I participated in an inchy exchange over on the Inchybyinch blog for Christmas. Twelve of us signed up which turned out to be a good number. Don't these make up a wonderful little set? Click on the picture to make it bigger and you'll see the creativity involved and some humor too. I'm really happy about having joined in.

Snow!

Hey everyone! I know a lot of you live in snowy areas but look what we got here in sunny, northern Arizona! This is the first time in seven years that it snowed all day. We've only had a few other snow days and they ended and melted off by about 10a.m. but not today. It snowed all day and now that it's night time it's turned to rain. Our big dog Sarah had fun running in it during part of the day but doesn't want to go outside now that it's dark and rainy. Look at that palm tree - and I thought I'd even throw in a pic of me out in the snow. We were only in the mid 30's so it was cold but not freezing! Lol, I even got a pun in there.

Well we thoroughly enjoyed watching all that white come down. It is such a rare occasion for us I wanted to share it with all of you.

Christmas Cards

I've got my cards done and mailed. I took part in a card exchange this year and sent the original of this colored pencil drawn card to the person I was trading with (it was a group trade but each person was given one person in the group for which to make a card. That way we could go to their blog to see what they might like and make a card accordingly - a neat way to do a trade. No one knew who would be making theirs).

I liked the card so much that I decided to make prints of the kitty and glue them onto cards I made with Elements which I am learning how to use. Originally these were all going to be red cards with green envelopes but I goofed so many times on my layout of the words I ran out of red cardstock. So now I have red cards with green envelopes and green cards with red envelopes and the recipients won't know it was due to mistakes. The envelopes are handmade out of Dick Blick construction paper. It is actually a nice 80 pound weight craft paper and I don't think they call it construction paper anymore. The colors and feel of it are great. I recommend everyone try it for crafting. I think you'll like it.


Hope you are all busy getting ready for your holidays be they Christmas, Hannukah or Kwanzaa. It's good to celebrate something especially when times are not so good.

Thanksgiving

Well Thanksgiving has come and gone but I wanted to share with you a bit of mine. My granddaughters love to do some arts and crafts with me when they visit. Usually I'm too busy to join them but I almost always have something planned that they can do especially with their mom to help.

The girls drew and made some turkeys for decorations. I don't do well with decorating so I am always glad when they come up with some pictures or other decorations. The youngest (age 7) drew here family as turkeys and we taped it to the sliding doors in the dining room. I love her unique take on the turkey feathers. The next in line made this paper plate turkey and used a sprig off the Chinese elm for it's feathery tail.

My daughter found a square tablecloth at a Bed and Bath shop by her house that would actually fit my square table. I'd suggested that coloring some leaves in fabric crayons would make a great tablecloth so she also dug up her fabric crayons and brought them with her. The 3 girls drew most of the leaves (with cookie cutters my daughter also brought) but my grandson actually joined in and did one along with almost everyone else. I think only my husband and my daughter's didn't. We've even got Happy Thanksgiving on it

after first ironing one message backwards. You see, with these crayons you first color on paper and then turn them over to iron onto the tablecloth so printing is backwards unless you take that into account. My daughter spent a whole afternoon ironing the leaves on as we got them colored. Didn't it turn out great?

We had a great Thanksgiving even though it rained for more than one day. We go for months with no rain, my family shows up to visit and bam, rain! The older kids had fun playing out in it though and they haven't had a lot of rain in southern California where they live either. My daughter surprised me with a couple of pumpkin pies so I didn't have to bake them, just one apple pie but I waited till Friday to do that. We had the usual turkey and stuffing routine but I also made a mushroom pot pie for the two vegans (my son and his girlfriend) along with leaving the butter out

of the corn so they could feast too.

Then during the weekend my son and the older grandkids helped my husband move the goat shed, their rock pile for climbing on (very heavy - our son moved them with our daughters help) and put up some fencing for them. We moved the goats because their hay attracts the rabbits and the cars were by the goats and the rabbits then climbed into the car engine to eat the copper wires. Big job but it needed doing.

