Vintage Dreams

This is a not so sneaky peek at my entry in the 

Fire Mountain Gems Jewelry Making Contest - Seed Beads. 

Introducing

Vintage Dreams 

This is quite a large collar measuring around 7 inches from top to bottom...quite an eye stopper!

Wish  me luck!

♥

Busy..busy...busy

Sorry I have been a bit absent over the past week or two.

Life in general as well as my creative side have been keeping me extra busy lately.

In addition to that I've been super busy at work.

Then add to that my birthday last week!

Here's an update on what I've been up to.

My Birthday

Tuesday 22 May was my birthday...yep another day older. 

Someone at work wished me happy birthday and then actually asked me how old I was turning.
I didn't mind and quite openly told them...I have always taken the attitude that you are as old as you feel. 

Some days I feel 39...some days I feel 59!

Can't say lately I've felt 19!

It's funny how the older you get the less people ask you how old you are.

It seems like it's an internationally known faux pas to ask someone their age the older they become.

Anyhoo apart from having to spend the day at work I had an enjoyable day.

I got a bottle of perfume I have wanted since December, Orange Sunset by Hugo Boss, and a gift voucher for a facial and massage...mmm!

I also got Heston Blumenthal's Fantastical Feasts cookbook.  

I can't say I know a huge lot about this guy other than he cooks some crazy food but my sister loves him so she bought me a copy lol!

~*~

Beading Babes 

My Beading Babes ~ Project 5 pieces are coming along. 

I had a bit of trouble finding some discs for the Nefertiti necklace until I realised I had some in my stash that just might work...and so far so good! 

They are slightly oval and a little larger than the required 14mm but they seem to be working and I have to say I am loving this pattern and design.

I've also received my 3mm beads for the Four Leaf Clover cuff and will be making a start on that this week.

The feedback on both designs has been fantastic and the buzz on the Beading Babes Facebook page has been great!

Keep up the great work guys!

~*~

2012 Battle of the Beadsmith 

I've actually started two pieces for my entry as I couldn't decide which design I preferred.

They are completely different colour schemes and overall designs. with a totally different feel to them
...like completely different!

If you haven't checked out the Battle of the Beadsmith Facebook page then check it out as all of the details of the competition are there as well as some serious bead eye candy from the participants.

Steven Weiss of Beadsmith has been having fun creating awesome badges for us featuring our work.

He turned a photo of my necklace

into 

this

How ridiculously cool is that!

Closing date for entries is 10th July so I need to get moving!

~*~

Fire Mountain Gems Jewelry Making Contest (Seed Beads)

I have also been frantically working on my entry for the Fire Mountain Gems seed bead contest.

I had always planned on creating a piece but then life kind of got it the way and I decided not to make anything.

I then received an email from Fire Mountain Gems reminding me of the competition and encouraging me to enter so the last 2 weeks have been spent creating a collar piece.

My little man was home sick today from school so I got to do some serious beading...probably around 6 hours worth so I am now nearly finished. 

I just now need to finish off the edging and then attach the necklace component and it's done!

I have to say I am pretty pleased with the final result considering I came up with the design and created the piece in around 2 weeks.

Nothing like a deadline to get your creative juices flowing!

Entries close 31st May so I still have a few days up my sleeve to make any necessary tweaks as one does at the last minute!

~*~

So that's what's been keeping me busy and blog free for the past few weeks.

How have you been keeping?

♥

New toys...and that dreaded Fireline

As I started typing this post I realised that I had not told you that my hubby had offered to buy me some metalsmithing tools for our wedding anniversary earlier this month!

He had originally offered to buy them for my birthday back in May but in the end I decided to hold off as I didn't have a work area set up.

Well I still haven't set up a work area but I certainly wasn't going to knock back the offer again!

Look at what arrived today from Fire Mountain Gems!

