Glass Corsages

Last year,

at the Bead and Button Show,
I took a class taught by
Sara Sally LaGrand
called
Glass Corsage.
I will never regret that class
because it was
ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!
I made a corsage then,
and
I have enjoyed it so much
that I thought I should make one for spring!
I have been making components for a while.
I ended up with enough components to make,
not one,
but two glass corsages.
One I will wear.
The other will go into my living room as a sculpture for all to see.
Here they are.
This is the corsage I will wear.

This is the one I will display in my living room!
I just love them!
Thanks, Sara Sally!

Six Word Story Sunday - Bead Soup Blog Hopping

Six Word Story

Bead Soup
Blog Hopping
Again Today.

As you know,
usually 6 words just aren't enough for me!
Of course,
today is no exception.
I've enjoyed myself so much as I've hopped from blog to blog
seeing all of the gorgeous works of wearable art.
So, far,
I haven't seen one piece that I have disliked.
This is my blog soup entry.
I like it!
I'll be wearing it a lot.
So,
now,
it's back to
blog hopping.
There are 210 participants!
That's a lot of blogs to hop!

Three Beautiful Things This Week

Three Beautiful Things This Week was inspired by a wonderful blog that Clare writes called Three Beautiful Things. Everyday, Clare writes about 3 Beautiful Things that happen each day in her life. It's a wonderful blog! I can only hope to imitate her in a very small way.

1) See this beautiful quilt? I learned about it a week ago on Christina's Lloyd's blog, Working on Tomorrow.
Christina made this beautiful quilt for me, and it arrived yesterday!!! What an awesome day brightener! Yesterday was a rough day, but after the arrival of this amazing quilt and a phone call from Christina, my day took on a brightness that this gloomy day could not provide. Thank you, Christina!

2) I had breakfast and lunch with two different friends yesterday. Both events were day brighteners, too! Potatoes and bacon for breakfast. Soup was for lunch. Nummy on both counts!

3) Got back to my painting today. The painting was awful, but it was good to do!

Refuge Weekly Photo Challenge

My refuge in good times and bad.
They've never let me down.
Worlds open to me that would have been closed before.
I read.
Therefore,
I am.

Bead Table Wednesday or I Need Color

It's Wednesday again,

and
that means it's time for Bead Table Wednesday!
Remember
Heather Powers started it!

Here's my bead table from yesterday.
It looks totally different than usual.

What's an iron doing on my bead table?
I see a few beads,
and
I see a lot of fabric!
What?

Just a preview of a few new things.


It's that time of year!
I'm sick of winter.
I need color!
There's a lot of color there!

So,
What's on your bead table today?

Sneak Preview - Bead Soup Blog Party!

It's almost here!

The big REVEAL for this year's
Bead Soup Blog Party.
Lori Anderson, jewelry designer, of Pretty Things
got things rolling again for us!
The big reveal, and, please
MARK THIS DOWN ON YOUR CALENDARS,
Is this Saturday, February 26th.
There will be a blog hop as part of the reveal.
My partner this year is Cindy Dolezeal.
She sent me a wonderful box of treats!
I am so anxious for the reveal, but
I want to give you a sneak preview.
Take a look here.
Oh, shoot! I must have hit the wrong button.
I made this for an ABS monthly challenge.
Hold on. I'll get it.
Not again! I made this one for the February ABS Monthly Challenge.
I don't know what's going on.
I'll try again.
I'm sorry! I did it again.
This necklace was just featured in the current issue of Step by Step Wire Magazine.
I'll find it.
I wonder which folder it's in?
I think this is it!
So, what do you think?
You'll get to see the rest of it on Saturday,
so,
Stay tuned!

Pixie Has a New Dog Tag! It's soooooo coool,!

Can you see how proud Pixie is of her new tag? PaulaNC made it just for her! Pixie loves it!!! She was even willing to pose for me wearing her new tag. It has her name on it, and on the back is my phone number. Paula made the tag and she offers other options in her Etsy store! Take a look at the link here. You'll find all kinds of great items in her store, and, best of all, you'll find customized dog tags for your special pet!

Six Word Story Sunday - Thoughts When My Hair is Wet

Thoughts
When
My
Hair
Is
Wet

I think
I better
Dry it.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Curiosity

This week's photo challenge was: Curiosity. That proved to be a challenge for me.

My first thought was: "I sure wish I had a cat." Sadly, I don't. So "curious as a cat" was not to be part of this challenge.

Then I thought, "How about a child?"
Well, even though it's been warmer, it's still cold and most of the cute, little ones are inside being curious."

Well, that left Pixie. She's not a curious dog. If you give her clean food and water, and beds and pillows and a comfy couch, she's very content. If she's curious, she simply lifts an ear up to hear the sound. Her head never leaves the ground, or, I should say, pillow.

