A WISH for you! A WISH for me!

Wind Swept Fairy w/Dandelion
Found on Pinterest

I was surfing around on Facebook the other day and found this absolutely gorgeous "wind dancer" She spins in the wind, just an awesome find and I was immediately enamored. I love everything about her (except her toes, they're too long but that's just my sense of aesthetics) anyway toes aside she's perfect. So I poke around the page and marvel at all the sculpture, it makes me want to touch. To stand and stare and caress the lines. Yes folks, in my little art world that is LOVE. The need to touch and feel, to see and smell. To bask in it's glory.

Fantasy Wire on FB
A single Dandelion Seed

Then I come across these. Oh my........ I can afford this. I want this. I need this. It's a what? A wish?

Found here: Bits and Pieces

No no no. THIS IS A WISH! I have absolutely no idea what plant it comes from. But all my life I've known THIS to be a wish. It's about an inch to an inch and a half in diameter and no stem.  Just a little smaller than the photo suggests, but not much. You catch it blowing about on the breeze. Hold it very gently in your hands, so as not to crush it. Make your wish, and release it back onto the breeze. It's very magical when you're a child and I haven't seen one in years, not since my own children were small when I showed them how to catch one and release it.

Oh, You *can* make a wish on a Dandelion, my kids did it quite often! So did I. How many breaths it takes to blow the seeds away is how long it takes for it to come true, sort of like birthday candles. But in my world, it isn't a wish any more than a star is, it's what you make a wish on.

Nevertheless, I do love this dandelion seed. I may just have to buy one. Or at the very least make one for my desk. I have a small fairy sculpture in my garden and my daughter has an abstract sculpture started that she wants to place in my garden. I think a fairy shoe and another fairy or two are definitely in order, maybe even a dandelion seed. Then I can wish that someday I might own a sweet little "wind dancer" of my own.

Spring Cleaning

The weather has been beautiful lately causing a small "I need to do some spring cleaning" urge. Being as it was so nice, I thought I might do a little weeding but it hit 80 a little faster than I thought it would and ended up mulching what I weeded the other day instead. I shred old catalogs, junk mail etc and use it as a weed mat, when I ran out I headed into the studio and started shredding the stack of last years and older catalogs. Once I had a full bag ready to go I wasn't quite ready to stop the cleaning up effort and well - I mentioned a couple weeks ago I had decided I needed to reorganize my stash, that's just what I did! It feels so much cleaner in there and I can actually find my beads again! Want to hear something funny? Had I cleaned when I said I decided to, I wouldn't have needed to buy any seeds for the corsage!! lol I already had the colors, but my seeds were in three different spots and I couldn't see what colors I already had. Oh well, I have a very nice range of soft pinks now!

Quickie post today, those finals are stressing Paige and I don't want to add to it by monopolizing her computer for too long.
Thanks for stopping by!
See ya next time!

PS the roses are starting to bloom!! Paige and Elena picked a small spring bouquet of wild Verbena from the side of the driveway too and it smells heavenly! Take time to smell a spring bouquet yourself, doesn't matter if it comes from the garden, drive way or florist. Flowers can always brighten up your day.

It's Finals Week Next Week....

Sooo I have very limited time on Paige's computer until finals are over and done with. Term papers! On the bright side, the job we've been waiting on to get started has FINALLY started!!! Yay! Hopefully this means I'll be getting my new computer sooner rather than later!

As prom was this last weekend I thought you might like to see the finished corsage.





Don't they look good together?

Unfortunately he was exhausted, getting very little sleep the night before and ducked out on after prom JUST BEFORE they called his name to win an iPad! awww, and he could use a new computer too. Such is the way.

The school year is winding down, finals and award ceremonies are gearing up, Graduation for my baby is in just a couple weeks. Time to buy stock in Kleenex people! I was plenty teary eyed when he got his drivers license! lol

Thanks so much for stopping by! I have gorgeous Iris' in bloom in the garden today. Here's to an equal amount of beauty in your life today as well.
See ya next time!

