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.

This Weeks Blog Courteousy of Snail Mail

I hope that everyone has a great Memorial day.  God bless all of those who serve and protect this country and keep us safe, and for the families of those brave men and women you are also a blessing to this country for your sacrifices as well.

Thank you all for stopping by and checking out my blog this week.  In last week's post I mentioned about me and my sister working at my Mom's house, sorting through everything and just hanging out.  We had a hard and great week.  All the memories that were brought up, the laughs, jokes and stories told were and always will be priceless.  Sunday morning my sister and my Mom went home.  They made it safe and sound all the way home, some 750 miles away. 

Once I rested some I got to work on this week's inchie.  Over at Every Inchie Monday the theme is Envelope.  This is one of those themes that make me wonder if I can translate it in beads.  Took me awhile to figure out what to do, and after 2 remakes it was finally done. 

I used the mail icon on my email for my pattern.  I used 3 colors of Delicas, this is real small and simple looking.  Hope you like it.

 Also I finally get to show you what I have been working on for a few months.  Over at Beadwork Mentoring; a Facebook page; there is a competition going on and we finally were able to post our work this week.  So now I can show it to you. 

This is my take on a Summer theme.  Have you have ever seen the painting Sunday in the Park by George Seurat?  This is my take on that painting.  I really love this painting, and have wanted to do some art with it for a very long time.  It is such a simple painting, just a huge group of people looking at the boats on the river while sitting in the park.  But for me it just seems more, there is obviously something so enthralling happening that causes them all to be forever enraptured with the river.  I just love it and have always wanted to make it in beads. 

This challenge however, was to make it your own, not to use someone elses pattern and to design it yourself.  So instead of boats, they are looking at hot air balloons, another theme of the summer. 

At first this was going to be a bracelet but after getting it done I think I am going to get it framed as an art piece.  I used 25 colors of Delicas, and measures 7.7" x 2.6" and truly enjoyed every bit of it.  Here is a close up of the 5 Ladies and the dog.

Also here is the original painting.  The colors are all so great and there are so many, many people there.  I just love it!

What a great Memorial Day they are having, right?  LOL  Never thought about that until now. 

Anyways, have an awesome Memorial Day and blessed and creative week everyone. 

Don't forget to fly on over to EIM and check out the great work from all of the awesome ladies there.  Also, if you are interested in beadwork and are not already a member of Beadwork Mentoring, you can also fly on over there and ask to join. 

Willdfire of a Movie

I hope everyone is doing well.  I am worn out but happy.  My Mom and Sister came down from Illinois for the week.  The plan is to go thru all my Mom's things and get what she really wants and get rid of the rest (minus what us the kids want).  Who knew that it would be a long hard week of hot sweaty hours in a badly ventilated shed, transitioning to hours in a air conditioned tiny house?  ME AND MY SISTER DID!!!!!  LOL  But who cares it is great to be with them, telling stories and just hanging out. 

Today I also found out that I have a torn Meniscus.  It is a small part between the bones.  Hurts like hell.  I don't know how there are going to be able to fix it until I get an MRI.  I am hoping it does not involve, being put under and knives!  I also like that the Dr told me to stay away from stairs!  I work upstairs at my job.  No elevator!  LOL  Work will be fun when I go back. 

Ok, enough of knee issues, how about some bead candy!  This week's theme over at Every Inchie Monday the theme is Movie.  I remember growing up and always going to the movies every weekend.  In a small town that was one of the few cool things to do.  I also remember waiting in line, (for hours) to see E.T. when it came out.  It was like the whole town came out to watch it!  I also remember going to see Purple Rain (hey, it was the 80's) and having to get my Mom take me so I could see it since it was a R rated movie.  Biggest mistake EVER!  She still wont let me live it down!  LOL. 

My inchie this week shows off the best part of going to the movies.  POPCORN!  For my inchie I used 4 colors of Delicas and even though I messed up on the pattern, I like it. Hope you do too.

Also, I decided to start making twinchies; which are 2x2" squares of artwork.  Just like the inchies!  I really took forever to decide if I wanted to start making twinchies.  I was really worried that I would not be able to do 2 inches of artwork.  I do like how this one came out though.  I think I might like trying out the rest of the year,(And you know me, I will end up making all the ones I have missed so far this year).

