Out of the Bosom of the Air

Snow Flakes
Out of the bosom of the Air,

Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken,

Over the woodlands brown and bare,

Over the harvest-fields forsaken,

Silent, and soft, and slow

Descends the snow.

{Fine Art Photography by CountryDreaming on Etsy}

Even as our cloudy fancies take

Suddenly shape in some divine expression,

Even as the troubled heart doth make

In the white countenance confession,

The troubled sky reveals

The grief it feels.



{Fine Art Photography from elgarboart on Etsy}



This is the poem of the air,

Slowly in silent syllables recorded;

This is the secret of despair,

Long in its cloudy bosom hoarded,

Now whispered and revealed

To wood and field.

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow



{Fine Art Photography by EyePoetryPhotography on Etsy}

 The skies delivered winter whites today, ready or not.

The first snow of the season usually consists of random tufts drifting down creeping in on kitten feet. Not so today. It is as if the skies were torn open and the clouds were shook loose of their heavy wet down. It looks a lot like that first picture out my window.



{'down comes the soft silent snow' snowflake simple truth pendant available on Etsy}

 When I was a teacher, you could always tell when it was about to snow. The kids were a great barometer. So on the first snowfall I would always abandon what I had planned for the day and focus on the snow. That way we could shift our focus to what they were thinking about anyway and maybe still learn a thing or two.

I would get out the white copy paper and tell them to come armed with their scissors. We would fold and snip and make a flurry of our own in the classroom (I am sure the janitor loved me ;-). Then we would take our favorites and afix them to a large piece of colored construction paper and write poems dedicated to snow. I loved that class activity. And even though I was teaching 7th graders, they really immersed themselves in the simple beauty of taking a plain piece of paper and carving it into life.


{'let it snow' snowman simple truth pendant available on Etsy}

 While I am not a huge fan of the many months of cold and ice and deep dark that the winter brings, I do celebrate the beauty of this day. But who knows? Tomorrow it could be 50 degrees and this could all be gone. Or it may not leave until April. Either way, I know that winter will break in the spring and I will be so much more grateful for the color to return to the earth because of this blanket of white. I think I will go and make some snowflakes with my kids tonight while I enjoy a big mug of hot cocoa with peppermint infused whipped cream. But only six-sided snowflakes.

Unexpected Surprises of the Heart

"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much." - Helen Keller

A few months ago, I was approached by a woman in a convo on Etsy. Would I possibly be interested in making a piece of jewelry for her using her polymer clay beads? I was intrigued, so I asked to see a picture of the beads.

I was blown away by these.

Aren't you?

I had to hold myself back a bit to be sure that I didn't scare this lovely lady and her pretty beads off. ;-)

Did I mention that the bead artist in question is Cynthia Tinapple? Do you know who Cynthia is? I confess that I didn't but I was tipped off by some of my bead friends that I should get to know her. You see, Miss Cynthia is the editor of the Polymer Clay Daily, a blog dedicated to all the artful things happening in the world of polymer clay.

Miss Cynthia was planning a trip to Nepal in November. While she is there, she plans to work with the village women there to share the art of making polymer clay beads and the celebrate the beauty of their culture. You see, these Nepali women don't see the value of their rich cultural heritage. But Miss Cynthia does, and she wanted them to see what can become of their handiwork in a completed piece of jewelry.

Wow. That is a truly noble cause.

I am still not sure how Miss Cynthia found me, but I am so glad she did!


At the time I was preparing to travel to Michigan for the Inspired by Nature retreat and it just so happens that along the way there was a Rings & Things traveling beads show stop that day in Chicago. What a great excuse to buy beads!

I purchased strands of leather disks, dyed magnesite, dyed coral nuggets, shell heishi, rustic brass spacers and twisted aluminum cubes.

The following week I spent a few days with my friend Jess at Vintaj where we learned all manner of techniques to work with the Vintaj line. One of the coolest new things to come along is the Big Kick where you emboss metal. It is really quite addicting!

Armed with this bevy of beads and this new-found embossing knowledge, I jumped into the project. {Of course, if you mean by jumped that I took my own sweet time and left it until the last possible second before the November 1st deadline, then yeah, I guess you could say I "jumped" right into it!}


As a way to tap into her inspiration, she sent me a link to her Pinterest board filled with colorful images of textiles from India, hanging lanterns from Morocco and embellished walls of monasteries. Looking at those images she selected it looked as if her beads were those textiles come to 3D life. There was a riot of color in these images, and it was clear to me after holding these beads in my hand that Miss Cynthia is a kindred spirit, able to take the inspiration and translate it to her own art. Having those images handy as I created these pieces was truly a blessing and so inspiring.