Rawhide mallet, ring mandrel, chasing hammer and jeweller's saw

Fire block, copper tongs, straight burnisher, bezel pusher and curved burnisher

925 stamp, rubber mallet, titanium picks, bezel roller, saw blades, stone setting pliers,
fibre grip tweezers and steel hole maker

~~~

Also in my order were two rolls of Fireline.

Now I have to admit I am a Nymo kind of gal...
I know a lot of you hate Nymo with a passion but I only ever use size 00 thread and it never frays or breaks and well I love it and it's the only thread I use in bead embroidery.

When I am beadweaving I tend to use KO Japanese beading thread as it is thicker, super silky and also doesn't fray...unless you have to unpick a piece several times and stab it with your needle...which has happened to me on lots of times one or two occasions

I tried Fireline a few years ago and I really detested hated it. It kept tangling and drove me bonkers. I later found out that perhaps 1lb strength isn't the best line to use due to how thin it is and after a lot of encouragement from a few of my beading buddies I ordered two rolls of Fireline - 6lb and 4lb in smoke and crystal with the anticipation that the stronger weights will be easier to use.

I only ordered a 50yard roll of each as I am not overly optimistic I am going to like it so there may be two rolls of the stuff up for grabs very soon...

but then again I might like it... hey stranger things have happened.

If I do choose to continue to use Fireline I refuse to pay any attention to any comments like "I told you so" as I will always love Nymo...
that's Nymo the thread not the fish variety but hey he is pretty darn cute but not quite as useful!

♥ 

Another day older

Well as you know, it was my birthday on 22 May and I am now officially another day older.

Yep...only a day older...not a year older...because let's face it - we have spent 364 days working towards being a year older that really...on our birthday we are only one day older.

Good thinking huh?

I had a very quiet day at home with my hubby and my little man, Spencer.

I received a beautiful pair of channel set diamond earrings from my husband which were a complete surprise. I had given him a long list of things I'd like...not being greedy but purely offering him many options!

They were even simple things like hand cream and a foldaway umbrella to fit in my handbag!

So you can imagine how surprised I was to open my present to find a sparkling pair of diamond earrings!

My little man gave me My Booky Wook by Russel Brand. Probably not the most appropriate book for him to read which is why it's MY book!!

My husband has also kindly offered to pay for the items in my Fire Mountain Gems shopping cart which is an assortment of silversmithing tools such as hammers, mallets, ring mandrel, tripod & mesh, tweezers and a few other bits and pieces.

I am so excited as I've dreamt of trying my hand at silversmithing for some time, as you might recall by some of my previous posts, so the dream may soon become a reality once I get my work area set up!

Thanks so much to everyone for the lovely birthday wishes sent to me on Facebook.

You are all champions!!

♥

There's always next year...

Well I wasn't originally going to share this news but I decided I might feel better in myself if I share it with everyone.

I received my letter from Fire Mountain Gems today to inform me that I didn't qualify as a Finalist in their Seed Beads, Glass or Acrylic Competition.

I entered 3 pieces and not one qualified.

I'm not ashamed... just disappointed...so I shouldn't feel embarrassed to say it out aloud.

I kind of knew what the letter was going to say but I guess a teeny tiny part of my was hoping I would see the word congratulations in there somewhere!

I honestly did not expect to win...but thought it would be nice to at least earn myself the title of Finalist.

I am very a little disappointed but I guess we need these hurdles in life to keep us striving to be better right?

Right?

♥

If there is a heaven then I reckon this is it!

Check out my lastest ...ummm... investment from Fire Mountain Gems.

I am not a religious person but I reckon if there is a Heaven then this is it!

An assortment of seed beads

Wooden beads and leather cuffs

Cabochons

Delicas

Jump rings and cubic zirconia drops

~~~~

I have also just re-organised my bead stash (to make room for the new loot)

from this

to this

I have sorted my seed beads into colours keeping size 11/0, 8/0 and 6/0 seed beads together, a separate drawer for 15/0's (not sorted by colour) and my delicas, cubes, drops, hex beads etc are still in the hangers.

I am not sure this new system is going to work for me... 

I loved having my beads sorted by size and colour... all my blue 11/0's together, red 11/0's together etc...

it made life easy when starting a new project. 

Now I have to fish through the colour drawer separating my sizes. 

I guess the sizing is easy to distinguish at a glance but my OCD prefers the other, more organised way!

Let's see how it goes!

♥