Skyes Creative Challenge! #2

I signed up for Creative Chaos Design Challenge #2 a while back and have been waiting for everyone to report in that they have received their parcel so it's time to blog about what I received!

How's that for a selection! *grin*
I think my favourite pieces have to be the bark

And this big metal piece.

Come back for the reveal on Saturday!

Bead Soup Blog Hop Reveal Day!

It's finally Bead Soup Blog Hop reveal date!

There is a list of other participants http://lorianderson-beadsoupblogparty.blogspot.com/2012/06/participants-of-6th-bead-soup-blog-party.html

Feel free to start at the bottom, middle, and anywhere in between and not just start at the top as you might get overwhelmed.

But whatever you do, Check out what my Bead Soup partner Terri made at http://terrisbloomingideas.blogspot.co.uk/

I had a little bit of trouble with my bead soup. It took 3 weeks to get to Terri! In the mean time, I sent her a spare soup as I was worried it had got lost in the post. The day I posted the spare soup, the firs soup arrived! So Terri was very generous and sent me another soup. You could say it was a second helping!

I started off making my challenges pieces with the first batch of soup.

And these extras

I have to admit the focal left me stumped for quite a while and I love the clasp which I really wanted to do justice.

So I started with the peacock colour foiled glass beads from the soup and the two hole silver spacers from the pack of extras.

I found some AB coated Czech glass faceted beads in my stash. I actually bought them with a voucher I won by getting published in a beading magazine and have been waiting for a  project to use them in for a while now.

Then I had a play around with some of the Royal blue faceted glass with some wirewrapping and a crystal slider.

I was very happy with my two finished pieces but I still hadn't used my focal or my clasp!

And then Soup two arrived.

And along with it came a pack of extras and a thankyou card. Which let me to to making a bracelet which I am so going to keep for myself!

Most of the green crystals came from Skyes Creative Chaos which I won for taking part in her Toolbox Challenge. Don't they go so well with the glass pearls ad seashells Terri sent me?

And I think the clasp is so cute!

Next job was to use my focal. I was a bit stumped by by peacock inspired focal but has lots of ideas for the shell focal.

After mt seaside themed bracelet, I went for a flower theme necklace. The shell focal called for it as the silver decal design on it was so pretty.

The trumpet flowers were in my bead soup as were the glass pearls I attacked with headpins to make the flower centres. I felt it needed a little something extra to make the necklace due to the size of the focal so added some white lucite flowers. nice and lightweight too so that it didn't make it any heavier. It's a good weight now. It hangs just right :)

Despite trials and tribulations with the postage system and wotnot, I've had a great time with this Blog hop and hope if you read this far you'll add my to your blog reader and stick around. :)

More Bead Soup!

My second batch of bead soup has arrived! (It's complicated, but I have two lots of bead soup from my generous partner. Bonus!)

And a pack of extras with a thankyou card.

And a beautiful handmade bag charm in my favourite colours.

Thanks Terri for being the best Blog Hop partner ever!

Secret Hermit

I had a bad day at work so decided to treat myself.

And I treated myself to a painting from the Secret Hermit so I knew what was going to be in the parcel when it arrived, but I didn't know exactly how beautiful it was going to be!

And inside the wrapping

And I got an extra surpise too. A free notecard!

That made me very very happy :)

A Free Weekend...

Well not quite. We had 4 invitations for things to do on Saturday. But the week was pretty stressful we stayed at home. (I always know how stressed out we've been by how many days we haven't crossed off the calendar. 12 days not crossed off. Quite a biggie)

Every since G's dad passed away our house has been filling up with bits and pieces. And to be honest, I'm such a hoarder in the first place there wasn't that much room to put things in anyway.

We found a dog rescue centre that was looking for blankets and bedding so the 4 bins bags full that were siting in the car had a good home to go to. Only problem was the limited opening hours, but we woke up in time to get there so all 4 bags were donated in person along with a carrier bag of cleaning fluids which they said they could use as well.

So as a treat I decided that we'd visit the local farm shop to buy our veg instead of going into town. Some days I really don't want to have to deal with crowds and the farm shop seemed to be a great alternative, with the added benefit of buying British grown food too.

Not bad for £6! And everything was in paper bags too (apart from the cucumber and lettuce) so I have some bags I can throw my vegetable peelings into which can be thrown straight into the composter.

Next G took advantage of the sunshine and mowed the front and back lawns. They have gone a bit loopy since I scattered weed and feed on them a couple of months ago. I took the quiet time as an opportunity to do a bit of beading for my Bead Soup Blog Hop challenge.

Then today, I sat in the garden on a blanket and did some reading.

First I finished a book I've been reading for a while.

Then a cartoony type book. It made me cry!

And then two Choose your own adventure books. I used to read them as a kid, so when I saw these ones at a bookcrossing meet I just had to pick them up and bring them home with me.

