January BJP Page

I finally finished my January page. (No you didn't miss one,
I still don't have December done).

This page came about as a real journal entry. In January two women made my family miserable so I thought I'd put it down in beads.

One of the women who made us miserable is my son's principal where he is interning as a teacher in San Diego. He teaches both science and math which is supposedly a much sought after skill. His principal liked him well enough at first and wanted him to try for getting known as a star teacher (any teachers out there will know more than me about this but I understand less than 10% of teachers get this). But, they had a run-in when my son didn't want to kick one of his students out for not trying and being a problem. (I guess a lot of the kids are problems in this school and that's why they come to it in the first place). He was against it because the boy had started shaping up and was now doing his work on time and participating in the class - in other words he'd turned around and my son wanted to give him a chance. Well, the principal didn't and said with his parents being well-educated they could take him elsewhere. My son doesn't believe in helping one kid less because his parents are better supposedly in some way - a kid who needs help is a kid who needs help. Then my son didn't watch the Presidential inauguration with the students which he found out later the principal wanted and when she questioned him on it he said he would think it's a momentous day when race doesn't make the day momentous anymore. So, he will be finding a new job next year. That one person can kick him out of the intern-teacher's program. His student's love him, by the way because he IS fair to them. So his being a great beginning teacher doesn't count if politics becomes involved.

The second woman was a family friend from Italy (currently lives in Vegas)who was visiting my daughter and her family. To make a long story short here, the woman's daughter jumped on the family dog and grabbed him around the throat while he was chewing a bone. The little girl either got nipped or scratched (the girl says scratched) on the face and had a few bleeding spots. My daughter stopped the bleeding right away but several hours later the mom wanted her daughter to go to the emergency room where she demanded a plastic surgeon even though the doctor on duty said no stitches were needed. The next day they went from my daughter's home to their own. And then a call came that the dog was to be picked up for quarantine. It turns out (by the animal control's own admission) that the mom wanted the dog killed not just quarantined even though under these circumstances the usual thing is to quarantine a dog at his own home. Well the dog was taken for 10 days, no rabies showed up and he went home (they would not kill him no matter that the mom was calling all day every day for them to do that). The reason this was a really big deal is the dog belongs to my grandson who has anxiety problems and ADHD and more and the girl's mom knew all this. She turned on my daughter's family as even now she is trying to sue them and this after they sponsored her husband to become an American, helped them buy a car, and so much more.

Well, I decided to make a page depicting the two women who caused so much heartache. January's page was to be red so I skipped December for the time being and went for January. I was certainly "seeing red"! My granddaughter had the molds and polyclay for the faces so we made them when I was visiting. The red beads for the hair were a gift from my oldest sister as were the short bugle beads. The 18 ought beads I got with a gift certificate my daughter gave me a couple of years ago so I was able to keep up my use of gifted beads. For once I didn't cover the fabric completely. It just didn't seem to need it. I felt like it was the right color and had the right design to go with the mood of the piece. I'd told my sister I felt like making them like voodoo dolls but she said to just blow them to the wind rather than hold onto them and their hurt so I added all the little swirls for that.

This is probably the most direct journaling I've done so far in the project. It just made sense to do it. Now what to do for December in red-orange? Hmm...

Roses

I thought I'd share the first rose of the season from my garden with all of you. My daughter and her family gave me this rose bush about four years ago. I struggle with the rabbits, grasshoppers, aphids, crickets, alkaline dirt, wind and a too hot sun to keep this bush going. I am always thrilled to see it bloom.

Getting Busy

I'm getting back to trying to do a little of
everything.

I am still working on my BJP page. Nothing like being so far behind and then deciding to add size 18 beads to the piece! I love those teensy tiny little things though and love it when I can add them to something.

