Freeform Peyote Challenge

Karen at Baublicious and Mandi at Bead Circle put out a challenge for freeform peyote.

The rules are pretty simple: anyone can join - whatever your familiarity or skill level with freeform peyote. Well ok, 'check' since my skill level is ZERO. 

I've never done this before because, well it scares the pants off me. It is uncomfortable for me to think that I just stitch willy-nilly ... really? No pattern? So I just change out beads as I go? I'm kinda an organized person, so this just feels super uncomfortable.

But I tell you once I started to bead, it was surprisingly easy. I always do peyote horizontally across the pattern. But when I realized that freeform you flip it to a long vertical lead ... well that just made so much sense to me. This stitched up so much faster than I expected. 

Once I had a substantial band I went back through it and kept adding embellishments  I didn't like it at first as it looked like a patchwork quilt. Note to self: must try not to be so organized next time. However once I started to add fringe here and there, a few top beads ect, it started to come together for me. I have to thank Karen and Mandi for the push to finally try freeform! Here it is, my first freeform peyote project! 

This is a hop, so please check out all the other beaders who created their own peyote pieces:

Mandi Ainsworth - Adventure Guide                      Nancy Dale

Karen Williams - Adventure Guide                         Judy Riley
Bobbie Rafferty                                                 Natasha Wiegelman

Sarah Meadows                                                  Pam Chesbro

Katherine Gale                                                  Stephanie Woods

Mandy Duffy                                                      Romana Tschunko

Leanne Kirsch                                                    Bette Greenfield

Jean Hutter                                                       Mary Harding

Melody Marie Murray                                          Shirley Moore

Marj                                                                Sally Russick

Therese Frank                                                   Tanya Goodwin 

Christine Altmiller                                              Lea Paličková

Ivona Šuchmannová                                           Jennifer Chasalow VanBenschoten 

Kay Haynes                                                       Jane Kettley

Tammy Bowman                                                SaraBeth Cullinan

Alisa Lehman                                                     Tami Norris

Lori Callahan                                                     Julie Schmidt Bowen

Tami Norris                                                      Tammi Clapper

Cynthia Machata

Focusing on Life :: Monochromatic

This week's prompt by Sally for our weekly Focusing on Life photo journey was to think about photography in a monochromatic way ... consisting of one color. Sometimes a simple black and white photo focuses the eye on just the shape of your subject. I love color as much as the next guy, but when it comes to photography I find black and white romantic, sometimes other world and it always seems to add a bit of elegance to the subject.  

I first noticed the detail on this structure from a black and white photo. The photo had a timeless feel about it, and I assumed that it was from a ruin somewhere in Greece or Italy. I was surprised to find out exactly what these sculptures were and where they were located. I had been to this location many times, but had never looked up. And had never noticed just how detailed the tops of the pillars were. The sculptures are called the 'weeping women' (or the 'weepers') and they stand at the four corners of large planters on the tops of each of the colonnades which were designed to hold plantings watered by their tears. But these pillars are about 3-stories high, and unless you look up you can absolutely miss the detail of them. To give you a sense of their size, I included a a few pictures of my two daughters with their cousin climbing on just the base of the structure.

These are pictures we took this past week while in San Francisco at one of my favorite places; the Palace of Fine Arts. It was constructed in 1915 for the Panama-Pacific Exposition. These pillars line a lake in a half circle (lower left). My sister-in-law is an artist and is always looking for a subject to photograph. I thought she would enjoy this one.





Sally is right. Monochromatic draws the eye to where it might not otherwise because the colors steal the show. And why not on a gorgeously sunny day in San Francisco.

But there is such beauty in this sculpture of the 'weeping women' that for me, only black and white can really frame the subject. The original photo that caught my attention was in black and white and the 'weeping women' were surrounded in a fog ... literally fog that had the sculptures coming in and out of focus. It had such an effect to it. A vision that has stayed with me. I took the photo (top left) this past week and alter it to black and white. I included another photo that shows you a better angle of the women (these pillars are just too large for me to get this angle with my iphone). My original photo has deep blue sky with tuscan colored stone ... that is what draws the eye. But when you change it to black and white you get this timeless feel and a focus to the subject; the sculpture itself. 

