Indian Summer

I decided at the weekend to follow the example of Jo at Gem Heaven and use up some of my stash before buying anymore.  I have some Indian beads which I love, I love the colours and patterns but rarely use them, I'm not sure why.  Anyway, two or three pics of some pieces I made that I hope have an Indian flavour.

I've kept the above necklace for myself (so much for using them up, hey) but I like the bracelet best.

I've reached a bit of a crossroads in my life, perhaps its what has happened to my poor hubby recently or perhaps its just my age, mid life crisis....... that makes me sound so old, I'm 45 but I don't feel it, I'm told I don't look it, my mother tells me I don't act it, not sure that's a compliment!  Anyway, I'm rambling.... is that a sign of age, like needing glasses  or not remembering what I was going to say........ what was I saying, oh, yeah, my midlife crisis for want of a better description.

I guess you could say I've always taken the easy route, I'm basically lazy perhaps.  For the past 5 years, I've sold my jewellery through the shop, well, I haven't sold it, it just sells with the minimum of effort from me, I put it on the shelf, someone sees it and buys it, job done.

Well, I'm going to try to do it myself, to sell outside of Bijoux Beads and I'm a bit shakey, in fact I'm bloody terrified! I can't afford to give up work, not now anyway since poor hubby being made redundant........ Its taken me best part of a year to reach this decision (I'm not a decision maker more a ditherer), maybe its my hubby's situation or that midlife crisis that has made me re-evaluate myself, I just want to do more.  Does that make sense, not sure it does to me even, but got it off my chest!  Going to sleep on it now.......

Just Deserts!

A sorry, sad tale to tell ;)

Yesterday, while I should have been working my fingers to the bone in bead shop I was hidden away in office on computer trawling websites for goodies!  Having found one I liked the look of and best of all it promised next day delivery, fantastic for Mrs I've no patience, I want it today type of girl, I set about ordering pretties.....................I was in a rush, one eye on the door of the shop, not wanting to get caught leaving shop looking unattended, just in case there was a master bead thief about..................I made a fatal mistake, I read the bloody descriptions incorrectly!

So, in my guilty haste I thought the column that said "quantity" was how many you got in a packet.  I will admit to thinking "woohoo, what a bargain!" and while feeling oh so pleased with myself for being so clever, I placed my order.

 

Postie arrived with a VERY small package, blimey I thought, thats been very neatly done, must have taken a bit of squeezing to get all of my order in that very tiny envelope.

I'm actually a bit embarrassed to admit to this................................ The quantity column was not how many in the packet but an indication of how many they had in stock. Have you guessed?

YEP................ I'd ordered ONE of everything.  Not feeling so clever now!

I have been making jewellery all week but no pics to show and tell. We have a new catalogue due out and I've been selected to make some of the jewellery samples for it, as soon as its been released I will be able to show you.

Wishing my friends a lovely weekend! xxx

Good Friday Day Off.

Oooooooooo, its been lovely, I've had a couple of days off work. For the last six weeks I've worked 6 days a week while my girl went travelling in Asia for 6 weeks.......Lets be honest here, 6 days in a bead shop is easy and good fun, but one day off a week is not enough to do washing, shopping and housework.........So I planned a couple of days catching up. It was lovely not too have to scramble out of bed at the crack of dawn, I managed a lay in, all snuggled up nice and warm in the duvet while the wind howled and howled.

We seemed to get all weathers today, wintery showers and hail but when the sun was out it was lovely and warm in my garden with blue skies....

One small job that shouted "DO ME" loudy was tiding my work space up. I confess to being a bit untidy (very untidy), I try to tidy after each project, I start with good intentions but.............. I found beads hidden under beads, hidden under other beads, it took 3 hours. I took a pic but am so ashamed of how bad it had got not going to show you!

Couple of pics posted on Flickr but not here, hope you don't mind too much.

Anyhow, I'd like to wish all my friends here, Jo, Laura, Kara, Izzy, Bev, Tammy, Janine, Caroline, Brandi and Bettejo a very happy Easter, hope the Easter bunny is generous with the chocolate!

xxx

"Beading is a miniature game of organizing space"

I have absolutely no idea where the above came from, I must have come across it somewhere and liked it enough to make a note of it .................................. I do that, I have a sketch pad which never leaves my bag. Its a poor tatty book crammed full of scraps of paper, color swatches, scribbles and ideas, anyway, thought I'd share.

My poor son (eldest) failed his Biology paper, second year, A Level. I suspect it was a reaction to the stress my poor DH and I have been under for the last couple of months. We have tried so hard to keep things normal(ish) for the boys but he's 18, clever and astute, perhaps we should have been more honest with him. He's decided to use his gap year to do a retake year at collage ................ level headed boy ...... but I do feel we have let him down somehow.

