BJP November is done.

November has been ready for some time now. And here it is. This time I wasn't stubborn anymore in not leaving stiff stuff at the edges. With it the circles are much easier to attach to something (I haven't decided what yet).

I used grey and black beads, charlottes, silver seedbeads, plastic beads, pressed glass, chips, gemstone slice, tag and pendant. It is supposed to symbolize the November greyness that hangs around our houses nowadays. It can be dull but it also has a certain bluesiness and its own misty chic.

I beaded a lot when Obama got chosen and I searched for a tag with "hope" on it. But "dream" might even be a better word. How far do you dare to dream, what do you allow yourself? It also is a question I asked my clients a lot lately.

I sometimes feel like I am living my dreamlife now. And most of the time I am busy doing other things. I need to realise more often how blessed I am and how much I like it now. Instead of thinking what I am going to do after the baby had it's bottle I want to focus my attention on feeding my little baby, smell him, hear the little sounds, feel his little arms around my fingers, see the blond hairs and his big eyes. I know that when I look back at this time it will be one of the happiest times of my life. And I want to be able to feel that right now, while it is happening. That is what this diary also is about.

Ofcourse it is much better in real life: more shine and glitter. Let me know what you think!

Another one

This bracelet I made for my mother for Christmas, because she said she'd like something in blue. But when she saw the first one she said: I would very much like that in black.....

So, now I think I can make my MIL very happy with this. I like the blue with copper.

Waddayathink?

New bracelet

One of the teachers from the daycare centre is leaving and I made her a bracelet. Hopefully she'll like it. The challenge for me were the colors. I never used this green before. But I really like how it turned out. Maybe I'll make one for myself too!

BJP Octobre is ready

Finished in time! This is the Octobre page. The colors go from bright to dark, as does Octobre does around here. There are some really nice, sunny days, and some really dark, rainy, windy days. It is a sky and the water that surrounds us now that we live on a little island.

It also stands for the worries I have since I have children. I can enjoy them immensly (sp?), but there also always is a worry in the back of my head. Are they okay? At first I thought I was only worrying (sp?) because babies are vulnarable. But then I realised that it would always be with me, just the subject would change in time. Now I worry about their development, upbringing, etc. Later it will probably be about are they feeling okay at school, have friends. And even later: is his wife okay, is his work okay?

Then, while I was beading this, the news came that on the daycare centre that my two boys go to a little boy was found dead in his bed. He was 3 months old and we don't know what caused it. It will probably be called SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). His name is Jelle. I remembered him by beading an apple sead in the waves. Jelle is the little sead that will not turn into a tree. The daycare centre was researched and they found nothing wrong. So my boys are there again, and life is slowly getting back in track again.

September is ready

The september page for the Bead Journal Project is ready.

I learned a lot. For instance: Keep It Stupid Simple. I wanted to do much to much on this page. 3 colourgroups, different colourshades in the groups, different techniques, too many symbols, too many kinds of beads.

Also: give beads the room to breathe. When I am putting them too close together it makes it messy. Showing some of the base material is o.k. Especially when you've coloured it before you start beading (my third lesson).

Explanation for what you see. My journal theme for this month is leaving my newborn at the daycare centre while I am going back to work. I do like the daycare centre and I fully agree with him going there. But it is still hard to leave him after spending 6 months so close together. The money is old European coins. A French and a German one which both show a woman: one sowing and one planting a little tree. Also a Belgian coin of 1 Franc (because you've got to start somewhere). These coins represent me making money for my family. The two wheels represent my bike. The greens represent the woods and fields that I cycle through going to work. In September they are still mostly green, but the browns are coming up. The white shell represents the alabaster skin of my little son, the orange/browns his hair colour (that has now turned completely blond). The blue represents the Adidas suit he wore a lot (because his mom liked it so much). One of the happy accidents (thank you Bob Ross) is that it also looks like green forests, brown earth and blue water. Also in the October peace it seems to go a lot about my surroundings. We moved to an Island in Amsterdam and I a more surrounded by nature now. Also I see a lot of circles. Starting out with the format, but also the forms on the circle.

Another happy accident is the blue "wave". I just started it and liked it very much. In my next piece I am going to explore that further when beading the waves of the water that surrounds us.

Tell me what you think. I am very, very new to designing and I just let it happen this time. But I have a lot to learn about that.

Theme for september

Journaling is what i am going to do with the pages every month. Everytime I am going to look for the issues in my life and bead about that, or with that in mind. So I don't have an ongoing theme for the whole year. Maybe next year.
This september I will start working again after maternity leave. I had an extra long maternity leave since my little son didn't drink well because of severe gastrooesofageal reflux (all his food comes up again). So my issue is leaving him in daycare while I go working.
Actually I like my work very much and I also feel that his daycare centre is good and I agree with him going there. But there are a lot of mixed feelings all over.
What I'll use is:
* old European coins (we have the Euro now) that represent me making a living and supporting my family
* all kinds of greens for the look of the trees and bushes that I will bike along going to work
* orange/reds and blues represent my youngest. Red for the color of his hair (now his red hair has changed to a more blondish color, but I still see him like that in my mind) and blues for the clothes I see him in.
Apart from the colors I can use anything I have in the house. I will let it be improvisational from then on (a first for me!).
Love reading the introductions from everyone. Tension seems to be building, LOL.

Waiting while doing other things

Still waiting to be able to start. I got my "proper preparation to prevent piss pole performance" (as Ten says) done: started this blog, thought about it (a lot). Now I have to get my beads organised after moving to our current house. And find out how my scanner works.
While I am waiting I did make some other things. I made a brown dress, a dark fuchsia skirt, two beaded flowers (that make a broche) for my neighbor's birthday and I worked on my beaded bag.
The beaded bag is my start up project. When I feel I want to do something, but can't get around to design, choose colors or am generally stuck, I pick up this project. It is just bead embroidering circles, doesn't matter what color I pick. It is already there, ready to go. I'll scan this to show.

greetings,
soe

Note: With some help of my SO I now know how to use the scanner. Scanned the bag in progress. Since it can't lay flat on the scanner it's not the best image I can get. But for now I am too lazy to take out the camera. Anyway, here it is.

Decisions

Still I am not working on my BJP, because my stiff stuff hasn't arrived yet. I am thinking about it though. I decided some things:
* I am going to use the best beads and other things I need that I can find. I will not wait for a better project or a better beading version of me. I do not want to grow out of my favourite sunday clothes.
* The format will be round with a hole in the middle. Like a CD.
* I am going to try out new stitches besides the good old back stitch.
The biggest challenge I see is getting my monthly journals in on time.

soe

Working on it

Working on learning how this blog thing works, working on starting up the beading again, working on getting everything ready for the BJP 2008-09, working on getting back to work after maternity leave, working on sewing my clothes. When I put it down in words I see that I actually am very busy and doing a lot. I just don't have a finished project to show for it. I am going to try and find a photograph for this blog and find out how my scanner works to be able to let you see the progress on the BJP-project. Wish me luck!

Syl