January Bead Journal Page

I've been done for a while now but never got to the picture until today. The colors make me think of being cold. While I was working on this, it actually told me to stop. I did get to a place where I didn't know what to do so, I listened and stopped beading. Most of my other months are totally encrusted but this month - oh well. I do like the fabric so maybe that had something to do with it. It was a cold month with lots of ice and snow. It continued this week with another 5 inches of snow paced down with a couple inches of freezing rain, then rain then very cold temps that froze everything over. Everything was just plain icy. I am a lucky person, I got a job this week and will start on Monday. I'll be working with a cute autistic boy 1 on 1 in one of our elementary schools. I'm excited about this new adventure but at the same time wondering - how am I going to find the time to bead and read. I'll miss my free time but I'll enjoy the financial benefits along with the knowledge that I'll be helping a child. My January doll is coming, soon. Happy New year to all!

December Calendar Doll and BJP

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone! It's a busy time of year here as I'm sure where you are. My son is counting the days to Christmas and then his birthday. It's a happy time of year for children and I enjoy his enthusiasm so much. The kids in the area are wound up and ready! I would like to present my December Calendar doll, Santa. He's made with a few scupty objects. I made the face from a mold and my girlfriend Miss Patty made the star, circle and heart. If you think about it Santa has the biggest heart, he travels the world (circle) under the starts, so I thought it brought a little old world feel to him.

My December BJP is a tree with the ornaments exploding off it. I think it shows the enthusiasm of the season from many points of view. Those who love this season and those who just want to say Bahumbug. Your choice. I'm not going to tell you that I wanted the ornaments on the tree but couldn't do it, it just happened that they put themselves where they are and I'm doing a loose interpretation! :)

Thanks for all of you who have visited my blog and let such nice comments, I appreciate it and enjoy reading them. Enjoy your holidays, breathe and be kind to yourself. I'm trying to do this and remind myself of it often since I'm in the process of looking for a job. I retired last February for health reasons and it's time. I'm feeling stronger but you know if I had my druthers, I'd rather be beading! Less stress

November Calendar Doll

Introducing Leaf Me Alone, my November Calendar Doll. It's how I've been feeling. As I posted below, I've been thinking about what to do now that I think I'm about ready to go back to work. I am enjoying my peace and quiet and when people come into my space I get a bit agitated. I have just wanted to be left alone with my own thoughts. She started out as just a leaf to signify fall and all the beautiful leaves that have fallen and I think she is beautiful. So either way it will remind me of the peace that this month brought to me while watching all those leaves fall.

November BJP

Here's my November Bead Journal Project. It started out very orderly and then went off track a bit - guess that's the story of my life right now - I'm wandering around in my head trying to figure out what I'm going to do next. Since I retired from teaching preschool last February, I've been healing. I'm getting antsy about now working. I consider myself lucky that I have a number of choices but making a choice is a problem so the right thing hasn't come up yet. So you can see that the beads kind of meander around the large stone - the meandering just happened.

October BJP

I finished up my October page - I just love the blue stones in the middle - can't remember what they are blue sunstone or something like that. They have some wonderful sparkle in them. I just wanted to show them off.

Calendar Dolls

In September, I joined the Calendar Doll Challenge on Beaded Art Dolls. I didn't think to post them until just now. So I'm posting September and October dolls now. They are about 4 inches tall and flat. I'm working up to 3D, not that I haven't made any art dolls before, just never beaded. I'll get ther. September is called Simplicity and October is called Harvest Pumpkin. I bet you can tell the difference:)

Gift in the Mail

Look what came in the mail! I totally forgot that I had played a blog game - show off your bead tray on Denise's blog http://bitsofbeads.blogspot.com/ and got these great blue beads in the mail with a nice note from Denise! Looks like November might just have to be blue. This was such a nice treat. Thought I'd show them off. Thanks Denise!