I always wondered why exactly the women are crying? There must have been some intent by the artist, but it took quite a bit of digging to figure it out. The colomns were designed by Ulric Ellerhusen who created the 'weepers' to symbolize the melancholy of life without art.  Ok, now that is kinda cool. I like that meaning. And see, Sally's prompt taught me something new about one of my favorite black and white photo I have hanging on my wall at home.

AJE Earring Challenge :: pjBeads

I am continuing to plot right along with my earring designs for the AJE earring challenge. The latest using another gorgeous lampwork bead from Patricia Dugmore of pjBeads.

So recently my daughters and I have seen 2 different remakes of Snow White. The first one (called Mirror, Mirror) was fantastic. Lots of humor woven into the script with Nathan Lane playing the role of nurse maid to the queen. The dwarfs were hilarious  No spoilers here as you should see this one. The best part was the Ballywood finale. We were singing that for days.

Ok, so the second movie was Snow White and the Huntsman. The script actually had some good story line adaptations, but the movie itself was dark. And in my opinion, some pretty bad acting. 

I'm sure at this point you're all wondering what movie reviews have to do with earrings. Well, I'm glad you asked. Or at least kept reading. In the second movie there is a whole storyline behind 3 drops of blood: the original queen sees a red rose bloom in defiance of a cold winter. She reaches out to touch the rose and pricks her finger. Three drops of blood fall on the snow. The effect is so beautiful that she wishes for a child with skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood and strength of a rose in winter.  

I confess I don't remember 3 drops of blood being in the original Snow White story, but it made me think of these earrings! At the end of the movie: with the step-queen looking to take Snow White's heart says "by fairest blood it is done," and she can live forever. But of course Snow White replies "and by fairest blood is it undone," or the spell broken and the queen's power drained.  An interesting twist. Like I said, the script had some good points; if you can get through the acting.

Native Peoples :: Petroglyphs

I've been doing so many blog hops lately that I haven't had a chance to get back to some of my own series. 

A while back my bloggy friend Christine from One Kiss Creations gifted me some cool rocks she picked up on the shore of Lake Michigan. This one is smooth like sand with just a little impression in the rock on the lower end of this focal. Christine did a drill for me, as I have yet to figure out how to set up a drilling station. Thank you for that! It got me thinking about rock carvings, and so I used petroglyphs as an inspiration for this piece. 

You all know me by now, and you know I'm going to do a little homework on petroglyphs which are found world-wide and associated with prehistoric peoples dating back tens of thousands of years ago. The word comes from the Greek word petro (meaning stone) and glyphein (meaning to carve). I thought I'd give a little tour of some of the more prominent petroglyphs focused to circles. 

There are the ki‘i pōhaku from the Hawaiians (ki‘i means image, and pōhaku means stone). The first trip my husband and I ever took (my then boyfriend) was to Kauai, which is the oldest island in the chain and has history, stories and carvings. There are petroglyphs of canoes, paddles, sails and fishhooks as well as circles and dots associated with the piko ceremony. This ceremony takes the umbilical cord from a newborn and places it in the middle of a simple concentric circle, or petroglyph. This was done to infuse mana (divine power) to the child ensuring long life.

Ometepe Island, an island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua has one of the densest petroglyph concentrations in the world. The carvings are pre-Columbian full of spirals and circles. The early inhabitants of the island saw it as their promised land. The Maderas was a sacred place of the sun.

I think my favorite is a stone found in Ireland called The Seven Suns which is thought to be a representation of a total eclipse of the sun. It is also known as a radiating sun or radiant divine eye which is carved onto a megalithic stone block at a prehistoric tomb near Dowth, one of the Irish 'tomb shrines.'

The necklace I created is inspired by these petroglyph circles. I used a double spiral charm, one on each side of the focal and connected with hammered silver. The beaded chain is a simple spiral using earth tones and wood beads to give a more rustic look. I have to thank Christine for the rocks she gifted me. They are clearly providing a lot of inspiration in some of my designs.

Focusing on Life :: Snowdrops

Sally's prompt this week for Focusing on Life was to photograph the beauty of flowers. I love the quote she gave us; "earth laughs in flowers" (Ralph Waldo Emerson). What a nice thought.

