Minding the Business: Be Inspired. Be Brave. Digital Art Pep Talk

This is a digital collage I made using PhotoShop Elements 8, a Wacom Bamboo tablet and Digital Expressions.  It's a visual peptalk to encourage me to step forward and do something of the things I've been dreaming and talking about for a long time. The colors are strong and saturated like a stiff cup of coffee to get me going. A self portrait is paired with one of my favorite glass beads to remind me of my creative self. Text phrases are bent into crowns so I can wear who I am proudly. The entire collage brings together phrases that encourage me to live and work in my own skin. 

 

I know I'm not the only one. You probably feel like this at least sometimes. You might want to make  Peptalk Collage for the days when you can't reach your best girlfriend to talk. Making the collage made me think, made me create, made me smile and made me brave.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver puts into words what I need to tell myself when I step out with fear:

Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.

 

Let me be brave and I wish all of you to be brave but most of all, I want us all to win our dreams.

2012's Mantra: Do and Follow Through

I've got a mantra for this year in the spirit of KISS (keep it simple, stupid!): 

do and follow through

My two weakest areas - stop talking and DO and make sure I FOLLOW THROUGH. I might get to the doing but then I don't always follow through. 

I've got an idea to help myself. I don't like to write to do lists because if I do, there are 35 items on it. I find 35 items overwhelming and then I move into procrastination or "what's the use" mode. So, I'm going to limit ANY list to only 3 items.

Yes, I said three - 3 items.

Hopefully that will help.

Hopefully.

So here is item number one:

Post book reviews for next week or so. I like to actually try the projects in each book I review so you get an honest feel for what the book offers. I've held off on the Jewelry for the New Romantic because I don't have many of the beads called for in the projects. I used to use beading wire quite a bit when I first started beading back in 1997 but moved away from it. This is a good reason to re-familiarize myself with what beading wire has to offer.

Jewelry for the New Romantic

I've ordered resin clay and am waiting for it to arrive. I made the rounds of the craft stores to see if anyone carried it and was out of luck.  There are lots of exciting projects in The Art of Resin Clay I can't wait to try out.

The Art of Resin Clay

Do you have a word to inspire you onward for 2012?

Happy New Year....a look back on my beady year

Photo/Graphic Credit - thank you!

Happy 2012 to you!  I wanted to blog straight away today. I spent quite a bit of time away last fall and want to start the New Year off with a blog post. 

 

As is tradition, I looked back on 2011 to see what I accomplished and despite the feeling of not getting much done, I actually covered alot of territory.

 

My 2011 New Year's Resolution was one word:  DO. I wanted to stop talking and start making. So, with that in mind, here's a review of 2011's DO.....

 

... I made new beads......

 

 

 

 

 ....I made earrings.....

.....set up Tuesday Tangle for all things related to wire craft.....

...and set up Metal Monday to post on all things metal....

.....bought a rolling mill....

......read and reviewed several awesome books....

Digital Expressions

Hot Connections

Live Wire

Mixed Metal Mania

Steel Wire

Jewelry Designs from Nature

Craft Activism

The Handbook of Metal Clay

Stitch Workshop: Right Angle Weave

 

...taught myself to create digital art using PhotoShop Elements and PhotoShop....

 

....gave needle tatting another try and learned how to do it this time.....

....took a Hadar Jacobson class and learned how to make Mokume Gane metal clay....

....taught myself right angle weave (YAY!)....

....rolled some metal....

.....tried to crochet with wire (FAIL)....

 

...joined in on the Bead Soup Blog Party....

 

 

....remodeled my home office/jewelry studio.....

....remodeled the hallway outside my home office/jewelry studio with beads....errr bubbles...

...got the babylock fixed and made a jewelry display....

 

...I even remodeled in my kitchen...

 

Guess I fared better with 2011's New Year's resolution than I thought. I think I'll put DO on my 2012 New Year's Resolutions too.

What about you?  How do you think your 2011 went?

Gone but not forgotten....to keep creating!

Hi blogging buddies!  It's been awhile since I blogged - life got in the way. Despite my absence from blogging, I've been busy making and creating!

Paper clay beads in drying stage

Cold weather in the northeast signals a move indoors to my office/jewelry studio area and a change in media. This year, I thought I'd experiment with Paperclay. I've made several different shapes that I'm fond of - a bird, house and cloud. Stay tuned to see how these come out.

Next up was needle tatting. I tried this awhile ago and got stuck at pulling the thread through the needle. I thought I was doing something wrong so I stopped trying.

