A Cuff for Darcy

Darcy's Cuff

My laptop seems to have an issue with  Google and therefore, Blogger, so I have been shut out from my blog and all your blogs -- so sad!  I wish I was smarter so I could figure out what is going on with it. 

SO frustrating.

I've been busy beading away on my Bead Journal Project, Twigs (my beaded giraffe beanie baby), and some fun new earrings.  I am meeting weekly with a group of fabulous women who have all come together in the funniest of circumstances.  We are all bead addicts and most of them were weavers/stringers and had a desire to learn bead embroidery, so I am showing them what I know and loving the friendships that are forming fast. 

I recently joined a Bead Guild, so I am really looking forward to see what that brings.  The very first meeting I just happened to sit next to the beautiful Leslie and Brenda who have been wanting to learn how to make a cuff bracelet for years.  How's that for fate? I just happened to know how to do it!  So our informal bead embroidery group has now expanded by 2! 

I emailed myself some pictures so I could pull them up at work (on my lunch hour of course!) and post them.  For whatever reason, it takes forever to upload, so here are just a few of a cuff I recently made for my friend Darcy.  Her only request was purple and silver. 

 

After I finished that, I went to work on my next BJP flower.  Guess what birthstone is February?  Amethyst. Needless to day - I'm a bit purpled out. 

Hope to get some time to figure out my laptop issue so I can have the chance to catch up with everyone! 

Please keep all those affected by the recent beyond-horrible storms in your prayers.  I can't even imagine how they are coping. 

~Bead Happy and Often~

Sometimes Change is Good

Way long ago, I was fortunate enough to have my friends over at ArtBeads.com provide me with complimentary Swarovski elements, from which I made:

Well, truth be told, I never wore the set.

It hung there unworn, looking pretty.    What's the point of being pretty if its unworn, right? 

So I took out my snippers and cut the necklace apart. 
Gasp!  Now what??!  NO turning back now.....

How about a cuff bracelet?

Before mounting

Love that shine - nothing beats faceted Swarovski for light play

Just over 2 inches wide - this is one bold cuff

Yes, definitely more my style!

~Bead Happy and Often! ~

Hey Friends!

I have just been running around like a crazy woman (hmm, if the shoe fits.......) lately.  I haven't beaded, blogged or read blogs in what seems like forever!   And dusting?  Nope, haven't had time for that either as you can see by the note my daughter left me on the top of my bead cabinet.

A house becomes a home when you can write I Love You in the dust

But I have a bit of time this morning, so here's an update on what's been happening in my little world:

First off, my Spring piece has been officially set aside.  I know, I know, I HATE to do that!  I have way too many UFOs and I really really try to finish what I've started.  But everytime I tried to work on it, I just wasn't feeling the love and it just wasn't turning out the way I wanted.  I was all excited to make up this seed bead mix from 3 different greens I had in my stash:

And thought it would make great grass to surround the middle of the piece and it was all going along just fine and then my thread got all tangled up and I just got annoyed so made the decision to move on to something new. 

Since it's April (already!!), I chose my next State quarter for the Bead Journal Project.  Arizona.  I won't say too much about it now, because I'll wait til my 'official' post when its done, but here's the beads I've chosen to use:

And then I got my sweet little vintage lady cab from Beth and she is just begging to be put on a box lid.  Of course, I don't have a box yet, so she just looks at me and waits patiently for some attention.

I love her calm expression.  I look at her and just feel my tension release.

My Mom and Dad live on a golf course, and my Mom was out filling the bird feeders and saw some balls laying around on the course, so she collected them for me......

64 balls in about 20 minutes of collecting!  Too funny!  I've gotten to the indoor driving range a few times and am just waiting for the weather to break a bit more so I can get back out on the course.  Just thinking about it makes me relax.  I love to golf.  I'm not good at it, but love it all the same.

Lastly, I made the decision to get rid of my GMC Envoy.  With all the driving I've been doing, I just couldn't afford to keep filling the tank every 3 - 4 days at over $60 every fill up.  It was disgusting the amount of $$$ I poured into that tank.  

I learned to drive on a car with a standard transmission and always drove a stick shift until I had the girls and I really missed driving a standard.  So I knew my 'new' car would have to be a stick shift.  Well, apparently I'm part of a dying breed of drivers because there wasn't a whole lot of standard transmission cars to choose from (at least in my price range!).    

Although I'm not picky about what I drive, I never thought I'd be behind the wheel of a red - and I mean RED  - car.

But I am and I love it!!



Be a lifesaver - become an organ donor

 Well that's a wrap - gotta get in my sweet little ride and get myself to the eye doctor and then a special treat from my friend Joan:  I'm going for a mani-pedi.  Aaahhh, let the pampering begin......I sure could use it (just hope I don't fall asleep in the chair)!