The problem for me is that getting a picture of flowers this time of year can be a challenge. This week I'm sharing pictures of my snowdrops from the yard ... the pictures I took last year. I know they are there waiting to come up, along with the crocus. Just not quite yet. 

Last week winter came in one night: Blizzard Nemo (when did they start naming snow storms?). We got 3 feet of snow, and could not even push open the front door to get out of the house. Really. Check out the first picture (right). That is our front door and steps. We had to find an alternate escape. 

You can see that absolutely everything is buried in snow... the porch lights, the bird house, the swings and slide. Even a hook for flowers (once they arrive) was filled with snow; how did it stay on a hook like that? That last picture would be what you can see of my car in the driveway from the upstairs window. My husband was standing at the escape hatch (our sliding doors in the back) yelling, "ok, everyone grab a shovel!"

I do love flowers; we've got them planted all over the yard so that new blooms come in each month. I can't wait for the first blooms of the year ... my snowdrops. That groundhog better be right; I'm ready for Spring!

On the Bead Table :: Pips Jewellery

Back in the Fall I joined a blog hop hosted by the Brit Pack Beaders where I created a Jane Austen inspired choker and matching earrings. My inspiration was the city of Bath, and the lovely Pippa of Pips Jewellery, rewarded me with a set of her beautiful petal covered beads.

This is just a simple pair of earrings using the petal beads and a hint of silver. I didn't want to distract from the flowers as they are so pretty on their own. They seem like the perfect pair to make right about this time of year as I wait for the first signs of Spring, and a hint of the flowers in the yard to pop up through the snow. This is pair #8 in the AJE Earring Challenge.

Featured Artisan :: Lesley Watt of THEAtoo

Back in December Lesley was celebrating her 1000th sale of her Etsy shop called THEAtoo. She announced a giveaway on her blog The Gossiping Goddess (isn't that the best name for a blog!). And I was lucky enough to win! 








I already created a pair of earrings with the gorgeous bronze headpins. This is the second piece I made using the bronze bracelet bar that she designed from a real oak leaf. It is so beautiful that I really wanted it to be the center stage. What I was concerned about is that there is a single hole on either end. So I was worried that if I didn't make the band substantial enough the bracelet bar would flip around. So I created a peyote beaded backing and then added strings of micro seed beads on either side. The clasp is a piece of suede that I stitched each bead string in to, and then finished with brass crimps. The bracelet fits like a glove.

Thank you Lesley! I have had so much fun playing with these bronze components! Your work is stunning. And I still have that gorgeous leaf clasp to work with!

Focusing on Life :: Feeling Love

Sally's prompt for this week's Focusing on Life challenge is to capture love, or to show the things in our life that made us feel the love. 

There is absolutely, hands down, nothing else in my life that makes me smile more than to see how much my two girls love each other. They greet each other each morning with hugs, and end each day the same way.

We have a 'wind down' ritual at our house.... a bit of reading before bed. And 9 out of 10 times when I'm looking for Anne she will be in her sister's room quietly reading by her side. Although I admit often it is peals of laughter that only sisters can share.  So last night when I saw her slip into Kate's room I grabbed the camera and followed her in and snapped the picture just as she settled in. You can see the slight smile on Kate's face as she saw I was coming up close behind snapping that flashy thingy. 

I do also want to thank everyone for all the amazing comments the past few weeks. It has been so much fun to get to know some of my bloggy friends better with these posts, and meet new friends too...happy Saturday everyone!

Inspired by Winter :: What Lies Beneath

Sally at The Sutdio Sublime put out a challenge to help keep us a little motivated during those shorter, darker days of winter. It can be tough to find inspiration when you've only got a couple of hours of decent light for photographing, or even just to get outside and smell the air and be inspired by what's around you. I don't know about all of you, but winter can be tough sometimes to find that inspiration. 

So Sally is encouraging us to get out of our winter rut and think about how winter could actually inspire what we are creating on our beading tables. The prompt that caught my eye was to look at the "muted colors of nature as it awaits spring."  Specifically that meant to me what lies beneath the surface. No horror music necessary. I'm thinking of the crocus when they start to push up through the snow, or perhaps the dormant plants just under the frozen layer of a local pond patiently awaiting the spring thaw. 

