Bead Ornaments

Last Sunday my eldest came by for a crafternoon.

Jeanne suggested we make up a couple beaded icicle ornament kits. The first six ornaments have a cage of pearl and clear faceted beads at the top 

with a large teardrop bead at the bottom. Jeanne takes the lead in the process and I get to follow along.

The second set of beads looks much like some we made in 2022. 

They have two sizes of clear faceted beads

with a swish of tiny pearl seed beads.

It's been months since we shared a crafternoon. We had such an enjoyable time that we hope to make it a regular monthly get-together.

Embroidery on Paper

 Summer of P: Past

From 2016: Jeanne's Star

I made this for Christmas. I did a lot of embroidery on paper that year and turned the designs into Christmas cards. I gave the special beaded ones to the very special people in my life. 

The variegated blues work so well on the black background. The gold and pearl beads make this star shine!

Three Generation Bracelets

Dale and I were able to spend time in Idaho to celebrate Melody's 6th birthday. I wanted to make her something special and decided on a bracelet that's personalized with her name.

Then I thought that maybe Annie would like a bracelet, too.

Well, if Melody got one, and Annie got one, wouldn't their mommy like a matching bracelet?

Ah, heck. I want in on the fun too!

Now we're a family that gets to be fancy together.  

Beaded Icicle Angel Ornaments

For our February crafternoon, Jeanne and I made more beaded ornaments. These pearl icicles are about six inches long. An angel sits at the top.

We used this kit from Mary Maxim. Jeanne is very talented at interpreting the directions. Much patience was needed with me as I attempted to string the smallest beads onto the wire. My eyesight ain't quite what it used to be. I finally got smart and pulled out a magnifying glass.

The angel has a halo, a necklace, and a charming dress. (Or is the "necklace" hands in prayer?)

On the back, her wings and the trailing pearl seed beads create a bow.

Jeanne and I made about half of the ornaments together, then I finished them up the following day. There are 24 altogether. 

This Christmas tree will be dripping in shimmer and sparkle.

23 Goals in 2023 Update

So! The first two months of 2023 have flown by. I'm going great guns working through my goals for the year.

Word of the Year: Flow
I've been taking Phone Free Fridays to give me extra bandwidth. My creativity has returned in force (Hooray!) so I've been doing a lot of crafting and other creative projects. I'm able to get into that space where time and place don't exist ... and be absorbed into my current activity. This is exactly what I was hoping for.

Infuse Fun
I'm a homebody who isn't too into extreme anything, so usually my fun is pretty quiet. But I have been keeping track of my fun activities and realize I partake in enjoyable time quite a bit. I've already had 29 days with fun. Most involve geocaching and crafternoons alone or with one of my kids. Dale and I have gone to a couple performances which was fun because I'm rarely out at night. Dates are a novelty. 

Dale and I had a fun afternoon geocaching with our eldest, Jeanne. That kid is an excellent geocaching partner. We found several that afternoon.

My two most fun times were with Jodie. On one occasion, I gave her a handmade gift that was both "amusing and horrifying." I giggled over that for hours. (I've been given strict orders to refrain from sharing that craft on my blog due to the "horrifying" part). The other fun afternoon involved helping her prep her garage for a big clean-out. We can make nearly anything fun when we're together.

Creative Photo Journey
So far I've read 1-1/2 books written by a Pete Souza, and bought another by him. I'm learning a good amount from his documentary style. 

This week, Jodie helped me learn about lighting for studio photography. I have better knowledge of how to use 3-point lighting. She helped me understand that getting the outcome I'm seeking takes more experimentation than I imagined.

Visit 23 Parks

It's been so wet that Dale and I haven't gone out much yet. That will change once Spring truly arrives. So far we've scoped out three parks this year.

Alternative/Additional Goals

I've made great progress on several goals and already completed a few!

• Audiobooks and books: Goal of 23. Completed 12.
  
  
• Beaded ornaments: Goal of 23. Completed 36.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Crafternoons: Goal of 23 with a buddy. Completed 9 alone. Completed 5 with my kids.
  
  
• Crafts: Goal of 23 different varieties. Completed 8.
  
