These guys are fantastic - but the 'burger' guy is awesome!
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Focus on life: week 21 ~ Reminisce
Sally Russick of The Studio Sublime is hosting a year long challenge which is... sublime... as you'd expect with such a studio name. The challenge is named 'Focusing on Life' and every week Sally is sending a prompt on what should we focus the following week.
Her prompt this week was about memories:
Have you ever been in the middle of a busy day and all of a sudden you run across a certain baked good, candy, flower or an object catches your attention and you are sent right back to your childhood?
This week capture what takes you back to moments past and reminisce a little.
I paused and thought hard and realized something very interesting about myself. I don't reminisce a lot! I started to try to explain why, but it won't be fair unless I can explain the context well enough - and I can't :)
Suffice to say that I chose a new life for me and my family, and thinking about the 'old time' is not always easy, so I prefer not to.
That being said - I wanted to choose something for this week, so I looked around myself all week.
And one day (the hardest of all this week) I looked on my desk and found it:
I have tried for years to grow Lily-of-the-Valley (we call them by another name, meaning more or less 'little tear'): I love their graceful appearance and their absolutely heavenly fragrance. When I see / smell them it's an instant go-back to my grandfather's garden: full of Lily-of-the-Valley, roses, Imperial Lilies, raspberries, and bee hives!
I can vividly see his garden: a square patch of vegetables in the middle: the tomatoes climbing the vines, onions, herbs, beans and probably more, but that's all I can recall now. On the sides - on the left it was a tree of some sort, the back had a water pipe and the bee hives, and on the right there were the flowers. The fence around the backyard was all full of raspberries - and another tree in the middle (an apple tree?!)
The lilacs don't remind me of my grandfather - it just reminds me of the place I grew up in, which was full of lilac blooms this time of the year (well, earlier, since it's warmer there).
And now I once again come to the same conclusion: after a while we all complete the circle full! The neighbourhood we live in is an almost perfect copy of certain neighbourhoods back there - and subconsciously we picked the familiar, the place that reminds us of where we started from. Funny, isn't it?
Please make sure you visit the rest of the group - we are gathered at Ms Sally's to share memories!
And one day (the hardest of all this week) I looked on my desk and found it:
I have tried for years to grow Lily-of-the-Valley (we call them by another name, meaning more or less 'little tear'): I love their graceful appearance and their absolutely heavenly fragrance. When I see / smell them it's an instant go-back to my grandfather's garden: full of Lily-of-the-Valley, roses, Imperial Lilies, raspberries, and bee hives!
I can vividly see his garden: a square patch of vegetables in the middle: the tomatoes climbing the vines, onions, herbs, beans and probably more, but that's all I can recall now. On the sides - on the left it was a tree of some sort, the back had a water pipe and the bee hives, and on the right there were the flowers. The fence around the backyard was all full of raspberries - and another tree in the middle (an apple tree?!)
The lilacs don't remind me of my grandfather - it just reminds me of the place I grew up in, which was full of lilac blooms this time of the year (well, earlier, since it's warmer there).
And now I once again come to the same conclusion: after a while we all complete the circle full! The neighbourhood we live in is an almost perfect copy of certain neighbourhoods back there - and subconsciously we picked the familiar, the place that reminds us of where we started from. Funny, isn't it?
Please make sure you visit the rest of the group - we are gathered at Ms Sally's to share memories!
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Echo Creative Club - May, 2013
Jeannie K Dukic from Jewelry by Jeannie, the polymer clay wiz, hosts a monthly challenge, Echo Creative Club. She chooses the artists to receive her art beads or pendants for FREE and make them into a beautiful piece of jewelry. When she graciously accepted me in the November club last year, I did all I could to be published as soon as possible and earlier this year it happened (yay!): I was finally able to participate - and I am so incredibly happy! I love her pieces and they are adorable to work with.
For May I picked the anemone poppy which came in my favourite number 1 (turquoise), accented with gold elements.
Which meant brass - and I wasn't still best friends with brass, so I worried a little bit. Then I did what any designer with an ounce of self-respect will do: put the worries aside, took the wire and started working it :)
I knew what I want to do with the neck piece - remember those gorgeous glass pearls from my mom? As soon as I saw them I knew they need to be part of the piece with Jeannie's anemone, they are the exact same shades of blues and yellows. Fate, eh?
The pearls are huge and you cannot use too many - so I wire-wrapped them nicely and decided to create some double scroll links to connect them. Easy-peasy.
