Don't look Ellen!

I picked up this lighthouse form years ago. I really like lighthouses and always wanted to do something with it - there were six originally I think. Anyway, I sent one to my friend in Washington State and we agreed to trade them when I get out there in August. So Ellen, here is mine - all beaded! I'm not sure if I'm going to add anything else to it, but I sure had fun beading it and it really didn't take very long. So now I'm showing it off, and Ellen - don't look!!!

Cooke Family Go Karting Day

We had such a fun time! Here are a few pictures of the day with a few of us - me driving, my daughters, my niece and her boyfriend. Check out the awesome family t's! They were a great surprise by my brother and father. There may be more pictures coming, I have to go through them. I of course, forgot the camera back in Ottawa and didn't get any shots. Silly me.
We had a wonderful dinner with the 22 of us. Lots of laughing and giggling. The kids were great - it was wonderful to see my cousin Anne again and meet her boys. My Aunt was there and she went out on the track too. It was very cool!
We were all getting together to have fun and play. It hasn't happened in a long time and it was great for us to see and be together. It also happened to be on my father's birthday! We had great enjoyment celebrating his day and making the whole thing that much more special.
The next day we went to my Mom's. We had a good time there too but I do have to apologize because we were all a little sleepy. Still, a short visit was better than none at all!

On Friday I came home to teach! It was a great class - the students were enthusiastic and fun! I love teaching bead embroidery! I teach at Quilty Pleasures - it's a wonderful store here in Ottawa.
The staff are the best and it's where I've been taking my quilting classes. I'm not teaching there anymore this summer but look for more classes in the fall! I'd love to create a scissor case class or a needle case class. It would be great to work on projects and see how creative people can be!
Cheers, Denise

Here in Toronto

Hi all!
I'm here in Milton - just outside of Toronto, with my sister and her family. We are having a great family event tomorrow where a bunch of us Cookes! Will get together for some laughs and gokarting! Way cool - the kids are really excited and it will be great to see some of my relatives.
Then off for dinner with the same bunch. My brother was absolutely great to arrange all of this! Thanks STEVE!!!!
On Wednesday we are off to see my Mom and hang at the beach if it's beach hanging weather. I'm hoping! My Mom lives in Cottage country and it's a great town. I really like driving to and from that area because we take the back roads which are turn and roll and are very scenic. And on Thursday we will be doing just that - home.
We had a good drive yesterday. Haley did a triathon in the morning and then we were off. We couldn't get the computer to play a DVD so we talked and laughed and read ghost stories in the car. It was good.
Cheers, Everyone!
Denise

Chores

Weeds grow so fast! Pools get so dirty after a storm! Arghhhh - yesterday they called for high winds, hurricane like weather, and hail so I rushed outside with my daughter to close the trailer quickly. The storm passed us. Not like the day before, when it hit us full force and put the electricity out. Then, the trailer was up and everything stayed dry. This morning, I opened it up and all kinds of things are soaked - because we closed it in the rain! Note to self - leave it up!
So the weeds are mowed, the pool is clean, the kids are doing chores and I'm ready to watch them by the pool. Of course, the dishes aren't done, the art room is a mess and I still have to rake, but lemonade by the pool just sounds so darn good!
Cheers, Denise

Isn't it beautiful?!

I had the priviledge of teaching the caterpillar class the other night and one of my students - Genvieve Crabe - sent me a picture of her completed bracelet. And it is just beautiful! I love the caterpillar bracelet! It's so luscious and tactile and bold! Thanks Genevieve for allowing me to show off your gorgeous work!

On another note - tomorrow is the last day of school for the summer for my girls. So I get to have them at home for two months to play and swim and smile and create! If you hear less of art and more of motherhood, don't be surprized! It's me doing what I love - being with my family!
Cheers, Denise

What The He## Do I Do?