My daughter decided it was time for me to get started on painting my kitchen. I had the paint;

it was a matter of getting to it. She got up into the corner where I would have found it difficult to get into so she really helped a lot. Doesn't the yellow look so much better than that icky mobile home wallpaper stuff? Oh, yeah, that gray haired woman is me. Boy the time has flown. We were reminiscing about painting her bedroom when we moved to Minnesota during her senior year of high school. I was only four years older at that time than she is now!

Anyhow, that's how my Thanksgiving weekend went. I enjoyed it a lot. Hope yours was as good.

A New Inchy

This week's theme from Inchy by Inch is Trees. I can do trees. I didn't have a tree stamp and especially not one small enough to do an inchy but I did have a tiny 3-leaf sprig stamp so I stamped it all over the top of my inchy for the tree top. Then I took a fine tip pen and added a few more leaves and a trunk. Colored the whole picture with watercolor pencils and wet it down. I edged the square with a wet watercolor pencil and felt it was done.

Hope you enjoy this little tidbit and wish some more people would join in. You can draw, stamp, paint, quilt, embroider or bead an inchy. They cover all the art stuff you can think of so don't be shy - come on!

Challenge

Carol of Beads and Birds issued a challenge on her blog for visitors to give a glimpse of the world around where they live. Well, I live in the desert of Kingman, Arizona. I am in the north western part of the state and live on 40 acres in pretty much the middle of nowhere.

The bunny was caught early in the morning just after the sun came up about 2 weeks ago. They are so cute but they eat everything we don't want them to including the wires in our cars. (We are getting ready to put in a garage to keep them out).

The roadrunner jumped up onto the window
air conditioner I have during the summer. I guess he was wondering what was going on. I was sitting right there working on my computer so I grabbed the camera quickly to catch him.

The next picture is of our big dog Sarah who went for a walk with my goats, my son and girlfriend and I this past summer. She runs pretty free here and will cover at least 10 miles a day chasing rabbits all over the place but this day was so hot even she was stopping for a rest in the shade.

The next picture shows the road on one side of
our property. It gets so seldom used that in the
spring, flowers grow in the road just fine. This is
a shot of another walk with the goats. As you can
see, we are pretty isolated. (Now you know why I treasure the internet and my internet friends).


The next pic shows the moon just two days ago. The sun was coming up while the moon had yet to go down over the mountains. If I knew how to use the manual stuff on my camera I'm sure I could have got a better shot but this is close enough. Sometimes it's not so nice here but at others, there is a real sense of peace and time.

The last shot is of a cow that has free range here. When we first moved here 6 years ago we found we wanted a fence around the house as the cows walked right up to it and had a snack of some palm trees we were going to plant. We figured they'd want the goat's hay too so now they have been fenced out! It's fun to watch them when they are grazing nearby and the dogs (all four of them) love to bark their heads off at them.

Well, this should give you an idea of what I see on any given morning. We are retired so there is no commute to work but it would be on a fairly
empty road for 12 miles to the edge of town.


Enjoy your day wherever it starts.

Inchies

I got a little behind with my computer malfunctioning on me so I am posting last weeks inchy with this weeks.

Last week's theme was The 5th of November or Guy Fawkes Day. This is a holiday in the UK celebrating someone who tried to burn down the Parliament building. Fiona of Inchybyinch asked us to do a fireworks or glitter inchy to celebrate. Well, I have a little interference powder on the tea being poured from the cup. It doesn't show up really but that wasn't how I "celebrated" with her. I celebrated by a return to a protest in our country while it was still under King George and part of England. I am portraying the Boston Tea Party. A cup pouring out tea with a ship asea in the background is my take on joining in this week. This was done with Prismacolor pencils.

Hmmm, and now that it is done and posted, I see my horn is upside down! It was too tiny before and I didn't notice. Guess I'd better start using that magnifying glass. I am already using reading glasses!

