Bead Journal Project

Registration for the 4th Bead Journal Project will begin on November 8th! The Bead Journal Project is a year long project where participants create a monthly journal page using a whichever techniques they chose so long as beading is included. This is the second year I've been involved and I love it. I am admittedly somewhat behind this year . . . that's ok though! It isn't about how fast you do your projects or keeping up with someone else or comparing your work to other beaders. It's about personal growth through what you are creating, sometimes about working out problems by dumping out a bunch of beads and starting to put them on fabric, sometimes about just plain fun.

I have a separate blog where my daughter and I post pictures of our work. It's called One More Stitch if you're interested. The title actually came from a t-shirt I saw for sale about cross-stitching. A woman is stitching in her pajama's and saying "just one more stitch." Our blog was originally started to post stitching stuff but now both of us are mainly beading. Anyway. . . back to the bjp!

I found the BJP in the first year it started through my wanderings around the Internet. I visited different blogs admiring the work beaders were doing and kept thinking it looked like fun. Prior to that the only beading I'd ever done was small Mill Hill ornament kits. I've been doing embroidery, quilting and sewing for as long as I can remember but never beading. Anyway, I sent an email to Robin Atkins, who is the originator of the project, and asked about joining. She explained that they'd probably be doing it a second year and I could sign-up to join then. I am not a joiner nor am I a person who writes emails to total strangers. But I was so fascinated by this idea that my desire to participate overcame my initial shyness. There's something about working with beads that I find soothing and creative. And fun! During the first year (second of the project but my first year) my daughter was admiring all the beading and decided to join this year. It's been a lot of fun seeing her projects and comparing ideas.

You don't have to have any experience or particular skills. It's pretty easy (at my age with a good lamp and magnifying glasses) to put a bead on a needle. And don't feel you have to be "creative." I didn't think I was creative enough to come up with anything original but I have and I've learned a lot in the process. If you have even the slightest interest, just a small thought that maybe it'd be fun, then JOIN!

Below is one of my projects from the first year I participated. I was doing a piece each month based on a poem. This one wasn't exactly a poem - it's from The Cat Who Walked By Himself by Rudyard Kipling:

He will kill mice, and he will be kind to babies when he is in the house, just as long as they do not pull his tail too hard. But when he has done that, and between times, and when the moon gets up and night comes, he is the Cat that walks by himself, and all places are alike to him. Then he goes out to the Wet Wild Woods or up the Wet Wild Trees or on the Wet Wild Roofs, waving his wild tail and walking by his wild lone.