I tried to do the inchies for the week. The theme this week at Inchy by Inch was to use triple embossing as the technique for the squares. First, I didn't know what triple embossing was so I googled it and found the explanation here . I ran into a small problem when I tried to make my inchies though as my heat gun quit on me while I was just partway through the process. Living outside of town, I won't be replacing it in the immediate future so this week's inchies just went out the window. Sorry everyone. To see some pretty ones go to the link above.

I am also working on my kitchen still. I started by painting it yellow as you can see here in this post. I have since finished the painting. I've bought new rugs I'll put down when everything is done. I am now painting my utensil rack for the wall. I painted it for my dad over 15 years ago and so am now making it match my canisters. I've got it sanded and base-coated with white. The canisters have a transparent glaze on them so I will do the same with my rack. I want it to really match so I am doing my best to use the same techniques even if my piece is wood rather than ceramic. I'll be sure to post the finished picture with the canisters so you can all see how I do.

Besides working on a pair of socks, that's about
where I stand at present. I wonder if I'm forgetting to do something....

New Post!

Hi everyone. I am finally back to beading. I don't have a lot done but I have started. This is January's page and I won't tell you what it means to me until it's done. Just wanted to let you know I am back at it and will try to make my way around to see what everyone else is doing now too.

Beading

I haven't done anything with my BJP pages since seeing tiny beads has been too difficult but I have been helping my grandkids work on a project I bought for them from Herrschner's (and I do not recommend their products anymore as I would have 30 years ago - they've gone too cheap) a year or so ago. Even with large pony beads the project was bigger for them than I expected so during visits with them I have pulled it out and we've worked together on it. With Easter coming up, I am really trying to get them to finish them this year so they can hang on the wall.

Out of three granddaughters one may actually develop a love for beading over time. I don't think the other two will but who knows so I'll keep introducing beads in some form over their growing up years and see where we end up.

The Eyes Have It?

Well, in this case the eyes don't! I had eye surgery on my left eye yesterday and thought I'd be okay to read and so on today but it's not to be. My new left eye vision doesn't go with my right eye in glasses so I'm dizzy and not focusing well. I get the other eye fixed in two weeks. Hopefully I won't be out of service that long but I am letting you know I won't be doing much in the way of artwork or blogging for at least a few days. The surgery I had was for cataracts and to put in a prescription lens so I can do away with glasses and contacts. Still hoping it's all worth it.

Weekly Inchy

The theme for this week's inchy is rose. I used a square with a bit of handmade lace (a sampler used to learn honiton bobbin lace) glued onto it. The rose was a button I had; I snipped off the shank before gluing it on.

Anyone can join in by going to Inchy by Inch and leaving a link to the inchy you make for the theme. Have some fun and try it.

Fires

I know several of my blog pals live in Australia. I sure hope none of you are near the fires and especially that you weren't in one. This fire is worse than even the ones in California where a lot of my family had to evacuate and my uncle's house burned down. Take care. I'm praying for you and yours and that the weather changes too.

I tried going to individual blogs but I'm not sure just who all live in Australia so I may have missed some but I am not forgetting you right now.

November BJP Page

Done at last! It's done at last! Hooray, I finished my November page. Between getting ready for Christmas, making a long visit to family in California and then some of the blahs, this page took me forever!! Somehow it managed to get a little off-kilter too.

The big orange bead is from the little bit of jewelry I have left of my mothers. I added seven cube beads that my son gave me (remember I am trying to use some gifted or handmade beads on these pieces) which stand for the number of children my mother had. One died as an infant but he was never forgotten. The small flowers add up to the number in our family as we grew up. The star and large flower were gifted to me by Julia of Mixed Media when we swapped ATC's .

Now I am going on to my next piece but it's going

to be the red one passing over red-orange for the

time being. I have a reason and you will find out

what it is when I have completed the red piece. Ooooh, don't let the suspense get to you. It's not that big a deal but it is a story so I'll put it with the piece.

