Bag of Beads Reveal - Part 2

I have a lovely mosaic put together showing several of the creations made by some of my fellow Toronto Bead Society artists and it occurred to me that I should probably get permission from the individuals before I post photos of their work. Just in case anyone has a problem with the idea, I don't want to step on any toes. We did ask at the meeting the other night if anyone had a problem with photos being taken but I didn't specifically speak to most of the people whose work I admired about posting it on my blog at the time (wasn't thinking, too overwhelmed by the amazing work!). I'd also like to be able to share detailed descriptions of some of the designs with you over the next few days, so I thought it best to get permission where I can.

In the meantime, I shall share pictures of my own piece, which I call The Book of Love. First I made a bead embroidery piece that is the size of playing card (more about the rationale behind that part of it in a later post).

Because one of the challenge items was a piece of paper, I had the idea that I would make a little book and put the embroidered piece on the cover, using the paper as a frame. I had just taken a course at the scrapbooking store called Bizzy B about how to make several types of miniature books back in January, taught by Marissa Decepida-Wong, and I used one of the designs I learned in that class to make this book.

Remember that large amethyst bead and the copper pipe end that had been included in the challenge? I tied them to ribbons and dangled them from the book, after hammering a hole in the copper piece with a hammer and nail. It was fun to hear various members describe what they had done to incorporate this piece - some had bought new tools (like a pipe cutter), some had asked a friend to cut it for them, some already had tools and happily hammered it, coloured it, stomped on it and/or cut it apart.

The pages of my book are folded in such a way that they fold out in a little design when you hold the front and back cover together, although it works easier if the covers sit flush together, which these don't because the beaded piece on the front is a bit bulky. But that's okay.

I decorated the pages with various bits and pieces that relate to the theme of love, which I chose because I was working on the project in February and Valentine's Day was approaching and one thing led to another. I also used ideas gleaned from Mary Ann Moss's Remains of the Day scrappy journal class, such as using a piece of music to line one page and sewing on certain bits of paper, although in the end, I glued most of them since I didn't start decorating the pages until after I had glued them together. Next time, I might change up the order of that process to make it a little easier to work with!

I'm really pleased with the way my little book turned out and have a few ideas in mind to make some more!