 

Then in the spirit of my decluttering, I listed them as available on Bookmooch to see if anyone else wanted to read them who I could do a trade with.

August 18th - Mixed Media Challenge

So I started my experiment for the Mixed Media challenge here.

The challenge stated:-

"Just like a crazy quilt, this challenge is to use a variety of materials, designs & colours to create a unique one-of-a-kind piece.  Step out on a limb, dare to try something new & adventurous."

I started by crocheting a ruffle bib onto a choker wire using vintage embroidery silks.

Then after sewing the ends of the threads in, I decided it needed something extra and I was inspired by peacocks.

And I added some vintage acrylic cabochons that I bought from Etsy whilst someone was having a destash a few months ago and ended up with this!

And now listed for sale at https://www.etsy.com/listing/106335807/peacock-inspired-crochet-choker-vintage

Reveal 17 August Link Challenge Reveal - And a Giveaway!

A few weeks ago I signed up to the Link Challenge set by Charming Peggy.

A short while later I received these tortoise acrylic links in the post and started having loads of ideas of what to do with them.

First of all I started crocheting links to go between each acrylic link but it didn't quite work out as I was being very impatient so I decided to go for a bit of wire wrapping to get my first easy win.

It took me a while to figure out how to attach the links together, but when I was playing with them in the canteen at work my colleague just started playing with them and slotting them together. I felt so stupid! They are so simple to use. There is a slot on each link which you just put next to another slot and just push them together!

As you can see, I made 3 drops by slotting the acrylic links together and wiring them onto a gold choker. The acrylic rounds in between came from my Beads for Blogging parcel. They were a perfect colour match!


After my "Quick Win" I decided that I would go back to my crochet idea but amended it slightly. Instead of making a acrylic crochet link hybrid, I went for a nice dangle pendant.

I crocheted a strip of single crochet to make a bail for the acrylic link, then added lengths of single crochet with gemstones chips in sandy beach colours to make a tassel. This so reminds me of the seaside.

Why not see what the rest of the participants made with them?

Ilenia Ruzza - http://ile1974.blogspot.it/

Shelley Graham Turner  -  www.shelleygrahamturner.blogspot.com

Tania Spivey -  www.moobiegracedesigns.blogspot.com

Ambra Gostoli -  http://chicandfrog.wordpress.com/

Kashmira Patel - http://sadafulee.blogspot.com/

Linda Florian - http://lilysofthevalleyjewelry.blogspot.com/

Jami Shipp - http://celebratinglifewithdamamashipp.blogspot.com/

Terri Gauthier - http://terrisbloomingideas.blogspot.com/

Miranda Ackerley - http://mirandack.com

Mischelle Fanucchi  - http://thesecretlifeofmicheladas.blogspot.com/

Mary Govaars - www.mlhjewelrydesigns.com

Sarah Goode - www.pookledo.blogspot.com

paula hisel - http://simplybeadiful.weebly.com/simply-stated.html

Shai Williams - http://shaihasramblings.blogspot.com/

Jennifer Reno - http://jenrenjewelry.blogspot.com/

Kay Thomerson - http://kayzkreationz.blogspot.com/

Denielle Hagerman  - www.somebeadsandotherthings.com

Janeen Sorensen  -  http://wildvanilladesigns.com/

Emma Todd  -  www.apolymerpenchant.blogspot.com

Audrey Bélanger  -  http://esperianterra.blogspot.com/

Michelle Andrade  -  http://micheladasmusings.blogspot.com/

And if you have read this far, I'm offering a pay-it-forward to the first person that comments saying they would like some links. I have a few left so I'll post them to you as a pressie. A blog about them would be lovely though if you win :)

Rachell's Crochet-a-long

I seemed to have joined my friends Crochet-a-long. How did that happen when I already have a blog hop and a creative challenge still to do? As well as trying to destash some of the items I think I may never use, and wanting to get some of my handmade beads online? *laughs*

But I have and here is is!

 

We're starting from block one in the book and working our way through.

 

When will the CAL start?:

 

On the 1st of September onwards

 

I've just bought the book for £7 including shipping on ebay.

 

Anyone else in?

Too Many Ideas

Too Many Ideas on Etsy

 

 

This is me at the moment. So many different ideas of what I could do but I'm really not managing the majority of them. I'm plodding through a few of them so I a actually making progress, but i see the amount of things I'd still like to do and it slows me down.

Things should get better from now on though as G finished his latest big project on Friday, and I've only got 2 blog hops left to finish making pieces for.

And after that I'll be home free...

Apart from the cleaning, tidying, decluttering, unfinished object box.....

More Makes

Here's some more of what I've been making recently.

Silver Pagan Charm Bracelet

Amethyst and Peridot Cuff

Spider!

