Surprising Information

Today I've been working on some clean-up of my blogs and when I checked in on this one I discovered that although I haven't posted since 2010, there are still a lot of regular visits to the blog.  For that reason I've decided to leave it online.

Please enjoy my beading stories and the photos I've put here to share.  Hopefully you'll find some interesting information and maybe even some inspiration.

My interests and area of creativity have changed and though I haven't beaded anything in a few years, I still have a serious stash of beads that I look at and contemplate from time to time…thinking about making something again.

There just isn't enough time in a 24 hour day to allow me to pursue all of my interests.  I hear the clock ticking and right now, writing trumps everything as I work on some creative non-fiction - my memoirs.

Online Art Tutorials

I'm pretty excited. I just signed up for a series of online art tutorials. It's called:

21 SECRETS: An Art Journal Playground

. If you are interested, you can find information about the tutorials, look HERE.

It all gets started October first so stay tuned to see what I learn!

My Studio View

Moved my studio from the main floor to the second floor and I'm loving my view there. You can see the table where I work.



This photo taken from the balcony on the studio. It's looking west on the Pacific Ocean and those are islands in the distance.



I've been making fabric and recycled fiber bowls and this is a nesting set of four.

It's Been a While

It's hard for me to believe that almost two months have passed since I last posted to my blog!

I have been busy and I have NOT been beading. I have quite a stock built up and as it has not been selling, I've not been making more. That is part of the reason I'm not beading. The other reason is that I've been weaving and I've fallen in love with fiber. Several scarves have come off of the loom and at the moment I'm working on a shawl that will be 26" x 72" plus the finge. Here is a peek at it:

These are the yarns before putting them on the loom. (The purple mohair is missing from this photos)



This is how it looks on the loom before it's woven. The fibers include mohair as well as alpaca and wool.



And this is the weaving in progress.



Can't really say when I'll put beading on the blog again, but I'm planning to post my progress at weaving.

Tote Bags

I've been beading but haven't finished a project for a while now. I've also been at the sewing machine and making up some tote bags for a Mothers' Day sale. Here's a peek at them. Those are actually pockets across the bottom of the bag. They also have pockets inside.

ENTRECARD EXIT

Today I made the decision to quit Entrecard. It didn't do what I'd hoped it would do - which was draw "buyers" for my jewelry.

If you are one of the Entrecard users that began visiting here because of Entrecard, I'd like to thank you for your visits and for dropping your cards.

Beadalicious to Entrecard: Over and OUT.

Beauty of Spring Necklace

Artbeads declared February and March as their months of ‘The Beauty of Spring‘ for their blogger community. I was asked to design my jewelry or creation with my own individual interpretation of Spring and here is the necklace I created. Leaves always make me think of spring because that is the time that they appear, signalling that summer is on it's way. I found these gorgeous copper plated ivy leaves by searching "leaves" on Artbeads. They inspired me to design this necklace. I received three leaves and each of them is unique and beautiful for a one-of-a-kind piece of jewelry. The other two leaves will be finished as earrings to match the necklace.



The small round copper "beads" in the spiral twist neck piece are actually 3mm copper Swarovski crystal faux pearls. I've been working with their pearls for a year now and I absolutely love them for their beautiful sheen, consistent size and colour. I believe that they give my jewelry a "step up" in elegance.



The necklace also features Opaque-Lustered Turquoise Toho seed beads. They were chosen for their colour and the consistency of size. The central core of the spiral is size 11/0 Triangle Toho beads. I like to work with triangle beads where I will need to pass a thread through many times. They also add interesting texture to the piece. These quality are my favourites to work with.

All of the supplies in this necklace were given to me by Artbeads.com in return for a review of the product.

Back to Beading!!

This is the piece I've been working on for quite a while. The fancy oval was what initially inspired me. I've been stalled for a while because I haven't been happy with the starts for the neckpiece. At least four times I've started and ripped it out. I'm still not sure about the one shown here. Looks like it's still going to be a while in progress.

Sophie's Puppies

A few posts back I mentioned that my little female dog Sophie would be having puppies. They were born on February 26th and here is a photo of them at 10 days old.



The white and black one is a male and weighs in at 9 5/8 oz. The black one with white toes is a female and weighs 8 oz. She started out the tiniest at 3 1/4 oz. The all black is a female and is gaining fastest. She weighs 11 3/8 oz. It's really fun having puppies in the house though my male dog - Willie has been banished by Sophie and isn't allowed anywhere near the room the pups are in.

New Earrings

Worked on these as I watched Canada win the gold medal for hockey and then the closing ceremonies afterwards. (Just don't ask me how many hours!) Goodness knows I'd have been biting my nails during the hockey game if I hadn't been beading!

These beads are called "amethyst" but they look more raspberry to me.


Turquoise and silver always look good to me.


The green of the fire polished beads is very interesting...there is some red in them too. I like the way they look with the metallic AB seed beads.


Not black...hematite. I love the shine of these beads.


All of these earrings are for sale in my Etsy shop.