Silly BooDilly Beads...

 One of my goals in writing my posts is to provide inspiration, but many

 times, I'm the recipient, rather than the donor. Today is one such instance.

A number of years ago, I read about making fabric beads using plastic

drinking straws as the foundation. I wrapped and glued scrap fabric

around the plastic core and then further embellished with fancy fibers.

 I enjoyed sitting for hours and playing with colorful scraps...remnants 

from knitted projects or sewn creations. Many, many beads resulted.

Study in fabric and fiber on painted canvas

 What did I do with them, you ask?

Well, this is one of the projects I made. This one went to a sister 

who adores the color purple. I painted a canvas, and then I created

a fabric and bead panel and affixed it to the canvas. I really had no

 idea what I was doing, but I felt a true sense of freedom as I just 

played and waited to see where I was carried by my creative muses.

Closeup of bead section

 I was really happy with the result, and my sister loved

it. Each bright coral bead held a special significance, 

and I even added a sterling silver heart charm, too.

I still have my plastic box full of beads, but I may

never use them. I have a new inspiration...

Image from The Silly BooDilly blog

Victoria at The Silly BooDilly blog makes these gorgeous beads

by the hour. She actually threads hers onto ribbons or chains and

wears them! I have something else in mind that I will work on as we

travel in the Flying Cloud. I think they're the perfect portable project.

I went to her Etsy shop and purchased her pattern, so I could learn 

her technique. It's a pdf download, so I had the instructions in no time.

Here's a link to her blog post about the beads.

Here's a link to her Etsy shop.

I'm really looking forward to playing with beads again this year.

They'll be a perfect way to use up lots of scraps...inches at a time!

Some Days A Girl Just Needs To Dream...

Do you find that some days, no matter how hard you try, you just can't focus? I have so many ideas swimming in my head right now that I couldn't settle on a single project to tackle in the studio yesterday.

I sorted and chose fabric in lovely colors, patterns and fibers to make a few new things I've been thinking about. Then I sorted fabric. And I moved a few things around. And I looked through a few new magazines. And I made a cup of tea. Then I called my mum to chat. Handsome was gone most of the day, and I had planned to accomplish so much in the studio in his absence. I guess I was just too scattered.

At the end of the day, all I had managed to do was mount and decoupage two reproduction cabinet cards onto fomecore. They are lovely gifts from my friend, Margaret B. (The French Bear) that I had decided to protect and decorate for the studio. I'm going to embellish and finish them later today, and then I'll share them with you. Not much to show for a cold day here in south Florida.

I'll leave you with this image of the vignette on my studio work table that I enjoyed for most of the day. Acorns and beautiful fibers. The day was not lost.

Organization In The Studio...

I'm going to try really hard not to get carried away with this mosaic feature, but I couldn't resist. Doesn't it enhance the clean look of a post? Well, speaking of clean (I know, nice segue right?), I just wanted to show you some of the ways that I try to control clutter in my studio.

First, I want what I use to be beautiful and different. I have way too much plastic behind those cupboard doors, so I'm more conscientious about what's out in the open. Things I love to look at, along with things that are functional. My oak thread cabinet is one of those things that is both.

You can see from the mosaic that there are four drawers in the cabinet. The top drawer is full of needles in packages, and miscellany that looks like a kitchen junk drawer. You know, the one where you can find everything, but you don't want to show your friends how messy it looks?
The other drawers hold my silk threads, perle cotons and DMC© and Anchor© cotton flosses. We're not going to chat about my Type A personality, but to answer any questions...Yes, my flosses are in numeric order. 'Nuf said about that.

Then yesterday, I remembered that I have this beautiful jewelry chest sitting practically empty in the back of my closet and it occurred to me that it would be perfect for my little glass bead bottles filled with my special beads and newest charms and cabachons. So, of course I got right after it and removed one of those ugly (but highly functional) plastic organizers from my work area.

Don't you love the vintage, stripey, hydrangea beauty of it? I have it sitting on top of my work table now - at least for the time being - so that I can enjoy looking at it. What was I thinking when I sentenced it to the back of my closet? I must have been confused. I admit, some days are just like that.

Oh, before I run, I want to remind you that there are only SEVEN more days until my 100th Post Giveaway signup and giveaway gifts are announced. Hope you'll check back so you can enter the giveaway, too!