Good Day

I do not actually lack good days in my life. Most of them are quite nice, but a couple things happened today that were worth bragging about!

Please note my awesome necklace.

 This is me in the parking lot of the grocery store where I just bought batteries to find out if the camera that was used to take this picture did in fact work. I am so happy that it does work (illustrated by this picture) and even better, works like new. I purchased it for $15 at the Goodwill across the street from this grocer. I was getting ready to spend over $200 on a very similar camera so I could have one to carry with me outside of the house. I take my product photos with Levi's fancy and bulky professional camera so I certainly did not want to risk damaging that baby. This find definitely deserves a thumbs up!

 My hair in that picture is a mess because I have been riding around in this. A 1993 Honda Del Sol and our 'new' car! We actually bought this a couple weeks ago but Levi and I have been working crazy schedules so today was the first chance we had to get to the DMV and get a license plate for it. We had a lot of fun with it today.

 It replaces this gas guzzler which will soon be on Craig's List. It has been a good car but we no longer haul anything and it is beginning to cost much more to keep it running than it is worth.

But the Honda is not the only car we titled today! The first and only car that we have not purchased out right also became ours today! So there is my story of this good day. I hope everyone has had a good day and will have great days all week long. 


 

An Invitation

Hello My Friends!

Today I wanted to extend an invitation to any artists, writers, creatives who might read this or know someone who read this.

My younger sister and I have started an Artist Trading Card group with a few people we know and have discovered that it is crazy fun!

 So much fun that I felt bad for others that have not been presented the opportunity to have this kind of fun and felt it was my responsibility to give more people the chance to have as much fun as we are.

So without further suspense here is a message from my sister...

THE IDEA

Artist Trading Cards.  If you are unfamiliar with them, here is the wikipedia site with a brief explanation:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artist_trading_cards

 We have created an alphabetically organized mailing list of the names and addresses of those who are participating. The participation involves creating one of these cards on a bi-monthly basis and sending it via USPS to the person whose name follows yours on the list and then the next name and then the next and so on and so forth.  In turn you will receive a card every other month from one of the other participants. 

The only limitations are that it is roughly 2.5 x 3.5 inches in size, that it can be mailed, and that it is an original artwork by the sender.  The "card" can be made of any medium:  paint, fiber, paper, wood, metal, written word, macaroni - you name it.  If you are a photographer or a print maker you can issue an edition. 

 If you are unsure of yet another commitment to add to your busy days, keep in mind this is not yet another obligation that you must wade through less you face dire consequences.  It is meant to be a step back from those very obligations - a creative sigh.  If you decide it has become one too many things to attend to and you bow out you will not be fired, dumped, chastised or banished.  You will not have social services come and take away your art supplies.  And you can always come back to it.  

Your friend,
Risa Yost

She is brilliant, my sister.

As I mentioned, we have already started and gone through one round that was mailed out June 1st so now is a great time to join because you will have the full two months to create your piece. If you are interested you can contact me and I will give you any additional information you may need or want.

Have a fun week!

My lovely, talented daughter, Illyana, recently photo-documented a warm and quiet spring evening in our back yard.

 

 She has quite the eye for good flower shots...

...and she prefers photography over boring things like conversation and pulling weeds.

Even Alice enjoys lazing about in the sun with the family.

 

 I hope you are all enjoying a few quiet spring evenings of your own.

My Beady Beginnings

Thanks to everyone who responded to my first blog post! It is very encouraging. 

One of the comments complimented the beaded mask I pictured in that post and I mentioned that it was inspired by a piece done by bead loom artist Don Pierce that he showed during a three day workshop I took from him. I wanted to write about this today because that workshop was my introduction to the bead world.



I was living in Lakeland, FL with my young family at the time and staying at home with our daughter. My partner had purchased one of those plastic bead loom kits a few years earlier out of nostalgia  (she used one as a kid). That kit moved with us twice unopened.

Out of pity for the thing just sitting in a drawer never used and a lack of cash, I decided to make bead loomed bracelets for all of the women on my x-mas list that year (2000). The instructions in those kits are not exactly great. It came with a small pack of multi-colored beads and a needle but no thread. It did mention that sewing thread would not hold up and that whatever thread you did use could be coated with bees wax. Off to the superstore I went for dental floss and more beads!

That's right - dental floss was what came to mind for strong thread. So there I sat making bead loomed bracelet after bead loomed bracelet with my bagged size 10 beads and dental floss that I was coating with a Burt's Bees salve in place of bees wax. I loved every minute of it!

After the holiday I couldn't stop using the loom and had run out of design space on the small strip of graph paper provided in the kit. My wonderfully attentive and supportive partner, Julie, recognized my passion and discovered a local Bead Society that was coincidentally going to be hosting a bead loom workshop with Don Pierce and encouraged me to sign up for it.

I received a supply list that included the following:
delica beads
nymo thread
large bead loom

My reaction to this list went like this:
What?
Huh?
Where do you get that? 

This is the very same loom that I still use!

I found a local bead store that explained and supplied the delica beads and nymo thread. They could not provide me with a loom any bigger than the one I had though so Julie decided to make me one. A few scrap pieces of wood, some nails, and a screen door spring and I was all set for the workshop!

I was the youngest person in the workshop and the only beginner. I felt extremely awkward and silly next to all of the experienced and accomplished beadweavers but everyone was so incredibly nice and supportive and concerned with whether I was working under enough light. Mr. Pierce showed us the basics of beading on a loom and I was hooked. So much more I could do with my bead loom than I had ever imagined. We each worked on a piece using a technique that we were not totally confident with yet which for me was anything besides a strip for a bracelet. My design and color choices received some funny looks but no one judged my style - only the technique.

I still have that beadwork that I wore as a bracelet for a little while and I am still as happy with it as I was then. Since that first wonderful eye opening experience in the bead world I have taught myself off loom techniques and more on loom techniques via the internet and numerous books. I now own two large looms (the one made by Julie and one of Mr. Pierce's Larry Looms) and both are always in use....and I live happily ever after in my beautiful bead filled world.

Introductions

Hi! My Name is Jessie and I started this blog today while I was sitting here deciding how to avoid doing the other things I know I need to do.

This is my cat Alice who sometimes eats strange things but as far as I know has never actually eaten a 5. This blog is not about her or any other cat - I really just needed a title for my blog that would not tie me to any one subject. So my blog title, like me, is mostly harmless and makes little sense.

This way I can write about beadwork one day, or the antics of being a woman working in a home improvement warehouse the next, or just tell you about the wonderful things I ate for dinner because I know that it was so delicious you will all want to hear about it.