18, Minions and Creativity

Eighteen, my sweet baby boy turned 18 today. Of all the cliche's I was told when my son arrived was"they grow so fast". After weeks of no sleep and nighttime feedings I remember thinking "oh yeah, this is going fast!!" That was yesterday. REALLY, I remember, it was just yesterday and now, today, he's eighteen.

So today, as I ponder my son's first step into adulthood I continued to work on jewelry. I wish I would get out of this stitched tube phase. I really like the look but I don't like stitching. How come time stitching doesn't speed by?!? Is it only time with things/people that you love go fast?

I need a minion, an apprentice, someone that can help make the 100's of candy corn beads I need each fall, someone to put away the 1000's of beads I pull out for projects and then stuff randomly in bags, someone to make the remaining beads I need after I design one I really like but don't want to make more matching ones for the project. Someone to stitch tubes.

Ok, so maybe I need NOT be so lazy. Creativity can be repetitive but the repetitiveness does help you learn and perfect and define your style. By repeatedly stitching tubes I have discovered different ways to use them and design them. By making 100's of candy corn beads I have learned to make really good candy corn beads and out of boredom one day experimented with candy corn ghosts. By constantly putting away unused beads I have learned better organizations methods and the value in trying to take only what I need.

And much to my son's chagrin I have learned that no matter how old he gets he will always be my baby.

Beckie

Christmas?

It's beginning to look alot like...Christmas? Yep that's right. It's Christmas time at my studio. No I haven't lost my mind and yes I know we just had the first day of fall but if you do fall craft shows now is the time to get your Christmas inventory together. For me it's Crystal Christmas tree earrings, dozens of them. I also want to work on holiday lampwork beads, and fun zipper pulls. The holidays are always fun to play with new ideas and components that bring sparkle to your work. So that is my plan for today. I still have several necklaces to put together and more earrings to make. I'm love, love, love this gift of time.

Enjoy your day,
Beckie

Life

So my mind is a blank again, or maybe it's too full and I can't get anything out. I don't know. I really want to keep up with the blog but should I just blather for the sake of keeping it up? I don't think so.

Sooo happy Wednesday. I hope it has been a fun, creative, loving, joyful day.
Beckie

A New Week

Good Monday Morning! A new week, a new oportunity. I never thought I would say that going back to work would be the day to relax but... after taking my mom to her baby shower took most of Saturday and then Stake conference and the Bizarre Market took most of Sunday, Monday will be a nice quiet day.

I have made jewelry almost non stop for the last few weeks and I have loved it. I know I have said it repeatedly but having this time to reconnect with my creative spirit has been a gift to me. I will always treasure having this time to transition into a new stage of my life. Now I have to find the time to make some beads and fused pendants so I have something to work with.

I hope to get back on the torch this weekend and maybe find some time to have a torch playdate. Getting together with other lampworkers, creating, talking sharing ideas is always fun and inspiring. Have you ever beaded by "committee"? Once I see how the new teaching space works, another good reason for a playdate, I plan on getting a class schedule posted. It will feel good to teach again.

Have a fabulous Monday!! Remember, it's the only one you'll have this week!!!

Beckie

The Good Dooby Daughter

It's Saturday morning!!! A beautiful thing. Now that the shop has closed I have come to treasure Saturdays. Maybe it's a hold ever from childhood. The school/work week is over and you have time that is yours...well sorta. There are still a million things to do but at least you have some control over them.

Today I being good dooby daughter and taking my mom to a baby shower. Now what's the big deal you say? Well it's an hours drive to my moms and then another hours drive to the shower and then I hang out somewhere for 2 hours while she "showers" and thenIi do the whole driving thing over again. NOT my idea of how to spend a Saturday but it is important to her to go to this particular shower sooooo I shall put on my good dooby daughter cape, paste a smile on my face and go.

In the mean time I am doing dishes, cleaning house and continuing to get ready for the show tomorrow. It's the million little things that always get you.

Enjoy your Saturday!! Find a moment just for you.

Beckie

Nothing can be everything

So I woke up this morning, late again, I was all ready to blog and YIKES, I have no thoughts. Nothing, Nada, Zip, Zilch. Not a clue as what to write about.

I suppose I could write about my trip to the Workhouse in Lorton and how cool that was. I could write about the show I am doing this weekend and my slight angst about it. I could write about how wonderful it was to talk to two dear friends yesterday and how much that meant to me. I could even write about one of the thousand questions that flit through my mind everyday. But I don't know what I would say about any of those things, soooo, I am left with nothing.

And nothing is ok, it's like an empty space in our lives, a blank page. A space were we can discover. Discover what? New ideas, old ideas, solutions, goals, connections, our creative source, plans, and nothing. Like a pitcher that is filled there is but one flavor and no room for more. But and empty pitcher has so much room and can hold endless possibilities

So today I write about nothing and yet in that nothing I have discovered everything. So the next time you awake with no thoughts and no ideas, celebrate that nothing because who know what you might find inside.

Happy Friday,
Beckie

So I packed up some different beads, grabbed some new colors and hoped for inspiration. I moved into it slowly , I read a bit first, walked around the shop, made a few calls, finally I sat down to bead. YES my muse seemed to be back. I worked on a couple of pieces, trying some things I had never done before and I LIKE IT!!
Today it's field trip day. I am going to the Workhouse Art Center in Lorton. YES!!! If you are not familiar with the Workhouse it is set in the historic Lorton reformatory. It is a visual and performing arts studio and exhibition space. I have heard their glass studio is amazing and they offer some really great classes.

