Friends do the nicest things...

I think it's a new record - more than 3 months with no post. With nice weather and so many things to do, blogs (both mine and the others I follow) have fallen by the wayside.

Let's see - since my last blog post, the U.S. has had a birthday. Summer has come and gone. I had a birthday and turned 50, I went on vacation and so much more. Now fall is in full swing, but I feel like if I blink I'll miss it - it's already getting pretty chilly in these parts!

Since the last post, I completely lost my desire to bead, but keeping so busy I did not give it a lot of thought. I know, as with all things in life, there is an ebb and flow to my desire to bead. In my almost 6 years of beading, I had not yet experienced such a lengthy dry spell. As time went on, I did find myself thinking more and more about beads, but never did actually sit at my bead table and take them out. I have a couple of projects in progress at this point, one of which is the 2010 Bead Journal Project. I think I am still working on May.

I have since (thankfully) found my desire to bead again. It is not back with the same force as before my break, but certainly it IS back. One of the biggest factors that helped launch me out of my beading dry spell was an amazing gift received from a very special friend.

I am not sure I can adequately describe this gift in mere words. I will attempt it, but I will let the photos do most of the talking. Note - there are a LOT of photos, so if you are interested stay around a bit and sit back and enjoy!

A little back ground - This gift is from Lisa of Pursuing Art... Life and Dreams. I met her a few years ago by way of blogs and beading. I was lucky enough to meet her in person 2 years ago on a trip to the Pacific Northwest. I think it was around that time that Lisa and I agreed we would swap a beaded creation at a time to be decided upon later. We agreed on something simple and low stress. Hmmm, I should have known better - Lisa does not "do" simple! First she enlisted help from our mutual friend Monica to create the doll. Monica is a master at doll making and a dear friend to both of us. Sneaky too - the both of them.

In late July I received this very special package. It started with the cutest little book full of photos Lisa had taken of squirrels in her yard. It tells a wonderfully entertaining story. Please see Lisa's blog if you would like to see the picture book in it's entirety.



I may not have the correct order in which I unpacked the box, but it was stuffed with the following treasures...

A stunning sunflower pendant/brooch - I saw one of these on her blog and fell in love with it, so she made one for me.



the back



A beautiful little box with attention to detail that blows my mind. The penny is dated 1960 (the year of my birth)



The front



The inside



See what I mean about the attention to detail?

She even bought (and embellished) a special little picnic blanket on which the doll would sit



The other side



A close up of her embellishments



The doll carries a great little purse - imagine one of these life size



Side view - LOVE the crystals!



And if that wasn't enough - there was even a little wallet inside the purse



What you don't see inside the wallet are the quarters Lisa put inside, an Oregon quarter for Lisa, an Alabama quarter for Monica and and Indiana quarter for me. Neat, huh?



The doll adornments... a bracelet



a ring...



A butterfly brooch that sits on the doll



the back



Next - the shoes, oh the wonderful shoes!



Are those great or what?



The doll - this is one absolutely incredible creation. From top to bottom. With her clothes - I did not notice all the detail at first because I was so focused on her face and hair, but detail there is - in sparkly abundance!



The amount of crystals used in her creation is jaw dropping



Her hair is something else. I believe Lisa said she used 12 hanks, TWELVE.



With all that hair I feel a certain kinship.



Here she is in all her glory. I have to pinch myself because she is mine, I am so very fortunate!



If would like further detail on the doll and all her embellishments, Lisa lists lots of details as well as many of her thoughts while she was in the process of creating this beauty.

Lisa, Monica - I thank you both from the bottom of my heart, I am eternally grateful for this amazingly creative work of art!

Come a long for the ride...

*** February 15, 2010 UPDATE***

And the winner is... Gail of Gail's Card Cafe.

Congratulations Gail, your little doll will be on her way to you in a couple of days!
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You can see all the details for the One World One Heart Giveaway by clicking on the above photo.

For this "ride" I am giving away a little beaded doll. She needs a partner, a friend - a pal with which to ride the magic carpet. Will it be you?

*note, all photos are clickable for an enlarged view*


She is ready for the trip, she just needs a name - that is where you come in. If you would like to call her yours, please give this little beauty a name.



Here are her details... she is entirely bead embroidered by hand using Japanese and Czech glass seed beads, with the exception of the red flower on the front - which is vintage lucite and the vintage sequins on her back.



Her body is made from Duponi silk and was lovingly sewn together by my friend Monica (also known as Girl Gone Thread Wild). Her tiny, perfect face was expertly crafted by the endlessly talented Jennifer of Graphix Outpost. This little doll measures 3 inches tall and fits perfectly in your hand.



This is open to any one that has a current, active blog - this is, after all, designed to meet other bloggers. In your comment, please make sure you leave a name for the doll and a link to your blog or some way to contact you should you be the winner. I will accept names for the drawing up until midnight (Eastern Standard Time) February 14, 2010. After a winner is chosen I will contact them directly and announce it on my blog. That way you will not have to keep checking back to find out if you won.

Also - please take a few moments to click on the photo above of the magic carpet or the button on the sidebar both will take you to Lisa's blog where you will find many (hundreds?) links to the blogs of kind people participating in the One World One Heart Giveaway this year. It is a wonderful way to find some fantastic blogs and meet new friends. This is my third year participating and it is always such a treat.

Above all else... HAVE FUN!

Cute little alien?

