Ring of ForgetMeNots

This is my Ring of ForgetMeNots, my first wearable design.  The flowers are simple, but I used all my favorite blues to make it exciting.  This idea was inspired by the fact that we’re going to the Renaissance fair this weekend.  Chris and I haven’t been there in two years now, and I’m really excited to go check out the new stuff.  I think it would be really fun to set up a booth here and sell some flowers.  I think this would be one of the few places I could do really well at.  The art of beading flowers started around the same time period as the Renaissance.  Even though it was a different area of Europe, I do think they would still work with the theme.  Especially these crowns.  You can see people selling similar ones there made of dried flowers.  People that go to the Renn Fair regularly really get into the theme.  They buy and wear costumes and speak with the accent.  The plan is to meet Jon and Theresa up there and have some fun.  Our favorite spot is to hang out by the Vegetable Justice.  It’s a guy that hangs out in the stocks and you get to throw tomatoes at him.  Sounds mean but people buy him beer and he’s really funny and entertaining to watch.  He very much eggs on any passerby to get them to throw tomatoes at him.  It’ll be a lot of fun, I just hope it’s not too unbearably hot.

quote of the day

“Everyone is moody from time to time. Sometimes we have a hangover from life itself but it won’t last forever!!!”

I hope you don’t mind BeadExplorer, but I really liked this quote.  It’s so true and seems to be contagious right now.  Everyone I talk to or read blogs on seems to be in some sort of funk right now.  Be that creative funks, work place funks, or even in their personal relationships.  I don’t know if there’s something wrong with the water or what.  I know I’ve been in and out of funkdom, or “life’s hangover” all year.  Perhaps it means a change is needed.  I have one before me, but I just don’t know if it’s right for me.  Do I dive into the unknown and risk a deeper unhappiness or do I stay where I am and deal with it.  I’m hoping the answer will come soon.

If anyone has problems commenting please email me.  We’ve encountered a glitch in the matrix and are not sure if its fixed.  thanks!

bustin out the blues

This is how much beading I got done yesterday.  I watched a whole dvd, 3 episodes of Planet Earth and worked on little blue flowers.  I’ve worked on them a bit more today.  Maybe I’ll take pics tonight.

relaxin

So far this weekend has been very wonderfully relaxing.  Chris’ parents came down Friday night.  We had a really nice time, they came riddled with gifts, both house warming and birthday.  The house warming gift was a really great idea, some wine, tropical fruit, cheeses and fresh bread.  I’ve been enjoying nibbling on those goodies all weekend.  They also brought a couple of orchids that I’m really excited about.  I’ve never had orchids before and it’ll be interesting if I can keep them alive.  I also received the newest issue of Ornament magazine.  I haven’t flipped through this magazine in ages so I don’t know if it’s always this good or if just got lucky.  I’ve already read three articles, and plan on reading at least three more.  It consists mostly of interviews with different artists and many of them work in seed beads.  Other artists work in metalsmithing which has been perking an interest in me lately, as well as lampworking.  Anyone looking for something a little different and definitely inspiring should check out Mary Kanda.  Her work is amazing and I can’t believe she has the patience to place each seed bead individually.  I love her broaches and would love to buy one sometime.  Rebekah Hodous’ work is also very cool.  Mostly bead embroidery she definitely has a unique style.  I would love to see one of her pieces in person.
Between reading my new magazine I spent a lot of time beading yesterday.  I’ll post pics soon.

check this out

I want to send everyone over to Diana Grygo aka the Lone Beader’s blog.  She has just finished another amazing piece of art work.  Her beaded blue british bus has taken her 12 weeks to accomplish and a whole lot of patience.  The details that she puts into her work just wow me.  Great job on finishing another amazing piece of art LB!!! 

Thanks!

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes.  I was really stunned by how many e-cards, text messages, and phone calls I got yesterday.  They all made me smile and I had a really great day.  After work yesterday I finished icing the cake I had made the day before.  I was craving birthday cake, I don’t think I’ve had one for years, even though Chris and I are sharing this one.  Yep, his birthday is today!  Jed came down yesterday to give me his gift (the Planet Earth series) and to go to dinner.  He was celebrating an event as well so it was a three way celebration.  We went to the Fish House for dinner and it was good.  We shared Alligator for an appetizer, and then I had the stuffed salmon.  mmmmmmm, it was very tastey.  =0)  The waitress found out it was my birthday so she brought out cake with a candle and we shared that before we went home and ate more cake.  I’m still full from last night. 
Also, last night I finished Harry Potter.  It had been put on hold over the weekend while I was scrambling to finish my latest beaded flower piece.  (more on that in a different post)  Harry Potter really isn’t the type of books to put down for a couple days and pick right back up, not b/c you forget what’s going and need to reread.  But b/c all you think about for the next few days is Harry Potter and what’s going on and what might happen next.  I did enjoy the end, with all the hype and build up I think it was really the only way it could have ended.
Today, Chris’ parents are coming into town.  They want to see our house now that we spent a lot of time working on it.  I think they’ll be impressed.  So, we’ll go out to dinner with them tonight and probably breakfast in the morning.  Then the rest of the weekend I’m not entirely sure what’s going on.  I want to place my birthday order for some more wire etc.  I also have another fun idea that for beaded flowers I want to have done by next weekend.  This will be my first wearable piece, if it gets done in time.  Next weekend we’re going up to visit my parents, and on Saturday we’re going to the Renaissance Faire.  I would wear the piece to that.  I’m really excited about it.  =0) 

