And Then it Rained...

Having the water from a flash flood coming under the door and cover the whole floor is quite an interesting experience the other day. We saw the rain coming down and then it just poured in.This is whilst it was _just raining_ Guess who left her real camera in the car? And since the added hailstones were the size of peas, I wasn't going outside.

Here's some Photos J took of her route home.

Download Festival

Did I mention that we went to Download festival (Previously called the Monsters of Rock in another incarnation)

Friday was a nightmare. So much mud and our car needed a push to get it out of the field just like the majority of the cars that come in front of us.

Can you see where my socks came up to?

But on the next day we learnt a trick from a group who asked us to look after their deck chairs whilst they were to see a different band and took our own the rest of the time.

We stayed about this far away from the stage but still enjoyed ourselves.

And there were a few big screens around too

Must Resist! - Glass Eye Cabochons

Glass cabochons by Crimson Moon.
How gorgeous are these!

Deep Blue Sea

Wolf

Dorothy

Recycling and Upcycling

I just love colours, textures and semi precious gemstones. When I see a gemstone that I like, I try to think how best I can show it off.

I also get some gemstones that come my way when they are overlooked by others. I feel I can see the beauty in these  beads discarded by traditional makers and create a design using them as a focus.

Sari Silk and Shell Necklace

This necklace has a crack going across the top of the circular pendant, but it was actually a bonus to my design when making the freeform bail as it made for an asymmetric flat top to the pendant.

Brown and Gold Multi-use Necklace

And the majority of these beads were destined for landfill but I reclaimed them by dismantling lots of broken jewellery.

Fuschia Brooch

This is the result of searching through my pink odds and ends stash. I keep all my odds and ends in a colour themed tub and then get inspired by them to create a design.

NEXT! - Updates and Found another challenge

Ooh! I've been chosen to receive some free beads for blogging from http://fusionmusebangkok.blogspot.co.uk/ Looks like my blog might become a little more loved from now on. I've been managing to blog quite a lot lately. Who knows what will happen!

My little blog hop seems to be getting popular which is good news. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone makes, as well as seeing how my own creation turns out. I've bought my item to recycle already and have a few vague ideas on what to do with it.

I noticed that there is a Crazy Quilt Mixed Media Challenge.


The Challenge is to make a piece of jewellery made using this photo as inspiration using a variety of materials. I think I might be up for that :)

Thrift Store Blog Hop

I was at the Charity shop yesterday to buy some supplies to make some more thread wrapped bangles for my shop as I only have a couple of them left now.

And whilst I was at the store I realised how amazing some of the stuff there was and how fun it would be to turn some of the finds into jewellery. You can choose whatever you want as long as it is in budget from a thrift store. You can buy a piece of jewellery and take it apart, or a piece of clothing for the buttons or fibres, or something else. Just use your imagination.

So here's my blog hop challenge.

Thrift Store Blog Hop

• Sign up for the Blog hop here leaving your name and your blog website address
• Go to the thrift store/charity shop and buy an item for less that £1 ($1.50 approx at at the moment)
• Take a photo of the item when you get home 
• Take an "in progress" photo
• Take a photo when you have finished making your item
• And blog about it on Saturday August 4th.

Don't forget to include links to everyone else taking part in the blog hop so that we can all blog hop together :)

Participants so far:-

Sarah - www.pookledo.blogspot.co.uk
Deb - http://greenshoot.blogspot.co.uk/
Kimberley - http://goddessesandbeads.blogspot.co.uk/
Skye - http://skyescreativechaos.blogspot.co.uk/
Ambra - http://chicandfrog.wordpress.com/
Beti - http://stringingfool.blogspot.com/
Emma - www.apolymerpenchant.com
Shelley - www.shelleygrahamturner.blogspot.com
Tammie -  http://ttedesigns.blogspot.co.uk/
Leah - http://beadyeyedbunny.blogspot.co.uk/
Denielle - www.somebeadsandotherthings.com
Keri Lee - http://www.pinklemonade.typepad.com 
Rochelle - acreativechelle.blogspot.com
Pam - http://pamelas-studio.blogspot.com/
Ingetraud - http://ingetraud.wordpress.com/
Audrey - http://esperianterra.blogspot.com/
Julie Anne - www.thepeacefulbead.com
Sharyl - http://www.sharylsjewelry.blogspot.com
Micheladas - http://micheladasmusings.blogspot.com 
? -   http://thecreativeklutz.blogspot.co.uk/
Kala - http://maybejustperhaps.blogspot.co.uk/

I am a Bead-a-holic

My stash of beads has reached a near critical mass. I'm sure G would say that happened a long time ago.

I'm wondering if I admit to what I buy on my blog I will slow down my rate of buying, or will it just enable others to buy too!

But I'll give it a go.

Thursday I bought 4 strands of beads from Beads Direct (where I work as a packer making kits and packing orders, and some time designing the occasional item.) They have a £1.50 a string promotion on at the moment and I couldn't resist a few strings.

I bought:-

Small Crystal Quartz Chips

 

 

Red Jasper Chips

Red Aventurine Chips

 

 

Yellow Turquoise 6mm Rounds

 

And then this morning, after reading about Wingsmith2010 listing glass cabochons in her shop on her blog, I bought 2 of the 3 she had listed for sale.

I brought the gemstone chips home with me, and will hopefully receive the cabochons soon! I'm not sure what I will make with them, but they were just so pretty, especially the skull one. I couldn't resist!

Blog Hops and Challenges

I really enjoyed the Toolbox Blog hop challenge and have also signed up for the Bead Soup Blog Hop too!

So I thought I'd enter another jewellery making challenge at Fusion Muse

Free Beads for Blogging

Anyone else fancy joining in?

