2010...creatively speaking

I was flicking through the hundreds of photos I have saved on my laptop thinking it was time I burn them to a CD and save them on our other computer. 

In doing this I decided it might be a good idea to organise my beading photos into years so I can look back and see what pieces I made for each year.

So here is a recap of what I got up to in 2010.

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2010 started with teaching my beautiful nieces to bead in the first few days of January

Resulting in these beautiful earrings

I adore St Petersburg so I decided to make a few bracelets

Of course beading wouldn't be beading (at least for me) without a few beaded cabochons

and because I love working with cabs I made a few glass fused ones in my microwave kiln!

I excitedly took part in my very first Bead Soup Blog Party hosted by Lori of Pretty Things

I was jumping up and down with excitement and pride when I became an Artbeads Design Partner as part of their Blogging Program...the only Australian to be taking part at that time!

Designing pieces for  

Spring

Summer

and Fall

I took part in the "Margie and Me" challenge hosted by the wonderfully talented Marcie of LaBellaJoya

I discovered a wonderful group of beaders who have called themselves the Bead Mavens and entered their "Ice Queen Challenge"

as well as the Fashion Colorworks Beading Contest hosted by Zoya 

I took part in Erin's Challenge of Color blog hop with our colour palettes chosen from paint chips!

I won the Most Unusual Category for my entry into the Beaded Passion contest for my piece, Fingal Frolics, below

and I was honored to be interviewed by Beads Perles

...if you missed the interview please click HERE.

But the biggest highlight of 2010 for me from a beading perspective was to win the 

Wonderfully Whimsical category 

in the Use the Muse competition

with my Treasures of the North Sea piece

Sometimes I feel I'm not being as creative as I could, spending time worrying about what I am not achieving rather than focusing on what I have achieved. You might recall me speaking about this in a previous post, "I think that switch has just been flicked".

So it has been wonderful looking back on the pieces I created in 2010.

Here's to another year full of beads, creativity, inspiration, colour and challenges!

♥

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?

♥

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!

Fashion Colorworks Beading Contest

Well after much debate I think I have finally figured out my designs for the

Fashion Colorworks 2010 Beading Contest.

I was originally only going to go for the Dried Herb, Eucalyptus and Aurora (they sound very Australian don't they!) colour combination but I think I might be adventurous and try all three selections...if I have time.

The other colour combinations on offer are Amparo Blue, Turquoise and Pink Champagne as well asTomato Puree, Fusion Coral and Violet.

I ordered all of my gorgeous little seed beads yesterday so hopefully they will arrive tomorrow so I can play over the weekend.

I am also still working on my beaded beads for my Artbeads Design Partner piece which I really need to finish too...

I tell you there are just not enough hours in the day. If this silly thing called '''work'' didn't keep getting in the way I would get a lot more done!