I was curious. So I went on line and started goofing around with the colours on my blog. I wanted to figure out how to make and put a banner in. Well I sorta figured it out. It's kinda cool how much mischief I managed to get into isn't it? I was tempted a few times to just reset the whole template because it was looking so weird. I'm not happy with my side bar, but I know it's because of those maps. Setting margins seems to be tricky so I'm working on that. I am having fun though. I haven't figured out how to make the banner bigger though. I made it into a picture, uploaded it to the blog so it would be made into a picture but it's the large size and I haven't figured out how to change it's size. If anyone wants to rescue me in the HTML Sea of Confusion, please feel free!
Cheers, Denise

Art Dolls

I thought while I was working on my current projects, I'd show you some art dolls that I made quite awhile ago. The Garden Doll is mine and I think she is fabulous. She feels so good in my hands and I used my favourite beads and flowers on her.





This doll was made for my very first swap and is owned by a friend. She turned out beautifully with that full rainbow of beads around her head. She came from a form pattern from Ronda Kivett. It's a hard form to sew and get all the points to line up but I like beading it because the point are fun!



I made a bracelet today. I'll take pictures tomorrow and show it to you. My friend Calinda came over and we worked on them most of the morning. I finished it this evening while watching a movie with my youngest. The rest of my family has gone away for the weekend so it's just me and my baby hanging out! She wants to go play in the artroom tomorrow so expect some great art!
Cheers, Denise

Where Have I Been?

I found this map site from another blog and thought it would be fun to play!
So here is where I have been in Canada:



create your own personalized map of Canada
or check out ourVancouver travel guide

And here is where I have been in Europe:




create your personalized map of europe
or check out our Barcelona travel guide

And here is where I have been in the States. Of course, I think it is - we've driven through them a couple of times and I can't exactly remember all the states I've been in.


create your own personalized map of the USA
or check out ourCalifornia travel guide

I've also been to the Dominican Republic, which wasn't on the list. My darling Husband is really a world traveller and has been to many more places than I. We both hope to continue our travels as we go - Even the kids like to travel!

So Where have you been?
Cheers, Denise

I got bitten!

By the crazy quilt bug. So when someone on one of the forums I belong to shared a link to a crazy quilt doll, I had to do it. Now the one that she shared with us didn't have any arms or legs and while I can live with no legs - it looks like a skirt, I have a hard time with that armless thing. Just a personal preference. So here she is in all her glory. Not beaded yet but that is next. I am so totally thrilled with her! It was sure cool to make her and where you may see something that looks not quite right, that's because it isn't and I can bead there and no one will see anything they aren't supposed to see.






And while we are at it - I'm including the finished beaded crazy quilt needle case. I had actually finished it but I posted the before picture because that's all I had. I took a picture of the finished needle case when I took a picture of the doll. So here it is. Good to have things to practice on eh?


Cheers, Denise

What am I working on?

I'm working on my needle case. I took a crazy quilt class to learn the technique and I made my patch into a needle case. What have I learned? There is a reason for people like me in class to be made an example of - what not to do! By the end of the class people were saying - "Oops I did a Denise!" Good thing I knew many of these women! They won't soon be forgetting me either!
Another thing I learned is that there is a quarter inch seam allowance for a reason! And now you know that while on the surface, it may look okay, in reality, there were a couple of seams that didn't take - because I made them too thin. I'll remember for next time. Not a whole lot of good reasons for doing all that work just to have the seam pop.
One other thing. I need to practice the tension on my embroidery. I've pulled too much and the material is buckling. Practice. We all just love to practice don't we?
So, without further ado, here is the needle book - not finished but a work in progress. I love the colours!!!

I'm being very brave

I'm showing you where I create. I don't call it a studio, I call it the art room. I'm happy there, it's messy and it's not very organized and it's full and I've got work to do on it but it's my space and I can find things and it's fun to go down there. I like hanging things up, painting on the walls and keeping the tv on for noise while I work. I use the desk for homework sometimes and there is a daybed in there for sitting on and relaxing. I sleep down there in the really hot nights when upstairs is just too hot.




This is a workbench that I use for an art desk. I like to stand at it which is good because I move around a lot but if I need to sit, I can grab a stool from the kitchen.
My desk. It's so messy right now. I do want to clean it off. I like doing homework here too.