Each of her beads is slightly different. The amount of hours that went into each one, to create the canes and slice them so thin... to painstakingly place each tiny mirror and each miniscule hole-less bead into the design... it simply blows me away. I knew I need to get my creative mojo to come out and play for this one!

I really had no other parameters other than that Miss Cynthia requested some lush and more substantial pieces. I actually ended up making three pieces: necklace, bracelet and earrings. The Laila earrings are posted on Earrings Everyday blog today. Check it out.

{Meet Me at the Bazaar}

The necklace sort of sprang to life from the beads, as if they just wanted to be dancing in that circle! Multiple strands repeating the lively palette with varied shapes and sizes. Cynthia's beads separated by vintage textured saucer beads (that I have been hoarding for a few years). And a hand embossed arte metal clasp and hook to complete the look. It is so pleasing to wear (I had to try it out!). It garnered a lot of compliments!

{Dance of the Bells}

However, the piece that I like the most is the bracelet, despite the fact that I had to pull it apart three times and restring it. First the colors were wrong. Then the magnetic clasp was too dainty and finally, I didn't cut the wire long enough. Doh! Miss Cynthia had told me that she imagined whatever piece of jewelry I created would have a jingly quality. I am not a fan myself of wearing bracelets, but this one with its substantial brass leaf bead, the three strands of color and some brass belly dancing bells really hits it out of the park for me. I love the sweet jingle of those bells. I have to find a way to make another one like it!

Miss Cynthia has the baubles and told me how pleased she was with these pieces, that I exceeded her vision. Right now they are being packed up to travel halfway around the world to a remote Nepali village. I can just imagine these women touching the pieces I made and marveling that they, too, can make jewelry and in turn make a life from this living. But most of all I want them to be inspired by the fascinating story that their culture weaves into the fabric of life. And I hope that they will be inspired.

Thank you, Miss Cynthia, for finding me... for seeing the potential in this arrangement... for giving me a chance to make you something special... for believing in me. May your journey bring you unexpected surprises of the heart.

The thing about collaborations is they can be really outstanding or really horrid. It seems that there is no middle ground for people on this. For my part, I actively seek out collaborations. My show in 2010 is proof of that. I find it thrilling to bring another artist into the game and look forward to dynamically working through the process together. By working together you bring out the best in you both, and you also push yourself to rise above your own limitations, because now it is not just your own reputation at stake, but your collaborative partner's as well. It was a pleasure to be a partner in your success, Miss Cynthia!

Your turn...
Have you ever participated in an artful collaboration? What happened? Was it a good experience or a bad one? Do you actively seek collaborations or do you prefer to stick to  your own designing?  If you could collaborate with another artist, who would it be and why? (It can be any artist, living or dead.)

Flex Your Creativity - Vote!

I recently received news that one of my designs was selected as a Top 10 finalist in the Soft Flex Company’s annual design contest Flex Your Creativity.

The finalists had to use both the Soft Flex beading wire and craft wire in the jewelry design. I created this necklace called “Free Wheelin’ Summer Days” inspired by an art nouveau advertising poster for the Art Bead Scene August challenge.

You can read about my inspiration here:

Multi Tasking is My Middle Name

Everyone can place one vote for their favorite design. If you like mine, would you consider voting for me?

Click here to go vote!

Voting will be open from November 1-December 1, 2011 with winners announced on December 5, 2011.

Are you up to The Challenge?

"Colour is a basic human need…like fire and water, a raw material, indispensable to life." ~ Fernand Léger

I don't know about you, but I need color in my life.

There was a time not too long ago that I designed only in hushed tones. Dark and earthy. Shades of gray and brown with a little deep plum or russet orange thrown in for good measure.

Then I decided to challenge myself in 2010 to fill my work room, my bead table, my life with color. And it felt as if the world were on fire for me.

I broke out of my color ruts. I embraced Crayola tones and soft pastels. I experimented with mixing light and dark, matte and metallic. I embarked on a journey to discover all the colors of the rainbow. I confronted my color demons, namely yellow and orange. And now I don't look back. Oh, sure, there are times when my more grunge-y side comes out to play, but more often than not you will find me mixing colors fluidly.