changes

Today is the last day I will be 25 years old.  Not that is really a big deal it’s just that I don’t know where the year went.  I know everyone seems to say that right before they’re birthday’s but really the year I was 25 and the year I was 22 just seemed to disappear.  I’m not sure what the excuse is for this year, but the year I was 22 a lot of that had to do with an unhappy work sitituation that was finally fixed.
Lots and lots of things have changed in the past year.  Too many things to really keep track of, some are really great wonderful things, others not so much, but again I guess that’s the road of life.  The most obvious change that has happened is of course that Chris and I got married.  We managed to throw a big party and celebrate the marriage too.  That pretty much ate up the first few months.  Then of course the holidays always fly by, especially now with two sets of parents to visit for each holiday.  The holidays are fun though, and I enjoy them each year.  Around this time an event occured at work that tends to rear its ugly head evey now and then since.  It definitely affected both Chris and I and has definitely been a learning experience…just to see what people can be like in different sitituations.  Ourselves included.  Early into the year we decided to try looking at some houses in the Peoria area, by the end of March we bought our first home.  The next few months after that consisted of working on the house.  It got to the point thats all we did, so we’ve taken the summer months off for a break.  And here we are again in the middle of summer.
Throughout those major events others have occured.  Two of my close friends at work have had babies, one has just recently decided to move back to her home town a few hours away.  My friend Miranda who I had wine night with every Wednesday during the last year has decided to go to grad school in California to get her MBA.  She leaves today or tomorrow.  We’ve grown really close and I’ll miss her tremendously.  Other friends of ours have moved to new homes as well.  Many more we’ve talked to less and less for various reasons, but mostly because everyone is so busy.  Chris has been diligently working on music.  At one point I made the decision to try and sell my flowers, and then we bought the house.  So I got the website up this summer.  I’ve gotten my bouquet published, and put on display locally.  I’m applying today to have a couple other pieces exhibited in another art gallery this fall.
This year has been very dramatic and full of high emotions at both extremes.  It was fun and fast.  I do hope that 26 will be just as fun, but maybe just not so dramatic.

egg plant

This morning I wandered out to the veggie garden to see if any of my tomatoes were turning red yet.  Unfortunately, not but I did find that we have two small cucumbers just beginning to grow.  Then I wandered into my neighbor’s wonderland of a garden.  This Jim is a very nice guy and loves to talk gardening.  He loves to talk about almost as much as he loves to garden!  I don’t ever mind though b/c I really enjoy listening and learning about it.  He grows everything you can think of, sweet corn, several varieties of tomatoes, cucumbers, another several kinds of squash, including pumpkins, potatoes, cabbage, and the list goes on.  Last week he dug up some potatoes for us for our dinner, they were delicious and very tender.  I’d never had home grown potatoes before.  He also has some small miscellaneous veggie plants growing, just to try new things.  One of those is an egg plant plant.  I’ve never really had egg plant so I wouldn’t know what to do with them, but he sure has a beautiful one growing out there.  On that same plant was this flower.  When I found it a bumble bee was packing pollen in his swollen pouches.  He was very busy with all the squash flowers too.  I really thought the egg plant flower was pretty so I snapped a pic.  I like that its just a lighter shade of its fruit.

bits and pieces

I haven’t posted pics of any new flowers lately b/c I haven’t made the time to work on them like I’ve been wanting to.  I started this one a couple weeks ago and thought it would almost make itself.  I was so excited about the colors, but after making the larger outter petals it stumped me.  I’ve been thinking about how to finish it for over a week now and have a pretty good idea.  Unfortunately, I won’t have time to work on it again until maybe the weekend.  For now we’ll have to look at it in pieces. 

booked

Today Chris and I booked our vacation, and it’s the vacation I’ve been wanting for over a year now. We booked a cabin right outside the Great Smokey Mountain National Park in Tennessee. The dream vacation would have been the same idea only in Montana, but we really wanted to go somewhere that we could drive to in a day. Tennessee would be a 9 hour drive, but if we left early and played some driving games I think it’ll be fine. We’re going the week of our 1st anniversary which is also in October. This is prime fall color season so it should be really beautiful. I’m so excited! He’s going to bring his guitar and I ‘m bringing my beads and we’re not going to book any other plans. I just want to go somewhere that we can sit on a deck pull out beads/guitar and relax. The national park is very close by so if we get restless or bored I want to go for hikes in the woods. One of the day’s we’ll probably go to Gatlinburg which is a very touristy town nearby. Maybe I can find a bead store in the area too to check out. I’m excited to have a relaxing vacation with little or no obligations. We splurged on the cabin so that we’d really enjoy it if we just wanted to stay in for a few days. Especially the weekend…GSMNP is apparently the most visited national park in the US. And with October being prime fall color it’s supposed to be packed. But we figure we’ll go for hikes in the early morning or evening and stick to the weekdays. Now all we have to do is be patient and wait for October to roll around.
In other news, last night I bought Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. So far it’s pretty good. Definitely a fast read, I’m already 130 pages into it. The style in the writing seems a little different, but that could be b/c it’s been so long since I read the last book. I still haven’t heard a word about the ending, and I’m trying to keep it that way.