Beady Eye Candy

Sep16

A couple of weeks ago, I made some bead purchases during my trip to Michigan. Twisted together are Mexican fire agate, turquoise, and sugilite, purchased at Munro’s Crafts in Berkeley, MI. I usually like to purchase stone beads at the bead shows I attend but they had an irresistible sale going that day I visited. I couldn’t resist these gorgeous strands! I found the fire agate oval bead at the Bead Haven in Frankenmuth, MI the following day.

At the same bead store was a whole wall of bead hanks where I found these beauties. I’ve never done any bead crochet and I thought it was time to learn. So, that’s my plans for these gorgeous beads. I especially love the second hank from the right. It’s so earthy looking.

I seem to be drawn to variegated colors lately and these glass beads spoke to me from their little hooks on the wall. Don’t they like great just as they are?

Saturday Morning Tea

Sep1

This holiday weekend I am in Michigan visiting my parents for a nice relaxing mini-vacation. Today I am enjoying a China Black tea, a full-bodied, earthy brew with hints of smoke and red wine. I like to first sample the reddish liquor plain but then add milk later on with the second cup to richen its flavor.

A China black tea, with its earthy comfort, is a perfect cup for the first day of September in Michigan where the morning temperature reads a cool 59 degrees. As I sip my tea, my eyes take in my cache of treasures from The Bead Haven bead store I visited yesterday. Stay tuned for the full eye candy report when I return home!

A Window Vine

Aug23

When I glued the polymer clay tiles to the fabric for my August page, I really didn’t have any plans for the beading beyond choosing a color palette. I knew that I wanted to bead around the tiles but not surround each tile as if they were cabochons.

I placed the tiles in a grid pattern because a square shape looked most pleasing to me. After I glued the tiles down, it then reminded me of a window. Aahhh… A window into a special, secret garden place. All of the greens in my color palette spoke to me of leaves so now I create a window vine.

What do you think?

Starting my August Journal Page

Aug19

A start to my August page – I am using some of the 1 inch squares from the Klay Karma swap to create a window of sorts. Then I’ll bead around the squares. The bead palette I’ve selected is a combination of summer and fall colors, signifying the transition from one season to the next. As you can see, I have more summer colors than fall because I am not quite ready to let go of summer just yet. Plus, there are a lot of blooming flowers in my tiles.

Time to start beading!

My July Journal page

Aug15

July was a busy month so I am a couple of weeks behind in finishing my July page. I finally finished it today! This month’s page has great meaning to me. It symbolizes the birth of my authentic self. She is peeking out from her protective cocoon/bud. The spirals surrounding her birth symbolize the cyclical nature of life and how we come back to a certain place or life lesson along our journey. Instead of being at the same exact place, however, we have moved up a turn in the spiral and, hopefully, have grown in our experience. The spirals are all shades, tints and tones of purple. Purple is for the wisdom and magic I seek in my life everyday.