Last year at this time I introduced my first Challenge blog hop. At 41 participants I felt that it was a great success! I had every intention of continuing the challenge blog hops into 2011 but lost my focus (which is fitting since FOCUS is my word for 2011!). I am regrouping and asserting my desire to do a Challenge blog hop once per quarter, with a different focus each time. Who's with me?

The one that started it all was the Challenge of Color. So I have decided that that will be the one to start with as an annual homage to color. 

Color Inspiration

Since last year, I have discovered all manner of color inspirations. At the top of my list is my friend Brandi's blog. Brandi Hussey is a jewelry designer with a keen eye for mixing colors, snapping downright gorgeous pictures and inspiring us all with her palettes. I am the proud owner of one of her custom necklaces. This year she created an off-shoot of her company called Freshly Hued, bringing you digital goodies to make your blog colorful. I point out Miss Brandi because I hope you will hop over and check out her blog and her use of color, but you also might be inspired to make some color palettes of your own (especially if you decide to jump on the Challenge of Color blog hop!). She offers some free templates on her blog here, but for less than the cost of a pumpkin spiced latte or two you can get a set of palettes for your very own here.

For a truly mind-boggling experience in color, check out Colourlovers.com. This place is filled with palettes of all sorts, patterns made from color palettes and even an engaging game that can be played with the names of the colors. They claim to have 1,824,796 user created color palettes to inspire your creative projects. I have mixed a few palettes myself and could easily spend my day there, especially doing the leap-frog game with the color names, if I only had some extra hours to kill. But if you are looking for what is hot and trending in colors, this is a great place to go. 

I don't know how I stumbled on Design Seeds, but I am oh-so-glad I did! Jessica Colaluca is a brand designer who lives in Madison, WI. She has a company called SEED that has worked in creating and launching products. One of her primary passions is color. She posts color palettes that she creates on her blog regularly. And when I saw these color palettes I knew exactly what we would do for this year's challenge.

Challenge of Color Blog Hop

Last year, I scoured the local paint stores for paint palettes and mailed a different one to each participant in the color family of their choice. I don't have the time (and frankly, I think they may be on the lookout for me at the Lowe's paint center ;-) to do that again, so I approached Miss Jessica to find out if we could use her palettes as our design inspiration. She gladly allowed me to promote her Design Seeds blog and to use the palettes that she creates on the stipulation that they not be modified in any way (that means no Photoshopping your stunning necklace into a digital collage with her palette) and that we link back to the exact blog post for that palette. Easy enough.

Jessica has arranged her color palettes in themes, seasons and colors. The colors that she groups them in are below.

These colors are just representational of the colors that are listed in any given palette. Each palette and picture is different, and the colors will be either more vibrant or more hushed than the ones above. The variations in hue and saturation are beautiful and her combinations are so awesome. I know you will enjoy her palettes as much as I do. And if you love them, you may even want to buy one of her beautiful books. I plan to put these on my wish list for Christmas.

Are you getting inspired yet? Ready to take the challenge?

Here is how it will work:

1::Choose a color family to work with (i.e., blue, green, brown, etc.). It can be something that you feel safe with... or pick a palette that is challenging for you. (It is called a CHALLENGE after all. ;-)

2::Go to the page above that says 'take the challenge' and sign up. To keep things smaller and easier to manage for me and for those who are following along, participation is limited to the first 100 who sign up between November 1st-November 4th.

3::I will email a unique color palette from Design Seeds chosen just for you by November 7th.

3::You will create an accessory using your color palette in any percentage of color that you like from the chip. You must use at least one color from your palette. Extra feel good points if you can use all the colors provided!

4::Blog Hop on Wednesday, November 30th about your color palette, your inspiration, your creative process. There are rules that Miss Jessica has established for sharing your palettes. I will be sure to let you know what those are and you must agree to abide by them to play along, namely, no modifications of the palettes. Linking to the palette post is required.

One random winner chosen from all comments on the main blog hop post here on Wednesday, November 30th. What will you win? Why beads, of course! I have an assortment of colorful beads {including art beads} and fibers that are just dyeing {get it?} to go home with a random winner. {I will post the goodies next week.} If you are a bead artist and want in on the prize giving, shoot me an email and I will see if that can be arranged! I will also gift a second random winner with one of Jessica Colaluca's Design Seeds eBooks of the winner's choice suitable for an iPod or an iPad or iPhone.