I used 4 shades: 2 yellows (a pale and a bright one), and 2 blues (a pale and a - you guessed! - bright one). The brass wrapped beautifully around them and now I needed to connect the anemone.
But - how?! Whenever I can find some time for myself (it's not happening every week, more like every 2-3 weeks now) I meet with a wonderful jewelry artists, Dee, who teaches in various places, including her own art studio, Bead Flow. On Sunday - I brought my links to her and asked for advice on how to make a neat bail for the polymer clay piece. She promptly suggested a bail from brass sheet - which I made... but... I wanted to rivet the piece to the bail.
And that's when disaster stroke: while trying the only small gauge of wire I had... because it was too thick for the anemone's hole... the hole came apart and now I had 2 polymer clay pieces. It's Sunday evening and I am almost crying because now I have a ruined anemone...
If you know me a little bit, you'll know I rarely cry - what I do is solve the problem! And solve I did: first the E-6000 came out and soon I had one repaired piece. It was obvious that no matter how well repaired it is, it won't be strong enough to take the wear and tear. I was now looking for a way to keep it together by some stronger piece. And it downed on me:
The details is not great (if you click on the picture you'll see it larger), but this is what I did: I took a 6 petal brass flower element (from Lori!), annealed it (I hate to anneal brass, it becomes pink) and fold it. I made 2 matching wholes in the middle petal on each side, put brass wire through and made 2 spirals, which match the pearl details perfectly (talk about inspiration). Then carefully, very carefully I pressed the folded brass flower over the anemone - so it now keeps it secure and safe from breaking again!
At this moment I was happy again, I cleaned the brass folded flower as much as possible to make it golden again, I made a lovely double spiral to hook it through and connect to the pearls, made the clasp, and connected everything with brass jump-rings (the jump-rings are antiqued, but you can't really see the difference on the whole piece).
P.S. Jennie's work is fantastic, my accident (which turns to be a happy one, because I like this bail better than the original, it ties into the flower idea so well) happened because my 'brutality' towards the polymer clay was too much. I forgot I am not working with metal, I should have been more gentle!
And this is it: waiting for a name...
It wears beautifully (I only took it off during the night since Monday!) and it looks amazing. I usually love the pieces I make, but this one I am beyond happy with!
After this looooong journey through my adventure for Echo Club May - thank you for joining me!
And please make sure you visit the other Echo-artists:
Our lovely host: Jeannie K Dukic http://site.jkdjewelry.com/blog
Alicia Marinache http://www.allprettythings.ca/ <-- you're here
Charlie Jacka http://clay-space.com/
Kristen Stevens http://kristen-beadjourney.blogspot.com/
Lisa Lodge http://www.gratefulartist.blogspot.com/
For May I picked the anemone poppy which came in my favourite number 1 (turquoise), accented with gold elements.
Which meant brass - and I wasn't still best friends with brass, so I worried a little bit. Then I did what any designer with an ounce of self-respect will do: put the worries aside, took the wire and started working it :)
I knew what I want to do with the neck piece - remember those gorgeous glass pearls from my mom? As soon as I saw them I knew they need to be part of the piece with Jeannie's anemone, they are the exact same shades of blues and yellows. Fate, eh?
The pearls are huge and you cannot use too many - so I wire-wrapped them nicely and decided to create some double scroll links to connect them. Easy-peasy.
I used 4 shades: 2 yellows (a pale and a bright one), and 2 blues (a pale and a - you guessed! - bright one). The brass wrapped beautifully around them and now I needed to connect the anemone.
But - how?! Whenever I can find some time for myself (it's not happening every week, more like every 2-3 weeks now) I meet with a wonderful jewelry artists, Dee, who teaches in various places, including her own art studio, Bead Flow. On Sunday - I brought my links to her and asked for advice on how to make a neat bail for the polymer clay piece. She promptly suggested a bail from brass sheet - which I made... but... I wanted to rivet the piece to the bail.
And that's when disaster stroke: while trying the only small gauge of wire I had... because it was too thick for the anemone's hole... the hole came apart and now I had 2 polymer clay pieces. It's Sunday evening and I am almost crying because now I have a ruined anemone...