Pondering Readership

I see competition on the blogs I read ll the time, so though it would be nice to run one myself. But thinking about it I'm not sure I have enough readers to run one.

Or maybe I'll do a blog hop.

I'll have a think...

Wordless Wednesday - Inspired by Peacocks

Tutorial Peacock Necklace - Beading pattern PDF by Ellad2

Watercolor Teal Peacock Painting - JessicaIllustration

Laptop Case 13 inch MacBook Pro Sleeve in Peacock

Unusual Faceted Glass Bracelet - by JoJosbeads

Red Peacock Feather Print Chaise Longue

The Single Vegan Cookbook and A Prize!

I go so annoyed by a book I was reading the other day. Whether it just touched a raw nerve or whether it was as offensive as I found it, I'm not sure.

I'm not really one for religious debate, and don't really have a religion as such, but I like to learn about different ideas.

But the author said that being overweight is as much of a sin as being a drug abuser in the eyes of God.

Pardon?

And then I stopped reading the book as I couldn't face it any more.

But I guess it did the trick in a way as it got me cooking healthier food again. I have a  stack of vegan cookbooks all lined up with ingredients bought for meals this week. I'm not actually vegan, just vegetarian who really needs to cut back on the cheese as I love it but it doesn't love me.

So for Sunday's dinner we had the first recipe from this cookbook.

Not too bad at all. I was quite impressed by the smoked tofu. I've never really liked tofu unless it's been cooked, but this stuff was great! I haven't eaten meat for years so my palette is totally off when it comes to what meat tastes like. but this reminded me of pepperami with a non-grisly texture. Smooth but smoky. I think I'm going to try it on a sandwich next as we have half the pack leftover from the recipe.

And in other news, I won a competition!

Remember the Toolbox challenge blog hop I took part in for Fathers day? Well Skye blogged about how successful the blog hop was and I have won a prize!

I'm sure I'll blog about it when it arrives!

Wholesale Order to Go!

When I got in on Friday an email was waiting for me asking if I could post out a job lot of earrings.

Of course I can. Woohoo! I like it when I get an order like that.

So I got my pliers out and started making.

All lined up to make sure there is a nice range of colours and materials

A close up of a few pairs

Bagged and labelled with a card saying what each bead is made from

And off they went to their new home by first class post this morning!

Creative Chaos Blog Challenge - Geek Inspired!

Skye at Creative Chaos Blog set a challenge at the end of May in Honour of Fathers day.

"Raid the tool box, the junk drawer, or visit the hardware store to use up some of your pocket change ;) Then make a piece of jewelry out of your toolbox find / hardware store purchase and share it in your blog on June 16th."

 I asked G for some random "manly" junk I could upcycled and he gave me a grip-seal bag containing this.

 

My first thought on this bags of goodies was to make a rainbow bracelets but when I looked in to my stash of findings, none of my ribbon clamps were the right size.

Then I checked out the resistors but I couldn't get them clean enough. They were a bit rusty and dark in places. I'll look into how to clean them for the future though as I have some idea of what to make with them.

So I carried on with the bit of circuit board. I found I could cut it with my wire cutters which was a good sign and it didn't leave a sharp edge either. Bonus! So I even off all the edges and cut it in half so I could make two pieces from it.

I glued on a vintage escutcheon that I bought from a  vintage shop then wired on round tigers eye beads and some bronze tone butterfly connectors. 

I improvised a way to connect the cord by making spirals from the same wire that I made the eyepins from and clamping the cord ends in place.

Then onto the next piece of circuit board! I just love the patina on these keyholes!

And I thought I'd see what a similar pendant would look like with a chunky vintage style curb chain.

These are nice simple earrings using what I think may be LEDS? I've threaded patterned bone beads onto the wires that came out from them and used them like ball ended headpins for a quick fix pair of earrings.

Etsy is down at the moment but I'm hoping to get everything listed later today when I'm sure the glue has set properly and when Etsy is back up again after it's scheduled maintenance.

 Other Participants doing this blog hop challenge are:-

Skye - http://skyescreativechaos.blogspot.com/

Marlene Cupo - http://amazingdesigns-marlene.blogspot.com/

Pookledo - http://pookledo.blogspot.com/

Julie Anne - http://www.thepeacefulbead.com/

Shelley Graham Turner - http://www.shelleygrahamturner.blogspot.com/

Leslie Wayment - http://www.aabeadsonline.com/blog/

Sherri Stokey - http://www.KnotJustMacrame.com/

ingetraud - http://ingetraud.wordpress.com/

Dyanne Everett-Cantrell - http://deelitefuljewelrycreations.blogspot.com/

Keri Lee Sereika - http://pinklemonade.typepad.com/my_weblog/2012/06/something-from-his-world-blog-hop.html

Shaiha - http://shaihasramblings.blogspot.com/

Check out what they have done for their fathers day inspired challenge!

Wednesday Wishlist

I've been doing far too much spending these days for someone who is wanting to declutter...

So here's a Wishlist Wednesday. Things I'm tempted to buy

Bindi - Mixed Media on Canvas

Whimsical Painting - Art Print

Grandpas Garden I - Print

Blue Orchid Yarn

LUNA - Custom made shoes

Zombie Mummy T-shirt

Hathern Carnival Photos

Had a lovely day at the Carnival yesterday and actually managed to take some photos for once. I really do have to get in the habit of taking more photos!

Me in pink with Jo from JojosBeads

A selection of my wares

And some of Jo's

And I think this gorgeous creatures has to get the award for cutest dog of the day. I just love his red white and blue hat! I couldn't resist taking a photo. Can yous ee the cute baby with a sleepsuit with ears on in the background too?

More photos of some of the great stalls I saw and brilliant people I met coming soon...