bjp 1212 - symphony in blue

In my mind's eye, blue is the colour of music!  Of course it's also the colour of eyes, delphiniums, the sky, the sea, the blue/violet light at the end of a day and occasionally of moods.  Is a blue mood a bad thing, or just a fact of nature?  I say not always, but I prefer to reserve judgement!  Besides, blue has always been a favourite of mine, so I'll stand by it until the end.

This is the last of my little row houses for 2012 and I do feel a little blue to be letting go of this project.  I actually finished the piece before the end of December, but haven't had a chance to post until now.  Oh I did try earlier, but Blogger was in a blue funk and didn't allow me to post photos.  Why do they change things, just as I start getting used to them?  It makes me mad, but does it make me blue?  Perhaps not, but it's annoying just the same.

I decided to go with a blue/purple colour scheme for a few reasons.  One, is that my mother used to love to use blue lights to decorate the house for the holidays.  I don't really remember if the tree was lit up this way, but certainly the eaves on the outside of the house. It brings back many memories of searching for that single blue bulb that caused the entire string to fail.  Then of course, there was the pleasure of looking for the right size/shade of bulb to replace it. Funny now, but perhaps not then!  My first little house was blue and purple/violet dressed up June.  How better to end the year, than with a scheme that balances out the colours?  Is that called "bookending"?

A lovely vintage rhinestone earring (source unknown), some stones and a little silver star!

By the way, please excuse the thread!  Good thing I'm not a perfectionist.....sheesh!!

A simple reminder to "laugh" when you'd rather be doing anything else!  Laughter is always the best medicine and is sure to chase away the blues. The buttons are from the bottomless family button jar.

December always makes me a little blue and a little happy! Am I the only one who feels this way?

Another shot of the bottom of the piece!  Did you spot the screw eye?  It's a tiny little one that I purchased new at Michaels.  Isn't it funny that we're now buying things that have been specially made to look old?  Of course, I still prefer to use vintage or found objects, but it's still nice to have options.

Okay, now to the top!  Another tiny little star, a button from my vintage collection, half of a blue cufflink from the button jar and a "12" covered in Ice Resin, with a little dash of Japanese paper.  The number is actually from an old calendar and I learned how to fill a bezel with Ice Resin at Bead FX during the month of December.  It's something I've wanted to do for a while, but the time just wasn't right.   The bezel is actually 1/2 of a toggle clasp.  It was an ugly clasp, but I think that it made a pretty nice backdrop for my "12".

The second "12" is one I've had for a quite a while.  My friend Kaite from Australia, plucked it off another knitting needle much earlier in the year.  It's obviously from an old one, so I thought it was special enough to save for the end of the year.  The jingle bell is attached to a safety pin and was one of a group of them, I used to decorate my clothing for a work Christmas Challenge, many years ago.  I had bells on my ears, a jingle bell necklace and bells decorating the bottoms of my black sweater and skirt.  I drove myself and the office crazy for the day and I don't even remember if I won the challenge.  Come to think about it, I'm not sure what I did with the rest of the bells.  Do you know where they are?  Don't you think that the "Laugh" charm is in an appropriate place?  I seem to remember an awful lot of laughter at that particular workplace.  Life was good and memories are wonderful! 

 

The completed piece!  Perhaps not as elegant as some of the others, but it's jam packed with memories of friends, family and laughter!!  What more could one ask for to close out the year?

As usual, this piece is a mix of old and new.  All beads were taken from the stash and the beading stitches include back, stacked  and fringe.  If you look closely, you'll see a handmade lampwork headpin, tucked below the large vintage button.  It's lovely, but didn't make the impact I thought it would.  The "pin" part has been coiled to fit.

Now, who wants to guess how I'll finish the piece?  I'm thinking of entering it in a juried show, but I'd better "get the lead out" or I'll miss the deadline. 

I am blue to be finishing this series, because I love my little houses.  I don't think that I'm finished with the theme though, so you may see it popping up in other work.  Just not beaded work! 

I won't be "singing the blues" for long as I'm happy to say that the story will continue in 2013.  I haven't started on the  BJP 2013 yet and may not until I finish getting my little houses ready for the show.  I do have a plan and a tentative template and I promise that it's very different from the other years.  It may even be functional, but definitely not traditional!!!!!

As always, keep tuned!