I have to admit to catching spiders to take them outside, but I'm not good at taking them outside so I leave them in the glass until someone comes in who can do it for me. I get scared that the spider will run out of oxygen in the glass so I prop the glass up a little with a matchstick so that the spider is still inside the glass, but has enough air to breathe. Very silly I know but it makes me feel better.

I'm not the only one who gets scared of spiders by a long shot. I make these little fellas for my craft stall. I get at least one comment from someone who is scared of spiders at every show.  But even more comments from people who are intrigued.

 This little fella is made from magnetic hematite and glass seed beads. I found him stuck to the side of my computer one day. He scared me to death!

Ps. I'm glad i was decent when i took this photo! I'm visible as a reflection in his body, and on his head!

What I sent my Blog Hop Partner take two!

The first parcel of Bead soup didn't arrive with my partner. BooHoo!

(Edited to add. it has arrived. Woohoo! but on the day I sent the replacement bead soup. Typical huh?)


So I made a new bead soup to ship out. The wonderful Lori let us change our blog hop date so that my partner had enough time to create her piece with the new bead soup and we could still be on the same blog hop date.

And here's the new bead soup I sent out!

Orange cats eye glass hearts

Orange crackle glass beads in various sizes

A silver 3 strand clasp

Dyed yellow feathers. I just love the markings on these!

A pendant focal from a vintage piece of jewellery I dismantled.

Large acrylic leaves (I know my partner doesn't work with acrylic much so put in a curveball which isn't an essential item to use to complete the blog hop)

And a bag of extras not pictured here to make up for my first parcel going AWOL.

Have you heard about BOB?

"BOB: the underground craft festival is a brand new event that aims to celebrate the indie crafters across the UK.

Taking place at the Agricultural Business Centre, Bakewell on 22nd and 23rd September 2012, BOB will be showcasing talented craftspeople from Cumbria to Cambridge, covering as many different crafts as possible.

Also included at the show: Etsy Live (North), the best of the indie craftspeople around, food and music!"

 Check out details at http://undergroundcraft.wordpress.com/2012/07/14/tickets/

I'll be there with my stall. hope to see some of you there!

I Got an Award!

The lovely Liz from http://lizmakesit.blogspot.co.uk/ gave me an award! The Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award:

And as the award goes, I have to nominate 5 other people to get this award and says 7 things about myself.

I nominate:-

Jo's Bunkem for her services to making shiny things

Sandy at http://skyescreativechaos.blogspot.co.uk/ For her services to keeping blogs running with her great challenges

Rachell at http://thelittleroomofrachell.wordpress.com/  for the speed in which she mastered crocheting

Rachel at http://adressisforlife.blogspot.co.uk/ for the pretty clothes that she reviews

Angela at http://ohsheglows.com/ for the food porn and great recipes.

I'm not too sure what type of stuff people would like to know about me. I onyl really write about what I've made recently so here goes!

1. I work for a  bead company packing orders in the warehouse and making kits at the moment, but I have done numerous random jobs. I have sold botox, worked in a factory making toilet seats for elderly and disabled people, been a barmaid, made pom poms, been a dressmaker, and a bookseller.
2. I am addicted to making things and learning new crafts. 
3. If a book or film is popular, then it puts me off being interested in it. There are so many less publicized works out there that deserve love.
4. I can't remember the difference between Star Wars and Star Trek apart from the font of their logo.
5. I hoard things because one day they will  "come in handy"
6. I used to be a Brown Owl and have been an adult leader with Rainbows, Brownies, and Girl Guides. I'm a qualified play leader for the age group 4 to 15.
7. When I'm stressed out, I crochet blankets. Big double sized bed blankets in one piece which are the warmest blankets ever and will make me go to sleep even if nothing else will.

Anything I missed that you'd like to know?

Dreaming Girl Treasury

I've just been included in the lovely treasury full of beautiful patinas and natural materials. A pleasure to be associated with such people!

 

 

 

30% off - Haleakala - Landsc... LupenGrainne $21.00	Authentic Beach Pottery: Vin... TheJetty $5.00
Ginkgo Verdigris Patina Bras... etco $16.00	8 x 12 Multi-Colored Maine R... LemongrassArt $22.00
Suspended - terracotta & pea... LAccentNou $69.00	Japanese Maple Seed Earrings... PatrickIrlaJew... $148.00
Rusty Unfinished Dream 12x12 TheGreenTongue $25.00	Vintage Lock Escutcheon with... Pookledo $14.00
dreaming girl GonzalezIronwo... $410.00	Soulful Dreams Art Basket johnsbasketcas... $400.00
Verdigris Patina Bead Mix LemachiDesigns $6.50	Living Jewelry Pendant Keeps... Copperhead $24.00
Airplane Wings Flying Machin... KristenVanPatt... $45.00	Shears and Clippers Switchbladeand... $30.00
Contemporary Art Print Littl... ContemporaryEa... $15.00	Magic corner photograph 5x7 LAccentNou $15.00

Treasury tool supported by the dog house