Focusing on Life 52 photos week 17 - Color

Hi Y'all,

This is week 17 of Focusing on Life 52 photos, this week's prompt is Color, here is what Sally had to say about color...

Did you ever notice the way color can effect our mood and perception of the environment around us? 

Colors can elevate our mood or change our perception of an object.  Bright vivid colors can make us feel positive where a darker color can evoke a heaviness. Subtle colors create a softness. Florescent color not only can grab attention, florescent literally scream at you to pay attention and that can cause a feeling of anxiety. 

Whether photographing a full shot of amazing colors or small pops of color against a muted background, this week break out your camera and capture some color.   Think about how the colors of the shot effect your mood, feelings, perception of your surroundings!  Focus on how the colors impact your decision to take a particular shot.   

Well I almost did not do this week's prompt, because I was in Tuscaloosa, AL for a week long class to become a national certified Police Communications Officer.  I am happy to announce that I passed and I am now nationally certified. Yay me!  So anyway getting back to the post.  My co-worked Katherine and I went to Hobby Lobby one evening after class to purchase some flex wire and crimp beads to fix her Son's necklace, when I realized I was standing all around color.  I took my camera out of my purse and took a few shots of the colorful glass and glass ware.

I saw this color palette from across the store and was drawn to it's bold color scheme. 

This was the first group of color I saw.  My eye is almost always drawn to pinks and greens.

I really like these colors they are soothing to me.

Thank you for stopping by now please go on over to Sally's blog to see what other colors people are photographing.

Happy beading Y'all,

Therese

Spring Fling 2 Hosted by Amy Severino

Hi Y'all,

Welcome to the Spring Fling 2 reveal.   The beautiful and most talented Amy Severino of Amybeads blog is the host of this second Spring Fling Challenge.  Amy puts together a kit of a focal piece and a few coordinating beads for a small price, and you guessed it a lot of us pounce on a chance to be a participant in her challenge.  Here is what we got to work with this time.

Amy got together with her partner of Bead Soup Blog Party 6 Alenka of Pepita Handmade blog, Alenka made the beautiful focal piece in this challenge using polymer clay.  It took me a long time to come up with what I wanted to make in this challenge, because purple is not an easy color for me to work with, but I managed.

Here is what I came up with...

I did bead embroidery around the Dragonfly focal with white glass pearl and 3 mm black Czech crystals. The neck strap is done in RAW with white glass pearls, 4 mm Amethyst beads, and size 15 seed beads.

I made a pair of earrings using the white AB 8 mm beads and the crackle glass beads with cooper ear wires.  The bracelet I used the purple died agate beads with the white pearls, light purple AB 4 mm bicones and copper accent beads. 

Thank you for stopping by to see what I did in this challenge, also thank you Amy for presenting this challenge.

Here is a list of the other participants in this challenge, please go show them some love.

Maryanne • Zingala's Workshop 
Therese • Therese's Treasures (you are here)
Tanya • A Work in Progress
Alenka •  Pepita Handmade
Kepi • A Little of This, A Little of That
Beti •Stringing Fool
Dolores • Crafty D's Creations
Jenny • Wonder and Whimsy
Cynthia • Created Treasures
Mowse • Mowse Made This
Carolyn • Carolyn's Creations

Happy beading Y'all,

Therese

Focus on Life 52 photos Week 16 Go For A Walk

Hi Y'all,

Welcome to week 16 of Focusing on Life 52 photos.  This week Sally's prompt is "Go For A Walk" here is what Sally had to say...

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

                                                    ~Robert Frost

Grab your camera, open the door and step outside into the fresh air.  Take a walk!  Whether you walk to your favorite chair on the porch, walk a few miles down a rural road or a busy city street  take a moment to be aware of the beauty of the world and let its grandeur energize your soul, inspire your mind and jump start your creativity.  Step back and look at the wide world around you and capture a shot of the landscape in front of you!
 

Get to Snappin!

Sally

I did not have the time to go on the walk that I wanted to take this past week, if I was not at work, then I was working on a challenge piece.  So this picture came from the walk I took in the downtown area of Montgomery the day I took the pictures for weeks 14 and 15.

I have always been a fan of Art Deco and Modern Art.  This building is the only Modern Art building in Montgomery's downtown area.  I do not know who the designer of this building is or how long it has been in Montgomery, but I just think it is a cool looking building.  This building is located on Washington Ave right across the street from the Southern Poverty Law Center.  Alabama Dept. of Public Safety's Driver's License Reinstatement used to be in this building, but moved out in 2005 when the new RSA Criminal Justice Center was opened (the building where I work).  The building behind this one on the left with the green panels is the new RSA Headquarters building, RSA stands for Retirement Systems of Alabama.  On the right you can see the dome of the State Capitol and the white building in front of the Capitol is the State of Alabama Archives and History building.

Thank you to Sally for always coming up with great prompts to inspire us in our photo taking, and thank you for stopping by, now go on by Sally's blog to see what the other's have been snapping photos of.

Happy beading Y'all,

Therese

Focus on Life 52 photos week 15 "Aged Beauty"

Hi Y'all,

Week 15 of Sally Russick's Focusing on Life 52 photo's prompt is "Aged Beauty".

I have always been fascinated with old items, old furniture, old buildings and old homes.  So after work last Saturday I went out and took pictures of some old homes in the downtown area of Montgomery.  

This house was originally built in 1863 during the civil war. The front of this house was changed in 1908 and still looks the same today.  The following photo is of the historical sign telling the history of the house.

It is amazing the transformation of this house just by changing the front entrance it is hard to believe it is the same house.

