June Beaded Journal Page

Here is my June BJP. My theme and journal title is "Inspired By Horses". My journal pages are all going to be 6" x 8", and will be bound together (somehow!) at the end the twelve month run.

My lifelong interests have been art and horses, you can see my horse paintings at my main blog. I decided to dedicate this journal project to a horse each month that inspires me in some way.

The first month of this project is Street Sense, winner of this year's Kentucky Derby. My husband, Clint and I are close friends with Street Sense's trainer, Carl Nafzger. We attended the Derby and were overjoyed when Street Sense won! Clint and I both used to work for Carl, Clint was an assistant trainer and I was an exercise rider. You can find out more about Street Sense via my livejournal blog, where I made lots of entries during Derby week (in April and May) regarding Street Sense's progress and the whole adventure of attending the Derby.

My Beady Beginnings

I started beading in 2001 after seeing a leather vest with some beadwork on it in Cowboys and Indians magazine. I wanted a vest like that, but couldn't find any information on it's maker, so I decided I would make my own vest.

I didn't even know what a seed bead was back then, but soon found out via the internet. I ordered many different colors of size 11 seed beads from Out On A Whim. Once they arrived, I started teaching myself to bead embroider. I never did get the vest made, but I have been beading ever since.

I thought I was late to the beading party by starting in 2001, but beading has become even more popular since I started. Over the years I have taken classes in different bead approaches including lampwork and PMC, but bead embroidery is still my favorite way to bead. I like free form and I like pictorals, so bead embroidery says it best for me. I still order seed beads from Out On A Whim, but I also like to go to bead stores while traveling around the country.

A high point for me was getting a beaded piece accepted into a 2002-2003 traveling exhibit called The Beaded Cloth, (my piece is Bunny Garden, at the top of page two in this link) sponsored by Beadwork Magazine. That was also a low point for me--as my beadwork was lost when it was sent back to me by Beadwork magazine because they sent it to my old address where I no longer lived. I never recovered it even though the folks at Beadwork Magazine and I tried very hard to track it down. I am currently re-making that piece but it's hard to cover the same ground, so it has been a work in progress for longer than I care to admit. It was done with Delica beads, which are tiny and time consuming. When I finish it, I'll post it here!

In May, 2007, I joined an online group called the Bead Journal Project, started by Robin Atkins (a juror for aforementioned The Beaded Cloth!). For the next twelve months I will be posting monthly bead and fabric journal pages. My next posting will show my first completed page of this journal project.