Originally this was a library. I had this loaded with books and now some of these books are redundant and I need to clear more room for more of my art supplies. It's a work in progress.

I have some of my atc's here and chubby books. This is fun for me.

More later. Dinner now!
Cheers, Denise

My dog Springer

My family wasn't too happy to see that I had a great picture of Cole on the blog and poor Springer was stuck in the screen room. So here is a good picture of the boy, lying on his bed. He loves his bed. It is quite funny to see how much he really does love it, he needed to be coaxed onto it for the first month before he finally decided it was a good thing. When we were camping in the trailer for the first time, we were all sitting at the table inside and he wouldn't settle. He sat beside the table looking up at us. I looked at him and said outloud "look at how well I know our dog."
I got up, took a towel and folded it in half. I put it down by the door. Springer got up, went over to the towel, stepped on it and circled around the way dogs do and then tucked himself down onto the towel. He was so cute!
So here he is, in all his cuteness!

Summer Celebration and Stuff

It went well. Summer Celebration was fun. It was a cold day and cold days make people eat! We sold all our hamburgers and hotdogs and had lots of drinks left over. Much easier to store drinks than left over burgers and dogs! The new popcorn machine was a hit too and the young kids at the candy floss machine made mixed colours of floss - I thought that was cool!

A few people were showing off their blog lists so I thought I'd show you all a few that I love to read and follow. Some of them because they are friends, some because of their art, some because they are just plain interesting!

http://www.boobyfish.blogspot.com/ - Heather is a great Californian Friend that was instrumental in my obsession for mixed media! I met her in Washington and we communicate and play on a yahoo group together.

http://www.astitchintime.blogspot.com/ I've never met Debra but she makes me laugh, gets me curious and has great talent. We've conversed and she's great at posting nearly every day. I'm impressed with that.

http://textilegoddess.blogspot.com/ Helen Cowans was the subject of an article in Quilting Arts. I love the texture she brings to her work and the elements of colour and design. She has had studio built on her property and is a very inspiring woman. I like watching things come together, including her studio.

Two more:
http://artsymama.blogspot.com/
http://tryittuesdays.wordpress.com/

I have these two under techniques because they are teaching me tons! I'll be said when the book of dreams is done but my book isn't done so I'll have lots to create.

There are many more blogs that I visit regularly but that's enough for now.

Cheers, Denise

Paint

I love paint. I love to paint. I love all the colours and how it glides on and I don't even mind the smell. I love the colour and my house has lots of colour! You really are only a coat of paint away from a new colour, a new look.
The problem? Paint and I don't get along. I'm a terrible painter. I'm messy, I streak, I can't get an even coat to save my life. I get put into closets. My friends have taken pity on me and painted my house. I'm constantly amazed at how bad of a painter I am!
So when I agreed to make a 4foot by 4foot ball toss, I don't know - I mean really don't know what I was thinking! I'd have to paint it! I just can't believe I said - volunteered to do it! What was I thinking?

Here it is - my ball toss game. I designed it, my dh cut out the holes and then I painted it! Me! All by myself! This is a major accomplishment! I'm so impressed with myself! I can't believe how well it turned out - I mean paint and I just don't get along.

So if you have any compliments on how wonderful I did, I could sure use the praise! I'm sure praising myself!

What have I been doing?

Tickets?

This one is my youngest daughter's favourite.

There were eleven all together.

These are for our schools summer celebration. They needed their ticket boxes decorated. I hope they like them! I'm hoping they will last more than one year. I'm modge podged out for awhile!
My other two projects are to paint a bean bag toss. I'll show you the picture when it's done. I also took the old cans that we knock down and repainted them but they are simple - spray paint red, yellow and blue.
Last weekend, I was at my last mom and me camp with my youngest daughter. I have gone to mom and me camp 5 times! I'm so experienced, it's not funny! It was a good time and I wasn't really needed my youngest who is now a brownie!
When summer celebrations is over this Saturday - I'm with food! - I'll work on my art quilt. It's the class that I took. I'll tell you more about that later. Gotta go paint!

I'm very a very cool trekkie!!!