This is the second of the Dowe houses built in 1885.  I love all the gingerbread designs on the outside of this old Victorian. In this photo you can not really see it, but there is a beautiful stained glass window above the front door. Below is the second side of the historical sign explaining the history of the other two Dowe homes.

This is the third of the Dowe homes built in 1890.

These homes are a bit of Montgomery's past that is still standing and is now surrounded by modern architecture.

If you would like to see more "Aged Beauty" go on over to Sally's blog and check them out.

Happy beading Y'all,

Therese

Focus on Life 52 photos weeks 13 and 14

Hi Y'all,

Wow I am so sorry that I missed last Saturday's post for week 13- Have Faith.  Here is what Sally  had to say about the prompt "Have Faith"...

Week 13~ Have Faith

Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.

                                       ~ Augustine

There are many of us who are religious and there are many of us who are not, but most of us religious or not have faith in someone or something.  A faith that gets us through our day, a sickness or even a death.  Faith is held by each of us, it is what keeps us believing  that there will always be a positive outcome even if we can't see it at the time.  

So my take on "Have Faith" is the Civil Rights Movement in the South.  As many of you know I live in Montgomery, AL one of the places that was a big part of the Civil Rights Movement in the South.

Montgomery is where the bus boycott took place when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in the front of the bus to a white male and move to the back of the bus.  Montgomery is where Martin Luther King Jr. preached in the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, which is now named The Martin Luther King Jr. Dexter Avenue Memorial Church.

 

Montgomery is where the Southern Poverty Law Center is located where citizens civil rights are still fought for today. 

 

Because of the faith of some very strong people that were willing to stand up and fight for what is right for a human being the United States would still be segregated and we would not have a black man for President, or any other race other than white, or even a woman one day for President.  The struggle is not over, but it is certainly less then it was Sixty years ago.

This is the Parsonage house for the Dexter Ave Memorial Church where the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. lived with his wife and two young children.  A black wreath was place at the front door to commemorate  the assassination of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.  April 4, 1968.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Dexter Ave. Memorial Church.

The Civil Rights Memorial fountain in front of the Southern Poverty Law Center

Yes, I am thankful for those that had strong faith and fought for the right to be a respected human being, which helped establish the civil rights for all human beings.

Week 14 - Up Close

Here is what Sally had to say about "Up Close"...

The macro shot! 

Start exploring the details of the ordinary up close and

glimpse a world that you may never have noticed until you observed it magnified!  Get up close and personal with the subject of your choice and snap a macro shot!   

How close can you get?

This is a shot of a green tinted Chrysanthemum that was part of an Easter flower arrangement on my Sister's dinning room table.
 

This is an Bearded Iris that I took while I was on my walk around downtown Montgomery taking the photos of the "Have Faith" prompts.

I enjoy taking close up photos of flowers you never know what is going to be revealed when you get close up. 

Well there y'all have it two weeks in one post.  If you want to see more interesting "Up Close" shots head on over to Sally's blog and check them out.

Happy beading Y'all,

Therese

  

She Made/She Made April pick

Hi Y'all

Wow I have been very busy with so many things in my life right now, that I have neglected my blog.  I have also neglected going and visiting y'all's blogs as well.  I did not have a single chance to visit any of the first reveal in the Bead Soup Blog Party and I do apologize, but I will get there eventually.

As most of y'all know Christine of One Kiss Creations  and I do a monthly challenge from the gift of beads that we gifted each other last July when we met in person.  We both kept half of what we gave each other and decided that once a month one of us would pick something from the lot to create with, then blog about it at the end of the month.  So April was my turn to pick and here is what I picked to play and create with.

A beautiful glass cab created by Linda Roberts I won two of these in a giveaway on her blog a while back.

The oval stones I believe are some kind of Agate this photo does not do them justice there color is a greenish yellow.  

I have no idea what I am going to do at this point in the game, but come back on April 30th and see what Christine and I created with our April pick from the gift stash.

Happy beading Y'all,

Therese

She made/She made March Reveal

Hi Y'all,

Wow can you believe it is almost the end of March!  Where is the time going? I almost did not get my pieces done in time for mine and Christine's She Made/She Made challenge, but I did get them done just in time to do this post.  

It was Christine's turn to choice what we would create with this month. She chose the bronze components created by Lesley Watts, and the 8 mm black lava rock round bead from the stash that I gifted to her. 

borrowed from Christine's blog

I am so looking forward to seeing what marvels Christine has created using the chosen components and beads.

Here is what I made with the almost same components and beads.

This necklace I chose to pair the lava rock beads with some glass beads made by Juli Cannon of Studio Juls. I used some silver plated wire to wire wrap the beads into a chain and then used some white rat tail ribbon and a silver plated heart clasp to finish off the necklace.  This necklace went to my friend Cyn for her birthday gift, she is a big Alabama Football fan.

My next piece is a bracelet I made with the lava rock beads and some serrated daggers  that my son Ryan brought back from York Beads when he went on a trip to New York, thank you Son!  I used size 8 bronze seed beads as spacers between the lava rock beads and size 11 bronze as spacers between the daggers. From the clasp I hung one of Lesley's bronze hearts.  The daggers flop around when you wear the bracelet.

I made these earrings with two of Lesley's bronze connector components and two of the lava rock beads. I also used 3mm cobalt blue crystals and size 8 bronze seed beads strung on to copper wire and hung from copper ear wires.

April will be my pick and I will reveal the pick in a few days.  Thank you for stopping in to see what I created, now hop on over to Christine's blog to see what she has created.  I know you will not be disappointed that you did.

Happy beading Y'all,

Therese