Falling Off the Face of the Earth

I know it has been a while, the month of November is half over and not a single post from me. After getting my journals for the last 3 month of my Bead Journal Project I have been busy trying to get work done on Christmas cards and getting ready for my extensive travels this holiday season. The photos are close-ups of some of the collages that are getting cut up to make cards. I ended up making 17 collages and once they were cut up I am going to end up with over 300 cards. I have put some of them onto their cards and have mailed them off so that I can finish them when I get to my folks. I have some that are Christmasy and others that are not. I will need to buy more blank cards later since I didn't have enough for this many collages. If you would like to see more photos of the collages go to my website (Artistic Kreations and Passions) and check out the new collage section.

Besides trying to get my Christmas cards to a state that they were ready to go with me to be finished later I had to figure out what all I needed for clothes, my Bead Journal Project, and other beading projects as well as getting a good start on my Christmas shopping. Since I am going to be away form home for 6 weeks it is pretty challenging to try to make sure that everything is done. Luckily Colleen will keep an eye on the house and if I forgot anything important she could do it for me. I mailed off boxes to both sets of parents since I will be spending time with both. I will also get to see other family and Wayne's mom Marti has promised to take me to meet several of her friends from her stitchery group that are beaders.

I leave very early on Monday and still have things to do but part of that was getting my website updated and writing to my blogs. Cleaning is in there somewhere as well. I am putting my November page on My BJP Blog. If you go to the BJP part of my website and check out the photo albums for the next 1/2 of the year you can see what the pages are going to look like. I have them all printed up and they are ready for beading. If anyone needs to get ahold of me please e-mail me and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

Getting ready for a trip

Well I did it, all of the cards and journals for the August- October pages of my Bead Journal Project are finished. The picture is of my first 5 journals side by side. I like the fuzzy hair like quality of the strings for the tags. If you would like to see more photos of these go to my BJP Blog.

I my November photos printed and my page ready to go but don't think that I will start it for the time being. In less than 3 weeks I will be leaving for a long trip to spend time with my family and I can work on that while I am traveling. I need to get the house organized and cleaned, paperwork finished, packing done, bead work ready to go and Christmas cards much more ready to go. I will be shipping stuff to both my In-Laws and my Folks so I have clothes to wear and things to do. I need to have all of the stuff I need for my next 3 projects and any other projects I want to work on ready to go.

It has finally gotten more fall like here and we even had some much needed rain. I have been sleeping restlessly and had some headaches so I haven't been as productive or as focused as I would have liked. I have only been on the treadmill 1 in the last 2 1/2 weeks but now that it is nicer outside I have gone for several long (1 1/4- 1 3/4 hr) walks from home. I have been going in the gym for pilates since I am not to the point where I could do that on my own yet. I am down 10 lbs since I started the exercise and changes to my diet. It is slow going but it is going.

Wayne is doing well and it is actually cooling down there as well. He aced his PRT (physical readiness test). He has lost around 20+ lbs and I really don't think he need to lose near that much. I am sure that some of that will come back once he is no longer working out quite so much and actually drinking and eating his more regular diet. He has been cleaning his office and dealing with an influx of mice as the weather turns cooler.

No phone call from Swarovski today so I am guessing I didn't make it as a finalist. I think it would be nice if they at least e-mailed everyone so you knew for sure. I guess no trip to Tuscon this year. Note: Got and e-mail Oct 31 and did not make it as a finalist.

Progress and an Invitation

I have had several nights of restlessness this past week but it doesn't seem to have adversely effected my beading since on Monday I finished my October page and Thursday I finished August. I now need to work on the cards and journals for August, September and October. I haven't spent much time on the computer so I am even more behind on my e-mails and other things but am very glad that I am caught up on my pages. I found a place that I could hang the three chains together and so tried it out. I haven't decided if the months will go across or down yet but with 5 done across worked better for photographing at this point. I took photos of both the fronts and backs. On the backs you can see that June and July have cards in their pockets, they will all get a card for their pocket, eventually.
As the holidays approach and my holiday traveling approaches even faster I would like to extend an invitation to my readers who are not already on my mailing list for Christmas cards, if you would like to be added to my list please e-mail me (akpbear@hotmail.com). My one stipulation is that I only send out cards if I get them back from you regularly. Most years I make my own cards which takes time and I love sharing them with my family and friends but I need to know that you care enough to reply. When you e-mail me I will need your name and address. I am doing collage cards this year and have quite a few collages started and need to keep at them if I am going to get them done.

