Making Progress

I've finished the outside of my beaded prayer, finally! Now I just have to do a fringe around the edge. I've never done a beaded fringe so I'm going to look for some directions first. My hope is to finish this by the 31st.

New Project!

I was hoping to finish this today but I don't know if I will. I worked on it last night but even with glasses and a good light it was straining my eyes so I quit. This is a project from the book Beading for the Soul. I love this book! It has some great projects in it and this is one of my favorites. It's called a Beaded Prayer. I'm using it more as a beaded intention/wish for 2012. I'm going to bead the outline of the rose and leaves and then put inside a piece of paper with my three wishes for 2012. I thought about everything I'd like to happen in the next year and these three are the most important to me.

I'm not sure how spiritual I am but it makes me think of the saying to work like everything is up to you and pray like everything is up to God. There are parts of these wishes that I can't control but I think there is a lot I can control and I'm going to work on that.

After the paper goes in I'll bead the edges and maybe add some fringe. Sorry the pictures aren't great. I kept trying but this was the best I could get.

The last picture is Mr & Mrs Freddie! I'm going to turn the edges under and then add a felt backing. I thought they came out pretty good. My mermaid is still in the project list but I haven't had a chance to work on her.

 

 

Mrs. Freddie

Mrs. Freddie is coming along nicely. I'm hoping to finish her by tomorrow night. Then I'm going to cut out and back both of them so I can hang them on my Christmas tree! They look nice and sparkly with light shining on them!

Weekend Update

I worked on my mermaid this weekend and started Mrs. Freddie. The mermaid is looking a bit more glittery - I added quite a few beads. I tried size 11 but they look too large so I had to use 15. My eyes are feeling the strain! Mrs. Freddie is almost completely outlined and then I'll start giving her some character. The outline beads are cranberry. They look sort of purple but in daylight they look cranberry. She's going to be mostly pink, with a little blue maybe. Or maybe some green. We'll see.

I ordered the 2011 Just Cross Stitch Ornament issue and it came on Saturday. It's full of ornaments I want to make! I'm going to look through my stash and hopefully I'll find everything I need. I'm feeling very enthusiastic and full of energy to get things done. Not sure how long it'll last!

Next project!

I started this mermaid project so long ago I can't remember! My plan for 2012, and isn't it impressive that I've already started, is to finish most of my WIP. I say most because I think there are some that I'm going to give up on because they just don't appeal to me anymore. My mermaid is 1st in line and she definitely still appeals to me. I'm going to add beads to her and make her very glitzy and gorgeous! I'll post progress updates as I go along!

Meet Freddie

Freddie the Fish! I found Freddie in a book called Beadweaving by Ann Benson. I don't really like fish but something about Freddie appealed to me. I've been working on him for a couple of weeks and I finally finished last night. I think Freddie is quite handsome! I'm planning to hang him on my Christmas tree and I anticipate that a Mrs. Freddie and perhaps some Freddie children may join them if I work fast enough!

Pippin likes Freddy too. He's a little confused as to why I keep saying fish but he doesn't smell anything!

Earrings!

I've made 9-1/2 pairs of earrings so far. I'm having a lot of fun making these and I think I'm getting better with each pair. They are simple ones since I'm just beginning but the fact that I'm actually making them myself is exciting for me! Here are pictures of nine of them. The 1/2 pair I'm still working on. It's a more complicated technique and I got one made but it needs to be redone. They're going to be very pretty once finished though!

These beaded ones were fun to make but the pair with the bugle beads doesn't hang well. I pulled it tighter than I should have I think. 

I found this pattern at Fire Mountain Gems. They look like Christmas candies! I want to make a lot more of these.

I thought these two came out pretty. I like the brown/caramel colored swirls. 

 

I've had the dance charms for a long time. You can't really tell but the dark beads are purple. I was very happy with the way this pair came out.

These are Day of the Dead earrings for my daughter. I'm going to give them to her on Saturday. Hopefully she won't see this post before then! 

Some pretty orange and red beads. I needed some earrings in these two colors to match some of my tops. Now I can be color-coordinated!