Lampwork pendant giveaway!

Lori of Pretty Things is giving away this gorgeous pendant.

A stunning lampwork focal adorned with pretty, sparkly Swarovski crystals... what would be nicer than winning this beauty?

All you have to do is visit her blog and leave a comment ...how easy is that!

So what are you waiting for... one of us has to win it so if it isn't me it should be you!

I'd love to say I didn't miss it but...

Well as you would have read in my Bead Soup Party post I have been without the internet for 3 days... 

well nearly 4 days to be precise. 

We actually thought our internet service provider was down  so we rang them ...nope all was ok at that end... then my hubby thought it might be an issue with our modem...nope all ok there... it turns out that it was a glitch with Safari. My hubby downloaded a new version of Safari and for some reason it seemed to block our router every time we tried to connect to the internet. 

Anyhoo nearly 4 days later the problem is solved and I am back to using Firefox again... unfortunately I have lost a lot of my bookmarks as they were all in Safari and every time hubby tries to re-install it the internet stops working... weird... but one of those things I guess!

 I'd love to say I didn't miss having the internet but I was going stir crazy. Apart from my Bead Soup Party pictures being due on  Saturday... talk about fantastic timing...NOT... 

I really missed being able to check my emails, my blog, everyone else's blogs not to mention watching a movie and wondering where on earth I had seen that actor before and being able to instantly find out on the International Movie Database. 

Hubby kept telling me I could use the internet on my mobile phone if I was THAT desperate... I didn't ...so I guess I wasn't "that" desperate.

Anyway it is nice to be back in the land of the wide world web... my life feels complete now!

~~ UPDATE~~

Well I managed to post my Bead Soup Party pictures when about twenty minutes later my hubby came out of the study with a look on his face like someone had just died...

HE KILLED THE MODEM!

He performed an update on the modem and completely killed it so until about half an hour ago we were again without internet.

He has now bought a nice modem and assures me all is A-OK so hopefully you will hear from me again soon!

Bead Soup Party...my day to PARTY!

Well today is Monday and my day to share my Bead Soup Party creations was actually Saturday. Unfortunately I have had no internet access for three days...aarrrgghhh yes I know!

So without furtherado here are the pieces I created

The Soup

 Bronze necklace

Tree of Life

 Bracelet

 I am really happy with the pieces I created with my favourite being the Tree of Life necklace. 

I have never really worked with copper before and I love the combination of the copper, the Czech glass beads and the mesh covered copper beads.

Many thanks to Dale for my soup and big thanks to Lori of Pretty Things for organising the Bead Soup Party!

Be sure to visit the other bloggers who were partying along with me today!

85. Melissa, One-Eared Pig Beads

86. Rebecca, 2SistersBeadwork

87. Karyn, Releases by Rufydoof

88. Denise, Bling on the Blog

89. Doris, Glaszwerg

90. Megan, Churchy & Her Sailor

91. Jo, Daisychain Designs

92. Jen, VanBeads Jewelry and Design

93. Kristie, Artisan Clay

94. Jess, Vintaj

95. Suzann, Beadphoria

96. Sharon, Sharon's Jewelry Garden

97. Michelle, bMichelle

Ahhhh that's better....

Further to my post below about entering my pieces into the Royal Queensland Show...

I am delighted to report that I have just got back from delivering my two pieces and the whole process was extremely professional, organised and very official.

  

Both of my pieces were labelled, entry numbers and my name were recorded and every i was dotted and every t crossed!  They even made a note that my pieces were delivered with two display busts so that they would be returned to me.

I could see lots of glass display cases and the lady told me that all of the entries are displayed in the glass cabinets which are locked so my much loved necklaces will be safe and sound, won't be touched by lots of icky sticky fingers and cannot be stolen!

Ohhh I cannot tell you how much better I feel now knowing my pieces will be looked after! 

Now all I have to do is win a pretty ribbon!

Feeling a little nervous...

Well I have just finished packing my two pieces I am entering into the Royal Queensland Show as they need to be delivered to the showground tomorrow... 

...and I have to admit that I am feeling a little nervous about the whole thing.

I am not nervous about whether my pieces will place and win themselves a pretty ribbon... I am nervous about how my pieces will be looked after. 

I was on an Australian beading forum and a fellow beader was saying she entered some of her work into her local show and she had to pin her work to the busts as people had been trying to steal some of the pieces.

