BJP 2011

I am finally getting around to posting my 2011 Bead Journal Pages. I was behind as of June. School endend and I went to town. I was afraid that I would be behind again when school started and I was on a roll and had some creative energy flowing so I finished my "Pages". They are approximately 3" circles, I've put pins on the back and given one away, the others will be gifts for certain people. The object of this year was to use only supplies I had on hand; fabric, pinbacks and beads. I used mainly 15s with 11s on the outside on all of them. I had all except the cat for main focal pieces.

This year started when I was sitting in class with my student and the english teacher was very much into the peace sign. He was so good to my student that I decided that I would make him a pin. He wore it every day from January to June! Then I just picked up a focal pieces and beaded. So here they all are:


January



February



March



April



May



June



July



August



September



October



November



December

Of course I miscounted somehow and made an extra :)

2010 Completed - Better Late than Never

Yes, I finally finished December's page. November has been done for awhile but never posted. November is gold and December is copper. Once again I need to thank my good friend Miss Patty for the fabric for the backgrounds. I have never bought gold and certainly never seen copper fabric. They look much better in person, color wise anyway. I started the year off trying to be more creative and ended the year just being bored. It might just be the colors and not having enought to play with, I'm not sure but I think for next year, I'll learn some new stitches. I think that will be my goal for the year. I don't have much to write about, I can say that I'm glad I have finished another year of beading and am excited to start the new year. I'm always glad to pick up the bead embroidery because it is so meditative. It's just plain good for my spirit. I should do it more! January brings new beginnings and I'm gonna take it. Let's see what this year brings! HAPPY NEW YEAR! Let's start fresh.

October BJP

I'm catching up! Only one month behind and I started it last night! Here's October, I just realized it's orange and it's kind of a fally color, so that's about as close as I can get to explaining this. I started the year off trying to do one angel a month, using a different color each month. Orange was next! I have a hard time with orange, I never really liked it but I'm getting closer. I can't believe I actually had that many different orange beads. My idea at the beginning of the year was to not buy any beads or fabric. I've done that so far. The next two months, I had to beg a friend (Miss Patty) for a scrap of fabric for the backing of each. She's an awesome artist in many media. I knew she'd have gold and copper. So now you know my next two month's colors.

As I've said in previous posts, my job as a para in the middle school here in town is draining. I am lucky I have a wonderful student to work with. This student does keep my on my toes.

Along with that, I have a almost 15 year old who is just blossoming in high school. I have the mom taxi up and running even more than ever. My schedule revolves around his, but that's ok. I realized I don't have too much more time with him before he goes off to college and really grows up. It's kind of scary. I'm enjoying the heck out of him while I have him. It goes so fast.

So my time is limited but I will finish and on time, I'm bound and determined!

I hope everyone is staying healthy and happy.

September 2010

Wow, where has the time gone? With school starting and my son's schedule, who has time for the computer. I have been beading and I just found that I didn't post September's page, so here it is. October and November are almost done so they'll be up soon, too. I can't believe that our third year is coming to a close. It seems like we just started. January starts a new year. What shape will I use then or will I do something totally different. I've visited everyone's pages and wow there are some great ideas. Maybe I'll pick one of them! I have no idea why september is white, I guess it was the color I had on hand at the time. I'm trying to use the beads that I have and not buy any for now. Same with the fabric. I'm trying to thin out the stash of stuff. My local bead store has moved and I haven't even been in it and it's been since August. That's a bit scary, I think. Things are going well here. My by at school is a joker but I've seen some really big improvements since last school year. My son continues to grow like a week. He tested for his
3rd degree black belt yesterday, it was an 8 hour test and he did AWESOME. We are so proud of him and he is too (which is even better). I've been reading lots and enjoying the heck out of it. Will post soon the rest of the year maybe!

August BJP

August is here and half way over. School starts for me in 2 weeks (from yesterday), personal development days. They just passed a new and improved budget for the BOE here in town. First, we're closing an elementary school and now we're not. So, we just found out that there will be lots of layoffs instead. I guess I'll know within the next two weeks if I've been cut. I think I should be ok but I'm close. Hopefully, we had a lot of retirements and people quitting.

We're off to New Hampshire tomorrow. Our first real vacation in 10 years! Where did the time go? JT was just 4 last time and didn't understand what a vacation was. Now, I'm not even sure he wants to go! :)

Thought I'd post up August's page before we went and I forgot I even did it. It's actually silver. Not sure if you can tell from the picture. Fabric is blue but all the beads are silver. The flow of the fabric just called for the flow of the beads. It was simple but it was very mindless - I mean meditative. I'm thinking white for September. Then orange, copper, gold maybe.

I've been snooping and lurking on the blogs and I love what everyone is doing. Thanks for your continued inspiration.

July BJP

Here it is, July and it's only August 14th. Actually, I finished this in July while my son was at camp. It turned out to be a wonderfully quiet and productive beading and reading week. July is supposed to be irridescent. The fabric is kind of a etheral piece of fabric that I fell in love with. It didn't not turn out as I had planned but then again, nothing ever does. It actually started with 7 beads going down the center (including the heart of course) I thought "these are the seven chakras" and it took on a mind of it's own. It was a pleasant week but I missed my boy very much and was glad to get him back, all the dirt included!

June BJP

Where does the time go? School is out and I welcome some time off. Time to be creative and time to read and time to spend with friends. Now my mind is there but my body isn't quite up to some of the tasks. It's pretty bad when you have to force yourself to do something you love. That's how it is. Anyway, June's page is done and I have actually started July. We dropped our son off at Boy Scout camp yesterday and I have the whole week during the day to myself. What to do, what to do. I want to do so much but then again, I don't. Anyone ever feel like this? Suggestions are always appreciated.