Sound like fun?

What are you waiting for? Head up to the 'take the challenge' page up top and sign up!

A button to add to your blog with a link to this page:

Hope to have you join in the fun!

Your turn...
What is the one color that you turn to when you know that you need to design something special?
What is the one color that really stumps you?

Take Time

"Most people would rather be certain they're miserable,
than risk being happy."

~Robert Anthony

 

I have this little magnet that I bought years ago that is called The Daily Guide to Happiness. I have seen many versions of this poem and more seem to be written to it all time. I don't remember to look at it every day, but when it is all of a sudden unearthed from my refrigerator, it reminds me that I do indeed have all that I need to be happy. But if I have an awareness of that happiness, then I have a responsibility to share happiness with others.

It is easy to complain, to sag your shoulders and adopt a woe-is-me attitude. It is not easy to pick yourself up in the face of whatever adversities are yours to bear and smile through the tears. I am not always the most cheery person on this planet. I am a bear in the mornings and when things don't go the way I expect them to go I can be downright gloomy. And don't even get me started if I misplace something (happens very frequently) as I am a like the Tasmanian devil (just ask my family). So little reminders like this magnet that I have held onto for years serve me well to realign myself and plant my feet squarely moving forward instead of being rooted to a sinking quagmire.

I thought that those messages were ones I needed to carry around so I decided to make them into a series that I call 'take time' in my Simple Truths style. I have this great new bezel that is a long thin rectangle. Perfect for telling fortunes or carrying a mantra or word that is near to your heart. I modified the original poem slightly and added a few new ones for my own twist, but overall there are some messages here that I need to wear and be reminded of every day.



{available for sale on Etsy - custom orders welcome}



Here  is my modified 'take time' mantra....

 

Take time to care...it makes strangers friends.

Take time to read...it's the fountain of wisdom.

Take time to create...it's your gift to give.

Take time to think...it's the source of power.

Take time to work...it's the price of success.

Take time to laugh...it's music of the soul.

Take time to play...it's the secret to youth.

Take time to give...it brings joy to others.

Take time to love...it will lift you higher.

Take time to pray...it's the start of miracles.

Your turn...

Your happiness is not divided when you share your positivity with the world, it multiplies and is reflected back to you tenfold.
What are you taking time for today?  

BTW::Small Things with Great Love

"We cannot do great things in this life, only small things with great love."

~ Mother Theresa

For this Bead Table Wednesday I will show you some small things that are threatening to take over my life.

My displays from the show - by themselves they don't seem like much, but when they are amassed in one or two or five bins, they take up a lot of space. I am hoping to get that shelf up on the wall so that I can display things properly! Maybe tripping on these every day will encourage me to get that done!

The pile for the girl scout class - I am teaching a simple jewelry making lesson to 35 girl scouts on Friday. (35 girls? What am I thinking?)

We are using the Vintaj Sizzix Big Kick to emboss metal blanks and then we are painting them with Extreme Glitter acrylic paint (that is what Tiny Dancer said they would like), covering with Magic Glos and hitting with the UV lamp to make faux enamel components. Then we are layering them in simple mixed media, multi-medal charm necklaces.

{'simple truths' pair well with Vintaj embossed blanks, Humblebeads egg nest and mushroom and ForTheLoveofBeads glass headpins by Mallory Hoffman!}

The mass of 'simple truths' (I have about 100 waiting for me!) that are destined for either jewelry for the holiday shows or for Etsy.

{Small Things-Great Love}

And my entry for the Art Bead Scene for October inspired by the painting A Hedgehog in a Landscape by Giovanna Garzoni. I created a little 'simple truths' hedgie with the message "do small things with great love" as a nod to that quote up above by Mother Theresa. I used a combination of picture jasper, wood nuggets, painted wood ovals, stick pearls, shell bead, Vintaj leaf and Mamacita's pewter acorn. Squeaked in just at the last minute!

What is on your bead table today?

Shift Into Iridescence

Sorry that this somehow didn't get posted yesterday...

The winner of the enamel earrings "Nothin' But Blue Skies" is Stephanie McGinley! Stephanie, please email me with your address.

The winner of the signed copy of Barbara's book Painting With Fire is Courtney Breul! Courtney, please email Miss Barbara with your address.

