Another Day to Enjoy the Flowers of Life!

Hello everyone and thanks for stopping by again.  I am very thankful that you decided to stop by, I truly appreciate it.  This week over at Every Inchie Monday the theme is Enjoy.  So for me I thought about what I would enjoy doing someday.  I would really love to go up in a hot air balloon.  What better way to show that off in my inchie then by having an angled view of a hot air balloon. 

In this inchie I used 5 colors of Delicas.  I was not entirely happy about the green stripe but I went with the design I originally came up with because I was hoping that it looked like it showed movement; oh well I don't always like the end product but I do love the journey!  I also really enjoy the blue sky on this inchie.  So deep and pretty, I really love the color blue and I think this is going to be my new favorite; at least until the next new favorite, lol.

Also over at 2x2x2  the theme is Flower of Life.  I just thought that was a cute way of saying something beautiful in our lives that we would want to design.  Have thought that before in some of the inchie themes in the past, like this one here.  I did not look it up and just assumed that the theme was literal.  But you know what they say about "assume".  So for this one I did some background. 




[The "Flower of Life" can be found in all major religions of the world. It contains the patterns of creation as they emerged from the "Great Void". Everything is made from the Creator's thought.]

I really love this idea.  I am already a geometric design freak.  I really love doing that kind of design in beads.  It just feeds something inside of my design brain.  After looking at all the Flower of life pictures I saw online I was just drawn to this one.

So I took this picture idea and turned it into this, obviously not the same design but I really like my take on this design. 

Hope you like it.  I used 8 colors of Delicas.  Using 2 sets of colors for each row, and 3 rows of the flower 'rounds', I also connected the rows by a line of black 'string'.  I like this one for sure. Makes me want to make a bracelet or a pendant with this design. 

I also finished the last of the past twinchies that I missed.  This one is Royal.  This was the twinchie theme that made me want to start designing twinchies.  I liked the idea and started working on a design theme.  For mine I made a pillow with a tiara and a scepter beside it.  Very old fashion "royal" but I still liked the idea for it. 

For this twinchie I used 7 colors of Delicas.  I know that the picture is kinda blurry and i am so sorry about that.  But on this I used silver lines crystal for diamonds, silver lined red for rubies, silver lined emerald for the emeralds, and a dark silver lined sapphire for the sapphires.  I really like how it came out.  (even if it is blurry LOL).

So now I am caught up on all of the twinchies and can not wait to keep working on them the rest of this year.  If you think you might like to participate in the Inchies or the Twinchies then follow the links and get the years list.  I would love to see what you come up with. 

The 4th of July is coming up this next weekend so I would like to say God bless America and the wonderful people in it.  I will be excitedly going up to see my family in Illinois for a big family birthday/4th of July party so next weeks post might be a bit late.  So if I miss commenting on all of your blogs then, forgive me and have a blessed and happy 4th of July.  For my friends over seas, have a blessed and happy July 4th, LOL. 

Long Week of Juggling Apples

Hello everyone, I hope that last week was a good one for all of you.  Mine was long, very looong!  Not sure why it was so long but it was, seems like it was for alot of us at work.  Lets hope that this next week is a breeze.

Now getting to some beady art and a bit of foody art.  This week over at Every Inchie Monday the theme is Apple, so I decided to make an apple tree.  I don't know why I have been really in love with trees lately but I have been.  Speaking of that I have 2 trees to show off this week!  But first off is my Apple tree.  In this inchie I used 5 colors of Delicas.  I was also able to squeeze in the tree, the apples and a bushel of them at the bottom of the tree.  Hope you like it.

I also wanted to show of some of the past Twinchies that I missed.

This theme is Tree.  I got inspired by my Mom's red bird house, that she used to sit in her kitchen and watch the birds go crazy eating all the bird seed, and the swing that my parents bought for my daughter when she was about 8 years old.  She went to a birthday party and they had a full swing set and she was so bummed out that she did not even have just 1 swing, "I just want one swing," she said sadly to my Dad who had to go immediately out to the store and buy her a swing; which by the way still sits there to this day!

The next weeks theme was Maze.  I looked up a printable maze online and transferred that into beads,  I like the look of this one.  Makes me think to make one into a bracelet design!  Hmmmm.

The last one I got done was Georgia.  My first thought was something colorful of Georgia O'Keefe, So this is my take on one of her paintings, Blue Flowers I loved it so much that I made it into a lighter cover that I showed off 2 weeks ago. 

Also this weekend I decided to make another triangle, I really love making them.  I don't know why I don't make more.  This one uses 3 colors, I love the designs on it.  Designed by Anabel.  The site is in Russian but the patterns are self explanatory.

Also this weekend I have been busy, alongside all the beading I made homemade ravioli.  Yes, homemade ravioli!  I made the noodles and filled them with ground turkey and cheese.  They were not perfect but they were good.  Pretty good for a first try if I do say so myself!  LOL.  But next time I think I will have to get a pasta machine first and to also make sure I don't overwork the dough.  But, I think for a first try it looks good, what do you think?

So that was my busy weekend, which was way too short compared to how long the work week has been.  I hope that you all have a creative and beady week ahead and go enjoy some trees or ravioli.  Or maybe some ravioli under a tree lol.  Also don't forget to fly on over to EIM to see all the great apples they have for you there!

Two Items to Show This Week

Yea, I know, no fancy title this week.  Sometimes I just can't think of something snappy to say. 