Your results:
You are Will Riker

Will Riker 80% Deanna Troi 80% James T. Kirk (Captain) 70% Chekov 55% Beverly Crusher 55% Geordi LaForge 55% Uhura 45% Jean-Luc Picard 45% Spock 37% Mr. Scott 35% Mr. Sulu 30% Worf 25% Leonard McCoy (Bones) 15% Data 15% An Expendable Character (Redshirt) 15%

At times you are self-centered but you have many friends. You love many women, but the right woman could get you to settle down.

Click here to take the Star Trek Personality Quiz



Now that was fun and in case you are wondering, I just changed the woman thing to man and the right man did get me to settle down!
That man just did the Ottawa Marathon in 3 hours and 44 mins!!! I'm so proud of him!! He's a great athelite! I wonder what kind of trekkie he is? Probably the engineer - since that is what he is in real life too!
Cheers, Denise

Camping on the Weekend

We had such a great time!! It was cold and we had hail and we didn't care! Why? Because we were in our brand new trailer!!!




We had such a great time. We went to Bon Echo and the park is lovely. It's fully treed and has a great history. It was donated to National Parks by The Denison Family and they had run an inn on the property. This inn was a retreat area for the "avant garde" - artists, poet's etc in the 1920's. It was fantastic! We will definitely be going back.

Here is a picture of my old Dog Cole. He loves camping. In one of the camper pictures you can see Springer. Springer is a young dog - 2 and a bit. The two of them had a great time. Cole is stiff now and older but he is very loyal and devoted to his kids.
I can't wait to go camping again. We had fun figuring out all the stuff we needed to know about the camper. Like filling the water tank - before you go to your campsite and set up! Filling it afterwards with a two gallon bag just made it all rustic!
I've been camping since I was about 10 and it has always been in tents. I had told my family that if we wanted to continue camping, we were going to get a trailer. I'd had enough of tents, the mess, the rummaging for dishes in bins and the wetness when it rains. Getting this trailer will prolong my camping life for years to come!
Cheers, Denise

A Great Mailing Day!

I've pulled together a bunch of things to mail. I love receiving mail and know that in order to receive it, I need to send out goodies and let others enjoy too! So I'm sending out a fabric atc, 2 4x4 art pages in the theme of water for a group at yahoo, a RAK 4x4 page for a book that someone is putting together for another group member that needs cheering, a 4x4 page called Bloom for an all originals swap over at chubbyville and a birthday card with some yummy beads in it for a Beads For Birthday Club over at Delphi!
Now I have received my two water pages and I am waiting on a gorgeous ATC from another blogger, Deb H - The Cold Foot Quilter http://akquilter1.blogspot.com/2006_04_01_akquilter1_archive.html
I will get beads on my birthday so sending out beads now is good and fun and easy to do!
The RAK makes me smile. I'm the type who buys a coffee in the drive through line up for the person behind me when I'm feeling like I need a smile. I love to imagine what it feels like to receive a gift from a stranger - how they go "Oh Wow, Cool!"
Once, I did it and the lady at the cash told me that the last time I did it, 6 people in a row bought for the person behind them! How cool is that!!
So today is a great mail day, because I'm giving!!!
Cheers,Denise

Mother's Day in Ottawa...

Is beautiful. It comes right in the middle of the Tulip Festival and it's always fun - even in the rain. Here are some pictures of the awesome tulips that get painted each year. Each tulip - and there are over a hundred of them around the festival venues, are hand painted, hand collaged, or embellished with mixed media and are spectacular. The idea is for them to be sponsored and then displayed. Maybe one year the Smeaton family can do one! We enjoyed the tulip beds, some stilts and some dutch cookies. The music was great as was the company - my family! It was a wet, windy and wonderful day!

I've been Busy!!

Isn't it great! I'm very happy with it and as I was beading it, I realized, I could add more and more and more!


This is some of the detail. I wanted to not cover the material, because it was an intragral part of the whole design. I had a lot of fun with this!
I actually enjoy the bubbles coming out of the fishes mouth. It adds a sparkle with it. It's a very tactile piece and that was very evident to me when I watched my daughter run her hands through the seaweed.

