Monday 23 November 2009

Look what the postman brought me!

Amongst all the running around from doctor to doctor… I managed to sneak into the post office  for a few minutes yesterday to pick up a package that had arrived… whilst I was running from doctor to doctor :-)… Incidentally my son is feeling much better, although he still has a bit of a fever and a bit of a tummy ache, but obviously and thankfully  the worse is over!!! and nothing could have cheered me up more than his recovery and opening up my package!!! :-) and this is what I found inside!!!

Lisa Peters Art 
Lots of gorgeous ceramic cabochons from Lisa Peters Art!!!! and trust me when I say the picture does not do any of the pieces justice! they are all so gorgeous!!! I revelled in unpacking each and everyone and then spent a good hour just sitting on my bed admiring each and everyone!!!! Can’t wait to start using them… don’t know when… don’t know what I’m going to do with them… but I can’t wait!!!!!

Check out her gorgeous ceramic and raku pieces by visiting her website or blog, you won’t be disappointed!!!!

Sunday 22 November 2009

BAO Item of the Week

A super quick post today! My poor son has been sick with really high fever (41 Degrees Centigrade) since Friday (suspected swine flu – suspected because no one can actually say if it is or not!)… so I’ve been up for the last 2 nights with him and spent yesterday at the emergency clinic and today at the doctor… a couple more days and it should be all over… and they tell me that within the next 3-5 days I should know whether I caught it or not! something to look forward to!!! :-)

So my apologies for posting this late, but here are this week’s BAO Items of the Week:

bao item of the week
My Item this week is:

Ridin’ the Wave – Bangle

Purchase and pay for this bangle between now and the 26th November and receive 15% OFF + FREE shipping to anywhere in the world!!

Visits the BAO blog and find out what specials offers are attached to this week’s items!

http://beadartoriginals.blogspot.com/

Wishing everyone a healthy week ahead!!! :-)

Tuesday 17 November 2009

Truffle Delight

Ok, so my trilogy is no longer a trilogy, as this is already number 4 in the series and am in the middle of a few others…. I obviously had low expectations of how many pieces I could make in this series… but love all of them so will carry on till I burn out! :-)

Here is the latest cuff:

Truffle Delight

and…. as I’m writing this post…. I just received the most wonderful e-mail any etsyan can ever receive…. yes!!! it sold!!! that must be an all time record!!!! I think it only had 4 views before it sold!!!! how exiting is that!!!! well look out for this style in other colours in the near future… I’m now off to pack up the cuff and prepare to post it to its new owner!!!

I’m going to sleep tonight with a HUGE smile on my face!!! till the next time…. :-D

Monday 16 November 2009

Chanterelle Necklace

Here is the third piece I made… although I have since finished another one, and started a new one… all those months of not much or very little beading, I’m sure making up for it now… I think I have about 4 projects on the go at the moment… but as of tomorrow I really need to concentrate on finishing my sister’s necklace and bracelet!!! :-)

Chanterelle Necklace

The centrepiece was beadembroidered around 2 topaz Swarovski Rivoli crystals and the necklace was beadwoven in embellished Right Angle Weave.

In the next couple of days I will post the next piece I finished and if I have time hopefully a matching necklace… so come back and check them out!!! :-)

Saturday 14 November 2009

BAO Items of the Week

This week’s gorgeous items from the BAO:

bao item of the week

My item this week is:

Black and Pearl Blossom Earrings

Purchase and pay for these earrings between now and 19th November and receive 15% OFF + FREE shipping to anywhere in the world!!!

Visits the BAO blog and find out what specials offers are attached to this week’s items!

http://beadartoriginals.blogspot.com/

Thursday 12 November 2009

Truffle Trilogy - Cuff

I promised you the second piece I made… and here it is!

Truffle Trinity – Cuff

This was definitely inspired by the piece I posted yesterday, as far as the colours go, however design-wise, not so much… and I have quite a few ideas for some variations… am very exited!!! :-) especially as during the last few months I felt so uninspired…

Obviously I’m in a chocolate-kind-of-mood lately! :-)
I beadembroidered the centrepiece for this cuff using exactly the same beads I used for Truffle Temptation but this time I used the Jet Nut Swarovski Rivoli buttons I received from artbeads.com as my focals.

