Lost In a Sea of Beads

Sigh!  Didnt think it would happen to me, not so soon and not when I had so much determination.  While everyone else is, at the very least, working on March, I am still stuck in January (hmmm, I could almost say that is not a figurative statement).  Reasons?  Excuses?  Lots of those......my health took a huge downturn soon after I started, I kept running out of beads and we live hundreds of miles from any bead shop, and we received life changing news which involved big chunks of time being used up. But even then I've had periods of health where I've worked on January's piece, and times when it absolutely overwhelmed me!   Also, and most important, I think I bit off more than I can chew.  I was just giddy with the idea of filling a 4" x 6" (which somehow stretched to 4.5" x 6.5") cloth with beautiful shiny beads, not realizing the *time* it takes to do so.  So, here I am, head bowed low, filled with embarrasement and humility hoping I can somehow "catch up" and truly belong among the great bead journalists who make up the BJP.  Even if I never make all 12 pieces by the end of the year, I will (shakes fists in the air) complete this task!!!

There is a question here......as you can see by the picture below I totally messed up on the tree.  I apologize for the quality of the image, but I was tired when I took the picture and when I touched it up.

I believe most of the BJP participants are bead artists; I mostly bead (off-loom) jewelry as a hobby and always wanted to try bead embroidery.  I am by no means an artist!  I beaded the tree during a very painful (physically) period in my life, and indeed, the tree does look like its in pain, lol.  I would like to re-do the tree, it looks hideous to me. My husband says that since this is a "journal" and not "art" it reflects a true part of my life at the time and that I should leave it.  I am asking for some help here, which is it, art or journal?  I can finish the purple background in a few more days and be done with the piece, or I can take apart the tree (which was very time consuming) and fix it.  In any case I am ready to get on to my next month's project (skipping a few months and with enough beads in hand).

This is for you Robin,  a close up of the geode.  That light band going thru it is natural, not a reflection.

I thought if I encased the geode with a lacy look it might look more like a rock "dusted" with snow.  I think from a distance it sort of works.

Thanks for visiting after such a long absence.  I hope to add more to my bead journal(s) and blog more often now as I am feeling quite perky!

Bead Journal Project/January Beginnings

While I am actually much further along in my piece I wanted to share the first picture I took after reading Robin Atkin's post "Taking and Editing Quality Photos of Beads and Beadwork".  Also, Gerry Krueger had some good advice on our BJP 3 blog about resizing photos.  Excellent advice from both women, thank you! I don't have all the beads displayed that I plan on using.  The original beaded piece will be 4" x 6" with a 1" border (there is a 3" border in the picture so that I will have 2" to stretch behind the mounting board).

There are 3 machine embroidered snowflakes--I want to see if I can incorporate machine embroidery into each of my pieces without the embroidery becoming a focal point (just an excuse to use my lovely embroidery machine).  The piece is titled "I wish It Would Snow" as I live, for the moment, in SE Texas and it was actually, kind of, snowing on the day I conceived of my idea.  The white at the bottom will be partial snow mounds and I will have a purple twilight because, well, just because I can.  What I love the most so far?  If you look at my purple geode you will see that I glued it partially "out of bounds."  As stated in the rules there are NO bead police, and for someone who used to dispatch for the California Highway Patrol, rules are a big deal!  So, even though I said my piece is 4" x 6" I sneaked it a little larger.  I get to ignore the rules!!!! Well, sometimes I will ignore the rules (if you could see me now I am tap dancing with glee in my head).  I live in a very remote area and just getting the beads was an adventure in itself, but I will save that story for another day........