Paying it Forward Beading

Paying it Forward Beading This page was created in hopes of bringing awareness to the battles many veterans & military members deal with everyday. This is my story, my battle.

Visit my website for more information:
www.payingitforwardbeading.com My name is Anita and this is my story. Retired after 20 years of military service because my unit had no idea what to do with an E7 with severe/chronic PTSD. Losing my flight, my troops and my responsibilities within a year of diagnosis was terrible and left me without a purpose, so I did the only thing I could...retire. When I

was receiving treatment for PTSD, I found that creating beaded items keep a lot of the symptoms at bay. So once I retired, it was the only thing that helped ground me. Especially since I stopped all meds and counseling. Now I craft and create in order to help me heal and to share the items with any and all. This allows me to share my story and bring awareness to PTSD and all the things that come with it. Thank you all

This works so much better than I was expecting and than what I was doing before. Lots less chaotic and more organized. ...
08/31/2026

This works so much better than I was expecting and than what I was doing before. Lots less chaotic and more organized.

Hi y'all. I know my posting has been sporadic and for that I apologize. Been dealing with pains and feeling yucky but st...
08/31/2026

Hi y'all. I know my posting has been sporadic and for that I apologize. Been dealing with pains and feeling yucky but still crafting when I can. Look at what I got done today. Cam drove me to Walmart so I could pick up these little dohickies that are suppose to be for foods but perfect for my silicone beading supplies. I got so tired of storing them in plastic bags so now I can easily plop these on the table and make bookmarks. The photos show them with the tops off and on. Each section has a topper so the beads dont spill out which is awesome.
I try to drop off bookmarks at Jumpin' Java Coffee Shop every couple of weeks for the amazing folks that visit. Energy has been the biggest issue but I get things done when I can. I got four of these thingies and hope to get two more soon because I have more focal beads that need sorting.
Hope y'all are all doing well and staying safe with all this weather. Take care of yourselves and remember to check on your people.

Hey y'all. Yesterday we spent the morning cleaning up the yard and working on the garden. The tomato bed was cleaned out...
08/27/2026

Hey y'all. Yesterday we spent the morning cleaning up the yard and working on the garden. The tomato bed was cleaned out and only the basil plant, shish*to and jalapeno plant stayed. The pepper bed was set back up and only one pepper plant is having some issues. The root ball was uprooted and it is struggling today but I will put some extra care into it and hope it helps it out. We were able to get the whole garden cleaned out. Over all four tomato plants were a total loss, a wooden raised garden bed and multiple pots. The arbor is okay but the rebar posts we were using to secure them bent badly so we put the arbor aside for now until we can find another way to secure them later.
In the mean time I will go buy some flowers for the pollinators to enjoy. The hummingbirds and butterflies have been flying around looking for flowers so gonna find something they like.
Still not feeling great but pushing through. Thanks for the check ins y'all. Love you guys.

Hi y'all. I made it into the studio and the music cannot get loud enough. Not feeling well been in pain, feeling sick an...
08/24/2026

Hi y'all. I made it into the studio and the music cannot get loud enough. Not feeling well been in pain, feeling sick and this weather isn't helping at all. Sad about the garden and still cannot get out there to put things back together or clean things out.
Thought that maybe I can try to get some craft therapy in but just came in here and turned on the music and puttering around.
There are years between events and now, years between loss and now. YEARS y'all and still seems like yesterday.
Not feeling well means my walls are weaker, defenses are down, pain means the mental walls are failing. So I am trying to craft my way to feeling better but I just want to crawl into bed and pull the covers over my head and burrow into a ball and sleep until I feel better.
Fighting is hard and exhausting but we do it. Sitting in this brightness is such a contrast to the darkness I love, its a balance and right now the balance is not easy to hold.
It is exhausting but I keep fighting and I will. Just gotta get past this like I have every year. August is hard, heck there are so many anniversaries but each year I say it will get easier but it really doesn't but I lie to myself and say it does. Just learn to deal with it a bit differently. Some years I can carry it differently than others, this year it feels heavier.