This week's theme is music. Fiona is singing in a musical and decided to carry music over into our inchies. I used a stamped music background. My only musical instrument stamp was much too big so I put it in my new Elements and reduced it so it would fit and glued it on with some tiny script. I edged it with chalk ink and tada, one musical inchy!

Notecards

I recently saw a picture on a blog that I really liked. Well, there were a lot I really liked but there was one that said "gotta have it for my daughter" so I inquired about it and was able to purchase the painting as notecards. I was really lucky because Monette who sells these from her shop on Etsy called Shiny Designs also sent with the packet of bunny cards, a couple of her wonderful birds on notecards. Doesn't she do lovely work. With Christmas coming up you might think about stopping in for some reasonably priced gifts most people would love.

I just sent one of the cards off with a package to my son. I
needed to enclose a note and he likes art and nature so I am hoping he'll appreciate this card too.

I just love that little bunny. You really did a great job Monette.

Veteran's Day

I have seen a few blogs that have shared stories for Veteran's Day and thought I'd add a few of my own. Grace has an excellent story and some artifacts so I'd go over and check it out if I were you. Also check out pics and artifacts over at Margaret Ann's blog .

My family is mostly veteran's of one war or another or have served time in the military. My grandfather's were in WWI where one lost a lung due to mustard gas. The other served with Theodore Roosevelt and was in the Spanish American war riding up San Juan Hill with Teddy as cavalry soldiers back when the cavalry rode horses. They still have the cavalry soldiers, just not the horses.

My parents were both veterans of WWII. My mom was a truck driver for the marines and served at Miramar Air Base making roads. It was a man's job but the men were "over there" so the women filled in. Her biggest peeve over equality (which didn't exist) was when she waited for a train to come in to pick up marines and the Red Cross would not let her have a donut and coffee. It was only for the male soldiers!

My dad served in the army. He fought the Japanese over in all the islands of the Pacific with the most notable being Leyte in the Philippines. He had a tough time as he often had to skip gunfights for hand-to-hand combat. He said the Japanese would herd women and children in front of them for protection so the U.S. soldiers would wait for the women and children to pass and then fight with their bayonets. The (I think it was the 7th Infantry but I could be wrong) has a patch to this day that bears a bayonet on it in honor of their fighting. There was a time when he had to steal his own rations from the base camp as they didn't have the proper paper work for them (everyone with papers and most others kept getting killed off). He received a Purple Heart for a stab wound to the neck. He said the going mode of operandi was take no prisoners, and don't become one. Fighting to the death was the only kind he knew. At one time (my brother has the photo or I'd share it) the soldiers had to wear white patches on their backs. The reason was that anyone without white showing was a target for shooting and it eliminated anyone from turning around to retreat. My brother-in-law never believed dad's story saying the U.S. wouldn't shoot their own but then we found the picture and yep, they would. But to be fair, I think the fighting was so hellish, it was hard not to turn and run at times. When he came home, his sister said he showed up at the door looking like the people shown in the Aushwitz pictures. Dad was almost starved both by lack of rations and not being able to eat due to flies everywhere after a battle going from dead bodies to his food. He just could not eat it then. (Yes, war is hell! That's why I can't stomach the idea of a pre-emptive one).

Next generation - my brothers-in-law and my husband served during the Vietnam era. My husband (I didn't know him quite yet) helped load the big guns on the ship he was on and lost part of his hearing. One brother-in-law went up the rivers in a small boat as Senator Kerry did. One was in the marines and spent one tour on the ground over there. He was a truck driver (yep, like my mom) and said the vietnamese women would sometimes throw their babies under the tires in order to get money from the U.S. government. Before judging them, I would guess they didn't have food or money to care for the rest of their family so took this as hopefully, a last resort. One brother-in-law joined but wasn't called to serve in Vietnam but he served his 20 and finally retired. A cousin of mine was trained to de-arm bombs that didn't go off and just before we pulled out of the war, he ran out of his luck and is now buried in Fort Rosecrans Cemetery. Just after the war ended my sister followed my mom into the marines. My brother followed in my dad's footsteps and joined the army from which he is now retired.

