Circle of Life.....COMPLETE!

I am so happy to tell you that my April Bead Journal Project is complete! I am very happy with how it turned out. I love the simplicity of the piece with only 3 colors of beads. Well actually 3 colors but 9 varying shades of the 3 colors. I know the background looks like its gray, but in actuality its a color called Opal Lilac. I love it. I knew when I started, that I wanted a fairly neutral background color, When i saw this color, I knew it was perfect. I also knew I wanted to use the trees I used, but not in their original state. My hubby spray painted one black and another white as they were brown to begin with. I wanted a very graphic piece, different than the colorful pieces I usually do. I think I succeeded! I am still rather behind, but hope to work lots this next couple of weeks and my husband is working quite a bit of overtime. We will see what the next couple of weeks brings. Hope everyone out there is happy and healthy! Everyone here is doing great. We spent lots of family time this past weekend and I loved every minute of it.

Progress on my Circle

I have had some time lately to work on my April BJP called Circle of Life. I am working on filling the background in of the circle. It is slow and tedious, but I love the effect you get when you use the one bead at a time method I am using. On the black half, I used 4 shades of black, shiny, matte size 11's, hematite Delicas (DB0001), and shiny size 15's. On my white half, I am also using 4 shades of white to include White AB finish Delicas (DB0202) white lined crystal and matte white 11's as well as white size 15's. As I said, tedious but worth the effort! I am not going to share with you at this time my plans for the rest of the page. You will have to wait and see!

I have also worked out 2 new dog patterns in Delica beads, a Yorkie and a Pug! I love the challenge of working in such a small space (22 beads wide) and trying to produce what actually looks like the dog its supposed to look like. What do you think?

A Hunting We Will Go....

Asparagus hunting that is! Before my hubby went to work today, we went looking for asparagus. We didn't have lots of success, but we did manage to find a couple spears. I think we must be a little late because much of what we found had gone to seed already. The largest spear in this photo is a whopping 26" tall! I have never seen one that tall before, then again I havent looked for asparagus since I was a teen. All I know is that its going to be part of my dinner tonight. Hopefully its yummy!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mothers Day. I sure did. My girls came over, Jess, Courtney and Kileigh, along with Jessica's hubby Mike. Courtney's hubby Brandon called too. I was surprised about that since he is in the process of being deployed. Courtney gave me a lovely card and Mom plaque, Jess and Mike gave me a beautiful slate stone for my garden and a coffee mug (love my tea) and a sweet card too! We had dinner and a jello cake for dessert. YUMMY! I love spending time with all of them. Its gift enough just to have them here. Hugs to everyone!

The Circle of Life...

I have lots for you to see today! As I said in a previous post, my April BJP is called The Circle of Life. I decided to do this topic as my April page for a few different reasons. My Maternal Grandmother passed away 24 years ago April 21st. I was 8 1/2 months pregnant with my daughter Jessica. My Father passed away when my daughter Courtney was 8 1/2 months pregnant with little Kileigh. My daughter Jessica's Father-in-law passed away 1 week before his first grandchild was born. The Circle of Life continues....

So on to a happier example of this circle. This photo is a copy of an ultrasound Jess and Mike had done today showing little "Bun" in his/her debut! Hard to believe, but at only 11 weeks the baby has hands and feet, a visible heartbeat, a little tushy, spinal column, eyes and lots of other distinguishable body parts. We don't know if its a boy or girl, but its 1 1/2" long and active! Have you ever seen a cuter Bun? We cant wait to meet you little one!

Also, I am showing a few pictures of the beginnings of my April page. You can see the "circle" as well as the entire background is done. I wanted the background to be simple and neutral, so the actual circle will pop - hopefully! Look for more in a couple days. Congratulations again to Jess and Mike. You are giving this family another blessing, and I for one cannot wait!