Thanks and update

Thanks everyone for your supportive comments! I feel so encouraged and understood, and grateful for this growing community.

Its been interesting living through a lot of changes. I just found out I received the occupational therapist position I applied for at our local hospital, so my life will be changing drasticly. I've been a studio artist for the last few years, but now I need to make some money LOL. I hope to be able to keep up with the BJP, although I might run a bit behind.

I drew the snake goddess amulet last night, and she is all about transformation, courage and change. I'd say she's working overtime with me right now. So I'm adding her to my June page. I'll have a picture as soon as she's done.

The Divine Feminine has been a wonderful inspiration and solace for me for the past few years. I had first intended that would be a theme for my pages, veered away from it, and guess who showed up!! I'm glad that She has - She will be a delight to work/play with over the next year!

June page begun

Don't the beads have their own ideas? I intended to work on a small square of green fabric and start with some labradorite ovals. Well, before I got that started I gave a teak table from my studio to some friends who moved into a new place. I followed them home to help unload it, along with some other stuff.

The table had belonged to my parents, and I have had it since my Dad remarried 20 years ago. I was unexpectedly heartbroken as I watched it bounce down the road ahead of me in the back of their truck, as though I had sent my entire bittersweet childhood off on its own with strangers.

The month of June has been a powerful one since the first week when I wrote my dad a letter letting him know that his verbally abusive behavior has been harmful to me. Yay for finally taking a stand after 50 years!! I suppose my feelings about the table reflected my fears of "losing" my dad, and my grief for the family I didn't have, as well as the good memories that the table represented.

The strong emotions I experienced during the month found their expression in the image of that table and I decided to bead the table on my June page.

I was inspired by BJP beader Susan's blog post on June 21, here showing her beaded doll created in memory of her friend. I invoked that spirit of healing as I began my table. As I beaded, I also created a word tree about the table in my journal.

I am experiencing the healing power of artmaking. My emotions have eased, I've told my friends the table is just on loan, although I now feel I could even let them keep it.

The line up the center represents the painful process of confronting my father. However, I think it may become a root, and there will be many roots, and they will show the healing that is happening as part of this bead journaling process.

I also thought the legs were a little weird, but I've made a commitment not to remove or change anything once it is beaded, so here it stands. I'll post more images later as I complete it.

First Post!

Hello Everyone!
After several revisions in my journal idea, my plan now is to pick one of these fabrics each month and see where it goes. I found a photo of a small journal from an ad in Winter 2006 Quilting Arts, p. 71, for a book by Beryl Taylor, Mixed Media Explorations, and it looks like it would be easy to make and assemble. I will make my pages 3" by 4-1/8" so I have a bit of room to play but don't feel overwhelmed!

When I looked in my fabric stash, the greens just leapt out of the cabinet, so green it is! I'm planning to use from my entire bead stash, especially metal and semiprecious beads, as I most often have embroidered with size 11 and 15 seeds. This will be a challenge, as I have many beads that I love and "save" for something really special. My promise to myself is to go ahead and use them!!

I've also taken the vow to buy nothing new but to enjoy the abundance of what I already have. My husband was thrilled to hear this as well! Thanks to JenniBoBenni for the challenge!

And a big hug to Robin Atkins for creating this community and the Bead Journal Project - I'm looking forward to a great ride!