I was set to join the army nursing corps but met my husband and that's the way that story ended. I mention this as you are probably wondering why I didn't serve!

Now, the latest generation is serving in Iraq. My nephew has had three tours in Iraq following one in Afghanistan. He's had three kids in between tours and is finally safe at home with them. He just got home and should be for a long time now as he will become an instructor at a Ranger school in Fort Benning Georgia. He received a bronze star in his second tour in Iraq and has lost some of his friends over there. My son also served in between the Gulf War and Iraq. He served 8 years in the navy in the nuclear power field aboard an aircraft carrier. I also had another nephew, the oldest of the bunch who served in the navy for 6 years aboard a non-nuclear sub.


I thank all who do their duty as veterans and unpopularly, I also salute those who resist war in a truly pacifist notion. Getting out of serving by going to college doesn't earn my respect. So many did this during Vietnam, especially the people with lots of money. No sir, I don't respect letting someone serve in your place because you have the money to avoid it (and that goes for President Bush who served where it was least likely to produce a trip to Vietnam). But real war protesters who are willing to leave their country or go to jail in protest I can understand because war is hell and should be avoided. Sometimes it can't and we have to do the best we can but choosing not to do all that was possible to win in Viet Nam and opting for a war we didn't have to have in Iraq are inexcusable reasons to have our soldiers killed and wounded.

Creativity

I saw this video as a link on another blog. I hope I can get it here. I really don't know how these things work so I just have to try it and see.



If this doesn't work then try this.

Good luck. If you can get to it it's funny and informative too.

ATC Swap

About a month ago Julie of Mixed Media blog asked me if I'd
like to trade ATC's. We settled on fabric as the basis. I made her the beaded moon ATC shown at right. The green fabric is hand dyed by Grace of Barnyard Chatter (I'd previously used some here.) I enjoyed making this for Julie but I think I got the best end of the stick! Look at what she sent me.

She sent me a note on handmade paper. That's always nice to feel and even to repurpose later.

Then she sent me a Celtic prayer. I really like those. Julie, my maiden name is O'Keefe and my grandfather was born in Ireland - came over to the U.S. as a baby.

Then she sent me a packet of buttons, beads and charms! I saw a couple of orange buttons in the packet that will find their way onto my November BJP page as orange is the color for this month.

And last but the best by far, much better than what I
sent her, is the ATC she sent. She titled it The Beach at St. Ives, Cornwall. Isn't it beautiful? Seashells and sea shards along with embroidery and beads, needle felting , or maybe it's what is called embellishing and rust-dyed fabric make up the surface. She used wire to wrap the shards to keep them on the surface. I just love this. I feel the ocean through this piece Julie. You really are an artist.

Well, Christmas may still be more than a month away but I felt like it showed up in my mailbox today! Thanks Julie.

An Award!

I have received an award from Cheryl of Scrappy Cat blog. I am supposed to pick four people now to forward the award to but as is my usual practice, I am not doing so. I really don't know who I would pick as ALL the blogs I go to are special - or I wouldn't go to them.

People who come to my blog will enjoy more Cheryl's blog. She does fiber arts, book reviews plus some other things as they come up. Drop by; I'm sure she'd love a visit.

Thank you Cheryl.

October BJP08

I've finished both versions of my October page, the larger one which I started first and found out was the wrong size and the newer, smaller one which is correct. I call them "On the Wild Side" as the frog, ladybug and square beads seem to suggest.

This month was yellow orange on my colorwheel theme. I used the square beads which I received from Grace of Gracebeading, a piece of sea glass on the larger page which is a gift from some litter bug and the sea, three medium size beads in the bugle part of the fans on the small page which were gifted by my grandchildren one Christmas and a frog bead.

