Items

A few weeks ago I was contacted by Artbeads.com to use and evaluate a new product for them. I chose this decorative bead. It is an onyx bead with a painted decal on it. I loved the design immediately. As I do predominately bead embroidery these days, it was important to me to have a focal that would compliment my work. This bead lived up to my expectations. The intricate design made it easy to choose colors for my work. My piece is a pin/pendant which makes it more versatile in your jewelry wardrobe. The mix of blues and greens makes it perfect for spring and summer. I would recommend checking out the many items available at http://artbeads.com/ You're sure to find something you like there.

A New Era

Well, I officially consider myself a Senior Citizen now. I turned 66 years old today. This past year and a half has been a real experience for me. I retired from nursing and have had to discover a whole new way of living. Some of it has not been fun, but the majority of it has been a blast. Initially, I learned that I can exist on a very tight budget. Fortunately for me, I don't have to do that. Once I got myself and my finances organized, I'm in much better shape than I thought I would be. Just knowing that has made the past year more enjoyable.

What am I doing with myself? I volunteer at our local bead store which is owned by one of my dearest friends. I work 2-3 days a week for her and love doing it. I teach, run the register occasionally and help the customers. What a joy it is to share my love of beading with others. Each day is a new experience. We have everything from new beaders, to fishermen making lures coming in on a regular basis. What fun it is to talk to them and learn about their beading experiences.

When I'm not at the shop, I bead and read a lot. Both things bring me enjoyment. While I do beadweaving and teach the same, my obsession is bead embroidery. From the moment I learned to sew beads on a piece of fabric, I was hooked. Having such bead embroiderers as Robin Atkins, Larkin Van Horn and Sherry Serefini to emulate is wonderful. Through them and blogging, I have met so many wonderful beaders and learned so much from each of them. I love the work of my fellow Bead Journal Project beaders. I've discovered how to put myself into my bead work and find that very satisfying. I can always tell when my emotions are not involved in my work. It is usually very pedestrian and I find I don't enjoy working on it nearly as much.

One of the things I have enjoyed most lately is corresponding with the friends I have made online. It's great to learn more about each of them and share beading stories. Sometimes they make me laugh and sometimes they make me cry, but I wouldn't trade these friends for anything. Each one of them adds joy to my life. You can't ask for better than that.

Rainbow Gold

Had to take a few minutes to post my March doll for BAD. She is called "Rainbow Gold". I do enjoy making these little dolls. I love trying to make each one different.
I've been busy this month except for last week. I fell victim to the dreaded flu bug. Much better now except for my voice and cough. At least I feel like I will live. LOL. I discovered one bad thing about being home everyday. It leaves you way too much time to play and buy on the internet. My poor bank balance will never be the same. I continue to add to my faceted gemstone collection. I'm learning a lot and really enjoying the collection.
I worked Monday and Wednesday at our LBS. Today I was doing my civic duty on jury duty. It's not always fun, but is necessary. Looks like I will spend tomorrow there as well. (Sigh!) Saturday looks to be fun though. Our local Bead Society is having their annual potluck and sale. It's not really a bead show as such, but a way for us to sell off unwanted beads and finished jewelry. I love this sale as I always find something I want or need. And just think! It was in a friend's stash all along.
I'm working hard on my BFAC project for 2010. The kit this year is wonderful and includes a beautiful lampwork bead. I'll take some progress pics soon and post them. I love working on projects like this. There is always the challenge of working with beads that I didn't select and knowing the profits go to a worthy cause such as Colorectal Cancer Research makes it that much better. Our 2009 Auction is going on now on Ebay. Just go to www.beadingforacure.org and click on the currant auction button. All the items were made from last year's kit. Lots of great eye candy there. Be sure to look at the previous years Galleries too. You will get a ton of ideas.

BJP Pages

Better late, than never. I have become a behinder this year.
This first page is for November. It was inspired by the historic election that took place in November. I have always been proud to be an American, but never more so than now. To see our country rally and stand behind a man of vision, no matter the color of his skin was wondrous to behold. I'm not a particularly political person, but it did my heart good to see the USA step out of a dark part of our past, and embrace the future together.



The second page is for December. This has always been a month for reflection for me; looking back over the past year and learning from it. I have officially been retired for a year now. My life is good. I have a loving family, the best of friends and last, but not least, my beady family. What more could a person ask?

Now on to my January, February and March pages.

Busy Month so far

Have I been on a spiral kick? You bet I have. Just can't seem to get enough of them all of a sudden. I also have one with pearls that I don't have a picture of yet.

The top three are bracelets I made with crystals.













The necklace is made with turquoise chips. I love the organic look.



This last piece is one I made after taking a class with Kandra of Kandra's Beads. She has been a guest teacher at our LBS, Beads, Etc. in Clovis several times now. Her classes are always interesting and fun.

