Raise A Glass

Happy Valentines day everyone, I hope that you all got tons of hearts, flowers and candy!  For me, I got to finish a beadwork project so that was my gift to myself.  That and a piece of cake, and a brownie, lol.

Well this week over at EIM the theme is Beer.  Well I am not a drinker but I think I did a good job of showing it off.

This inchie has 4 colors of Delicas.  I thought that a frosty mug of beer was up for Valentines day, dontcha think so?

If you are interested in joining in on the inchie fun then fly on over to EIM and check it out.  It is a great way to stretch your creativity. Also don't forget to fly on over to 2x2x2 and check out the bi-monthly challenges as well.

Sweaters, Slippers and Amulet Bags Oh My!!!

Hiya everyone and thanks for stopping by this week.  I have a few things to show off.  First off, over at Every Inchie Monday the theme was Slipper.  I thought I was being sneaky by making bunny slippers, but it seems that many of us were just that kinda sneaky this week!

 

With this pattern I used 4 colors of Delicas.  I am not 100% happy with this one, if you look at the top of the pattern between the ears there is a wonky bead.  No matter how hard I tried the bead would not obey me and lay like I wanted it to.  Drives my OCD bonkers I tell ya!

Also this week over at 2x2x2 the theme is Sweater.  Normally when a years list is posted I start designing my patterns; mostly because it takes some time to get the beads together and if I don't have what I need then I have to order them.  So I wracked my brain about what to design for sweater I finally decided on the red letter man sweater from Grease.  Which I thought was pretty funny since last week was the live debut of Grease.  So check this out, my sweater, my first and only letter man sweater.

Lastly, I want to show a challenge piece that I did for the the Amulet bag competition over at Beadwork Mentoring, a Facebook beading group.  There was 7 entries and I was named as Honorable Mention!  I was really excited about this challenge.  Check out my Amulet bag that I titled "You Gatsby Kidding Me!"

This is the front of the bag and it has a Flapper on it in front of a teal and gold wall.  She has a long pearl necklace on.  I used 10 colors of Delicas. The necklace is also made of pearl beads, teal metal filigree disk beads, Gold, brown and white fire polish beads, white jade rondelles, and teal alabaster rectangles.  The fringe is made of gunmetal bugle beads, 11/0 bronze seed beads, green and gold bicones and I used a metalic mix of dragon scale beads.

Here is the backside of the bag.  With this side I used 2 colors of Delicas and made the deign in the style of a gold filigree elevator gate from the 1920's.  I also connected both sides by the bronze 11/0 seed beads.

Hope you like this bag as much as I do.  I have had this pattern for some time and was so excited that when given the chance to make it; I jumped at it.

Hey, if you think that my inchies and twinchies look like fun then by all means fly on over to the Inchie and Twinchie pages and join in the fun.  Trust me, you wont be sorry that you did!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my blog.  I love reading your comments and hope that you have a blessed and creative week.

Bulldoze Thru the Weekend.

Hiya everyone, I hope that you are all having the great non-winter weather like we are.  It was about 65 this weekend and it was awesome!  I spent time on Saturday doing beadwork and listening to podcasts and chillin out with the kids.

One of our cats also wanted my attention, ALL DAY!  What is up with that.  She just wanted me to hold her for 10 seconds then she jumped down.  Then a few minutes later she wanted me to hold her again, for 10 seconds! Yea she whined all day cuz I wouldn't keep holding her.  Well I hope that you are enjoying your weekend, good weather or not and whiny cat or not!

This week over at Every Inchie Monday the theme is Bulldozer and this was one i struggled with.  I tried a few different designs and none of them worked out the way I wanted.  But then I decided on a design that I like.  Hope you like it.  I used 2 colors of Delicas, this week was a simple design.

This week I decided to make a new necklace.  I used a lot of components in it.  I used a poly clay heart that I sadly can not remember where I got it from.  I also used some poly clay beads that were layered and then shaved to show the inside colors.  I used 4mm and 6mm green rounds.  There is also 2 sizes of spacer beads, a big ceramic focal bead and some pink Swarovski helix beads.

That is all for me this week.  I have a few things in the works that I worked on this weekend and will hopefully work on this week.  I will let you know soon about it.  Until then, don't forget to fly on over to EIM and check out the rest of the awesome art and think about joining in the fun, it is great to have a small bit of creative outlet and at the end of the year you have one big collage to show off all your creative en devours. Until next time, have a blessed and creative week my friends and thanks again for those who leave a comment, I appreciate it so much.

