TAA DAAA!! A New Bracelet

I have become very intrigued with Free Form Peyote Stitched Beedwork. I should say intrigues and TOTALLY Intimidated and at a loss at the same time. I love the free flowing organic nature of the work and I have been carrying out a bit of research to discover where one begins!! Finally, I found a small article in the latest Beadwork magazine, so I figured that this was the time.!
This is one of those projects that has a definate begininng but the end can be as far out as one is willing to push it!!! A bit difficult to know when to stop- so actually a bit of planning is a GOOD thing!!! This is my first attempt and I know that I will be doing more pieces like this one , in different color ways. This piece was much less time consuming than the Beaded cuffs so i will be able to offer these pieces for sale at about half the cost of the cuffs!!
A GOOD THING!!
RIGHT???!!!!!

Here are some close up shots: (All photos will enlarge with a left click on the image!)





I have used bits of real shell, lavendar pearls and semi-precious stone chips in amoung the glass seed beads.


I created the face bead myself and here you can see more freshwater pearls and mother of pearl star beads.


The loop and button closure is fashioned using a vintage glass button. You can also see vintage crystal beads and more pearls.
I am planning to add this piece to my Etsy shop later today.
I am off on a Bead trip today- to a wonderful shop in Alexandria called Beads LTD. I may not return!!!
I am sure that I will find all sorts of new treasures to add to future beadwork!!

I hope that everyone has a wonderfully creative day!

A Hint Of things to Come!

What will this become ?

More to follow soon!!

Working With Hot Colors!

I have almost finished another cuff! This time I had a blast working with lots of hot colors as this was the choice of my soon to be 18 year old niece, Mali. I am so excited about this piece as I think that Mali is really going to love it. It will soon be in the mail along with the cuff for sister Kate, from an earlier post.

I usually take shots of the beadwork before I apply it to the brass cuff. I took photos this time as well , but they are too blurry to post. So here are some shots of the beadwork already applied to the cuff but not completed.

This is not my "GO TO" color pallette, I am more of a cool ocean colors person. But I really love how this turned out and I will probably work with colors more often in the future. Mali has darker skin tones and this will be dazzling on her!!

Living in "The Circle Game"

I am really feeling the racing passage of time today!!

The 2009-2010 school year begins today.

This will be Matthew's final year of High School.

Becca starts her 7th grade year.

It will be a year full of decisions and changes, growing and releasing, test taking, filling out forms, meeting deadlines and waiting for news. I am not at all sure that I am ready for this year to be here.
I know that sister Becca, 5 years his Junior, is not ready for Matthew to go to college. They are very good friends. Almost daily she speaks of missing him. Matthew has openly stated that he is not ready- even though we as parents, know that he will be by the time we get to that point. We are all sensing big changes afoot and we are all not ready. We have had more than our fair share of major changes and it feels like we are just getting really settled here in Virginia.
Time will help and time will continue us on our journey and we will be ready whether we are ready or not!!!
Several of my blogger friends have been discussing Circles and Dots lately. Circles as shapes, circlesa s symbols, passage of seasons, continuity and continuance, never ending . I have been humming this song as a result.
The Circle Game by singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell has always been a favorite of mine. It certainly fits this situation.

Yesterday a child came out to wonder

Caught a dragonfly inside a jar

Fearful when the sky was full of thunder

And tearful at the falling of a star

Then the child moved ten times round the seasons

Skated over ten clear frozen streams

Words like, when youre older, must appease him

And promises of someday make his dreams

And the seasons they go round and round

And the painted ponies go up and down

We're captive on the carousel of time

We cant return we can only look behind

From where we came

And go round and round and round

In the circle game.

When we have kids, we are always told to watch them every minute because "Before you know it, they will be grown and on their own." We mutter to oursleves, "It will never happen! They will NEVER sleep through the night!" or "They will never learn to do this or that for them selves.

What is that saying?

NEVER SAY NEVER ?????

Oh Yeah!

Then, WHAMO, here we are!!!

Good Reason For a Wild and Ratty Garden

I really do try to keep on top of dead heading the spent blossoms in my garden, but to be completely honest, it always gets ahead of me!! One of my rationalizations for allowing this to happen is the food source provided for the creatures of the garden by the spent blossoms, especailly when they go to seed.
Do you see her?
She is holding on to the back of the Purple Cone Flower seed head enjoying a delectible treat.

As I was moving closer and reseting my camera, her partner moved in- just like a guy!!


But he was very pleased to sit and pose for me!! So, all in all I now am convinced that I will miss wonderful opportunities to see wonderful wildlife in my garden if I am too quick to clean up!!!

Finding Faces

As I have been teaching Bead Work classes lately, I have found that many students are interested in finding face beads and cabs. These items are not easy to come by and to find unusual ones is even more rare. There are several wonderful sources on the net but many don't want to go to the net and buy just one. Besides there is something very important about holding something in your hand and discovering whether it has the right "feel" for your particular piece of artwork.
So I have made some faces. I will be providing these for my students to purchase and I will also use them in my own work to make my work even more MY OWN!