I am trying to catch up on all my projects, but am spending three days a week at Beads, Etc. now. I have way too much fun there playing with beads and meeting so many interesting people. I continue to teach there as often as possible. I find that every class I teach, I learn something new as well. I feel very fortunate to have a group of beady friends that have become more like family to me. We share not only beading, but our daily lives. What a wonderful sisterhood.

My friend called me last week and invited me to a bead session at her house. Three of us had dinner and beaded for hours. I spent the night at her place and we beaded until after 3am. Was I tired? Of course. Was it worth it? Way beyond worth it. I'm inspired by the interaction of our group and the constant bombardment of ideas when we get together. Who could ask for more?

New Items

Here are two of the newest things I have been working on. The doll is my entry for the January Challenge on Beaded Art Dolls on Yahoo. I am finding it great fun to come up with different designs each month using the same doll pattern. I wear them frequently as pendants, but they can also be worn as pins.

I went on a face making kick recently. I supply faces for my LBS, Beads, Etc. in Clovis, CA. The owner of the shop has made it into a fun, comfortable place to shop, learn and bead. She is always bringing something new for us. Her regular customers and teachers have become more like a family and frequently just go to the shop to hang out and bead.



The second picture is of a piece I did in a class by Kandra of Kandra's Beads. She brings an energy and enthusiasm to her classes that make them lots of fun. Even those beaders who had never done bead embroidery before produced spectacular results. We all immediately started thinking about doing another piece.

Other than that, I have been continuing to work on more pendants and have plans for a collar soon. I just finished teaching a class on brooches for our local Bead Society. It was a blast! We had 25 women beading like crazy. We'll all turn in our brooches for a Challenge next month. I continue to teach various classes at Beads, Etc. as well.

Old Year, New Works

As the old year is fading out, I have managed to stay busy beading. The first picture is a pin/pendant I made with a polymer clay face. I love the colors. The second picture is also a pin/pendant of a fossilized stone. It is unusual for me to work in this colorway, but it was a challenge I set for myself.

I hope everyone had as wonderful a Christmas as I did. Our family gets together on Christmas Eve to visit and open packages. I received many of the things I had asked Santa for. I am a big Il Divo fan and received their new CD. I also received an 8GB flash drive for my laptop. More than the gifts I received, I was able to spend some quality time with my grandsons. As they get older, it's harder to catch them all in one place. They are 10, 15, and 19 now. Such handsome boys. Of course that could just be Grandma talking, but I don't think so.

I have been thinking a lot about what I want from this coming year. As an ex-military wife, I wish for peace all over the world, so our men and women can safely return home to their families. They sacrifice so much to keep us safe.

I wish for good health for my family and friends. Too many of them have serious health problems. I complain about my little aches and pains, but I have to remind myself, there are many with much more serious things happening in their lives.

I wish for many beads and projects for my beady friends. I know the joy I get from beading and I wish that same joy for all of you.

May the New Year find you all happy and healthy.

Holiday Season

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa, I wish you all a happy holiday season. I count my many blessings regularly, but especially so this holy time of year. I have a wonderful extended family and my three grandsons are the joy of my life. They are 19, 15, and 10 now and growing up way too fast to suit Grandma. It is a pleasure to watch them grow and develop their own separate personalities. I'm very proud of all three.

Fortunate woman that I am, I have my beady family also. There is a group of about a dozen of us that hang out and teach at our LBS. They have become my sisters in truth. We laugh and cry together, bead together and travel together. How blessed I am to have these women in my life.

Lest I forget, I also have my online friends. It is a treat to exchange ideas and patterns with this knowledgeable group of beaders and crafters.

Merry Christmas to all of you.
Arline

Christmas Starr

This is a picture of my December doll for Beaded Art Dolls Calendar Challenge. Her name is Christmas Starr. She is the fourth in a series of twelve dolls I am making for the challenge.
I have continued to bead daily for the past two weeks. I borrowed my friend Lynn's NCIS DVDs for the first four seasons. I put those on and had a veritable orgy of NCIS and beading. LOL I have made over twenty pin/pendants in that time. Most of them are going for Christmas gifts, but some I am keeping for myself. I really enjoy threading a chain through them to wear as pendants. Next, I am going to do much the same with stone donuts.
I am a bit behind in the BJP right now, but I will catch up when the mood strikes me. Right now, all I want to do are the pendants. Soooo....

Been a little busy

I've been mostly lurking on my groups this past week. Not much work on the computer. This picture shows what I have been doing. I am absolutely fascinated by these little artworks. They take relatively little time to make and can be enjoyed by wearing them as a pin or as a pendant. The fun part is I get to teach how to make them for my Bead Society in January and then we will have a challenge. However, they tell me I can't be in it. Not fair I say! Actually, I don't mind. My goal this year is to show as many people as possible the joys of bead embroidery.
I actually have created a monster. I showed a friend how to do the stitches and she has just finished her second piece. Both her cuff and the necklace frontpiece are gorgeous! She definitely has an eye for color combinations and her beading is exquisite. Can't ask for a better student than that.
Guess I'd best get back to beading. Have lots of Christmas presents to make yet.
I hope everyone has a fun, joyful Thanksgiving.

