The Big Reveal Is Today!

Here is the complete picture of my entry using the Muse as a centerpiece for my Medallion. Scarlett unveiled all the beautiful pieces from the Use The Muse IV challenge today!

Wow! All the fabulous pieces from around the world are so creative, so inspiring, so beautiful! Head on over and check out all the beady wonderfulness.

Detail of centerpiece

Magna Mater Medallion

It's May 5th and It's Snowing

This is what I woke up to this morning. Quite unexpected for this late in the spring. Occasionally it will snow lightly during the day and then melt as it hits the ground, but this time we got about half an inch on the truck! Life in Oregon, wait five minutes, it will change.


It did finally melt off before noon, then the hail storms and the sun breaks filled out the rest of the day. Gotta say tho', I love the clouds this time of year.

Having More Fun At My Bead Desk

Been busy at my beads lately, my Muse keeps coming up with wonderful ideas.



The Rhyolite and Pearl necklace is very rich looking in person. It's so hard to translate colors, texture and feel in pictures. I tried to get a close up of the beads so you could see the patterns. I like working with these Rhyolite beads and will be making more jewelry with them.

The red button earrings are made with two vintage buttons, one stacked on top of the other and then stitched together with seed bead fringe. They are very fun to wear and not heavy. The purple spiky beads are just plain crazy! They are soft rubbery vinyl and so light you forget you are wearing them. They look extremely dangerous, but won't leave a scar if they graze your neck.

Using the Muse

I finally finished my necklace and uploaded my form for Use The Muse IV, a beading challenge hosted by Scarlett Lanson. This was a great challenge. It had some wonderful beads to use and the Muse fit perfect with all of them. According to the rules, I can't say, in any way, what the Muse is until the Big Reveal. Then all of the pictures of the pieces that were sent in will be posted to The Beaders Muse.

I can show you a bit of my piece, tho', but not the Muse.

Magna Mater Medallion Necklace

I was able to use a strand of Rhyolite, some faceted Tigereye rounds and a strand of faceted Picture Jasper rondells with some tinier Tigereye and Jasper beads I had in my stash. While looking through the rest of my stones, I found a bag of Tigereye drops and decided to bring them out and see if they would fit. They did. I ordered extra beads from Artbeads.com (great supplier) and added two colors of green seed beads to it. The colors from the kit inspired me to go with a nature theme and this time of year the weather here can be very dark and rainy with brief flashes of sun. I can look out my window and see the hemlock, douglas fir and cedars. Green branches and great woody trunks, the raindrops on the tips of the branches look like crystals, sparkling when a splash of sunlight hits them. The Magna Mater Medallion Necklace was created from these inspirations.

At first, I was going to make a large barrett, but as the piece grew bigger, decided it would be a necklace. I very rarely sketch things out, and audition fringe and necklace designs on my design board as I need them. I had about five different designs for the fringe this time. So...I did four, saved one for one side of the necklace and made a completely different one for the other side. I like asymmetrical stuff and with the small wooden connectors, that were part of the kit, it was fun to see what I could do. (Of course, I had to order more because we only got two in the kit.) These are very lovely pieces, laser cut and varnished. I think I need to have some more in my stash.

Now comes the frustrating part. I have to put the necklace away and wait for the Big Reveal. I can't wear it out or show it to anyone. As soon as Scarlett gets all the pieces up, (she does this all by herself), I will let you know. In the meantime, go on over and take a look at the previous challenges and don't drool too much on your keyboard. The Beaders Muse

New Spring Drawings

It's Spring and time to get out and see all the beauty popping forth from the ground. There are wild rabbits and a ton of birds all over the place here. I guess that's why these two popped out of my pen. This "bird" started out as a completely different design, but instead wanted to be tall and something other than what was coming out from my brain.

I found a stencil of this bunny and decided to pattern a rabbit for Spring.

Happy Easter to you all!