WHAT THE?

Seriously I honestly think I would go into cardiac arrest if one of my pieces went missing. 

I hate to think how many hours went into Fingal Frolics ... 

Between making all of the glass fused cabochon and the actual bead embroidery itself ...

...well I can't even begin to imagine how many hours of beading went into that piece. 

The small starfish alone took a whole week each to bead.

I have to admit after Treasures of the North Sea winning a category in this year's Use the Muse competition...well I kind of have an emotional attachment to this piece now.

Anyway I guess I just have to trust the general public and be assured that my pieces will be ok and try not to worry too much between now and 16 August when I am able to go and collect my pieces...

Ohhhh it's going to be a very long 8 weeks.

Summertime in a Winter Wonderland

It's hard to believe I am working on a Summer themed piece when it is cold and frosty here in Australia. 

But the latest theme for the Artbeads Blogging Program is 

Summertime 

and check out the awesome collection of beads I ordered and received a few days ago!

I ordered a gorgeous selection of czech glass beads in 4mm, 6mm and 8mm, some adorable Swarovski stars and teeny tiny fish, super sparkly Czech glass roundelles and seed beads. 

But I think my favourite item is the cute sterling silver fish clasp.

So here is what I have come up with so far. 

The cab is one of my own glass fused cabs I made a few months ago for a seaside challenge.

What do you think of my colour matches?

I have a few pieces to finish off for the Bead Soup Party 

so watch this space to see this one 

finished!

Cooking up a storm!

As you know I recently bought myself a slow cooker so for the past week I have been cooking up a storm! 

As well as using the slow cooker I have been trying out some new recipes as I seemed to be cooking the same old things for dinner week in and week out.

So here is what I have made this week

Asian Beef & Vegetable Casserole

This one was quite tasty but I think it could have probably done with some potatoes or something else as it only really had carrots, beans and onions in it but you could really taste the star anise!

Mediterranean Lamb Shanks

I was so keen to eat this dish that I completely forgot to take a picture of the final product which is really silly because I managed to take a picture of every other stage of the cooking!

This one was delicious. 

After having been cooked for around 7 hours the lamb just fell off the bone... very, very tasty!

Prawn Laksa 

We had this one last night and I was a little worried that Spencer wouldn't like this one as it was a little spicy so we served up some for him and then added more chilli!

Spencer is obsessed with Masterchef at the moment. 

He watches the show every night. He loves the chefs, he loves the food, and he loves seeing what interesting things are created. He now comments on the ingredients that are being used saying things like "oh that tomato looks so juicy'' and that looks very tasty ...let's make that". 

He has been "judging" my meals too and I am happy to report that all three dishes above got a big 

THUMBS UP!

Bead Soup Party is underway!

The Bead Soup Party is now into it's second day of celebrations so if you haven't popped over to Lori's site, Pretty Things, be sure to check it out. 

All of the links to everyone's amazing creations are listed for each day of the party.

I really need to get a mosey on as the day for me to post piccies of my piece is Saturday 26th June and I am nowhere near finishing my piece. 

Watch this space!

Check me out on A Bead a Day

Have you visited Lisa Crone's blog, A Bead a Day, lately? 

If not then pop on over as I am the featured designer for this week! 

I was so excited when Lisa told me I would be featured on her blog and I have to send out a big thank you to her as it is a fantastic review and includes my three pieces below

I have to commend blogs like A Bead a Day which feature designers. 

I have come across some amazing designers through some wonderful blogs so if you haven't checked out Lisa's site be sure to take a look as she has a new designer every week not to mention lots of bead eye candy! 

Beware of the large dog!

I recently promised someone I'd show a few pictures of my little furry friend, Rufus, my little mini fox terrier.

Rufus was born in December 2000 and looking at him now it is hard to believe he will be turning 10 this year as he is still quite small. 

The only signs of his old age is his little white strip of fur between his eyes is turning grey.

He was the runt of the litter and as you can seen by the picture below he was miniscule! 

That is a regular chicken wing he is carrying in his mouth! 

When we bought him home from the pet shop my hubby carried him in his shirt pocket...awwww!

Spencer, my little man, adores Rufus and up until only recently could not pronounce his name properly calling him ''Frisky"... how he gets Frisky from Rufus is beyond us but Rufus is now also known and Frisky and I actually find myself calling him Frisky most of the time! 

