Do You Wear Glasses ?

I suppose you could say I see the world through rose colored glasses.
Most shapes and colors make me think of flowers ! I love flowers !
I love to make flowers, both real and fantasy blossoms.
When I saw the Art Bead Scene inspiration piece for this month, the dancer's skirt made me think flowers ...of course !
http://artbeadscene.blogspot.com/2010/06/june-monthly-challenge.html
"Chilperic" by Toulouse -Lautrec is full of wonderful shapes and colors
But, not everyone will see them the same way.
Every artist seems to wear their own pair of glasses
Some view the world as a series of graphic shapes. Some may see everything as splashes of colors . Others may wear glasses that magnify every little detail .While some may see a vague and interesting blend of things .

One of the things I love the most about the ABS challenge is that we all look at the same painting. But ,we all see it through our own glasses .
I look forward every month to the amazing variety of entries
After all , isn't that one of the wonders of art,
A chance to view the world through another's eyes .
Take a moment to put on your favorite glasses this week
and
Bead Happy , m.e . :)

my ABS entry
The Flower Dance

A Beginning

PCAGOE is beginning something new !
This month our regular challenge will be also be a Charity Auction!
We are donating all proceeds to Polymer Clay for A Cause
http://www.etsy.com/shop/PolymerClayforaCause

The Theme is "Think Outside the Box"
All the entries started with the same small metal tin .
Then each participant covered their tin in any way they liked
You will not believe the wonderful variety !
voting begins June 1
ends June 7
http://www.pcagoechallenge.blogspot.com/
Your vote will qualify you for a great prize drawing !
and
You will be able to bid on these Gorgeous little Treasure Boxes !
Please stop by to vote and bid on your favorites !
You can keep raising your bid as many times as you like to win !

These make wonderful gifts and you will be making a much needed contribution to a very worthy cause.

PCAGOE members hope this idea will grow
From time to time ,we will be combining our regular monthly challenges with Charity Auctions
Who knows where this idea will take us
after all, from little acorns come Great Oaks !

below is my entry
"Bloom Where You Are Planted " box and matching magnet
A bit of daily inspiration for special treasures and notes!

Bead Happy , m.e. :)

How Big is the Ocean ?

If you go to the beach this summer and gaze out at the ocean it will probably seem very BIG!
70% of our earth's surface is covered by it!
There are depths of the ocean yet unexplored.
Life forms exist deep in the ocean undiscovered and unimaginable!

My family and I love to scuba dive .The beauty of the vast ocean is beyond description . Two years ago we dove over the edge of the "Tongue of the Ocean",a trench over 6000 feet deep!
Hovering in the water looking down,down into the endless depths was awe inspiring .
I have always thought of the ocean as being very large.
Turns out I'm wrong !

In many important ways the ocean is very small.
Our trash has spread over it.Much of the garbage we discard endangers our sea dwelling brothers. My family visited the Turtle hospital in the Florida Keys and saw first hand the devastation caused by ordinary plastic bags.
http://www.turtlehospital.org/blog/

Our pollution spreads it's toxin throughout the seas. The recent oil spill is seeping into ocean currents . These will spread it even further. The currents will spread oil over precious coral reefs and throughout delicate and important ecosystems .
When my family visits Looe Key reef this summer, will the oil be there before us?
Will my grandchildren be able to share with their children the magic of living coral reef?

When you stand on the beach the ocean does look very ,very BIG
But, we must remember it is, in many ways, very very small.

Be sure to recycle those plastic bags your beads come in
and
Bead Happy , m.e :)

Juggling Time

Were does the time go ?
Most days I don't seem to have enough of it .
I'm forever trying to Juggle time !
When the May ABS inspiration painting turned out to be
"The Juggler" by Chagall
The clock face in the picture immediately caught my eye and the title caught my fancy !
http://artbeadscene.blogspot.com/search/label/monthly%20challenge
Why is it so hard for me to keep my time in balance ?
Technically time is divided into equal segments .
An hour should be a hour ...right ?
But, in reality my hours don't all seem to be the same length.
The hours I spend filling orders and making beads are very short !
The time I want to work with my clay passes much too quickly !

But, the hours I'm counting until I leave for the Florida Keys are very long.The time that needs to pass until I start my vacation just drags by .

There seem to be short hours and fast hours !
And there are moments when time doesn't really matter at all.
There are moments of great joy or great sorrow, when time losses all meaning .

On my new necklace I tried to represent all the measurements of the time I'm Juggling .