_____________________________________________________________________________

The Dragonfly

a poem by Louise Bogan

You are made of almost nothing

But of enough

To be great eyes

And diaphanous double vans;

To be ceaseless movement,

Unending hunger,

Grappling love.

Link between water and air,

Earth repels you.

Light touches you only to shift into iridescence

Upon your body and wings.

Twice-born, predator,

You split into the heat.

Swift beyond calculation or capture

You dart into the shadow

Which consumes you.

You rocket into the day.

But at last, when the wind flattens the grasses,

For you, the design and purpose stop.

And you fall

With the other husks of summer.

 

When I attended the Inspired by Nature retreat in South Haven, MI in September, Heather had the idea to do a bead mixer party. We each had to bring in a 16" strand of nice beads in the colors of green, teal or purple. We cut them all apart and put them in a big stock pot. Then one of the ladies got a big spoon and stirred them all together.

There were pearls and amethysts, crystals and pressed glass, ceramic and seed beads and every shape and size you can imagine. We were each served up a healthy portion of the bead stew and challenged to get our creative juices flowing. Then we set about to create something special from this mix.

Around this same time, I had found out about a little contest that Jewelry Television was hosting. I had heard about it through the wonderful Miss Margot Potter. Do you know Miss Madge? She blogs, and writes books and comes up with unique and crafty ways to stretch your jewelry creativity. Plus she is the on-air educator for the Jewel School videos. I have found many helpful videos on there from the likes of Sherri Haab, Leslie Rogalski, Katie Hacker and more. Check it out!

The contest rules were to make a piece of jewelry and submit it for judging. That's it. There was not even a rule that you had to use a Jewelry Television product (I checked on that) which I thought was pretty generous, especially since the grand prize is valued at $5,000 ($2,500 in cash and $2,500 in JTV credit plus the chance to have the winning design created as a kit or for sale on JTV and in the Jewel School videos!).

I wanted to find out how their products stacked up against other online vendors so I gave it a shot and found a few things to try. I bought some druzy cabochons (I am thinking of filigree wrapping them) and some clay beads (which I ended up using in my ABS entry for September) and these intriguing mosaic mother of pearl shell donut beads. I never buy that shape. I don't know why. But something about the way these donuts shimmered when the light shifted and the soft colors really drew me in.

As far as a critique of JTV, I will say that I was a bit dismayed when my PayPal account was charged a separate charge for each item, instead of one charge, and it took a bit longer to receive them than I expected, but the quality of the beads and cabs was very good. Each was packaged in a separate, very sturdy and almost decorative box. Nice touch.

I started with the donut and a Czech pressed glass shimmering dragonfly button that I bought in a little bead shop in South Haven. I wanted the donut to be the focal of this garden-themed bracelet, and so I started grouping clusters of dangles in the hole, like a wrist corsage, with the bee hovering up above. I have a few of these golden bees left that are dimensional on all sides (wish I knew where I found those so long ago!) and I thought that with all the silver toned spacers and wire I was using that this little pop of gold would draw your eye in nicely.

The rest of the bracelet came together rather quickly. I used two strands of Beadalon beading wire and started with the purple peanut beads to make a button hole for the dragonfly button for the clasp. Then I just strung a random pattern of beads, weaving them in and out of the beads for structure. A few more dangles to fill the space, and voila!



{Shift into Iridescence}



I don't enter challenges because I think that I am going to win them. Often I don't make it that far. I do challenges just for the fun of it, to stretch my creative wings and to see if I can rise to it. I am very honored to have been chosen by a very esteemed panel of judges to be in the top. I have seen the other finalists and they run the gamut from metal clay to wire wrapped gemstones. Each is very beautiful in its own way.

The next phase of the Jewelry Television contest, I am told, consists of a live broadcast on Wednesday, October 26th where they will show off all the finalists. The program guide shows it from 11:00am-2:00pm (but that could be EST). They will be kicking off the popular voting portion of the contest. If you don't get the television station (check your listing guides), they do have streaming video on their website and they are on Facebook, so there might be a way to vote through those methods as well. But hurry! I believe that they will be announcing the winners on Sunday, October 30th!

I hope that you will go and check out the wonderful finalists and perhaps think about voting.  And if you choose to vote, please vote for the design that you feel really deserves the top honor (I won't know if you voted for me anyway!). I have no illusions that I am going to be in the top three after the vote, but it is certainly an honor to be selected as a finalist.

Your turn....

If you were to get $2500 for your creative business, what would you spend it on?