First successful attempt at needle tatted flower

 This time around, I watched the video and stopped it in the places where I got stuck before. It took me about 2 hours to figure it out but I finally got it right!  I've made several more since the red one above in black and purple. Needle tatting is really addictive - I'm now on the hunt for patterns! If you know of any good ones, send a link my way!

So although I've been gone, I haven't forgotten to keep creating. I feel particularly satisfied that I finally learned to needle tat. 

What about you? What have you been up to?

Monday Morning Eye Candy and Book

Another practice bracelet of Right Angle Weave made with Gossamer floss, crystal 6mm firepolished rondelles from Rings n Things and silverlined "E" beads. I like the single row of RAW because it makes up quickly and by changing the beads, you can make one to match your wardrobe!

I've got another book from Kalmach that I'm smitten with. It's Jewelry for the New Romantic. Here's an interview with the book's author Nealay Patel. 

Projects look yummy don't they?  I haven't done any stringing with Soft Flex wire in quite awhile. Patel puts a new spin on it and I can't wait to dive in.  Are there any techniques you haven't tried in awhile?

On My Bookshelf: Stitch Workshop: Right Angle Weave

Drum roll please.......

TA-DAH!  

These are my practice bracelets in Right Angle Weave. I made these using the very first pattern from  Stitch Workshop: Right Angle Weave. 

As I said yesterday, I'm not a rank beginner with off loom but have never done right angle weave. The projects in the book are arranged from easy to advanced. 

Let me say now that I've never been able to teach myself an off loom technique by using a book. Usually I try and then go take a class so I can see how to do it. I wanted to use beads from my stash and I didn't have any 6mm rounds to use so I substituted with size 6 and size 8 seed beads. So it was a little harder to see the beads and pattern.

The beginning of the book includes the basics of right angle weave with colored illustrations and arrows to show where to weave your needle and thread (or stringing material. These illustrations came in very handy when I got confused with the project directions. The illustrations are followed by "Tips and Tricks for Right Angle Weave by David Chatt." It's a list of tips for the more experienced right angle beadweaver. Page 8 is "Beading Technique Basics" and it covers topics like adding thread, ending thread surgeion's knot, other beadweaving stitches, wire techniques and opening jump rings to name just a few. Tools and materials are covered in the next section. I'm very familiar with these materials so I skipped over this section and went straight to the first pattern by Pam O'Connor, "The Cuff Crystallized."

It took me a couple of tries to get the pattern and stitch right. When I got to the right length, again it took me a couple of tries to join the bracelet properly. Adding the next row was also trial and error. I'd read the directions and look at the pictures given on page five rather than the pictures in the pattern. The similar colors in the pattern pictures confused me. The colors were too similar to be clear. I alleviated the confusion with the pictures on page five. It took me several tries flipping between the pages and pulling out the beads but I eventually got the second row going. Since it was nothing like the first row, it took me awhile to get into the rhythm.

Despite the learning curve, I was able to teach myself how to beadweave in flat, right angle weave using a single needle.  The first project states you can make the bracelet in a couple of hours. It took me approximately 5 hours over two days. Not bad for a beginner.

I've got my sights on the third project called "Wiggle Room." It's by Julie Glasser and it's made with various sizes of seed beads to create the wiggle.

Wiggle Room photo courtesy of Judy Glasser.

I have a big stash of size 6, 8 and 11 seed beads in all colors just perfect for this project.  I may try the bracelet project after called Crossing Paths by Lisa Twede or skip right to another favorite, Cosmic Crystals by Deborah Staehle.  Another luscious project I'm smitten with is April Bradley's Spring Snowflakes.

A variation of Spring Snowflakes called Mediterrean Photo and necklace by April Bradley

And those are just the beginner- intermediate projects! There are lovely advanced projects Where you can learn advanced and dimensional right angle weave such as Chain of Rings by Cindy Thomas Pankopf and Victorian Sparkle by Julie Walker. If you're looking for a book on right angle weave with a variety of projects, this is a bargain for under $20.

On My Workbench: New Off Loom Beadweaving with Seed Beads

I'm working on a off-loom beadweaving technique, right angle weave. I'm not a rank beginner to off loom beadweaving. I learned peyote and brick stitch about 10 years ago and have a little 4 x 6 box where I keep my off loom work.

I've never taken on RAW though and when I saw Kalmach's new addition to their Stitch Workshop series, I figured it was a good time to teach myself.  So I'm in the middle of a series of "practice bracelets," simple, flat right angle weave done with .5mm stretch cording.

Stitch Workshop: Right Angle Weave from Kalmach

I'll review the book the book tomorrow after I finish the bracelets I've started. What about you, have you done any off loom beadweaving lately?