Tahlia: April (and February!)

I'm making beaded mandalas that will be attached to a crazy quilt wall hanging at the end of the year. Here is the one I created for April:

Plus, I finally got around to making a mandala specific to February! That was a crazy month (and shorter than I expected, even with leap year adding an extra day!), so I ended up featuring the mandala that I had originally created for January, except that in January I lost track of it before I could photograph and share it, so I ended up making a second January mandala and using my first January mandala for February. April finally gave me an opportunity to create a February-specific mandala, though:

...which means that I have one extra mandala (the one that I originally shared in February) to hold in reserve in case I fall behind again. ...except that y'all have already seen it. Heh! I guess I'll just have to try not to fall behind!

bjp 0412 - april in april

I'm absolutely delirious over the fact that I've finished April and am currently searching for the perfect number "5" for May! This year is turning out to be a bit of a scavenger hunt and I'm sooo enjoying the process!!

More photos and details on my blog.  Enjoy if you dare! 

May and June bjp rivoli pendants

You may see my rivoli pendants on my blog.

Jann

May through August

HI -

I've published my May through August bracelets.  They can be found at my blog www.beadsalot.blogspot.com or by clicking on my name at right   Denise D

Thanks for stopping by.

Dee

March and April are finished

March is "Rock Circles" and April is "Tiptoe thorugh the Tulips" I have posted full pictures on my Blog..Vickie S

April - Celebrating To Kill a Mockingbird

For my April project, I drew inspiration from Harper Lee's best-selling novel and Bob Mulligan's Oscar-winning film, which I admit to watching every chance I get. It's as relevant today as when it first graced a marquee 50 years ago!

You can see my April piece here.

Karin S.

MORE MARCH COLLAGES

Enjoy!

Connie's BJP

Here is my April BJP.  It looks fairly simple here, but all the same it was a learning experience for me.    

Feb and March finally finished

Hi All -

It's been an interesting few months, and as you can tell, I'm a bit behind on getting my monthly projects up on our site. In Feb, I was told I had a recurrence of my cancer and it was inoperable, which is how I had managed my last recurrences. Chemo seemed the way to go, although it was not an easy decision, and one I had resisted for four years. So, my beading took a back seat. Although I had finished my Feb in Feb, we needed a new scanner which took a while. These two photos were actually taken with my phone. They are both brooches and pendants.

I was going to point you to my blog, but decided this was easier for me to manage. Hopefully, by the time my April is completed, and it has already been started, I will redirect you to my blog.

Feb, for me, has always been about love. I used the darker seed beads as my diagnosis was a dark one. So, we contacted the healing group my husband is part of, and the outpouring of love, support, and such great suggestions of complementary medicine to help support the chemo were incredible. I love using pearls and always have them on my pieces, whether it's jewelry or bead embroidery. I had thought I would use only stones, but this called for glass beads as well. The hearts are Rhodonite and Howalite, as well as red glass and clear glass with a green interior. I also used sequin flowers, as flowers and hearts go together too.

In March, I started my chemo protocol; so that month's project is a healing brooch/pendant. I have an angel looking out for me and a four leaf clover for luck. My sister, Karen L Cohen, also a member of this project, came to visit and that visit is represented by the buttons; our Dad was in plastics and buttons were part of his inventory. One of the buttons is the Susan button and the other is the Karen button; wonder who they were named after? My sister still had them (she is concentrating on dealing in buttons and is creating fabulous ones in bead embroidery, enamels, and metals and more) and gave them to me to use. The semi-precious stones I have used are red jasper for healing cancer, hematite for grounding, protection, and promoting new blood cells, mother of pearl for focusing one's attention, malachite for detox against tumors, tiger eye for courage to combat fear, pearls, for calm and beauty, stomach digestion and emotional stress, and turquoise for healing, balance, and strengthening. I added the believe charm, as I truly believe that the chemo is working and all will be well.

So, that's now completed. I hope to finish and publish my April one before the end of the month. However, we leave for Boston on Wed for my scan and then to meet with my doctor at Dana-Farber. We will know more then. Til the next time............

