catch up

right then, as usual I've left quite a gap between posts, i wish i could do this at work as that's the only time i really spend at a big computer these days, its far much easier to sit on the sofa and do my browsing etc via the smartphone, but as a result the blog and folksy get neglected.  on the plus side it does mean i may have a fair bit of stuff to share with you :-)

first things first, i can't remember if i told you who won the last giveaway (and if i go back to check I'll probably lose what i have written even if i press save lol) well it was June of charters creations.  thanks to those of you who entered, keep your eyes peeled there may be another one soon.

so what has been going on in my world?  well i haven't been made redundant yet so that's a good thing, its still a possibility but working in the railways everything takes forever, its not nice having an axe an axe hanging over your head for over a year but I'll keep taking the pay checks.  talking about work we had a lovely steam train "Duchess of Sutherland" through the station today

urgh just had a major technical hiccup, since the last time i posted there have been huge changes in the world of blogger and it really didn't want to upload my pic, had to call the in house IT support, aka Rich my boyfriend to figure out how to fix it, turns out blogger and opera aren't speaking at the moment so i am reverting to Internet explorer.

so whats happened beady wise??? well not a lot and a lot at the same time. a group of us who know each other from various places on the Internet got together for a weekend of wine, cake (thanks to Donna for the gorgeous cupcakes nom nom nom) and beading, i had intended on taking loads of pictures and doing a big blog feature on the weekend but i was too busy beading, yeah OK and drinking wine. i confess i was a wee bit hungover on the Saturday, I'm such a lightweight these days.

I've been making quite a few peyote cuffs recently in the hope that i ca eventually start selling the patterns, once I've figured out how to make them look pretty (the pattern is the easy bit) i love doing straight forward flat peyote, just need to work on my use of colours and shapes so i can develop some more picture style ones as opposed to patterns, but i hope you like the ones I've done so far.

over on the OTTBS (operation tackle that bead stash) facebook page everyone went a bit freeform crazy for a few days, including me. and i confess freeform makes my head hurt, I'm not good at mixing my beads up let alone randomly putting them places, but this is what i came up with, which isn't too shabby for a first attempt

i also set myself the challenge of completing a pattern that had me cowering in the corner every time i saw it, its called the rams horn bead in the book the art of beaded beads.  those of you who have seen the pattern will know exactly what i mean. over on OTTBS i asked if anyone had attempted it in a group with over 300 members the answer was no, well a couple of people started it but gave up.  i made two of them, that weekend and somebody else took up the challenge and made one as well.  strangely we both went wrong but ended up with a pretty close replica of the actual bead

so whats next?  well i have a bead embroidery piece on the go which i am hoping will look pretty darn good once its finished (so far so good). and I'm also working on a necklace which is involving a lot of trial and error but is proving to be a lot of good fun.  hope you enjoyed this very long winded instalment and that you join me for the next one. 

PS happy birthday Dad, love you xx

erm i'm still here honest

Hello
I'm ever so sorry that I've been absent for such a long time. life just keeps on getting in the way as I'm sure many of you will understand. To make it up to you there will be a beady giveaway at the end of this blog.

So what has been going on? Well i still work for the railway, although redundancy is a possibilty (we were first told of this over a year ago, and trying to stay positive and hopeful for so long is starting to take its toll if truth be told). I am still with my wonderfull boyfriend Richard (although I don't call him wonderful when he is tickling me!) Lenny the labrador is still with us (yet another cause of stress but we still love him despite everything) and we now have a marine fish tank, but alas yesterday one of the fish jumped out of the tank and committed suicide.

I'm still trying to lose that blasted 2 stone in weight I want shifting, and its becoming a necessity as come summer not many of my clothes are going to fit. So i've changed gym to one closer to home which is a pay as you go basis and I'm trying to go 3 times a week, i actually should have been there today but I've been doing admin at home.

and what beady stuff have i been doing since i last posted? well the main bit was Lynn Davy's warrior rings necklace that was published in Beadwork Magazine last autumn. I knew Lynn was publishing this design through following her work on various bits of the interweb and i just had to make it when it came out. Richard bought me the materials to make it as a birthday pressie (i told you he was wonderful), and this is how it turned out

i've made a few other pieces as well but i can't be telling you everything all at once now can i?

over at pintail jewellery we are nearly at 100 "likers" and I would love to reach it (and more) so to help here is the giveaway prize:

As spring is finally trying to arrive (although I've not seen any lambs yet) i have made a tuppeny daisy in bright and vibrant sunflower colours which will go to one lucky person. All i ask you to do is leave a comment telling me your favourite flower. I shall draw the lucky persons name out of a hat on Wednesday March 28th at 6pm bst (apparently the clocks change this weekend, good job i checked or I'd be late for work on sunday).

hello there!!! its me again. first things first, congratulations to nic for winning the cow print cuff that was up for offer in the last blog, that will be winging its way to GERMANY (whoo hoo look at me going all international, yeah all right nics an ex pat, does make me wonder if i have any other international followers though). it was going to be a highlty technical draw, well ok bits of paper with numbers on them, but the desk was a mess i couldn't find any paper, so i resorted to shouting downstairs and getting the other half to pick a number lol.