Hey y'all. Well after the storms we had yesterday I have lost half my garden. Mostly my tomatoes and possibly some of my...
08/22/2026

Hey y'all. Well after the storms we had yesterday I have lost half my garden. Mostly my tomatoes and possibly some of my peppers. The arbor holding my tomato plants tipped over completely and uprooted the plants. If it was just the uprooting it would be okay but they broke the main stem and that means the rest of the plant will not survive. The pepper arbor fell over and the greenhouse stopped it from completely falling over thankfully. I cannot tell if any of the main stems are broken but they are uprooted. We have more storms moving in so I cannot get to working on them until they pass.
This is very frustrating because there was so much fruit on the tomato plants. Same for the peppers. We have bell peppers, poblano and jalapeno peppers. Thankfully my other fruit trees made it out okay. We had a small tree fall on one side of the house but no major damage.
Hopefully once these line of storms pass and things calm down we can get out there and do a bit of clean up. So many folks have had lots of loss in the pass few weeks with hurricanes, tornadoes and storms. Continued prayers for each and every one of you. Mine is very minimal and no where near others, but its enough to bother me.
Stay safe y'all and remember to check on your people.

Here it is y'all. My butterfly tattoo that I LOVE! Thank you to Mr. Nick at Chop Shop Tattoo for making this happen. Y'a...
08/13/2026

Here it is y'all. My butterfly tattoo that I LOVE! Thank you to Mr. Nick at Chop Shop Tattoo for making this happen. Y'all know I do love the butterflies but I wanted it to have a bit more of a darker edge so we added the cybersigil tendrils.
Wanted this to curve almost around the neck but not really show up front, just kinda peek and it does also wanted it to curve around the hairline up to the back of the ear.
Still so many other tattoos I wanna get but this one I wanted to get done before the others just in case I got sick again and couldn't lol.
The pain was not that bad but I have a high pain tolerance so do not take what I say as anything. It is just a bit twingy today but feels really great. Now to let this heal so I can start planning the next one.
The house is so quiet now that the three grandkids and their parents are gone. We loved having them with us and miss them already.
Hope y'all are all doing well and hopefully this weather is treating y'all okay.
Have a great day y'all and remember to check on your people.

Hey y'all. I know I had not posted and there are a few reasons. I had not been feeling well then I had to save energy to...
08/12/2026

Hey y'all. I know I had not posted and there are a few reasons. I had not been feeling well then I had to save energy to get our home ready for a family visit, then the family visited! Loved seeing the grandkids and our DiL and of course our oldest. Got to soak up all the loves with them. They left earlier today, then I had my tattoo appointment and now I am all tuckered out.
Hope y'all have all been doing well and staying safe. Have a great day y'all and remember to check on your people.

Hey y'all. Love how these came out been working on these when I can between working on that blanket I was cutting the fa...
08/04/2026

Hey y'all. Love how these came out been working on these when I can between working on that blanket I was cutting the fabrics and putting them together in the house. I have become obsessed with them which is great because they are fun to make.

Morning y'all. Well the blanket is finally finished. She measures about 105 wide and 78 inches long. I started on this a...
08/04/2026

Morning y'all. Well the blanket is finally finished. She measures about 105 wide and 78 inches long. I started on this about a week after surgery but really started putting time into it about a month ago. I worked on it here and there after surgery but had zero energy. This took 8 skeins of blanket yarn and finished it yesterday afternoon.
Now I can take this off my project list and get to working on the other blanket on the other loom lol.
That has been in the works forever but that is the 'waiting room' project that I only work on while in...you guessed it waiting rooms.
Weather is yucky today so not feeling great not sure what my body will allow me to do. Fighting a flare and migraine so we will see what I can do.
Have a great day y'all and remember to check on your people.

Hey y'all! Today after dropping things my morning errands I went to visit Ms. Cristy with The Sewing Fix located here in...
07/31/2026

Hey y'all! Today after dropping things my morning errands I went to visit Ms. Cristy with The Sewing Fix located here in my local town of Raeford NC. Y'all if you are local you gotta go visit her. She is only open a few days out of the week so check out her website or social media.
She teaches classes and also has a place called "Artist Alley" that sells items made by crafters. So many cute things y'all. I had a great visit with Ms. Cristy and hope to volunteer to help her when I get a chance. Love her space and her energy.
If I didn't have my cardiologist appointment I would have stayed and visited a bit longer.
Thank you for allowing me to talk it up with you Ms. Cristy and hope to come visit you again.

Address

149 Eulon Loop
Raeford, NC
28376

Telephone

+19108184075

Website

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