Blue Heron

 

blue heron from Chicago Botanic Gardens

Hi there,
  Well another week has come and gone, and I did manage to get two beading projects done.  I am quite happy at the way they turned out.

  I took time out from my many projects to visit the Chicago Botanic Gardens.  I took over 130 photos and all turned out great.  This is one of the photos that I took.  I took lots of flower photos because that's what I love to do the most.  The day was nice,  not too hot and there were not
a lot of people there.

  I have been doing a lot of cleaning at the summer house and while going thru a box of old jewelry, I found an egg that someone had done.  It is a chicken egg and a face has been painted on it and then a hat with hair and a collar made of lace was attached.  It is so cute and of course gave me some ideas for some small classes.  I am hoping to incorporate some of the old jewelry into new pieces.  I  know that some of it can be used and other pieces are beyond saving.

I have been keeping up with taking at least one photo a day.  I will have to somehow scrapbook them all  so that I have some sort of reference as to what photo was taken when.  I can be quite slow at downloading photos from my camera, so I really need to keep a list of what I took and when.  I did finally manage to finish a scrapbook from my cruise that I took early this year.

This weekend starts the Lake County Fair here in Indiana.  I am going to spend at least one day there looking at what craft work was entered. I also want  see the 4-H projects and ,  well to be honest, I just plane want to see everything.  I am looking forward to going.  I know is is not as big as the Texas state fair,  but sometimes bigger is not better.

I am going to do some painting this week as well.  I have about 4-5 pictures that I want to paint.  Most of them are in my head, but others at things that I have seen, and would like to try that type of image just to see if I can do it.

I am still working on my eggs for the Masters Competition. I may be pushing the boundaries on what they think a beaded egg should look like,  but then again they may see what it is that I am trying to do and give me credit for attempting it.  I won't know until I enter it.  at least I like the egg.

Got a few more necklaces that I want to work on,  They involve old pieces of jewelry with some new beads added.  I need to get something like Ultrasuede on the back to help hold the piece the way I want it.

Well that's about all for now,  Keep smiling and keep crafting.

Becca

work in progress

  I picked up a magazine the other week  called Artful Blogging.  If you have not read it,  you might find it very interesting.  I know that I did.  I think that I am going to try a few of the suggestions, such as trying to take a photo a day,and post at least a photo a week  of either something I saw or something I made.  It will certainly keep me busy working on my projects.

I have several new ideas in my head for necklaces so I need to get busy and get them done. Of course there is never enough time in the day to get everything done.  But I push on  thinking that somehow I am going to get an extra 24 hours in a day.  ( fat chance of that)  But there you have it.

 This is a necklace that I just finished.  It is done is St Petersburg stitch using size 15 pearl beads and size 11 purple beads.  The Pendant is  made from an ostrich egg and decorated with pearlisk powders and chain.  The picture does not do it justice. but my photo box is in a different state.

There are so many things that I want to try.  It seems a bit unfair that I don't get to try them all but I  suppose that one must put a limit on what they do.  If you end up with too many fires in the iron, you won't really like the outcome. Either you will not have be done your best job, or you will not be able to express yourself the way you would like.  I think that I am going to have to narrow myself to the things I love the most.  That would be my passion for beading and working with stones, egging, painting, quilting, and photography.  If I want to do a good job at any of the above,  I need to really concentrate on that particular project .  I find that I sometimes  want to hurry thru a project so that I can get to the next, and then it ends up showing in my work.   Concentration seems to be the biggest
part of many of my projects and  I know that I don't want shoddy workmanship to be my defining aspect of my project.

 Well,  there are the thoughts for today.  I am going to work on another necklace,  It is one of my favorite patterns, and I  have the perfect pendent for it.  Then off to finish a bead picture.  I have been working on it far too long,  and really want to get it done.

Happy Creating
Becca

Life Changes

       Ya know, it has been almost three years since I lasted wrote on this blog.  A lot has happened in those years. A divorce, and new marriage, and the loss of both my mother and my new mother-in law in just the last 9 months. A move back home and retiring from a job that I really loved is making me look more to my creative side and wondering how far it can take me.  I can not say that I have quit working, since I now have a farm to manage ( I love the old farm, it is so quiet and peaceful there).
I have moved my workshop to the farm and even have a new barn to house it in.
        I already have several projects in the fire so to speak.  The IEAG ( International Egg Art Guild)
has a project called the Masters Program.  this is where you make egg art to a specific specification and are graded on how well you do.  I have decided to work on several egg categories so that I become a better egger as well as egg teacher .  My first eggs will be for the novice grade.  I am doing a painted egg ( a scene done with acrylic paints) and beaded egg.( lots of beads usually in a design) and a decoupage egg.  The decoupage egg is the one giving me the most trouble.  I just don't feel good about the way it is turning out.  The design is good,  but getting the finish right is the problem.  Even tho I have put about 15 coats on,  it still feels like I am going to sand the design right off, and the egg feels sticky when i am sanding it.  If I ever get it right it will be beautiful.
   I am also teaching at the San Antonio Egg show in October.  I have designed a really beautiful egg jewelery box.  It is made from a rhea egg, and has a satin lining.  On the top of the egg I have beaded embroidery flowers surrounded by no-hole beads, the rest of the egg has size 11 beads on it.  The hinge is made from mesh hinge chain,  There is an art to using this chain and I am going to teach the class the proper way of putting it on the egg.  I think that it gives the egg a very polished finish and I really like using it.
       I am also going to be teaching a midnight madness class at that show.  I still have a lot of work to do to get the print ready to use,  but the design in my head will work out great, and I think that everyone will like it.
       When Mother died,  I inherited a lot of quilting material.  I have lots of designs that I could use the material for.  the problem being that it takes me so long to quilt.  I am looking at getting a Tin Lizzy long arm quilting machine.  That way I can not only get the top done,  but get the quilting done as well.  
      I mentioned a black swan egg that I was going to do.  Well,  she is finished and I am very pleased at the way she turned out.  I have several more eggs waiting to be done. and numerous paintings that I want to do.  I am getting better about being able to translate what I see in my head to the canvas.  I also have several beading ideas that I need to start working on.  But there never seems to be enough time in the day to get them all done or thought about.
      I will sign off for now but will be back with updates on my projects soon.  Keep being creative.

Becca