Focus on Creating

I think I'm calling her little blue princess. This weeks Focus on Life theme was to create something. Whoo Hoo!! I was soooo excited about this week let me tell you. I mentioned previously that I am taking an online workshop with Magaly from Itsy Bitsy Spill. I started my last assignment which was painting myself as a mermaid under the sea. Well let me tell ya, in spite of being a water sign, mermaids are something that I just can't seem to "get into". So I have been struggling with that one. I'll get there, I just need more time as I can't relax with it. So this afternoon I'm thinking well crap, now what should I do? I pulled out a little 5x7 canvas board and limited my pallet to blue, orange, black, white and gold and just started sketching with paint. And here she is. I rather like her too - even though princesses are slightly higher on the food chain than mermaids:) Visit The Studio Sublime to see what the other participants came up with for this weeks focus.

Found A New Shop

When Mr. Pearl and Pebble goes out of town I "act up". Last trip I OD'd on Vera Bradley purses from QVC. This trip, I Etsy'd after the boys went to bed (instead of doing something productive) and came accross this AWESOME shop. Scorched Earth. Have you heard of it? OMG I totally spent money. Here are just a few of Petra's wares. I didn't buy the nomad man pendant. I REALLY REALLY WANT him though!!!! I just love her earthy style.

Earrings

Oh Dear! I think I may have started this awesome earring challenge all wrong! I'll figure it out. I posted these within the last few weeks, but today was actually the Big Reveal! And I am sooo sorry for some reason these pictures are a bit blurry today! Check out what everybody participating has created. SOOOO very beautiful and inspiring. AND they feature really lovely hand made components and beads. From artists with shops. That you can buy from. It really just doesn't get too much better than that!

taking time to focus

It was beautiful today. Sunny and eighty degrees. This week’s theme for our Focus On Life challenge, hosted by the lovely Sally at The Studio Sublime, was to take time for ourselves. Well I did take it even though I spent it with the wee ones. They pretty much were doing their thing though. I took my camera out with me and snap snapped whatever moved me. These are a few things. Might seem so ordinary to most, but I was drawn to the colors and textures all around me like those faint clouds in that gorgeous sky. They looked like fish bones. I started a sketch with a fish skeleton in the sky. We’ll see where that goes. The warm tones on the picnic table umbrella pole next to the wood that is starting to split a bit. The boy’s fascination with a copper poppy. Some pre-formed beads I mushed around while sitting out there. So I wasn’t alone, but I still consider it me time for sure. Check out what the other participants had to say about those precious moments they took this week. Thanks for stopping!

simple

keepin things simple. earrings number two. my little organic green pea polymer beads tied on lovely bronze headpins made by LeeAnn from Summer's Studio.

First Pair

The first pair of earrings for the AJE Earring Challenge. The polymer beads are made by me:) They have been hanging around in a bead box. I have not quite reached the point where I can devote that kind of time to the bead making process. As it turns out, I am already letting the boys color on the walls just to find some time to do anything like go to the bathroom. Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser takes it off anyway.

CREATE

Focus on Life , week two, our focus assignment is to incorporate our word for the year. Create is mine. Have to do it. Have to, have to , have to...... Even if it means staying up past my bedtime so that I have a few uninterrupted hours to myself. I signed up for an online class the other day with Magaly Ohika from The Itsy Bitsy Spill. I don't even know how I got to her shop. But one of the classes she offers is for four sessions, each one focusing on a different painting. This was the first. A self portrait with myself as an animal. Owls are my favorite. So I am wearing an owl hat. I am holding my baby birds and we are standing in our balloon garden. My boys go NUTS over balloons. Particularly red ones. Beautiful sunshine beams on our world. There is peace. I can't even tell you how good this feels to have painted something again and love it and be on time too!! Check out what the other participants in this wonderful project have posted. Just click on the Focus on Life Button on my side bar. I think I will go to sleep now:)

First Bracelet of the New Year

Oh yaaaayyyy me! I actually finished an Art Bead Scene Challenge piece this month-and early too!!! I love love love love all the color in January's painting "Black Peacock With Japanese Persimmons." (Again, I would have posted the picture of here, but I can't figure out how to insert more than one photo. Why did blogger change?) Was anybody else drawn to the textured lush ivory/vanilla swirl background? I have a lovely round ceramic bead from NKP Beads  - who is having a fifty percent off sale so check it out, an earthy ivory and charcoal lampwork bead from Gardanne Beads, and a fabulous ceramic connector that I have been hording, and I think is a Lisa Peters, but I can't find the invoice and I just don't remember. Let me know if you recognize it and I am wrong, so I can give proper credit!
 

Focus On Life Self Portrait No. 1

I signed up for a really interesting project for the year. Sally at The Studio Sublime is hosting a challenge of sorts in which participants post self portraits 52 times-one each Saturday for the year. Sounds kinda cool huh!? Actually started yesterday, I am late (suprise) to join, but you can sign up at any time. It's late. I'm beat. Babies are in bed. So I embellished here. In Picassa I used the sketch application. Then heated up the edges. Had to do some sort of editing. Not just about the creative aspect. Trust me when I tell you the first word that came to mind when I looked at the untouched was WOOOSH  followed by a shudder and my lip did a funny curling thing.

Happy New Year

Wow here it is 2013 and here we are. Amazing. This is our little angel tree topper. It is absolutely atrocious! But we needed her and one evening I had it in my head the boys and I would make something for the tree top. They had no interest in coloring. I was frustrated because I couldn't make them want to do something creative nor could I remember how to make a cone out of a sheet of paper. No biggie now that I think about it because Mr. Pearl and Pebble, the engineer, couldn't remember either. All I had handy at the moment was the red "yarn". So she is taped and stapled and tied yet still rests graciously on the tree in our bedroom. The tree started out in the living room, but if you have read this blog at all you already know where this is going. Twice in the living room. Once up in the bedroom. Figured glass ornaments would be safe enough up there. So I loaded it up. Wanted things sparkly and all. So we have a bag full of broken ornaments now. Luckily no injuries occurred in any of the Paul Bunyan moments. We go to our first class tomorrow morning. Toddler playtime. How exciting! I am terrified we will be asked not to come back. Sharing is such a problem these days.   I do not know how to work this new Blogger yet and I find it frustrating. I wanted to share the boys Christmas card photo here but I can't access my pictures the way I used to. Aaannnnyyy how. Sorry for such a haphazard post. VERY short nap time today. I hope everyone had a spectacular holiday. I has been beautiful here. I am not one that needs my Christmas to be white. And I have some glorious hot pink roses bloomin. One of my goals this year is to be productive. I have to find a way to create because it's killing me not to. Or at least making me crazy!!!! I am soooo looking forward to the next Bead Soup Party and one of my very favorite parts about it is shopping for a nifty clasp and pendant to send out. Have a great day:)