I Can't Think of Anything Catchy to Say!

I woke up Sunday morning and, like many of you, turned on the TV and saw the horrible news reports from Orlando, Florida.  My thoughts and prayers go out to all the families affected by the shootings.  I am really taken aback by this.  I can not see why anyone would want to do this.  So I pray for all of these people and I pray that we as a nation can work through this tragedy.

Now onto this weeks artwork.  Over at Every Inchie Monday the theme is Radio.  My first thought was seeing families sitting around the radio listening to shows and news, as this WAS their TV before TV existed.  So I designed one of those old timey radios, using 4 colors of Delicas.  I love the look of those old radios so this one makes me happy.

Also this week over at 2x2x2 the theme is Diamond.  My first thought was an art deco take on the Hope Diamond.  I used 3 colors of Delicas.  I wish the picture did the silver lined blue beads justice.  

That is it for me this week.  I wish I had a catchy theme or some sarcastic awesomeness to throw down on everybody but this week my heart hurts so much for what has happened to Orlando this week.  Again, I pray for those who lost their lives or were injured in this awful tragedy.  I pray that we will all learn to love more and hate less.  We are one humanity, one planet, one life! 

My friends, have a blessed and creative week.  Hug your babies and smile at a stranger.  Share love and be a blessing.

A Ghastly Loss of Internet

Hello everybody and thanks for stopping by.  I am finally glad to be able to write to you.  Last week we lost internet.  For the last month we have had issues with internet.  First, the modem that we had only had for around 4 months melted!  Yea, MELTED!  It basically over heated and melted the plastic on one side of the modem.  So we ordered a new one, and had to wait 3 days for that one to come.  Then it did not want to reach the whole house.  So we had to call and have a repairman come out and give us a new phone jack. We then had the modem in the middle of the house and everyone was happy.  That is until we were not.

Last Thursday we suddenly lost internet.  I thought it was the weather but that was not the case.  After being on hold forever I got tech support who had me try a few things unsuccessfully, and 50 minutes later had an appointment with the repairman for Tuesday!

If you have read my blog for a while you know that if something rare or weird could happen to someone it happens to ME!  So the repairman told me that he did not know how it happened but the modem quit talking to the box and had deleted all the commands it needed to get on to the internet.

So after a week with no internet the kids were going a bit crazy.  I just did some design work and beading.  Funny how much we rely on something so invisible to keep us amused.  One downside for me and my OCD is that I had over 700 emails.  Which my kids make fun of since both of them have over 2,000+ .  I think I would have a panic attack with that many unread emails.  God bless the delete button!

Now, onto happier and more Ghastly things.  Yerp, I said ghastly.  That is the word this week over at Every Inchie Monday.  For me this was an easy one.  My kids have grown up with Pokemon and other pocket monster-type games so I knew that there is a pokemon named Gastly.  So did many of the other artists at EIM.  When I told my kids about this pokemon they mentioned that maybe I should try to be different, (like when do I ever follow the path well traveled, you would think these kids don't know me!) and go with the Shiny Gastly.  Basically (from what I can tell) he is different colors from the regular Gastly.  So I figured, why not be different for once!  PFFFFTT!

Not really too much different and not sure you can tell by this picture the color difference.  But regular Gastly is black with a purple gas and Shiny Gastly is a dark purple with a blue gas.  Apparently that is important?!?  o.O

During my internet "purge" I was glad that I had already downloaded the B&B Extra that had some cool patterns in it and I was able to play with some new beads that I have had for some time but never found a way to use them.  I decided that I was going to make the necklace in the colors of my favorite sports team.  The Chicago Blackhawks. I am really excited about this as it will be going along with something I am doing later on as well.  Check this out.

The pendant is called Sparkling Star Flower Pendant, and the necklace is my own design.  The pendant uses two-hole piggy beads, 4 mm bicones, super duos, and 11/0 seed beads.  My necklace used the same 11/0 seed beads, super duos, and bicones but I also added O beads.  I really love this necklace, it really pops out and I love that it reminds me of the Blackhawks.  What do you think?