Instead of beading the whole cuff, as I usually do, I decided to use the Ultrasuede as a design feature rather than just to line the inside of the cuff, and I absolutely love the contrast between the dark chocolate Ultrasuede and the shiny beads!! Am very pleased with this piece and as I said have plans to make more in different variations and colour combinations… so stay tuned!!!

Tomorrow I will post the last of the 3 pieces, come back and check it out! :-)

Wednesday 11 November 2009

Truffle Temptation

Remember I said, I’ve been quite busy beading three new pieces?…. well here is the first one!!! :-)

I received these amazing Swarovski components from artbeads.com at the beginning of September and I am so ashamed to say that it’s taken me this long to finally create something with them… but finally I did! 

Whilst I laid in bed with the flu this weekend, I had this overwhelming need to use these luscious Swarovski crystal components! I ordered an Octagonal Fancy,  a Fancy Pear and some Rivoli buttons, all in Jet Nut, a colour that I was not familiar with, but I thought would be nice to try…. well, the colour is just so gorgeous!!!! A deep, rich dark chocolate brown almost verging on black… just yummy!!! probably why I wanted to use these when I was sick, as chocolate is by far my favourite comfort food and I guess beading with this beautiful colour was what I needed! (I was too sick to go out and get chocolate ;-D)

Truffle Temptation Necklace


So I bead-embroidered around the Octagonal and the Pear shape Swarovski using these beautiful bronze-lined crystal Toho seed beads, and some yummy,  luscious  deep brown Swarovski pearls.  That was the easy part… the hardest part was trying to find the right necklace for this piece… that took me about two days of going through every magazine and book I have on beadwork before I decided to go with a lovely chevron stitch using the same Swarovski pearls but in a tiny 3mm… and I’m happy to say those two days of research surely paid off, as I’m really happy with how this piece turned out!!!

For the clasp I used one of the Rivoli buttons and then made a peyote stitched loop to accommodate the button.

As I said I’m really pleased with how this piece turned out, but let me know what you think! :-)

And if you are looking for Swarovski products, check out the extensive range  artbeads.com has.  Not only do they provide a great selection at great prices but they also offer amazing customer service, they are a pleasure to do business with!!!! Here are some links to their Swarovski products:

Swarovski crystal beads: http://www.artbeads.com/swarovski-crystal-beads.html

Swarovski rhinestones: http://www.artbeads.com/swarovski-flatbacks-rhinestones.html

Swarovski pendants: http://www.artbeads.com/swarovski-crystal-pendants.html

Yesterday, I received this lovely letter from them which included a card offering 10% discount.  They informed me that I could share this discount code with friends, family and of course my blog readers! :-) Did I not say they are great?!?! :-)

So here is the discount code: SCF10P-ARTBEADS-0424
There is no minimum order and it is valid until 31st December 2009
Free shipping to the U.S. and only $1 to Canada!
Check them out!!! I know I will be definitely placing an order very soon!!! :-)

To see what I made with the rest of the Rivoli buttons, come back tomorrow!!!

Wishing everyone a great beady day!!!! :-)

Tuesday 10 November 2009

EtsyBeadWeavers November Challenge

Voting has started over at the EtsyBeadWeavers’ Blog!!! The challenge for November is “Beauty of the Flower”! Go check out the lovely flower interpretation that the talented EBW members came up with this month and vote for your favourite!!!!

ebwc

You may have noticed (or not) that I’m missing… well I have relatively good reasons… like the flu… but mainly because I’ve been busy making 3 new pieces and a couple of orders… and I just could not interrupt my thought process whilst I was working on the new stuff… come back in a couple of days to check them out!!! In the meantime pop on over to the EBW blog and vote for your favourite!!!!

www.etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com

Friday 6 November 2009

BAO Items of the Week

Here are this week's BAO Items of the week! Visist the BAO blog to see what specials are attached to these items!

My item this week is Ancient Cuff - OOAK


Purchase and pay for this gorgeous OOAK cuff between now and 12h November and receive 15% off + free shipping to anywhere in the world!!!