Happy Easter everyone. Hopefully some bit of sun has found you over the weekend. We had egg dying going on yesterday, with sack races and egg hunts. We stayed outside until the sun went down just enjoying the first day we've been able to get back outside in warmer weather.
I did also manage to get in my last few pair of artisan made earrings for the AJE Challenge. I will post them this week, and start with this pair using some beautiful green bronze charms by Lesley Watt. I just love the organic, almost sea grass-like look of these charms. I added just a few simple light green, glass pearls to this pair. My love affair with Lesley's components is on-going. There will be more from her studio showing up in my work. She's got a big show going on this weekend, so I'm wishing her lots of success! You can find these earrings in my Etsy Shop.
This week's Focusing on Life prompt from Sally is one of two topics I avoid: religion, the other being politics. Too much blood has been shed through history over these two topics.
But, since you ask. I will tell you a little about my philosophy about the difference between religion and faith, and in my opinion (of course) what it means to live a good life.
I went searching through piles of old photos this morning trying to find a picture of my paternal grandfather. To no avail. He was a simple man, an incredibly strict man, and one who didn't put a lot of emphasis on the comforts in life. To tell you the truth, I don't think I've ever seen a picture of my father before the age of 18. I don't think there are any because I don't think grandpa would have spent money on something so frivolous.
My grandfather, James Eliel Tuomisto, was born in Jalasjarvi, Finland and at the age of 17 he immigrated to Canada (1917), and then in 1923 over the border to northern Minnesota. He studied in the seminary in Chicago, and started his career in the ministry at the Finnish Congregational Church in Cloquet where he did his sermons in Finn. He was a 'fire and brimstone' kinda guy. If that isn't a term you've heard, click on the link. It is pretty much my grandpa to a tee. Most Scandinavians are Lutheran --- a pretty stark doctrine.
What does any of this have to do with me? Because my dad grew up living in a parish during the great depression. His chores focused to Sunday morning getting the Church ready. That meant sweeping the church out, stoking the fire, and helping to greet the congregation as they arrived. My dad saw religion behind the scenes, as a business. His family truly had nothing. The family lived on the kindness from the parish and what they could spare. My dad tells stories of his mother making onion soup for dinner, by dropping a single onion into a boiling pot and calling that a meal for 6 children. My dad was strict with us, but kind. He had no tolerance for lying, or misbehaving.
This is something that has stayed with me. My husband and I focus on one rule: do unto others ... it's simple and easy to follow.
To me, religion and going to church (or a synagogue, or a mosque, or whatever you call it) is a way to be with people that believe as you believe. There is comfort in that. But I don't find that to have anything to do with faith. Faith is an inner feeling. It's personal. It's a guiding feeling that takes you through your day. Each day as you make choices. Choices in an environment that is clouded with voices from many opinions. Faith is staying true to yourself and what you believe to be right. But, importantly, respecting someone else's right to do the same. In a word: tolerance. It is simple, and easy to follow. At least in my opinion (of course).
Ok, who here thinks the groundhog lied? Because I sure do. This morning it was yet another chilly one at 36 degrees, and it feels like snow out there.
So while I wait for the flowers to appear in my yard, I've been pulling the soft colors of spring into my work. Here is the latest using a pair of charms from Diana at Suburban Girl Studio. I do so love her charms.
These are such a soft sprout green porcelain that I used as the focal adding a seed bead ladder stitch and a few Czech lentils. Who knew I'd be beading up with such a storm with all these darn little seed beads? I'm warming up for Christine & Therese's 3rd installment of a Time to Stitch.
I've been working on a few stitches; both flat and spiral. I had a couple of go arounds this weekend with a stitch called a Cellini spiral. Oy. I stitch, I stop, I rip out. I finally broke down and moved from my book to a video tutorial. Again I start, I stop, I back up and watch again. After roughly 4 hours of this I finally got it. I might be a slow learner, but I'm darn persistent. More on that piece in April when we reveal our work for the hop. For now, this is my latest artisan pair of earrings for the AJE earring challenge. Yes, I am now woefully behind. I think this makes #10. I have some lovely components on my bead table from Lesley Watt just screaming at me to 'get busy.'
Sally's prompt this week for Focusing on Life said "curves can keep things apart, hold things together or create a path." I am focused on the later. Creating, or altering a path.
A few months ago I got together with Sally and Christine. We met up to go to a local bead show, and I mentioned that I wanted to try out some new wood cut feathers that another bloggy friend of mine had made; custom just for me. Thanks Edi! (check out Edi's Etsy)
I thought the feathers would be great in creating a dream catcher. I left a handful with both Sally and Christine, and then I got side tracked on my other projects. I haven't yet finished my dream catcher. But a week ago I saw Christine, and she surprised me with her version of the dream catcher. Isn't it wonderful! Plenty of curves in this baby.
So getting back to 'creating or altering a path.' The dream catcher originated from the Ojibwa Nation, and was adopted by many Native American tribes. The traditional dream catcher is hung over the bed and used as a charm to protect sleeping children from nightmares. The Ojibwa believe that a dream catcher changes peoples' dreams, allowing the good to be filtered through, and the bad to hang in the net and disappear in the light of day. How amazing would that be?
