Pine trees ? Jasper Stone ?

 I really like this jasper stone , great coloring , all the swirls of green , kind of a marbling affect . I polished this freeform slab  and liked the results ,   as most beaders and rockhounds  I put the beautiful matte finished stone away and didn't think of it for oh lets see....  at least a year.    Then I received a picture from my mother of fresh snow on two pine trees .  She babied these 1 inch trees and planted them nearly 28 years ago,  a gift from her twins in kindergarden...   Now they are at least 15 ' tall, I have enlarged the picture and immediately my brain went into overdrive! The jasper stone! Finally a piece with meaning for my 'entire family'       Such a perfect fit , I can see the stone covered with a light dusting of whites, some light grey , and tipped off in swarovski crystals.

 My only concern is whether to make a wall hanging or a collar,  after the holidays are over I might
get a better perspective on this idea that is cluttering my brain, making it hard to concentrate on the EBEG Bead Fest,  I needed to blog about it to clear my head and put my priorities in line.
                    
       No progress on my 'Tarnished Angel' collar ,  but I did get two batches of fudge made, opened an early Christmas gift, very excited about getting a camera :)  Totally needed it !! Now I need to see if it comes with a personal  photogragher to teach me how to get good photos.  Last but not least I included a picture of my cat Pete, she seems to be quite taken with the Christmas tree. 

Happy Holidays! Bead embroidered collar process

Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays!

Its that time again where we run and run in hopes of finishing Christmas goodies,  shopping ,

wrapping ,  decorating,  entertaining, and enjoying one another's company.  Managed to get the  tree

decorated ,  all the Christmas cookie jars out,  put lights outside for the first time :) ,  still working on making fudge and my favorite ham rolls. 

                                                         Buger 2011 Christmas Tree

progress on my first collar for the Etsy Bead Embroidery Guild ( EBEG team) first Bead Fest  'Winter Wonderland' ,     WOW ,   that was a tongue twister to say,  photo below shows the suede backing after its glued and is being stitched with size 8 seed beads , I chose a tarnished brown color to finish the edging of the piece, after all the white I was completely and utterly in need of some color, I had to fight my urge to use a completely outragious color! That in itself was quite trying.   I haven't decided if I like this piece as much as others but am doing a few things I have never done, for instance, the collar. I still have the clasp to do , my thoughts are not clear as to if  I will use a metal clasp  or  some variation that I come up with. Possibly another petrified wood to compliment the focal?  

My thoughts have started from a bare tree branch covered with snow, then the tarnished angel feeling came about while doing the frosted cubes and gold triangles, following with the cream seed beads I found I wanted more color, but fought the urge and finished with pearl white, awhhh...

now comes the finally in this bead embroidered collar,  I need to get beading to finish by the deadline !

Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays!

 Its 1:00 am and I finally have found a peaceful moment to write up a small post,  here is a picture of the piece I am working on for the first EBEG Bead Fest 'WinterWonderland' ,  once again I have chosen a slab of petrified wood I polished, personal preferrence I guess. The focal reminds me of a bare tree branch after the first snow of the year. As I continued with this theme in mind I began to think of other possibilities that could actually work for the colors I chose. I began to see wings and thought of how the tarnished gold upon the frosted white cubes were playing quite well together , a little more tarnished looking and not so pure , but elegant all the same, I have alot more to do as you can see ,