so today is the reveal day for jeannie dukic's echo creative club's march reveal. let me remind you what she sent.
i love the color, the leaves, and the gorgeous peeled paint art beads. i have no idea how she makes these. she's brilliant! go visit her store here and get some of your own!
so i'm really inspired by nature. nature is pretty much my theme. and this collection made me think of a magical forest, so i went diving in my art beads and found the perfect focal--a fairy kissed tree!
i drilled the bottom hole and added little dangly bits of nature and those beads. love those beads.
then i focused on wire wrapping various beads in my color scheme of grey, blue, cranberry, brown, and silver. i wanted the wire to be brass, and the elements silver to reflect my silver and gold focal.
i pulled in a brown diane hawkey 'harmony' bead. i thought that would be perfect for my fairy wood. and of course i had to have a bird for my forest, so i grabbed my trusty green girl studio beads and dug in them to find this soaring birdie. yay!
i love the look of steel wire, so i wrapped a couple spots of the brass with it. love that black, steely look.
at the back i did some simple stringing.
i've got mother-of-pearl, wood, labradorite, jasper, and tiger's eye back here, all on brass beadalon. i kept the clasp simple since so much is going on in this necklace.
now, go see what the rest of the team did. and don't forget to visit jeannie's store and get your hands on some of these fabulous beads!
so i'm going to be gone from the internet world for a little while. i have a big thing that i may or may not be able to talk about when i get back. i'm not trying to be mysterious, i just don't know how i'm going to feel when all is said and done. it's another bend in the road and i'm just not sure what the road is gonna look like when i get around that bend. little apprehensive, little nervous, little excited, little scared. okay. a lot scared. but i am never alone. no matter where i go. i am never alone.
i hope you will join me on march 25th for the echo creative club reveal and april 1st-ish for the collective creative canape. i have those posts scheduled, so never fear that i will miss those.
expect me the second week of april. that's when i'll be back. i'll miss you, beautiful internet world. you have taught me the beauty and depth of my fellow jewelry artists, which is a lovely thing.
so lori anderson started the bead soup cafe in conjuction with her bead soup blog party this time around. i've soooo been enjoying connecting with other bead freaks and jewelry makers. for those of us who didn't make it into the party, there came the opportunity to be part of a mini-swap. there are 19 of us and keri lee sereika organized it. we're calling ourselves the collective creative canape. collective; all of us together, creative; because that's what it is, canape; because it's a small bite. ;)
my lovely partner is cheryl foiles. we both sent each other bead soups that are inspired by nature. isn't that fun? synchronicity at work. so the parcel arrived yesterday evening and i was sooooo excited! i love challenges, as you well know. the bead soup idea, organized by the amazing, famous, and sweet lori anderson, is so brilliant. we exchange a focal and some accompanying beads with a total stranger and the fun ensues! i love this challenge because it brings beaders together, helps us reach beyond what we would normally choose and create something altogether new and different. it helps me grow and expand as a designer. love love love.
so cheryl went to ornamentea (she is lucky enough to live close enough to go often) and chose gemstones and brass for me. and... wait for it... elaine ray ceramics. swoon!!!!! i've been jonesing for elaine ray ever since i came across lorelei eurto's jewelry, who often uses elaine's work in her pieces.
so here is what she sent me.
she sent petrified wood, agate, a lovely pearl rosary chain, two mystery stone rings, a clasp she made herself, that gorgeous leaf focal that i already have a myriad of ideas for, and little brass pods. oh, and the elaine ray ceramics!!! squee!!! i'm so excited!
so come back april 1st for our reveal. can't. hardly. wait!
i get to play this month in jeannie dukic's echo creative club again! i'm so thrilled to show my gorgeous beads.
jeannie is a virtuoso with polymer clay. just look at those leaves! the copper-kissed beads! oooh-ahhh.
i draw most of my inspiration from nature--seas, skies, forests, deserts, animals, mountains, stones, weather... it's all grist for the mill. so i'm thinking trees... yeah. i'm thinking trees. definitely trees... i'll leave it that for now. :)
come back on the 25th for the big reveal!