If you know me a little bit, you'll know I rarely cry - what I do is solve the problem! And solve I did: first the E-6000 came out and soon I had one repaired piece. It was obvious that no matter how well repaired it is, it won't be strong enough to take the wear and tear. I was now looking for a way to keep it together by some stronger piece. And it downed on me:
The details is not great (if you click on the picture you'll see it larger), but this is what I did: I took a 6 petal brass flower element (from Lori!), annealed it (I hate to anneal brass, it becomes pink) and fold it. I made 2 matching wholes in the middle petal on each side, put brass wire through and made 2 spirals, which match the pearl details perfectly (talk about inspiration). Then carefully, very carefully I pressed the folded brass flower over the anemone - so it now keeps it secure and safe from breaking again!
At this moment I was happy again, I cleaned the brass folded flower as much as possible to make it golden again, I made a lovely double spiral to hook it through and connect to the pearls, made the clasp, and connected everything with brass jump-rings (the jump-rings are antiqued, but you can't really see the difference on the whole piece).
P.S. Jennie's work is fantastic, my accident (which turns to be a happy one, because I like this bail better than the original, it ties into the flower idea so well) happened because my 'brutality' towards the polymer clay was too much. I forgot I am not working with metal, I should have been more gentle!
And this is it: waiting for a name...
It wears beautifully (I only took it off during the night since Monday!) and it looks amazing. I usually love the pieces I make, but this one I am beyond happy with!
After this looooong journey through my adventure for Echo Club May - thank you for joining me!
And please make sure you visit the other Echo-artists:
Our lovely host: Jeannie K Dukic http://site.jkdjewelry.com/blog
Charlie Jacka http://clay-space.com/
Kristen Stevens http://kristen-beadjourney.blogspot.com/
Lisa Lodge http://www.gratefulartist.blogspot.com/
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Your 'feel good' video of the week
This is one of the most adorable videos I've ever seen - that man has a heart of gold, God bless him!
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Thursday's trip to RBG
As you might know from the 'Focus on Life' post of this week we have recently been to Royal Botanical Garden. I wanted to visit the Rock Garden, where the tulips are almost gone by now. But the garden was closed so we went to another - which involved a little hiking and a lot of fun.
As William put it "and to think I didn't want to come!" :) Many of the pictures are taken by William himself
As William put it "and to think I didn't want to come!" :) Many of the pictures are taken by William himself
This friendly Cardinal wasn't afraid to come close and I think he wanted some seeds :) |
William had fun with the chipmunk - she, too, wanted food |
A lovely sun-set (the beginning of) in the park |
Our resident swans (we were hoping to see the pelicans, no luck yet) |
The Red-winged Blackbird (I kid you know, that's the name of this bird!) She followed us around a lot and kept chirping |
One of God's creatures - we are still trying to figure out what is it. It was quite large (more of a beaver size) |
Another of God's creatures (in our area we have over 3,000 species of birds... we have just started to learn their names) |
Huge trout: I mean **huge**; the large one was over 3 ft long! |
The child, admiring nature (and checking the time at mommy's request) |
Said Red-winged Blackbird: she might have had a nest close-by... |
... because she fought both this Cardinal and another Red-winged Blackbird |
A cute woodpecker walking on the board and pecking it for worms |
The well-known and beautifully coloured Mallard |
A pair of swans, watched by a lone goose |
And another swan, on the ground (probably nesting) |
The thinking man - he's lost in his thoughts |
Friday, May 17, 2013
Focus on Life: Week 20: Up!
Sally Russick of The Studio Sublime is hosting a year long challenge which is... sublime... as you'd expect with such a studio name. The challenge is named 'Focusing on Life' and every week Sally is sending a prompt on what should we focus the following week.
This week let's change our perspective and look up!
There is a whole world above us that we sometimes miss seeing
because we simply forget to look up.
I do, actually, look a lot up and have tons of pictures of trees on the sky. I just love that feeling when there is nothing between you and the universe! I haven't done it in a while (I should!) but when I was younger I would just lay on the grass and admire the sky. It is very soothing!
Funny thing is - I had some pictures taken past week with the sky and trees... but as it stands, the weather is gorgeous and yesterday we went in one of the parks that are part of Royal Botanical Garden and this is what we found while looking up.
The branches are heavy with blooms and you can feel the fragrance in the air - combined from all the colourful explosions.
And then... far, far away...
What did you find while looking up?
Please come and check everybody's perspective at Miss Sally's
P.S. Update: today (Saturday, May 18th) we took another trip to the gardens. This time William decided to be the photographer (I'll have a post later this week with his pictures) and I did what I wanted so badly: laid down under one of the trees and watched the sky. Truly I cannot think of anything else that makes you feel more calmer, more free, more happy than laying on the grass and watching the clouds speed by.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Time to stitch: #3
Therese and Christine organized the Time to Stitch, edition #3 recently.