A Village full of Money Trees and Bronchitis.

Hiya everyone, I am running late this week again. UGH!  I am on the mend now but earlier in the week I was not so hot.  I really hate January, it seems that it doesn't like me either!

At work I walked up to a friend scratching my leg.
Tamara: Hey hun, you don't look so good.
Me: Yea I have been sick, the Dr. says that I have viral bronchitis.
T:  IN YOUR LEG!!!!
M:  (rolls eyes) YES!  In my leg!  It is a new strain of bronchitis and it is in the leg!
T: (rolls eyes) Well I'm sorry, I am sick as well!

I just had to share that with you.  It made me laugh until my chest hurt, haha  I love that gurl.  She is a bestie for sure!

Now to get down to the beady business at hand.  Over at Every Inchie Monday the theme is Village.  I had a hard time thinking about what to do with this one, until I was watching a tv show called Impractical Jokers.  Have you seen it?  If you have not then you need to.  It is on Tru Tv.  Anyways, in one scene three of the men were dressed as the village people.  Then it was like a light bulb went off!  But how to translate that into an inch.  Well by showing off the Village Peoples most famous song.  YMCA!

Dontcha love it!?!  I think it is funny, for sure.  In this inchie I used 5 colors of Delicas.  I bet you are singing the song aren't you?  hehe

Also over at 2x2x2 the theme is Money.  I immediately thought of a money tree.  I really wish I could find the seeds for these trees cuz if I had them then I would definitely grow a forest!

On this twinchie I used 4 colors of Delicas.  Not sure if you can see the dollar signs growing in the tree.  

Lastly this week I have finished the Bead it Forward pieces.  I can not wait to send them off.  

That is it for me this week.  If you think you might like to participate in the EIM or 2x2x2 just follow the links and if you are interested in submitting or bidding on some beaded items check here.

I Just Wanna Lay on the Sofa!

Hiya everyone.  I am late this week, not THAT kinda late!  I am late posting this week.  If you recall a few weeks back I was feeling sick.  Well, I started feeling better and my chest cold missed me and came running back to me.  That is a true love I can do without!  So I have not felt much like doing much; but I did muster up enough creative brain cells to make my inchie and a piece for Bead-it-Forward. 

So let's dive in.  This week over at Every Inchie Monday the theme is Sofa and all I could think about was those tacky fabrics from the couches of the 1970's.  Anybody else remember them (or try to forget them)?  Of course you do!  This pattern was awesome to design but being my head was foggy it was a bit of "fun" to bead.

Does it or does it not look like a '70's sofa?  I used 4 colors of delicas. I do love the color combo.  But I am so glad it was not on a bigger scale pattern, lol.

For a while I have been wanting to participate in Bead-it-Forward and I have been mulling it over and then one of my beady friends, Becca, mentioned that I should do some work for Bead-it-Forward.  So I got off my butt and designed 3 patterns.  I am hoping to get them all done, but for now I only have 1 done.

For those who don't know what Bead-it-Forward is, a bunch of bead artists send in 1.5 x 1.5 inch square of bead art that pertains to that years theme.  Now the beautiful people in charge put all the squares together in small 9 square "quilts" and various other items, which then get auctioned off. 100% of the proceeds go to breast cancer research.  Each year they pick a different theme, this years theme is Space.

So for my first time joining I am really excited and I give you my first BIF piece.

I have yet to attach it to the backing but I have to get on it and send it in ASAP!  Hope you like it.  That is it for me this week.  Don't forget to fly on over to EIM and check out all the great artwork that the ladies have come up with, and maybe even join in the fun.  Also go and check out Bead it forward to check out the great art work and get dates to when the auction will start. Thanks for stopping  by and leaving comments, I love them all.

Its a Pokemon and Goldfish Kinda Sun!

Hiya everyone, I hope that you are all staying warm.  I am a bit cold here!  I missed most of the weeks work last week because I was so sick, this week I am working on getting better. Since I spent 4 days last week at home sick I just HAD to do beadwork so that I did not lose my mind.  (That was my excuse, and I am sticking to it!)

