Sunday night, while finishing the fish, I was so unhappy with the colors and how they were turning out (and I had not yet seen how jarring they are in this photo!) that there were moments when I thought I might never do another of these animals. I was bummed by the colors but also by the fact that the square edged beads fit together in the curves so badly. You can see here how I put in golden 15s to fill the gaps. I refused to bead the lips and even left part of the front fins undone in my haste to get this one off my beading tray. I tried all my home remedies for depression: chocolate, singing, Jennifer Cruise books, but my mood stayed dark. I cleaned away the beads from the fish and tossed it up on the table. One of my thoughts had been, if I do another animal there will be no color changes in it; maybe one of the all brown beasts? As I righted the fish, and delightedly found it could stand if balanced on the fins, my hand brushed "Steampunk Pussy" which I had made a month ago and thought was finished. Bu Kitty had been playing with it and I had taken it away from him and carelessly tossed on the table.

I began to sew black beads (well they did fit my mood!) around a leg and was courageous enough to add a white paw. Then yesterday I moved on to the head and I saw how much the beads enhanced the embellishments. As I worked I realized this was the direction I wanted to go with these beanie babies. I want to stop just repeating the designs or patterns in the animal but make major changes as I did here in a moment of inspiration. Suddenly no more gloom! I was blissfully happy beading on Steampunk Pussy all day. Another thing I realized was that all the brass stampings, other than the large dark centerpiece had been given to me by Brenda Sue as thank you gifts in my orders from her.