beading progress

Mary's beaded chameleon. Beautiful! I think it is mostly finished, if not completely. I love that fringe!



















Here is Pinky's kitty cats, nearly finished too. Notice the hairy fiber she has couched down around the main image. I like that!














April has done a great job with the horse shoe nail cross. Those fibers look almost electric!

Good job, girls!



Here is the piece Jan is working on. It isn't finished by a long shot.

Oops!!!! Made Two of Pinky's and None of April's....

Mary said: I could swear I clicked on April's cross! I will enclose it with this post. Also enclosed is a piece Jan started on using a pendant for the center piece and beading to go with it. Again...double click on pics to make them larger.

Red Tuesday At Mary's Place...

Mary said: Tuesday was another great day with sooooo much laughing going on. I have to say that laughter is not only a battery charger, but such good medicine. I loved every minute. By the way...did one of you leave me a neat little heart rock by my computer? That is so neat! I thought maybe it was Riley, but I know it could be one of you, too.

The following is some pics of our progress on our beading. Karen was on vacation and Joan did not get to join us either, so it was April, Jan, Pinky, and I. The beading is coming along so well. Jan has been doing this much longer than any of us and her horse turned out wonderful. April changed from her cat to a cross with beading around it. Kit and The Men Of The Cross were out in the garage making the crosses. Kit gave one to April and she decided to make a pin out of it. Check it up close. If you double click on the pics, they will enlarge. Pinky changed her fish to a couple of cats. I didn't change mine and continued with the little chameleon. It will be fun to see what Karen has done with her horse since she has been on her trip.

This week I found something very neat to share with you all on Tues. at Pink's.

Jan's beaded horse

In our recent beading projects, Jan decided to use this image of a horse printed on black fabric to embellish. She cut out the image, put it on a piece of red craft felt and beaded and embroidered it. Then she couched down a fluffy piece of yarn around the edge of the black before putting a black fabric on the back, bringing the edges around to the front and using blanket stitch, making a binding. It is supposed to be a postcard but it is a bit big for that. I'm sending it to Emma over at http://emma-alittlebitofeverything.blogspot.com/ She is having a birthday and 50 people are sending her birthday postcards. I'm #49.

Mary's Dawg Trade...

Mary said: I thought I would post this before I mail it. We had a challenge to make a butterfly ATC. Yes...this is stepping out of my comfort zone :>))

Terrific Tuesday!

Mary said: As usual, Tuesday was a fun time and everyone was there. Joan was even early! We did our tin box trade. Each of us drew a name of someone in the group and decorated a tin the size of an Altoids tin and add little goodies to the inside. I think we all really enjoyed this challenge and I know the tins we received were very special.

After the tin trade, we discussed and started working on a small beaded project each. Some of us were really going outside our comfort zone in these beading projects. All of us decided to use a fabric print to decorate with beads. Each of us got a good start on our projects. I have to say that Karen was the happiest beader. She was really enjoying herself working on decorating a horse. Jan started a horse also, April a cat, Pinky a fish, Joan some flowers, and Mary a chameleon. I can't wait to see what everyone has done by next week. I went home and worked some more on mine that evening.

I added a pic of mine in progress..Will you others add pics of yours in progress too????

Attached are some pictures of our beading and the tin trades.

Starting Our Beading Challenge....

The attached pics are the beginning to our beading challenge. Most of us used a fabric piece as our base and then started beading.

Mary's To April...Tin Trade...

I made my tin with stamped tissue paper and added some fabric. It was a fun project and fun to see April open it. I put goodies inside also and a few miniature cards attached to the outside that wouldn't fit.

Karen's To Pinky...Tin Trade...

The little tin that Pinky received from Karen was decorated with a bird carrying a purse. As the others, it contained many little goodies to use on future projects. All of these tins turned out wonderful.

Jan's To Mary...

I may be a little prejudice, but my little tin is soooo coooool! Jan made it for me. It is actually an Everest mint tin (none of us had heard of this before). Jan found it on a walk one day. Check the picture closely. I love it! Inside were hand made beads and hand dyed cheese cloth-like fabric to use on other projects.

Tin Box Trade...

April made Karen this wonderful box that is a nest with eggs...so neat! It, also, was filled with all kinds of scrapbooking goodies that April found online.

Orange Tuesday At Jans...

Pinky made Jan a neat little tin with a heart on the front and filled to the brim with goodies.

ATC Trade

Jan writes: Our group recently participated in a swap at the Mixed Media Art Friends yahoo group that Belinda Spiwak hosts. We were so excited to receive our trades in the mail!

These are the ones Jan received.








I think these are Mary's.
















Pinky's.



















Karen's.


And last but not least, April's. We were all thrilled with the cards we received, they all show lots of talent and creativity. What a fun trade!

Mary's Birthday celebration!

Mary has a birthday this week. We gave her a celebration today at our gathering at April's house. April prepared us all a delicious lunch of chicken salad, along with fabulous strawberry shortcake. Mary got a candle on her dessert. I'm not sure what she is doing here, pulling the honor inward?














Here is our blushing Mary, she can't wipe that joyful smile off her face. And why should she? She was the object of our full attention as she opened the gifts she had received from the gang. And what a great lot of loot she received! First she opened April's gifts and it seemed that bag of presents was never ending! All wonderful, from the art related magazines and books to the absolutely stunning book that April made for her. It was full of painted, folded, embellished, stamped, printed LOVE! It is a book that I'm sure Mary will treasure forever.


















This is one of the gifts she received from me (Jan). I think she liked it. I enjoyed making it for her. Pinky, Karen and Joan also had plenty of wonderful gifts, some hand made, some purchased new and some from garage sales. All seemed to be very much appreciated by Mary. All the gifts showed the respect and love we all have for Mary.

















Here is a closer look at the book April made for Mary. It is very special.

Everyone enjoyed the day. We also traded some scrumptious squares (decorated 1 1/2 inch squares), opened the package of ATC's we received from an online group we traded with, and made plans for our challenge of the week. We are going to alter/decorate some small tins to exchange with each other. Watch this space for the results of that trade. I'm sure they will be exciting. It was a very busy and fun day, even though none of us did a lick of art.

Happy Birthday, Mary! We love you!!