To start off I made a bracelet for my son's girlfriends birthday.  The met back in 2013 at an after school program at the local library.  All the kids there got together to play Pokemon.  They are still going strong and they are even talking about being together for the long haul.  I know what you might be thinking, they are too young for those kinda thoughts.  But, I have known many a couple that have been together since high school and are still together all these many years later.  So I don't harp on my son and his girlfriend for feeling the way that they do.

All that being said her bracelet has the date they started dating and her 2 favorite Pokemon and her favorite color, green.

The thing that looks like a rabbit is a Spinda Pokemon and the blue thing is a Mudkip Pokemon.  Beyond that I can not tell you more about them, LOL.  I used 8 colors of Delica beads and a Mag-Lok magnetic clasp.  BTW he couldn't wait until the 22nd to give it to her so he gave it to her on Monday and she LOVED it, and I am glad!

Also this week over at Every Inchie Monday the theme is Sun so I decided to make a small sun and different colored rays.  I used 5 different colors on this one and I kinda like it.  

Also this week over at 2x2x2 the theme was goldfish and I have been waiting to do this one.  When I got the list last year and went looking for ideas I found this adorable cartoon of a cat fishing in a fish bowl of goldfish and I knew that was what I was gonna design.  

Isn't it cute?  LOL  I used 10 colors of Delicas on this one and I just love this one.  

This is all I have for this week, I got stuff coming up for the next few weeks and I can not wait to show you all but I have to hold off for now.  

Don't forget if you love the idea of having small art challenges each week or every other week then fly on over to EIM and 2x2x2 to see what they have going on there and join in the fun!  Have a blessed and creative week my friends

Welcome to 2016! It is a whole new Galaxy!

Hiya everyone, Happy New Year, while it is not technically a "new Galaxy", let's just hope that this year will be the one for all of us!  I am going to be working on myself this year.  I want to lose weight and try not to buy so many beads (I did say TRY!  No guarantees on this one).

Last year was my first year trying twinchies.  I really loved them.  While I am totally loyal to inchies I really enjoyed having the bigger canvas to work on.  I encourage you all to join in on one or both challenges.  I love how the challenges have stretched my design abilities and made me a more confident designer.

Another challenge that I started participating in last year was the Dry Gulch Color Challenge. Check it out, you can do ANY kind of media. Not just beads.  First place winner gets $50 gift card and 2nd place gets $25 gift card.  I really like the fact that I have to stretch my color vibes.  Especially since I am not the best at putting colors together.  I know I am getting better at it but I still have issues.

Now for this week we start out with the first inchie of the year and it is a doozy!  I love that this years list over at Every Inchie Monday is all taken from the book Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Doug Adams. Recently the movie has been playing on tv for some reason.  I like it mostly cuz of Martin Freeman who is adorable.

This weeks theme is Galaxy, if you look that word up on Google images you get of course the book but you also get pictures of galaxies of far away places.  So many beautiful pictures and not always easy to portray in beads.  But here was what I came up with.

 It is a take on one of the pictures of a colorful galaxy.  I like how it looks, sadly the picture came out blurry.  This inchie has 7 colors of Delicas in it.  Hope you like it.

I also made a header for my inchies.  The colors kinda blend together but I am happy to use up some more of my orphan colors.  I call them orphan colors (the red ones) because I bought them from a lady and they did not have a number on them and they don't match the colors that are current.  So I assume they are discontinued bead colors.  Anyways, here is the 2016 inchie header.

 Next year I am gonna remember to add some designs to the inchie like I did for the twinchie header.

For this one I used 3 colors of Delicas.  In both headers I used some gold colored beads that are no longer available and i have tons of them so I try to use them often since I have about 17,000 beads.  Yet I still feel like I don't have enough?!?  MWAHHHH!  There are never enough beads!!!

Also I wanted to post pics of last years inchies and twinchies.  This is all 52 of the inchies and all 21 of the twinchies.

That is it for me for this first blog post of the new year.  I pray for health, prosperity and creativity for all who read this in this new year.  Don't forget that if you want to participate in EIM, 2x2x2 or Dry Gulch, then follow the links and join in.  Also this year there will be many challenges on a bunch of the Facebook groups that I follow this year.  I will post on them as well and if you are interested or want more info about them then follow the links I will post.  I would love to see what you come up with.  Have a blessed and creative week everyone!