The frog bead was made by myself out of a smashed bottle cap "gifted" by my husband, a piece of paper and an old, used, vinyl frog sticker. I glued the items on the cap and then coated them with a resin glaze by Deco Art. I punched holes in the two ends so I could stitch it down. Actually, the other side is the side I was trying to use as an experiment with the resin but this side worked for my page.

I used Robin's paper backing idea for stitching these and then glued some thick pellon to the back, folded and glued the fabric to the back side and also glued a piece of ultra suede to the back (not all the way to the edge so a needle could still get through) before adding the beaded edging.

I am happy with the way they both turned out. The big one looked a bit plain but after I added the cross stitching to "sew it all up" I was a lot happier.

Tagged Again!

This is the second time I've been tagged recently. I don't know if I have any more secrets to share! I was tagged by Arline who was double tagged herself. Note: In the time since I started thinking about and writing this post, I have been tagged again by Sunni so I get another twofer)!Maybe I should just refer everyone to my last tag post - nah, I don't want to be a party pooper so,



Here are the rules:

1. Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blog.

4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog



Since blogger hasn't been good about leaving spaces between paragraphs and such lately, I am switching colors so it's easier to read. Let me know if this isn't working for you.

1. My formal education stopped after one semester of college. I got married! It was a lot more okay to do way back when - 1972.
2. Like Sunni, I have expanded my bead and art supply storage to my too-big bathroom. Hey, my clothes closet is already full - of supplies, not clothes. I think I need my bed put on one of those platforms with drawer space under it but come to think of it, I already have stuff piled underneath it.
3. Hmmm, I've already voted. Have you?
4. I should be on a vegan diet but this year I've gotten to the point I am back to eating meat and too much fat almost every day - and my joints are starting to hurt again. Shhhhh, don't let my son or husband know that. I hate lowfat, vegan diets as I love meat and fried foods like a dinner of deep-fried zucchini, onion rings, mushrooms and chicken strips. Mmmm doesn't that sound good?
5. I've got hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth of stuff -- on my wish lists. Do any of you do that too? I no sooner buy a little of it when I see more stuff I need. I think it's a disease!
6. Every year I make my Christmas cards, from scratch one at a time. After 35+ years, I am getting tired of it.
7. I'm getting Photoshop Elements for my birthday from my husband. He was going to surprise me but I wanted to take an online class: Photo-graphic Design 101 from Jessica Wesolek so he's letting me buy it today. Yay. I highly recommend her classes.

Well, that's it. Once again, I am not going to list more people as I see everyone I know is getting tagged. If you haven't been tagged and would like to join in I would love to see what you come up with. I love getting to know the people behind the blogs.

Halloween Inchy

The theme for this week is "Hallowe'en or Samhain". This is my take on the subject. I don't have any stamps or anything at all really connected to Halloween in little doodads so I resorted to drawing a picture. This is drawn on Strathmore charcoal colored paper with Prismacolor pencils. Hope you enjoy it and feel compelled to join us at Inchybyinch with your version of the theme.

Happy Halloween everyone.

Weekly Inchie

This week's inchy challenge was a autumn leaves. I had a stamp that was too large but figured it would still work. I dabbed it with red and yellow chalk inkpads and then used green chalk ink where the stamp didn't hit the paper. I added a tiny bit of glitter and then decided to make it a tile like last week using a thick coating of UTEE. I glued on a gold doodad into the soft UTEE. I've got two tiles now for my mosaic - guess it will be a while for that project!

If you'd like to join us in making inchies, you'll find the info at Inchybyinch.

Weekly Inchie

Hi everyone. I have my inchy for the week done. The theme for this week was "sun". This is my take on it. I used a white square - one inch of course - rubbed on a bit of blue ink, stamped it with a sun stamp and coated it with UTEE to set the pigment ink. I added glitter to the edges and a few beads and there you have it, my version of sun. You can join us by making one of your own and posting it in the comments section at Inchybyinch.