This time we had to choose a flat stitch *and* a spiral. I am not fond of flat stitches, but I so wanted to try a spiral and I knew there is no way I'll do it by myself, I need someone to 'push' me, so I signed up.
Life intervened many way, first our original deadline (April 20th) was push almost a month away (today) then things got added, and added, and... enough :) I toyed with the idea of telling Therese I will not be able to participate, then I told myself: "self, it's beading and a thread, stop making excuses and start weaving!".
I'm good at kicking myself into gear, so I did just that.
I chose the Russian spiral and started to look at what kind of seed beads I might have around. Digging enough I came up with probably a #15 in a vintage necklace, one that's older than I am in a beautiful teal colour. For the accent beads all I managed was a #11 in a nice crystal - mind you, it was Sunday evening (yes, this past Sunday!) and the Maple Leafs just tied the series, so it seemed fit to get their colours in :)
It went surprisingly well and after a few inches I had to ask myself what I want to do with it. Since I still don't know how to finish the weaving very well (I wish someone will focus on that, I found tons of patterns, but very little on actual finishing a piece) I decided to stay small and come back later once I figure out how to add a proper clasp to the thing:
I am thinking earrings - originally I wanted to add a bead stopper at the end too, but now I like them better this way - what do you think?!
The flat stitch I chose was brick... thinking it can't be that bad. Well, it almost was! I had troubles understanding how to increase the darn thing, because, you see... I couldn't go with a flat thinggie, I had to do *this*:
They were meant to be earrings as well - but... I started them with the above teal beads, only to understand really quickly it won't go well. The beads are not uniform enough, and their inside whole is tiny, it won't allow for the repeated thread going through. So out came the box (I decided to buy no beads for this challenge, as I have a box full of seed beads I am not using!) and I found the gold #6s first. Then the mate white #6 and the white cylinders were supposed to be used anyhow: another vintage strand from home... that one is probably older than my mom is (if memory serves me right, if not my mom will straighten this one up quickly :) )
The brick stitch itself went well and quickly... the fringes gave me tons of troubles (bonus point for who discovers the tiny defect in the fringes!) - but that being said - I actually loved creating this piece. It so spells 'Cleopatra' to me!
Again, not knowing how to finish the thing... I made a brass connector and as soon as I figure out what kind of a neck-piece to make for it it will become a looong necklace. What kind of 'thread' can I make with the #6 so it won't overpower the piece? Or should I try to get smaller size gold and white and weave them together? The pieces for the fringes cannot be used, I don't have enough (maybe I'll add some accents here and there to tie everything in)
Anyhow, these were my takes on this edition of the "Time to Stitch'!
Please make sure you visit everybody else to see what they've created:
Our lovely hosts:
Therese Frank
Christine Altmiller
This time we had to choose a flat stitch *and* a spiral. I am not fond of flat stitches, but I so wanted to try a spiral and I knew there is no way I'll do it by myself, I need someone to 'push' me, so I signed up.
Life intervened many way, first our original deadline (April 20th) was push almost a month away (today) then things got added, and added, and... enough :) I toyed with the idea of telling Therese I will not be able to participate, then I told myself: "self, it's beading and a thread, stop making excuses and start weaving!".
I'm good at kicking myself into gear, so I did just that.
I chose the Russian spiral and started to look at what kind of seed beads I might have around. Digging enough I came up with probably a #15 in a vintage necklace, one that's older than I am in a beautiful teal colour. For the accent beads all I managed was a #11 in a nice crystal - mind you, it was Sunday evening (yes, this past Sunday!) and the Maple Leafs just tied the series, so it seemed fit to get their colours in :)
It went surprisingly well and after a few inches I had to ask myself what I want to do with it. Since I still don't know how to finish the weaving very well (I wish someone will focus on that, I found tons of patterns, but very little on actual finishing a piece) I decided to stay small and come back later once I figure out how to add a proper clasp to the thing:
I am thinking earrings - originally I wanted to add a bead stopper at the end too, but now I like them better this way - what do you think?!