The second picture here shows the first quarter done. I think it's following the color wheel pretty well so far. I hope I can find enough colors to make it all the way around without having to fudge too much. Now I can take a few evenings and go blogging through the BJP blogs without feeling too guilty. I feel a little as I am doing some pretty small pages and still managed to get pretty far behind.

Snowflakes

This week's inchy theme is winter. The blog's author lives in Great Britain and got her share of the white stuff this weekend so she thought it would make a good theme.

I made a beaded snowflake with directions I found at Bead Gypsy . I used a square cut from a box of facial tissues (recycling where I can!) and edged it with a silver Krylon pen. I used a white gel pen to make the small snowflakes after gluing the beaded snowflake to the surface.

If you'd like to try your hand at making an inchy stop by Inchy by Inch blog and see what's up.

Boy, I think I am on a roll this week! It feels good to be back creating this or that again.

I Did It!

I did it. I have had this blog for over a year and have never dared change my header until now. All I've done is add a picture and hope to play around with Photoshop Elements and make a banner that reflects what I do more but in the meantime I've got something a little better than a blue rectangle!

The picture in the header and these on this post were taken in San Diego while I was visiting my son this past Christmas trip to California. My son got me to go on the Spruce Street suspension bridge which was really scary for me. If the bridge had started swinging when I got on it I would never have crossed to the other side of it but it was sturdy even though it was very narrow and high off the ground. It was over a pretty canyon by Balboa Park.

I had a great short visit with my son in San Diego. He took me to Rancho's restaurant which has mexican style food for everyone - meat eaters, vegetarians and even vegans. I had avocado enchiladas which were very good. The picture of my son and I was taken at the restaurant.

Then he drove me around his neighborhood which is where we came across this bridge. We also stopped for a few minutes at Balboa Park. I grew up in San Diego and visited the park a lot as a kid. It was fun to see streets my parents would mention in stories about their growing up years and just to see where my son currently lives.

The plus is that I was able to change the look of my blog because of my visit.

Weather

I've just added the weather pixie to my blog. Now you and I can see what the weather is like here where I live (like I can't look out the door- hah!). You can get one too by clicking on it.

New Blog Thingy

I came across this on another blog - Bluebird Hill . It looked interesting and I rather liked the results even if the actual colors wouldn't be my selection. Give it a try and let me know if the results fit you. I know I do like optimism and try for the others.

Your rainbow is shaded yellow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is says about you: You are a joyful person. You appreciate optimism. You're good at getting people to like you.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

Inchy Once More

I am back everyone - hopefully for good. I have done the inchy for the week for the group on the blog Inchy by Inch. The theme for this week was buttons. This is my humorous take on the subject. I fully intended to raid my button box but this is what turned up instead. Done with prismacolor colored pencils. Hope it made you smile!


For those who have left me messages wondering where I was, I truly feel blessed that you were interested enough to wonder about me. I just was so busy leading up to Christmas and then visited so long with family that I guess I was worn out. I wasn't feeling like art or blogging - just resting. Thankyou so much for your concern; it helped, really, to get me back into the loop again.

Now, that I am back to doing inchies, I hope to get caught up on my Bead Journal Pages also. I have actually been sewing down some beads in the last couple of days. Not only that but I ripped out some knitted socks, relaxed the yarn and rewound it ready to knit some socks that will match up in size this time. I am on the move!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy New Year Everyone!!

I haven't been around much lately. Been sidetracked by any number of things but I am planning to get back to blogging, beading and drawing, making inchies and perhaps some painting this year. I have seen some new goals on some of the blogs I visit and hope you all attain what you'd like to try and learn and do this new year. Ready for a toast (it's pomegranate sparkling cider in case you were wondering)? To all the world: May peace win out when we are feeling at odds with one another, may generosity win out when we see those who have little, may joy reign in spite of a dismal economy and may everyone have a wonderful new year!!!!

I'm hoping to get by to see everyone's blogs very soon. I'm back online (my daughter's modem went out while I was visiting) and the holidays are almost over so it's time to get back to my usual routine. See you soon!