I rather like how this came out with several layers of UTEE melted over all the layers. It's rather like a tile making me think about making some as tiles for a mosaic. Hmmm, well after I get a few more things done!

Face Pin Swap

I received the pin that mine was swapped for. This pin was made by Arline Lewis. Doesn't it have the perfect fall look? I think she'll look really nice on a black turtleneck for Thanksgiving. You can see all the pins that were in the swap at Sassy Art Goddess. They are really wonderful. I think I'm going to sign up for her Yahoo Group so I can do this again next year. Perhaps you'll join me!

Decision Time

Well I have looked at and considered all the suggestions so many of you offered. Mariasangel, I'm sorry but you can't have the large size piece! I really thought about sending it to you but there are too many options still open to me. I liked the idea of keeping the larger one going instead of ripping it out. I really don't like to rip but more than that, I rather liked what I had going!

Alternating the sizes every other month has some merit too with the other idea of adding a background to the smaller ones so they seem as large as the larger ones. That is still an option I will keep in mind. This month my focal bead had been the frog bead I made as a real quickie project due to a question on either Bead and Button or Beading Daily (I can't remember which) where the question was asked about the kind of resin you use. I have on hand some Delta Air-Dry PermEnamel Clear Gloss Glaze which I love and so tried it out on a smashed bottle cap. I did both sides but the side with the frog had yellow orange in it so I thought I would use it. But, it is too big even if I wanted to rip it out to use on the smaller piece and now I wonder if I might run into the "too big" bead again so that's why the alternating sizes is still under consideration.

I like the idea Vivage of using it for October and the other one for November but MY rule is to use the color wheel so that doesn't work. Darn it! But that idea may come in handy for others out there.

Coral seas likes the idea of sticking with the small size as I did well on Septembers in fitting a lot in a small space which is kind of what I was after but then Helene shared that small can sometimes be too small which is what the bead I used this month also says.

I liked Julie's idea of using the small September as a cover page which is a super idea for those who are putting them together in a bookish type of finish but mine are going in a frame (hopefully a polymer clay tile mosaic frame) so that won't work for me. I sure stopped to think about changing my finish though with that suggestion!

So in the end here is what I am going to do. I cut out a smaller version and started working on it to see if I could use beads other than the ones on the larger version and it looks like I can. That means I will be doing both sizes this month. Next month I will start with the small (I think I've learned to measure twice, cut once by now!) and if I have a large bead again, go ahead and make the large version also. Who knows, I may end up with two whole sets at the end of the year! Actually, I think one of the two sizes will eventually win out but if I stitch one of each till then I won't have a lot of catch-up to do and the ones I don't eventually use can become gifts or a part of a new project. I am really glad you didn't all suggest ripping it out since it couldn't be reproduced on the smaller version anyhow.

Thankyou all so much. I hope this problem has given you ideas too for when you make a mistake. In the view of this beading as being journaling, I think keepin' on goin' is really better than a restart. And for those of you new to the BJP you can now see some of the value of being part of the group. Without you I was left with my husband's opinion, one of which he really didn't have! With all of you, I got opinions from people who know beads and know the time involved and feelings tucked into each piece. So again, thank you all so much. I really, truly appreciate all the suggestions and they really did get me moving forward again.

I've Been Tagged Again!

Cheryl from Scrappy Cat has tagged me. I've been tagged before and thought I'd told all my little secrets but here I go again.

The rules are as follows:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know your entry is up.