So over at Two by Two by Tuesday they have a new theme every 2 weeks and the theme this week is Wildfire.  I used 8 colors of Delicas.  I like the texture in this,  There are 4 trees that are sadly going up in flames. 

Hope you like it.  I really love the colors. 

Everyone have a great week and don't forget to fly on over to EIM and check out the great work there.  Also if you are interested to try twinchies then soar on over to
2x2xT and check it out.

Graduations and Diagrams

FOR THOSE WHO STOPPED BY EARLIER THIS MORNING I WANT TO APOLOGIZE FOR THE BLOG MESS UP.  SOMEHOW IT POSTED WITHOUT ME FINISHING IT.

Hello everyone, and belated happy Mother's day.  I hope that all of you who celebrated Mother's day yesterday had a great one.  I celebrated mine with the kids after my daughters college graduation.

The whole day was slightly marred by Mother Nature, making sure we all gave her props on this Mother's day weekend.  LOL.  The rain did wait until after the graduation started before it started POURING down.  After the very emotional graduation; all parents that I saw were in tears, all graduates had tired and stress-filled smiles; there was no time to take pictures and no one was hanging around.  The weather was just not conducive for that.  There was so many students in this graduating class that there was 3 graduations.  My daughter was in the second graduation.  There was 539 people in her graduation!  So you can see that it was chaos afterwards.  We ran out of town as fast as weather possible and had a celebration dinner.

I had thought about giving her the amulet bag at dinner but instead I gave it to her Thursday night after I got home from work.  Now let me say this, my daughter is a habitual worrier and when my son found out she was gonna wash her hair and get ready for bed he told her to wait until I got home because I had to talk to her.

Halfway home I get a call from her wondering if everything is ok.  After we talked she figured something was wrong but decided to wait for me to get home.  I gave her a gift from a friend of mine and then handed her the box from me.  Well, here I will let you see for yourself.

Wasn't that awesome.  There was a lot of tears going on for sure.  Also here is 2 pictures of her and her with the Dean at graduation. 

 Sorry that the picture with her and the Dean is blurry.  I was a bit shaky when I took the picture. 

This was the best Mother's day present I could have ever wished for!

Now over at Every Inchie Monday the theme is Diagram.  I decided on making one of those graph diagrams that show how 2 things intersect on a chart.  I used 4 colors of Delicas.  I like this one.  very, very simple but it does convey the theme.

I also have another beaded piece done but I can not show it until after the 15th when a Facebook challenge on Beadwork Mentoring is over.  So be looking for that next week!  YAY!

Don't forget to fly on over to EIM and check out the great diagrams over there.  Thanks for flying by and checking out my blog

Leopards on the Loose

Hiya everyone, thanks for stopping by, I really appreciate it.  This week over at Every Inchie Monday the theme is Leopard.  This week I decided to go with a white leopard print.  I knew that I was not going to be able to get an entire leopard on a beaded inchie.  But I do like how this looks.  I used 2 colors of delicas, a matte black and an opaque white. 

I also wanted to show off the finished necklace and gift box for my daughter.  She graduates on Saturday!  I am so proud I just can't stand myself LOL.  I finished off the necklace with a vermeil "S" clasp.  I think it totally compliments the necklace.  What do you think?

I also wanted to decorate the box for her gift.  I had visions of getting some Egyptian patterned scrapbook paper to cover the box.  But after looking all over locally and then online.  There is almost NOTHING in the scrapbooking world for what I was looking for.  How is that possible?  I mean I did find some papers that were almost 20$ for 25 sheets.  But that wouldn't get here in time.  So I finally found some ribbon and Washi tape on Etsy.  After buying both I went with the tape.  I love how it looks on the box. 

Now it may not look like a big deal to you, but I don't scrapbook and I don't do this kind of thing, (besides beading I am kinda craft challenged lol), so I think it is an awesome looking box.  LOL

And finally, here is the finished necklace.  Both sides.  

I think this is the most proud I have ever been on something I have designed. Mostly because of her, not even what I have done.  I am one super proud Mama.  I will post pics next week of her reaction to the necklace.

Until then don't forget to fly on over to EIM and check out all the leopards over there.