It's Prom Time Once Again

and it's our last one to boot. My baby is a Senior in High School this year. He would like the corsage to be special.

Roses to match her dress.

She would like his boutonniere to match her corsage.

So I get to make both this year. The original idea was to bead Roses in the same way I did the Stargazer for his date several years ago. While I think that will be beautiful for her, it might be just the tiniest bit feminine for him, even with the woven copper edging. What to do?

What most of you don't know is way back in December I decided I would write a tutorial for you, my blog readers. Then I was asked to write a tutorial for a magazine. I was so excited I of course said yes! and promptly gave them the one I had planned for the blog. It still hasn't published - but, if I scaled it up just a bit it would be perfect for a boutonniere..... and that is what I did!



Now we have a rose delicate enough for her and masculine enough for him! Her corsage will feature the beaded rose with woven edging and have smaller copper buds. His will feature a copper rose and beaded babies breath to match hers. Problem solved!

Now, the big dilemma. I haven't mastered a pretty seam when it comes to soldering yet. Do I chance a messy weld on the stem? I could hide any blotchiness with a ribbon, or by plating. But do I want to? I have time to think on that one a bit. I have a beaded rose to finish, babies breath to make up, and some ribboning to do still while I wait on some gorgeous Bead Caps from Fusion Beads to show up, I thought they looked just right for the base of the rose! Which is another option for hiding any messiness, hmmm

In case you were wondering.... Alex's rose is one inch in diameter, one and three quarter tall, and is made of one single piece of copper. Jade's rose is one inch and made of three pieces. The leaves vary in size with the longest being two inches.

While I'm beading and pondering my garden is waking up. I take my leave while giving you a pic of a real flower....



Thanks for stopping by!
See ya next time!

redesigning.....

It's finally happened, I ran out of business cards. Most of you know my computer died in October. My business cards, Etsy banner, and related fonts and logos etc were all in a folder ready to be backed up but hadn't been.

I thought I knew which fonts I had used and could easily find them again. Wrong. I had used two fonts in my shop name I just didn't like the way the capitals looked and thought the capitals in a different font suited the look better, but not all three just the D and the S. Then I used a third font for the smaller type as it read better. I found the main font and the small font but I can't remember the script I used for the capitals and after hours of looking I haven't been able to find it either.

Here's the banner from my shop.....



I did find some fonts I liked while looking though and played around a bit. This is what I came up with....



I think the frame could be a touch thinner but I like the look. Alan and the kids agree it matches what I do better too. Funny thing is this is the same font Paige used to make up a card for me in her business applications course a couple years ago, she's pretty proud of herself for that one! So I guess I'll be redoing banner and cards in the very near future - but first I need to get the margins aligned. I test printed a page and it cut the tops off, I think those we'll make into earring cards, I'm out of those too!

Just so you don't think I didn't do anything wire this week......
My AREtsy team leader made a call for donations. Her daughter has just won Miss Western Arkansas Outstanding Teen. This is in the Miss America pageant system, so I felt a little bling was in order. 14kt gold filled, lots of swaros and an A grade lilac Chalcedony. They are so pretty I think I might just make another pair for the shop!

Spring is trying to spring around here..... I'll need to get into the garden and do some more weeding and transplanting soon, I can see little bits of green popping up and I'm going to actually have blooms on a couple daffodils this year!!

Last but definitely NOT least my second bead soup focal is coming along and I REALLY like it so far!

Sooo that's what's new for the week!
Thanks for stopping by!
See ya next time!
Dana

All Reveals in One Place

If like me, you got behind on your hopping for the Bead Soup Blog Party, I have got some great news for you! Tanya has finished compiling all our reveal blog posts! You can see the whole Hop on three pages - one for each reveal!

https://sites.google.com/site/beadsoupparty2012/home/Reveal-1

I started you off on Reveal One just click on the tabs up top to navigate to Reveals two and three.

After the creative frenzy my poor desk was covered - I mean covered!!!! - with bits of wire and beads and tools and sketches and UFO's. It was a disaster area. As much as my muse loves a mess to create in, I don't so much like mess. Yes, I like to see and touch but mess equals chaos to my brain.