please visit jeannie's website to get your hands on your very own leaves and peeled paint art beads: http://www.jkdjewelry.com
i must thank the lovely erin prais-hintz for coming up with this beautiful idea! i'm so excited to see what everyone else has done and what song inspired them.
i have to admit, i started right away. i dug through my cds, i listened to every song on my i-pod. i seriously considered doing three necklaces inspired by three different songs. but sanity reigned and i chose 'the middle' by jimmy eat world.
i've always felt a connection with this song, like i was the one who needed to hang on. i had just given up my dream of being an art therapist, a dream i'd had since high school. i first heard this song right after 9/11 and there was this cloud of darkness settling itself over the country. my depression at this time had led me to consider suicide, and here was this song telling me not to "write myself off yet/it's only in your head you feel left out or looked down on." this song made me think maybe i wasn't such a lost cause. i definitely needed the reminder that it's gonna be all right, if i would just hang on. here are the lyrics.
The Middle lyricsSongwriters: Adkins, James;
Burch, Richard; Lind, Zachary; Linton, Thomas
Hey, don't write
yourself off yet/It's only in your head you feel left out or looked down
on/Just try your best, try everything you can/And don't you worry what
they tell themselves when you're away
It just takes some time/Little
girl you're in the middle of the ride/Everything, everything will be just
fine/Everything, everything will be alright, alright
Hey, you know
they're all the same/You know you're doing better on your own, so don't buy
in/Live right now, yeah, just be yourself/It doesn't matter if it's good
enough for someone else
It just takes some time/Little girl you're in
the middle of the ride/Everything, everything will be just
fine/Everything, everything will be alright, alright
It just takes some time/Little girl you're in the middle of the
ride/Everything, everything will be just fine/Everything, everything will
be alright, alright
Hey, don't write yourself off yet/It's only in
your head you feel left out or looked down on/Just do your best, do
everything you can/And don't you worry what the bitter hearts are gonna
say
It just takes some time/Little girl you're in the middle of the
ride/Everything, everything will be just fine/Everything, everything will
be alright, alright
It just takes some time/Little girl you're in the
middle of the ride/Everything, everything will be just fine/Everything,
everything will be alright, alright
when i did a little research on wiki i found that the band wrote this song after they'd been dropped after their first album was a total hit. they felt betrayed and belittled and totally like everything was spinning out of control. so they decided to produce this single themselves, and it hit the top 20. and then they got picked up by another producer, a producer who listened to them and wanted them to make the music that they wanted to make. so. it was better in the end.
pretty profound life lesson, there. deep songwriting at it's best. just hang on. it will get better.
so here's the focal i made. i drew out my design idea on paper and then drew with a sharpie on the copper, refining the shape until i got something i thought would be comfortable. then i cut it out, hammered it and added the words. i wanted the words to be black so instead of liver of sulpher i used a sharpie, sanded it all to make it matte, and added the holes.
then i added this little key, as a reminder that just holding on is the key for me. all things pass, the hard times, too. i used a pretty little enamel headpin.
then i added this wing. it symbolizes that when you're holding on, you're flying.
life comes with the good and the bad.
the circle of life, twisted paths and clearings along the road.
so that was my journey this month. i still need to remember and implement this lesson. it's a good lesson, don't you think?
i hope you enjoy this blog hop as much as i enjoyed working on this challenge. again, thank you, erin. i wouldn't have stretched myself in this manner without you.
you see, winter is cold. and winter is DARK. especially up here. at winter solstice (the end of december) we only have about three hours of light. yes. you read that right. three. hours. of. light. we still don't have a full day of light yet. the sun (oh, blessed sun) comes up around nine or ten and sets at about 4:30. twilight is short and dawn is long. so. onto the cold. this winter we've had -40 to -50 degree weather for weeks on end. i don't go outside but to run to my car, drive with curses in my head, and run to wherever it is i'm going, (generally the grocery store) and then come home. all because i must eat. so sad.
so. i hate winter.
but on my first walk i asked God if there was anything he wanted me to notice. and He said, "yes. just ahead." i walked the path down to the river, asking Him along the way if i'd gotten there yet. He said, "at the river." okay. so i got to the river and stopped. and stared.