I have a class on Monday afternoon, it will be my first time teaching my Crystal Stocking class. I am looking forward to it. I am expecting it may be challenging for some people since Right Angle Weave (RAW) often is. I do it with one needle instead of two because it seems easier to me and if I have 2 needles I tend to stab myself 10x as much (go figure).

The photo above is from the Indian Museum in DC. I really loved this woven wall and thought it was really fascinating that they used pipes and sheet metal to weave the wall. One of the many inspiring things I saw on our long weekend in DC before Wayne left.

I have gotten some more e-mails and calls from Wayne lately so he is at least a tiny bit less busy. He even had time to call me on my birthday which was nice. I got several calls on Saturday so I was not alone. I went to Colleen and her families for supper and had a great time.

The Red Sox have won one game and lost one game in the 7 game series for American League Championship. Tonight is game 3 so I will watch that in a bit while doing more beading.

Speaking of beading, I know what else so I speak of. I have fallen into a serious bead vortex this last week. I have both October and August's pages clambering for attention and have been spending most of my time beading going back and forth between the two. Both are coming right along and I am sure both will get finished by the end of the month with out too much trouble.

An eventful week.

Last week on Wednesday I took a personality test, it will be combined with a telephone consultation to help me figure out how I can best use my personality to sell my bead work. I am hoping this will help me figure out how to support my habit. I am an Expressive, Early Starting, Methodical INFP (Introversion, Intuition, Feeling, Perceiving) I am sure that anyone who knows me well would not be at all surprised. There were only a few minor things that came across as slightly stronger in one direction than I would have thought but that could just be how I perceived the questions or those kind of questions where I was having to pick something that for me was kind of middle of the two answers available.

It was a good week for Red Sox Baseball. We made it successfully through our first round in the post season, beating the Angels 3 games in a row. We will start the next round against the Cleavland Indians on Friday night.

Since I was watching lots of baseball I also go a fair amount of beading done. I like watching movies etc while I am beading. Sometimes I listen to music instead. My studio in this house is in what would be the Breakfast nook. That puts me right off the living room so that I can use the big screen TV and the main stereo which is pretty cool. It seemed like a good idea since Wayne was going to be gone so much of our first year in the house. With him gone it sort of looks like a tornado swept through since I have piles here and there of supplies for projects and projects in process. Will have to clear up the clutter before I head out for the holidays, mostly that will mean taking stuff back upstairs to my craft storage room.

Haven't heard much from Wayne in the last week+. He has been super busy with deployment awards (?) and visitors on top of an already busy schedule. I don't get many e-mails or phone calls when he is this busy but it just reminds me how lucky I am to get the ones I get considering where he is at.

I finally finished one of my projects from the classes I took at Bead Fest. I finished my Spiked Spiral Bracelet that Lisa Niven Kelly taught. I don't do a lot of wire work but I love how it turned out. I still haven't finished my other class project but probably will eventually. I learned how to do Russian Leaves and I mostly took it to learn the technique so am not worried about finishing the project.

OMG!!! I Made It!!!!

I am so excited I keep wanting to do the Happy Dance!! I just got an e-mail today and my Flower Trellis piece made it into Bead International!!!! 240 pieces were entered although I can't remember how many pieces they were excepting. This piece has done very well. I made it to wear to the first Swarovski Design contest where I ended up getting 3rd place in the amateur division. It was a finalist in Bead Dreams 2006 and got invited to a series of show in Japan (and got into the show book for one of those) and now Bead International.


The show doesn't start until next May but I need to send it in for photos really soon and then again in May. Hopefully we will be able to go to the show's opening reception. It is Ohio so we would combine it with a trip to visit Wayne's folks in Louisville. It will depend on Wayne's schedule as he starts to get ready to join the real world.

