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.