My Creative Space

I've been working on this piece for a while now (my famous last words!) as part of the Artbeads Design Partner blogging program. 

The theme was "Winter Enchantment" and the inspiration for my piece is a Eucalyptus Ironbark Gum blossom which blooms during the Australian Winter.

Originally I was going to create a necklace made up of several gum blossoms created from the infamous "Sparkly Wheels" design by Melinda Barta.

To this I was going to then add some lampwork gum blossoms and leaves which were being made by my very talented friend, Sally, of Happily Ever Artist. 

But unfortunately the blossoms didn't turn out as planned so it was back to the drawing board...

...when I had a lightbulb moment and decided to make my very first beaded brooch!

Although I had already made several Sparkly Wheels I decided to use just the one...

and add to that a bead embroidered gum leaf...

And of course a beading session over Easter would not be complete without one or two Easter eggs thrown in for good measure...and creative motivation of course!

Hopefully I should have this one finished over the weekend.

The picture posting for this theme was quite a few weeks ago...

I guess as the saying goes.. better late than never...

♥

My Creative Space

My beading has been slow going over the past few weeks. Between feeling like I don't have enough time in the day, trying to get other things done and feeling too tired I haven't done as much beading as I would like.

Here is a piece I have been working on intermittently over the past few weeks.

The gorgeous ceramic flower heart pendant is from  Beth at Carpe Beadem. 

I was lucky enough to win the pendant through a blog giveaway. 

The necklace is a simple spiral weave rope.

I have since redone the peyote toggle ring and am now working on the toggle bar.

I have a few pieces I need to get done over the next few weeks including my Artbeads Design Partner winter themed piece as well as a challenge piece for the Australian Beading Forum I am a member of... but I am really itching to get started on making a cuff with one of the gorgeous Golem Studio pendants I recently bought.

Has anyone found a way to add a few more hours to the day yet?

♥

Sweet treats ♥

Look what arrived for me yesterday!

 Gorgeous beaded hairpins, some cute little "Made with Love" charms, an adorable little crocodile and some scarab cabochons.

I was lucky enough to win the beautiful hairpins, made by Jana of Stories of the Secret Garden  via a giveaway hosted by Lelanie at To Sew with Love but Jana was so kind to surprise me with the other treats!

How cute is that crocodile.
Jana recently created a gorgeous pendant using one of these little fellas

which you can find HERE in her Etsy store.

~~~~

  

Also arriving today is my gorgeous loot from Artbeads for my "Winter Enchantment'' piece as part of their Design Partner Blogging Program.

You might recall that it does not snow here in Queensland during Winter so I decided to use this gorgeous Winter blooming Eucalyptus Ironbark Gum blossom as the inspiration for my piece.

I think the beads I chose below will work beautifully and I have something quite different in mind.

(please excuse the dodgy photo...I didn't want to have to take the beads out of the bags)

What do you think? 

~~~~

I am excited to announce that this year I am entering not one...not two... but three pieces in the Fire Mountain Gems Seed Beads, Glass or Acrylic category.

I have a piece in mind for their Gemstones category as well but will have to think about that one.

I am also working on a few other pieces which I am hoping to enter into some challenges so the next few months should keep me busy from a creative perspective.

Which is just how I like it!

♥

Visions of Winter

As most of you may already  know I am an Artbeads Design Partner.

The theme for this month is

Winter

When people think of Winter, visions of snow and snowflakes most likely come to mind.

Having never seen snow I could not imagine a white Winter.

Winter here in Queensland, Australia, is full of sunny days, a splash of rain but definitely no snow!

It's hard to be thinking about Winter in the middle of Summer but let's give it a go!

So... how can I best portray a typical Queensland Winter?

I decided to look to nature for the answer.

During Winter we have some of the most glorious flowers gracing us with their presence, preparing us for the beauty of Spring that is just around the corner.

Eucalyptus Iron Bark Gum Blossom

Wattle

Lavender

Ginger varieties

What great inspiration!