In an effort to make Pixie a bit curious, I did a dance. I made sounds. I finally got up close with my camera, and then she did it. She lifted her head off the couch! She was curious! See the photo? I can even prove it! She was curious!!! Now that was a curiosity.

Three Beautiful Things This Week

Three Beautiful Things This Week was inspired by a wonderful blog that Clare writes called Three Beautiful Things. Everyday, Clare writes about 3 Beautiful Things that happen each day in her life. It's a wonderful blog! I can only hope to imitate her in a very small way.


1) This week was Valentine's Day. My son sent me a beautiful bouquet of pink (my favorite color) roses! What a sweet heart! That really perked up my day!

2) Our temperatures have been above zero all week! After such a long, snowy winter, this warm spell is really helping. People's moods are visibly improved. The snow levels are going down. I saw the bird bath for the first time since December today! Even the birds are chirping louder now.

3) Pixie and I went to Pet Expo this week. She hadn't been there for a very long time! She saw all over her human friends. She got so many treats! She knew which pocket to find. Her friends were teaching her how to open the treat bins. She had such a good time! She came home and slept for 2 hours! She was exhausted.

And The Winner is!!!!!!!!! One World One Heart!

According to Blogger there were
163
Comments left in this, the last of,
One World One Heart.
Thank you, Whimsical Bohemian for five great years of fun!
We are also looking forward to the new project you will have next year!

All right,
back to the winner.

I used the Random Number Generator
to choose the winner.

Here's who the RNG chose to win the heart.



The winner is
135!




I counted down from the first comment to #135.

The winner is....



is.....




is......




is...


GraceBeading!

Congratulations!

I'll be in touch very soon!!!!

Bead Table Wednesday

Well, it's Wednesday again,

and time for
Bead Table Wednesday!
Remember,
Heather Powers started it!

Now, this is what my bead table looked like yesterday.
(I am writing this yesterday!)

I worked with fire.
I stamped.
I made (Gasp!) jewelry!
It was a busy day.
It was a good day!
Maybe, next week, I'll have more to show for my efforts!

Would you like to see some beads now?
Check out my Etsy store.
They are there.
A fossil bead.

Sugar Bead Bead Pins.

Cancer Sucks!

Next week, there will be more.

I'm Painting Again or This is Wonderful Therapy Too and It's a Lot Cheaper Than a Shrink

It just seemed the thing to do one day.

I pulled out an old canvas,
and
I started painting again!
I had been trying to find other ways to use my beads,
and
painting seems to be a great therapy,
as well as,
another way to use my beads.

My mantra this year,
HOPE!
Joy!
There are lots of beads in this one!

My favorite
On the Wings of Angels.
Minimalist in the use of beads,
but,
by far,
the one I like the best.

Now, what's your favorite therapy?

Happy Valentine's Day and the Challenge

Happy Valentine's Day!

I wish you and your soul mate a very precious day of love!!!!

To my children, I love you both!

To all of our family and friends,
we love you, too!




The Challenge

As you know, Deb Batten, aka FireBird Flame Work and I, challenge ourselves each month to extend our creative souls and try a new skill or work to enhance those we already have.

Last month, the challenge was Bead %$#%%^****(())) Kumihimo. Certainly not a good one for me. However, we continue, although a bit late this month, to pursue a further development of our creative souls. This month, and this was Deb's idea, especially since it's my fault we are running late, we are challenging ourselves to work on copper, but wait, it's not just that. The name of our challenge this month is:
Color Me Copper.

So, what will be doing? Deb and I will be challenging ourselves to work with different ways to patina copper. I'm sure looking forward to this one! We will do the reveal at the end of the month, so stay tuned. You can also check out Deb's blog for her side of the story!

Six Word Story Sunday - Our Journey

Our Journey

Our
Journey
of
Faith
Hope
and
Love


Love
is
the
Greatest!







All right,
if you know me,
six words just isn't enough.
I haven't painted for years,
but
I have wanted to take up where I left off,
adding my beads to the mix.
As I painted this,
I had a different vision in mind of the finished product.
Well,
this painting wanted to be something else.
I made a mistake
and had to cover it up.
This mixed media
became the story of our journey as a family.
I think I like it better than my original idea.

These were on my Bead Table Wednesday, but I am the slowest beader in the world, so they haven't made it out the door, but I hope they do soon!

At least they have jump rings on them!
These will be listed in my Etsy store soon, I hope, or
made into jewelry.
However, if you see something you might want,
convo me on Etsy and we'll talk.
My Etsy

Three Beautiful Things This Week

Three Beautiful Things This Week was inspired by a wonderful blog that Clare writes called Three Beautiful Things. Everyday, Clare writes about 3 Beautiful Things that happen each day in her life. It's a wonderful blog! I can only hope to imitate her in a very small way.

