Another Day

The photo is a closeup of my March page for my Bead Journal Project. It was a fun and relatively quick page to do. It took me 9 days from start to finish which for me is a quick page.

At this point I am nearing the finish of my April page and then it will be time to start the last page for this year. It has been an interesting year and it is hard to believe it is almost over. Luckily we are doing it again. I have been working on trying to figure out what I want to do for the next year. I think I am glad that I have until September to figure it out. My problem isn't lack of ideas it is way to many and trying to figure out what ideas are beadable. I am seriously thinking of the idea of Sacred Trees but that still leaves me with so many directions that I could go in that I am at a loss. I have been reading some books on the mythology and history of Sacred Trees, it has been fascinating and very educational. I am thinking that I may do a series of pieces on the theme and not all of them would be beaded.

I have been in kind of a fog lately, I feel terribly out of focus and not overly motivated. The good news is that beading and creating art are so ingrained in who and what I am that I still work on that even in my down times. Maybe doing my March page so quickly took it out of me. My guess is that I am just at a recharging time and it will pass. It always does.

I got unhappy news, my Pond Necklace did not get into Bead Dreams. Who knows why, these things are very subjective and a less than stellar photo can do you in as well as other things. Wayne did not find it very funny when I threatened to cut the piece up. Being moody and getting bad news do not go well together. I am glad that I have Bead International to look forward to. I need to get my piece ready to mail off for that. I am really looking forward to going to the opening night for that. Getting to see all of the pieces in person will be sooooo cooool!

Wayne will be leaving me for about 12 days starting on Sunday. He is going off to San Antonio to do some military exercises of some sort. The only bad thing is that he will be gone for our anniversary. I guess I will just have to buy myself something nice.

I went into Bead Boutique last week since I need to see about getting back on the schedule to teach some classes, I got some beads to make up a few new samples and have gotten 3 made since then. I will try to get some photos taken and up of them. My favorite is a single spiral rope chocker that is also the perfect length to go around my wrist twice. I need to get back there and give them the new samples and maybe get some more beads.

This week has also seen another 3-D Iris out of crystal come into being. I have got the main flower part done but am not sure what I want to do with it now. I was thinking of doing the piece for the Swarovski contest but am not sure I want to give it up, would have to figure out what to do with it first anyway. Guess we will see.

Crystal Pond; Reflections

If you don't like bling this piece definitely would not be the piece for you to wear. I got my Crystal Pond; Reflections collar done and photographed in time to enter it in to Bead Dreams for this year. I also entered my July BJP page since the entry fee included up to 2 entries.

I am quite pleased with how the whole thing turned out. There were things that didn't turn out how I expected or that had to be shifted to work with way the circles were connected. It was really interesting to see how the weight distribution effected the look of the piece as the circles changed to different shapes.

In the sun shine the necklace really comes alive and you feel the reflections glistening all the way through you.



The last couple of weeks have been pretty busy trying to get this piece finished, photographed, and entered; a series of doctors appointments; and getting a start on my March BJP.

I am officially down 20 lbs from where I was in August. I don't know that I can tell that much but others have said they could tell. I seem to be keeping at loosing about 5 lbs every 2 months which is a good rate and if I can keep it up I would be thrilled.


The doctors appts have gone well. My cholesterol and blood sugars are good, I had a couple of borderline blood pressure readings so we will have to keep an eye on it but the walking and loosing weight should help with that some. Everything else seems to be good.

It has been fairly grey lately but we are getting some much needed rain. After the drought we can use the rain.

Friday Wayne and I headed toward DC so that we could order some seats for the Integra to make them more comfortable and more importantly better for Wayne when he does his driving events. We stopped for supper on the way home and then went to Trader Joes in DC to buy some wine and beer. On the way home we drove by all of the cherry trees in bloom. Wow, they are pretty. I am glad that we aren't doing it on the weekend though since I am not that big a fan at doing stuff like that with thousands of people, just not calming at all.

Exciting news for the Bead Journal Project, Pink Moon Hallow designed a wonderful web site for us. It is looking great and all of the participants who have finished 8 or more pages will get a page of their pieces on the website. Need to get my photos figured out so I can send them to her. We will also be doing another year of the Bead Journal Project which will start in September of 2008. We will have a new BJP Blog for 2008. If anyone is interested in joining the new year with us please checkout the website for the registration information on how to sign up for it. The deadline is August 15. I know I am going to do it. It will be an interesting year since sometime during it I will be moving. I have grown so much as an artist doing this and have made some wonderful friends and been endlessly inspired by all of the very talented artists.