Who knows maybe one day I can have my work in their gallery. A girl can dream.

Beckie

Here and Gone

Morning,
I am back in town after a nice relaxing weekend. I spent the first part just kicking back, watching movies and working on jewelry. I even took a few hikes to check on my letterboxes. It was nice.
Then it happened, my muse decided to take it's own hike and left me behind. Don't you hate it when that happens. Both Sunday and Monday have been awful!!! . I dislike everything I put together, nothing seems to work, I feel as though I have no creative ideas. Worse yet I have a show coming up this weekend. WAHHHHHH!!!
Well let's see what happens today. I grabed some different beads and silver, it's a new day maybe my muse shall return and I will find inspiration.

Gotta go, as usual, I'M LATE.
Beckie ( the girl who used to pride herself on promtness)

A weekend away

I'm off...or at least I will be after work today. I'm taking my mom to her timeshare in the mountains. A very nice way to spend time and relax. I am taking jewelry to work on, which can be both productive and relaxing for me.

I have really had fun these last few day, I'm getting quite a bit done and I find I treasure the quiet. How often do we have such quiet time in our often hectic lives?

My friend Judy did drop by for a bit yesterday. She brought me a a wonderful gift of beeswax candles in the shape of pinecones. They are so delicate and the smell!! I have a serious beeswax sniffing habit.

Well I am off, I won't be posting for a few days. Have a great weekend.

Sitting Quietly

Its quiet right now, my job. I like it. It gives me time with my thoughts, something we don't often get in this loud and hectic life. And while I think...I create. My most creative moments have come when life is quiet, when the distraction of everyday existance are temporarily put on hold.

I have been working lately with elements I have created. There is something very satisfying about working with beads and fused glass pendants that were formed and fired by me. It really sparks my creative juices, perhaps because there is a life and thought in each bead and pendant. My life, my thoughts, when I work on the piece I know it, I remember its birth, something you don't feel in a bought piece no matter how beautiful it is.

So I am off to start my day. First i'll walking with a friend and then I will sit quietly my thoughts and see what creative paths I follow today.

Day 2

So my first day was was fun. Toured some art galleries, had lively discussions on a variety of topics, measured the space for renovation and solved the worlds problems. Ok so we didn't solve the world 's problems but I bet we could have. LOL

Today will be quieter. I will work on some jewelry, possible read a bit while I sit and wait for utility companies, contractors and others who need access to the space to work on it. I guess you could call my curent job space sitting.

Ya know I like my life, I have traveled in directions I never thought I would go, shared experiences I never thought I would have had and found adventure, some big, some small at every turn.

Well, I'm off to get ready. I hope this day brings some adventure for you.

A new door

So they say in life when one door closes another opens up. Today I step through that new door. To new adventures, new experience, new possibilities.

I have to admit to being very excited and a little nervous. This will be a huge change in my life. My mother always said as a child I didn't adjust to change well, I always wanted things kept just the way they were.
I don't think thats true of the adult Beckie, I have had many changes in my llife in the last five years and I think I've rolled with them all pretty well. Of course many might question as to wether I am an really an adult.

So heres to new doors and new lives. May everyone teetering on the brink of change find the courage to step, no LEAP, through that door before them and embrace the adventure you are given.

A Day of Rest?

It's Sunday, a day of rest. Well maybe, maybe not. I just can't get those good housekeeping fairies to show up. Anyone else figure out how?

I did get quite a bit accomplished yesterday. The scrubbed areas look good and I even managed to corral some beads into containers. I still have tons more to do but it is starting to show signs of workability. Now if only my studio....

Workability I need because I need to work.
I am doing...a craft show. Can you believe it? I know, after every show I swear it will be my last but this time I'm going in with a whole new attitude.

It's the Bizarre Market and The Richmond Center for Visual Arts. Sept. 20, 1-3
I will be in the glass studio. So now I unpack, choose which pieces to take, work on creating some new designs and try to remember all the things I need when doing a craft show. Yikes. The things we do for love. LOL

Sorting

So today, between bouts of domestic goddess and scrubbing kitchen and bathroom floors, I am sorting beads. Now that I will be making jewelry at home I decided I needed some organization...ARRGGGGGG who is this crazy person?

Have you ever sorted beads? Do you how many beads you can aquire without even trying. I think they marry and have little beads. They are everywhere!!!

Well if nothing else Walmart will applaud my efforts as I seem to be there constantly buying little containers to put beads in.

If I don't go totally batty, I will keep you posted. Now it's back to the floors and then another trip to Walmart.

What's Happening now?!?!?

Ok, so I stink at blogging. It's been over a year and I haven't posted anything but then again did anyone notice?

Alot has happened in the past year. I got married, my son had major growing pains, I closed my shop and now I'm moving into a new phase of my life. Yikes.

Closing the shop was somewhat tramatic but neccesary. The ecomony made things difficult and for me to pursue that which I really love I needed to make a change. In my lets open a shop ignorance, I had no idea it would suck away so much creative time. I miss creating things and having the time to work an idea through and watch it grow into something beautiful.

So now I am stepping through a new door, it's a bit scarey but I think I'm ready.

Wish me luck.

Beckie