Beaded flowers.

Sometimes I feel the need to simplify. I consolidated a lot of the beaded flowers I've made along with vintages ones I've collected into a pretty silver pitcher.

It's very cheery on my kitchen counter and it was nice to pack some vases away for another day.

Corinne's mosaic.

Another mosaic picture. This one was given to my aunt. I love the bowl in this one.

Tin flower earrings.

It seems like ages ago that I shared the tin flowers I cut out of a tin canister.

I finally made the smaller flowers into earrings.

I played around with adding beads to them, but in the end, I liked them better as simple flowers on an earwire.

Mom's mosaic.

For Christmas last year, I made mosaic pictures for several of my friends and family. This is the one I made for my mom. It was one of my favorites ... although, it was hard to part with all of them.

I wish I had remembered to take photos of them all before I gave them away!

What a difference a photo editor makes.

A while ago I was playing around with a photo of a bead tapestry I made years ago. It is one of my all-time favorite pieces of beadwork that I now have framed in my house. I only have one old photo of it without glass over it. The photo was dark and did not do the piece justice. My cousin is a photographer and earlier this year on her blog she recommended using Photoscape for editing photos. I've been using it and have been really happy with it, especially since it's free. I decided to try it out on the old photo of one of my favorite pieces of beadwork and I think it turned out great!

Here's the old photo for comparison.

This piece is done in peyote stitch and is made up of 3,021 delica beads. The pattern is from Sigrid Wynne-Evans Masterpieces for Beadwork.

This particular piece is an adaptation of John William Waterhouse's My Sweet Rose.

Bead & Button Show: vintage buttons

I'm sorry that I cannot tell you who I purchased these steel cut buttons from at the show. I didn't have a card or a receipt with them.

I snatched them up right away when I saw them. I think I will make earrings with them. They should be easy to translate into earrings since they have openings all around the flowers.

This concludes my Bead and Button Show posts for the moment. I'm so glad I went and soaked up the inspiration and happy atmosphere of the show. It's been a few years since I've taken a class at the show ... maybe next year will be the year.

Bead & Button Show: Cynthia Rutledge.

Before the show, I had promised myself not to buy any bead kits, as I have a number of them just waiting to be worked up. Still, I needed to stop and admire Cynthia's beadwork. I was good and did not buy any kits from Cynthia, but I did purchase a Greg Hanson glass button for one of her projects that was published in Beadwork. That doesn't count!

Being surrounded by so much talent and inspiration left me feeling more refreshed and ready to work on a new project.

I'm not very far on it at the moment, but the fact that I have the seed beads back out and ready to go makes me happy.

Bead & Button Show: A Vintaj pendant.

Usually my mom and I do not stop for vendor demonstrations at the show. This year, we had a more relaxed, meandering pace and ended up stopping for several. When we passed the Vintaj booth and my mom could see they were doing something with a Big Shot (which she has for cardmaking), we had to stop and find out what was going on!

They were putting copper blanks between metal plates, then rolling the plates through the Big Shot to stamp the image into the copper blank. When I tried it, I was prepared to really have to crank the handle, but it was surprisingly quick and easy. Afterwards, we polished them and riveted on a flower. I love riveting things.

That was a really fun demonstration. My mom and I already have plans to put her Big Shot to use in making some more pendants.

Bead & Button Show: Green Girl Studios.

This year, because I was in such a creative funk, I had decided not to go to Bead and Button. What was I thinking?! I'm glad that I changed my mind and went along with my mom. We were even able to connect with my cousin for lunch before the show, which was a nice treat. Our first stop at the show is always Green Girl Studios.

Since we were there a little later in the day than usual we happened to be at the booth during a small lull. That meant we had time to chat with Andrew, which is always a treat! The show was off to a great start.

I was in need of clasps and GG always has something a little different.

Not sure what I'll do with this bird bead, but I needed it.

Thanks, Andrew, for the motivational chat! :)

I'll share more about Bead and Button in the next few posts.

Barometer.

Sometimes my bead table is a good indicator of my emotional state. When I'm feeling stressed and out of sorts, it often looks like this. Items continue to be piled on top of one another, projects are started and left hanging and nothing is put away!

The school year ended for N last week and I couldn't be happier. I think I needed a break from math homework more than he did! He was struggling for a while, so we put a lot of effort into math each night and he ended the school year with a better understanding and a higher grade. Between work and N needing extra help this year, I haven't had much time for beading or blogging.

Early this morning N and I had tea with cheese and crackers while sitting outside. The sun was bright, the conversation relaxed, and dew sparkled all around us.

Now it's time to take a breath, reconnect with friends and work on some creative projects.