Saturday, November 30, 2013

Focusing on Life: Give Thanks

There are so many things in life that I give thanks for. My health, friends and family, my beads, and the list goes on  and on. I chose to show our Thanksgiving table for my photo. It was not at my house this year. I celebrated at my son and his fiance's house. I am very glad that he found her and she will be joining our family soon. I am happy to be part of her family too. To see what the others are giving thanks for click on sally's link http://thestudiosublime.com/blog-2/  I want to thank Sally for this wonderful experience. I am so glad that I got to meet all the other participants and I learned more about me too.

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Focusing on Life: Centerpiece

Our focusing on life this week is centerpiece. Sally asked us to show what is "the central, most important feature of your day, week, life! It makes you comfortable, gives you joy, brings you peace of mind. Or is simply a place of comfort." For me it is my beadwork. Beads are all of that and more to me.There are very few days when I don't spend some time beading. I have a piece of plywood with foam on the edge (so it is easy on my arms) and a fabric cover. It sets on a rollable 3 drawer cart. The cart sits in front of my lazyboy chair. The board lifts easily to sit across the chair arms. Beads are the center of my life right now. When one project is done I start on the next. I love doing beading challenges. I'm showing the back of the piece I am working on so that the person who is receiving it doesn't get to see it until it arrives at her house. To see what is the centerpiece of the other participants lives click on  the link http://thestudiosublime.com/blog-2/

Friday, November 15, 2013

Focusing on Life:Reflection

Since the year is almost over Sally Russick of http://thestudiosublime.com/ prompted us to reflect. This year has given me a lot to reflect on. My life is changing and I am glad I got to meet all of the participants in this year long challenge.  It has certainly enriched my life. Monday evening I looked up from my beading to see the sunset. I grabbed my camera and snapped this gorgeous photo of the setting sun reflecting on the clouds. Please use the link above to see how everyone else saw reflection.

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Focusing on Life:Industrial Photography

Industrial Photography was our prompt this week from Sally at http://thestudiosublime.com. This is right up my alley. I have spent most of my like in an industrial atmosphere. I put this supercharged engine for sale this week so I took pics of it to post. When I came back in the house my email had Sally's prompt in it. The timing was perfect. You don't get much more industrial than the engine that runs your car. Especially a racing engine like this one. To see what the other participants posted use Sally's link above.


Friday, November 8, 2013





Todays post is about 7000 Bracelets of Hope. Here is what Hope Smitherman emailed me about the project: "7000 Bracelets of Hope is an initiative from the Global Genes | RARE project, which is an advocacy organization for individuals with rare and genetic diseases. Their symbol is a denim ribbon, a play on genes=jeans. You can find more about the Global Genes project on their website (https://globalgenes.org/). This organization started the 7000 Bracelets of Hope initiative to provide blue-themed bracelets to families fighting rare and genetic diseases. The idea is that these bracelets give support and a little hope to these families. As well, the unifying blue theme may help spread awareness."  I have seen this project on lots of other blog and I thought it was a worthwhile project. I thought I should donate some of my bracelts but I didn't carve out the time until http://www.znetshows.com offered to let me pick some of their sparkly  crystals to design with. The bracelet above is the first one I made. The Tiaria crystals I chose were 8x5mm rondelles item #RT101-47 in opaque sky blue. Aren't they a beautiful color? I added vintage oval faux pearls that came from my Mother-in-law and seed beads. Everything is strung on memory wire.
When I signed up for this project I hadn't thought about the fact that they needed to be multi-sized. Memory wire seemed to be an easy way to accomplish that so bracelet #2 was made the same way. This time I used RT101-46 Opaque Blue Opal  8x5mm crystal rondelles. The ovals are Hemetite and I chose  seed beads as accents. I think the hemetite really makes the beautiful crystals pop.
I wanted to do something more creative so I used a gold chain as a base. The lobster clasp can be hooked into any of the links to make it the correct size. There would be a dangle down the wrist. I used more of the RT101-46 opaque blue opal crystals for this bracelet.They are dangles every 2 or 3 spaces. The other items all came from my stash. Several of them from a pay it forward I got from Michelle Mach at http://michellemach.com/blog/ . All of the dangles except the http://www.znetshows.com crystals are different. The opaque blue opal rondelles are the unifying element.
I had 2 brass cuff forms so I embellished one of them for this project.. I was leery of drilling them so I spiraled the ends of some silver craft wire to start. I wrapped the RT101-46 opaque sky blue crystals with more of my vintage faux pearls and seed beads. I like the silver and brass together. I think that they show the blue beautifully.


Bracelet number five uses  more of the RT101-46 opaque sky blue 8x5mm rondelle shaped crystals. This time as an accent  for a 25x18mm ultramarine blue crystal RS145-118 that I got from http://www.znetshows.com  for a keychain challenge. I thought that it would make the perfect focal. The center of the bracelet is on silver craft wire. To make it adjustable I used tan leather with a tension bead. It looks much better on than it does laying flat.

I liked the tension bead idea so I used it again for bracelet #6. I made wire wrapped links with the RT101-46 opaque sky blue crystals and silver corrugated rounds with Hemetite size 6 seed beads. The alternating links are coiled black craft wire. Everything is strung on black cotton cording which has a silver tension bead. Size 6 seed beads match the crystal color and work as spacers. I hope whoever gets these bracelets will enjoy them. I enjoyed designing them. I want to thank http://www.znetshows.com for providing the crystal beads used and the inspiration to finally contribute to this great project. I receive no compensation  from http://www.znetshows.com. I just get to choose some of their wonderful affordable products to design with. It is a wonderful opportunity to stretch my creativity.

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Week 44: SAINTS, SOULS, SUGAR SKULLS AND SCARES

For focusing on life this week the prompt was
SAINTS, SOULS, SUGAR SKULLS AND SCARES. I tried to take a photo of the fog Halloween morning as I looked out my driveway. I though that would be spooky but it doesn't show very well. I went to the science museum on Tuesday with my sister and some of her family. The youngest was Owen who is six. He wanted to see a real mummy. That would have been a wonderful scary pic but I didn't have my camera with. To see what the other participants posted go to Sally's website http://thestudiosublime.com