Hope to get some time tonight to visit all of your blogs.  Am dying to see what everyone has been doing these past few weeks......I think of you all so much throughout my days.

~Bead Happy and Often~

Ugly meets Ugly

Although I have responded to each of you who took the time to send me your strength and encouragement, I just wanted to give a 'public' shout out too to thank you from the bottom of my blackened heart for reaching out to me.  It has helped me breathe again and although this situation is beyond miserable, I will try not to drag my beading blog into the pit with me! 

Since my mood is still a bit ugly, I thought I'd share what I consider to be the ugliest thing I've ever made.  It was a class and the kit was provided with the class.  Granted, I picked the kit, so really I can only blame myself!  I don't know what I was thinking:

Its supposed to be:    a photo album or scrapbook cover. 

What it really is:    a 12" square of pure ugly.

These calla lillies took forever!  They were made in two pieces and the bottom piece is completely beaded, which you don't even see.  Sewing the tops to the bottoms took a lot of hand strength to get the edges to line up so they would curve. 

So, yesterday I went to the Gem Fossil and Mineral Show which is this huge awesome event every spring hosted by the Buffalo Geological Society.  As a bit of a 'rock hound', I look forward to this show so much!  Just to see the amazing crystals and fossils that lie under our earth's crust is mind-blowing.  Yes there are some bead vendors, but honestly as hard as it is to believe, I don't even look at those vendors' tables.   It is the natural treasures that make me drool!   What a great way to spend the afternoon.

Today promises to be another fun day.  Meghan and I are going to get her prom dress fitted.    I'm going to take my camera so hopefully I can get some good pics of the beading on the dress.  Its awesome!  Time to bring back the pretty!!

Thanks again for putting up with my rant in the last post.  I think I heard Debbie Downer packing her packs this morning.  Now I just have to kick her to the curb......can somebody call a taxi? lol

~ Bead Happy and Often ~

Ahh, That's Better.........

After ripping out a few times, I'm getting happier with this piece.  I've decided to call it Time for Spring, even though the placement of those little cabs really isn't in a clock formation.   Its what I think of when I work on it, so I'm going with Time for Spring.

I had bought a smoky lavender mat for the shadow box frame, so when I found these bugles in my stash, I was so happy - they match really well.



Click any (or all!) pics to get upclose and personal!

 I added these little buds in the corners. 

Don't know if you noticed or not, but each of the center of the buds matches the color of the center ring of the larger flowers.

And each of the crystal flowers match the stamen color of the cat's eye flowers. 

I'm going to add the same mint/blue stacks around the middle two crystal flowers.  Not sure what I'm going to do after that.

I'm counting on the beads to lead the way......


Don't forget the Beading for a Cure auctions start today! 

~ Bead Happy and Often ~

Spring is Springing

YYYYYEEEESSSSSS!  The crocuses have burst from the earth!   The robins are back singing to me in the morning and evening!  The snowbanks have all but disappeared!  I love the transitional time between the seasons.  Every day I notice something different. 

Sweet Liss gifted me this adorable (really adorable) paper clay cabachon that she made. 

Click on Pics to Enlarge

I'm using it in a 5" x 7" bead embroidered picture which is not coming together as easily as I wish it would.  I've spent more time ripping out and starting again than I care to admit.  I know, I know, I can hear Nicole telling me that she never rips out -- I just haven't reached that level of expertise yet.  Some things are just plain hideous!

Using a piece of Nicole's super-duper-how-did-I-ever-bead-without-it BeadBacking, I placed these little cabs all around the focal (I don't know why).  It reminds me of those candy dots I used to get as a little girl.  Do you know the ones I mean?  They came on a long strip of white paper. 

The next morning I was heading out the door to work and it was a hateful windy cold day and I thought "ugh, definitely time for spring."  That's it!  Time!  Time for Spring -- that's why I put those cabs around.  I must have been thinking of a clock.  When I got home from work and took a look at the placement again, I thought, NOPE.  Didn't put them in a clock formation.    Great.  Now what do I do?

I started encasing the focal and realized when I was done it look like I had made a little nest around it. 

I came across this spring-looking mix of seeds in my stash and wanted to use them somehow.

I encased all the inner cabs and the outer most cabs became flowers.

Then, because it was raining outside, I thought I would do little umbrellas in each of the corners.

I started out making a line of cylinder beads

another row and some seeds

and.....bleh. 

So bad I didn't even take any pictures of the finished umbrellas (I actually made two of them just to make sure they were as awful as I thought -- they were!)

Now I'm making some of the inner cabs into flowers too.

