Mermaids on my mind

I've lived most of my life near the ocean, so chosing a theme for this journey of Beaded Journals was simple - Mermaids - For me, they are part of the wonder of the ocean along with the countless fish & plants which are hidden beneath the waves.

We might live on a dead end road, off a dead end road; as my DH likes to put it, but it's still the beach & for those of us who create art; be it with fabric, fibre & or beads, our little sand spit has it all.

Those of you who were here for our 'Beading on the Beach' Retreat (Nov 2004) will remember Anna Lena's the fabulous Fabric & Fudge shop that we have down here at the beach..


I sure wasn't disappointed when I called in there today to see what I could find with an ocean flavour. Near the back of the store was a fabulous display of just what I was after & as you can see I had no problem choosing what I wanted for backgrounds on my journal pages. I also got a few other interesting fabrics but you'll have to wait to see them & no I didn't get any fudge ;9

I have made a couple of other mermaids & there are several others which are WIPs sitting around waiting for more beads. Here is my first one.

Robin Atkins' very talented brother Thom makes the most delightful beaded art quilts & they are the inspiration for my goal on this year long journey. I usually totally cover my dolls with beads, so not beading the whole thing, will be something new for me. At this point I think my pages will be done in book format but time will tell, won't it?

On another subject I have finally started to lose weight - YES! - I am down by 5 lbs, I knew it had to happen but it seemed to be taking forever. I really like the ellipitical & I get the best workout on it.. I know this weight loss thing is better when it's a slow, steady process but it's hard not to become impatient & wish for a 'miricle' pill that would magically melt pounds off over night.

Ha, if wishes were pennies.....

Time flies....

Gee it's now more than a week since I began this blog.. Time sure flies when you're busy & I have been busy in my garden & have peas, sweetcorn, lettuce & tomatoes planted so far along with carrot & radish seed all in a row - well 2 rows really - we are looking forward to eating salads from my garden this year, I have only ever grown tomatoes & swiss chard before so this is a new adventure.

I have been beading too & have all but finished a doll that I started for the Bead Art Forum's Beaded Heart Swap - due back in February but I lost my inspiration for a while. Anyhow here she is.... Miss Heart of Gold I'm kinda pleased I didn't get her done for the swap, as she is much bigger than the hearts that did make it in time. She stands a little over 5" tall & is 2" wide - She still needs a few final touches but I couldn't resist showing her off

I still have to get what I am doing for Robin's Bead Journal ready & I still haven't worked out how to post on the Bead Journal Project yet. I guess I need to ask someone how to go about doing that... OK, that was easy Bobbi helped me out, thanks Bobbi ;9

Here I go - my first blog

I live at the beach in the bottom southwest corner of Washington State, with my husband & Phoebe the cat..

Life is pretty busy right now as I've decided to grow plants to sell next spring, so I'll be keeping busy this spring & early summer, getting lots of cuttings in the ground. My DH is my biggest fan, as well as the builder/handyman who makes all the bits I need work.

I'm also a hopeless bead addict so any 'spare time' I have is spent beading. You can see most of my beaded creations here, enjoy. I have decided to join Robin Atkins 2007 Bead Journal Project - it's not like I have nothing to do but I think it will help me to grow as a Bead Artist.

Well that's it for today, I need to lose about 30 pound - thats about 14 kilos for the rest of the world- so I'm off to the gym - good news tho, my cholesterol & blood sugar are down to acceptable numbers at last, so this exercising I've been doing really does benifit the body. Of course I knew that already but sometimes we have to beat ourselves over the head before we really listen to our inner voice.