Milestones....

Couple of these going on this week! Both of them are also unintended consequences (I think) from the Lymphoma that was conquered (thank YOU God!) last month....so now I have a running start on the rest of my life!

The health milestone was the repair (yesterday) of a small but very painful hernia that dates back to a surgery years ago, and brought to the painful forefront by my swollen spleen earlier this year. Thankfully, this was taken care of in record time, and although it is still sore, I know it's just a blip on my radar this week, and I'll be back to total health by next week! God has blessed me so much getting me through every single health problem this year, that I know there is smooth sailing ahead!

The other milestone was more of a 'crafty' one, and one that brings me much renewed joy! All through the sessions of chemotherapy, one of the 'unintended consequences' of that was the persistent 'tingly' feeling in my feet and fingertips. The feet....is ignorable and is slowly improving, but the fingertip thing....oooh, that was a problem. I love working with tiny beads...the tinier the better. Seed beads to me are on the large end! I love Delica beads, and we are talking very small.....and I have now purchased my first tube of size 15 beads...the very smallest of all.

And, why, do you ask? Because .....joy oh joy.....the tingling has dissipated (again thank YOU God!), and now I can feel the little beads as I pick them up, and I can hold on to them, and again created little 'pretties' with them. I cannot even tell you how this just filled me with happiness! So....my test for myself was to make a couple of my little 'hope-levopes', just to see if I could...these are made with Delica beads in a peyote stitch, and in the end, there is a tiny envelope, just big enough to tuck a Bible verse into, or other tiny treasures. They are meant to be the 'focal' bead on a necklace - haven't gotten to that part yet, but wanted to share this 'milestone' with you!

Here is the first one.....made with white and grey beads....the white ones have a 'rainbow' finish on them, and the grey ones are a matte finish. This doesn't come through as well as I wish in the pictures, but the contrast in texture is very pleasing to me....I ended it with a 4 mm black diamond Swarovski crystal bicone bead....a bit of sparkly to close the envelope!

I will be attaching it to a chain (still working on the design of that), but it will hang from a corner....I like things on the diagonal!

This shows the 'hope-velope' opened up, so you can see the relative size...one can slip a dime in there with just a bit of room left over!

The second photo shows this little beaded pretty in the closed position - the weight of the little crystal bead keeps the flap closed, as well as the natural way the bead pattern falls - it folds naturally on the horizontal.

Once this one was made, I thought...hmmmm.. want to make it a little smaller! So, using less beads, and going to a random mix of four different shades and finishes of purple beads, this one was so pleasing to my eye! I love the mixture of colors - all in the same palette - in this random stripey pattern. This time I used a 'purple velvet' crystal bead as the closure, and this will be the first on to be put on a chain....a dime will not quite fit in this little guy, but Bible verses are always the right size!

Such a joy to be back working with these little beads....! More to come.....stay tuned!