The Exercise Goddess

Here you can see my first 3 finished pages of my BJP. August isn't done yet but June, July and September are. When I am finished with all of my pages I will have 3 chains each of which have 4 pages. I haven't decided yet if I will want the pages to go in order across or down or if I will want them mixed up. I don't have to decide that for many months yet. I find it interesting how each page looks and feels so different and yet they all strongly resonate who I am. They speak of who I am, where I am at creatively, and what I love. If you want to get an idea of where I am headed with this project go to my Artistic Kreations and Passions Bead Journal Project section of my website and check out the photo albums for the different months. I have the inspiration photos for the upcoming months there. I still need to make the card and journal for September but managed to finish the page on time and am quite happy with that.

The title of my post is the Exercise Goddess. Today is officially 2 months of exercising and while I didn't lose any weight this month I have made leaps and bounds on my cadio abilities. The last 2 Saturdays I kicked up my Saturday treadmill time to 75 min. I have been focusing on challenging myself with increasing the incline that I can do. I started out straight and level. My first 75 minute session was also my first day of an elevation gain over 500 ft (~525ft) The following Wednesday I beat that in a 45 min session with 540 ft. This past Saturday I blew my previous best out of the water getting 729 ft. WOW! It is a challenge and I will keep working on challenging myself. By the time Wayne gets home I should be in much better shape for hiking.

Poor Wayne he called to talk to me, he has got his 2nd snuffly sneezy cold since he has been gone. I am guessing a bit of it is not getting enough sleep there for a bit but it is also really dry and dusty and I am sure there are other things including just lots of people around all of the time. Luckily he gets better quickly so I am sure he will be all good in a few days.

New Websites to Check Out

This wonderful quilt is one of my Mother-In Law Marti Plager's pieces. She has just gotten her website up and running so if you would like to see some of her other quilts check out her website (Marti Plager) I think I may ave to talk her into a collaborative piece one of these days. (Hint hint)

After working on it here and there for the last several months I finally got my new website up and running. I am sure there will be changes coming too it as I figure out what all I want on it and some of the things I can do with the new i-Web software. Any hints or suggestions are welcome. Visit me (Artistic Kreations and Passions) soon, to see my albums for the BJP you can go through the link on the main page of my website or to go directly (Artistic Kreations and Passions BJP Albums).

Besides getting my website up and running this weekend I have been working to get my September BJP page closer to finishing. I am hoping to get it done on time although poor August is still languishing. Now that my website is done maybe I will have a bit more time to play catch-up. October is almost here and a new page with it.

I am a glutton for punishment but my cardio health is improving. On Saturday I did 75 min. on the treadmill and although I had to encourage myself through those extra 15 min. I managed to do it. I am adding 5 more minutes to my typical 40 min. for my Monday- Wednesday treadmill time. I am hoping that I will show marked improvements with my strength and flexibility now that I am adding pilates 2 times a week. It is almost frightening how bad I am at it, at least I am listening to my body and am taking it slow. Also I am not the only one who is at a very basic level so I don't feel too bad.

I've been published!!!

I couldn't wait to share this bit s0 back to back days with posts. OK, it's not my first piece published but it is the first piece I have had in a book. Finalists in Bead Dreams 2006 were invited to send their piece to Japan for a series of 3 shows. They paid for shipping coming and going and each of us was to get a copy of the show book that was being published for one of the shows. My piece has been home for a while but yesterdays mail brought a global express package from Japan so I knew what it was right away. Not surprisingly they did a beautiful job on the book and there is so much incredible eye candy that it will take me a while to go through the whole thing. Called "Graphic Crafts Artist" it includes more than bead work although the bead work section is the largest. It also has quilting, pressed flower art, preserved flower sculpture and gift wrap. Besides the bead work the most impressive was the pressed flower, Some of the pieces you would never have guessed where made from pressed natural materials. Below is a picture of my page (so cool I get my own page). For those who wish to see more photos of the piece including some of the details visit my Artistic Kreations and Passions website.

Wayne's Birthday

Today is my husband Wayne's 42nd birthday. He is in Iraq and has an inspection so I doubt that it is his best birthday but you do what you must. He called last night so I got to wish him an early Happy Birthday. This is dedicated to him and all of the people far away from family and friends on important days during their life. The photo is one that Wayne took while they were training before he left. It is pre-dawn and the shutter speed was slow. They are in essence "Shadow Warriors". He took a lot of great photos and this is one of my favorites.

I had a private class on Friday and it went really well. I think that my student is going to want to take some more classes before I go traveling for the holidays. I stopped at a grocery store on the way home to get a few things including some beer, one month before my 40th birthday and I got carded. (And yes I Thanked him).

