Whoa!

It's been way to long since I last posted.

I've been in a post-vacation funk and haven't really felt like beading at all. This happens from time to time and I've learned to just go with it. If I try to force myself to work on something I don't enjoy my time beading and I'm never satisfied with the outcome anyway. So, I just do what ever it is that I feel like doing instead of beading and wait.

As far as my BJP goes, I am officially 2 months behind. I hope I can get a little caught up in May but we'll see. This time of year around here is so beautiful and the draw to be outside is just to strong.

Where in the world am I?

I'll give you a few hints:

 

 

Done and Gone

I spent a lot of time thinking about traveling while beading my February page. In the last few years I've been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to travel to some wonderful places on this planet, and now I find myself days away from leaving again.

I used copper and red for this months page. I don't use a lot of red generally and I wanted to try this color combination out, as a sort of sampler for another piece I have in mind. Technique wise this piece is pretty simple but I'm still pleased with how this turned out overall. 

Well that's it for now. Time to put down the beading needle and put on my walking shoes.

Bead Journal for January

 When so much is brown, grey and dark out side I felt drawn to the splashiest color combo I could think of. Orange and hot pink seemed to fit the bill. I found myself looking forward to coming home and working with these colors. It seemed to fill some sort of color deficiency in me.

I dug out some sequins I've had for far too long and never used.

I haven't decided how I want to finish these. Do I turn them into individual pieces or wait until I have finished all twelve and put them all together? Oh well, I guess I have a year to figure that out.

I've been slowly working away on the first piece of my bead journal. I had a change of heart on the shape and am going with a rectangle about the size of a credit card. It just came to me one night and I liked that I could have the pieces turned one way or the other. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten around to taking any pictures yet.

But I wanted to post some pictures of my Birthday bag. J.P. gave me this for my birthday years ago. I beaded the front piece about 6 years ago and it has hug on my studio wall since then.

The bag was made by our good friend and neighbor Jerry and has a long braided strap.

The bead work is done on Lacey's Stiff Stuff and then sewn on to the front.

 The bag hangs on the wall next to my table. I keep notes and other ephemera I have collected over the years, just stuff I want to remember from time to time.