Time Flies ...Time stands still ...Time doesn't matter

I just want remember to savor every moment of my Time .
I hope this week you take the time to
Bead Happy ! m.e. :)

Cookies and Clay

No matter what ingredients we add to our creations,
they all contain at least a pinch of inspiration.
Where do we stock up on inspiration?
We get it here, there... everywhere !
We get it from people we meet and places go .
The internet itself is a vast inspiration store .
We may actively seek to be inspired or it might happen when we least expect it.
Usually we are aware of how and when an idea formed .
But, sometimes things just seem to come from nowhere !

Have you ever had one of those "how the heck did I come up with that" moments?
Something must have inspired your creation... but, what?
Usually I don't ponder the question too long .
I'm always so glad when I get an idea ...I don't really worry where it came from!

This week I've been obsessed with making pendants with "thumb prints"
I'm enjoying "floating " very delicate little creatures in the "dent"
While busying myself with these designs I suddenly had an "ah ha" moment !
I realized where the idea came from !
From my diet ! LOL! Really ...it did !!!
I've been trying to loose some weight . Trying to eat healthy . Difficult to do any time for me ! Almost impossible at my workplace . The place is a magnet for every sugary carb laden treat imaginable ! I work for a Veterinarian and our clients seem to think they need to feed the staff.
Much of what they bring us is homemade and soooooooo yummy .
Several weeks ago it was those buttery little thumb print cookies with dabs of jelly .
I resisted . But, I kept thinking how GOOD those cookies looked.
I was dreaming of those cookies for days. Finally they seemed to be out of my thoughts .....

This week while playing around with a particularly pretty clay blend ,I made a little thumb print on the ball of clay .Then I thought ..hum... I could add a little something in that bowl shape! Before I realized it ,I was unknowingly working on a Cookies to Clay design !!!
Many people wouldn't understand this inspiration process .
But, I think you probably do .
Remember a cookie shape ....make a clay pendant .
That makes perfect sense...right ?
My only question is ...
If I was inspired to make this little design by not eating a cookie ,
would I be inspired to make truly fabulous design if I ate some of those cookies ?
If I ate a whole plate full, could I create a masterpiece ? (dieting is hard)

Hope your inspiration this week is Sweet !
Bead Happy , m.e . :)

Reach For The Moon

"Reach for the moon,
and even if you miss you will be among the stars"

The upcoming PCAGOE challenge theme is History !
check out the amazing entries so far at
http://www.flickr.com/groups/1089891@N25/
Voting starts 5/1 http://www.pcagoechallenge.blogspot.com/
remember , great prizes to be won just for voting!!!

My entry commemorates Man's first walk on the moon !
Yes ,I am old enough to have witnessed that first small step for a man !
On July 20,1969 I sat mesmerized in front of my black and white T.V.
As mankind took that giant leap the world suddenly seemed smaller to me
Little did I know ,how it would seem to shrink as the years went by.

Once my only connections with Art were books ,museums or chance meetings !
Now I sit at my computer ,sip my coffee and connect with artists all over the world!!!
I can be inspired and amazed by every medium imaginable ...
and some I would never have imagined !
I can delight in the works of fellow polymer clay lovers.
I can see what new wonders they are creating .
So many AMAZING works of Art !!!

This wealth of Inspiration sometimes overwhelms me !
I think, I could never aspire to create any art like that!!!
But ...wait ....
Yes I can !
I CAN reach for the moon!
Perhaps I will even land among the stars!
At the very least ,I'll stretch my creativity and have fun doing it !

The wide world of wonderful Art is at our finger tips.
We can choose to let it Intimidate or Inspire.

I hope you choose to reach for the Moon !
Bead Happy , m.e. :)

Tiny Treasure

Memories make us who we are .
They make us feel happy, sad ,cautious , motivated ......
I've been busy this week re-purposing some teeny bottles into "Dream Keeper pendants ",
tiny pendant jars to store something very special.

I'm having so much fun decorating the outsides of these !!!
But, when it came time to take photos ,I wondered what people might choose to put inside ?
What tiny treasures would people pick to hold a memory close to their heart ?
What little note might motivate them or brighten their day ?

My personal pendant will include
Sand from vacations in the Florida Keys...priceless times spent with my family
Shells and coral from my Honeymoon in the Bahamas ...the start of a new life
for My daughter who works so hard at full time college and full time job ...a reminder to "follow your dream "

Our tiny treasures got us where we are and will get us where we're going!
It's probably wise to take time in our busy lives to sort out our memories now and then .
Choose which we need to keep close at the moment .
Which we need to store close to our hearts always.
What dreams do we need to be reminded of ?

What personal treasures would you choose for a dream keeper jar this week ?
Whatever you decide, I hope you
Bead Happy ,
m.e. :)