Pretty thing (naff picture, sorry) made by twisting wire, I love the beads and the colours in this, I was ridiculousy pleased with it!!! :)

Na Night folks x

Tagged...Twice!

Disclosure: The image was taken from a very informative site about parenting: more4kids.info

I've been tagged twice, how lucky am I. Kara of Innocent Charms, bless her, she's such a sweet person! And Tammy of Ivonnardonas Creations with the "Links Around The World" tag, Tammy is an up and coming designer, one I think we could be seeing a lot more of!

Let us all help each other out by doing each and everyone a little favor . . . building our Technorati ranks and probably our Google page rank! How? By doing this tag! ^_^ I am making this not only to build up my own blog, but of course, to build up yours as well! So tag along, and lend us your helping hands. (Copy and pasted from Tammy's blog, hope no one minds, saves typing time...)

Instructions:

1. Place your link after the list. If you have more than 1 blog, feel free to add them all here!

2. After placing your blog’s address/es, you must tag 5 or more bloggers that are not yet on the list, this is to keep the ball rolling. (Please remember to let the bloggers know they've been tagged!)

Links around the world tag:1 - Momhood Moments 2 - Business Mars 3 - A Simple life 4 - moms….. check nyo 5 - Mommy’s Little Corner 6 - Pampered 7- HappyHeart 8- Make Every Day Your Lucky Day 9- Thumbelina Creations 10- Ivonnardona's Creations 11-Jewellery Craft

In return I'd like to tag: Heavenly Jewellery, Innocent Charms (I'm going to tag her back as she's not had this one), Crafted Gems, Caties Blue, Cherished Trinkets, Bette Jo's Bead Creations, Beads By Laura and last but not least Unique Jewellery For You.

Kara's tag requires me to tell you 7 things you may or may not want to know about me, so here goes:

1. I can and frequently do spend hours in the bath with a good book, I just keep topping up with hot water, its a Sunday morning treat, and yes, my fingers and toes go all wrinkly.

2. I started dating my husband when I was just 15, I just knew he was the one for me, everyone said we were too young and it wouldn't last but 30 years on we're still together!

3. I love music, all types of music (although not too keen on really heavy rock), I'd rather have music to the telly, my bestest group is Enigma and I have to listen to them at least once every day.

4. I had an Ectopic pregnancy, it took the medical profession so long to figure out what was wrong with me I nearly died, I ended up having 6 hours of major surgery.

5. I passed my driving test at 18 but for ages refused to turn right, madness, every journey was a nightmare...................I'm still not a confident driver but can turn right without having a panic attack!

6. I collect Salt & Pepper pots, currently have about 200 sets, my husband hates them and they take me hours to dust!

7. I was born on the 4th July, American Independence Day!

Phewwweeee, hope I haven't bored the pants off you! Ok, I'm off now to tag you lot!

My Bestest Passtime!

I'm a hoarder!!!!! This picture really doesn't do justice to the pretty things that postie has been delivering to my door but I just wanted to share, you know, so you can drool with me! The red hearts from Laura are accounted for, my best friends husband has nabbed them for a anniversary present but I've got a couple more weeks to keep them for myself....... There are a couple of really lovely lovelies from Caroline which are just gorgeous and lastly a stunning set from Isabelle Anderson............... Now the problem is I must use them...........but I want to keep them for myself..................no, must use them..............must use them..........must use...........must must use them, but NOOOOOOOOOOOOoooo, they're all MINE!

That sweet person, Kara has tagged me, so now have to think of some dead interesting things about myself to tell you, might take a while, so bear with me and I'll have you sitting on the edge of your computer chair in a couple of days, lol....

A rare opportunity has arisen today, the boys have gone fishing, brrrrrrrrrr magots......and I have the house to myself. I had great plans, washing, ironing, hoovering, dusting, food shopping (shudder), cooking and so on, but oh how the bead table is calling!

Sorry, Its Been

A couple of days since my last post, well a week actually, no excuses, I've been a bit lazy and I've had yet another cold, this one has been the pits............really nasty and it has made me feel really quite poorly!! Must be on the mend now, I've just fought for and won the laptop from my eldest son......who has his own all singing, all dancing computer in his bedroom but prefers to slob on the settee with my poor ol' laptop....

An experiment with colour, I'm really not sure where the inspiration came from for this necklace and matching earrings, these are not colours that I'm drawn too and yes, its elephants again, but I was so pleased with the result, its a little bit funky, a little ethnic maybe but the different bead shapes and colours worked really well together, it looked stunning on the girl who bought it.

I saw the first spring lambs on my way to work today, so sweet, two little black heads hidden in the grass, roll on spring and some warmer weather!

Have a really good weekend folks. xx