Well, that is it for me for this week.  If you think that my inchie isn't so Ghastly and are interested in doing an inch of artwork using this years theme of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy then fly on over to EIM and check out the list!  It is a real blast!  If you feel that you would love more than an inch of fun every week then fly on over to 2x2x2 and check out the twinchies, a 2 inch piece of artwork, bimonthly challenge.  Or be a wild and crazy artist, and try both!  Until next week, have a blessed and creative week my friends.  

Robot Seeking Blanket and Things!

Hey everybody, I hope that this finds you all well.  As you can see I am running late (again) this week.  I have been working on a few things to get them done so I could get other things done so that I can work on a new thing, phew!  Which means I still have a few things that I have to get done before I can work on that new thing!

But before I get to those things lets talk about Robots.  Robots are kinda cool and kinda scary a bit.  I mean you know those robots who want to take over the world.  We don't like those kind of robots.  But the robots who want to vacuum and clean, we love!  Now over at Every Inchie Monday the theme this week is Robot.  So many things that I could have designed!  But for me the thing that I wanted to do was a dancing robot.  Yerp, I said a dancing robot!  With his tongue sticking out!  So here he is.  Doesn't he make you want to dance?  LOL

Also this week over at 2x2x2 the theme is Blanket.  I am a lover of all things blanket related.  I have 3 blankets on my bed right now. I also love hoarding blankets because you never know when you need them.  One winter, over 10 years ago we were struggling as my late husband had cancer and I had to quit working to take care of him.  It was a cold winter and we did not have alot of money so we saved money by turning down the heat and sleeping under tons of blankets.  Those blankets were such a Godsend at that time in our lives.  But for most of us when we are babies we need many a blanket.  I know my kids had tons and tons of receiving blankets, so with that in mind I made a baby holding a blanket.  But, I must warn you, my baby does kinda look a bit creepy lol  it is those eyes!  Just know I warned you!

 
He is an ugly baby, but that red blanket is helping the baby feel better, me too!  lol

Lastly this week, I made a bracelet using some fun new beads called honeycomb beads.  This pattern is called Honeycomb Beezz Bracelet designed by Akke Jonkhof  I really love the geometric look of this.

In this pattern I used 3 colors of Honeycomb beads. Super Duos and "O" beads.  I connected the bracelet with a MagLok Magnetic clasp.  If you follow the links here you can see what they look like.  I am not affiliated with the site, it was actually the first one that came up in the search.  Since I could not remember all the places I got my beads from I just used this store, Artbeads.com.

That is it for this week.  I hope that you all enjoyed my blog this week, and if so please leave a comment, and if you like the idea of inchies and twinchies then fly on over to EIM and 2x2x2 to check out the great artwork and to see the list of words.

Whose Pushing Your Buttons

Hey everybody, I got a question for you,  Are you the type of person whose buttons get pushed easily? Yea, me either ;)  Some days I can go all day without having them pushed by some bad or slow driver.  My kids NEVER push my buttons.  Neither do the animals; speaking of animals, even beautiful ones can push my buttons.

Take for example Sunday morning.  I was sleeping in, trying to catch up on all my missed sleep through the week and suddenly I am woken up by this blood curdling scream.  As a Mom I immediately jump up in a panic fearing the worst, only to be relieved and...well pissed off to find out that there is a peacock in my yard. A PEACOCK!  Yea they are beautiful but they screech like a banshee.  I was so relieved and mad that I ran out and yelled at the bird.  I wont tell you what I said but it had something to do with the fact that he was a $1200 bird and death.  Well, you get the gist!

Now, on to more pleasant, non-button pushing things.  Over at Every Inchie Monday the theme is button!  What are the odds?!?  I mean really!  LOL  For this one I decided to try to make a green mother of pearlish looking button.  I hope that it came out that way.  I used 3 colors for this one.

