The Next Generation + BAO Item of the Week

I spent the last 2 months together with Ethan! We’ve had a ball!!! We spent most of our time at my parent’s pool which overlooks the sea… it’s a hard life! ;-)

Ethan has mastered his front crawl… and I’m so proud of him!!! I love swimming and the fact that we can now swim together, rather than me following around the pool having mini heart attacks every time he goes underwater, has been an incredible pleasure!!!

He started showing an interest in photography… another of my hobbies…. so I gave him my old digital camera and he takes it with him everywhere!!! The pool, walking the dogs, the supermarket…. everywhere!!!

Then one day… out of the blue… after I received my loom in the mail… he said: “mummy I want to learn how to bead too! I want to make bracelets and then you can sell them on the intranet (internet ;-D) for me and give me the money so I can buy lots of toys!” :-) my heart melted… the next day we went out looking for a kiddie bead loom… it took me a few days to find it… but we eventually did!

here he is, hard at work making his first bracelet which will be a birthday present for his cousin Shani who just turned 4! :-)

How precious is that!!!!! I couldn’t be prouder!!!! :-)

As for me… I’m busy making the next EBW Challenge “Bollywood”….

and last, but not least… here is my BAO Item of the Week:

Cleopatra – Necklace

Purchase and pay for this necklace between now and the 26th August and receive 5% off + free worldwide shipping!

Visit the BAO blog to see all the specials our talented member are offering this week: http://beadartoriginals.blogspot.com/

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend!!! :-)

Full circle

My first experience with beads was around the age of 8 or 9 when my babysitter taught me how to make a loom out of a shoe box and how to bead on that loom. I remember making bracelets with names on them… I even used to sell them on the beach…. then, I’m not sure why or how, those beads were forgotten and only 30 years later did I pick them up again, but this time off loom.

I guess I wanted to relive my childhood… so I bought myself a loom!!!! a gorgeous wooden one!!!!!! from BeadLooms.com

I bought the biggest I could find… eventually I would love to make some beaded bags…

Let me just tell you I was so pleasantly surprised by the quality and construction of this loom!!! and by the super-professional dealings of this company!!! The loom is simply perfect!!! I love everything about it but specifically the shelf which holds all my beads underneath and allows me to move my project around my flat without any inconvenience!!! LOVE it!!!!

So, what could I have been doing since I got my loom??? beading on it of course!!!

My nephew is a guitar player… and he will be turning 18 in November, so I decide to make him a guitar strap for his birthday…. Ok, so maybe I should have started with a smaller project… like a bracelet, perhaps! :-)

here is my first attempt using Delica:

Really hated working with the Delica beads!!! I don’t mind using them when I’m off-loom beadweaving but on the loom I found it slow and painful to weave them + I wasn’t getting that rock & roll feeling… so I scrapped this one and started on a new one… using Japanese and Czech seed beads…. much better and quicker!!!

and this is what I got up to:

I’m so pleased with how this is turning out!!!! since taking these photos, yesterday, I’ve actually done some more and have finished the length of the loom… didn't know how to wrap the threads in order to make it longer, so I’ve decided to make 3 pieces and somehow connect them together once I sew them on the guitar strap… wish me luck!!! :-)

So, one part down… 2 more to go!!! :-) If anyone out there in beadyland has any suggestions for making guitar straps in 3 parts, I would really appreciate hearing them!!! :-)

For now all other projects are on hold till I exhaust my excitement with this new bead toy!!! :-)

I will post more of my process as I go along… till then… happy beading!!! :-)