My back is slowly getting better and starting this week I am going to be adding pilates classes to my routine and hope that strengthening my core body will help me in the future. At this point I am doing 3 days at 40 min and 2 days at 60 minutes on the treadmill. The plan is to add the pilates as an addition to my cardio time. Now if I had as much discipline in watching what I eat. I am still doing better than I was but not as good as I would like.

I am keeping busy and hope that as my back feels better I will be more productive. Even when you keep going if you don't feel great it seems to slow you down.

And the journey contiues

For the second time since Wayne has been gone I have gotten my back out of sorts, I think it might have been doing yoga and maybe doing to much to soon, not sure but not happy either.

Except for today I have been doing pretty good with my exercise, I have been doing 40 min. on the treadmill and have gotten much better at it. I usually do it 5 days a week since I do it on the days the gym is open. I have also been doing some strength work as well but keeping that pretty easy at this point. In the last 2 weeks I have done 3 days where I put in 60 min on the treadmill. I will probably try for that 1-2 days a week.

I signed up for an e-course called "Create the Work You Love". The second of the 12 weeks started today. The course is designed by Tama J Kieves who wrote the book "This Time I Dance! Creating the Work You Love". I am hoping that this will help me on the more creative side of the journey and transformation I am undergoing. I do believe that things come to you when you need them or are ready for them and I feel this course is one of those things. I had a similar experience with "The Artist Way" by Julia Cameron when we were in Hawaii, although I had gotten the book as a gift from Wayne's mom , Marti and tried to do it on more than one occasion it suddenly felt right and was "easy" to do. For those of you artist out there who are plagued by your "Inner Critic" I recommend it. I learned a lot about myself and how to listen to my inner child more and not that pesky critic.

I am slowly finding my way and although at times I feel like I am wading through mud I know that every step in my journey will be worth it.

When Life Gets in the Way.

OK, I know I promised a photo of my finished Pop-Top purse like forever ago but finally here it is. It along with my "Dragons Fly Into My Heart" purse and compact and my "Flower Trellis" neck piece are my 3 entries for Bead International. Should hear about that in early October. It will be interesting to see how I do, very competitive. If you would like to see photos of my other pieces go to my website Artistic Kreations and Passions.

I had a wonderful time in King of Prussia (is that not a fun name for a town) near Philly. I shared a room with my friend Roma and her husband Tony and had a great time with them and getting to catch up with Roma. I took 4 classes and learned a lot. I took 2 business classes which I think are going to help me as I move forward in trying to figure out how I want to support my habit. I took a class making Russian Leaves that did not go real well but I still figured out what I was supposed to learn. I took a wire class from Lisa Niven Kelly which was a blast and although I haven't finished my bracelet yet I know what to do just need more time to do it. As you can see from the photo of my purchases above I spent more than I should but had a great time doing it. (Can you tell I love seed beads?)

I got my October issue of Bead and Button and it's Bead Dreams supplement has my Dragonfly purse in it. It is always very cool to see something I have made in print.

The day after I got back from my trip I got the news that Wayne's Uncle Mike had died. Definitely not good news and Wayne was upset that there was no way he could be there for his Father and the rest of the family. It is so hard to lose someone that you love and my prayers go out to all of the family and friends who have lost a wonderful man.

With all of the good news and the sad news I have been bouncing around a bit emotionally in the last week or so. It has been a bit weird to want to laugh and cry at the same time but there have been moments when I have been there. I have been taking a bit of Me time and trying to keep up with things I know will help me de-stress. I have made 4 more collage pages in the last week and spent time tearing up paper which is good for working off a bit of stress.

I am starting an e-course this week called "Create the Work You Love" it goes for 12 weeks and I am hoping it will help me find a direction to go while trying to support my creative habits.

To find out how I am doing on my BJP and my "Physical Enablement" check out my AKP Bead Journal Project blog.

I am a bit behind on several things but sometimes life gets in the way. At least I am not bored with Wayne gone. He is doing well by the way. I hear from him regularly by e-mail or phone and he is keeping super busy. He has lost weight and is alternating running and time in the gym in what little spare time he has, not that he has a lot of that.

I'm In!!!!!!!!