Also this week I got some cool news but I don't want to talk about it until later on.  But this news made me look at my UFO's (Un Finished Objects) and I saw this next piece that was about 80% done. So I got to it and finished it.  It is my own pattern but it is not long enough for a bracelet, (finished size is just over 7") so I made it into a book mark.  I knew when I started it way back when that it was too short but I just had to bead it up.  I am such a line-design freak that this just screamed BEAD ME, so I started it and then set it aside when something else yelled BEAD ME!  But now it is finished and I love it! Check this out, 3 colors of Delicas.

I will be working on making this pattern longer so that it will make a bracelet.  I also want to make this a more shaped piece next time.  Meaning I will only bead the knot and not the background.  Whatcha think?

Lastly this week, I finished a commission piece for a co-worker who just retired and wants to have a pretty sparklie choker to wear on a cruise later this month.  I really love the sparkle that the black faceted 8mm rounds give to the choker.  The necklace is also made with 8/0 black seed beads.  I can't wait for her to wear it out on the dance floor!

Well, that is it for me this week.  If you like the inchie then don't forget to follow the links and check out EIM.  Who knows you just might enjoy joining in!  Also don't forget the bi-monthly twinchie challenge over at 2x2x2.  I really enjoy both challenges, I love the chances to stretch my design brain.  Also, lets be honest, any chance to get beads out and play with them is an awesome thing.

Thanks for everyone who takes the time to leave comments.  They make my day.  Take care my friends and have a blessed and creative week.

Really Excited This Week! Really Excited This Week!

Hey everyone thanks for stopping by this week!  I got alot to talk about and I am super excited about it all!

First off, let me get to Every Inchie Monday, the theme is 3D.  Now 3D in beads is so easy, I have done it many times but for my inchies they have to be flat so that I can roll them up when I get past the week.  So I had to think of something else.  My first thought was to make a 3D box, the kind you learned to make in grade school.  This inchie has 3 colors to it & I hope you like it.

Also this week over at 2x2x2 the theme is Echo, echo, echo.  Yea sorry I could not help myself!  LOL  How do you show off an echo in beads??  Not easy for sure.  But I googled it and found a really cool pic of something called echo reply.  So I took the design and made it into my twinchie.  I used 4 colors for this one.

Also over at Beadwork Mentoring, a Facebook group, I participated in a bead swap.  My partner, Cathy, and I exchanged some beads that we just don't use and were supposed to make something from them.  Here is what I came up with.  I freakin love this bracelet.  I am a fall color gurl.  Not sure if I have mentioned that I like orange?  But when I saw these beads I immediately knew what I was going to make.  Check this out.  There are so many beads in this and I only used the ones she sent me.  I was so inspired by them that I did not even add my own beads to the mix.

Now to the thing I have been waiting for.  I love EIM, 2x2x2 and the bead swap, but this has been something I have been working on for almost a month!  I finally got it done and have been jumping for joy ever since.  What has me so excited?  Have you ever heard of a kaleidocycle?  They are great for kids to learn about math.  Or..... for beaders to go kinda crazy!  On Beadwork Mentoring and Seed Beads and More Facebook groups they had monthly challenges for the k-cycle.  Which they got the idea from this awesome book by Kate McKinnon.

Even though I am late to the party I finished mine.  I just have to say a very special thank you to an awesome lady Michel, her pictures helped me out so much!  So check out these pictures.  For these patterns I used 8 colors and made it so that one color flows from the first to the next and so on.

What do you think?  Can you tell what this does yet?  Well let me confuse you even more.  Here is the K-cycle flattened.

So yes this turned into those top 4 pictures.  I see that you are still confused.  How about I show you what a k-cycle does.

I hope that this video plays for you.  BTW ignore the feet in the video, that is my camera mans feet lol.  After seeing this video you can see why I am sooooooo excited.  I have never made any truly 3D movable beadwork before and this was a long, frustrating and fun process.   Oh my gosh I am so excited about this that I have been showing it to everyone LOL.  And now I got to show it to you!!!  I hope you like it.  I LOVE IT!  

