finished the June page

Well! I got going on it and finally finished today. Also managed to finish and mount the little laughing Buddha bracelet, that I think I'll end up giving to a friend who just finished her acupuncture training. All she's waiting for is the paperwork to clear and she'll be licensed to practice here in NM. Her husband has been a DOM (Dr. of Oriental Medicine) for many years now and she'll be practicing with him. I'm impressed with her accomplishments! She seems to have boundless energy.
Anyway, the pictures tell the story. I wish I could get a better pic of the page, but the sequins are so shiny they reflect even without flash, this is the first time I've done something that isn't completely beaded, but lets some of the background show through. I guess it's sort of 'multi-media' in a way, which is something I intend to explore this year, and I'm not really comfortable with the techniques yet. So yeah, guess I'm pushing my comfort level quite a bit, and really I'm not sure I 'love' this piece, but it does come close to being what I wanted.

Progress

Wow, I hadn't realized how long it's been since I blogged. I've been steadily working on my page, and also a little bracelet. When I decided on the size of my pages, I cut them from a roll of stiff stuff like material I have, that Mary T. (Aunt Molly) gave me a couple of years ago. I believe it's some sort of upholstery backing, but works wonderfully for bead embroidery. It's in a seven inch wide roll, so when I cut my pieces, I also had twelve 1 by 6 inch strips that I decided to use for bracelets each month. Here's my progress so far... the page is coming along nicely and I'm fairly happy with it. It is an attempt to capture the vivid summer desert colors, although the sky is a bit dark, that's the only blue sequins I had and the color is one often seen on partly cloudy days in the high deserts. The ground is going to be partly beaded, sprinkles of green and purple, as the desert floor was covered in both colors when we passed through in the beginning of June.

great trip

Carlsbad is lovely this time of year, hot but not excessively so. We toured the Living Desert State Park and the Carlsbad Caverns. Lots of inspirational material there, and I came home with many more ideas for my June square. But tonight it's back to work...

time out for inspiration

The way my work schedule works is...work Wed, Thur, Fri nights from 7p to 7a. Off Saturday (which is mostly devoted to sleep), Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. This week my son and I have decided to take a quick trip down south to Carlsbad (about 300 mile drive), to tour the caverns which we haven't done for years, and to take in the sights. I'm hoping to get lots of pics of the caves and the desert flora. We should be back late Tuesday evening and then it's back to work Wednesday night. That takes quite a bit of beading time out of my month, but I think it'll be worth it. I'll post pics to the blog if I get some good ones.

beginnings

Ah! I've got my squares cut. All twelve of them, :-) I'm using a stiff stuff like material-I believe it's an upholstery stiffener, that Mary Tafoya gave me, and have decided on a 6x6 inch size, since I'm not really intending to fill all of the background with beads, necessarily. Mixed media is going to be my aim for this year, since strictly beads has been my focus for many years and I feel that the branching out is something I really want to do. My June square is going to be in honor of the summer solstice, longest day of the year, time of growth and light and warmth. Lots of ideas, but I'm not going to plan ahead. My first bead is going to be a button from my grandmother's collection, a nice brass looking filagree button, and then I'll try to work organically from that. More and more I've been growing an idea in my head of starting up a little bead and craft shop. I have a friend who is also a nurse who started up a coffee shop/bakery shop last year and she's encouraging me to start thinking about following my dream. So this month, as well as making a page for my journal, I'll be starting to formulate a business plan and estimate my start up costs. I'm thinking in terms of trying to get up off the ground by spring or summer of next year. Gasp! I put thought to printed word! A first step.

June first!

So many ideas for my bead journal rolling through my head, but I've got one more night in the ER to go before I can really start. I'm going to sleep today and hopefully get a little preliminary sketching done before I go to work tonight.... Can't wait til I really get going!
Wheeeee! Such a wonderful full moon night last night. How special to have an auspicious month start off with a full moon.