Bags of Beads Challenge 2011

It's that time of  year again.  Tonight at this month's Toronto Bead Society meeting, we'll all be showing what we made with the bag of beads we each received two months ago.  I've been busy the past two weeks putting my piece together and now she can finally be revealed in all her glory.

Here's what we all started out with:

5 amethyst beads

5 peacock blue pearls

1 m rosary chain (gold)

20 gm size 6 lilac/mint seed beads

10 gm size 11 metallic blue seed beads

4 gm 3-cuts gold

10 gm #4 twisted bugles

1 beautiful butterfly 7cm

purple bulk feathers

We have to use at least one of everything and we can add whatever we want to the mix as well.  As always, there are a couple of items that are more challenging than the others.  This year, for example, it was the butterfly and the feathers.  I can't wait to see what my fellow TBS members have done with their components, which I am sure will be awesome (photos tomorrow) but as soon as I saw the components we were being given to work with, I knew exactly what I wanted to make.  An art paper doll.

I have Laura Haviland to thank for the inspiration and instruction I needed to make this art paper doll (and for giving me not one but two extra faces to use, just in case).  Like I mentioned in my blog the other day, as Kyle Cassidy says, it helps to hang around talented people, it challenges you to create some amazing to bring to show and tell.  Laura is definitely one of those people who encourages you to up your game.

So here she is.  Her name is Esmeralda and she is, of course, Parisian.

I am so excited and pleased with the results!!  Do you ever get that feeling when you're making something that it's going to turn out really cool? That's how I felt about this, even though I wasn't entirely sure exactly how everything would come together.  In the end, I was in that creative groove and everything just flowed into where it belonged.

I love her big, poufy hat - perhaps she will wear it to Kate and Will's wedding next week, n'est-ce pas?  I have to thank Barb Starace of Bizzy B for stocking the ribbon I used to make the hat.  Her husband Tony told me he thought she was crazy when she ordered it but I think she knew exactly what she was doing!  (it comes in other colours as well, I might have to go back and buy some more!)

She's hard to photograph, because her hat makes her so tall, which is why I am showing you these photos of her top and bottom half. :)

Here's a close up of the skirt:

If I'd had more time (my own fault for starting late), I would have filled in the rest of her dress with bead embroidery but I like the way it turned out.  In this case, less is more.  Besides, I wouldn't want her outfit to compete too strongly with that hat!

Loot from Port Stanley

A quick post tonight because I've got to get busy and finish my Bag of Beads challenge piece for the big reveal tomorrow night (stay tuned for more on that exciting subject in the next day or two)!!

Here's what I brought home with on Saturday after shopping in Port Stanley with my friend Barb:

4 scrolly green glasses with a fleur de lis pattern that you can't really see in this photo:

A rusty fishing line (for which I paid too much, according to Barb's husband, who told me when we got home that he has lots of similar chain out in his back shed I could have had for free!) and a little vintage metal adhesive holder:

A picture of the Eiffel Tower:

A silver-plated biscuit holder with a beautifully ornate lid:

that I got for a mere $5.00 because it has quite the dent:

but I knew I wanted it even before I saw the beautiful engraving on the side:

And last but not least, some decorated file folders:

because really, who doesn't want a picture of a bird wearing a crown?

The DeClutter Project Report - Week 15

I have to admit, I just don't want to blog about my declutter project any more.  Which is not to say that I'm going to stop decluttering my home, certainly not, but I am finding it harder and harder to post every Monday about what I did on the weekend when lately, very little time each weekend was actually spent decluttering anything.  Or to report, again, that I spent x amount of time sorting and shredding paper.  For example, what did I do yesterday?  A general declutter of my apartment, cleaning up and putting away the debris that seems to accumulate over the week when things don't get put away where they belong or are just dropped on the nearest flat surface to be dealt with at a later date.  You see what I mean? It's just not exciting any more. 

