I wish I was happier with this little frog. Between the cylinder beads and the sequins, I think I missed the goal here. It feels as if I beaded all his friendliness off of him.
 Started last night to redo the lizard. At least the beads are round although they seem very large next to few 15s that stuck around the nose. The bright green color seems more joyous.

Love the belly on this frog! However, only late last night, when I had a lot more beads on him, did I realize why I was unhappy with them. The color is lovely and I love the frosted look but these beads are cylinder shaped. They don't nestle together nearly as well as the round or more doughnut-shaped beads (like the Precosia beads from Czechoslovakia). I was tempted to cut them all off but instead I stilled my desire to start over by cutting off the beads from the little lizard that came in the mail. With that animal I realized how dark the 15s are. I love using the 15s but I have to have better, brighter colors.

I think of this one as my Liberace bear. I felt he needed fingers but could not figure out how to get them on his stubby arms so I added the feathers. I still feel he needs a hat or something on his head. Thus he sits on my table awaiting inspiration.
In my eagerness to start on the new little creatures that came in the mail, I put aside the just-started frog to begin on the lizard. After several hours of beading I became dissatisfied with the blahness of what I was doing. So I laid it aside and worked on the blahness of the frog. The question today is: will I have to cut off the several hours of beading and start over or can I rescue the lizard?

Beading brings the most amazing results. Yesterday a small box came in the mail. It was wrapped, as you can see, simply in tablet paper. Inside were these two stuffed animals. They are marvelously made and designed. I cannot wait to start beading them. I have no idea of who thought of me kindly and sent these to me. My Secret Admirer is at Box 282 in Gualala, so at least I know where to send the photos of the finished pieces. This is so exciting. What a lovely way to chase away boredom. I will, I am sure, keep trying to figure out who would have sent these and where did the person get them. Thank you whoever you are for this random act of kindness.

The turtle got his shell with a bit of glitz. I was so pleased with this that I decided to do a complete beanie baby in silver sequins. I worked on it for several hours before deciding that the sequins were too big for the teenie beanie baby bear. I cut them all off and started over beading it with 11s. I really do not like beading the bears (they are soooo boring) but since I had started on this one I felt I had promised him a new life with beads so I had to do it. On my table is one of the new frogs from the 2009 set along with a baby duck. Both have no use for sequins but do go with the season.

Just got the news from Fire Mountain Gems that this entry, "Visiting Snowman" was awarded the Silver Medal (second place) for Home Decor and Dolls in the 2012 Seed Bead Contest. You can see the news on the official Fire Mountain contest site. To be included among so many great beaded pieces is truly an honor. Thanks to Fire Mountain for all the work of sponsoring this contest! I am over the moon and back to the beading tray! 

The ladybug in all her black spots glory. I had intended them to be silver sequins but these square black beads fit so well I stomped on my sequin-madness and let her be herself. Do you think anyone will notice I cut off two of her legs? I hate doing those fiddly little things so let myself do an act of violence on a ladybug.

Then I started on the turtle just so I could put gold sequins on his back. I was not happy with the jade green AB 8s on his underside but I had nothing else in a large enough quantity to cover the whole side. However, here in the photo they do not look so bad. I am so often amazed how different the color of a bead will look in the evening and the next morning. I guess that is why they make those expensive lamps that have gotten such bad reviews on Amazon. I keep thinking of getting one and then the cost and the short life of the bulbs scares me off. This way dawn is its own surprise!