Can you believe it?

A post finally! I have been busy, been sick, Maddux has been sick, and my Son Aaron and his girlfriend came for a visit from Texas. All in all, its been a super busy time for me. Unfortunately, my beadwork had to wait until I had time to do it! I am hoping things will settle down now. I have lots of catching up to do, not only on my Bead Journaling, but on blog hopping too. I must say, I miss everyone!

At long last, here is my completed May BJP. Yikes! I did say May. That only puts me almost 4 behind. I have a little bit done on June too, so maybe that one wont take me almost 2 months to complete. For my May piece, Emerald is the Birthstone color. I used my usual half moon beads in both matte and shiny emerald. Size 15 transparent emerald color, gold size 15's, 6mm emerald hearts, an emerald 14mm Swarovski rivoli, emerald AB size 11's, as well as 2 un-marked shades of emerald size 11's. If anyone remembers, I will be using the half-moon and 6mm heart beads in each piece. I like the colors for this month. I think the deep green color added some life to my piece. Next month is Alexandrite! I like that I am being forced to work out of my color comfort zone and also that I dont even have to think what colors to use since it is all dictated by the Swarovski Birthstone chart! I hope it wont be another 6 weeks before I can post again. I am planning on doing a Freebie Friday in the near future, so please watch for that! Sorry I have neglected both my blog, and my blogging friends!

May BJP is DONE!!

Well! After a month (or more) of teasing you about my May BJP, I can finally show the end result! I wanted to do this page about my beautiful daughter Jessica and her pregnancy. This pregnancy so far, has been a difficult one with many trials and tribulations. I know in the end, it will all be worthwhile, but its been tough on Jess and Mike and the extended family as well! I don't want to go into too many details here, but Jess is at the 26 week mark and on bed rest. Little baby Bun thinks he needs to come into this world to early, and we want him to stay put for another 6 weeks or so! We are all doing our parts with keeping Jess company while Mike is at work, doing housework and cooking too. That's what families do when the going gets rough right?

So now about the page for May! I wanted to test myself a bit on this one. I wanted to learn how to set a cab in beads, so I set both a "Bun" cab face as well as one to represent Jess. Then the problem was how to sew it onto my page. I also wanted to use a color I don't normally use a lot of - purple! Jess has always had the nickname "J of the B" since she was a little girl. When she asked what the "B" stood for, either her dad or I said "butterflies" so I wanted to represent this in her page as well. I looked through my stash of beads and found these really pretty butterflies in purple and the color palette was born! I wanted the background to be soft and unobtrusive, so I picked this palest of gray color and for drama, selected the dark oily purple tones in the leaves and flowers. I used a dark grape for the vines, and some swarovski crystal flowers for some sparkle. The only time I strayed from this color palette, was when I used the baby blue around the bun cab (because hes a boy after all) and to represent Jess's beautiful auburn hair. The quote at the bottom reads "Mothers and daughters are closest, when daughters become mothers" Very fitting, dont you think?

Update, Elvis and a WOW!

What do all 3 of these things have to do with each other? Why, beads of course! I have been plugging away at my Starry Starry Night tapestry. I have 8,000 beads into it now. It is so slow going because there aren't any big groups of any one color. Its so easy to make a mistake and believe me, I have made more than a few. Its no easy task ripping out 94 beads in a row! Yikes! I have also done a pattern of Elvis for Suzanne Wester for sale at beadcoop. I don't have any updates of my latest BJP as it is still a secret for my daughter Jess. Stay tuned though, its coming right along!

Now for the WOW! I rarely am impressed enough by a business to brag about it, but cannot deny the service I recently got from Terri at Foxden. I ran out of a crucial color for my May BJP. It was a size 15 Japanese bead called Dusty Orchid. I went to the Foxden on Friday at 12:52 pm and placed a small order of size 15's. Would you believe they were in my mailbox the NEXT day? I was in shock! Her prices are great and she carries all the sizes of Delicas along with other types of beads including a mouth-watering selection of little size 15's. They all come in fliptops too, which I love. As I said before, WOW! Thanks Terri Ann! Check out their site for some beauties!

Happy Monday!

How is everyone? I feel like I am neglecting my blog (and my beadwork) so I thought I would post a couple of teaser pictures of my may BJP. As I said in a previous post, I don't want my daughter Jess to see this page until it is finished, so that's all I can post for now. At least you have a taste of what it looks like for now!

We had a wonderful weekend this past weekend. On Saturday we had a family cookout at Mike and Jessica's house. My sister Kim and her husband Alex were visiting from Texas so we all got together to celebrate seeing them. Her daughter Kara and hubby Adam and their 2 little adorable girls were there, My hubby and I, Jess and Mike, daughter Courtney and grand-angel Kileigh, my Mom and dad were also able to come for the cookout. It was nice catching up with everyone. I wish we all got to see each other more. Its so hard having family out of state. We just have to make the most of it when we are able to get together! HI KARA!! I am so happy to know you check my blog every week! Love you all!

3 Dogs and a Cat!

Well, not really! That is just what I have worked on this week. The Siamese cat pattern I cannot take credit for. It is a pattern by Deb Moffet-Hall. The Dalmatian and Samoyed patterns are my own though! I cant seem to get away from making these pins. Someday I hope to do each breed recognized by AKC. That would be an accomplishment since there are currently 150+ breeds recognized by AKC. Yikes! May need to rethink that idea huh? I am still plugging away on my May BJP. I am not ready to post it though. I have more work to do before I will show you. Sorry! I want it to be a surprise for Jess when she sees it, since it is all about her! I know you are looking Jess...I can just feel it! Take care everyone!

HI!

I am still alive and kicking! I have gotten a decent start to my May BJP, but I don't want to post any pictures of it for now. I am doing my May page to honor my daughter Jess, and I know she pops on here to check my blog everyday. So, I am not going to be posting pictures quite yet!

I have also been doing some beadfaerie work for Suzanne Wester. She sells her patterns at the beadcoop, and has been wanting her patterns beaded up to be sure they will turn out. I have done several pieces for her over the years. This is my latest work named "Leader of the Pack" I like how it turned out. I am going to frame it to hang in the computer room. You should check out her patterns, she does a bit of everything including some gorgeous loom work. Take care everyone! Look for more updates soon!