That image of a frozen pond is exactly what this slice of of moss agate reminds me of: the green life just beneath the surface with bits of snow still mixed in. I set it up on its side so you could see how the light comes through the agate ... it makes for a beautiful effect! 

I wanted to make a simple necklace and use a winter white that had some warmth to it ... I used jade rounds and carnelian cylinders ... the color is unusual for both of these stones, but nonetheless, that is what these are. I was gifted the gorgeous carnelian from my friend Christine at One Kiss Creations and I've been looking for just the right setting to include them. I just love how these match up to the jade rounds. Thank you Sally for the inspiration on these long days of winter - it got me using some very beautiful pieces from my bead stash! Check out all the other lovely bloggers participating in Sally's challenge:

Sally  Russick                          Karin Slaton                       Lola Surwillo

Patti Vanderbloemen             Rochelle Brisson                Veralynne Malone           

Shelly Buettner                      Renetha Stanziano            Mary Lamoray

Therese Frank                        Tanya Goodwin                  Lynsey Brooks

Donna Bradley                        Jenny Davies Reazor         Mary K  McGraw   

Jo Tinley                                Cynthia Machata               Pam Farren

Ailsa Cordner                         Karin King                          Jess Green

Staci Smith                             Beth Emery                        Susan F.

Rana Wilson                                                   

On The Bead Table :: Suburban Girl Studio

One of my new favorite art bead designers is Diana from Suburban Girl Studio. Just look at how fun these sweet flower patterned porcelain charms are! She's not new to making beads, it's me who has been drooling over her work! 

They remind me of a sea shell print, and I wanted to carry that beach boho feel throughout the earrings. 

I used hemp cord to wrap the wire loop on the top of the bead. Then used the hemp to string onyx rounds, which give the pair a little 'swing' to them. The finishing touch is a large silver patterned post that I think also have that boho look. You'll find these listed in my Etsy shop.

I picked up quite a few items from Diana's shop, so there will be more projects coming. These earrings are my 7th pair in the AJE Earring Challenge (but who's counting!)

Shelter Pets :: My "Tooth Fairy" Dog

2 years ago, and 2 days before Christmas we lost our Cleo. She was 16 years old, and had an aggressive form of cancer. Truly one of the worst days of my life. But I would not change one minute of my time with Cleo. She was such an amazing, loving dog. Never once snapped at my girls no matter how many times they pulled her fur, yanked her tail or climbed on her to ride her across the room. She would just look at me with these big eyes as if saying "can't you get them to stop doing that?"

It has taken me awhile to be able to write about her as I still miss her terribly. But I think it is time to tell a few of the stories; stories that make me laugh and wish I could just scratch her behind the ears (she loved that). 

Let's start at the beginning. Just after we bought our first house, we immediately started talking about getting a dog. My husband and I had been renters for 10+ years and could never have a dog. 2 months after we bought the house I came home one day with the worst tooth ache; it was so bad I couldn't move my jaw. Diagnosis? Yep, it was my wisdom teeth. So after the procedure, laying there in bed and a bit zoned out from all the lovely drugs they give you ... my husband says "you feel up to visiting the ASPCA?" Roughly 2 seconds later I had my shoes on and was heading out the door. 

When we walked by the room (with bars) Cleo was in, we noticed she was shivering and huddled in a corner. My husband knelt down and held out his hand to her. It took her a few minutes but she looked in his eyes and walked over to sniff then lick his hand. That was it. She picked us to go home with, and so we headed up to the desk to fill out the paper work. Easy peasy, right? nope. It was 5:00pm and they were closing, and told us we'd have to come back tomorrow. And, btw, there was another couple who wanted to adopt her. WHAT?