May you all change the path of your bad dreams leaving them in the net to disappear in the light of day.
Well I certainly hope that March calms down sometime soon. Tomorrow is technically the first (official) day of Spring, but seriously? It snowed again last night, and I shoveled my car at 5:45 am. Yep, it was still dark outside.
Isn't the weather suppose to be changing from 'lion-ness' and into the soft spring 'lamb-ness'?
Where does this term "March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb' come from? Newsnet said it is from the constellations. That in the beginning of March the Constellation Leo (lion) is crossing toward the meridian, and as the month comes to a close, the Constellation Aries (ram / lamb) begins to rise. That is kind of a cool definition. But it still doesn't help me with the fact that there is snow on the ground ... still.
My BBA group decided that this month we'd create with softer, warmer spring colors. The colors of flowers and trees beginning to show their buds. Ok, well I can handle that. So I pulled out some 'sprout' green and hyacinth blue ... along with a pretty Chinese enamel butterfly bead. I start to bead rows of soft green. My Beady-Bloggy friend Christine recently showed me a great new pattern (well new to me) that I decided to use for this bracelet. I love this pattern, and at least it feels like spring on my bead table.
A friend asked if I would make a special gift to give her potential new daughter in law. Her son had given her the heads up that he was going to propose to his girlfriend. And she wanted to be able to give her a gift.
We talked about what might be appropriate, and originally my friend had suggested an elaborate pearl bracelet. But I suggested that she might want to stay elegant and understated given that the star of this event would be the engagement ring. Her new daughter in law has a pretty black pearl ring, so I encourage her to think about a simple black pearl bracelet and earrings. And not too 'matchy-matchy,' but complimentary.
What do you all think? What would you suggest if someone asked you this question?
Marlene and Shelley, now famous for their holiday bling hops, have decided that there is no reason why a holiday hop should only be scheduled in Nov-Dec. There are plenty of holidays year-round, and why not take advantage of them?!
And here we are. A holiday hop in March that celebrates pretty much any holiday you can think up for the months of February or March. My partner, Mary Govaars of MLH Jewelry Designs, and I decided on the Greek holiday of Independence (March 25th) because, well just because who doesn't love Greece and a little Mediterranean colors ... especially in the dead of winter ... on the East Coast! Well the East Coast for me, the West Coast for my partner Mary.
Take a look at this beautifully designed necklace by Mary. She used that serine Mediterranean blue colors in the beads. Those large blue diamonds are vintage howlite; aren't they just gorgeous in this piece! She mirrors the pattern with silver that have that distinctive Greek pattern to them. She also added drop beads that have a moonstone hue. I think she absolutely nailed a beautiful Greek look! Thank you Mary for such a lovely necklace and beautiful package to open.
I have a lot of friends from the Mediterranean for some reason. Not a bad thing; mind you, just enough who know I love beads and who like to bring my souvenirs home in the shape of beads, or charms. You all know that I'm not complaining! I simply LOVE to get something interesting in to my beady concoctions.
The piece I sent Mary included lots of beads and charms from the region including evil eye beads and charms in the shape of whirling dervishes and crescent moon with star. I used gold and wood seed beads in various sizes to create a freeform peyote bracelet in a tone on tone pattern. This is actually my second ever freeform project, and I have to say I'm really liking this type of bead weaving!
This week Sally asked us to think about what in our life inspires us; in a way that when we look at it we think of the endless possibilities.
I have been trying very hard these past 10 weeks of the challenge to look beyond my bead table when thinking about what to photograph. But this week I just could not think past it.
When I sit down at my table, begin to organize the pieces, then re-organize the pieces, and then move in new pieces, then move in some more. All the while trying new combinations to see what colors bring out the colors in some of the beads, or if mixing in some fiber is what I'm looking for.
The possibilities are endless in my mind. So for this week's Focusing on Life challenge, I broke down. I took a picture of my bead table. I couldn't help it. That is where anything is possible.
Oma Linda is having her Oz hop a little earlier this year, and she's changed it up with a touch of Frida. She had me at 'hello' using Frida as inspiration. What a bold, powerful artist she is, and some serious inspiration for color and design. Bring it on.
Check out what she's done with Dorothy! I would know those eyebrows anywhere. Dorthy is Frida aLteREd.
My blog has been on a bit of a Frida kick lately, which was so serendipitous. A couple of posts back I wrote about a Frida inspired door that a bloggy friend and I found. We were working on a door-themed photo hop that week, but I was thinking in the back of my mind ... aLteREd hop!
Let's jump a little deeper into the world of Frida. Kahlo was born in Mexico City in 1907. But she gave her birth date as 1910, and not for vanity's sake. She wanted her birth to coincide with the year of the beginning of the Mexican revolution so her life would begin with the birth of modern Mexico. Her work is celebrated in Mexico as emblematic of the country and of it's folk art. She is also celebrated by feminists for her uncompromising depiction of the female form.
She is; however, best known for her self portraits and said "I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best."