Well, I've got one and two under control. Hmm, now number 3....weeeellll, okay here goes:

1. I was a republican all my life until after President Bush started a preemptive war. That was my last straw and I am now a full-fledged Democrat.
2. I am taking drawing classes through Jessica of Cre8it! This is a beginner's course that is online. She takes you one small step at a time and I highly recommend it if you've been too afraid to give drawing a real chance.
3. I like to knit socks. Have I mentioned this before? I don't think so as I haven't done much knitting since I started the Bead Journal Project and blogging. Oh yeah, I'm real bad about spending too much time blogging and I still don't get around to all the ones I like to keep track of! Why do we need to sleep?
4. I've written a new poem which I need to illustrate in my poem journal but since I shared that I was going to learn to write poetry I haven't posted on this blog any of the three I have come up with so I'll share one at the end of this list.
5. I've discovered Marie Callendar TV dinners. Yep, I know they've been around for years but they have always been too expensive. At today's prices for stuff though and the fact they've been on sale for $2 - 2.50 I've given them a try and found them to contain real food. Really! They have real food in them. I had to give up on Banquet and all the rest because a person can only eat so much rubber and sawdust and I was at my limit!
6. I'm lazy. That's why I like TV dinners and canned soup so much. Well, maybe I'm just lazy at cooking and housecleaning as I like to do my art stuff. Is some lazy okay? Am I chasing anyone away from my blog yet? "Aaaah, that freebird is too crazy for me, I gotta get outta here, aaaahhh"? I hope not. I really like you all to visit and leave comments - getting together modern style!

Okay, that poem I was telling you about? Well it's very simple and short but I kind of liked it. It used four key words from the book I am using to learn with. They are poetry, balcony, star and moon. So here goes:

Poetry

Poetry is some pretty elusive stuff

At least to me.

It's like leaning over a balcony reaching for the moon

But getting snagged by a star.

Ha! Who can reach the moon from a balcony anyhow?

Might as well go cook dinner and leave poetry to the dreamers.

Well, that's it. I hope to draw a picture to go with it and I will keep working on trying to write some nice poetry.

I am now supposed to tag six people --- now don't rush off everyone --- but I am not going to since I've already tagged everyone I know or those who I've tagged have tagged the ones I've missed. Instead I just want to say I hope you've enjoyed your visit here today and hope you will come back again.

My Inchie

The theme for this week's inchy is rain or water. I chose to use dewdrops on a flower. The flower is drawn with Prismacolor pencils on a dark gray/blue background. If you'd like to try one just use a 1 inch format and in any medium depict something about water or rain. Then post a link at the Inchybyinch blog so everyone can see what you've done. It's easy, fits every style of art and it's fun. C'mon and try one!

Uh oh!

Well I certainly have put myself into a pickle of a problem. I am hoping someone has a suggestion for me. My September page was 1/2 the size of an ATC. I like how it turned out. So, I got ready for my October page. Traced my template, picked out some beads and I began stitching. I like how this page is coming along but today I discovered something.

This page is full ATC sized!! Uh oh, now what do I do? Do I start this over and use a lot less beads? It will really change. Can I alter September's page? I have it sewn (and glued) to ultra-suede so there is a lot of thickness involved here with beads, fabric, Stiff Stuff and Ultra Suede so I wonder about sewing it to something bigger. Could I do some peyote or brick stitch around the edges? Or should I just go and start October over? Help! All suggestions are welcome.

I can't believe I did this. Okay, yes I can. I do silly things like this all the time. I get going and somehow manage to turn my brain off until halfway through and sometimes even till a project is done. I was trying so hard to be organized. Phooey.

Inchies

Inchies are back again. This week's theme is "stars". This is my take on it. Star glitter, a plastic faceted star and some printed out paper has been glued down with matte gel medium. I edged the square with a Kryon gold leafing pen. We'd love it if you'd join us over at Inchybyinch with your own version.

Ta Da! Sound the Trumpets! I'm Finished!

I did it. I did it! I finished my last page of BJP 2007.

This is my May page. It's based on my Grandma O'Keefe's wedding ring quilt. You can see my posting about that quilt here . The quilt caused a bit of a ruckus in the family with some thinking it was a valuable heirloom and it didn't help when my dad said two (that I know of) granddaughters would get to have it when he died. Well, with it almost hitting the trash bin as we were cleaning Dad's garage out, I somehow brought it home and still have it. We didn't get much from our grandmothers as other grandkids managed to get it instead. Grandma O'Keefe's stuff I'm afraid to say, probably went for drug money. Sad but that's the way life goes sometimes.