The jury is still out.......

 ~ * ~ Bead Happy and Often  ~ * ~

Giving and Receiving

Meghan surprised me this morning with this adorable bracelet she found on Etsy:

Love it! 

Love Her!

I finished Donna's bracelet this morning.  After ripping out the beige seeds, I decided to fill in the background with the boucle (carpet) stitch in clear seeds with just a sprinkling of silver lined and clear gray here and there. 

It was impossible to get a good shot, so you'll have to trust me on the sprinklings!   Maybe if you click on the pic to zoom in you'll be able to see them.

The center cabachon is a vintage piece I found at an estate sale. 

I hope she loves it.....or at least likes it enough to wear it occasionally!

Here's what the overall design looks like before it was mounted and edged in the 4 mm Swarovski rounds:

Well, its after noon already am I'm still in my pajamas.  Pete and the dogs are bugging me to get myself in the shower so we can get to the woods for a walk about.  After constant rain yesterday we woke up to about 4 inches of snow.    I am sooooo ready for spring! 

~ Bead Happy and Often ~

Getting No Where Fast

Sometimes I just can't get my act together.

I'm making a cuff bracelet as a thank you for one of my husband's co-workers.     Lately, the only time I have to bead is in the evening.  I prefer to bead in the morning or during the daylight hours, but I'll take what I can get these days! 

I thought I had a good design laid out and had chosen my color story while the natural light was still available.  Considering its just blacks/grays/clears, it wasn't that complicated.  I looked for different finishes on the beads: some matte, some shiny, some metallic and some clear.  Easy Peasy. 

And then it just wasn't working, so I ripped it out and started again. 

Everything was going along great.  I was happier with my second attempt and decided I was going to keep it simple and fill in the background with silver lined clear seeds.   But I didn't have those seeds on my table.  It was about 8:30 p.m. or so when I pulled the beads from my stash and started 'finishing' the bracelet base. 

I looked at it today in the daylight and UGH. 

What the??! 

Why do these silver lined beads look so beige?

Oh, that's because they are!

Oh boy.

I'm hoping the third try is the charm.  Isn't that what they always say?  I hope it is.  I'm really get tired of snip snip snipping all those threads........

~  Bead Happy and Often   ~

(Done with) Winter Enchantment

I never thought I would get this finished!  I forced myself to stick with flat work so my focal tree wouldn't be overwhelmed.  It was very boring, to say the least.

One evening, the sky was so softly shaded that I wanted to incorporate that into my piece and luckily
I had these very softly hued peachy-pink seeds in my stash.  I colored the beadbacking (that's Nicole's super-duper-how-did-I-ever-bead-without-it beadbacking, by the way) with colored pencils to shade in the area I wanted colored. 

It is a very subtle effect and looks better in person than it does in pics.

Once I put it into the shadowbox frame, I was so happy.  It made such a big difference!

I found the frame at a tag sale for just 50 cents and the glass is very reflective, but for that price, I won't complain!  It was pretty impossible to get a good shot.  Maybe you could all just pop over to my house for a visit so you can see it in person -- that would be fun!

A special thanks to Mother Nature for providing the inspiration and Artbeads.com for providing me with some of the products used to capture a small bit of Winter Enchantment.

~Bead Happy and Often~

FTC Disclosure:

The chain, wood links, and Toho seed beads used in the tree were provided free of charge from Artbeads in exchange for my unbiased review of the products.

White(d) Out!

Between the snow and ice outside and the blizzard of white beads scattered across my beading table,  I HAD to take a break and immerse myself in color.

Since my winter enchantment piece is consuming my entire beading table, I didn't have the space to start a color beading project, so  I satisfied my color cravings by organizing some of my seed bead containers.

Some day I'm going to have ALL my seed beads organized.  Oh all right, that's NEVER going to happen, but it was fun to think about it for a second.

I added some snowdrifts to my piece.

And this winter sun -

which I hated and promply ripped out!

I'm now filing in the background with clear seeds and will hopefully be done with this by the weekend.  Just in time for our weather to warm up.  We've been promised temps in the low 50s on Friday!!! 

And if all that white wasn't enough, the Lace Guild that I am a member of has started a really fun project.  Its a mystery lace sampler.  Each meeting we will be instructed on a different lace technique.  This month is Tambour lace, or as I like to call it -- Tedious Tambour. 

Using a very tiny crochet hook, you 'chain stitch' the thread through the netting holes.  It makes me crazy! 

We are just making an edging and a cute little bug (look really closely - click the pic to enlarge- and you might be able to see the outline of the bug) and I am so glad that's all.  This is a real bugger of a stitch..........

Bead Happy and Often!