Well this week over at Every Inchie Monday the theme is Etna.  Did you know that Mt. Etna; which is in Sicily, Italy; is what is called a Stratovolcano.  Which means they have a steep profile and periodically erupt.  The lava from them cools and hardens quickly and doesn't spread too much.  Which is probably a good thing for the people who live near Mt. Etna.

So without further ado here is my take on the theme.  My inchie is a representation of a volcano as it is erupting.  In this inchie I used 7 colors of Delicas.  I used matte and opaque beads to try to show depth.  I think you can see that in the picture.

Also this week over at 2x2x2 the theme is Amoeba.  I decided to make a copy of a diagram of an amoeba.  I really liked making this one because I got to use such great bright happy colors.  It was a real fun pattern to bead up.  I used 6 colors of Delicas and was about 99% happy with it.  LOL  I do not like that there are some squared off spots on the "arms" of the amoeba.  But i did not see it until I was already beading it up so "Oh Well! No Biggie!"  Hope you like it as much or more than I do lol.

That is it for me this week.  I hope that you are all doing well and staying cool and dry as the rainy heat is hopefully over with for us all for right now.  Also, don't forget to fly on over to EIM and 2x2x2 and check out all the awesome artwork from all the ingenious ladies over there.  Have a blessed and beady week. 

I'm waving "Hi" and a few other things along the way

Hiya everyone, it is Monday again and that means Every Inchie Monday time!  But I also have a few new items and some great news this week also.

This week over at Every Inchie Monday the theme is Wave.  I wanted to go with the classic Japanese Wave painting but I was not able to get that into an inch of beads.  So I went with a wave pattern.  I used 2 colors of Delicas one opaque and one matte to give it some extra depth.  What do you think?

Also you all might remember a few weeks ago I posted the picture of my bead art that was entered into a Spring/Summer competition on the Beadwork Mentoring Facebook page. Here it is again if you missed it the first time.

 I ended up getting an Honorable Mention!  How cool is that! I was super excited about that.  There was so many great entries, so I was happy to even be considered.

Also this week I decided to make a lighter cover for my craft lighter and I used a pattern that I designed for a twinchie from before I started doing them (and will be beading up soon).  I really love the colors of the pattern.  It is a take on one of Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings

Isn't it pretty?  I love it.  I did take a picture of the other side but for some reason it did not come out very big lol.  But just imagine the other side looking like the first side lol. 

Also this week I made a bracelet from the July 2015 Beadwork Magazine, entitled Oh so Charming.  I used "O" beads, and 8/0 bronze beads, and used a 12mm sea glass bead for the clasp.  Check it out.

I really love it, it feels great on my arm and I am going to make another one when I can find the time.  lol

Well that is all I have for this week.  I hope that I can have as much next week.  Well, we will see.  Don't forget to fly on over to EIM and check out the waves, lol.

Pillows and my Favorite Things

I hope everyone has had a great weekend.  Me and my daughter went to a few flea markets this weekend.  Despite my bad knee I enjoyed it.  We went to 3 flea markets and had a lot of stops and sit downs.  It was very hot.  Got a few nice things, saw a bunch of cool things.  One of the things we saw were these little pigs; not pot belly pigs but another kind.  They only get to be about 30 pounds, they were so adorable!  Expensive, but adorable.  We also saw something called a sugar glider.  Oh my gosh it was soooo adorable, again it was expensive but so adorable.  I had never heard of a sugar glider but just adored it.  It's fir was so soft, like silk.  Check out what a sugar glider looks like. 

Isn't it adorable!  It is an adorable little marsupial. 

We also finished off the day eating at one of my new favorite places.  David's Burgers.  They form and make the burgers right in front of you and they cut the french fries from fresh potatoes as needed.  They also have free refills on the fries and drinks.

Now over at Every Inchie Monday the theme is Pillow.  So for my inchie I decided to make something that I remember from my childhood.  My parents had this old 70's couch, you know the lovely (ugly) green kind and they had these blue pillows with red trim.  Gotta love the 70's.  LOL

On this inchie I used 4 colors of delicas 2 opaque colors and 2 silver lined colors for the pillow.  

Also over at Two by Two by Tuesday the theme is Favorite Things.  This one was an easy thing for me to design.  There are many of favorite things for me.  But the top three favorite things are represented here.  

If you can't read it, my twinchie says GOD; with a gold cross through it, and has been a part of my life for the length of it.  Then there is my KIDS; with 2 little red-headed kids on it, and they have been the biggest part of my life.  And of course I couldn't forget BEADS; which has a string of beads running through it; and has been on the top of my mind for most of my life. 

This inchie used 8 colors of beads and seemed to take forever to bead up lol.  These twinchies are very different for me.  I have wrapped my head around inchies and love doing them; but these twinchies are a new mindset for me.  I also have been trying to catch up with the ones I missed so far this year and even turned one of the designs into a lighter cover.  I will post them later on as I get them done. 

Thank you so much for stopping by and checking in with me.  If you are liking the looks of my inchies and twinchies then don't just sit there, follow the links and join right in.  They is so much fun in just making a small piece of art for no other reason than to just create.  I really like the challenge of designing something just for fun and I always enjoy spending Sunday night beading.  So fly on over to EIM and 2x2xTuesday and check out all the other artwork over there. 

Have a blessed and creative week.