April by Diana S.

I completed April today.  It has a touch of cold rain and a touch of sunny flowers - must be Spring in Ohio.   Here's the bottom half

click here: Diana's Bead Journal Project

what I did instead of putting away beads

Come viisit my blog to see what I did instead of putting away the beads from my February BJP.

http://artfuldreamer.blogspot.ca/2012/04/piece-with-no-name.html

BTW, to make sure this post is BJP related, I want you to know that I've finished my April piece.  It's ready and just waiting for the weather to cooperate enough for me to take some photos.  Stay tuned!!

April is finished...

...and there are still 9 days left in the month!  Please visit my blog to see how this month's piece looks and to check out the growth of the spiral.

http://lindakittmer.blogspot.ca/2012/04/bead-journal-project-april.html

March and April DONE!!!!!

I have caught back up finally. You can see my BJP pieces on my blog. Everyone seems to be moving along nicely, and its so fun to look in and see what everyone is doing. Beautiful beadwork by beautiful beaders. Good work Ladies! Happy Beading. Char J...Ak, USA

Teardrop Pendant #2

I almost forgot to post my February bjp. I finished it about two weeks ago and then I got started on other projects and this one flew out of my feather-filled head, lol.

A reminder that my yearlong "theme" is  "Teardrop" pendants using different techniques each time.

This one is glass beads and polymer clay with a leather neckstrap.

So here is my February BJP  -  SPRINKLES

April beaded rock

I have finally completed April....Yeah me :) Come on over to http://thebeadedneedle.blogspot.com/ to see other photos..

I'm ahead and finished May!

Hi all - I knew what I wanted to do for May and just couldn't wait until the 1st to do it so I got it done. See my May Button here - represents May Flowers. I love working with flower beads. I just got the real flowers under acrylic jewel from my sister who sold me a few of these. They are really pretty - thanks Susan!

Have a BEADy GREAT DAY.

Karen

My Sister Has Taken Up Quilting--March BJP

I finished my March BJP April 1--no fooling! But I didn't get it posted until today. Come on over to my blog to see what I made.
Marty S
Crackpot Beader

April bracelet

This bracelet pays tribute to those who serve - for more info please see my blog www.beadsalot.blogspot.com or click on my name at right Denise D

bjp 0312 - march in april

It's much easier to play 'catch up' when you have a little more time on your hands and work with a smaller size. I can't tell you how happy this makes me!!

More photos and the story on my blog if you'd like to take a peek!

Do you think that I'll finish April by the end of the month?

April

I posted April on my blog http://focus-on-fiber.blogspot.com  The details are there.

Growth - my April Rune Stone

It has been such a pleasure to be able to stay on schedule this year! (As I still try to complete 2011)
All the details available here.

April Button done

Hi all - just finished my April Button that represents my drive (the car button on a road) from our house in FL to our home in PA. I love the warm weather and so I spend the winter in FL on the west coast. It's so wonderful there. And I have a group of beading friends and we get together every Thursday night to bead. Such fun.

Off to unpack more stuff (but my beads are already organized)!

Have a BEADy great day. Karen

BJP 0212 - February in April

I finished February and have started on March. I'm happy to say that I'm firmly back into beading mode, so hope to catch up soon.

I've posted the story and more photos on my blog if you'd like to take a little wander!!



Isn't red such an 'in your face' colour? Don't you just love it?

April bead journal

Hi All
I have just posted my bead journal for April on my blog.  I had the perfect beads in my stash.  I love it when that happens! As always, I love to your comments!
warm regards
Angela
http://princessbubblescreates.blogspot.ca/

April Spirit Shield

Apologies to everyone for not being active in commenting recently. I bust a rib - taking a photo would you believe!!?? - and have been feeling very sorry for myself. I've not been able to drive or sit comfortably for a couple of weeks. Posting this has been a small achievement on the road to recovery. Please have a look on my blog for the story behind the piece.

April's symbol...