Well, that is it for me.  If you are interested in any of the groups or challenges that I mentioned today then follow the links and fly on over to them and enjoy yourself.   Right now, I need to go to bed lol  so everyone please have a blessed and creative week!

Time For A Brainstorm!

Hey everyone, thanks for stopping by, even if this is a bit late.  I have been working on a challenge from one of the Facebook groups that I am on and I am over half done, so I did not want to stop doing it to post on my blog, LOL.

But this week over at Every Inchie Monday the theme is Brain.  After brainstorming for some time I decided to go with..... Brainstorm.

For this inchie I used 4 colors of Delicas.  This may not look like it but it is a brain with lightening and rain coming out of it.    Hope you like it.  

Don't forget to fly on over to EIM and check out 2x2x2 for the bi-monthly challenges there.  I am sure if you check them out you can find something to get crafty over.  

I know this is short but I want to get back to those beads!  They are yelling at me right now, lol.  Have a blessed and creative week my friends and thanks for stopping by.

Knock on Wood, No Monkey-ing Around!

Hey everybody, thanks for stopping by today.  Great to see you.  This weekend I spent time beading and doing a bit of housework, also comforting one of my dogs when another dog jumped him.  He was not hurt just scared as he is a gentle giant and not used to being attacked.  Poor baby whined for about 3 minutes as I checked him.  Found nothing,but kept giving him comforting words and soon he was ready to go back outside, Mama made it all better!

This week I continue to have household misadventures.  Last night while doing the dishes I dropped a plate.  Corelle dishes are great because they are very hard to break.  But, this story wouldn't be mine if it did not break, right?!?  Well, of course the plate broke!  Did I mention that these dishes are hard to break?  Well, when they do break they EXPLODE into a million shards.  Literally!  Also, I don't make it a habit to wear shoes in the house so I got to play hopscotch in the kitchen while at the same time chasing the cat away from all the shards that she wanted to try to sniff/step on/taste/play with!  All so I could get the broom!  Who knew that doing dishes was a playground full contact sport!

This weekend I also had some misadventures in beading.  I spent the better part of Saturday working on a bracelet design for the Facebook beading group Seedbeaders.  While the design was fun and easy to do, my beads had forsaken me!  ARG!!!!  I did not have the exact supplies that the bracelet called for so I improvised and used what I had that was similar.  Same Millimeter size, just had a big hole in them and the 15/0 seed beads that I used kept slipping into the holes!  So I had to fight with the seed beads and try to get them to behave.  Beads behaving badly I tell you!  But the end result was so worth it, don't you think?

 

In this pattern, designed by Shelley Humphrey Bettencourt, I used mini duos, 15/0 and 4mm cube beads.  If you want the true pattern then fly on over to Seedbeaders Facebook group and join in all the great beady fun!

Also this week over at Every Inchie Monday the theme is Monkey.  This theme has so many ways to go on.  A monkey on your back; monkeys on the bed; hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil; 12 Monkeys ( A Syfy tv show and a movie); or just monkeys in a barrel.  But for me I just decided to make a simple monkey face.  I am not sure if I like him, to me he looks a bit evil with the eyes, what do you think?  Anyways, I used 4 colors of Delicas and enjoyed beading him up.

Also this week is 2x2x2 week.  The theme this week is Wood, and it turned out to be one of my faves (again)!  If you are a fan of my blog (and I KNOW you are!!!  Right????) you know that two of my favorite things are trees and the color orange.  So of course I had to make a tree and use not one but 4 colors of orange in this twinchie.  I really loved this one and just love how moody it looks.  Check it out!

In this twinchie I used 6 colors of Delicas.  Also the drops that are flying thru the air are actually metallic green beads.  I wished the picture would have shown it better but it is there and I really wish it would have as it helps to show the movement that I wanted to convey.

Well, that is as much trouble as I can get myself into this weekend so until next weekend, make sure you check out EIM, 2x2x2 and if you are beady inclined don't forget to fly on over to Seedbeaders Facebook group and check out this months challenge.

Also, I would like to take this time to thank everyone for their comments they really make my day.  Have a blessed and creative week everyone.