♥

Shameless self promotion.. please vote!

I've just been checking out the entries in the
Artbeads

"What Inspires You"

contest.

Competitions like these are a great reminder that even though you may not be a famous beader...
...you are still an awesome beader!

The entries are fantastic...so much eye candy!

Here is a direct link to my piece.

I know it's shameless self-promotion but I'd really like to win and treat myself to some Swarvoski crystals!

I mean let's face it ...what beader doesn't want to win beads?

You can see my inspiration and my piece in my blog post below.

♥

Artbeads "What Inspires You" contest

I have just entered the Artbeads "What Inspires You" contest. 

You can check out all the details including the entries so far here.

Here is my inspiration

A pop art style picture depicting a beach scene

And here is my piece

Summer Daze

I actually made this piece as part of the Artbeads Design Partner Blogging Program and thought it would be fun to enter it into this competition.

Voting starts on Tuesday 23 November so be sure to visit the site to check out the entries, 

including mine!

♥

Falling Leaves

As you are aware I am an Artbeads Design Partner and take part in their blogging program.

Their recent themes have been Spring and Summer and you guessed it the current theme is Fall.

It's actually Spring here in Australia so I am surrounded by beautiful flowers, buzzing bees and the air is filled with pollen and the scent of native blossoms.

Reflecting on Autumn I have named my piece

Falling Leaves

As soon as I saw the gorgeous ceramic pendant I knew I had to have it!

The peyote "butterfly bail" was created using a gorgeous pattern from Kassie at The Beading Butterfly and is the first bail I have stitched of this kind.

The pattern for the bail called for delica beads but to compliment the St Petersburg necklace, which I think is reminiscent of falling leaves, I used size 11/0 seed beads instead.

To compliment the black diamond within the pendant I added some black ceramic beads.

I think the Butterfly Bail pattern is more suited for round pieces such as a donut as it tends to sit better but I think I tweeked it enough and it works well!

 

The open diamond toggle was created using a pattern from Diane Fitzgerald's inspiring book,

Shaped Beadwork.

This is the first time I had attempted 3 dimensional peyote (other than a round toggle) and I am super excited with the final result!

I was a little apprehensive about trying this technique as the steps always seemed a little advanced for me so I was really surprised to discover how easy it was. I will definitely be making more!  

The pattern for the open diamond also called for delicas but again I felt matching the beads to the necklace provided continuity.

 What do you think?

I think the piece has a little Japanese feel to it.

♥

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Disclosure: I am a reviewer of Artbeads.com products and a participant of its blogging program. I received all the components free of charge. This post reflects my honest opinion and Artbeads.com is not compensating me for my endorsement as it pertains to the products received and reviewed.

My Creative Space

I've been working on a few pieces lately but the main one I need to get finished is my "Fall" piece for the Artbeads Design Partner Blogging Program.

It's nearly finished!

You can also see a piece I am working on from Marcia DeCoster's book!

I just need to add a bail and then attach the peyote toggle I have made... 

...and of course weave in all that thread!

Check out this cool open diamond toggle created from Diane Fitzgerald's book, Shaped Beadwork.

What can be found in your creative space this week?

♥

What inspires you?

I have been considering entering the Artbeads Beading Contest.

Apart from the challenge of creating another competition worthy piece what would be nicer than winning $500.00

to spend at Artbeads,

especially with the US dollar being so great for us Aussies at the moment!

So the big question I have been pondering is:

What inspires me?

I was browsing through my blog enjoying a few old posts when I came across some photographs I had posted which I still find beautiful and inspiring.

 I am sure that when most of us think about what inspires us we say our family and/or friends but unfortunately people are very difficult to incorporate into our beading designs.

