May 2011 BJP - Michigan

Thank goodness I joined the BJP this year.  Its the only beading I've had the chance to do lately, and I'm thankful for the little 'push' it gives me to sit down and bead. 

This month's coin came up as Michigan.  I've only been there once (it must have been at least 12 years ago), visiting my sister in law and her family.  And what a nice family they are! 

They lived in a great neighborhood with access to a small lake, so they took us 'tubing'. 


Beaded interpretation of an inner tube!  Yah, its a stretch


We had never done that before and the girls were thrilled to be on a power boat.   My SIL's husband Jeff made it his personal mission to try to dump Pete off the tube by going ridiculously fast and making sharp turns.  

 A little wave action here

I was petrified he was going to either (a) kill Pete or (b) seriously injure him.  I was not amused.  But of course, Pete took it all in stride and came away wet, but ok.

The tow rope (pretend its really  long and attached to the boat, ok?)

MAY 2011 BJP - Michigan

When I showed Pete my finished piece, he did admit Jeff nearly killed him out there that day..... men.

The Life of Lynn

Just thought I'd take a second here and fill you all  in on the personal non-beady side of me.  Thanks to my blog friends for making me feel loved and cared about!  It is so nice to know that just because I don't have the chance to blog as much as I used too, you girls haven't forgotten about me!  ~hugs~

Hannah and Laurel
Botanical Gardens, Buffalo, NY

Hannah is continuing to do well (although there is still a bit of teenage drama, of course) 86.43 grade point average and great comments from her teachers on her latest report card. 

"Is a pleasure to have in class" 

"Has an excellent attitude in class and shows outstanding interest" 

"Is cooperative and attentive in class" 

"Takes an active part in class" 

Yippee!!!!! 

My "new" (aka used, but new to me) Toyota Matrix is still a blast to drive and consistently gets 31-34 mpg. 
Yippee!!!

Spring has finally arrived in Western New York and my garden is bursting with new life.
Yippee!!!!  well, ok, so its been raining all spring--I still am loving how GREEN everything is!  Just to see leaves again, sigh,  its all good.

And the biggest Yippee!!!! of all to report:

I'M

GOING

TO

ARIZONA

TO

VISIT

MY

COUSIN

PATRICK

Yeah, that's a huge YIPPPEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!! 

After doing my BJP for April, I really could not get him (or those canyons) out of mind.  All it took was one email in which he said "why don't you come out west girl?"  I booked my flight before I even let myself think about it.  I didn't dare, because if I would have thought about the million of reasons why NOT to go, I wouldn't be going.

So in just 4 short weeks I'll be looking at this:

Schnebly Hill Road

I had to promise to wash Patrick's truck afterward (its a really rough primitive road, to say the least), but that will be a small price to pay!  Heck I'll even wax it !

~ Bead Happy and Often ~

My Kind of Challenge

As a blogging partner of Artbeads, I was presented with the 'challenge' to create a piece that incorporates a little bit of yesteryear.  Oh yeah, I'm all about the vintage!  My mind immediately went to a button charm bracelet.

Here's all the Artbeads.com goodies I selected.  Links to all the products shown are sprinkled throughout the post, so please pop over to Artbeads and check out all they have to offer. 

 I have oodles of vintage buttons and Artbeads offers up some darn good faux vintage buttons. 

I love the open cutwork detail on this pewter button

This button is actually plastic, but you'd never know it !
It looks like metal

My first mission was to find a suitable chain.  No brainer there!  Loved Loved Loved this chain.  It was almost a shame to use if for a bracelet because it drapes so beautifully, I could definitely see it making a fabulous necklace.

Vintage treasures from my stash
and some Swarovski bicones thrown in!

Most of my vintage buttons in my stash were either cream or dark, so I choose the gunmetal finish and of course, Artbeads had both headpins and jump rings in gunmetal as well as a really cute toggle clasp in what they call a black pewter finish, which matched the gunmetal really well.  It was a bit small for the bracelet and I managed to find a really great vintage jet cameo clasp in my stash, so the toggle will be used for another project.

Vintage jet clasp from my stash that I didn't even know I had!

I love the look of using fiber with metal, and I was thrilled to have found this awesome hand dyed silk ribbon in a beautiful rich shade of blue/gray (all the shades Artbeads offers look gorgeous).   The ribbon I got looks a lot darker than what the website shows, but that didn't matter to me and I guess since it is hand dyed, color variation is to be expected, right? 

To pick up the cream of the vintage lace I was planning on using and some of my buttons, I thought this cotton yarn with the Swarovski pearls would work, but I found it really awkward to work with.  It sort of unwound and the pearls slid off the ends.

And speaking of Swarovski, I wanted to add a bit of bling, so nothing beats Swarovski products for that!  I made these little dangly charm kind of thing using channel drops in black diamond and a bicone in a midnight blue shade that I had in my stash.   My wire working skills leave a lot to be desired and I managed to break off a few of the head pins as I wound them around.   

When I saw this cameo with the three ladies on it, I knew I had to have it.  For a mere 54 cents!  Seriously?  It is sooooo nice! 

I mounted it on a TierraCast picture frame charm and it fit almost perfectly.  I love the detail on the back of the charm - I dare say it's downright charming (groan!). 

After getting all my goodies linked onto the bracelet, I wove the ribbon and cotton yarn through some of the loops and tied a piece of vintage lace to the clasp end. 

Its really fun to wear! 

FTC Disclosure:  The products shown as links in this post were provided to me at no cost from Artbeads.com in exchange for my honest opinion of the products on my blog.