  
• Geocaches: Goal of 23. Completed 23 as of last week. I also reached my 600 caches found milestone.
  
  
  
  
  
• Gratitude: Last year I had a hard time listing things to be grateful for. I stopped trying. This year I picked up my gratitude journal again. Goal of 23 short lists. Completed 38.
  
  
• Sending Cards and Letters: Goal 23. Completed 25.
  
  
  
  
  
• Jigsaw Puzzles: Goal of 23. Completed 3.
  
  
• Movies / TV series on my Netflix/Hulu/Amazon Prime lists: Goal of 23. Completed 38.
  
  
• Quilted Hearts: Goal of 23. Completed 19.
  
  
• 
  
  
• Advance Directive: Finished it and had it notarized.
  
  
• Kiva Loans: Goal of 23. 7 Completed.
  
  
• Bicycle: I got a used bike. Now I need to get it tuned up.
  
  
  

I finally feel like I'm part of post-pandemic life. Most of my anxiety is gone. 

Watch out, World. I'm back!

(Mostly)

Crystal Snowmen

Time for more beaded ornaments! 

Jeanne came by for a crafternoon sometime last ... December? ... January? I forget. We decided to make up another Mary Maxim beaded ornament kit. This is called Crystal Snowman. The kit contains all the plastic beads, chenille stems, and ribbons needed for twelve ornaments.

Most of the ornaments are identical, but two are different ... a little bigger. Can you see why?

The kit contained a couple oblong beads to substitute for the bottom snowball. I doubt the more pointy snowballs would stand as well if they were really made of snow, though.

Lucky me! I have a dozen new sparkly beaded ornaments for my Christmas tree!

Beaded Ornaments

Earlier this month when I was over the contagious part of the virus, but still not feeling up to par, Jeanne came to spend some time with me for a Crafternoon date. We decided to make up one of the beaded ornament kits from my stash. 

Jeanne picked this set of 6 blue and white icicles. There are 6 sizes of pearl beads, some blue starburst beads and blue seed beads. The ornaments are formed on wire.

I love the sweep of small pearl seed beads alternating along the sides of the larger pearl beads. They give the design a lot of movement.

The first set of ornaments went together quickly, so we decided to make up a second kit of four ornaments. I purchase my bead kits from Mary Maxim.

The instructions there called for a spiral bottom to the ornament. Then the beads are strung.

The top of the ornament endswith this large hook.

Jeanne and I work quite well together. After all these years of crafting, I'm allowed to organize all the bits and beads. Jeanne's responsible for reading the instructions and explaining each step as we go along.

My old frozen dinner trays come in very handy in my Studio. This time they held the different sizes of beads. I used Post-It notes to mark the sizes.

After completing the ornaments and tidying up the Studio, we had some fun "modeling" the ornaments by placing those big hooks over the top of our ears. They make quite the stunning earrings, don't you think?

"The Fun Mom" strikes again.

Honestly, spending time with Jeanne definitely helped my healing.

Throwback Thursday: July 21 through the Years

 2005

2006

2007

2016

#throwbackthursday

2021 Family Ornaments

Last week my friend Karen stopped by to play in my Studio with me. We each made a set of wood bead snowman ornaments for our families. We had a great time chatting and crafting. All of the ornaments are adorable. 

My inspiration came from ornaments I saw on Pinterest (see below). But instead of using beads all the same size, I chose beads of graduating size that I bought through Amazon. Instead of stringing the beads on yarn, I used wavy green chenille stems that I had in my stash. 

The ornaments went together very quickly! These first four are for my daughter Julie's family. They each have a charming satin red bow for the embellishment.

The snowmen for Jodie and Kenny are sporting bright red felt scarves.

For Jeanne, I chose a blue felt scarf.

Each snowman has the date and recipient's name on the back.

For now, the ornaments for Dale and me are hanging out together in my Studio, waiting to be hung on the tree.

This handmade ornament tradition is one I hope to continue into retirement. It's fun to go to our daughter's homes and see them on display each year as they grow their own family traditions.

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My ornaments are inspired by Anita at creatingme