Now on to more projects!! And now that I have my computer back, I can blog! I missed having it and having my list of favourites available to me. Debra Roby over at http://www.astitchintime.blogspot.com/ has a great comprehensive list of blogs that kept me mostly in touch with everyone so I could continue to read the blogs. They are sorta like soap opera's aren't' they? You check in with them on a regular basis to see what's going on and if you have some who doesn't post very often, it's kinda disappointing. So for those of you whom I disappointed by being away from the blog, I do apologize.
Cheers, Denise

Sick .... And Tired....Of Studying

I've been sick. The first big cold of the year - and it had to come in the spring, when I'm studying for exams. I lost my voice for two weeks. Nothing. Just this awful scratchy sound that hurt. I slept a lot. And I studied. I have two exams - one down and one to go on the weekend. I'll be happy when they are done because then I can do some art. I've had to put my art on hold while I've studied and gotten better. Soon....
The kids liked the quiet when I had no voice, my dh liked it too. But I had to bang the table or the wall to get attention - or whistle. That was funny because it didn't take long to get the kids to answer to the odd noises I was making.
I'm behind in my art work. I have some atc's due, some 4x4's and some fiber postcards that are really late. Part of the reason they are late is because I don't like what I've done and I'm thinking that I should just do them over.
So no pictures right now, just me studying, boring really. But it will be all over Saturday Morning and then I'm free till September!!!!
Cheers, Denise

My Student's Beautiful Work!

One of my students created this beautiful rainforest bracelet! Linda Brown took my class at Dragon's Lair Beads and created this cuff bracelet. I'm very happy to share it with you and let you know that many of the other bracelets were also beautiful. I was very impressed with the levels of creativity that I saw!

I've been sick. And I'm not happy about it. I lost my voice and thought I had gotten it back, but no - it stayed away! I had a meeting tonight and I must say, we were all very quiet! I've written one exam, and have one more to go. I hope I get better sooner rather than later because it's hard to study when a body is asleep! Too bad I can't put the books under my pillow and just absorb it all through osmosis! So no beading, no creativity, just boring sick body during such gorgeous spring weather!
Cheers, Denise

A Very Busy Few Days.

I've a busy few days teaching beading! I just love teaching and love watching what my students create. I love seeing their colour combinations and to challenge them to create what they see in their minds eye.
On Thursday night I taught a caterpillar bracelet. It was tricky at first to keep everyone at about the same place because I couldn't find my crimpers so we had to share one pair between seven people. But we got there and everyone walked away knowing how to make and finish their bracelet.
On Saturday we had a demo at Michaels. It was pretty quiet but there were a few people who were interested in the bead embroidery so we will try to run a class in June. It would be great to get this going in the West end. I teach bead embroidery at the local quilt shop near me and have four classes scheduled for the spring. Leave me a message on the blog comment if you want more information.
Then on Sunday I worked with the group that started their cuff bracelets a couple of weeks ago. They were finishing them up or learning to finish them. Wow! They are beautiful! Such a variety of colours and textures in each one. Some were very close to being finished and one student actually did finish. It had a lot to do with how much they got done in the time between classes. What a great group - we had some great laughs and thoroughly enjoyed our time together!!
Now to study for my Canadian Studies exam!
I'd rather be beading!
Cheers, D

I'VE BEEN PINKED!!!!!

Oh! Pinked!!! Can you believe it!! This is just too much! Do I have to actually like pink before I'm allowed to eat all those wonderful M&M's? It's all Leisa's fault!!! She's trying to get me to come over to the pink side! I won't I tell you, I just won't!!!
Now I have to tell you that the pendulum is like a comfortable glove right from the get go, that M&M's is my favourite all time candy and that I am a dragon! Can she have picked any better way to pink me!!! ARGHHHHH! Do I have to admit that I like that colour! Do I?

