Love and Good News

OK I couldn't resist, Wayne sent me this photo of himself that his Chief took of him after they took some group photos. I seldom get pictures of him while he is on deployment so it was kind of nice. He has been such a sweety since I have been sick and not feeling well he has been calling more often to check up on me. It will be so good to have him home again. We have spent a fair amount of time apart in the last 2 years so I am looking forward to having him around. We are in the home stretch, still over a month but it really isn't that long before he will be home and we will be busy with his job hunting and getting ready to join civilian life.

I got really good news on Saturday. 2 of the 3 pieces that I entered in the DC Bead Museum's first Bead contest got accepted. My Crystal Pond: Reflections and my March BJP 2007-8 (On the Beach there are Treasures to be Found) are heading off to DC tomorrow. The Gala Event for this is on the 20th and since they are close by I am going to go up and spend the night and go to the event. That night they are going to announce all of the winners including the pieces that are going to be on display in the museum until sometime in December. Maybe if one of my piece gets chosen for the museum show Wayne will go to the Bead Museum with me. He is very proud of me and said of course I had to go. Guess it is a good thing I didn't let my frustration get the better of me and I didn't take my Pond Necklace apart.

I finished my September BJP block and will get it on my BJP blog in the next day or two. I love how it turned out and it worked together really quickly. I will need all of my extra time not working on my blocks any month I finish early working on all of the hand stitching on the collage and eventually the quilt background as well.

I updated my website (Artistic Kreations and Passions) with more photos of my Sacred Tree BJP and also added the new photos to my Web Gallery (this has all of the photos that I have of my BJP projects).

Contests and Life

Where to start?   I finally got my act together and entered the beading contest at the DC Bead Museum.  I entered my Crystal Pond: Reflections piece and 2 of my BJP pieces (August and March).  I should hear back by the 3rd of September if any of them got into the show.

I also finally got my act together and got my photos and stuff and sent them into the BJP website angel Brenda.  She got it all done and so now you can see all of my pieces for the 2007-8 BJP project on the BJP website.

On Saturday I went to Bead Boutique for the contest voting and for supper out with the girls.  There were 8 pieces.  My macrame piece was in a 3 way tie for 2nd place.  They are now on display at the store and they are planning on getting photos of the pieces on their website.  I need to get a list of all my classes that I teach there and photos to their website person so that they will all be available on their website.  

It has cooled down a bit and isn't as humid so I turned off the AC and am trying that.  I think I will be able to go without AC most if not all of this week.  So far it doesn't seem to be making my headache any better or worse.  Last week I managed to get in 5 walks which put me at 20 miles.  I would have walked last evening at dusk as well but that is when the thunderstorm rolled in.  I should have some nice evenings to walk this week.  

Only a week left until my doctor's appointment.  I doubt she will be able to do anything much except set me up for other appointments, tests or something but it will be good to at least have some forward movement and be doing something.  

Wayne called yesterday,  it is always so good to hear his voice.  I feel fairly spoiled since I get to talk to him every week at least once it seems and I have been getting an e-mail pretty much every day.  He is doing well and his arm is healing up and he is regaining some of his strength there.  He has been having some trouble with the squadron since they had their  decommissioning this last week and aren't giving him as much help as he would like.  It looks pretty sure that he will get his 90 day extension to his retirement so he should be in Iraq until sometime in October.  I think he will miss my birthday again and he will definitely be gone for his.

All told life is going on OK.  I could do without the constant headaches since that really eats into what I feel like doing on any day.  I am not getting as much done as I would like but I know that it could always be much worse.

For those who want to know what I have been up to I am including links below to my BJP posts in the order they were written and my web gallery and website.

July 1- A Seed Germinates
July 4- Goals For A New Year
July 7- A Sapling Takes Root In Purple Dirt
July 10- Trying New Techniques/Collaging my World
July 13- How Do I Do It/ It's A Secret
July 16- Like Leaves On A Tree: Plenty Of Ideas
July 19-Painting My World/A Tree Takes Form
July 21- Ever Tree Needs Leaves
July 24-Leafing Out
July 27- The Tree Is Planted And Gets More Leaves
July 30- A Secret Takes Shape
August 2- A Door Takes Form
August 6- Stitching Up A Fern
August 10- Ocean Waves

My Web Gallery- Includes photos of both of my BJP pages and Susan Plager's Graduation.
Artistic Kreations and Passions- my website

BJP Website (my 2007-8 pieces)

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.

Pond Pleasures

I have been keeping busy the last couple of weeks since I wrote last. I got the house cleaned up before Wayne's folks got here for their visit. Most of it just needed doing but there is so much I would rather be doing than cleaning.