The flat stitch I chose was brick... thinking it can't be that bad. Well, it almost was! I had troubles understanding how to increase the darn thing, because, you see... I couldn't go with a flat thinggie, I had to do *this*:
Cleopatra: Brick stitch with fringes and vintage seed beads |
They were meant to be earrings as well - but... I started them with the above teal beads, only to understand really quickly it won't go well. The beads are not uniform enough, and their inside whole is tiny, it won't allow for the repeated thread going through. So out came the box (I decided to buy no beads for this challenge, as I have a box full of seed beads I am not using!) and I found the gold #6s first. Then the mate white #6 and the white cylinders were supposed to be used anyhow: another vintage strand from home... that one is probably older than my mom is (if memory serves me right, if not my mom will straighten this one up quickly :) )
The brick stitch itself went well and quickly... the fringes gave me tons of troubles (bonus point for who discovers the tiny defect in the fringes!) - but that being said - I actually loved creating this piece. It so spells 'Cleopatra' to me!
Again, not knowing how to finish the thing... I made a brass connector and as soon as I figure out what kind of a neck-piece to make for it it will become a looong necklace. What kind of 'thread' can I make with the #6 so it won't overpower the piece? Or should I try to get smaller size gold and white and weave them together? The pieces for the fringes cannot be used, I don't have enough (maybe I'll add some accents here and there to tie everything in)
Anyhow, these were my takes on this edition of the "Time to Stitch'!
Please make sure you visit everybody else to see what they've created:
Our lovely hosts:
Therese Frank
Christine Altmiller
Alicia Marinache <-- you're here
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Cora: July 2006 - May 2013
It doesn't escape me the irony of an early thought: in writing the article for Focus on Life: Hope I wanted to write about Cora and the hope I had she'll be OK... then I didn't put that on the 'paper'... maybe inside I knew the only hope was to have a painless end...
We first had Brondi, our first German Shepard. She has been an amazing dog - truly incredible. When she left us way too soon we first thought there will be no more dogs. But William was young and a couple of years after we realized there is no point in depriving him from the unique love of humans' best friend just because we were still feeling pain. So we started to look for the next family addition - vowing first it will not be a German Shepard. The more we browsed the internet for dogs - the more it became clear that we are, indeed, one-breed people. A visit to a breeder close-by and this little cute puppy was the only one in the litter that followed us around. She had a small 'defect' at the corner of her left eye which the breeder (and later the vet) offered to remove it. We never allowed it - she was unique that way, and very cute looking even when she grew older - and a few weeks after she came to live with us, our beloved Cora.
Soon we discovered she thinks of William as her own brother (he was just 3 at the time) and their playfulness was truly contagious. As she grew - she started to guard him (and us, but he was always #1) with the atrocity only love gives one. She hated the postman with passion (I've never seen a dog hating the postman that badly) and let them all know, no matter how often they changed. But she loved us - and she was always ready to give us a kiss, to play, to join us traveling.
She has been sick for a while - fortunately not something to make her uncomfortable (or not for too long), just an illness that had no real cure, no guarantees to ever get better (an immune system issue), one that would make her have more ear infections than the child had. We knew it's just a matter of enjoying her love for us much as possible, we knew it's going to be a day when all this would end, we were just praying to be as far as possible - and that's all God had granted us with her: almost 7 years.
She entered our lives in September 2006 and she left this world yesterday, May 10th, 2013.
It is hard - the house is quieter now (Lucky, the chocolate lab is not vocal at all, she's quite surprised at the quiet too!). There is nobody telling the squirrels to get off. There is nobody to check the door or to argue about who is allowed to cross our yard or not.
But there are and always will be the memories of Cora: our brave and beautiful and loving friend.
The pain is still raw - we just hope (see, there is still hope) she's now running across the grass of heavens along Brondi and Ferdi and they share memories of our family as they all knew it at different times.
May you rest in peace loving friend, we cherish every moment we have been granted together and we will remember you forever. You have touched our lives and we hope you know it!
P.S. To match our moods as soon as I got home from the vet yesterday the sky literary opened and rain poured hard for a long time. Tears from heaven?
We first had Brondi, our first German Shepard. She has been an amazing dog - truly incredible. When she left us way too soon we first thought there will be no more dogs. But William was young and a couple of years after we realized there is no point in depriving him from the unique love of humans' best friend just because we were still feeling pain. So we started to look for the next family addition - vowing first it will not be a German Shepard. The more we browsed the internet for dogs - the more it became clear that we are, indeed, one-breed people. A visit to a breeder close-by and this little cute puppy was the only one in the litter that followed us around. She had a small 'defect' at the corner of her left eye which the breeder (and later the vet) offered to remove it. We never allowed it - she was unique that way, and very cute looking even when she grew older - and a few weeks after she came to live with us, our beloved Cora.