Therefore it's not surprising that nature is the next most popular source of inspiration!

~~~

Sunflowers in our garden

I love the spiral effect in the centre of the flower, which makes me dizzy if I stare at it for too long! How cool is it that the seeds just grow like that naturally!

A Flame Tree in a local park

I still remember how blindingly bright the red flowers were on this stunning tree. It was a glorious day with beautiful blue skies that seemed to stretch on forever and was a treasured day spent with my dad and stepmum during their visit to Brisbane.

A passionfruit flower growing on our vine

Apart from the striking colour of these amazing flowers, I find the structure of the stamen intriguing. It's amazing to think this flower turns into a delicious edible delight!

Roots of a fig tree

I could sit and stare at these roots all day. Full of mystery and wonder they remind me of something described in a fairytale expecting a tiny person to crawl out of the roots at any given moment!

A glorious ginger plant

Growing wild at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary.

I adore the palette of soft delicate colours in this flower, they are reminiscent of frangipannis.

Vibrant flower

From memory I think this flower may be another ginger variety but can't be sure.

Either way it's beauty is captivating. 

Look at the way the petals form together.

~~~

What is inspiring you today?

♥

My Creative Space

I am excited to announce that my creative space this week includes more than just beads. 

My creativity included timber, sponge cake and butter cream icing and Lego!

Here are some shots of what I have been creating in the past week.

Our timber deck

Ahhhh if only it would stop raining. 

Amazingly it will be a glorious day and as soon as we get the tools out * BAM * a down pour of rain.

We had a huge storm hit on Monday afternoon. Check out the view from my front door! The water nearly made its way to our front door, you can just see the edge of our front door mat!

But as you can see we are making slow progress. Alan has just put the last joist in so this weekend we will be able to start laying the decking boards... assuming it doesn't rain!

~~~

Spencer's birthday cake

As you know my precious little man, Spencer, celebrated his 5th birthday on 2 October.  

He originally wanted a cake which was Batman's face, then he decided he wanted a skeleton cake and then (after much convincincing from me) settled for this. It was very simple but tasty nonetheless!

Apparently Spencer doesn't like cream and jam in his cakes... even though the icing, cream and jam were all he ate leaving the sponge!!

I bought the rubber skeleton to sit on the side to compensate for not making him a skeleton cake and he was absolutely terrified of it eventually asking me to put it in the bin saying he found it ''too creepy''! 

It's a good thing I didn't end up making a skeleton cake!

~~~

Building Lego

Spencer got a total of 8 Lego kits for his birthday including 3 new Harry Potter sets (I think I was more excited about these than he was) and one Sponge Bob Square Pants set 

...so needless to say we have been spending the past few days putting together the kits.

He received a Creator 3-in-1 pack which was a house and it took me nearly 2 hours to build!

Isn't Hagrid cool!!!

~~~

Artbeads Fall project

Here is my piece I am creating as part of the Artbeads Blogging Program. 

So far I have created nearly half of a necklace using St Petersburg stitch. I have to say this is one of my favourite stitches. I love the soft and delicate feel it creates.

~~~

What have your creative little fingers been up to this week?

♥

Autumn Fall in Spring Time...

The Artbeads Design Partner Blogging Program is kicking off again and this time the theme is 

~ Fall ~

It's actually Spring here in Australia 

but the theme couldn't have come at a better time as had actually been admiring these 

gorgeous copper leaves (below)!

I also found a gorgeous ceramic pendant (centre) and chose 

some ceramic beads to match (below).

Watch this space to see what I come up with!

♥

Summer Daze

This is my latest piece created as part of the
Artbeads Design Partner Blogging Program 

with the latest theme being 

"Summertime"

I have named my piece 

Summer Daze

The piece is made using one of my own glass fused cabochons I made depicting the 

sand, the ocean, the sun and the sky.

The piece has been stitched with a selection of seed beads, gorgeous Czech fire polished beads. 

Check out the adorable sterling silver fish clasp... how cute is that fish!

It is currently Winter here in Australia so it was nice to have the opportunity to create a summery piece during these cold months!

♥

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Disclosure: I am a reviewer of Artbeads.com products and a participant of its blogging program. I received all the components free of charge. This post reflects my honest opinion and Artbeads.com is not compensating me for my endorsement as it pertains to the products received and reviewed.