Wayne's folks came on a Friday and left the next Wednesday morning. We had a great visit. Everyone got to catch up. We went for several walks, saw some of the first ospreys for the year, and enjoyed plenty of good food and wine. Marti and I took some time for creating. I taught her to make collage and then we played at embellishing them. I need to finish a few of them up and then see about getting them onto cards but that will have to wait for a bit.

I will be updating my BJP blog finally getting my finished February page onto it. I finished the page on the 2nd of March so it was only a little behind. I haven't started March's page yet but it will have to wait until I get my Pond necklace done.

I updated the BJP part of my Artistic Kreations and Passions website as well as the Works in Progress section. I also added the new photos for my Web Gallery.

On the creative front the Pond necklace is still coming along nicely. I have all (I think) of the pieces made and now it is a matter of connecting it all together. I started on that Saturday and it is working the way I thought it would. The shape will change a bit as all of the pieces are attached together but I am very happy with the process so far. It is always pretty exciting when something comes together as you expect it to.

Wayne is taking his Transition Assistance Program this week so lots of information to help prepare him for leaving the Navy and joining the civilian world. At this point we haven't decided for sure where we want to live so there are lots of opportunities and places we could go. My hope is it will have at least one good bead store nearby. (Got to keep my priorities straight.)

Flowers Come to Life

I took about 2 weeks off from walking due to being sick and bad weather but started again on Monday. I walked 15 miles this week, not sure if I will walk tomorrow or not.

I spent this week working on my February BJP page. I should be able to finish it today or tomorrow depending on how fast the next bit goes. Then it is time to get back to my Pond piece for a bit. I am really excited how my BJP page is turning out. I am adding a post to my blog on it today and after I get it finished and more photos taken I will update it again. I included some of my "Treasures" to the piece and will add a few to next months page as well. Read about my "Treasures" on my BJP blog.

The photos are of my 3-D Iris that will be going on my Pond piece. I used some of my many Iris photos as inspiration and after an initial trial attempt that didn't quite work, I reworked my "pattern" a bit and ended up with this. I used wired along the edges of the petals for shaping and the brown in the upper photos is the electrical tape that I used to wrap around the all of the wires. A bit of peyote and a green seed bead mix and I had a stem.

The Iris petals are made with RAW (right angle weave) using seed beads and 3mm crystals. I love the challenge of trying to figure out how to do something once I decide I want something. I have learned a lot of new things by saying this is what I want to have now how do I make that happen. After I finish my Feb. BJP in the next day or so I will see about getting back to work on my pond piece and see what I can get started.

Wayne's folks are coming for a visit next weekend and I also need to spend some time getting the house in order. Need to do some cleaning and organizing that need to be done anyway. I also have a request for Gumbo so I need to get out my recipe and do some shopping. Can't blame them for that request, although our gumbo varies some every time we (I) make it, with out a doubt it is some of the best I have had except when we visited New Orleans.

Wayne has been busy doing car maintenance, he will be doing more this weekend. He also wants to get the Integra some stuff so that he can take it onto a race track. The man is a complete car nut. His hobbies are more expensive than mine I will have to say. He can't give me too hard a time for buying beads when he is going to be spending more on parts for his car and track time isn't exactly cheap either but it makes him happy and that is what life is all about, finding things that make you happy.

A Visit to the Pond

I was looking at what I had accomplished this year with beading and realized that most of my energy had gone into my Bead Journal Project pieces and I hadn't worked on any other larger pieces that might be appropriate for the Bead Dreams contest this year. I do like the challenge of making pieces for the contests and it is a thrill to get into them. This year Bead Dreams has added a category for Crystal Jewelry and since I am probably not going to enter Swarovski's Design contest this year and I have lots of Crystals since I enjoy lots of bling I thought I would see what I could come up with for that.

After some brain storming sessions with Wayne and a lot of trying to figure out how in the world to do some of it the Pond Necklace was born. Still very much in the idea and design mode I still have things I need to figure out how to do. These photos are just showing some of the very basic idea. All of the water will be made of crystal circles and there will be lily pads and flowers. I am also working on making an Iris out of seed beads and crystals.

The piece needs to be finished, photographed and entered by April 4th which means that I need to get my act in gear and get going on it. It will be a challenge to keep my BJP pages mostly on track and get this project finished. I think that my cards and journals for the pages will be late but hopefully I can keep the pages mostly on time.

Wayne is mostly better health wise and has spent most of this weekend 3+days out in the garage working on all kinds of things on the car. I get called out once in a while to help by stepping on the brakes or whatever else he needs. I so could not do all of this car stuff myself.

I have managed to catch the ickiness Wayne had but so far it is not near as bad as his was. It is slowing me down but hasn't completely laid me to waste like it did to him.