Soon we discovered she thinks of William as her own brother (he was just 3 at the time) and their playfulness was truly contagious. As she grew - she started to guard him (and us, but he was always #1) with the atrocity only love gives one. She hated the postman with passion (I've never seen a dog hating the postman that badly) and let them all know, no matter how often they changed. But she loved us - and she was always ready to give us a kiss, to play, to join us traveling.
She has been sick for a while - fortunately not something to make her uncomfortable (or not for too long), just an illness that had no real cure, no guarantees to ever get better (an immune system issue), one that would make her have more ear infections than the child had. We knew it's just a matter of enjoying her love for us much as possible, we knew it's going to be a day when all this would end, we were just praying to be as far as possible - and that's all God had granted us with her: almost 7 years.
She entered our lives in September 2006 and she left this world yesterday, May 10th, 2013.
It is hard - the house is quieter now (Lucky, the chocolate lab is not vocal at all, she's quite surprised at the quiet too!). There is nobody telling the squirrels to get off. There is nobody to check the door or to argue about who is allowed to cross our yard or not.
Always ready to open gifts on Christmas day - but very politely waiting for everyone to open theirs before she would get her bone and chew it. |
Watching royally over her kingdom from her favourite spot: the living room armchair: she barely fit in it, but she would jump on every time she could! |
Loving us dearly every moment of her life: we hope she knew we loved her back! RIP, Cora, you have been a wonderful part of our family! |
P.S. To match our moods as soon as I got home from the vet yesterday the sky literary opened and rain poured hard for a long time. Tears from heaven?
Friday, May 10, 2013
Focus on Life: Week 19 ~ Hope
Sally Russick of The Studio Sublime is hosting a year long challenge which is... sublime... as you'd expect with such a studio name. The challenge is named 'Focusing on Life' and every week Sally is sending a prompt on what should we focus the following week.
This week's prompt (when did 19 weeks pass by already?!) is one very dear to me: Hope.
I can probably talk forever about hope. I know a lot about it: from the dark times when hope was, sometimes, all we had to move us to the next day. From the better times of the present: when hope never leaves my side. I am wishful and hopeful and sometimes things happen (or I work to make it happen), sometimes they don't - but I don't loose the hope they will some day :)
Hope is the mother Robin waiting patiently for all her four babies to come out:
Hope is the first ray of light after breaking the shell (yes, we managed to see part of the miracle):
Hope is the huge beak opening for mama's (or daddy's - they seem to not care who feeds them as long as they are being fed) worms:
There is hope :) you just need to look carefully and uncover it!
I hope you found plenty of hope around yourself - for more please visit Ms. Sally's, it's going to be a hopeful gathering today!
P.S. Wandering through a store yesterday (in the hope of finding a decent top, which I did find :) ) I discovered this and I had to stop and take a picture (under the looks of the others around me, eyeing me curiously):
Hold on to hope, it's very precious!
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Your 'Feel good' post of the week
If this doesn't make you feel wonderful and fuzzy, I don't know what will :)
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Artisan Whimsy: BEAD Chat Magazine: look who's in there!
You should know by now I am involved in one of the many wonderful online communities for jewelry artists: Artisan Whimsy. It started as a group on facebook, Creative Bead Chat, organized by Melinda Orr. A few months later she created Artisan Whimsy and yet a few months later she created the digital magazine 'Bead Chat Magazine'.
In its second edition I had the double pleasure of being part of the very first 5x5 Test Team and helping editing the team's section in the magazine. Melinda liked my editing enough to ask me if I want to oversee the 5x5 Test Team from now on. Which I agreed upon (I hope she won't regret this :)) and you can see the 2nd team's wonderful creations in May edition of the BEAD Chat magazine.
Where you can also see the wonderful gift Melinda and Cynthia gave me just a few days before my birthday! The Artisan Spotlight section features yours truly :) I was touched and am still kind of 'flying'... it's such a nice feeling to see your work featured in a magazine!
Thank you Melinda & Cynthia, you were wonderful!
Please check the magazine when you have a moment, it is a collection of gorgeous artisan pieces, lovely interviews and helpful tips:
In its second edition I had the double pleasure of being part of the very first 5x5 Test Team and helping editing the team's section in the magazine. Melinda liked my editing enough to ask me if I want to oversee the 5x5 Test Team from now on. Which I agreed upon (I hope she won't regret this :)) and you can see the 2nd team's wonderful creations in May edition of the BEAD Chat magazine.
