bjp 0114 - in the pink

Well, January is a funny month! You'd think that I would find it depressing, but no I'm feeling "in the pink" and am looking forward to all the exciting challenges 2014 has to offer. Change is not always good, but I've decided to embrace mine and enjoy the new experiences. I'll stick with my leaf series, but probably end the year in September. That makes me happy, because it means that I've already completed my first three pieces (due to a late start in 2013). Yeah!!! I'm well on the way to accomplishing my goal. All that being said, let me introduce my January leaf!

I'm teaching my first Paper Bead workshop at BeadFX on January 26th, so I thought that it would be a good idea to include one of the first ones I made. It makes me happy, it's pink and white, and fits my theme (recycled paper from an old needlework pattern book). The shells are from an ugly old necklace of my Mother's, the buckle from a discarded watch strap and the sparkly earring, little butterfly and various metal bits, from my swap stash. I love these little goodies! I don't always remember who gave them to me, but they are still very special and precious. Most have flown to Canada, in various swaps and trades from all different parts of the world. It proves that people are very generous, and our world is united in a love of sparkly stash!!!!

In this section, you can see the bottom of my focal, more of the earring, and a few old necklace components. And now the full piece! Tada!!!

The focal is a fabulous vintage button, and one of those gifted to me by my sister at Christmas. She knows how much I love vintage and she happened to find the button in a very cool knit/coffee shop in Sault Ste Marie, ON. I should remember the name, but I don't, but do remember that it has "Motley" in the title. I really should remember because a) I visited the shop before it opened, and b) I may be able to teach some workshops &/or sell some stuff there in the future, and c) it's owned by my brother-in-law's, nephew's, wife. Sheesh! I promise, it's only a momentary loss of memory. The name will probably pop into my head soon after I publish the post. Stitches used include back, stacked, boucle/bocche and peyote. The leaf shape was traced from one I collected in the fall. I have no idea what tree it's from. Oh, one more thing.....pink is not one of my favourite colours, although I do like the duller tones! I chose it because of the focal. More later.......