The declutter project seemed like a good idea at the time, back at the beginning of January, when it was too cold to go outside if one didn't absolutely have to and when nothing much was going on.  And it was definitely successful, I got a lot done and threw out so much stuff, tidied up several areas of my home and donated quite a number of items to be enjoyed by someone else.  But now that the weather is getting warmer, we Canadians are starting to come out of hibernation, which means it's time to get social again, head out on a few excursions - there's more stuff to do outside and you don't have to wear 27 layers of warm clothing if you want to go out.  Which means I am less and less inclined to stay indoors to sort and shred paper.  Which is pretty much all that I have left to do.  Okay, that's not quite true.  My two craft bookcases, one holding bead supplies and one filled with paint and paper crafting supplies, still need a major overhaul.  Not sure exactly when that is going to happen but it will and I'll let you know when it does. 

I've also got two big trips coming up, one at the end of April (Art & Soul Hampton, which involves a week in Virginia with my buddy Heather, can't wait) and one at the end of June (Portugal with Teesha and Tracy Moore - major quivers of excitement), which means that most weekends in between now and then will be spent either getting ready for said trips, actually being away and/or opening up the cottage (which is still a month away but it's getting closer all the time).  Oh yeah, and heading out to outdoor antique shows because that time is also drawing very near - yippee!  Then once the cottage is open, it is definitely game over for the decluttering project until the cold weather comes back again and the cottage gets closed up in October.

So for now, I am giving myself permission to not focus on decluttering for the next several months.  Which doesn't mean it won't still happen, just that the focus will become slightly smaller and less frequent.  As Kyle Cassidy said today on his blog, "Do something awesome today, even if it's small; it might grow up into something bigger."  Not only is that a great philosophy for daily living, it encourages me to keep the decluttering going on a smaller scale.  Those bookcases will get done, perhaps an hour or two over several weeknights in the next few weeks (especially as I try and find the supplies I need to pack for these 2 upcoming trips), and the big tasks themselves, which seem rather overwhelming as a whole, will definitely be easier to accomplish if, for example, I choose to focus on only one shelf at a time instead of thinking I have to do an entire bookcase all at once.

By the way, Kyle also talked in the comment section of today's blog (and linked back to a post written back in 2009 on the same subject) about how being around creative people encourages you to be creative too, because, as he said, "having friends who are always doing something amazing, new books, new plays, new movies, whatever, motivates me to work harder, lest I have nothing to bring to Show and Tell."  That is so very true and I must say I am definitely feeling the urge to create percolating in my soul much stronger than the urge to clean.  It feels like it has been a long, slow, cold winter and now that the spring is here (although still on a somewhat sporadic basis), ideas are start to flow through my brain like maple syrup running through the trees and I'd much rather be creating something than cleaning something any day of the week!

Photo courtesy of perthchamber.com



Shopping in Port Stanley and Sparta

The first stop on our excursion to Port Stanley yesterday was a former general store situated on one of the four corners of the intersection of two roads that makes up most of a very small place called Sparta.  The original wooden door was still in place and the floors inside creaked as old wellworn wooden floors do but otherwise, it was a shop full of new, cute, gifty type things, none of which appealed to me enough to want to take home.  I was quite tempted by the fudge under the old glass display counter but managed to resist...

Our next stop was a place called Winter Wheat.  OMG, what a surprising place.  It is located just outside of Sparta and it is an amazing property, with a long laneway lined with tall, tall pines trees that were making that special sound that pine trees do when the wind blows through them.  There is a large building that is the store, where Barb found the rugs she had come for and ordered one in a 4x6 foot size to be picked up in 6 to 8 weeks.  Then we had a walk around the grounds which were a bit muddy and not yet blooming but which are filled with interesting nooks and crannies filled with colourful folkart and found object sculptures made by the owners, Mike and Lucy Ogletree.  Quite a magical place.

In Port Stanley, our first stop was an antique store called Harbourside Antiques, where everything just happened to be 40% off this weekend.  Very tempting, but again, I managed to restrain myself.  There were lovely displays scattered throughout the large room and Guy Lombardo music playing to get us in the vintage mood.  A group of other ladies who were shopping there at the same time as we were suggested it would be a good opportunity to pick out a hat to wear for the upcoming royal wedding.

I thought it was interesting that hanging amongst this collection of handstitched quilts in a beautiful old armoire, there was also a Santa suit.  Quite a whimsical touch, I thought.

The kitchen korner was especially well stocked, if you are into the retro look (and if not, why not?!)

