Ice Queen Bracelet

I am keeping my New Year's resolution of making more jewelry. And I am having help with the wonderful people from Artbeads.com who have generously sent me beads for bloggers in their new challenge Winter Enchantment. This is the message I received from Duchess about this challenge:

"As we leave 2010 behind, we welcome the coming year with new ideas full of creativity and inspiration. This time around we ask that you create a ‘Winter Enchantment’ design that represents what you find beautiful or inspirational about the winter season. Whether it is the beauty of a snowflake, a winter landscape, a sport you love, the coziness of a blazing fire, fun indoor activities shared with family and friends, a vacation to a warmer place, a favorite winter themed story/poem or any other themes of winter you can think of."

This is my first piece for Winter Enchantment challenge:


I have already completed four pieces for this challenge with the beads from Artbeads.com. Today I'm going to share with you a bracelet called Ice Queen. Why Ice Queen?? Well, here in Central Ohio, instead of the massive amounts of snow other Midwestern states have gotten, we received ICE! And more ice. Everything has been coated with ice for a week now causing havoc in some areas here in Columbus and in other parts of the State. Ice has been covering the electric lines pulling them down, or causing tree branches to break off damaging property and barely missing injury to people. Frodo and Arwen don't mind skating around the yard which has a proper coating of ice on top of all the snow, but Fiona just stands at the door, looks up at me with her blind eyes & says "I ain't goin' do it!". So I have to brave the ice & take her out front. Finally, the temperatures have gone up this past two days so some of the ice has melted, but as I look outside my window, I see more snow coming down.

For Ice Queen, I used a variety of blue round Toho seed beads in size 8, 11 and 15. Now I usually don't wear anything blue, but when I saw this button many years ago for sale from a NIADA artist in Detroit, I had to buy it. I had hoarded it away all this time & when I needed something to really pop this bracelet, it came to my mind. Now, it did take me three days to find it in my boxes of treasured beads, but I was so happy when I found it & made the connections to the beaded strap and then went crazy embellishing. The strap started out with some round dyed mother of pearl round. The button itself was glued to a stiff backing and then peyote around the bezel. It is finished with a seed bead picot. Now the fun part-EMBELLISHMENT! I used 6mm crystals Swarovski 3700 Margarita Beads.


I have three other projects that I finished this morning since Fiona woke me up BEFORE the crack of dawn to eat. But I'm going to share those with you later. I also have almost finished one of the two pieces I've been working on with the destroyed Napali Mist collar I made last year. I just need to finish up a herribone tube and then put them all together.

For those who have warm weather...I'm jealous. For those in cold wintery landscape...keep warm.

dot

Disclosure...As a reviewer of products at Artbeads.com, I receive the seed beads and Crystals above free of charge. I have been asked to review these products and give my honest opinion of the products...positive or negative. I am not being compensated by Artbeads.com for my endorsement as it pertains to the products received and reviewed.

traveling.......

I am having so much fun clicking on all the blog through out the world on the One World One Heart blog Event. So far there are over 800 blogs to visit with each of them giving away a prize. I'm just amazed at all the beautiful sites, fantastic women and men, and the ART everyone is creating. I decided to follow many of these blogs just to see what all these creative people are going to do.

I've been doing other things beside clicking on new blogs and working. I've been busy as a little bee during my free time making new pieces of jewelry. I was off work last night & fell asleep on the couch, so Chris had me go to bed...I went to bed at 10pm! Lordie, lordie...when I was young that was the time I just started to go out & raise ruckus...now I'm in bed with my electric blanket on & dreaming dreams. Arwen came to bed with me (oh yes, she loves my blankie too), but I woke up at 2am. Tossed & turned until I finally went downstairs to work on a new necklace. Got it almost done, but the weather did not cooperate enough today (dark, gray, gloomy OHio) so no pictures, but honest...I do have things done ready to photograph.

I finally got over to Judy Skeel's house yesterday to return the box of dolls from the High Road Gallery show past June. I hadn't been over there for awhile & didn't realize Craig put a whole new garage on her house. Made her a promise we'd get together sometime when she's feeling better & I have time. Judy gave me lessons on needle sculpting years ago in exchange for beading lessons. Unfortunately, she's been ill & hasn't been able to do much doll making.

Today went to my brother's house so Chris could set up the television for him. I got a red velvet cake at Costco, which we let ruin our dinner but it was delicious.

