Bead Table Wednesday

I had two sessions today, one with fiber art and one with polymer clay.
I started by laying out ingredients for a bib necklace and cuff set I am making for my Art Quilt Ect Circles monthly challenge- "Green" being the inspiration.

I bought a huge size 16 wool coat a while back at the local Salvation army store for $6.  I felted it in my washing machine and dryer and have been cutting it up into leaves for many items.  I decided to make leaves by hand needle felting some roving onto these wool leaves and then free motion stitching them with a variegated thread that pops just a little.

As I gathered my materials I remembered I had purchased some felted round beads awhile back and got those out. I also pulled out some polyester satin material and made yo you flowers and beaded the felted balls for centers.
I will be posting the finished necklace and cuff on Saturday so come on back to see it.

My second creative adventure is the beginnings of a piece I have to finish by Sunday for Heather Powers challenge: inspired by nature- this week: feathers.

I decided to make some peacock feather pendants.
I conditioned lots of pearl white polymer clay, laid it on a texture sheet, impressed the front with a peacock feather stamp I have and then painted the feathers with alcohol inks.

I googled peacock feathers and used a photo as a reference for the colors.  I ended up using, pitch black, purple twilight, meadow, citrus, lettuce, stream and copper alcohol inks.

After they were spritzed to blend and dried I added little touches of mica powders in blue, green and copper.  This made them look irridescent.  I cut them with my oval cutter and turned them over to paint the backs.

 After they dried again three were pressed gently onto light bulbs so they would dome and curve and the other five were baked flat.  Come back this weekend to see what I do with them.  I am not sure yet what the next step will be.  All in all it was a very fun and productive day!!

Re-Evalutation Time

Okay, It was one of those weeks where I think the message is- a question: 

"Where do I go from here?"

I have been very happy dabbling in all of my passions. 

Juggling my music lessons, crochet lessons,

blog writing, jewelry making, polymer clay creating, sewing, art quilting, deadlines..ect.

 I finally finished two baby sweaters for my friend Jen who had twins recently.

Still working on a couple commission jobs and

WHAM!!

"Who has your money?"

This past week after no notice my merchant provider decided to overdraft my business account

with some fee I never heard a word about.

or...the more money they make!

In fact they claim they have been sending me statements in the mail

and I have not received one of them.

I have to dispute this with my bank and after being on hold and having the call dropped twice

I am reconsidering if I even want to deal with this bank anymore.

These are the not so fun aspects of trying to run your own business.

The total confidence shaking , trust destroying and motivation killers

that pop up out of nowhere.

I guess I don't need to tell you that merchant account is closed.

I have a craft show next month so I need to have a merchant account set up!

The good news is I am ready for a phone upgrade

so it looks like the Iphone and Square up are my best option.

I am so grateful for the experienced people who have helped me make this decision.

I feel like I am gambling with my life savings.

Which in this economy is truly frightening.

My husband tolerates my artistic nature because it makes me so happy

but I think he just wishes I would go get a regular job.

I have tried and even if I could get one he knows,

after 36 years with me there would be a heavy price to pay if it made me unhappy.

I spend a lot of time pushing away my masked enemies,

guilt, procrastination, the critic and fear of failure.

I don't need these real world parasites in my life too.

So feeling like a jilted ex I am picking myself up,

brushing myself off

and starting over again.

I will smile and have a wonderful weekend!! 

Looking at where I want to go, how I spend my time and who I can trust.

I am stubbornly following my dream, just adjusting the color...