It's been awhile since I entered one of the Etsy BeadWeavers challenges, and my entry into this one is a little out of the ordinary. The challenge theme, which was chosen by previous winner Deb (beadsandblooms.etsy.com), is Ancestral Expressions.

My challenge is that I really don't know much about my ancestry. No one in my family ever talked about ancestors arriving here on a boat, and no one ever even mentioned anything about ancestors from another country! I always had a suspicion that there might be some Native American ancestry, but I have no proof of it. That theory stemmed from seeing pictures of my great grandfather's family, all of whom were very dark complected, had those long stereotypical Indian noses, and had black hair. The surnames in my family didn't give me that many clues either -- Wilson, Sparks, Justice, James, Boggs. I only know that some of them are English and Scottish, but I didn't ever try to trace any of them. Maybe if I'd had children I'd have been more concerned with that, but since I've lopped off this branch of the family tree I just didn't ever pursue it.

So what does one create for a theme called Ancestral Expressions when one doesn't really have any idea about ancestry? My mind went to the purest form of ancestry -- DNA.

I'd been playing around with a design that had two ropes or ribbons twisting around each other, and that design was well suited to create the double helix form of DNA. Anyone looking at this might think I'm heavily into science, but that's not the case at all. Although I did well in school, science and biology were probably my least favorite subjects (I was a big fan of math and literature).

Today's the last day for members of Etsy BeadWeavers to list their entries into the Ancestral Expressions challenge, and voting will begin on the EBW blog on November 9. There are some other entries listed already, and I'm amazed at the amount of thought and talent that went into them. Click here to see the entries. And don't forget to visit the blog to vote in a few days! I'll bet you thought all the voting was finished, didn't you?

While you're visiting blogs, don't forget to check out the Bead Art Originals blog to see all the Items of the Week specials offered by our members. There are some incredible pieces included, and all sorts of great deals - just in time for your holiday shopping!

One last thing for today, November 5, 2008. BARACK WON!!! Hooray!!!!!!!!!!

HAVE YOU VOTED YET? No, I don't mean in the Presidential election, silly. I mean in the Etsy BeadWeavers July Challege. The voting opened yesterday, but I didn't get a chance to post here. Once again I'm plagued by just not having enough hours in the day. I tried to make it a little easier for voters this time. You don't even have to find one of the links to the EBW blog in this post - just click that red button over there on the left!

I also want to mention that one of the members (who I've talked about more than once here in this blog of mine) is having a giveaway!!! After you've gone to the EBW blog to cast your vote for your favorite entry, check out SandFibers' blog to see details about her giveaway. I can assure you that you won't be disappointed.

Carol Dean gave me partial credit for the idea for her challenge entry, a wonderful freeform bracelet (it's number 31 in the mosaic you see on the EBW blog). It was so wonderful, in fact, that it stayed in her shop for less than an hour before it was bought by some lucky Etsy buyer!!! I'm waiting for her to create another one... there's a rumor that she has some more beads put aside for a freeform piece. :-)

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My other news, which I should have posted about before, is that one of my button rings (a little Wagon Wheel) made it into anda's treasury and then onto the Etsy Front Page!!! Woo hooo!!!! The treasury's gone now, but I grabbed a screenshot:

The other thing I didn't find time to post about is my latest Oglala bracelet. I named this one for a beautiful type of coral called floreana. I love the way this one turned out, with all that red and orange mixed together!!

The Etsy BeadWeavers deadline for the 'Anything Goes' challenge was last night at midnight, so I scurried off this morning to take another look at all the entries. I am absolutely blown away by the variety of pieces entered and even more so by the amazing talent within this group! Just check this out! Or click here to see the entries up close in the members' shops.

The Etsy BeadWeavers Monthly Challenges are always fun, and although I had an idea for the May challenge, the Food Chain, I didn't get a chance to execute it. Several other of the members finished their pieces, though, so go check out the EBW blog and VOTE!!!

All I can say is that my idea involved these little green eyeballs, which I purchased from ValerieBeads. I wasn't really thinking of them for the challenge back when I bought them, but I just thought they were a hoot and had to have 'em!

I haven't given up on using my idea for these little beady eyes... the June EBW challenge is Anything Goes, so maybe you'll see these in another month or so.

Yesterday I posted one of my newest creations in my Etsy shop, a necklace/pendant I created using some beautiful iridescent beads and a gorgeous stone I found on the beach in Long Island. I have LOTS of stones left, and I can hardly wait to embellish more of them with beads and wire.

Now it's time to create (time2cre8, ha!) some more!

:-)

Voting is underway at the Etsy BeadWeavers blog for the April challenge, Fire and Flowers. I didn't create an entry this month, but lots of the other members of the team did. Just check out this mosaic:

It's really hard to tell just how gorgeous those are when you're only seeing them in that mosaic, so go visit the EBW blog so you can get a better look.

And while you're visiting blogs, check out Carol Dean's blog (after you've voted in the challenge, of course). She's doing another drawing! :-)

The Etsy BeadWeavers Challenge is underway, and this month's theme is RED. There are 42 entries, and mine was the last one posted! I sneaked in under the wire, and I had to post a photo of my newly-designed Red Between the Lines cuff before it was even finished. I only had about ten minutes to spare when I listed it in my Etsy shop, but I completed the beading and added the button closure this morning. Whew!

Pat (my husband) said I should only have done two hearts, but I liked it with three. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. I think this might be the fastest I've ever created both a pattern and a completed piece of jewelry. The pattern came to mind when I heard someone on TV say something about "reading between the lines," and it occurred to me that I wanted to have the hearts looking like they were peeking between blinds or something.

I didn't think I had that much Valentine's Day related stuff in my Etsy shop, but I just created a new section called Will.U.B.My.Valentine and loaded it up with everything I have listed that involves love and hearts. Well, not actually everything, as there are a few other romance-related items scattered around in other sections.

I was so happy with my little Santa-Hatted Raven at Christmastime that I decided to dress him up again for Valentine's Day. And so was born Quoth the Raven... Be My Valentine and The Raven Speaks His Heart. I've grown quite fond of these ravens.


Don't forget to check out the Etsy BeadWeavers Blog tomorrow and vote for your favorite amongst the 42 entries! You're going to have a tough time choosing.

The news of the day... The voting is open in the Etsy BeadWeavers blog for the entries into the November challenge, Caught in a Net. I was working on one piece for the challenge, but when it went awry I decided to take it all apart and make something completely different from those beads. I then thought I wasn't going to enter the challenge at all, but then Carol Dean (aka SandFibers) suggested that I enter my Twist of Lime necklace. It does qualify as netting, which was the requirement this month, so there it is.

Speaking of Carol Dean, she's doing another drawing this month on her blog. Check it out and win a gorgeous pendant!