I wanted to see if I could do this like a charm quilt where every piece is a different fabric. I succeeded. I couldn't do fringe or too much texture as I was emulating fabrics - old fabrics. Some of the ugly-coating-coming-off pearl beads were the last from my mother. I figured this was a good place to use them. The two hearts in the middle are for my grandmothers. The fabrics are from their aprons we saw them wear so much.

I was going to sew all of these pieces from the year into a round penny rug table topper. I have changed my mind. I always cover up a table with junk and projects so it would never be seen and I didn't feel anyone else would ever want it in that form. Instead I am going to put them in three groups of four and sew them, still penny rug style, to a backing and put them in three matching frames. I think this will be a better way to display them all.

And now, I can go on to October 2008 guilt-free. Yay.

September BJP08

I have my September BJP08 page done! I am so happy. I really hate getting behind as it seems you never catch up. (As in my last page from 2007 which still isn't done - but now I have the rest of this month to work on it).

My color is yellow. Yep that's pretty obvious. The gifted beads I used are:

1. The mexican tubular bead from my daughter Tena.
2. The three small cubes at the top are from my son James.
3. The dark, matte seed beads making up the circles are from Grace.
4. The 3 tiniest brass beads are from my niece Katie.

I don't think I will have so many gifted beads to use on most of my pages and none at all on some (where I will have to come up with something I make) but this made a very good start to the year.

This piece is measured 1 3/4 x 2 1/2 or one half of an ATC card before trimming and adding the edging. It's just a tiny bit bigger now.

I have two children and so I added the two hearts on this piece. I had no idea how this would turn out. In fact, I ended up turning it upside down at the end just before adding the hearts as it seemed to look better that way. That means the bird on the mexican bead is upside down now but I still like how it looks.

Now to start getting supplies out for the next page, draw a fairy my granddaughter challenged me to and finish my last 07 page.

Face Pin

I have been enjoying the face pins over at Grace's blog
and decided to try one of my own using the larger beads
around the face as she did. I got the UTEE face cab from Sammy last year in an ATC trade. The short bugle beads were a gift from my sister. The backing is ultrasuede and I stitched on Stiffstuff. The flower beads are much prettier and sparkly in person. I don't know if I can send it in time to join in the beaded face swap or not but I think she will make a nice gift if not.

Today I am hoping to finish my September bead journal page. Wish me luck as I keep saying things like this and then it doesn't happen!

Wedding Anniversary

September 16th was my 36th wedding anniversary. We celebrated by exchanging cards and going out for a chinese lunch. My husband also gave me a 2lb. box of See's chocolates he'd snuck into the car on our way home from California. He was a bit worried as he doesn't drive with the air conditioning on (just one of thousands of things we do opposite of each other) but it came through just fine and I am eating them up like I've been starving!

I used inchies to make him a banner and a card. I had to do it while he was busy and hoped he wouldn't catch me. It was simple stamping and stringing - hey these inchies fit the definition of beads too! Just thought I would share this idea as I think they turned out pretty neat. It's hard to shop when we go almost everywhere together and I almost always make my gifts anyhow.

Autumn Inchy

I am a little late with this inchy but here it is anyhow. (I took an impromtu trip to California which put a kink in my productivity rate - which is never that high to begin with).

The theme for this week is Autumn and what do I get every time this season rolls around? Candy corn! Doesn't everyone?

This is colored pencil on Strathmore art paper. I am quite pleased with this one. Whenever I draw something that comes pretty close to what I had in mind, I'm happy!

BJP Progress

I've been making progress on a lot of fronts. I'm taking drawing classes online with one of my granddaughters but I won't bother you with my homework pages. I'm starting a face pin trying techniques and the idea I saw on Grace's blog
And last, but certainly not least, I have been working on finishing my last page of last years BJP and on this years first page. I feel like I'm doing pretty well. Hope I can keep up the momentum.