Fishtank update

Here is some of the beading that I've gotten done. Each of those coral clusters are woven first and then sewn on. I think I need to do a couple more of them. I thought three was enough but I want it to be lusher. The coral clusters are from the book The Beaded Garden by Diane Fitzgerald. I modified it - made it smaller for the cluster.
The seaweed beaded up easy enough. I want to do a bit more at the top and of course the other plants. The blue anemone type thing had definitely got to be fuller - I need more blue flowers for it. I want it to look like that fish is nibbling on it. This is a fun project!




Cheers, Denise

Finished Sampler

Can you see the differences? I still want to bead on it but I have to let it go. The quilt shop would like it and I have to remember that it's for teaching beading techniques. I want people to be able to see the different flowers they can make and the different stitches around the inner green circle. I find the red is more balanced now and the inner circle of flowers is fuller. I did go back to that larger circle line it with size 14 purple beads and I like it, although I've already been told that not everyone does.
This is my middle daughter who will be turning 9 on Saturday! She was still half asleep when I asked her to hold the sampler. She liked the idea of being in the blog though and I promised her I would let her help me with the finished sampler - and not cut off her head in the process!
Cheers!

works in progress!

This sampler is almost completely done. I knew that I wanted to do more, that it wasn't quite done. I consulted a friend of mine who has a great eye for colour and balance etc and she suggested where I should make the changes. I've got to get it finished and over to the quilt shop because they are missing their samplers! I'll be curious to see what you all think of the changes and where they are made. It's amazing what it will actually take to achieve balance on this piece. The darling little girl holding the sampler is my youngest, Emerald. She is almost 7.






This next piece is really not scanning well Light penetrates through this piece but you can't see that with a scan.. I used the new technique in Quilting Arts and this is created by ribbons and lace etc sandwiched between layers of organza. It was really fun to make and has lots of depth. I've started beading it and will add a lot more beads before it's finished. I like looking at works in progress because it's fun to see how things come together, so I'm sending this out very unfinished with the promise for you to look at it again.
I want to do this technique again and make leaves. I love the idea of sewing the leaves on just at the tips and letting the leaves flutter. Oh the ideas!!!
Thanks! Denise

My cuff bracelet

I just love this bracelet! It was my first cuff and it turned out great! I used a piece of raw amber as the main stone and those are toho triangles that are woven over it. I really love the pearls with the amber. One of these days I'm going to make a necklace with amber and pearls!
I'll be teaching this bracelet in March and I'm looking forward to it! I really enjoy teaching.




It's been a heck of week. The phone went on the fritz and it took hours for the guy to find the problem. The dry went on the fritz too and it cost me over a hundred dollars to be told that really, the belt was good.
The kids were home all week and I think we had a good time. We went to the local zoo and it was fun to see the animals so active in the cold weather. The lions like the cold weather! And of course so do the Siberian tigers!
The kids are snowboarding with dh and I've had some quiet time! Tomorrow, I get to catch up with the laundry!
Cheers, D

Fish Tank Art Quilt

Isn't it great! There was a challenge at my local quilt shop to quilt with this cool lava material. I didn't make this! When I saw it, I decided that I really wanted to bead it! So the owners got in touch with the maker of the fish tank and her and I got together and discussed me beading it. She thought it was a great idea and now I'm off! I've started the seaweed and I'll post as I go along. We want to enter it in the local quilt show in May. It's fun to bead and I've got some good ideas for it. I love the lava material too. The quilter thought the challenge was cool too. Of course the fact that I had a huge fish tank for years probably has a lot to do with me loving this piece!
Progress pictures to come!
Cheers, D

I passed Math!

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 9/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?

And I'd be happy no matter which grade it is! I'll definitely have to pass this on to my engineer husband who teases me all the time about my math skills!
Cheers, D

How many projects can a person have going at once?