I don't watch football, so no Super Bowl on at my house. I am off work tonight, so I'm planning on getting HAL the obnoxious sewing machine out and work on a couple ideas I have for AFIC...yes, I'm going to break down & sew up a couple doll forms...I think my doll making MUSE is jealous & wants to take over again.

Hope you all are having a great evening. More later.
dot

One World One Heart

I stumbled across One World One Heart last year during the last week it and was so surprised to find some great blogs with wonderful give away. This is the Fifth Year for this event and unfortunately the last. I was just blown away by the great variety of artists and the generosity of their work they were willing to give away to other blogs. This global event started Midnight on January 20th and will run until February 17th. Take a few hours and come with me & stroll though the list of fantastic blogs. I promise you won't be disappointed.

I'm Dot Lewallen and started blogging when I joined the Bead Journal Project about 4 years ago. I mainly blog about my passion of beaded art dolls, but I have been known to write about my Scotties, doll making, work, life, BEADS, and all the wonderful connects I've made with my 20+ years on the internet.

For this event, I'm going to give away two of my Art dolls to two separate lucky winners. The first is a completed beaded dolls I made for BeadWorks magazine back when they were looking for pieces that had to do with Earth Mother. This doll was on their webpage. She has been loved enough and now it looking to find a new home.



My other give away is a Pocket Monster. I have a whole basket of them. They fight constantly with themselves & I promise the main instigator won't be the one I give away (fingers crossed behind my back! LOL!).



All you have to do to be one of the lucky winners is to leave me a message making sure I can get ahold of you. The drawing for the two winners will be on February 17th with Lisa's event is sadly ended.

Thank you so much for stopping by and spending a moment with me & my obsession.

dot lewallen

Even more Scotties

You can tell it was a stay in the house day yesterday. Chris was busy setting up his new television. Our old set went to my brother Jerry who stopped by yesterday & hauled the big monster over to his house. Chris has been wanting a new television for awhile, and it wasn't until he was in the hospital that I got the flu over Christmas (DAY mind you) and sat long hours staring at the television. I noticed a little blue blob in the corner of the display. Then I realized what Chris had been trying to tell me about the set. It is fine for just casual watching, but for someone like him who really enjoys being entertained & has an eye for any blemish on a picture...he did need a new television. Plus, he has been through the wringer with his illness & the two months in and out of the hospital...so I decided he needed a new set. He bought it Thursday afternoon and has been in heaven since setting it up, getting the Internet connections to work with it, fine tuning the picture and rearranging all those cables connecting it to this and that, and oh my my head hurts thinking about all that. He finally has most of it put together & tomorrow on my day off, we'll probably try out the 3-D.

So last night he was working on getting the Blue Ray to work so he pulled out a favorite Disney movie-Lady and the Tramp. As it was playing along, I looked & saw that both Frodo and Arwen were running frantically around the set looking for those dogs that were barking. Both tried to stretch their necks around the back to see where that barking was coming from. Finally, Arwen got tired & just sat down to watch the television. I don't know if she enjoyed the clear new picture, but I did.


And Fiona...what did she think about all of this hub bub with a new television? That's right? Ho-Hum...where is my treat. This is an adorable shot of her in her favorite position, but this time I caught her with her head resting on her paw.

Gloomy weekend

Today is just another typical winter day in Central Ohio. Or in other words: gray, gloomy, cold, wet. I think Seattle gets more sunshine than we do. We've had enough snow this Winter already, but at least we've missed the big snow storms that have been pounding the East coast. Still, I can't wait to feel some warm Sun on my face and that doesn't mean while I'm sitting in the front room looking out at the white cold stuff on the ground. People on Facebook are talking about going to Tucson for the big bead show...wahhh...I wanna go, but it is impossible as someone has to stick around working and making the world safe for those who are having lots of fun in the Sun in Arizona.

I've changed my rotation on weekends so that I can go to all the fun things I'm planning this year without having to beg and swap weekends with my coworkers. So I've worked two weekends in a row...I should be old hat at this considering how many weekends I worked last year in a row, but I miss seeing my family and getting to do things normal folks do who have weekends off. How many years until I can retire????

Well, I thought I'd post some gloomy Ohio winter pictures taken from my back window. The snow has been packed down with doggie tracks all over. By the way, they hate the snow too especially since I got them all groomed, and they are nekkid (ie, no skirts or furnishing).



