My BJP January Project

It's finished! I decided to use the Bead Journal Project as an inspiration to create a freeform peyote cuff for each month, using the month's birthstone as the primary color.

So I created a January cuff!

Now it's time to get started on February's project.
:-)
MaryLou

i chose the E.E. Cummings poem; i carry your heart with me, as a thread to hang my project on. the poem has been one of my favorites and it really does tie together my life for the last year.

January is done and you can see it here,

the poem starts off with,
I carry your heart with me (i carry it in my heart)
I am never with out it

I am excited to be a part of this years BJP and hope you all will be just as excited with my little offering

Flora Goodson
A.K.A. mommabear
http://florasbeecrazyquilter.blogspot.com/

FINISHED JANUARY BJP TOO

Here is my January BJP. It was fun to do and I am looking forward to working on February's.

January finished too

Here is my January-BJP. The site is in german, but please scroll down for translation (I hope with not so much wrong...)

January finished

Here is my January BJP page.

January Finished!!

I'm exploring intersections this year! Please come take a look, here.

It's so exciting to see everybody's work being unveiled... Such fabulous inspiration and creativity... OMG! I'm in beady heaven!

Robin A.

Another January Finish!

I completed my ATC-size project for January on Saturday. Whooppee!! I'm pleased with the way it turned out. I'm even happier about the tiny little easels I found to display my handiwork. Come on over to my blog to see what I've done! :- )

Magpie Sue

A quick question

Sorry there are no pics yet on my blog for my January piece. I have an idea and have been making notes all month and should get some time later this week to really sink my needle into some beads :)

The question: Anyone know how to create a button that links to the BJP Facebook page? I created a link for my blog and it looks like ... a link, lol. Just wondered if there was a way to spruce it up some.

Love what I am seeing, per usual. So much talent out there!! Makes me want to get my mittens on right now ... haha!

Thanks for any responses :)

Keep your needles threaded!

Bobi

January Finished.

Pics and words for "Just Beneath the Surface"  HERE.
I have no idea what I'm doing for February, but I have a bunch of beading to do in the meantime.
Cheers!

January Finished!

I've decided to make a Spirit Doll for each month as my Bead Journal Project for this year. You can see "Music Girl Spirit Doll" for January on my Pinelands Patches, Beadscapes and Spirit Dolls blog. Thanks for visiting, and I hope you like her!

First piece done!

I have completed January!



You can read more about it at my quilting blog here. Very brief version: the grey/blue batik called to me, no doubt due to all the snowy weather we've been having, and I decided to play around with circles. When I was nearly finished, I realised that I'd created the "I saw three suns in the bright cold sky" song from Schubert's Winterreise cycle, something I spent a great deal of my teenage years singing. This is my first year doing the BJP and I am very much a novice beader with plenty more to learn, but I'm rather proud of how this came out, wonky beading lines and all.

ETA: I have now moved my quilting blog to Dreamwidth instead of Livejournal, so anyone who tried to access it before and was put off by the ads should be fine with the new link.

A beginning

I have started my January page. You can see the beginning here and here.

Making Progress

Where I Am.  Not just some progress pics, but way too many words about Making Stuff.

BJP

This is my first year in the BJP and I think it is going to be so much fun.  I love to quilt and bead.  I have done my first one and you can see it on http://www.simpsonhome-kaysim.blogspot.com/.  I think when the year is over, I will put them together in a little booklet.
Kay S.

Catching Up...

I finished my December 2010 page, and it can be seen on my blog. I only have Sept. left to do from last year, and I will be done with that late this month or sometime in Feb/March. Right now though, I'm working on January 2011.



-- Lois2037 (listed as Lois B on the sidebar)

January is ready!

This year I first joined the BJP.  I love to embroider and thread and beads. January embroidered with great pleasure. Details can be found on my blog: http://tanya-horosheenastroenie.blogspot.com/

Hello

Hello to all! I am excited to be on this beading journey with all of you.  I have been beading for 40 years and have never done anything like this and I am looking forward to having fun with it.  I finally have my size and theme figured out, now to bead it...

