Sorry!!!!!!!!!

Let me apologise, I've not blogged for a week plus!!!! Bad blogger!!!

I had an awful cold which made me feel really miserable but I've had the best fun catching up with everyone else's news...........

Jo, I do really love that bracelet!!!!!

Kara, I'm loving your 30 day diary, fantastic idea...........

Talk soon guys!!

Sniff!!!

I have a COLD!

I ache, my head hurts, my glands are swollen, my eyes are running, I feel like POO and why oh why does my nose have to produce whatever it is that it produces in such volume!

Am I feeling just a tad miserable, oh yes I think so!

Three poor ladies are coming tomorrow for a basic jewellery class and I'm hoping that I will look slightly better than I do today, my nose is scarlet and miserably, is beginning to peel, my eyes are no better and I sound as if I'm talking in a paper bag, quite possibly the stuff nightmares are made of!

I have some pictures and something exciting to tell (well, I'm excited about it), but haven't the wherewithal to fiddle with camera and computer today and at the mo I'm just enjoying catching up with everyone else's blog

Oh, do you remember my tramp, the one asleep in my doorway, that I bribed with a cup of coffee, well cheeky so and so................Arrived this morning, got comfy on the corner, cap laid out for change and one poor poor scruffy wee dog (for sympathy value)................WELL, wait for this...........he arrived on the bus with a freshly made bacon roll and a take away cappuccino! Not doing too badly, hey...

Jumprings By The Thousand!

Its been a strange day, I arrived at work late due to the weather, stuck behind a lorry that kicked mud and muck (I drive to work through farm land) all over my car and not a whisker of a chance of getting round it, to find a drunk fast asleep in the doorway of the shop. Bless him, he had to be moved, I can't really expect ladies on a bead buying spree to step over the local tramp and his Vodka bottle so pluck up my courage I had to and after a couple of gentle nudges with the toe of my boot he eventually moved off down the path. I did feel a tiny bit sorry for him so made him a cup of coffee (to make up for waking him) but I must confess, the mug is in the bin and boy, did he smell!

And I've been asked some really really daft questions today, is it a full moon? "Do all these beads have holes in" was I think my favorite closely followed by "how many beads will it take to make a necklace" and this from a chap wearing a goatee that had been plaited "would a bead fit on the end"...............of his goatee and he wanted me to see if I could thread one on........eeekk......Yes, I think its a full moon!

Now, let me explain the picture, I know its not finished but I wanted to show off. Years ago I did a couple of days with a Chainmaile champ and I've not done anything with what I learnt since, the thought of all those jumprings, but after a couple of false starts, well you can see, I would imagine that there is a name to this pattern but it escapes my memory....

The Challenge

This is traditionally a very quiet time in our shop so we use it to do all those bloody awful jobs that have to be done, housekeeping....................and when the housekeeping is done then we get to play......so today we each had a challenge, to work with a colour that we find difficult or just plain hate, I drew the short straw, ORANGE.

I will try to get a better picture as this one is hideous, it was a quick snap as I headed out the door for an even quicker dash to the car in the lashing rain.........with no umbrella and new boots.....

The Worst Week Ever!

I'm going to share my week from hell, I wasn't going too.......................

Last Tuesday my hubby, who works nights, received a phone call and was asked if he could go in early as there was a backlog of work, he agreed. He was met at the entrance by his boss who gave him an envelope containing a redundancy letter. Sensitively handled hey.

That was it, no more work and he was back home an hour or so later, completely devastated, a victim of this recession.

I'm not going to bore you with emotions, sleepless nights and worry that turned one week into a nightmare that felt like a year............its enough to say we do not have much in the way of savings but we do have a really really really big mortgage, a legacy from 10 years ago and the negative equity trap.

After searching the Internet, papers an agencies he has today found another job, we may still have to give up our house (we've lost over a 3rd of his salary) and have a rest from the housing market for a while but so what........... I just want to say (as I know he has a sneaky look here, to be nosey) "J, I love you loads babe!"

The Cats Whiskers........................

these really are, lovely new things to play with, some are available at Bijoux and some I have just acquired.....

I have a customer who at regular intervals takes herself off to Murano, Venice for a bead buying trip and every so often I get lucky, my only dilema to sell them or keep them for myself......

I do love Rose Quartz and these are really big, as I only have the two I guess they will be pendants of some sort, I shall have to think on!

I have to confess to not knowing which semi precious stone these are, answers on a post card please or blog..... but I still love em

Czech glass, so pretty

Hmmmmmmmmmm, pretty glass hearts

Awwwwww, Back To Work Tomorrow

Thats it, back to work tomorrow, up at the crack of dawn, rushing around with lunch boxes, ironing school shirts that I should have ironed the night before and squeezing in a shower with the last (if I'm lucky) of the hot water. How blissful its been to see the boys off and then have a long, lazy, quiet soak in the bath, breakfast at 11 and I've even enjoyed daytime telly, the re-runs of Eastenders, Casualty and then a good murder mystery with Frost or Midsomer in the afternoon. Could I do it everyday..............................and miss working in a bead shop.........NOooooooo, I don't think so, new beads have arrived in my absence and I quite possibly will have to bring some home to add to my ever increasing collection, I'll post a pic for you all to see.