So I got to putting away and finishing up a couple ideas and suddenly my desk is starting to show itself again! Happiness! I can think again and create again!! It's funny, I brought the second desk up from the basement so I could keep a clean desk and a messy desk - but messy will not be contained. I feel much better now that I've gotten some cleaning up and finishing up done.

I even managed to snap a couple pics. Nice overcast day it was - until I walked outside with camera in hand. The sun was so happy to see me it popped out from behind that cloud with a fierceness of light! Shadows were casting shadows! There in the shade of the Hickory is a pallet of the last of the cinder blocks. On the cinder blocks is an old oak board, once upon a time it was the shelf I kept my pots and gardening hand tools on. All weathered and grey and in the bright shade...... sounds like the formula for some great pics doesn't it? Neutral background and natural light with no shadows, so I snapped a few. I know the weathered board has been done to death but I think these just may be some of my better photos. If only I hadn't sneezed lol Kidding, I didn't bring the tripod out so many of them were a bit fuzzy. But I did get a couple really nice ones!



Thanks for stopping by! See ya next time!

The beads, those wonderful little spices that make the soup soooo good!

I know I usually post on Tuesdays, I apologize for my delay. I had an uninvited guest in my bed the other night, a scorpion. The little harbinger of havoc stung me six or seven times before I could get back out of bed. Not a fun way to wake up. Being allergic to these types of things I had Benadryl on hand but that leaves me in a stupor for some time. I knew I had things I wanted or needed to do, just couldn't remember what those things were.

I loved this photo Jean had shared on her wall so much that I pulled out just about every bead I had that would work in that palette! I actually had to remind myself that Jean was supposed to create something not me!



Don't you just love the colors!!

Jean's spices are rich and full bodied themselves. Gorgeous focals, luscious gems, and beautiful colors - a feast for the eyes!

Source: Uploaded by user via Dana on Pinterest

Just look at the flash on those Labradorite brios! And the sparkle in the Amethyst! Such gorgeousness! Both focals are floral in nature (pun intended!) and that bee clasp, so cool! I love them!
No surprise then that my inspiration board is titled GARDEN GATE. You can click on either the title or the soup to visit my board. My designs are sketched out and I'm just debating the size wire I want to use before I get started. I'm really looking forward to the way the designs play out in my hands and the reveal, both Jean's and mine!

What's in the Garden.....

While I'm nursing the hubs back from his surgery I thought you might like to see what's in bloom in my garden. It will be another couple years before it's in it's full glory again, transplanting always takes it's toll but as you can see, the Iris's seem to be adapting quite well!


We have wild black berry EVERYWHERE up here it's been a battle to get it under control, but the fresh berries are wonderful and the flowers are much appreciated too, especially by the swallowtail community!


The hostas seem to have survived last years summer melt down and the peony seems to have as well. I'm pretty sure I've lost my roses but their root stock survived, it will be interesting to see what they reveal themselves to be. Sadly the deer seem to have bitten the top off of one my lillies :(


My seedlings seem to be doing well so far, the little paper pots and cloches I made for them seem to really be doing the trick - of course I think what helps most of all is the cats aka the magpies haven't discovered them in the laundry room. As of now I have cantaloupe, tomatoes, petunias and a hummingbird mix successfully started. No true leaves yet, so successfully getting them into the garden remains to be seen. It almost made 90 today, already! Getting the seedlings in the garden may be only the first major feat of the growing season. Hoping to get some more veggies going soon and get some more of my garden transplanted too!


Since writing this to put in the queue - which I forgot to do lol) the cantaloupe and tomatoes have true leaves yay! and the peachy orange Iris are blooming now too! I've even brought my first bouquet of the season in!! The honeysuckle has started blooming and the boxwood is close behind and then the air will be heavenly to breathe! If I were smart I'd cut a peach Iris and some Cherokee rose for a bouquet too, no I should wait for the box wood to bloom first!!
I love spring :)!

Thanks for stopping by, we'll see you next time!