I have so much news to share but will update all that has been going on in my life this weekend but this I had to share right away. I got into Swarovski's Bright and Beautiful Design Contest 2007 as a semi-finalist. Yeah!!! I need to get it ready to mail out which will be a challenge. I won't find out if I am a finalist until the end of October. If I am Wayne has promised that we can go to Tuscon for the awards ceremony. If you want to see more photos go to my website.

Collage Therapy

I must need a lot of therapy huh? I had the other post titled scribble therapy and now one labeled Collage therapy. The process is very therapeutic because I intentionally keep it as thought free as possible, working on instinct and just having fun.

These collages are my first using fabric as a background instead of paper. It worked really well and I have a lot of fabric so it works out well. I used a box full of torn up bits of papers and just pulled a handful of papers at a time and then attached them wherever they felt right. Since I am going to cut it up into smaller pieces for cards I don't have to worry about composition or anything so it really is just having fun.




I am including photos of the first 3 of my collages doing this. I plan on making more of them. The first 2 I did were with Christmas fabrics. I will have a range of them eventually I am sure. For the first 2 I used approximately a fat quarter sized piece of fabric. I am working on tearing up more paper to add to my mix and will continue to do that as I go. I am going to work with the paper I have on hand first and see if that doesn't eat in to my huge stock of stuff.







On Wednesday I went with Colleen and her daughter (Kristine) to DC for "A Day of Art and Prayer" at the Washington Theological Union. We got to see the artwork of Brother Michael O'Neill McGrath. He discussed the symbology and how he worked through difficult times in his life during some of the pieces. He was a very engaging speaker and I found it quite interesting.

This Wednesday I head to Philly for the Bead Fest there. It will be by far the largest bead show that I will have attended. I am taking some classes and will get to spend some time with a friend from New England. Should be a great time. Can't wait.

A Winged Visitor

This photo is one of the dragonflies that visits me occasionally. He has been nice enough to let me photograph him. I find it interesting that in their adult stage dragonflies change colors as they age. I saw what I can only assume is a younger version of this species the same day. It's colors were duller and the back was more gray than white. This particular dragonfly will let me move around it as long as I don't move too quickly. Saturday morning I was out pulling weeds since it was a bit cooler and he landed on the driveway not 4 feet from me and just stayed there for a while as I pulled weeds. Your only crazy if you talk to yourself and get answered right? It is OK to talk to critters.

The physical enablement is going well. I think I may have even lost a couple of pounds but we will see. This week I tried some new things. Between the treadmill, water aerobics, weight training, basic pilates and Tai Chi it wasn't boring. I won't be doing all of them but wanted to try some things to see if I wanted to do them more. Some of the changes are incorporating into my life more readily than others but over all I am very pleased with my progress so far.

I am making good progress on my Pop-Top purse and should it finished soon. Along with a couple of other pieces I am going to enter them into The Dairy Barn's Bead International 2008. The entries are due in the first week of September so after finishing it I need to work on getting photos taken and ready and doing the entry form.

I put a little more time on my BJP page for August and have the columns almost finished. Or at least what I think what may be finished, who knows what I may decide later.

Wayne is doing fine and keeping very busy. He is running most days to keep in shape and has lost weight since he got there. Mostly by watching his serving sizes (with as much as they get served he could be gaining weight), he also says it is probably partially since he can't have beer or wine so doesn't have those calories in this diet. We are now 2 months done and hopefully the rest will go quickly. I am sure before I know it he will be back home and in my hair again.

Finding Life One Day At A Time

One of my Crystal Dragonflies is my photo for this day. I am hanging in there with my changes and trying to not push to hard to fast. I am not going to overcome years of inertia in a few months and know that I have to make changes that I am comfortable with and can maintain. It is day 9 of the month and so far mentally I am still doing good. The intent and desire to do this is there which is more than half of the battle for me.

I joined the gym for 3 months which will take me up to the point that I will be traveling over the holidays and I imagine that January could be a busy month with me coming home from a trip and hopefully my love coming home.

Yesterday Colleen and I did water aerobics and I think we will make that a regular Wednesday activity. Today we tried a weight training class and I am not sure if that will become a regular thing at this point or not, might be better to focus on cardio at first.

Although my scheduled class for today didn't hold I did get my instructions written for it. A bit of a challenge sometimes figuring out how to say something, easier to do it or show it. I had one person really interested but since she was going to be working at the store and taking the class at the same time it seemed better to just plan on rescheduling it.