I must have at least half a dozen projects on the go and wait, okay, I'll be honest - even more than that! And, I want to start another one! See the link that I put up? It's to an amazing bead artist whose work I've admired for a while and on one of the forums I visit, the women can't stop talking about the workshop that they did with Thom Atkins. I can't get his link working right now though. I'll try later or try clicking on the title to see if it comes up. The retreat was in Vegas! Oh I wish I could have been there! So the women are talking about the techniques and the thrills they are getting and my mind is raising and my fingers are itching to play!
I've also got two more no wait, three chubby books to do, two atc swaps, a fabric postcard swap, a quilted fishtank to bead, my hand to finish, a couple of dolls ...no I just can't bear to list them all!!! Someone might actually say something about my mental state!!!
But I love it and I love to play and expand with these challenges. I haven't signed up for anything else, does that help? I think so!
The weather is freezing rain and my children who rarely get a snow day because they are close enough to walk to school actually stayed home with me today. I ran out early and got the new Harry Potter movie and all our favourite potato chips. We curled up in our favourite blankets and pillows and tucked in for a good movie! It feels wonderfully decandent! They promised they would all get along and they are!!!
Have a good day,
D

I've been Tagged! Things you didn't really want to know about me!

The first player of this game starts with the "6 weird/things/habits about yourself" and people who get tagged need to write a blog about their 6 weird habits/things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end you need to choose the 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says "you are tagged" in their comments and tell them to read yours.

1. I like to nap. I try to do it every day, and I always have to read to fall asleep.
2.I don't like drinking pop out of a can. Bottles I can do, can's not so much. Everyone in my family knows that if I ask for a pop, they have to pour it in a glass for me.
3.I really don't think I'm weird!
4. I like to do art at dinner time. As a matter of fact, I get down in the art room at about 3 in the afternoon and I don't want to come up!! I'm forced to stop and think about dinner and by then the kids are so hungry that it's easier to do nuggets and fries! I personally think that most of the work is done when you have decided what to make! If I ask my dh to make dinner and I tell him what we are having, I've done more work then him!!
5.I like going to the dentist! I like having my teeth cleaned and I like it when the dentist sighs and realizes that he's not going t make any money off me!
6.I honestly think my friends would have more fun making up this list then me! And they would probably have more interesting things to say!

I tag Kim, and Helaine. I don't have six names on my list yet so I can't just going around tagging people!
Cheers you two!
D

Teaching!!!

I've got a few teaching times coming up! One is this Saturday at quilt Pleasures and I'm teaching advanced bead embroidery. I'm looking forward to this because it expands the basic stitches. I just went shopping to choose the beads for the kits and I'm very excited!
I'll be teaching at Michaels this month too. I've got two basic bead embroidery classes there, one during the week and one in the evening! This is what you need to embellish and to play with bead embroidery. It's a great class too, full of lots of information.
I'm going to be teaching my beaded cuff at Dragon's Lair Beads! They have my bracelet on display in their showcase. It's taking bead embroidery and creating a stunning piece of jewelry!
I really love teaching! It's so much fun to teach others and have them teach you with their questions and the things they try. Stay tuned for more teaching events and when I can figure out how to add this as a column on the side of the blog, they will be updated regularly!
Cheers, D

Bohemian Art Tags

Hi! I finished these this morning and I'm really happy with them. I'm not exactly sure if they can be defined as bohemian but I'm getting a charge out of making these tags! I used some great mediums that I've been experimenting with and the colours are rich and sparkly!! They are supposed to be for a swap but I'm not sure which ones I'll send - I wanna make more!!!
I got my business cards! That was way too easy! I paid twenty bucks for the box and I am happy with them. Now to give them all out! That'll take a while. I'm trying to decide if I want to add colour to them because they are just black and white but I think that would only happen if I had nothing better to do!

needle cases

Aren't they wonderful? We love the fridge and the flair of carrying plain old needles in such a beautiful case! And I've got the pleasure of teaching this to a group of women quilters who are fast becoming beaders! I've started one case that is going to have an iris on it and I'm following the pattern! I love the iris flower and when I saw it the first time it was on my friend Linda's case. She has the most beautiful collection of needle cases. Her collection has since inspired me to make two of my own and now this new Iris one!!

Reading week and school and I've promised myself to catch up on my lectures - I have them on video. Sat down to watch them today and realized that I was missing one of them, so I'm off to the University tomorrow to pick it up and then I'll get back on track! I hate procrastinating and yet it is one thing that I seem to be so good at!