Where you can also see the wonderful gift Melinda and Cynthia gave me just a few days before my birthday! The Artisan Spotlight section features yours truly :) I was touched and am still kind of 'flying'... it's such a nice feeling to see your work featured in a magazine!
Thank you Melinda & Cynthia, you were wonderful!
Please check the magazine when you have a moment, it is a collection of gorgeous artisan pieces, lovely interviews and helpful tips:
Saturday, May 4, 2013
What Easter?!
I have been asked many times when our Easter doesn't coincide with the Western one - what religion are you?
I answered Orthodox many ways just to have confusing looks - people would think Jew Orthodox and that doesn't blend properly with Easter, does it?
We are Eastern Orthodox (Greek Orthodox, Russian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Romanian,and some African and Middle Eastern countries where they celebrate Orthodoxy too). We are Christians too, like Catholics and all its flavours. However the 2 churches separated in medieval times, in 1054 after the 'Great Schism' and separated they remained to these days.
There are a few notable differences in the theology of the 2 religions:
For more details on the subject please check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Orthodox_–_Roman_Catholic_theological_differences.
The one everybody sees the most is the temporal difference: the time we celebrate holidays.
This is what happens: most of the Eastern Churches celebrate the 'moving' date holidays on the old calendar, and the fixed dates holidays on the new calendar. You might be aware originally everyone followed the Julian calendar. Then in 1582 Pope Gregor changed it to align the Easter to the date originally set at the First Council of Nicea - thus moving the calendar forward 10 days. A few other adjustments were made over the years - so today the civil calendar is moved 13 days in advance.
Funny fact: that's why what some of you might have heard of as 'The October Revolution' (the Russian one) is celebrated in November :)
However - the Easter countries were really slow in adopting the change (mainly because they were Orthodox and quite not following the rules of Catholics) - but they eventually did as countries and governments... not as Churches.
That's why we all think of March 11 as March 11 these days - but... when it comes to religious holidays we follow 2 different rules (yes, it's quite confusing, I know):
And that is in a nutshell :)
I answered Orthodox many ways just to have confusing looks - people would think Jew Orthodox and that doesn't blend properly with Easter, does it?
We are Eastern Orthodox (Greek Orthodox, Russian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Romanian,and some African and Middle Eastern countries where they celebrate Orthodoxy too). We are Christians too, like Catholics and all its flavours. However the 2 churches separated in medieval times, in 1054 after the 'Great Schism' and separated they remained to these days.
There are a few notable differences in the theology of the 2 religions:
- the first is the absolute authority that the Pope has over the bishops: Eastern Orthodox did not agree with that (and that is the root of the Great Schism, which started with the excommunication of some Eastern bishops)
- the second - and most important theologically - is the 'Filioque': in the Eastern Creed we believe the Holly Spirit proceeds from the Father *and* the Son, while Catholic Creed has the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father only. It is physically transferred in how we make the sign of cross: we put together 3 fingers (middle, index, and thumb), while Catholics only 2 (middle, index)
- the third is how each Church views the Virgin Mary: Catholics see her as born without sin, while Eastern Orthodox believe she was capable of sin, but resisted it successfully all her life. The view of sin is also different for ordinary people: Catholics believe in the original sin (Adam's) and that we are all guilty of it and we carry that guilt. Eastern Orthodox believe that we have inherited the sin, but we are not guilty of it. Catholics believe "all men have sinned through Adam's sin", while the Orthodox interpretation is "all humanity sins as part of the inheritance of the original sin". A subtle difference which says that we believe in the Original Sin and that all men have the propensity to sin, but they have not implicitly sinned through Adam's Original Sin. [confusing, eh?!]
- another interesting difference is on celibate: all Catholic Priests must maintain celibacy, while Eastern Orthodox must do so only if they have been ordained priests before marriage. Basically, a priest can marry if he does so *before* being ordained priests. The heads of the churches (bishops, archbishops etc.) are elected from the monks, though. But an ordinary priest can marry and have a family, which is quite nice and makes them very human and approachable.
For more details on the subject please check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Orthodox_–_Roman_Catholic_theological_differences.
The one everybody sees the most is the temporal difference: the time we celebrate holidays.
