My Inspiration Wears Pigtails

"Always gotta keep busy or the voices start telling me to do wild things." ~ Steve Brown

I have been absent this week, I know.

We had our lives scheduled down to the millisecond this past week. And it shows no signs of letting up. And although the busy-ness doesn't allow for much creating time, it is something I wouldn't trade.

My husband, the Bee Whisperer {and the inspiration behind my Stones entry in the Bead Star competition of the same name!}, is coaching both children. So that means on Mondays-Wednesdays it is boys 11-12 baseball with the White Sox and on Tuesdays-Thursdays it is girls 9-10 softball with the Cubs. And on Friday there was a White Sox game. And all day on Saturday, too. He actually had to go to his car in between to change jerseys, just like Superman {minus the cape of course}.


That is every night at the ballpark, late. Eating lots of ballpark food, no cooking. {And although our ballpark does have some great food - particularly during tournament time - I am getting a bit sick of cheese curds, hot dogs, chicken tenders and greasy cheeseburgers.}

So I haven't done much more than encourage everyone I know to vote for the Bead Star entries.

On Friday night our local Arts Alliance held its Arts Walk in downtown Stevens Point. The weather was a bit iffy with the drizzles here and there, but that didn't dampen the spirits of the many, many people who came out to enjoy the arts. The stores along Main Street stay open later and house the beautiful artwork of about 50 local artists. I was lucky to be featured in the window of a little gem of a shop called Paper Doll that sells the most wonderful paper products like cards, gift wrap from Italy, special pens and journals.

I also had to hop back and forth to the Gallery Q where I am an exhibiting artist. I am also on the events committee and that meant that the after party with all the food, wine and merriment fell in my lap {okay, I really didn't have to do it all, since there are some really fine people, but I wish that I could have walked the street to see all the art and schmooze a bit more, but I was stuck putting cookies on trays and cutting grapes for the chicken salad}. It was really a wonderful event and a great way to raise awareness and appreciation of the arts.

On a positive note, I was stopped by hordes of people all asking to buy my Bead Star pieces. Especially the Under $25 piece, #12. I am sure that I could have sold that one to the highest bidder about 12 times! So I know that I am on the right track! {It was a good thing I had the presence of mind to print off business cards with my voting information, because they all walked away with one.} And here is the inspiration behind that special piece....

{Vote for #12 in the Under $25 category!}

You might recall back in February that I posted about the solar system project that my third grader was involved with. And the fact that around here, when a project comes home and the teacher gives you a suggestion, that we won't allow the children to settle for that. They have to think outside the box.

Tiny Dancer thought about it and came back to inform me that we were going to make jewelry for the solar system. {I am raising that kid right, I tell ya!} So we got out our sketchbooks and came up with ideas. And then we combined our ideas before going shopping at Michaels. And that is where "Icy Rings" was born.

I knew as soon as we put this together, the Tiny Dancer and I, that this would be one for the Bead Star contest {actually, there were three that were in the running for the contest, but Icy Rings was the clear winner}. There was originally a little brown bead, striated with the exact colors that you would see on Saturn, floating in one of those rings. But I knew that no one would get that from the picture, so we opted to remove it for the contest.

And if this particular piece wins in the Under $25 category, the glory will be shared with my Tiny Dancer, since it was her idea. I just helped her execute it. I promised her that I would put both of our names on the byline, and that the picture would be one of us together. She says that we need to use the one with the pig-tails.

I couldn't agree more.

And if you haven't gone to place your vote for Bead Star, I would be honored if you would vote for me! {And if you want some suggestions for the other categories, I have friends in all of them!}
Pearls #10
Stones #14
Under $25 #12

Enjoy the day!