Thoughts about joining...

Greetings to all of my fellow BJP participants. I am so looking forward to working on, and within, this very inspiring project. Thank you, Robin, for putting the opportunity into cyberspace where we could grab onto it if we so desired.

A friend of mine was telling me recently about a marvelous opportunity that had just come her way and that it had come about because she believes in NOT waiting for her ship to come in, but in swimming out to meet it instead. I was so inspired by her positive attitude that that is one of the reasons I decided to swim out to this Bead Journal Project (so to speak).

I had several reasons to hesitate. The foremost reason was that I am completely new to improvisational beading and pretty klutzy at it, too. I don't know what I'm doing most of the time and I certainly don't know any fancy stitches or even what they're called. I'm also self-employed (grow plants for a living), so in the "good weather" months I'm covered in potting soil and rarely have time or energy left for making pretties, although I *daydream* about them a lot. Still, I had to join. What a way to LEARN, to experiment, to be inspired by others! I am utterly and completely looking forward to being a part of this group project.

I'm thinking that even if I fall behind a bit on pages during the summer, I'll have many months of winter to make up for lost time. I am going to start a page each month, no matter what, and do whatever I'm able. My mind is a sea of ideas at the moment, although I know I will definitely be working small, no bigger than 4 inches by 4 inches -- my "little windows". I won't be doing a bound book form, but loose pages instead and probably loosely covered in beads. That is one of the most exciting aspects of this project -- I have no idea what I'm going to pull out of myself.

Onward and best to all,

Christi