Choose Your Own Adventure Freeform Peyote Challenge

I've finished my freeform peyote necklace for the challenge. I think I have, I mean. That's one of the beautiful things about freeform, one can always add to it later. Here's a closeup of an area I like especially well: 

And a shot of the whole necklace:

It was fun to have a deadline to work to. I want to thank Karen Williams of Baubilicious for sponsoring the challenge. 

There are as many ways to do freeform peyote stitch as there are beaders. You can see the gorgeous things challenge participants came up with by starting here: http://baublicious.blogspot.com/2013/02/freeform-peyote-choose-your-own.html

Freeform Progress

Freeform progress sort of describes how my life meanders and changes over time. I'm nowhere near who or where I thought I'd be when I started out, but I'm happy about where I've landed.

It also is descriptive of what's happening on a necklace I started last week.  I love freeform peyote stitch, so when I read about Baublicious and Bead Circle Network's blog hop coming at the end of February, I had to sign up.
(read about it here http://baublicious.blogspot.com/2013/01/im-in-podcast-and-im-cohosting-design.html )

Here's what I've got so far. I'm incorporating a bunch of my own lampwork beads. I love the sea/summer feel that it's shaping up to have. 

SALE!

5 day Spring Cleaning sale in my etsy shop & it's a BIG one! 
40% off everything with coupon code CROCUS. Valid through 1/20/13.

Here, Now

Custom work for a young friend who fell in love with Baba Ram Dass last year. On the wrist, it looks less like words and more like an interesting, semi-random pattern. The purple is semi-transparent, so held up to the light it glows.

I'm fairly pleased with the way it came out, but mostly I'm just glad he digs it. And glad he digs the book, which also came to him from my hand.

Weddings and Weak Excuses

Here's my latest finished work- custom garters for a bride (one to wear & keep, one to toss). The fun part of this is that the customer is the sister of one of my very first boyfriends, someone I hadn't heard from in more than 30 years. For all that Facebook is annoying, it also has the power to connect people in odd and interesting ways.

Aside from the wedding gear, I've had an extended fallow period. I've been caught up in other jobs, other economic demands and it seems the longer I am away from the work, the harder it is to resume. I have a million ideas, maybe 20 of them fleshed out enough in my head that I could sit down and begin to translate them into being. But I haven't.

I did organize and tidy my working space, looking forward to the rainy nights of winter in Oregon where one must perforce do something with one's hands.

Forget-Me-Nots

It's getting to be Betsy-Tacy Convention time again, and I'm making jewelry for my booth there. Here's a sneak peek at a new bracelet, Forget-Me-Nots. Fans will remember that Joe had to go to extraordinary lengths to procure out of season Forget-Me-Nots for Betsy's wedding bouquet. Being Joe, of course, he had no trouble with this task.

2 Days, 4 UFOs

It's been a productive couple of days. I have LOTS of unfinished stuff lying around, and I've decided that finishing it up will go a long way toward getting the studio organized again. You'd laugh if I posted a picture of my "work area" right now, because what it most resembles is the aftermath of a bead store explosion. So, from the top: a right-angle-weave necklace made with faux goldstone rounds, a chunky funky triangle bead bracelet with a fun vintage button, a peyote choker with a gold satin ribbon tie for glam, and a wide, elegant picot edged bracelet. Whew.