Bead Journal Project for May (2010)...

My plan for the 2010 Bead Journal Project was to make a bouquet of monochromatic flowers. That lasted for the first four months. After completing the first 2 flowers I was questioning my monochromatic color choice, the thought of doing that month after month made it a bit boring for me. I broke down for the fifth month and dove into some color.



This one started with a circular metal center with lots of holes, it is not flat. I added an 11/0 bead to each hole which helped anchor the metal piece to the backing. Then added a row of size 15/0 beads outside the metal disc. Next I added 5 Swarovski glass sequins anchored with a size 15/0 yellow bead. More blue and yellow beads were added to fill in the petals.



It was backed with yellow-gold Ultrasuede and whip stitched together with size 15/0 blue beads.

Seven more flower to go to complete my bouquet and the project for 2010. I will continue to post these as I finish them, but first I must get to some other projects!

Bead Journal Project for April (2010)...

Seems there is just never enough time to post all the beady and creative things going on. Many exciting things going on here, not the least of which is seeing signs of spring - finally! It seems warmer weather has been threatening for quite some time, but it has not quite taken hold. I am hopeful that will change this weekend.

One post that I have been meaning to get up is about the Bead Journal Project. I have participated in this project since it was started by Robin Atkins and have enjoyed it very much. I have learned much about myself and about my beading from my participation. I signed up to participate this year even though I had not finished the project for last year. It has since become clear to me that I am not able to make the time to participate this year. A clear indication of that is posting the photo from the last project one year late. And even though I am late for last year, my plan is to finish up the project for 2010. I think that with several other projects will keep me plenty busy through the end of the year.

April in this part of the country usually means spring and lots of rain. To me - that translates to gray. I like the color of gray in beads much better than a gray colored sky.



This flower started with a vintage faceted glass cab as the center and worked my out from there with light gray around the cab and hematite colored beads for the petals. These photos look a bit fuzzy to me, I'm not sure what happened with my focus this time around.

I finished it off with soft gray Ultrasuede and a pin back.