Starting Mandella's

My friend and I are starting mandella's. I'm going to be beading it, all though I'm thinking of adding embroidery stitches with floss too. I dyed the material with purple and blue and traced the outline on it. I'll take a scan of it to show you before I start beading it. I also finished the summer goddess but I have to send it out so I won't be putting a picture up until the woman receives it. It looks more like a spring goddess than a summer one.
I worked on some great atc's yesterday. They are to cheer up some friends and I played with utee. That stuff is so cool! I've only got the one colour but I'm interested in more now! I'll scan those in too! Look for a post with pictures coming soon to this blog!!
Cheers, Denise

Keeping in Contact

I met a woman yesterday who was interested in my class but didn't really know enough about it so she didn't sign up for the class. Turns out that she was also in the quilt shop and looked at the beading class I teach there too! If only I had a business card! I could have given her one and she could come on the blog and see some of my work and get more information! Or I could also have a website. I really do need to resolve this because people are having problems finding out more or keeping me in their thoughts for bead work. And if I want to keep adding to my client list, this would be a good way to do it. So now to plan a business card and to get moving on a website!
Have a great day!!

And not just a few either!!

Hell yes...
If there is someone on your friends list who makes your world a better place just because they exist and who you would not have met (in real life or not) without the internet, then post this same sentence in your journal.

Busy Beading Weekend

I had a great time beading on the weekend. I was at Michaels on Saturday afternoon with the other instructors, all of us were demonstrating out work. I was working on a summer doll that is for a swap. It's a great work in progress, but looks more like spring than summer. I worked on her again on Sunday when my beaded art doll group met at the local quilt shop. What a wonderful talented group of women and most of them are more than half way through their dolls, with a couple of them actually finished. I've been teaching them how to make the dolls but this time around I actually worked on my doll, and only helped out a bit. Next month they want to make needle cases, they've been admiring mine, so I'm getting out the projects for needle cases so I'll be boned up and ready to go! We're going to start an beaded atc swap too! We have so much fun together and make it a priority to meet once a month to bead!
Now back to my paper - which I've managed to procrastinate on for way too long!!
Cheers, Denise

Some Work!

Here is the sample of beadwork that I created for Michaels. I used only beads that they sell and they have a great selection of beads for jewelry but not many seed beads. I dyed the material and I think that turned out well. This picture will go up on the bulletin board. They request something that you aren't really attached to because there is a small chance for theft. So I created this picture.

How do you like the melded fiber? I pulled this together and I'm looking forward to adding beads and stuff and doing something with it. I used the water soluble fusible material, felt, threads and bits of material and of course the two flowers. Then I stitched randomly around it all and soaked the whole thing in water to remove the webbing. Now I'm looking forward to creating with it, just not sure what to do with it!
Cheers, Denise

Figured Out How To Add Links

I want to thank Carol aka Mamarox for helping me figure out how add links to the sidebar. It took a bit of fanagling but I did it! Now I have a better appreciation for those of you bloggers who have a great links section! I would like to continue to build mine, I'll be doing that over the next little while, there are some great creative people out there and some amazing creative spaces on the web.
I paid the price for being sick and getting my pages out late but I didn't want to disappoint the other people who participated in the book. I"m really looking forward to recieving it - a big, fat, chubby book at 50 pages!!!!
I'm almost finished my sample for Micheals, just adding a running stitch of beads on ribbon for the edges, it looks good and I'll be sure to scan it before I take it to the store.
Cheers,Denise

Hearts Art radio archives are amazing!

I've spent the last two days listening to the interviews they have in the archives and I've picked up some great ideas! It's very inspiring and I'm definitely going to listen again. It was easy to have it on while I was working on my artwork.
I woke up this morning with the worst dizzy spells and the girls had to get themselves and their lunches ready and off to school cause I couldn't even lift my head. I felt better after I slept for a couple of hours and now that it's ten at night, I'm feeling good. But it put a dent in my time cause I was supposed to go to class and I didn't make it and I was supposed to mail my aubergine pages. It'll cost me extra tomorrow to get there in time. Ah well.
If you get the chance to listen to these interviews, go for it cause they are very inspiring.
Cheers, Denise