Back From the Beach

We had a wonderful time on the Outer Banks of North Carolina!! We returned home last Friday and I am just getting around to finishing this post about our trip!! This was our first visit to the Outer Banks and we really enjoyed it. It is a lot closer to us than the Best Beach on Earth ( Cape Cod and Nauset Beach) and we found a "cottage" that we could afford , so off we went. It was a lot hotter on the beach- we were heading south, but the water temp was much more pleasing!! We arrived on the heels of Hurricane Bill and left on the incoming Tropical Storm Danny. All in all our timing was great!! We could not go in the water on the first two days as Red Flag Warnings were flying all up and down the coast, but the sea was something to SEE!!

(you may click on any photo to enlarge!!)
I love watching the sea on stormy days the power is amazing! The beach was rumbling beneath our feet and the roar was deafening!! Becca was not amused! She wanted in to the waves!!!! Patience is a virtue that my kids are short on, however she got her chance!!

Becca was thoroughly delighted when we all joined her in the surf. The water was full of little round jelly fish ( non- stinging, thank goodness). Once they got over the nervousness aboutt ouching the poor dead creatures, the Jelly Fish Wars were on!!!! What is it about teenage boys?????? Between Jelly Fish and Zoombie attacks, the kids were in hysterics!! I do so love the sound of my kid's laughter!!
Not sure what is going on here????? I have never been able to underline text before???????!!!

I can't tell you how amny times I bent down to pick up sea glass only to find that I was reaching for a fragment of Jelly Fish!!

Becca and Dad were in the water for hours!!!

With all of the strorms churning up the sea, there were all knids of interesting bits washed up on the sand. these mermaids purses had been down there for quite awhile- I have never seen them covered with barnacles.

Here are a few shots that I took during several of my daily evening beach walks!

This little girl was with her family for a family photo op, but she wandered off and played in the waves.

I took lots of pictures of all the different varieties of Sand pipers! I could have spent hours just watching them foraging.

I was amazed by the Bayberry Bushes that we found! They were 6-7 feet high and absolutely loaded with large plump wax covered berries. I thought that these plants were only on Cape Cod- wrong again!!
I also discovered this beautiful vining plant all over the ground. I think that it might be related to the Morning Glory as each blossom opened in the cool of the day and closed in the afternoon. I adore the color of the flowers! I am sure that it is a nuisance as it was climbing everywhere!!

These are the Peach Pails that we found at a local fruit stand, as opposed to Beach Pails!! VERY CLEVER!! Love the colors!!!

We traveled down to Cape Hatteras to see what we could see. Matthew is a history buff and we all wanted to visit the new museum that is under construction concerning all of the ship wrecks that have happened off the NC coastline. There have been hundreds of them!!

The museum of The Graveyard Of the Atlantic is a wonderful spot and they are in the process of enlarging the exhibits and putting many more items on display.

They have cleverly designed the outside of the building to look like the ribs of a ship.

Inside we found an original Lighthouse Light and the Fresnel Lens used to magnify that light so ships at sea could see it across miles of ocean. Quite fascinating. The lens structure is a beautiful piece of very functional art!!

The Hatteras Lighthouse has just recently been moved and we set off for a visit. This is the tallest lighthouse in the world and was open for climbing, but as the line was very long and the temp was 89 degrees , we passed and visited the Lighhouse Keepers Home instead. What an incredible life that must have been!!

If you ever find yourself on the Outer Banks, you must highlight your trip with a visit or two to Duck Donuts!! Now I am NOT a donut fan . When I have eaten a donut in the past, I feel ill and it feels like I have a huge boulder in my stomach. My kids and husband love donuts, so we had to see what all of the excitement was about concerning Duck Donuts! I now consider my self a fan of Duck Donuts- SIGH!!!! When one enters the store in Kill Devil Hills, you are met with an amazing smell. You can watch the donut batter being dropped into the hot oil and watch their progression thru the cooking process. Then the donuts are whisked into the topping of your choice and the warm box is handed over. The donuts are made to order and are the most amazingly wonderful light texture- similar to warm and airy sponge cake- Simply Divine!! Our favorite flavors were Cinnamon Sugar and Chocolate Glazed. The shop in the town of Duck was within walking distance of where we were staying but the line to order was always about an hour long!!!! Now that tells you something!!! We went to the shops that have opened just a few miles down the road, a bit of a drive but no lines!! Each morning, as I was enjoying my coffee on our deck, I could see folks walking up the hill with the boxes of fresh donuts- a morning ritual for many. Matthew exclaimed that these donuts alone , were reason enough to come back to the Outer Banks!! I thought that the sinage thatt hey had develoed was wonderful as well!!

All in all we had a wonderful week, and we will be returning, I am sure. It won't just be to get a box of donuts, but that will entice Matthew to join us!!!! :)