Hi - Robyn from Newcastle, Australia

I'm not sure I know what I am doing here! My first encounter with BJP came via Robin Atkins' books that I saw at a workshop I did in 2009. I had already fallen in love with beads and wanted to learn more about bead stitches (peyote etc) and bead embroidery. I spent the whole night poring over Robin's books and my life has never been the same since! This year as part of my quest to live a more creative life, I decided to register for the first time in BJP even though I am starting another course with Jude Hill in January. I foresee late nights and semi-blindness in my future because I want to start off by actually doing my piece on time! I am really looking forward to being part of the BJP community.

It's good to be back!

I see a lot of familiar names here at the BJP - whee!  Here we go again!!

I'll try to document what I'm up to, with extra fortified beading berries, on My Blog.

Cheers!

My first year in BJP

Hi All,
I'm new to the BJP this year. There was a sharp learning curve for using the Google account, and figuring out how to post to this blog. Sigh...

DH and I just got back from a three-week trip, and I leave again tomorrow for Callaway Gardens School of Needle Arts. So I haven't settled down to starting my January BJP "page". I have been thinking and journaling ideas for my project(s) and have decided to explore layers and color this year. Since I would like to do the BJP pages in conjunction with a Master Craftsman in Color through the Embroirders' Guild of America, the exploration of color will be my primary focus.

I'm looking forward to actually producing work instead of just imagining it. The BJP will give me the push I need to get projects done.

Here's to a fruitful and prosperous New Year!

CathieB

Okay, today I made up my mind!

And...my approach will be somewhat unorthodox at best. If you really knew me, that would not come as any surprise at all!
I thought long and hard, and the idea of a "journal" just didn't feel right for me. I don't journal first off, and can't usually find a post-it-note when I need one. Oh, I have journals, notebooks, memo pads...dozens of them! But, I can never remember which one I used for what!! So, having a "journal" of my beaded work seemed like a dust collector to me...and that really gave me pause to figure out what to do.
So, my journal will be different...not at all the same shape each month...although each will be stitched to the same size piece of felt. What I finally decided is that I wanted to bead objects that I could and would eventually really use. I always have tons of projects underway...embroidery, quilts, crazy quilts, jewelry...so what to do?? In the end...I will create a project each month...that I can incorporate into my crazy quilts by "releasing them" from their original felt journal page. And, they will follow a theme...but I'll keep that a secret for now. I will post about it on my blog...www.shawkl.com...after I take some photos first. But, if you want to check it out this weekend...perhaps the idea will inspire you too...if you are still on the fence!

Saying Hello

it is my first year with the BJP and I´m happy to be here. Beading is a loved passion of mine for years, but I have never done a longer lasting project and find it interesting to do it.
At the moment I´m working on the January-Part and I´m about half ready.

Blessings

Marion

Oh my goodness - just feel that love!

I am so blown away by the wonderful comments I received on my very first BJP piece.  I am speechless (writeless?  wordless? - what is the proper term when blogging and you just can't find the words to express your emotions?)  Well, you get my meaning, right? 

Anyhow, Thank You from the bottom of my beading heart.  You girls Rock!  Being part of the BJP community is the best kick-off to a new year for me!

xoxo

Another newbie

Hi everyone! This is my first year doing the BJP, and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm fairly new to beading, and I tend to get stuck creatively, so I'm hoping this will give me the required shove to just get on with it. The photos of everyone else's bead journals have been extraordinarily inspiring to me.

I've been doing the odd bit of embroidery for years and got into quilting in a big way about three and a half years ago. Funnily enough, it was the prospect of beading that got me interested in a quilt idea last year, and I had great fun making the quilt and getting beading books and learning a bit about beading. You can see the quilt in question here; the beading is simple but it's definitely what the quilt needed. That's also my main journal, by the way, with a link to my quilting journal, and the latter is where I'll be doing the beading blogging. If anyone else is on LiveJournal, I'll probably cross-post to the fabric_journals community there, as I have a few friends who are keen on doing art journalling of one sort or another this year.

