Finally Finished Something-YEAH ME!

I have been in a rut.  Actually I've been avoiding my bead table so I grab a few things and go somewhere else to work.  It's been good to finish some things I've piled up the supplies for, but never finished or at times even started.  

First I'll show you my summer anklet and the other bits and evolved while I sat there mesmorized by my first episode of Fairly Legal.  (Yep, I have Japanese cable so I'm a little behind the times.)

Anyway, here's the pieces made with my husband's beach finds that are "round & already have a hole.  So you could do something with that, right?"

This picture shows a bracelet, anklet & pair of earrings.  I only used Hubby's "round things", waxed cord, a pair of earring findings, 10 jumprings, 4 glass drops, a pair of scissors and a pair of pliers.  I love projects that don't require a ton of supplies.  The time consuming part of this project was digging out all the beachy bits that didn't wash out of the spirals. 

Next are the trees of life.  The smallest (center) I made in a class with

the fantastic Tammy Marsh of Lady Eireland about a month ago.

The others I created with my sample and a tiny scrap of paper's worth of notes.  The purple one was made on a day when I was really sad and upset despite knowing I was surrounded by love.  It was inspired by the tree Robin Williams' wife painted in What Dreams May Come.

The last (below) was just an effort to create something not my style which are always the first things my friends are drawn to when they go through my collection to chose a gift.

Not too shabby for my 2nd wire wrapping project ever.  Yep I've wire wrapped a pair of earrings and these.  Definately a skill I will continue to develop.

Last was finally finishing off a kumihimo braid.

It's not perfect, but it's done and that is good enough.  

Stash Share

Today I found CJ's blog 4 His Glory Creations.

She's decided not only to show us her stash, but share a bit with the 2 lucky people.

Though I'd be thrilled to win I wanted to share the photos of her stash.

It was like the HGTV Dream House special in blog form. 

I really enjoyed her reading her blog as well.

So check out CJ's blog.

Giveaway at Beads of Clay

I ran across this giveaway on facebook and thought I'd share.

We were asked to why we love Beads of Clay.  Since this was my first visit to the blog, and becuase I read the words without seeing the capitalization I wanted to share my response.  Beads of clay can look new and old at the same time.  I love glass beads more than anything, but they either look new or old. Clay can appear to be both simultaniously.  I love that!

Anyway, check out Beads of Clay Blog to enter to win the beads above by July 11th.

Field Trip

we have arrived

Shisha-open mouth scares away evil spirits

big bubbles

clay baking in the intense Oki sun

giant kaleidoscope

fibers for traditional Yomitan weavings

beautiful small vessels

Okinawan butterfly is the largest species I've ever seen.

better size comparison, but shot through netting...sorry

they have a gold chrysalis

Goya-famous Okinawa vegetable

tree house outside "Nature School"

lunch break...

Stilts...well done lil man

I'm going back to try my hand at lampwork!

Feel free to explore their website if you'd like:

 http://murasakimura.com/

Sorry to be short.  It's a busy busy day, but wanted to share my trip with ya'll.  

It's been so long since I shared my island paradise.

Cleanin' Up

So today I yet again found plenty of things to do to avoid cleaning my work space.  I did a ton of dishes, laundry, etc, worked out, shuttled my lil man to and from culture and swim lessons, read aloud for a bit and cleaned the sand out of our last batch of treasures. Of course I did a bit more, but that's all I can remember at the moment.

I can't tell you why we bring half of this stuff home, but I know at the time it is very important to one of the three of us.  This time my husband liked the little round things.  I know I couldn't possibly ever use all the white and brown sea glass I have, but they happily bring it to me and I happily collect not only the glass but their smiles of self-satisfaction.

Here a few of my favorites from this batch:

I love this color!

Looks like a honeycomb doesn't it?

Can you see the house and tree in the black one?

Well, off to bed. Tomorrow I'm going on a field trip. 

Beading Babes Project 5 Reveal Day

Hello again and welcome to yet another reveal day.  I love Beading Babes, because it stretches my skills and confidence without the fear of beader's block because the patterns or at least their location is provided.  This time Karyn of Releases by Rufydoof has selected patterns by Helena Tang-Lim.

I chose to do the Four Leaf Clover Cuff  not only because I liked, but I've made a resolution this year to make things I would actually wear.  So despite the stunning beauty of the Nefertti necklace it's not my style. But it is gorgeous.  This is too, don't you think?

I'm still looking for someone who can translate the package these beautifully & colorfully diverse 3mm came from.  Sadly I can't find it today to show ya'll.  Luckily, a got this bracelet done the week the pattern was revealed because life has thrown me more than a few obstacles recently.  Despite that I started a second cuff, and here's where I am on it.

 

  The orange beads keep breaking and there wasn't enough room to make all the passes through them, and the coral were much bigger than I thought.  I'll finish it, but slow and steady so I don't break too many more beads.
From this:

To this:

is why I love seed beads!

Kumihimo & Cranes

I just tried it and I love it!  Sadly my end caps are taking their sweet time to get here, 

but here's the mess I've made so far.

I'm still learning how much length it takes to create a finished piece, and it's different from one type of cording to another.  I've learned that if you have more than 8 strands the 4 that end up being the ridge of the spiral braid need to be at least twice as long as the others.  

My bobbins are with my end caps so tangling has been an issue with the thinner choices, but never for the rattail.  It's so slick the tangles just slide out like with really healthy hair.  I can't wait to get my haircut...my new stylist sounds like a real trip...look how quickly I can get off topic.  Speaking of which I got off task with my kumihimo making paper cranes with my son.

 Now I have this pile of several works in progress and plenty of options for the next creation.

The thick orange in the top left of this picture is some crazy stuff.  It's really quite thin, it's just very fluffy.  It also pops right back into this shape if you pinch it or even tie it in a tight knot.  I doubt I'll use it anytime soon because everyone in this house picks it up and plays with it every time they see it laying out.