it was beautiful.
trees were covered in thick heavy snow. the river, not fully frozen, had humps of snow peeking over the edges of the ice into the steely water. the bridge was gray with frost. and the sky! oh, the sky. heavy like a the underside of a down quilt. almost urging me to slumber. and i thought, "okay. so winter can be beautiful, too. there is beauty in all the seasons."
winter is a time of rest. of introspection. my spirit animal is bear, and bears hibernate in the winter. this is a time to gather inspiration, to fill my brain with stories from books. to look deep within myself and see what i want to change, where i want to grow, what i need to cut back and trim. to prepare for the coming of spring and be ready to *be the change*.
there is beauty in all the seasons. they all have their place in the cycle. and isn't life a cycle? we follow the path that twists and turns and keep coming back to the issues that we need to work on, the same marvelous things about ourselves. the path is not an endless line. it is a circle, perfect in it's symmetry. a circle that is ever widening, leading us onward into greatness. leading us to where God wants us to be.
i pray that, you too, will find beauty in all the seasons.
so this is my first year in observing lent. i always thought it was an interesting idea but i'm not catholic so i figured it didn't apply to me. i mean, really, growing up baptist meant poo-poo-ing those silly catholics that prayed to mary and all those saints. (so many saints!) but i'm slowly learning that asking for a little guidance from those that have gone before me isn't such a bad thing. and looking to them to be inspired by their example is a beautiful thing. i pray to my spirit animal for guidance and help, don't i? i look to bear to be inspired by the way he is. why can't they do they same with the saints? and i'm going to a presbyterian church now; they observe lent so i'm learning a bit more about this season. it's really just preparing your heart to receive the blessing of His son at easter and couldn't everybody's heart use a bit more of that?
so, this being my first year, i've been floundering. what to give up? what to give? urgh! i've already given up my lovely diet coke and i'm changing the way i eat... then i read erin prais-hintz' encouraging and profound post about what she's doing for lent, and God was like, "BING!" on my head.
see, He's been telling me for a while that i need to walk, but it's *winter* and i *do not* walk outside in the winter. in the winter i go to my car and back and that is all.
it's been -50 here. please don't judge me.
but it's gotten warmer (it's 13 degrees out today) so i really have no excuse. so i will join erin in walking for lent. go bethiboo!
tom corbin--woman walking
have you ever felt so dissasociated from your body that all you are is a head and hands? that's how i feel. like i'm not part of this body.
see, my body keeps betraying me with it's illnesses and it's chronic pain and it's general incooperation to be helpful. so my brain has decided to pretend it's not there and that's just not right. i need to accept my body and change it to become the body i need it be. stronger. healthier. and to do that i need to exercise, which i've always hated, with a passion. well, not always. when i was in sixth grade i was the best runner in the school. and then puberty hit and my body betrayed me with awkwardness and breasts and a tummy. egads. but God has been telling me to *walk*. to accept. to *forgive*.
ah.
forgiveness.
that's the crux of the matter, isn't it? to forgive this fragile, imperfect shell of a body. it's trying it's hardest, but i haven't been helping. i've been hating it. and doesn't the thing that you hate become bitter and twisted after awhile? yes, in fact, it does.
so we bring into play the word of the year. TRANSFORM.
transform my hatred of myself (because that's what this is, really) into love.
so. back to lent.
i want to do more, i say. i want to focus on prayer and meditation as well. i've started a bible study and i haven't done one of those since i quit going to church about six years ago. it's a beth moore study; i'm so inspired by her. it's the james study about mercy. it's the second week of the study, and i'd like to meditate more on what i'm learning. i was thinking this morning that i need to get a meditation pillow, even before i'd made this decision. synchronisity at work! so i will pull walking and meditation together.
one more thing: helping my family. i need to do more around here. 'nuff said.
i'm an artist trying to find her way in this world. i'm a writer, a visual artist, a jeweler. i'm an explorer and a survivor, a recovering addict and a seeker of beauty. i search for meaning and truth and joy always, in every little moment.
