Etsy Beadweavers Street Team Challenge

Lots of interesting pieces of beadwork are up for the vote for the July Challenge. Go, look and VOTE. I know which one was MY favorite!

Front Page on Etsy

Ooooh, cool. I got one of my pieces on Etsy's front page, thanks to one of the many Etsy Beadweaver's Street team members, who apparently put this Treasury together. It caused me to have quite the jump in hits on the piece shown. The Treasury was in honor of Canada Day, featuring red and white items. my piece is actually the first! Happy Canada Day everyone!

Eva's Ipod case

Well, I have a friend who wanted a case after she saw mine, but she wanted it in black and with red 'bling'. OK, no problem, I had some nice black pigskin left over from a large project and went with that. Not as easy or fun to sew as the braintanned deerhide, but it was OK. This time I reinforced the cutout areas with some machine stitching (embroidery stitches as suggested by Heidi would have been way too labor intensive on this pigskin, and I didn't want beads or heaviness around the edge of the cogwheel area. I think it's getting more like what I'm aiming for, so this is officially prototype #2. Next one might even be good enough to sell on my Etsy site.

IPOD Nano Case

I worked on a prototype and ended up not liking it (I thought an asymmetrical flap would look good but it didn't). Worked on a second prototype and it's more to my liking, but I still haven't gotten the holes for the screen and click wheel quite right. Next one should be good enough to offer on Etsy, I'm thinking. I also might make some kits, what the heck. I plan to keep this second prototype, and bead embroider an apple logo on the front flap. I left a hole in the bottom seam for the earbud plug, but didn't leave a hole for the charger/download plug-could have, just opted not to, as I figure it's easy enough to take the Nano out of it's case when downloading/charging.

Tagged for a meme

Oy! I got tagged by MaryT! I'll play, but I'm not going to tag anyone else....everyone who wants to play, feel free to claim a tag from me. :-)

What was I doing 10 years ago?
gah! much has changed, much is the same:

working as a nurse in an ER,

raising and homeschooling a quiet, bright 13 yr old,

beading,

wearing MUCH smaller clothes


What are 5 things on my to-do list for today?

Make a pouch for my new ipod nano....LOVE the tech stuff!

hang with my kiddo (home for college break for another week),

maybe snap a pic of said pouch....

transfer more music to said nano

make salmon and salad for supper


Snacks I enjoy….

lately, steamed apples with cinnamon and nutmeg, no sugar

onion bagels!

strawberries, just plain



Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

quit work

spread the money around

TRAVEL

buy a big house in the pacific NW, and one in NM, and split my time between them



Places I have lived:

Maryland

Northern New Mexico

Arkansas



Jobs I have had:

migrant tree planter

med/surg nurse

nursing home nurse

long term care psych nurse

ER nurse



Bloggers I’m tagging for this meme….

Anyone who wants to play....

May BJP

I chose to use a Frida Kahlo stamp that my friend Mary gave me a few years ago as the center of the page. I love the freedom and intensity of Frida's work and admire her greatly, so I thought ending the year with a tribute to one of my favorite woman artists was fitting. The lizards surrounding her are wireworked, a technique I learned from Lisa DeFehr's book (out of print now, but a gem if you can find it: "Bead Sculpture Bugs and Dancing Frogs"). The beaded flower is a first for me, just five brickstiched petals reinforced with thin wire and then wired to a central bead. I like it because you can bend the petals in different ways. There are a few milagros scattered around, to continue the Mexican theme.

April BJP

Shortly after my last post, our dear long time companion dog, Keisha died at the age of 14. She had been blind for several years and was going deaf, and her main joy was to lay near a person and get petted, but she had been failing fairly rapidly in the last couple of months, eating less and just sort of visibly shrinking away. She never failed to wag her tail and seem happy to be around her people until the very end and she is missed. April's BJP page incorporates her latest vaccination tag surrounded by the rainbow colors to signify her journey on ahead. I spun up a bit of her long soft hair to surround the beads, the beadwork is fairly minimalist, but that was what I had in me. I moped around for a couple of weeks with a hole in my heart, and last week went to a local shelter and brought home a lovely 4 year old labrador lady who is helping me heal. Farewell Keisha, welcome home Rosa....