1) I have been sleeping again, except for one night when I woke up at 2:30. That was rough, but the rest of the week has been full of wonderful sleep, sleep, and more sleep!!!! Dreams have come back, and they have been so interesting. I love to dream!

2) This week has been a week of getting together with good friends and a birthday celebration. She doesn't read my blog, so she won't know I said Happy Birthday!!!!

3) I looked outside at 6:30 AM, and the first crescent of light on the horizon was starting to break into the sky. I looked outside at 6:30 PM, and the last crescent of light was fading! I love that we are getting so much more daylight now! That's truly a gift!

Boundaries

Thanks so Rosemarie, of Spawn of Flame,

I discovered a Word Press Blog called the Daily Press.
In this blog there is a weekly photo challenge.
This week's photo challenge is called Boundaries.
Here is my entry for Boundaries.


Some boundaries are soft and blurred.
We have to decide whether to push the envelope to find our true boundaries.
Some boundaries are a long way away.
We can only define them by what we see and hear.
Some boundaries are more clearly defined.
We know where they end and where they begin.
Some boundaries are those we can see on the horizon.
We know where the sky meets the earth.
We keep traveling to find that boundary.
I think I like these boundaries the best.
They are the ones that are the most beautiful!

Which boundaries do you like the best?

Bead Table Wednesday

Heather Powers started it!

So, here's my entry for today.
Metal, metal, and more metal.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Oh, the Tramp is there, too!

Okay, there are a few other projects there, too, but that's it!

I'll show some of them later! For now, that's it!

Art Bead Scene February Monthly Chanllenge

The inspiration for the Art Bead Scene February challenge is this painting titled
"Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose" by John Singer Sargent. You can read more about this beautiful work of art by clicking on the word February.

As soon as I saw this painting, I immediately thought of a glass I love that I have been using sparingly because it is no longer made.
The name of the glass is Orange Sherbet. I have hoarded the little bit that I have, but I knew that, for this challenge, I would be using it. Can you guess what objects made me think of Orange Sherbet? If you said, the lanterns, you're right.

The next day I was busy using my precious Orange Sherbet on the torch. I needed a focal, too, and I made one that I never used.
I didn't need to do that. A few days before I saw this print, I had attempted a layered bead that I couldn't complete when I worked on the torch because my bead release broke. The bead looked all right but there was a bit of bead release on the edges of the holes. There were also some spots where I hadn't been able to finish encasing this bead. It looked rather rough. It reminded me of a large nugget you might find in the ground. As I walked by my bead pile, I saw it, and I knew what I would do.

Here's my entry for the ABS February challenge.

I call this piece "Lanterns" because of the lantern shaped beads that I made for it.
The nugget is huge, but it doesn't distract from the piece.
I think I've captured the spirit of the piece.
I did use some of my Orange Sherbet glass.
All in all, it was a very good day.

Le Ann Gehring-Ryan Mankato Artist Reflecting on her Life

If you live in Mankato, Minnesota,

you will be pleased to know that Le Ann Gehring-Ryan is exhibiting her art work at the
Carnige Art Center of Mankato.
I've known Le Ann for several years.
We used to teach at the same high school, West High School, in Mankato.
Le Ann is an art teacher there.
Two years ago, on February 5th,
Le Ann had a stroke.
As Le Ann came back from her stroke,
she realized how much her life had changed.
I would visit her, and I watched her progress.
Her art became a focal point in her life.
You will see the paintings that she created after her stroke.
They show her feelings about recovery,
and
the journey she had to take.
Now, as I walked through the gallery,
I took photos.
However,
I forgot to write down the names of Le Ann's paintings.
Some I can guess.
Others,
well, all I can say is let them tell you the story.

This is a mixed media self portrait of Le Ann.
She's a lovely woman.
I know the name of this one.
Light at the End of the Tunnel.
I don't remember the name of this painting, but I like it!
Le Ann often portrays herself as a crow.
Note the bandaids.
I love this one.
This depicts Le Ann's special friend, Charley, taking care of her.
I think this one was called
As the Crow Flies.
I remember when Le Ann started this painting.
She was in the early stages of recovery.
Note the damage to her brain.
Pushing up Daisies, I think.
I don't remember the name of this one.
I do remember the name of this one.
Fork in the Road.
I think was called
Learning to Write Again.
Le Ann had to learn to write again.
Self Portrait.
Note the bandaids.
She had a lot to do to recover.
What a vision of your mind.

Thanks, Le Ann, for sharing your art with us!
Isn't she an amazing artist?
What a journey for her.

Six Word Story Sunday - Pixie

Pixie

Pixie
has been
cold
all
week.






What's your six word story?