This year I impulsively signed up for the Bead Journal Project. I didn't sign up the first two years because I felt I didn't have enough time. I have already learned my first lesson:
There is never enough time!
Here it is, the second day of March, and I'm just now writing my first post about this project.
A Way with Words
For this project, I found a frame at Target designed for "baby's first year" with 12 little openings and 1 large one in the center. Each picture space is 2 1/2" x 3 1/2." It's perfect for my first year working on this project, as I definitely fear being overwhelmed and not being able to finish. Baby steps!
My basic design idea is to bead embroider a word on a square for each month. I'm open to the idea of additional bead embroidery and actually printing my own fabric to use, but at minimum I'd like to have 12 inspiring, meaningful words at the end of the year.
January's Dream
I chose "dream" as my January word. I picked out some blue, star-studded fabric and then I started with silver-lined beads, deciding I would fill in the pre-printed stars. I love stars, but this one felt too glittery, so I opted not to use it in the final piece.
The cobalt blue lettering choice surprised me. Aesthetically it's not a great choice; there's not enough contrast between the fabric and the beads. Emotionally, however, it felt right. I have some dreams I want to achieve this year, but they're still at the quiet, hard-to-read stage. This blending-in-blue is just right for conveying that.
I have the fabric picked out for February, so I'm going to start that this week. The word I chose for that month is (of course) "love." It will remind me to cut myself some slack when I don't meet all my goals, including keeping up with this project!