Pay It Forward

This is Milo.

There is a blogger Pay It Forward going on. The idea is this: As part of the PIF venture, I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment here on my blog requesting to join the PIF exchange. I am not sure what that gift will be yet, and youwill not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days! That is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is to Pay It Forward by making this same promise on your blog.I really love that this supports the random acts of kindness philosophy, & gives a boost to handmade, all in one. It's popping up everywhere - Pay it Forward. Are you in?

Catching Up

Wow! Can't believe it's been so long since I've posted. Won't bore anyone with the whys and whatfores. Let's just say, I've been busy. Healing.

We're on school vacation and I'm breathing. I took pictures of my pages October thru February. I can't believe I'm actually caught up.

October's started slowly. I had the 3 stone leaves and thought it looked boring and needed some sparkle. You can't tell by the picture but the beads in the large leaf shine, the red veins match the red in one of the stones. It still wasn't enough so I just kept on going. A little here and a little there until I said - enough.

November's page took some time. I painted the pelltex a shiny black with acrylic paint. I remember someone else did that earlier and I liked it. Robin said go for it and of course, I didn't until now. I was going to do a cornacopia, then a turkey but as I thought about November, I thought about all our Veterans. My mom and dad were both vets and I thought it might be a nice way to pay tribute to them and all those who came before and after them. I started with the word Thanks. It looked stark and what am I thankful for? hum, I need an American Flag. Quick off to my mother's jewelry box. Yes, I have it and I haven't taken it over with my stuff. I still have my own. Anyway, I got a Bicentenniel flag '76. Ok, but what else. I remember seeing a bunch of my dad's stuff in a box of letters. I haven't read them but I think they are love letters from and to my mom and dad (to each other!). Anyway, I pulled out my dad's signias that he had collected. I wish I knew what they were for (that's another project). I put them on. I had some of the familiar pins that he wore on his uniform, the U.S. pin, the Engineer pin, the star. I found my mom's American Legion pin. So that's how that page came to be. It is by far the heaviest page!

December was a blur and to tell you the truth, I didn't want Santa or a tree or a stocking or anything like that. I thought how simple a gold star would be. I once again painted the peltex with acrylic paints and used gold triangle beads to go around the outside of the star. It really looks much better in person. A simple star can represent a whole lot of things for a whole lot of people. I just love the simplicity of it.

January's Page - Happy New Year! I thought I'd welcome in the baby new year with a bang of fireworks. It's going to be a wonderful year.

February's Page is of course a bunch of hearts. I started collecting hearts a little while ago and was planning on doing something totally different with them but they landed on the page. It's a happy hearts page.

I am so happy I am able to put these up to share with everyone. I have been taking sneak peaks now and again but haven't been commenting on any. I have LOVED what I've seen. What a talented group! I look forward to more from me and everyone else.

Hope all is well with you - Hugs from Heidi where the weather here in Connecticut can't make up it's mind if it's going to be winter or summer.

September BJP

Here's the September page. Read below to find out what it means to me. Thanks

August BJP

Here's the August page I promised to publish.

I'm Catching Up - Just like the Tortise

I can't believe I haven't posted since July. Where did the time go? I know. Getting ready for school, starting school, my son started a new school, transitions everywhere. I learned how to knit and crochet in between sometime in August and September. I enjoy both but I really think I like the beading much better, hum, not a surprise. I learned in early September that my Aunt in California had lymphoma stage 4 with a few other things thrown in for good measure. See passed away the end of September. I fell at school a week ago, seems that hot wheel cars seem to go faster than my foot. I stepped on it and my leg went one way and my body went the other way and the floor came up to meet me! lol I rolled so the children (I teach preschool) couldn't see my face. Scared my co-teacher. She got the kids into another room, good thinking on her part and sent down another teacher to check on me. In the meantime, I'm doing a mental inventory. Everything was still in place and it seemed like everything could move. Good. Sprained my ankle and my body tightened up so much. Took about 4 days to easy the body but the ankle is still in an air cast. I was really happy to be able to have the whole weekend that weekend to myself. My son and husband went camping and I spent the weekend with my foot up and my beads in hand and clicker and phone next to me. I was a happy camper! Anyway, I finished my August page. I was trying to get the feeling that August(the orange piece) was hot but my son had another interpretation (remember he's 11) he said the yellow was the sun setting and the moon was getting the reflection of that. The rest of the sparkle was stars in the sky. So whatever you want it to be - that's fine! lol September (the pink piece) just came about by doing what Robin says, one bead down then another, then another and then it was done. I looked at it and looked at it and it came to me that because my Aunt had died, I was the flower at the bottom and I was holding on to the "stems" or "lines" but holding on to my family who are all gone now. My mother is the one on the left, my father is the one directly across from her and my aunt is the one at the bottom right. My grandfather is at the top. I'm holding on. hum. I'll have to write on that some time.

July Page Done

I finished July, it only took me 1000+ sequins. Glad I bought 2 packages. I like the way the light reflects off the sequins. I'm getting a little purple in the reflection and I like that. I think I like sequins. I used to think they were tacky but now with beads and in the right context I love em. My mind is wandering off to August and what I should do but I'm not going to start yet. Off to other projects. This picture doesn't do it justice but you get the idea. I think this brings peace and simplicity to me. I like looking at it and usually I don't like what I make.

Quiet Here

My husband and I dropped our 11 year old son off at Boy Scout camp yesterday. After I said goodbye to him, I told him I'd have his dad come by before we left and that I'd be in the car. A few minutes later, I looked back and saw my son running to the car. He came for another hug and a kiss. I asked him if he was ok "yes mom" but I know him better. He had just realized that he was going to be there with out us. We hugged and kissed and I told him it was ok to miss us and that he would have lots of fun and he'd be too busy to miss us. I told him as I was hugging him that I'd give him a wedgy and that perked him up but as he walked back to the camp ground I cried for both of us. Anyway, it's so darn quiet here without him, I almost put on Spongebob Squarepants to make some noise. I decided that I would do absolutely nothing today that I didn't want to do, so I sat in my recliner and beaded. It is so relaxing. I did remember to get up every now and then to stretch and give the dog water and run him around the backyard. It's going to be a quiet week! We'll pick him up on Sunday.