Do you have a furry friend?

A beautiful brooch from a beautiful girl

I recently came across a wonderful blog, Stories of the Secret Garden, which is now one of my favourite blogs to follow. 

The lovely Jana, creator of Stories of the Secret Garden, recently held a Summer Giveaway offering one of her gorgeous creations and I was the lucky winner!

Here is my gorgeous brooch I won...isn't it precious!!

Jana's work is impeccable and it is obvious she has an eye for detail. 

She is such a creative soul and produces the most gorgeous pieces. 

I especially love her funky earrings and rings!

I love this amazing world of blogging. I have met so many wonderful people from all around the world and their generosity, such as Jana's, still overwhelms me.

If you haven't visited Jana's blog be sure to drop by and say hello and don't forget to tell her I sent you!

Thank you Jana... 

♥ Rufus sends Liisa big hugs ♥

Fashion Colorworks... done and dusted

Well I feel very relieved to have finally emailed my entry for the Fashion Colorworks competition ... fingers crossed the email goes through ok and I have met the deadline taking the time difference into account.

I ended up choosing the Turquiose, Amparo Blue and Pink Champagne colour combination

I am pretty happy with my final piece but unfortunately I had to photograph it at 11.45pm so my lighting was obviously rather bad and the picture quality isn't the greatest which won't help my entry any. I got home tonight and took some better photos but they are not much better...

Anyhooo I feel good in myself that I finished the piece as I was feeling really low that I had been slack and not worked on it.

So without further ado here is my piece which I have titled 

Shoreline Romance

I made the glass fused cabochon using one of my friends broken lampwork beads. 

The piece includes St Petersburg and Peyote as well as simple string and bead embroidery.

Harry Potter stole my mojo...

HARRY POTTER... THAT'S WHO!

As you probably already know I have been reading the Harry Potter series and since late February of this year have read all 7 books.

Since finishing the final book, Deathly Hallows, nearly 2 weeks ago I think I have done a total of around an hour of beading.

I am 3/4 through a piece I was going to enter into the Colorworks competition, which is due tomorrow and I had 3 whole days at home over the weekend and did not pick up a single bead... and am now doubtful I will get it done today.

What did I do instead...ummm.... watched some football, had a few naps, used my new slow cooker, vacuumed the inside of our car and sifted through about 10,000 pieces of Lego trying to find missing pieces from my son's kits.

I quite like my mojo so if anyone sees Harry Potter or my mojo can you please tell him I want it back!

I am an alien no more!

As the winter weather is now officially here in the Land of Oz (you know I never actually call Australia that!) everyone at work has been talking about what warm and hearty things they have been making for dinner.

The discussions then led to slow cookers and how wonderful they are. When I mentioned that I didn't have one everyone looked at me like I was some kind of alien saying 

''OH MY GOD you don't have a slow cooker''

... well no... no I don't...

UNTIL NOW!

Last night I dragged hubby and child out into the cold to get me a slow cooker and here is my  purchase...  let me introduce you to the Ronson 6L RSC100 ! Ahhh isn't she purdy!

As I knew I was parting with my cash that evening, during the day I printed off some recipes so I could buy the ingredients and make something that night.

One of the recipes I chose was Carrot, Kumara and Ginger Soup

Anyone know what a Kumara is? 

It's a sweet potato but last night whilst shopping for ingredients to make carrot, kumara and ginger soup not only could I not find one but had no idea what it was...

which yes made it rather hard to find...der.

Stupid little me should have searched it on good old Google so that tonight I would be eating some yummy soup instead of cooking pork and vegies for dinner.

I also bought all the ingredients to make this:

Asian beef and vegetable casserole

but I needed brandy and can you believe the bottle shop was all out of brandy...I could have bought a big bottle but that would just be asking for trouble!

I'll let you know how the recipes go...

100 Followers.. time for a GIVE AWAY!

Oh my gosh I was soooo excited to see that overnight my number of followers increased to

100

(insert happy dance here)!

Who would have thought my humble little blog would have so many followers. I remember when I had around 20 followers and was happy that 20 people out of how many billions of people in the world took the time to follow my ramblings.

I am so grateful to everyone that follows my little blog, comments on my posts and encourages and supports my creativity so me thinks it's time for a good old give-away to celebrate.