This is Frodo checking out the back making sure there has been no squirrels or rabbits roaming around since his last check. With his new haircut (oops, don't say that word out loud or else he'll take off & hide under the bed), you can really see his brindle coat. I can't believe that he is going to be 8 years old in May, but he's still a little pain at times. He loves being out as long as possible making me put on a coat & "escorting" him back inside.



Fiona has the perfect thing to do in Ohio in the Winter...she takes a nap on the big leather chair. She's decided this is HER CHAIR! You have to ask her permission to sit in it...well, she wishes.


And here she is dreaming away twitching and snorting in her sleep. She's probably remembering the days when she could chase the rabbits...and catch the rabbits! She was our mighty hunter before she lost her vision. I'm looking at this picture of her sleeping, and I can still see the little puppy girl we got 11 years ago. My sweet Fiona.

Grandma's Birthday

Wednesday was my Grandmother's 97th birthday. Yes, that's right. I said she is 97 years old! My sister decided to have a 9+7=Sweet Sixteen party for Grandma at her home. She cooked like a maniac and had all kinds of delicious foods that were Grandma's favorites. Many of our family made it to spend the evening eating, laughing and eating cake. My sister even had a game of remembering...we tied! I remembered that Grandma added applesauce to her mincemeat turnover recipe.



Now what is so important about this birthday besides she made it ninety seven years is that last Tuesday, Grandma woke up in her bedroom to two masked gunmen robbing her. Pointing a flashlight and gun in her face, they tried to get her to go down to her basement. She refused as she told me that she knew if they took her down there, she'd would probably never come back up. So they forced her back onto her bed & told her that if she moved, they'd kill her. They ransacked her house looking for money, jewelry,drugs, and guns. The cowards even took the small vial of medicine she uses for her glaucoma. She was so shook up after that & luckily a neighbor saw the lights on in her house early that morning & rushed over knowing my Grandmother never gets up that early. They neighbor then called my brother & the family rushed down to help her. Grandma has been living by herself all this time, but she finally realized that it is not safe for her to be alone anymore as now she has become a target for these cowardly criminals. My cousin from Arkansas is going to come up and move in with her to make sure she is safe. Grandma's arm was injured as the gunman ripped the skin off her arm. She had to have the Doctor's Superglue it in place and has had to have it dressed and monitored for infection. She's doing well now, but it just brings to point that our world has made it unsafe for our elderly to live peacefully and safely in their own homes. Grandma found out that she was one of 5 targets from her neighborhood who were robbed & attacked. One elderly gentleman down the street was beaten up and in the hospital. What is wrong with this world??? Why are these offensive cowardly men and women targeting and attacking our elders? Easy money is the answer, but still what a shameful label we now must have to our world. Grandma will be kept safe, and we already promised her that her 100th birthday will be spent at Chucky Cheese. (okay I shuddered at this, but my sisters and nieces thought this would be a blast...I'd rather jump out of the airplane, but that is my idea).

New Jewelry

My resolution for 2011 was to get back into beading jewelry. I'm going to Bead and Button in June immersing myself into 6 days of beading and metalworking bliss. I'm also taking classes next month at 1 Stop with Janice Berkibile doing more metalworking. I'm still doing dolls, but I decided to put most of that on the back burner this year except AFIC. I'm going to take a sculpting class with Susie at Artistic Figures in Cloth.

Previously I showed a picture of Napali Mist deconstructed. Well, I'm still in the process of taking that and making one to two necklaces from it. But this is something I made last year, but didn't have time to post it. I called it Napali Maiden. I'd bought this carved bead many years ago when I first started to bead. I think I got it down in Cincinnati at one of the booths. I loved it and never could figure out how to use it in a design. When we got back from Kauai in September, I keep revisiting this color palette from some of the pictures Chris took, so one day I just sat down with the beads I'd purchased at the Puget Bead Sound Festival in July. I loved using the piece of stone I bought and those colors just made it zing, but something was missing. I searched through all my boxes and draws until SHE just jumped out at me. I sat her next to the necklace I was constructing and there it was. So here in Napoli Maiden:





I'm thinking of entering this piece with something else in the Ohio Designer Craftsman's Best of 2011. I noticed that there were some jewelry last year, but nothing with as much complexity of bead weaving. So, I'm going to take my chances and enter this. Oh and YES! I need much better pictures for this. Chris is doing better so hopefully next week the Sun will cooperate & we can get some pictures to send with the entry form.

Later this week...one necklace from Napali Mist...it is almost done. I just have to tweak it a little as I finally got it to lay right.