Now that we had met Cleo, we knew she was the one. That was a rough night of anxiety, and we were standing outside the door when they opened the next day. The other couple was right behind us, but they were behind us. Ok, so we just fill out the paperwork and take her home right? nope. First we had to be interviewed to see if we were suitable to adopt Cleo. You see she was kind of a 'special needs' dog. Her previous owners had neglected her. Leaving her all day locked up, and then would hit her when they returned and saw that she had gone to the bathroom on the floor. She also had not been socialized as a puppy and was extremely timid. We always joked that she was not an 'alpha' dog, but an 'omega' dog. She would hide behind our legs when other dogs were around. That never changed. No matter how many times we tried puppy school. 

After much convincing that we understood that she was going to need some special attention. We moved on to fill out those papers ... FINALLY. But then we had to come back to get her the following day as the ASPCA will not allow adoption without having pets spade or neutered. So we waited one more day. I always called her my 'tooth fairy' dog as that was the prompt that got us to the ASPCA at just the right moment to find her waiting for us. I love this picture of her getting her first bath as she licked the water off my husbands hands. She was just so happy to be with us, people who wanted her, played with her and included her in our lives. I'll leave you with one more thing. A treasury from Etsy that I created as encouragement to adopt a shelter pet. They have so much love to give.

'The Simple Truth' by AntiquityTravelers

Give love, receive love. Hug, and love comes back. Find a pet. Adopt a pet. Rescue an abused or neglected animal. You'd be surprised how amazing it is to provide a loving home to a shelter pet.

Give Love. Wood Block Decor. bubblewrappd $11.00	Shelter Dog Photography Blac... kaelynmichaels $12.00	Adopt a Dog Decal Paw Print ... VillageVinyl $3.99	Dog photography- australian ... KatyJanePhotog... $18.00
Cat Photography Black and Wh... FabianArts $60.00	Love Wedding Sign - Photogra... ALittleMiscell... $40.00	who's a pretty boy (dog ... susansabophoto... $20.00	Maybe My Dog Rescued Me pill... uppercases $15.95
Journal - I Heart My Rescue ... BeadedTail $10.00	best friends dog girl photo ... Lindentreephot... $6.00	Love Like Crazy. Home Decor. bubblewrappd $10.00	Rustic Pet Photograph - Let&... ErinBphoto $25.00
Digital Image Download,Digit... VanillaExtinct... $5.00	Nursery Decor Photo Cute Bla... FelinesCanines $14.00	PATTERN - Frog Hat for Kids... FashionPattern... $5.50	I Love You To The Moon And B... wordwillow $38.00

Treasury tool supported by the dog house

Featured Blog :: Moncy3

A few weeks back Claudia over at Moncy3 asked if I would consider being interviewed for her featured artist series. I was thrilled! 

I had learned about Claudia's blog because another bloggy friend of mine, Janice at Bikbik & Roro, had told me she had been interviewed. Claudia had done such a wonderful interview of Janice that I was very excited when she asked me.

So I'm doing a quick shout out to click over to her blog today and see the interview she did on me! Thanks Claudia! Isn't this a lovely picture of her and her family from this Christmas.

Focusing on Life :: Hearts

Sally's prompt for this week's Focusing on Life hop was a call to notice the hearts that appear in our everyday lives. She asked us to pay attention to our surroundings and notice what hearts we see during our week. 

I had to laugh to myself thinking of the prompt. Living in a house with two daughters means that it just isn't going to take that long before I see a heart pop up somewhere.

It hit me pretty quickly this week, actually just a couple hours after Sally's prompt. As I was ironing away for one of my youngest daughter's favorite crafts, a couple of hearts got rotated into the mix. I knew I had my photo for the week.

She loves to create with Pyssla beads from Ikea. We bought a single kit for the girls years ago, and still they love to create a piece, iron it and wait for it to cool. And then last weekend my youngest set up the ironing board and laid out all her pieces to be ironed and dogged me until I got to it. She had at least 12 various creations ready to go, one of which was a gift for a friend at school. It was an intricate piece (the shape of a girl) and the beads spilled all over the place when I picked it up to iron it. One look on my daughter's face, and I knew. I was down on the floor trying to find all those scattered beads. We did eventually get that one together and ironed, but it took nearly 5 tries before the thing held together. Sigh. She loves this craft.

While the girls have a large collection of shapes, colors and sizes ... we pulled out all the hearts to photograph for this week. I figured 10 would suffice.