Inspiration

Inspiration…

I find myself INSPIRED by photos…. wow! 

I belong to a few Wonderful groups on eBay… but one group has an inspirational thread for bead makers of all sorts.  Each month they post a wonderful photo to inspire us beadmakers… sometimes there are prizes to be won, but for me, it’s always fun trying to recreate the image and make it MY own.

This is the inspirational photo:

Don’t you just love all the wonderful colors floating around in this picture?   I wanted to focus on the red flowers, the paisley shape and the warm colors….

These are the canes I made:

and here are the beads I made with the canes:

I just love being Inspired… taking something that is not mine…. and making it my own….  The inspiration is there… you see that I was inspired by the picture….

I used the colors, the red flower, the paisley shapes, but yet, it’s ME!  I took what was theirs and made it mine…. 

Inspiration, to me it’s a wonderful thing…. What inspires you?  

Fun start to March already!

Let me tell you, there is nothing like living in Indiana this time of year!  The weather is crazy and so are the people!

The home school that I attended, and now my children, has had a long running of DONKEY BASKET BALL…. now if you have never attended such a thing, be for warned…. be ready to Laugh, and Laugh, and Laugh when you think that you can no longer Laugh – You Laugh even harder!  I have never attended such a thing, small town living, but not a country gal at heart: I just thought that it was something only the farmer kids enjoyed!  I couldn’t have been so wrong….    I so enjoyed it and plan on attending from now on… I really need those laughs!

Here are a few examples of the “funnies”:  (oh, and I should tell you that this was 2 local volunteer fire departments playing against each other)

 

Man, I still just laugh every-time I look through the pictures… each one of these donkeys had a unique quality that they brought to the game… STUBBORNNESS!!  LOL!!  One poor guy would mount his donkey, only for the donkey to stop, lower his head to the  ground and wait for the passenger to fall off…. over and over again!  (That poor guy had to be sore!)

The next exciting thing to come was the ice!!!  Not that it was at all fun, but it did make for some very pretty pictures:

this is what I saw out in my back yard:

once I was done taking pictures as we were headed inside, the sun was setting… of course, there is not way to capture the true beauty that we saw, although I tried, and tried… but all the ice light up with the golden rays and looked as though it was lit by some glow within…. it was just breathtaking looking into the trees and seeing little flecks of gold everywhere… What a magical moment!!

believe it or not, on-top of all that ice, we received 4 inches of snow… I didn’t get a picture of that! LOL!! I have had my share of snow this year. 

and we had a BEAUTIFUL day yesterday!!  The temps were in the upper 40’s to low 50’s!!!  Oh, you have to just love Spring in Indiana!!  You just never know what the next day will bring…. snow, ice, warm days…..  only to bring the snow and ice  back again!  LOL!! 

And in my little corner of the state, the true way for me to know that Spring has really sprung… well, it’s the flock of Turkey Vultures that come swarming in…. oh, yes, I said flock!  and I said Swarm!! 

Just imagine it’s my first spring in my new home, I am out cleaning the yard and loving all the little secrets a new home can bring.   My children are outside playing and laughing and making discoveries of their own…. and I happen to take note that there’s a HUGE shadow on them… Slowly I look up and see the swarm of vultures!!  They were stalking my children!!!!   of course I ushered them inside quickly!  LOL!!  But now, I know that they are no harm… just nasty, and keep the kids away from the droppings, but I am telling you what, they still just give me the creeps!!    My last count of them was 30(+)!  Now, that is a sight to see!  (oh, and NO I do NOT have pictures… YUCK!! LOL!!)

Yes, the fun has started!! LOL!!  Don’t you just love Indiana!!  LOL!!  I promise, the next post will be about Polymer clay and lots of beads to show off!!  Have a great weekend!!  :0)

Why is it that when I see a color test on Lindly’s Blog I feel that I  just have to do it!!  (thank you for supplying the links to theses test!  I enjoy them so much!)

today I found this:  “What color is your mind“  – a short 5 question test that I of course just had to do! 

Well, here are my results:

Your Mind is Blue

Of all the mind types, yours is the most mellow. You tend to be in a meditative state most of the time. You don’t try to think away your troubles. Your thoughts are realistic, fresh, and honest. You truly see things as how they are.You tend to spend a lot of time thinking about your friends, your surroundings, and your life.

What Color Is Your Mind?

I always enjoy these kinds of test… short and sweet and a lot of fun seeing what the outcome is!   (so unlike those history essay questions I freaked over in college!) Sometimes there is truth in them, and sometimes not, but either way it is entertaining and fun to see what the end results are!   Most of the test that I do tend to be in the “Blue” family……. time will tell….  I will keep my eyes open for more Color test to take! LOL!!

I have been playing around with the “extruded” beads that are popping up everywhere…. well, I wanted to play around to, but I don’t have an extruded, so instead I just rolled out snakes!  I AM HOOKED!!!   I call them “Swirls of color”  and I thought about calling them “Faux Lampwork Beads”  Either way they are just fun to make…so the name really doesn’t matter that much to me! LOL!!

 I just pick out the colors that I want in my bead, add a little put of translucent clay and something fun like glitter, paint, whatever and roll them into a snake and wrap around a bead FUN!!!

Here are some of the beads that I have made thus far:

   

 

These two sets just are clay, nothing added, but the next sets I just finished have Copper Leaf in them…. FUN!  I have a few more that I am working on…..  Of course I do not know who was the first to do the extruded beads, but who ever you are “THANK YOU” for the inspiration!  What a fun way to play with colors!