I do find that beading is an even more obsessive activity than quilting, and also rather conducive to eyestrain, so I'm deliberately not going to take on too small a size for the BJP as I don't want to end up solidly encrusting the pieces. At the moment, I'm thinking of beading as something I can incorporate into quilting, although no doubt it will take over and tell me what to do! I don't really have a theme in mind, I think I'll pick a piece of batik every month and see what it says to me, perhaps try a new technique every month, and as yet I have no idea what to do with the finished pieces so I'd like to keep my options open. 5" square is a good size, I believe? Since I'm likely going to be making the pieces into a quilt later, and right now I still hand-sew everything and don't want too many layers to fight through, I was thinking of basting the fabric to some white flannel for stability. I'll be using a Q-snap frame as ever - the size of the pieces will probably be related to which frame size works best! If the Q-snap doesn't work without batting, it'll probably be an 8" or 10" round embroidery hoop, assuming they don't distort things too much? Any advice for a newbie?

Hello Everyone!

Hi, I'd like to introduce myself ~~  My name is Sherri White and this will be my first year participating in the BJP.  I've read about it; looked at blogs and photos for a few years now and this will be my year to jump in and give it a try.  I'm working on my page for January and it's progressing nicely.  One of my goals is to incorporate more spontaneity into my work.  It's not going to happen in January!  ;-)  I have a tendency to plan and over plan...   This project will force me to work at a pretty fast pace and I'm looking forward to a great learning experience.   I'm also looking forward to making some new friends here too!

A trip down memory lane begins now.....

I am so happy to have my first (ever) BJP piece completed.  It not only was fun, but it really took me back to a time in my life that I hadn't really thought about too much.  As I continue through the year, it will be interesting to see what other forgotten memories will surface.

If you'd like too see my "Ode to Miami",  stop by for a visit:

http://beadingheartart.blogspot.com/2011/01/january-bjp.html

2011 will be a great year!

Another year of BJP. How wonderful and delightful. This is my third year and I'm trying something new again. I ordered test samples (8 inch square) of fabric from Spoonflower.com. There you can have fabric printed from your own design, or purchase fabric by the amazing designs of other artists. I'm anxiously awaiting my pieces this week, and plan to embellish, rather than cover, them. I want to incorporate beads, but also wire, ribbon, whatever strikes my fancy. By all means, check out spoonflower if you need some inspiration!

All In One Place

I have just finished creating a separate page on my blog where you can see all the ornaments I made for the 2010 BJP. If anyone is still looking for ideas for a form for their project this year you might find this useful.

And yes, I still have two more ornaments to make to complete the set!

Sue

Something different for 2011

Hello to all of you!  I am returning from the BJP 2010, but I have to admit that unfortunately I didn't finish.  I think I only got to June, but I had a fairly good reason why.  So this year I am going to do something totally different, and I hope you all can appreciate my efforts in expressing myself through my bead work, just a little differently.  If you would like to see what I have done, please visit my blog.  lol...you'll have to go through my holiday update and pics...the bjp stuff is there, just toward the bottom :)  Happy New Year to all of you!

Lisa C. at Indigo's Beads

New Year, New Challenge

It was exciting to read the things this group has done and to have the opportunity to be a part of it this year is something I am grateful for. I look forward to the inspiration I get from seeing the work of other artists and reading their thoughts about their creative journey. The added bonus is reading how artists actually create some of their work. This is an education possible nowhere else.
I am new to using the computer and the many resources available through it, so this too will be a challenge.
Thank-you to all of you who are making this possible. The beauty of your work and your ability to learn the new technologies have helped me believe it is possible for me. Bottom line though is that your art is beautiful and I want to be a part of it.
Best wishes to all of you for creative, happy, new year.