A Gift

Well it has been a while since I've blogged and believe me
when I say I was totally unprepared for what I found. 
Who changed my blogging world?  This is gonna take a little
getting used to.  So instead of jumping into the Bead and Button
show goodies I got last weekend, I am gonna start with a post about
a beautiful gift from my sister Beverly.  It arrived just a day before
I left for Wisconsin, I knew something was coming (Beverly almost
had to cut her tongue out so she wouldn't tell me!). 
I was thrilled when I opened the box and found this beautiful
pendant that she embroidered for me.  A beautiful ceramic cab
from Summers Studio Ceramics.  I love it!  And I just so happened
to get a pair of shell earrings from Nancy at Round Rabbit,
(who is having a SALE). Don't they match perfectly?  I thought so.
Love you Beverly!
I promise Bead and Button goodies tomorrow.  Cross my heart  ;^)

Butterfly

I've been spending a lot of time on facebook and not enough

time on here, but I haven't totally been doing nothing.

There have been so many beautiful embroidered pieces being

shown by various beaders. Jean Hutter can whip one out a

day I swear...I'm almost embarrassed to say this but I have

been working getting this far for two weeks. Tore it out

three times, and spent lots of time just looking at it.

I'm so anal when it comes to beading, abstract is hard for me.

But I'm on the right track now (not going abstract but...)

and this might get done by the weekend. The cabochon is from

my good friend and ceramic artist Melanie from Earthenwood Studio.

The tinier ones are also from Melanie, I've been saving them

for a while. Lots of greens and bronze beads, little bronze flowers.

I'm thinking green for spring. Of course the picture doesn't

do it justice, no sun today, but its not freezing outside either.

And the days are getting longer....

Copper Moon

Finally after three days and I don't know how
many pictures, I managed to get one that looked
halfway decent. I'm thinking that its the metallic
beads that make it hard to get a good picture of.
Most of the time it was blurry...
Anyway, this is a bracelet I have done for my sister
Susan. The focal face is a raku bead from RAMA
(Emerald's Beads). A couple of rose montes and
czech stars sewn in with lots of coppery seed beads.
The background is adhered to a copper ultra suede.
A nice warm autumn look.

August page is done!

Got R done! And I am right on time. The

picture isn't as good as it should be, the dark

colors are hard to capture. I've got my

September idea brewing in the back of my mind...

I used matte seed beads and a foiled flower

for the sunflower. The button I had saved

for a felted bag, but I thought it fit this

better. I was happy that I was able to keep

to the primitive style of art for my beading.

BJP Almost Done

Things have been moving along nicely with this

month's piece. Only a few more rows and I am done

with August's page. Good thing cause August is

almost done with us! This is the holiday weekend

we all have been waiting for...Labor Day. Family

get togethers, cookouts, craft show at the park.

And then the kids are off to school and the tourists

head back to Chicago. We can take back our town,

find a parking space, get a bite to eat without having

to wait for an hour.

My plans for September are:

1. Completely finish my completed journal pages, and

get my bead journal book started.

2. Finish my UFO's from the cruise...I brought home

lots of kits to make (maybe for Christmas presents?)

3. Make my little sister's bracelet that I promised her.

4. Clean out closets and get ready for the church

rummage sale (I truly love doing that). Who

would have ever thought.....

5. Finish my Mother's birthday present, that I was

suppose to have done for her Christmas...oops!

6. Hook a rug for Christmas present

7. Type the cookbook pages for our Church circle.

(that should be my number one)

If I get half of this list done, I will be happy!

Update on August BJP

The second picture of my August BJP.
I like it so far, but I can't wait to get on to
some lighter colors. Beads should be
bright and happy. At least that's my way
of thinking.

June BJP

Finally its posted!! With lots of help from my sister Beverly, I have my June Bead Journal page posted. Somehow I fell behind on everything, and I was going along so well! The whole idea behind my first page has to do with the fond memories I had (and still have) of my first Bead Cruise. I love the water, waves and sunshine. It was my first cruise and I am absolutely hooked! It was so fitting to pay tribute to that memory.

The Best Thing About Sisters

Sisters are the best...especially mine. Beverly is here from New Orleans. She brought Mom home from her stay down there. So tonight we pretended we were going to start on our beading projects, but instead we had our own "Bead Swap". We spent most of the night going through each others beads and swapping bits and pieces of each others private stash. Such fun!! Maybe tomorrow we'll start on our Bead Journal Project. We are both signed up for Robin Adkins bead embroidery project. Its a year long venture and I'm really looking forward to doing it. But that's another story entirely and I'll talk about that later. Besides, I have some new beads to drool over and that's what I'm gonna do right now...