***Edited to add photos of my grandson receiving his little gift*** (see below)



My grandson's birthday is this weekend, he's turning 8 years old. He is the one family member (other than the mister) that takes an active interest in my bead work. When he visits, his first stop is usually my bead station to check out my latest creations. He will examine each piece, front and back and openly shares his thoughts. I thoroughly enjoy each and every exchange.

So, a few weeks ago, I was at his house and he brought out this little plush toy. And said, "Grandma, I thought you might like to bead this." It about melted my heart. The fact that he looked at something and thought about me and beads brings me great joy.

With his birthday coming up, it provided the perfect opportunity (and inspiration) to add beads.



This little guy is about 2 1/2 inches tall. I opened him up at the bottom and added as much stuffing as I could manage and sewed him back up before I went through my bead stash throwing in whatever I thought might work.

I added an orange Swarovski margarita bead for one of the eyes and a single 15/0 bead for the other. The little sash thing across his body is wonderful tiny vintage sequins held in place by lime green size 15/0 beads on the front and turquoise charlottes on the back. The turquoise beads on the front and used in the spiral on the back of his head are size 11/0 true cuts. I could not resist adding the little glass sneakers. All photos are clickable for a larger view.



A special little alien for an exceptional little boy. This grandma couldn't be happier!

Gifts from and for friends...

Remember when I made a doll for a trade with an amazing young (10 years old) artist? Well I was lucky enough to have her here for a visit over the Christmas holidays.



She is an absolute delight, I enjoyed her company very much while she was here. She came all the way from Texas by car with her family and hand delivered the painting she made for me.


It is my favorite Christmas present.

I have another friend, Anne, she lives in Minnesota and is talented in so many different mediums. She draws, paints, sews, quilts, knits and most recently has taken classes in felting.



Such a wonderful surprise when this beautiful felted bowl landed all wrapped up on my porch. Am I lucky or what? The dimensions - 7 inches in diameter and 4 inches tall - or is that deep?

I love the colors and the flower in the bottom is the perfect touch. I really like how it feels in my hands. I can't adequately describe how pretty it really is in person.


And the detail... look at the outer edge, I think the next time we visit we just might have a felting day planned!



Last is the doll I just finished. This for a special friend I met not long ago.


The doll form is 5 inches tall and was made by Ronda Kivett, she also made the polymer clay face. Her doll forms and faces are available for purchase on her website if you would like one of your own to bead.



There are so many thoughts that ran through my mind while beading this form, thoughts of when I met this sweet person and the time we spent together. Many nice memories woven into these beads.



I don't know if she has somewhere she can stand the doll, so I added a loop to hang it up if she so desires.



Here she is - making herself at home in my new felted bowl.

A doll in progress...

I've been working on a doll, among other beading projects now for over a month.



Normally, it doesn't take me this long, but with the holidays and all the time spent on those activities - I've been a bit stalled.



We have visitors on their way here for Christmas too, so I can't shirk my house cleaning chores to bead like I would normally on a cold icy weekend. That's okay though, I'm enjoying baking and making things ready for our guests. I like to bake for the holidays - so having the wonderful smell of baked goodies fill the house is a welcomed bonus.



Here are the baked goods on the menu (so far) - Lemon Bread, Cranberry Pumpkin Bread, Banana Snack Cake, Mexican Wedding Cookies, Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake and Fudge (okay that's not baked, but I will be in the kitchen). Lots to do this weekend!



I wanted to share some teaser shots of the doll in progress. Those are the photos you find added throughout this post.



I hope to have her done soon and then will be able to get back to my Bead Journal Project, I need to work on November and December and while I'm a little late on them I do have ideas of what I want to do and don't imagine it will take much time once I can sit and focus just on them.



Then there is the weather... the ice is still here and the limbs that were dragging, but not broken yesterday are showing more stress today. And we have a new weather warning for tomorrow. Let's hope the weather 'people' are being a bit dramatic,

Here is what I received in my email:
THE NATL WEATHER SVC IN N. IN HAS ISSUED A WIND CHILL ADVISORY.WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 1 PM EST /12 PM CST/ SUN TO 1 PM EST /12 PM CST/ MONDAY.

A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL BLAST INTO THE REGION TONIGHT & SUNDAY BRINGING A SHOT OF ARCTIC AIR. BY LATE SUN AFTERNOON TEMPS WILL LIKELY BE IN THE SINGLE DIGITS ABOVE ZERO IN MANY LOCATIONS WITH OVERNIGHT LOWS SUN NIGHT AWAY FROM LAKE MI RANGING FROM ZERO TO POSSIBLY AS COLD AS 5 BELOW ZERO. THIS COMBINED WITH WINDS OF 15 TO 25 MPH WITH HIGHER GUSTS WILL ALLOW FOR WIND CHILLS OF 15 TO 25 BELOW ZERO.

A WIND CHILL ADVISORY MEANS THAT VERY COLD AIR & STRONG WINDS WILL COMBINE TO GENERATE WIND CHILLS IN THE 15 TO 25 BELOW ZERO RANGE. THIS WILL RESULT IN FROST BITE & LEAD TO HYPOTHERMIA IF PRECAUTIONS ARE NOT TAKEN. IF YOU MUST VENTURE OUTDOORS.MAKE SURE YOU WEAR A HAT & GLOVES.

So - at least I'll have NO reason to go outside and begin the needed clean up of the downed limbs and branches. Not yet anyway!

Wishing you a warm and safe weekend wherever you live!