Being Creative During The Pandemic

Hey, there, Jool Lovers! All is well with mine, hope you are doing well also. Pretty nerve wracking times we’re having right now, here in California, and all over the world. It’s nearly overwhelming. There are so many ways to feel right now, and sometimes they hit one after the other: anger, fear, anxiety, compassion,…

Challenging Myself

Hey, there, beadfriends ~ Lately I’ve been feeling like I don’t know where to start on my To Bead list.  I have a lot of notes, but no real clear way forward.  Only one goal, tho, which is to make something new.  But I don’t know what I want to make.  I don’t feel pulled…

Procrastination: Friend or Foe

October has always been a very productive month.  Maybe it’s the light glowing gold as the year transitions to the cold months, or the subtle boost of energy as nature prepares itself with big winds across blue skies and the hum of creatures outside working to find food to get thru the winter months.  I…

I’m Knot Crazy (Well, I Might Be)

Here’s the thing about macramé: I love doing it.  I thought it was cool in the 70’s, but I wasn’t interested in it back then.  It wasn’t until I was reading beading magazines and teaching myself to make jewelry much later on that I considered attempting it myself.  I think it looks great, and there…

Making Earrings Is Like Jewelry Haiku

Making these earrings Is exactly like writing Jewelry haiku I like making earrings.  I really do.  It’s a chance to highlight beads that might be beautiful, but might also fade into the background because the beads around them are beautiful as well.  When you make a pair of earrings, the main or largest beads are…

My Creativity Is The Boss Of Me

It’s true.  I admit it.  My creative energy is absolutely the boss of me.  After the intense burst of creativity I felt all throughout January, I should have expected to be a little burned out, should have made a lot of notes and then took a break when I first felt creatively blocked.  It might…

Happy New Year!

Happy new year, juicy jool lovers!  I hope things are going well for you, at the beginning of the year.  Did you make any resolutions?  I only had one, to watch Will Ferrell and Molly Shannon host the Rose Parade.  And I did exactly that, in my robe, with my coffee, on the comfiest couch…

Delightful December & My 2019 WOTY

Hello, Jool Lovers! December is always a super-busy month, I don’t usually get a lot of work done during the winter.  And if I do suddenly have a burst of creativity, the light outside might not be bright enough to do the jewelry justice in photos.  The seasons do not care if you have a…

Wildly Impossible, Doing It Anyway

(So many purples and some Batman means some awesome beading is about to happen!) I’m the sort of person who tends to choose small projects, which I then complicate into big projects, and either come to my senses and scale the project down or move on.  Sometimes it’s difficult to choose the best technique, depending on what I want to play…

Losing My Bead-mentum In The Summer

Every other year, my husband’s family goes on a big trip somewhere.  This year, we got together and went to the Grand Canyon.  It was a fine trip, lovely destination, beautiful views, all the desert flora and fauna one might want to see.  I spent a week just enjoying myself, resolving not to dwell on…