I'm beginning to get to grips with my newly chosen format, and the blocks are now coming along swimmingly... I'm up to date with April, which is Taurus, an earth sign. I've updated my diary for the wall hanging and BJP blocks here

xxx

FINALLY!

In case anyone out there is worried about being behind on their Bead Journal Project let me tell you that I have just finished my first one for this year. This wouldn't be such a big deal if I hadn't thought I was ready to begin when the new year started! I've changed my mind about the format I would use this year three times since last fall. In the past I wanted each BJP piece to be a stand-alone piece of work. This year I decided to bead on six inch squares of fabric and sew them into one or more little wall quilts.

I cut my background fabric 6.5" square and centered a 4" square of interfacing behind it to support the weight of the beads. Since I will confine my beading to the center of a heart shape within the square I may end up trimming the excess away when it's time to assemble the quilt.

This very first BJP is a sort of replica of a little quilt I made in January to swap with a blogger friend.



You can see the quilt in this post on my blog. As much as I admire solidly beaded pieces that doesn't seem to be what happens when I do bead embroidery, at least not very often.

I have a foundation prepared for my March BJP but have to come up with the right beads to execute the design I have in mind. Still not entirely sure what I'm going to do for February...

Magpie Sue

April's done - Double Infinity's pie slice in EMERALD

The next Foundation stone of the New Jerusalem, as mentioned in the Book of Revelations, is EMERALD. The meaning expressed in this stone is "the strength of faith in adversity". Once again it is so fitting since I had to have workmen come out 10 times for a simple one-day job. Of course, I could just be making these stones 'fit' into my life, but I do feel I was drawn to use them as my color 'inspiration'. I was really excited about this month. IN my mind, emerald and city simply go together - doesn't everyone just love the Wizard of OZ? Anyway, I looked through my stash first thing (I'm really am trying to use beads I have on hand)and found a pair of square jade carved cabs. Not really them sparkly emerald I wanted, but they were really cool, so I sat them out. The I found some emerald freshwater pearls that matched the color of the cabs quite nicely, so I let go of my sparkly dreams of OZ and decided to go with a more muted matte emerald. Of course, there is a new bead shop in town I just had to stop by and visit (!), and it was there I found some round silver balls with emerald stones set in and I was so happy! I also purchased some silver fire polished rondelles because I love sparkle. And then I waited for April 1st to arrive... This piece beaded up quickly, but was lacking something, so through the stash I went again. I went to my crystals and found the perfect complement bead - swarovski vitral margarettes. Then i dug out some hot pinkish/magenta 15's and finished it up. Of course, the pearl and tatting and lochrosen can be found in this piece also, as I am including them in each month for unity. Thanks for looking. Below you can see the first 4 months all together...

I've been preparing for travel, then traveling and now I'm recovering from traveling!  I feel very behind - Still need to do my March piece and here it is April already.  I know one thing that will invigorate me is looking through what everyone is doing.  Just wanted to say hi and I didn't totally disappear.

Beth H

My April piece is completed

and posted over at my blog Again, this square is doing triple duty, fulfilling the Color Palette Challenge and the Crazy Quilt Journal Challenge as well as my Bead Journal "obligation".

Carol H in NW Ohio

March BJP Piece is Finished and Posted

My finished piece for March is posted on my blog:

http://lindakittmer.blogspot.ca/2012/04/bead-journal-project-march.html

I'd love to hear what you think.

Posted this months BJP. You can see it by clicking on Karen J to the right.

March done today

Well here it is, April and I just today getting done with my March BJP! It has been a fun and busy month.


Check it out on my blog- http://jumbledhutch.wordpress.com/2012/04/01/bjp-march/

Hugs,
Kim H

March BJP

I finally finished my March project last night.  It was two months in the making because I couldn't figure out how to make it look the way I wanted it to.  When I stumbled across the work of Kay Adams I finally had a direction.  You can see it Here.

BJP - March 2012

I actually finished this on March 31!
This tile started out slow, it began with flowers.  Then we had a spurt of springtime weather here in OH and everything bloomed around St. Patricks Day so I included that in my picture.  If you look closely you can see the silver rain turns to gold under the rainbow.