So as the banner above says I am going to get excited and am going to make things.. to give to you!

Watch this space for further details!

I have been featured on Beads Perles

A few months ago I received a very exciting email from Beads Perles asking me to be interviewed for their blog.

Well to my surprise today is the day for my interview to appear. 

It really is an honor to be featured on this site alongside many amazingly talented artists. I love learning more about other beaders through their interviews, admiring their gorgeous creations as well as checking out their wonderful blogs.

If you are interested to see what I had to say just click here. 

My little man was quite chuffed to see his smiling face there too!

♥ Thanks for sharing this experience with me ~ your continued support keeps me going ♥

The EKKA

 I am both excited and nervous to announce that this year I have taken the plunge and have submitted two of my pieces into the Creative Art and Craft category of the Royal Queensland Show, or better known as the EKKA here in Brisbane.

Here are the pieces I have submitted:

"Treasures of the North Sea''

which was the winner of the Wonderfully Whimsical category in the recent Use the Muse competition

and

"Fingal Frolics''

 I need to deliver my pieces to the showground on 23 and/or 24 June and then the EKKA runds from 5-14 August so I have a bit of a wait to find out if my pieces win themselves any pretty ribbons!

I will keep you posted on how I go!

Summertime blogging

As you know I am an Artbeads Design Partner and the next theme for their blogging program is "Summertime".

I have just ordered my beads but thought I'd give you a bit of sneak peak of what I will creating.

I will be using one of the glass fused cabs below which I made back in January of this year.

My order from Artbeads includes seed beads, lots of delicious czech glass beads, some stunning Swarovski components as well as a funky sterling silver clasp!

It's hard to get motivated to create something along the lines of Summer when we are into our second week of Winter here and it is starting to get rather chilly but looking at my seaside cabs is starting to get me in the mood...

...shall I order a Pina Colada now or later?

Watch this space!

Bead Soup Party

As you will have read in a recent post I am taking part in the Bead Soup Party organised by Lori of Pretty Things.

Well on Friday my "bead soup" arrived from Dale and here is what I received.

An assortment of glass, wood and plastic beads, seed beads, metal components, buttons, some funky wire clasps and even a shell.

Mine are somewhere between Australia and South Korea so hopefully Dale will receive them soon. Hopefully he can take a picture of what I sent him as I completely forgot to take one before wrapping them up and sealing the envelope...DOH!

Now to get started on designing a piece.

I am not one to whinge...but...

As much as my hubby will disagree... I am not one to complain so I promise this will be the one and only time I whinge here.

I am sick of waiting... I feel like I am waiting for everything to happen in my life at the moment....and well... I am a bit over waiting. I can think of at least 7 things I am tired of waiting for:

1. I can't seem to finish the very last and final Harry Potter book soon enough.

2. I then have to wait for my hubby to finish the last Harry Potter book so we can then ''discuss'' the ending.

3. The Harry Potter Lego Wii game isn't out until 30 June.

4. The next season of Dexter isn't on TV until September... September!! How much longer can one sit around wondering what happens next?

5. The final Harry Potter film isn't released in Australia until November NOT July as I thought.

6. My dad is heading to Europe next week and won't be back until the end of August which means ''waiting'' sooo many weeks for him to return so I can hear his voice on the telephone.

7. Waiting for the warmer weather to arrive and we are only in our 4th day of Winter.

Ok me thinks I am done.

 I know most of my issues of ''waiting'' are related to Harry Potter but as you know I am a wee bit obsessed with young Harry, Ron and Hermione at the moment.

I promise I will move on to a new obsession...soon....

but I guess for the time being you will just have to ...

WAIT!!

I know I should be beading... but

Yep I  know I should be beading...especially with my piece for the Colorworks competition due on 15 June  but I am on my last Harry Potter book, The Deathly Hallows.

My hubby and I were under the misconception that the first of the final Harry Potter films was being released in Australia in July 2010 with the second film being released in November 2010...hence the rush for us to both have all the books read.

We have just found out the that first film is not being released until November so really there is no rush to have them read now... other than the fact that we are dying to have the books finished!

I am up to page 327 of 607 pages in the very last book so not long to go for me and then I can get back into my beading and hubby can get back to playing his computer games!!

I have to admit I have been enjoying reading again and have never read so many books in such a short time!

Can anyone recommend any good books as it seems a waste to stop reading now!!