My Weird Dream

I have to tell you about this VERY weird dream I had earlier this week. It was one of those early morning, just before you wake up dreams. I was in a house cleaning up various rooms. (This is NOT my usual lifestyle. I hate to clean, although I do it with great angst.) I enter a back room that has a number of computers and tons of electronic equipment in it. There is a large closet off to the right which I notice can be organized to better fit all the stuff in it. So...I get it set up and it looks right nice. I decided I won't say anything to my husband (this is his room) and see what he says about the closet. Just as I'm closing the door on the closet, he walks in. It's Jack Webb. I am married to Jack Webb! You know, the Jack Webb of Dragnet fame. Why I am dreaming of him as my husband only a shrink could tell. In my dream he is funny, loving and familiar. It seems we've been married for years. This room is his place for retreat and all the equipment is there for his hobby....to listen to air traffic controllers all over the U.S. Now....I know you can't do that in real life, but dreams have a way of making things seem very realistic and normal. Jack goes over to a desk and pushes a button, a voice comes over the loud speaker, Atlanta is sending another plane off into the darkness. I wake up. "What was that???"

This is one of the strangest dreams I've had in a very long time. I never did get to tell Jack about the closet.

The Muse is Back!

I've been busy lately with my beads. My Muse finally came back from her vacation full of inspiration and energy. Lots of new beads have been coming in the mail, (LOVE, LOVE, LOVE online shopping!) and the necklaces have been flying off the bead desk. Below are some of the newest necklaces with some wonderful handworked beads I found.



I also bought a new light box so I could take better pictures of my jewelry. I'm still learning how the camera works in various situations. The new zoom is great for getting up close and personal with some of the beads, check out the frog on the black crystal and pearl necklace.

I'm jazzed and havin' a GREAT time!

Valentine's Day

Wishing everyone the most wonderfully chocolatey Valentine's Day!

Happy February!

In the last couple of weeks, I've been getting back to my beads. Here are two of the latest necklaces.
Coral Turquoise AmberMade with sponge coral, turquoise nuggets and amber chunks, each piece separated by a small red white-heart bead.
Blue Poppie Enameled setThese pieces are so pretty. Surrounded by turquoise beads, dyed freshwater pearls, small gold beads and a chain dangle.

Third Heart

Triad of Heartz
An early Valentine for you.

Sometimes, I'll start my day with a few Z'oodles to get the ideas flowing and my brain in arty mode. It's so much fun and I've been more creative the last few weeks than I've been the last year.

I signed up for the Use The Muse contest again. Last time I wasn't able to even get to creating with my Muse, so I hope this time around I will be able to create a special piece. As each contest begins, more and more beaders are finding out about it and signing up. There are quite a few international beaders that are part of this challenge. The finished pieces are so beautiful and the fun part about it is, we all have to use the same beads and a special "Muse" that Scarlett sends us. If you're up to it, sign up, pay for the kit and wait to be surprised. BUT...don't tell anyone what the Muse is!

I still have four pages for my Bead Journal Project to finish. If I can find them. With all the moving and rearranging I've done, I put them somewhere safe and you know how that goes. I'd like to try again this next year, but according to the rules, I have to finish what I started before I can sign up again.

The Big Announcement!

After creating all these Z'oodles and working my fingers down to the bone, I had to find a way to do something with them. So, I decided to open up a Cafepress shop. Here you can open up a free shop, upload your art and have them print it out on items you choose to sell.

I still have some tweeking to do, but everything should be up and running, so please drop by, take a look and if you like what you see, let me know.

Click HERE to go visit my new store. Thanks for stopping by!

UPDATE: I've closed my store at Cafepress and have an online shop at OnlineAuction.com.

More of My Z'oodles

The heart is the latest "doodle" I've finished. These things are like potato chips. You just can't do one.
Spillwayz
Storm Wavez
Heartz

Storm Wavez is my homage to Hokusai. I love his work.

Here are a few more

Melting is a bit more structured than what I normally would do. Cool anyway, eh?
Melting
Bead Curtain

New Year, New Blog

I've been slowly working on my house and when I get tired of that, I've been working on my Zentangle. "Zentangle is an easy to learn and relaxing method of creating beautiful images from repetitive patterns." I discovered them about two years ago and have been addicted ever since. They are relaxing and also stimulating for the right side of the brain. No two are alike and for anyone who can't or thinks they cannot draw, Zentangles are for you.
Z Logo
Z Heart
Bubbles and Curvez
Vase and Grapez

You can go see more and sign up for their newsletter here Zentangle

I'll be putting up more of my "doodles" and have a big announcement for later. So, stay tuned!