I am still trying to work out a balance in my schedule but I am happy with my additions of physical enablement and getting back to writing morning pages. I just need to balance out my time working on the computer, creative time etc.

I have been working on my new website and it is coming along nicely. I still have a bit of work to do before I am ready to put it up. It will still be with dotMac but I chose different pages and am rearranging some of it. I am sure that even once I get it up I will still make plenty of changes to it.

I have added the ability for people to sign up to receive e-mails when I update my blogs so if you are interested feel free to do that. Just look on the side where it asks you to sign-up.

Physical Enablement

I have banned the words Working Out from my vocabulary. They have too many negative associations in my mind so I thought about it and created my own Buzz word. The Navy is big into buzz words so I hear about what ever the new popular buzz word is periodically from Wayne. I will use exercise but wanted something positive to go with the process so I have decided that my buzz word (s) would be Physical Enablement. As in I am physically enabling myself to be a healthier and happier person.

Had a pretty good week, 2 days at the gym and 2 days walking and Yoga for a cool down all 4. Today is a day of rest because I woke up grumpy and with a headache. Besides the exercise I have also added my morning pages back into my day. I have been doing them after the exercise while my body cools down. I am making additions to my diet so that I drink more water, eat more fruits and vegetables etc. I have decided that since I tend to want to snack that I am going to go to several small meals during the day. That should help balance my blood sugar and keep me from ever feeling hungry which means my body won't go into conservation mode. I have read that this can be very effective for some people and since I want to snack anyway I just make it a mini meal of something healthy.

I spent a little time working on my pop-top purse and have added iron on crystals to the dragons for my August BJP. They now have larger crystals for the eyes and smaller ones for their teeth. I think that I will go sit down and spend some time working a bit on my page.

Dragonflies and Transformations

Dragonflies are a powerful symbol for transformation. They motivate the changes necessary for spiritual growth and the path to creative expression. Of course this is only one of the many ideas I found for what dragonflies symbolize. In East Asian and Native American cultures they generally have positive symbols while in some European myths they are seen in a more negative light.

I have been seeing more dragonflies of late and they have been popping up in my art a lot since I started beading. I currently have 2 purses, a compact and few crystal dragonflies that I have made.

As I mark the first day of August and the official beginning to the changes I am going to make in my life I have decided that the dragonfly is the perfect spirit guide to help see me through my own transformation. The photo above is one of the dragonflies that I saw in our yard. Maybe I will be lucky and more of them will pose for me.

Day one went well and mentally I am in a pretty good place about these changes being a want and not a need. If I feel I "need" to do something it is work and I don't find joy in it. Since I want this change for myself I feel more motivated to make the commitment to myself and thus the changes.

Collen and I had our first day at the gym, it is small but clean and we were the only one's there so that was actually kind of nice for us at least. Yesterday we ended up going for a walk at a local park. We saw quite a few dragonflies as we were walking around a pond.

I made a few changes to my current website but mostly it was getting rid of some old blogs and adding links to my new blogs to the main home page.

I finished my journal and card for the July BJP page. There are pictures on My BJP Blog. I have also added my first entry for my August page before I add the beads.

Stepping Through the Gate

My BJP page for July is done. I am still working on the journal for it but mostly need to figure out what I want to say. It has been an interesting month with some over due realizations on my part. If you want to read about those go to My BJP Blog.

The photo is of my first two months and gives you an idea how I am going to be hanging them. I may move the spacing closer but that won't be hard to do. My plan at the moment is a mix of pages that are pages of full sized photos and pages with smaller photos on a fabric background.

Tomorrow Colleen and I are going to a local gym, we have a free week to decide if we like it. We have decided to be work out buddies and maybe with both of us trying to take better care of ourselves we will manage to motivate each other. We are going to plan on around 10am which since I am a night owl puts it first thing in my day. I am hoping that when I get myself to eat more healthy and do some kind of exercise it will effect everything in my life in a positive way. Can't hurt.

I have gotten a start on designing my new website. Since I was moving it I decided I wanted to make some changes and I have a good start on it. I have plenty of things that I need to work on so it is remembering to prioritize and do some of several different activities each day. I probably should work on my to-do list so that I make sure that I know what I need to work on. I need to start thinking about getting a start on my Christmas cards. I have an idea so it is just a case of fitting it among the many other things I have going at the moment. At least I am in no way bored.

