Yep... I love my footy!

Well as some of you may already know I am a HUGE NRL (National Rugby League) fan and of course my team are the Newcastle Knights.

The NRL season for 2009 kicked off on Friday 13th March and on the Sunday the Knights played the Gold Coast Titans . Being a die hard Knights fan I had to go to the game so on Sunday, Alan, Spencer and I made the journey to Skilled Park Stadium at Robina to see my mighty Knights take on the Titans.

The game kicked off at 1.00pm and let me tell you 1.00pm on a gorgeous, sunny Gold Coast day is not the ideal time to be playing football... it was sooooo hot as a spectator so one can only imagine how hot the players were.

The Knights got off to an awesome start and were winning 14-0. Unfortunately I think they came out just a bit too strong. By the 30th minute my boys started to struggle... the heat seemed to hit them badly and the fact they had come out at full force resulted in some pretty tired footballers. Unfortunately for us the Titans were fighting fit and punished us with 3 tries in a matter of about 10 minutes.

Even though my boys ended up losing the game I am pretty pleased with how they kicked off the 2009 season.

This week we take on the Cronulla Sharks in Sydney. Unfortunately we don't have a home game until Round 4 which will be against Manly but I am confident we will come back from the loss to the Titans fighting fit and will come away with 2 points.

Fingers crossed...

Did someone say Lego?

When Alan was a boy he had a wonderful collection of Lego. Following in the footsteps of his daddy, Spencer has a wonderful collection of little boys' Lego, Mega Blocks and Duplo.

For a while now we have been debating whether, because of the size of the pieces, Spencer is too young to enjoy daddy's Lego collection.

Well a few weekends ago the Lego was unveiled! I really wish I had've had my camera handy when Alan opened the lid as the look on Spencer's face was priceless.

Alan's Lego collection seems to follow two themes - medieval Knights and Space. Apart from the little horses which Spencer spent hours playing with I think what he enjoyed the most was spending time with daddy. Alan decided to make Spencer a space ship... not just any space ship... a space ship that took him nearly 3 hours to make so Spencer really relished in spending 3 hours solid playing Lego!

We all created some great pieces. Spencer made a little space buggy and mummy made a medieval style cart.

So nearly 30 years on, Alan's Lego collection is still going strong and needless to say Spencer and daddy will enjoy many hours of fun building space ships, rockets and dragons!

I've been published!

... Well it is now official ...

I HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED!

My tutorial, Treasures of Troy, not only made it inside the latest issue (No.22)
of Australian beading magazine,
Beads Etc,
but it made it on the cover!

I was absolutely thrilled...ok I was beside myself really... when I received the email telling me that my piece had been accepted into the magazine but to have it appear on the cover... well what an honour!

I am yet to get my hot little hands on a copy but a friend of mine who subscribes to the magazine received her copy early and was kind enough to scan the cover for me!

I had originally told her I didn't want to know who was on the cover but I was literally busting at the seams to find out so I let her show me!

I have another tutorial in Issue 23 of this magazine which will be on sale in May 2009.

I am fabulous... well at least my Blog is!

I received this adorable award from my lovely beadie friend,

Belinda, from Bead Fetish.

I have to say I have adored Belinda's work ever since she joined a beading forum of which we are fellow members. I remember admiring a gorgeous pendant she created using some gorgeous buttons of which she beaded around. I remember sending her a message commenting on the stunning pendant and asking her where I could find the buttons as I was so inspired by her piece to make something similar for myself.

I am always excited to see what incredibly beautiful pieces she has created and visit her gorgeous blog, Bead Fetish, a few times a week.

I aspire to one day create pieces as beautiful and imaginative as hers... so to have my humble blog awarded by such a talented artist is very touching.

Thanks Belinda... you are a sweetie :)

Beading 101

Last week I started an 8-week beading course at one of my local beading stores. The class is considered a Beginner's Class and will involve different kinds of bead weaving techniques. The class consists of 5 students so it's an intimate little group and so far I am having a lot of fun.

Our first lesson involved making a Daisy Chain bracelet and here is mine finished piece. I created this with size 11 silvery/white beads and size 8 bronze beads.

I am pretty happy with how it turned out for my first attempt - however I think next time I will need to improve my tension. I am thinking of trying this out using size 15s and 11s to make it even more delicate. This piece feel so nice on my wrist and it is very light and sits nicely.

Week 2 was Brick Stitch and I am in the process of finishing off this piece. It's a gorgeous mix of metallic hex beads so I will post a piccie when it's done!