A Day of Sharing of Words

As part of A Day of Sharing of Words, I offer this poem I wrote some years ago. It is called "A Soul at Rest".

I hear a soft whisper of sound
That repeats itself endlessly.
The wet sand is firm,
But my footprints soon disappear,
Fading into nothingness.
Down the shore, the sandpipers step quietly
Looking for food.
A wave comes in, frothy with white foam.
As it sneaks back into the ocean,
It leaves half buried bits of pearlized treasures.
A distant headland juts out into deep water, impossibly blue.
As a soft breeze drifts through the cypress trees,
My soul rests.

New Goodies from BABE

These are a few of the new goodies I brought back from my trip to Oakland and the BABE show. It was a great show; 30 more vendors than last year. What was nice is they opened up a larger area so it wasn't crowded. Of course, these stone cabs are marvelous and I can't wait to use them. I found a wonderful variety of stones this year. In the second picture are lampwork beads by Grace Ma. In addition to being exquisite, they are flat on the back and perfect for bead embroidery. Wish I could have bought more. Of course I bought the requisite seed beads by the tube-ful. I found wonderful mixes at Whim and Glass Garden and I surprised myself when I bought so many neutrals this time. I also bought a ton of vintage at Empyrean Beads.

My classes were terrific. I took an all day class from Christi Friesen working on necklace components. I always learn so much from her and we laughed all day long. I also took a Jewelry Photography class that was so interesting that even though I promised myself I wouldn't buy a Cloud Dome, I did anyway. So much for will power.

Several of us got together for dinner on Thursday evening before the show. We had lots of giggles and fun catching up with each other's lives.

When I got home, I found several packages waiting for me, too. Things I had ordered before the show. Lots of nailheads and other new beads. I also received some great face molds from Sweetbriar. Can't wait to get the clay out and play.

One of the nicest things to happen at BABE is that I was able to finally meet my friend Doris in person. We met online and have corresponded for the better part of a year now. We were able to have lunch and get to know each other better.

October Fire is Finished

I finished Fire last night except for the edge and that is started already. This was a particularly satisfying page to work on. I love the outdoors and dread the coming of fire season every year. Too many trees are lost to carelessness and the loss of homes and lives is tremendous. Thousands of people's lives are changed within hours when one of these firestorms starts. This past year has been particularly bad in California with all the lightning fires. Our firefighters are overworked and exhausted, but they continue to forge ahead with each new fire that starts. Just when the summer fire season is over, the Santa Ana winds start in southern California and we are off again. This page is meant to represent the tragic losses suffered due to fire.

Oct. page continued

Here is the third in progress picture of my October page. As you can see, the fire is larger and consuming the tree on the right. The cabin is half finished now. I used some clear plastic with orange marker on the back for the windows so they would seem to reflect the fire. More on this page when it is finished.

Oct. page in progress

This is my October BJP page in progress. I found the fabric in my stash of batiks. After the summer spent watching all the fires in California, I knew I had to do this page. Once again, in October, the fires started. What better time?

This is one of the few pages I do each year that I actually have a plan for. As you can see, the A-frame cabin is in danger. I love the skeletonized trees in this fabric. and the orange patch as well.
The trees have been fleshed out a bit here in the second shot and the fire has started. It's pretty amazing that as I bead this page, it actually feels like the fire is growing and destroying the trees. I haven't decided exactly what to do with the cabin yet.

The fires have devastated our beautiful state this year. As more people build out into the wilderness, I'm afraid it will only get worse. Most of these fires were started by lighting, but unfortunately many were started by man. It's sad that more do not care that they cause great loss of property and life by their carelessness and deliberate acts.

I will post another picture of this page, as it disappeared from this blog.

Relaxation Time

Just got back from a relaxing two days at the coast. I went with my friend, Heidi. She took this pic of me in front of Morro Rock. We did a little bead shopping in San Luis Obispo, picked up my GS and went to Morro Bay for an early dinner on the wharf. It's always a treat to
spend time with my GS. He goes to college in San Luis Obispo.

We had a leisurely drive back to Cambria and got back just in time to take this picture from in front of our motel. It was wonderful listening to the surf all night. We spent most of our time beading. I taught her how to do bead embroidery and to do peyote stitch around a cabochon. She caught on very quickly and had finished a bead embroidered cab pin/pendant by Saturday.

My project for the week was my November doll for Beaded Art Dolls. She is called Cranberry Crush. I was also able to get some work done on my October page for the Bead Journal Project. It is going well so far, and I will post it soon.