I very much wanted to buy the cupboard to hold the printers trays but only the trays themselves seemed to be for sale and I decided it would be better if I just didn't ask about the cupboard itself. :)

We visited several other stores along the main streets of Port Stanley, the type of gift and home decor shops that cater to all manner of tourists.  There was lots to tempt us.  On Tuesday, I'll share some photos of the items I brought home with me.

Port Stanley

My friend Barb asked me to take a road trip with her today to the historic fishing village of Port Stanley, on the north shore of Lake Erie, about two hours west of Toronto.  She was looking to buy a particular rug which she knew a store in that area carried.  I went along for the ride because I knew there would be cool stuff to see, and I wasn't disappointed.

It was a lovely early spring day, not quite warm enough for me to regret wearing my winter coat but the sun was out, the roads were dry and we had a fun day.  I'm quite weary tonight so I'll have to save the details until tomorrow's post but I can tell you we checked out the place with the rugs, did a little shopping in the local antique and gift shops, bought some freshly made hot cross buns in the local bakery and had lunch near the beach.  The wind was strong and cold off the water so we didn't walk on the beach, just drove by and had a look.

Our last stop in town was the fish market, where Barb bought some freshly caught yellow perch to take home.

Music for a Deserted Island

I had a scintillating conversation with an attractive man last night about music.  More specifically, about our favourite bands and albums, what records we had listened to during our formative teen years, concerts we have attended. 

As I may have mentioned before, the first album I ever owned was The Partridge Family Album, their first record.  If memory serves, I think maybe the Easter Bunny brought it in my basket that year, which would have been 1970.  Oh sure, I was old enough by then to know that EB had some help filling those baskets but that was the beauty of having younger siblings, you got to cash in on the rewards a lot longer than you might have otherwise, in order to keep up appearances for their sake. :)

I bought myself two more Partridge Family albums after that but by the mid-70's, I had discovered my parents' collection of Beatles albums and started wearing out the grooves on those disks instead.

The conversation last night eventually got around to serious business - if you were going to be trapped on a desert island for an unknown length of time, what 5 albums would you take with you?  Okay, maybe it's a bit far fetched to presume that said island would just happen to have electricity and a record player but then again, maybe you'd have some sort of coconut contraption like the ones the Professor was always cooking up on Gilligan's Island.

Anyway, the only rule for our choices was that you couldn't take a Greatest Hits album.  4 out of 5 of my picks last night date back to my teenage years:

1.  Elton John - Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only the Piano Player (1973)

2.  Wings - Band on the Run (a favourite since summer camp in 1973 when one of my cabin mates brought this album and Elton's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and we listened to them over and over and over for the entire month)

3.  Beatles - Abbey Road (with the Medley being my favourite track on this album)(1969)

(not surprising that I enjoyed Sir Paul's concert so very much last year, is it?)

4.  Queen - A Night at the Opera (1975)

and one more recent release,
5.  The Dixie Chicks - Taking the Long Way (2006)

I'm embarrassed to admit that I don't remember all of the gentleman's picks.  I know he picked Boston, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin 4 and the Beatles' Sergeant Pepper album (an excellent choice for the cover art alone, one would have lots of time on said deserted island to explore all those faces in great detail) but sadly, I don't remember what his fifth choice was.  Clearly, I somehow killed the brain cells that housed that information over the course of the evening.  Oh well, hopefully I can remember to ask him about number 5 next time I see him, if the topic should come up again. 

Anybody else care to share what their five choices might be?

Home Late Tonight

so no formal blog post but wanted to check in, as my sister will be wondering where I am if I don't post.  I ended up going downtown unexpectedly this evening immediately after work for a goodbye party for a friend who is leaving the company.  I didn't know about this gathering until mid-morning today, so hadn't really planned to be out tonight but that is one of the advantages of being single, your schedule is your own and can be changed at the last minute with no harm done.  Other than worrying about the kittens and whether they would be starving when I got home, which they were but only after I woke them up from a sound sleep! Which is where I am headed, hoping to squeeze in a few solid hours of zzz's before the alarm goes off at 6 a.m.  :)

Photo by thisisp via Flickr