This is what happens: most of the Eastern Churches celebrate the 'moving' date holidays on the old calendar, and the fixed dates holidays on the new calendar. You might be aware originally everyone followed the Julian calendar. Then in 1582 Pope Gregor changed it to align the Easter to the date originally set at the First Council of Nicea - thus moving the calendar forward 10 days. A few other adjustments were made over the years - so today the civil calendar is moved 13 days in advance.
Funny fact: that's why what some of you might have heard of as 'The October Revolution' (the Russian one) is celebrated in November :)
However - the Easter countries were really slow in adopting the change (mainly because they were Orthodox and quite not following the rules of Catholics) - but they eventually did as countries and governments... not as Churches.
That's why we all think of March 11 as March 11 these days - but... when it comes to religious holidays we follow 2 different rules (yes, it's quite confusing, I know):
- the countries associated with Greek Orthodox keep the fixed date holidays (like Christmas) on the civil calendar - thus we celebrate on December 25th. However we keep the moving date holidays (like Easter) on the old Julian calendar - thus we celebrate God knows when, 'cause it's quite complicated to calculate :)
- the countries associate with Russian Orthodox keep *all* Holidays on the old, Julian Calendar. Thus they celebrate Easter when we do, but Christmas on January 6th.
And that is in a nutshell :)
Friday, May 3, 2013
Focus on Life: Week 18
Sally Russick of The Studio Sublime is hosting a year long challenge which is... sublime... as you'd expect with such a studio name. The challenge is named 'Focusing on Life' and every week Sally is sending a prompt on what should we focus the following week.
The prompt of this week?!
Abstract: the use of a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world.
I have to admit I almost passed the opportunity - for me abstract is the modern painting in strange colours and harsh lines, something I don't have too much patience for. Then I had a short conversation with myself, asking why do I want to pass? because I will have a crazy week (Sunday is our Easter!)? because I don't like abstract that much (or my interpretation of it)? because I am afraid? A little bit of each :)
What am I afraid of? Not sure how to define the feeling, so I'll leave it at that for now.
So I started hunting something that would be abstract - and then I stopped. I wanted to incorporate Easter somehow, but it's too early in the week to have useful pictures. So I looked for last year pictures and in one of them I found this detail:
I loved it so much: the shine and glow of the orange skin (in the right bottom corner), the lovely spring branches detailed on the candle, the warm light reminding me of the most special night of the year, approaching soon!
The picture is edited a little bit (highlighted to bring the glow in focus) - and I still don't think of it as abstract. But it perfectly matches the mood of this week (we call it The 'Big' Week) so I will go with it!
A little bit of abstract patterns on our brightly coloured eggs:
And the most concrete table - as it was last year right after we came home from the midnight mass:
I am looking forward to this week's celebration and, most of all, to getting together with family and friends and spending this bright and luminous day in peace, with the kids running around happily.
Thank you for visiting! and thank you, Sally, for getting me out of my comfort zone :)
For other abstract interpretations, please visit Sally's place where we gather for lovely conversation!
The prompt of this week?!
Abstract: the use of a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world.
I have to admit I almost passed the opportunity - for me abstract is the modern painting in strange colours and harsh lines, something I don't have too much patience for. Then I had a short conversation with myself, asking why do I want to pass? because I will have a crazy week (Sunday is our Easter!)? because I don't like abstract that much (or my interpretation of it)? because I am afraid? A little bit of each :)
What am I afraid of? Not sure how to define the feeling, so I'll leave it at that for now.
So I started hunting something that would be abstract - and then I stopped. I wanted to incorporate Easter somehow, but it's too early in the week to have useful pictures. So I looked for last year pictures and in one of them I found this detail:
I loved it so much: the shine and glow of the orange skin (in the right bottom corner), the lovely spring branches detailed on the candle, the warm light reminding me of the most special night of the year, approaching soon!
The picture is edited a little bit (highlighted to bring the glow in focus) - and I still don't think of it as abstract. But it perfectly matches the mood of this week (we call it The 'Big' Week) so I will go with it!
A little bit of abstract patterns on our brightly coloured eggs:
And the most concrete table - as it was last year right after we came home from the midnight mass:
I am looking forward to this week's celebration and, most of all, to getting together with family and friends and spending this bright and luminous day in peace, with the kids running around happily.
Thank you for visiting! and thank you, Sally, for getting me out of my comfort zone :)
For other abstract interpretations, please visit Sally's place where we gather for lovely conversation!
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