For my Frida inspiration I had to work with color, and red always comes to mind when I think of the Wizard of Oz. Probably due to those ruby slippers. I wanted to create something that Frida might wear. Something bold, perhaps a little folksy, as the jewelry she wore was so ahead of her time.
She wore a lot of large earrings, which by today's standard are nothing all that wild but likely were for the early 1990s. You see her wearing earrings in many of her self portraits.
The beads I chose are cinnabar. I saw them and knew immediately I had found what I wanted for this project. I love the rich red color these have. After a quick search I found that cinnabar is a deep red stone which is a red crystalline from mercury sulfide. And since it is mercury based you need to be careful handling it as it is highly toxic. Yowza. Andre Breton, a fellow surrelist, said in 1938 that Kahlo's art was a "ribbon around a bomb." Just like cinnabar ... a beautiful red rock giving off a crystal sparkle but you would not want to pick that baby up with your bare hands!
The commonly called cinnabar beads are actually a laquer from tree sap found in China used as a stain on hand carved wood beads. That is what I've used here. I figured no one needed to get hurt in the name of fashion. I used a linen cord and wood beads for one pair, and hemp cord with Chinese coins and onyx in the second pair. You can find both pairs listed in my Etsy shop, and you can find the rest of the participants in the hop over at Linda Oma's blog. So hop on over!
I know, I know. I've been bad lately about posting the jewelry I'm working on. I assure you all that I really have been working quite diligently on several projects. But, I can't post them as I am sending them in for submission to magazines. They have some strict guidelines about showing anything before things are published. So, fingers crossed! They accept one or two of them, so it is worth the wait.
I thought I'd share a pair of earrings that I was working on last weekend. I saw these great Medieval looking charms at a bead show just before Christmas. They are a bit off-centered, which adds to their old-world style. I paired them up with a simple grey moonstone that I thought matched wonderfully; adding just a touch of elegance.
But when I got to connecting them to an earring post, they were hanging sideways! So I created a freeform beaded arc with micro seed beads. I didn't want to overwhelm the charm. I could see these earrings with a beautiful grey velvet, Lady Marian style dress with those big draping arms and princess cut waist. A girl can dream, can't she?
So today is my birthday. Not that I get excited about it anymore. I'd much rather be Merlin and age in reverse at this point.
I wasn't going to say anything, or post about it as I'd like to forget about it. But then I went to do a quick search this morning and saw this. First thought was, aw how cute! It took a second ... wait for it ... I needed the caffeine to kick in for just a moment.
So Google knows it is my birthday today? Ok, yeah, that is kinda creepy.
This week's Focusing on Life challenge is a call to photograph something being 'all wrapped up' in whatever way you interpret that in your life.
I'm going with a loose interpretation. I didn't include anything literally wrapped up; even though this week is my birthday. But I decided to go with a family past time that we all love ... Rock Band.
We all love spending a little time together, listening to some great music, and adding a little game element to it. Rock Band is a regular occurrence in our house. We have pretty much every edition made, and my kids can sing along to all the classics from the 60s, 70s, 80s and into the 90s. It is a fun way to teach them about music. I absolutely love that we can put in a CD of any classic rock group and the girls sign along at the top of their lungs.
So, introducing the band. My oldest daughter, Kate, is killer on guitar. She beats the pants off my husband when kicking it into overdrive (a level of Rock Band to grab extra points). Anne loves both the drums and singing duet with me. But we need to keep her settings on "do not fail" as she's still working on her skill level. Rock Band has this nasty habit of throwing us off stage with too many missed notes. We're not trying to win, just trying to stay in the game!
So after hours of jamming, yes we will play up to 11pm with Anne crashed on the couch ... my husband will announce "that's a wrap family" I pick up Anne and get her into bed and scoot off to bed myself. Happy after a night with my favorite band.
Ok ladies, several of you asked for a better picture when we did our self portraits the first week of Sally's Focusing on Life Photo Challenge. This one is for you.
Recently I was out in San Francisco and I met up with my bloggy friend Kashmira. We did a little wandering and shopping in Burlingame (just 10 minutes south of San Francisco). We wandered in and out of stores, checking out jewelry (of course!). Kashmira even bought the cutest pair of pinched metal earrings ... maybe she'll show you all if you ask her?
What fun to meet her in person, and I have to say she is as sweet in person as she is in the blogosphere!! Ok now on to our challenge. Sally asked us to look for doors. Doors hold stories, they hold a way to a new adventure, they hold a memory.
Well she's right! Kashmira and I walked into a fun, eclectic shop where the front door was a split door with Frida Kahlo all over it. Oh yes. We were definately going into this shop. Fun things to explore and we both whipped out our cameras to capture our challenge for the week. But this picture here was taken by my daughter. Kashmira was so sweet to let her join our excursion. She loves to meet Mommy's bloggy friends.
I'll bet we're 'twinzies' for this week's reveal. What fun to get to know my bloggy friend Kashmira a little better. And word on the street is that she's going to make it to Bead Fest in August, so perhaps a few more of you will meet her too!