so what have i been up to since the last blog. erm beading!! last week i seemed to have an influx of energy and was rustling up peyote cuffs left right and centre, downside is though i burnt myself out by wednesday, but these three little beauties are what i created whilst the mojo was flowing

they were all designed by me but i hadn't got round to making them, but i finally did it and they turned out really well in the end.
i also had a play with some fimo, i haven't got the patience for it, those that make amazing beads and things out of it are pretty much gods in my eyes, i would show pics of my creations but i forgot to take any, i guess i shall save them for a slow news week.
yesterday i had the urge to make but didn't want to bead, so i got the pliers out and some jump rings and did a bit of chainmaille, considering i just used cheap rings from hobbycraft and the aspect ratio was wrong cos of the gauge of wire used for them the end results are quite cool i think

the ducky was made my helen over at lala lampwork and is a keeper i love my duckies i do.
i also bought some lovely lampies from joanne and teamed them up with some antique gold coloured findings, swarovski crystals and some random black beads that worked perfectly with what i had planned to create this

so what do you think guys? anything you'd like to see me attempt or want to know about me?

learning curves and technical difficulties

well i was supposed to write a blog last week about a learning curve i've just been on but tecnical difficulties prevented me from doing it how i wanted so i didn't blog. but i can't leave you guys feeling neglected so i'm cobbling this one together but there will be a giveaway so bare with me.
well what was i doing?
i was making up a peyote cuff from one of my chart patterns so i could list it on the fan page and then in the folsky/etsy/whatever shop when i get round to sorting that out. i'd got the beads and the clasp, but as usual i just picked a clasp that i thought would be the right size, a five ringed slide clasp (i do like slide clasps) but as i started to make up the peyote band i figured that it was a bit too wide for the clasp, so i had a think. whilst i was thinking i was browsing the forums i frequent and spotted some cuffs that donna over at delicate sparkles had done they were peyote but mounted onto a cuff blank. well i had a couple of cuff blanks upstairs ready for some bead embroidery cuffs i've not got round to doing yet (i will do them one day) so decided this was going to be the best course of action.
of course nothing is that straight forward the cuff blank was slightly wider than the peyote piece i was a fair way through making, but i figured a row of brick stitch at the end would make it wide enough. of course all the way through this i'm taking pictures of my work mat so you guys can see the progress being made.
well when i'd finished the peyote i added the row of brick stitch and i was pretty pleased with how it was looking. so i proceeded to cover the cuff blank with the ultasuede. what a palaver!!!! i'm not sure if its becuse i was using an offcut which wasn't square or it was just me trying to run before i could walk and having no patience but at the end of it all i was rather stressed out but i had a nicely covered blank apart from one tiny little crease which i couldn't get rid of for love nor money.
so then it was time to attach the peyote to the covered blank. DOH!!!!! i forgot that adding the ultrasuede would make the blank thicker so my nicely fitting peyote strip was still slightly narrow! but no worries i just had to make sure i sewed it on nice and square so it didn't look wonky. no problem that went fine. unfortunately one end is closer to the end of the blank than the other only by a rows width though.
needless to say i've learnt a lot making this and hopefully the next time i make a rigid cuff i will remember them. unfortunately the pictures i had taken are on my phone and for some reason flickr won't allow me to upload them and i can't find my cable so i'm afraid there is no work in progress pictures or of me tearing my hair out surrounded by ultrasuede offcuts but there is a picture of the finished item

which i think actually turned out really well all things considered.
so then who wants it? yes i am going to offer this cuff as a giveaway to anybody who posts a cow joke in the comments. the winner will be chosen at random at 5pm (roughly) 17th July 2011, so it doesn't matter if the joke is really cheesy its not the best joke that wins (in fact a cheesy one would win in that case cos they are my fave) and if nobody posts a comment i shall keep it for myself, but i hope people do play along
see you in the next post!!!

i have news

well its not very exciting in the grand scheme of things but i now have a page on facebook i spent yesterday getting it all sorted. its still very much a work in progress buts its a step in the right direction.

well what else has been going on? erm not a lot. although i got the coins out again recently and started making my coin flower brooches, which i always enjoy making, so much so i am in the middle of writing up the tutorial on how to make them so watch this space.

all systems.... stop

well its been a funny old time since i last posted, now that the blog ring has finished (until i join another one, because it was good fun) i guess i should blog about what i've been up to. well the week before last i had a right little production line going (i like working late shifts, gives me a bit of extra time to bead between customers, but don't tell the boss) and created several bracelets

i also made a ring

which was fun, mainly because the instructions are in japanese

and since then i've not really done anything (well there are a couple of pieces but i need to photograph them, plus it gives me something to show you in the next blog)

i have decided though that i will start listing stuff for sale over on folksy i am just in the process of working out all the ins and outs and getting better pics etc, and along with that there will be a facebook page as well. so its a case of watch this space.

introducing.... blue fairy designs

well this is the last in the current series spotlighting fellow creative types i hope you enjoyed it, if you want to see more please let me know. but who have we got this time?

we have helen of blue fairy designs yet another talented lady, who does more than dabble with glass! visit her website to see some amazing glassy creations, including jewellery, coasters, bowls and wall art, for all you facebook people you can also find her here. here are a few of my favourite pieces

i could spend hours posting pics of her work as i've not seen a bit i don't like. i hope you visit her website and the other artisits i've featured.

well i best go an do some beading so i have something to write about myself next time lol