My First Beaded Commission

I have managed to get all of my Bead Journal Project journal entries moved onto a new blog. They were all entered with in 2 days so if you want to see the pieces from a particular month you will need to use the labels for June or July. It took a bit of work but I think it will make it easier for people to access it. I will have additional photos for each month on my website.

I went out for lunch with Colleen (my landlady) today. We had a good time and she is easy to talk to which is helpful at times.

Wayne called on Monday night and is doing well. He has built a bit of storage furniture for his group to use. He is keeping busy and working out regularly. It sounds like there are lots of critters there, more than you might think of for a dessert. They have bats and lizards and birds and other animals that he tells me about once in a while. Since many of those eat insects especially those that bite I am sure they are glad to have them around. I send him daily e-mails about how the Red Sox are doing so he gets to keep up on how they are doing. Wish we were still in New England since they are doing so well this year, going to the games are always fun but when they are winning it is even better.

My class yesterday didn't end up happening (no students) but things are slow at the bead store especially classes at the moment. The good news for me at least was that I had my first piece of commissioned bead work. Not anything overly elaborate but kind of neat to know that the bracelet that I had at Bead Boutique made the man ask for a necklace like it for his daughter. I went in to the bead store and made it while I was there since I needed the crystals to make it and didn't really want to drive there to get it, come home and make it and then drive back to drop it off, especially since he needed it in a week.

Things are slowly moving forward on my projects here. I am a little further along on both my pop-top purse and my July BJP page. I have spent more time on the computer getting my 2 blogs up and running and will work on getting my new website figured out. Since I am moving it anyway I decided on starting sort of from scratch. Now that I know how to do things it won't be as time consuming and my site will feel fresh. If anyone has any suggestions feel free to e-mail or leave a comment. It will still be with dotmac and somewhat graphics intensive but I will continue to play with it to see what I can do with it to reflect my art.

Recycled Art

I am still working on getting everything figured out for my upcoming change to my website and learning a lot about what my computer can do. The good news is that I have few distractions and lots of time on my hands so I have also had time to play with creative endeavors.

My BJP for July is coming along and I will probably get more time spent on it tonight. I am thrilled with the texture and dimension that I am getting with the piece and the creative journey my life is taking as I go through the process and my life at the moment.

My other creative project at the moment is my Pop-Top chain maille purse. I started playing with the pop-tops about a year ago and built it up a little here and a little there and this spring I decided that I wanted to turn it into a purse. At that point the hard part was to figure out how I wanted to do that, but I love a challenge and slowly things are coming together for it. I am planning on entering it in the "Bead International" bead contest. They consider anything pierced as a bead so I figure that my pop-tops would count, they also tend to like innovation and such so maybe this will get in. I just need to get it finished before the September deadline. I don't think that should be a problem now that I have figure out how I want to do some of it.

Starting over again.

I decided that since I am going to be switching my website over to actually have my name on it and that it seems to be getting harder to load since it is getting large that I would move my blog over to Blog Spot. This should allow me more of a web presence and make it easier for people to leave comments to, subscribe to etc. Who know maybe Wayne will even be able to check it out. Hopefully it will load a bit faster for people.

With this and trying to figure out the changes I need to make for my website I am already learning a lot and spending even more time on the computer. Not that I needed to do that.

I went to Bead Boutique on Saturday night for "Girls Night Out" I really enjoyed spending the time with other beaders and getting out of the house for a bit of social time. My class for tomorrow isn't going to happen. Tricia said that except for beginners class that it has been slow for classes. Maybe once fall comes it will be better. I worked some more on my Bead Journal Project (BJP) on Saturday, I am getting closer to the ending. I need to start getting the back ready so that when I finish the front it will be ready.

I spent some time today working on the metal mesh screen that will go inside my pop-top chain maile purse. I need to make some decisions on that and take some photos so that I can include them.

Until I get my website figured out I won't be including links to it in the actual posts. There is a link in the side bar to my website and I will include links to other sites in the posts and once I get all of the computer stuff figured out I will include links to photo pages etc on my website in the posts. I have so much to learn on how to do all of this stuff so bear with me.