I'm back

Yeah, just a bit of a break. Think of it as a gestation period and that I've come into the world again. Not much has been happening art wise. Most of my time has been spent driving back and forth to my Mom's house and packing boxes and boxes and boxes of stuff. I can finally say that the house sold, it is all cleaned out and my garage is FULL of furniture and, yeah you guessed it, boxes.

Now comes the the fun part of incorporating all that stuff into the house. I will most likely be working on this until the first of the year. There is major house re-organization to do and that also includes the basement. This is my only creative endeavor until I can get it all done.

Art has been put on hold. Which bothers me, because I wanted to take part in the current Use the Muse Challenge. But my Muse has run off with the Use the Muse and they are partying somewhere in the south of France. Although the postcards are lovely.

I'm at the point now when I look at it all and just wonder where to start. I'll be like the tortoise, slow and steady wins the race. And if all else fails, I'll call my friend, Jennifer, a professional organizer, to help me get out of this mess. ;)

Half way point with BJP

Ahhh,six pages down and six to go. I have the dowel that holds the pages hanging off the bookshelf in my bedroom. I think these are looking great and I can't wait for the other six to join them!

Not all hearts are red

Here is the page for my Bead Journal Project for February.

February was named for the Roman goddess Februa, mother of Mars. She is the patroness of the passion of love. The birthstone of the month is amethyst.

When I decided to bead a heart for this month I didn't want to do the prerequisite red and so picked purple, not knowing about the birthstone. Isn't serendipity a wonderful thing? I needle felted the heart, a bit off center, with a lovely purple wool roving and then beaded around it with size 8 seed beads and clear flower beads.

After I did this heart, I got out some more of the cleaned respirator filters (20) and needle felted hearts on them. I think they will make fun brooches for some of my summer shows this year.

Snowflakes at BJP

Snowflake Ok, so it's only one snowflake, but it's a big 'un! For this month's page I had a hard time thinking up a theme. Then is snowed again. Well, duh! What else. Snow in winter, what a novel idea!

I had started a beaded bead earlier in the week and wasn't quite happy with it, so I took my little piece of flat, round peyote stitch and used it as a centerpiece for my page. I didn't have a plan and scrounged around for beads for each round. I left quite a bit of the background unbeaded to give it an airy feel. Then finished it off with a 3-bead edge and the peyote stitch hanger.

It was my first time at the "Hunt and Bead" method of working a piece. I had fun and got exercise at the same time. Usually, I have an idea of what I'm going to do in my head and I try to gather up my materials for the project I'll be working on. (see post below) This time both the page and my brain were blank. Hey....be nice. ;) I think it worked well.

How a necklace begins

This necklace started out in my head as a very simple design that used black velveteen beads and the leopard pendant. I decided to take a few steps out of the simple box and make a fringed necklace out of them. I had purchased these pieces in early December and decided recently to work with them.
Copper is one of my favorite colors for beading and this copper colored leopard was there just asking me to buy him. How could I say no? The large black beads were hanging close by and I HAD to have these soft and fuzzy beads to go with my leopard.

After setting these two elements out, I searched through my bead desk and my studio for just the right combinations of beads. I still need some 12mm or 10mm black glass beads for the necklace part of this fringed necklace.

This is also serendipity. My guild's Spring Theme Show this year is "Story Time". We will have a short paragraph from the story depicted by our art. "How the leopard got his spots" by Rudyard Kipling, is the story that will accompany this necklace. I didn't know about the theme until last week. I love it when things like that happen.

Can you see the necklace in the various elements of this design?

December BJP

I was just over at the Bead Journal Project to tell everyone I had my page done. But, I forgot to get it up here! So now it is.

I call this page "Silent Night, White Night". We had very powerful snowstorms, for this area, and the worst weather in about 40 years. Up here, we had 22" of snow with a light glazing of freezing rain and another layer of snow on top. It was white. Very white. One night I took the cat out and the moon was peaking through the clouds. It was beautiful and extremely bright. That gave me the idea for my page. The trees are brickstitch with straight stitch trunks and the moon is a flat wooden bead that I "encased" in silver-lined seed beads.

I wanted to add one of my wisdom teeth to it, but can't seem to find my stash of body parts. As it is, the page tells the story of the end of December for me. But, when I do find those teeth, I will sew one on.