Happy Friday!!! I hope everyone is ready for the weekend.

Don't tell anyone, lest it changes but I have a blissfully unscheduled Saturday!! I don't have to get up early, I don't have to be anywhere, I don't have to do anything. Well, Ok I do have stuff to do. I need to work on getting ready for my show next weekend and the house always needs cleaning and I have to finish getting my fall decorations out but at least I can do it on my schedule. LOL

My original idea for new tags for earrings are not going to work, :::sniff:::sniff::: but I can use elements of the design to punch up my usual tags so it's not a total loss. I hope to have all my jewelry tagged and read this weekend, next week is going to be busy.

Tuesday I am going to a veiwing for Pammy. Pammy was someone who I knew and yet really had no way of knowing. Back in the 80's she was dumped from a mental institution and landed at a group home in Leesburg, Va. were my sister worked.

With downs syndrome and a variety of other health issues, my first introduction to Pammy was at a family dinner where she sat in a chair and screamed most of the time. With a hole in the top of her mouth her food had to be blended and usually ran out her nose when she was fed. With no one to speak for her my sister became Pammy's legal gaurdian. She saw something in Pammy that most people probably would not have taken the time to even look for.

It's amazing what time, love and care can accomplish. Over the years Pammy was able to hold a very simple job, would pick out her own clothes and when you tried to suggest a better match of clothes she would get very mad. She knew what she liked, and one thing she liked was her occasional glass of beer. When new staff came to the group home, Pammy would pretend to be helpless so they would wait on her hand and foot.

Pammy came to this earth to live a life in a body and brain the didn't work like everyone elses. We will never know all the challenges she faced everyday but if you took the time she was a person worth knowing and maybe that's a lesson for all of us. Some people are easier to know than others but we are all Heavenly Fathers children. There is value in each of us and sometimes you just need to take the time to find it.

Pammy passed away on Wednesday at 58 years old. she will leave a hole in many people hearts.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...ok maybe a cold day in the neighborhood. I am typing this wrapped in a blanket trying to keep warm. The body's not to cold but my hands are freezing. Why is that?

I spent a large part of this evening working on some new earring cards. I loved the design I came up with but :::sigh:::they are not going to work. I do not exactly understand the whole mechanics of design, why paper folded one way will support weight but not folded another way. It's a mystery but I am sad about my design.

I am trying to come up with more creative cards and jewelry tags. It is a true yet sometimes sad fact that how an item is packaged can have a huge impact on sales. I would love to think my jewelry would stand on it's own merit but I have discover, watching jewelry sales over the years that interesting packaging can boost sales of an item. Which has now given me an idea for cards to hold my lapel pins. So I am off to create some more.

Keep Warm.

Creative day

Happy Tuesday Morning!!

I think it's going to be a creative day, I feel the juices flowing. I only have a few weeks left until my next craft show so I need to get busy. I have lots of jewelry made and several to finish up. I also have to work on the "unfun" side, pricing and tagging and working on displays. I am anxious to debut some of my new pieces. With the shop closed I don't have the opportunity to discuss current projects and share ideas on how to complete them. We used to joke about making jewelry by " committee". I have to tell you I really miss that.

A friend recently said that BeadL*Jewlz was like a barbershop. everyone hung out there to talk and relax. I like that image, we all need that kind of space in our lives.

Well I best be off, a tone of stuff to do this morning before I walk with Lissa.

Enjoy the day and keep warm. It's cold out there.

7 days?

Yikes, my last post was exactly 7 days ago. Did anyone see this past week, cause it seems to have disappeared on me. It might not be so bad if I could say I did something mind-blowingly fantastic, but alas, cognitive therapy was the most exciting thing I did this past week.

Well I don't know if I blogged about this but a few weeks ago I created these pendants that I really loved. I have been so excited about how they came out, unfortunately I was really struggling with how to string them onto a necklace. Well Friday inspiration hit and I came up with an idea for one of the pendants. The beads and stitched elements I am using really set off the pendant. Why these eureka ideas always seem to require bead stitching is a mystery to me but it is creating a very beautiful necklace. Now hopefully someone else will be as thrilled as I am and want to buy it.

I am off, if all goes well and the planets alighn I will blog again tomorrow. Have a great evening.

Juggling belief?

Ahh Sunday, a day of rest.... Well, kinda, sorta, maybe. I love the idea, a day of rest and reflection, a day to put aside chores and duties.
I really get the whole principle, belief, commandment behind it.
But, you knew there would be a but, how do you live it?
When you work full time, commuting two hours everyday and your Saturdays are full of household chores, cleaning, searching for the thousandth time for things you've lost, making time to play with your kids, catching up on all the undone stuff from the week, and needing to make beads and fused glass how do you rest and ignore all the things that STILL didn't get done.
Wow that is an amazing run on sentence.

Anyway as I ponder the ways I can make all this happen or should I say not happen on Sunday, I am day dreaming about beads. As I probably mentioned I have been in a bead funk lately. Nothing seems to be happening at the torch. I haven't even wanted to attempt it lately because it is soo depressing. So I am drawing ideas, thinking of things to do, trying to find ways to capture the beauty of fall in a bead. I see all these beautiful trees in glorious color as I drive down the road and I feel there must be some way to capture this amazing fall show in a bead. How do you miniaturize magnificence?

Perhaps a day of rest will clear my head and inspire my hands. LOL

I hope all of you are getting a chance to rest and reflect today.

Beckie

Walking Inspiration or I found the library

Sooo, no I did not get near a bead yesterday, paperwork is still breeding more paperwork but I did fuse some glass last night.

It started with a walk and the library. Richard and I took a walk up to the Post Office to check his PO Box. As we strolled about town enjoying the beautiful evening and some time together we went by the library.

Now I have lived up here for a couple of years now and I have never been to the library, I actually have been very few places here in Warrenton. I still do most of my shopping etc. in Fredericksburg. We were going to keep walking when Richard asked if I wanted to go in. In we went and 4 books later I was very excited. Besides the newest Cat Who book, I picked up a church book, a really big cookbook and....A glass fusing book. It was the only bead/glass book I found. I'm hoping that means they were all checked out and not that they only have one.
Anyway, it did light a fire of inspiration. I came home, grabbed some glass and hit the kiln. I see a new creative path unfolding before me. I like the ideas I saw they sparked some creative ideas to explore.

I like unexpected inspiration, I like it when something hits and I can take off in new directions, I like to explore new paths. You just never know where you will go.

Beckie

Where's the bead?

So what's with all this paperwork? My binder must be breeding papers for me to work on. Sheesh, I haven't been able to get near a bead all day.

I did get on the torch this weekend and made a luscious black and purple bead with a hint of green. I can't wait to see what I can do with it, I can't wait to see what beads I have to design with. Maybe tomorrow, if the paperwork orgy ends.

Tonight is a short post but it is late and my bed is calling.

Talk tomorrow.
Beckie, the perennially tired.