Appreciating the finer things in life...

I recently said I was making a promise to myself that I would try to stay CALM.  

Well sticking to that promise the last few days I have been trying to appreciate the small things in life... you know those little teeny tiny things that we seem to overlook... all the time!

I was tidying up my 4 year old son's toys yesterday, a task that to me seems to be never-ending... and I found something that he had made out of Duplo. When I actually took the time to look at what he made it made me laugh... and now every time I look at what he made I find my smile is as big as this little guy's. 

Admit it ... you're smiling now aren't you? 

If so then I have managed to make us both smile today... 

...even for just a few seconds...

♥

Use the Muse - a preview

Here is a little sneak peak at the feeble amount of beadwork I have done so far on my Use the Muse piece.

My overall design is going well - I just have to seriously, as they say, pull my finger out get beading and stop procrastinating. Perhaps I should make that one of my public announcements "must not procrastinate"!

When I first opened my kit I felt that the little round wooden pieces from Artbeads had a bit of a nautical feel to them so that is the theme I have stuck with.

Thankfully this weekend is the Easter long weekend where I will have 4 days away from work and 4 whole days to eat lots of chocolate do lots of beading and hopefully get this piece close to being finished as the due date is 12 April.

Wish me luck!

♥

I have made a promise to myself 

that from this day on 

I shall try to remain

Proud to be a Design Partner

I am so excited and proud to announce that I have just been selected as an Artbeads Design Partner in conjunction with Artbeads' Blogging Program.

I am the only Australian taking part in the program so I feel extremely honoured to have been selected alongside some wonderfully talented beaders, some extremely well known and respected within the beading world.

As part of the program I will have the opportunity to review products from the Artbeads range, design and create jewellery using these products and then share my creation with my fellow blogging friends.

Be sure to check out Artbeads fantastic Blog for Beaders blog which you can view here.

Watch this space for future pieces created as part of this program!

Can you tell I am EXCITED!!!

At a stand still creatively

I don't know where my creative juices have gone but I wish they would come back.

I have two pieces I need to complete within the next 2-3 weeks - one being my Use the Muse piece which I am terrified to admit to myself is going to be a huge waste of time. I have had delays on even starting this piece as I have been waiting on some components to arrive from the USA and then a bead order I was expecting by Express Post on Friday didn't arrive...grrrrrrr.... obviously not enabling me to work on the piece over the weekend. I just feel that I am not meant to create this piece.

My other piece is a seed bead bracelet I am making as part of a swap on a beading forum. I managed to get the cab beaded (after beading and unpicking it and beading it around 5 times) and am now onto my 4th bracelet as I  just haven't been happy with the results.

Ohhhhh I hate it when I feel like this.... it's smelly and stinky and makes me feel like crap...

Having a go at freeform

Well as you would have seen by my last post I am venturing into the wonderful world of  freeform beading.

Last night I sat down after procrastinating all day a busy day and got started using a pattern from my Beaded Colorways book. So without further ado here is my work in progress...

I posted this picture on my Releases by Rufydoof fan page on Facebook to gain a little feedback and most people said that they would prefer to see opaque seed beads rather than the transparent ones saying that the colours don't "pop" enough.

To be honest I was actually pretty happy with the colours I just wasn't sure about the overall design of the actual bracelet itself.

The gorgeous glass fused cabochon was made by talented hubby - isn't he clever! But shhhhhh don't tell him!

What do you think?

A fresh batch of hearty bead soup

The past few days I have been drooling over one of my new books, "Beaded Colorways" by the very talented Beverly Ash Gilbert.

Today I made my first batch of bead soup. I overcame my OCD fear of mixing my precious seed beads together in a nice big shiny silver bowl... and look how I was rewarded! A yummy bowl of soup.

Check out the results...mmm don't you just l♥ve colour!

Watch this space to see what I create from my soup!

Mmm... Passionfruit ♥

It still amazes me that these gorgeous flowers in my 

garden turn into something even more gorgeous... scrumptious, delicious 

passionfruit

Sunflower Dreams

As promised here are some better photos of my most recent piece, Sunflower Dreams.

It wasn't sunny today but at least it hasn't started to rain... yet ... so I was able to get some half decent photos.

As I mentioned in my previous post the spiral rope was a first for me as was the peyote toggle. I have to say I am pretty pleased with the the final results ♥

Beads...GLORIOUS beads!!

Look at the latest addition to my endless collection of beads...

Gorgeous turquoise and Amazonite
















Tiger's eye, Tiger Iron and natural Howlite
















Gorgeous turquoise cabs as well as Tiger Iron and Howlite pendants




















Stunning lampwork beads made by my friend and one of my favourite lampworkers, Sally from Happilyeverartist
















And something practical - magnetic and lobster clasps

Where is the sun?

I finished this piece nearly two weeks ago but due to the torrential rain and flooding we have been having here in Queensland I have not been able to take a decent photo in the gorgeous sunlight.

As I was thrilled to have this piece finally completed I wanted to share it with you so rather than wait for the rain to clear I took a picture last night under my daylight lamp and managed to get a half decent shot.

I found this gorgeous Czech sunflower button on Etsy a while back and fell in love with it immediately... so much that I bought 6 of the beauties! I was originally going to create a bracelet linking the buttons but decided to make a pendant instead.

The pendant is stitched with size 8, 11 and 15 seed beads as well as hex cut beads to add a little shimmer to the piece.

This piece contains two firsts for me - I stitched a spiral rope to compliment the piece and also made a peyote toggle! I have to say I was pretty pleased with the results and although I found the loop of the toggle a little fiddly at first I persisted and was happy with the final result.

They are predicting more rain here in Queensland so once the sun starts shining again I will take some photos of the whole piece

Let the creating begin!

It's here! 

My Use the Muse kit arrived today.

I already have a few ideas floating around my head...ok lots of ideas. I think I will sit on it for a few days but in the mean time I have ordered a few "bits and pieces" to go with the kit.

I have signed up for another challenge on a forum I am a member of so I will have two big projects on the go at once... why do I always do this to myself?

Oh well - it's always good to be kept busy!!

Look at what I won!!

I recently blogged about the Use the Muse competition which in return entered me into a draw to win this gorgeous bronze pendant   (You can read about the competition here)
  














Well guess who won? ME!!!

I cannot tell you how excited I am as I very rarely win anything! I have just been away for four rainy days on the Gold Coast and came back to a few messages congratulating me on winning the pendant. I had no idea what everyone was talking about as I hadn't had a chance to visit The Muse site so quickly took a looksee and VOILA!

A big thank you to Scarlett for randomly choosing my name ♥  Be sure to check out Use the Muse!