Earrings are at the moment the bain of my life or should I say my camera, I've made quite a few pairs in the last couple of days but my camera is not playing, it use to as you can see, these were made a couple of weeks ago, now my pictures are all fuzzy and out of focus.

Precious Present

Father Christmas was particularly generous this year but the present from my hubby and two sons was so lovely and they cooked this one up all on their own, no heavy hits or pointing in the right direction and for that reason I love it all the more.

The first little parcel under the tree, expertly wrapped in yard of sellotape by I suspect my youngest son was a plain silver snake bracelet, another 8 little pressies quickly followed by 2 lads who couldn't wait for me to open them up, so pleased with themselves for choosing this perfect present, in fact my youngest was so excited I think he would have opened them for me given the chance.

4 beautiful Murano glass beads on a silver core, 2 silver spaces and then 2 silver charms, one a sweet little penguin chosen as a reminder of cuddles on the settee watching Pingu when both boys were younger, the other a rooster because I love all things chicken.

So I'm really looking forward to Mothers Day and the next instalment!

Another pressie which I'm dead excited about came from my mother, bless her. "The Complete Book Of Glass Beadmaking" by Kimberly Adams. I've read it from cover to cover "wow", in fact think its been read twice now, once in the bath. I've made a list of basic equipment now all that remains is to persuade my hubby to let me loose in the garage with a blow torch! Think I might wait for warmer weather, I don't function well in the cold and he has to "budge up" his fishing gear. I'm one of those folks who likes to give it a go rather than go on a course or class, I lack confidence on courses and seem to disappear and anyhow if you teach yourself you can hide your mistakes! Watch this space, I might have a few beads to show off in the summer.



I have been trying all day to get some decent pics of some earrings that I've made today, curse my camera!

Finally Got It Sussed............

For the past two months or since I started this journey I've noticed that I have been in the wrong time zone, somewhere in the South Pacific, oh how I wish..........after much head scratching, huffing and puffing I've done it, back in the UK.

Busman's Holiday!

Woohoo, I've a few days off to play with my own beads, well that is after I've caught up with some much needed housework. I used to be terribly houseproud, washing the kitchen floor every night just before I went to bed but that was before two sons and a fisherman hubby, now I'm a little more laid back .............and I'm still not talking about my ironing pile. Anyway, boxes and boxes of little glass treasures to sort out and drool over, I really really didn't realise just how many beads I have collected over the years, they have become a bit unruly and need taking in hand.

I really really hate elastic jewellery, no matter how good the surgeons knot and the copious amounts of super glue its just rubbish, I really HATE it........have you got the idea that I really don't like it yet......sooooooooooooooooo, I made two today using elastic......

We (my shop) sometimes supplement our jewellery with some we buy in, Pilgrim and Hultquist to mention just a couple and well, the best selling pieces are elastic bracelets with resin beads which sell for a really ridiculous price.

So for an experiment bought myself a reel of the truly dreadful stuff and here are the results, I have to say that I quite like them but still think elastic is a cop out! These are lovely Czech glass beads that are not best shown, I think its about time to invest in a new camera maybe, with a light box, shall I start saving?

A Thank You

Its very late and I should really be in bed, I am tired but you know how it is, once you get started you just can't stop.

I would like to thank two people that I have met while blogging, I'm the "new kid on the block" and I don't mind admiting its sometimes a bit daunting and a bit of a struggle keeping up but these two have inspired me to keep at it!

So a really BIG thank you to both Jo of Heavenly Jewellery and Kara of Innocent Charms , bless you....

I might add that they are both also very talented people!! Thanks girls!!! xxx

Phew

I'm a little glad that Christmas is behind me!

I hope that everyone who visits my wee blog had a lovely Christmas and I wish you all a very happy new year!!! :-)

I've not blogged for a while, my apologies, Glandular Fever, sore throat and cough have left me feeling like poo and sadly my husband managed to crash my computer with the ipod I bought him for Christmas...................................how is a mystery, I mean you only have to plug it in and follow instructions but hey ho.

Must tell you about the "seriously posh" Christmas party, oh my god, we had such a perfect time, my generous boss must have worked incredibly hard and dare I say, it must of cost her a fortune for none of the "Bijoux Babes" paid a penny!

Bishopstrow House in Wiltshire is a beautiful country house, we arrived in thick thick fog so it didn't look quite like this, I'm told that the views from the house are fantastic.......

A picture of the suite that J and I stayed in, a Christmas treat from my boss, it even had its own wee garden.

We arrived at the appointed hour, suit, dress, makeup, hair straighteners etc etc, two overnight bags crammed with essentials, that is crammed with everything except J's posh shirt! He thought I'd packed it and I thought he'd packed it, yes, a moment of panic, quite a big panic actually. There we were. in the poshest hotel in Wilts, one very posh suit and NO posh shirt and a very very posh party looming, it could only happen to us, I was mortified. He had to tough it out in the suit with a unposh t-shirt underneath, bit like that chap from Miami Vice, very 1980's.

By the time the party had managed to wade through the Champagne reception, 4 course meal, more wine, mince pies, more wine, chocolates, coffee, brandy and the free bar, I was confident that we had managed to get away with it. The photos from the party arrived by email, strange, J doesn't appear in one!