We're All Ears :: April Reveal :: Safer At Home

Hello bead peeps!

I am sorry to be a little late to my own party. And I am not prepared (!). I clearly have not been very good at mastering time management of late. I am ashamed that I have no earrings to show for this post, but I do have something creative to share. And as they say on Broadway...the Show Must Go On!

I didn't make any earrings, but I am very proud to say that my creative constipation has finally busted through! LOL! I did manage to make the first in what will become a series of mixed media mosaic assemblages, so that is what I am sharing with you today. And there is a little bit of earring tucked into it....

I have had these little house shapes for some time and more that are larger and smaller, as I really resonate with a house shape. I have wanted to make these into something for a long time but just couldn't figure out what.

Then I stumbled on the "leaning tower of discarded jewelry" which is really leaning and it is so large it is a tower in my studio that I literally stumbled into! I found a necklace that I had made back in 2014 as a sample for a video series that I did with Interweave called "Shimmering Garden" (that I see is still offered for download!). It was in the discard pile because it had been strung incorrectly and the flowers didn't hang right. But all good pieces, and nothing ever gets thrown away in my world! So I just took a scissors to it and started cutting. Those three large flowers were what I made in the video and were the perfect focals for this new project. From there it was just fun to find all the bits I had lying around to make this mosaic assemblage. Included in here are actual earrings that were in my mother's jewelry box. There was a whole bag of these unfortunate costume jewelry pieces from decades past (nothing valuable or sentimental), things I can't even fathom my mother would have worn, still I couldn't get rid of them. So even though I didn't make earrings, there are still earrings represented here!

These will become a series that I will debut at the Gallery Q when we do actually reopen. And now that I have made one, the flood gates of creativity are opening. Huzzah!

A picture of my home before when we bought it in late 2009.

When this home isolation mandate came down I embraced the change, even though it was hard. I thought that maybe I would tackle some creative projects I had been putting off. But no, that sadly hasn't happened. Yes, it has been a shock to the system, but it is clearly NOT the worst thing. Despite the negative connotations, the actual hardships that people are facing, and let's face it, the inconveniences that are seemingly the main thing that I see people griping about, this time on pause has made me appreciate more than ever all the blessings that I have in my life: my family, my friends, having a job, the food on my table, the health that we have, the beauty of nature all around us, the rising of community spirit, the undeniable worth of a positive outlook, scientific facts and discoveries that will carry us though, the value of seeking to learn something new every day.

My friend Shannon has been doing a Facebook live "Stories with Shannon" each week for little ones, complete with a story she reads, plus coloring and even yoga bits. It is simply delightful. She read a book about mindfulness called A World of Pausabilities this week and it really resonated with me. Pushing pause on our lives as we knew them is not the same as pushing stop. There are many opportunities to be had if we only take the time to look up and out and see how we are all tightly woven in our communities, local, state, country and world - dependent on each other for health and happiness. This mindfulness is what I hope to carry through to the other side, wherever and whenever that may be. So I ask you...

What do you hope to carry with you to the other side of this pause? 

If you were able to play along in this challenge, now is the time to share!


P.S. Today, April 17th at 2:00pm I will be doing my very first Facebook live with a little art project that anyone, anywhere can join in on. We will be doing Greeting Card Mosaics with paper. Would love to have you join me! It will be hosted on the CREATE Portage County Facebook page.