23 Days of Inspiration: Branches

In the town I grew up in there wasn't a 4 story building, the tallest things were trees.  I love the woods.  We lived on the edge of a forest, we had forts and adventures among the trees.  The way they change with the seasons and give us hope for the eternal renewal of life is something I've always cherish.
 

My all time favorite bead designs are my branch beads.  I'm sure it's because of the connection from my childhood and the feeling of home that trees symbolize that I find so appealing.  There is nothing quite as stunning as nature.  I hope we work hard to keep it beautiful and preserved for our children and beyond.

23 Days of Inspiration - Production

I think I have to give a nod to my industrial Michigan roots and thank Ford for showing America the benefits of production work. Some days I am a beadmaking factory, working in assembly line fashion.
 

Is there joy working like this?  There is, it's quite satisfying to see piles of you pendants stacked up, wondering where each one will travel to once it's complete.  I love that my inspiration will travel to another designer's table and in turn help them along their creative journey.  It's an exciting process.

23 Days of Inspiration: Van Gogh

I fell in love with Van Gogh in high school.  Tortured artist, utterly unique, strange and socially awkward - what teenage girl wouldn't be all over that.  Seriously, I can still remember the joy of seeing his work in person for the first time.  I mean to think you can see and be just a few feet away from a painting that the real artist created, it blows my mind to grasp it. 

I really want to explore more of his paintings in my beads, but for now I keep coming up with new designs from my favorite, his Starry Night.  Katie Hacker sent me a few of her Katiedids to play with and I immediate thought - toggle! 

23 Days of Inspiration: Willows

The count down until Bead & Button is both scary and exciting!  I thought to keep my sanity, to keep blogging and to not disappear into a pile of beads, I would do a series of 23 days of inspiration.  I will share with you each day something that has inspired my creative journey in beads and jewelry.  I hope you enjoy it.

I love this photograph from Alicia Bock titled BlueGrey Monday.  How perfect, right? When I was a child I used to love finding willows in the fields near the woods.  How magical they seemed, like little gifts left from fairies. 

I don't know why I felt they needed to entwine an egg, but they did.  That's the wonderful thing about art, sometimes there is no rhyme or reason, it's just following what the heart wants.

The Bead Buzz

Starting this week join me each Sunday for a round up of great Bead Blogger links and more from my favorite peeps!

A Bead A Day

Creating jewelry for special vacations can help you look forward to upcoming trips and keep the memories fresh afterwards.

Art Bead Scene

Art Bead Scene has a new look and some new opportunities to get involved. Come see!

Beading Arts

Rubber glass? Rubber glass?!? What the heck is rubber glass?

Carmi's Art/Life World

Carmi uses some amazing digital images to create a new resin filled bezel necklace.

Cindy Gimbrone aka The Lampwork Diva

Check out the new beads on Cindy's site - Turquoise Sky!

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles

Melanie starts production for the Bead & Button Show and has studio pictures to prove it!

Humblebeads

Heather shares some sketches of possible designs.

Katie's Beading Blog

This week, Jean Campbell interviewed Katie for Beading Daily. Read some bonus Q&A on Katie's blog.

Snap out of it, Jean!There's beading to be done!

Jean reviews Kate McKinnon's inspiring new book, Sculptural Metal Clay Jewelry, with DVD included!

Strands of Beads

Melissa shows off new designs using cool skull beads and charms from Rings & Things

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton

Andrew hosts another Thursday Giveaway! This time, the prize comes courtesy of Natural Touch Beads! Find out how you can win some awesome resin jewelry components!

And other juicy links not to miss:

Treasures Found: Inspiration

Check out Erin's new challenge inspired by wedding flowers!

Jangles Blog
Jennifer is having a sweet giveaway with some of her new woodland creatures charms, the deadline is today!

Laura Bray
I just took an awesome ecourse with Laura Bray, she is one smart crafty-biz cookie.  Poke around her blog, she offers classes, a great newsletter and more.  I'm not sure when her next class will be, but I highly recommend signing up!
 
A Fanciful Twist

Why is a raven like a writing desk?  I'm not sure, but you can join in the nonsense and creativity at this crafty Mad Hatter Tea Party blog hop later this summer.