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?

♥

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!!

♥

Nothing else to report

I've been on a bit of a roll with my birthday posts...

Yes if  you haven't noticed by now...my birthday is this Sunday. 

I feel my posts about my birthday nearly have a Juls feel to them... you  know it's true Juls!!

Well sadly I don't have any other exciting news to report leading up to my birthday.

I've actually been feeling pretty crappy since Friday night after I had a fall at home and have bruised my coccyx rather badly.

Hint: don't search "ouch" in Google images unless you are prepared for a lot of rather disgusting injury photos... oh my!! 
I know you are now searching "ouch"... don't say I didn't warn you!

Anyhoo... I've been really tired, aching all over and generally grumpy and moody. My hubby keeps asking me what's wrong and why I'm so grumpy.

Ummm HELLO...

I fell flat on my back, have bruises on both butt cheeks (ok too much info - but hey I am amongst friends here), bruises on my back, feel like I've been hit by a bus so I feel I am entitled to be a bit moody!

Ok... rant over...

Sorry Lisa... I don't have anything exciting to report other than my sore butt!!

Hoping I feel better by the weekend as I might just be feeling like I am turning 68 not 38!

There... I said it... 38!

♥

Arrrrrrr matey!

Spencer attended a pirate themed birthday party today.

This is the first party he has attended since starting school this year so he was 

one very excited little pirate!

Check out his cool "arrrrr matey" face!

Not to mention his awesome beard and moustache drawn with mummy's eye liner!

Awww Spencer... even as a pirate you still melt my heart.

♥

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?

♥

Keeping Calm on my Birthday

Well it's my birthday on Saturday 22 May...yep another year down... well another day really. 

I won't bore you with how old I will be turning but what I will share with you is this gorgeous pendant I received from my dear friend, Traci, who I met way back in 1990.

I was visiting the USA on a cultural exchange program and met Traci during my stay in San Diego and we have been friends ever since.

She makes the cutest handmade things - gorgeous clothes, beautiful home decorations not to mention her recent range of jewelry. Check out her gorgeous blog, Amazing Mae, with some of her sweet creations 

I have to say this pendant is pretty special to me - not only the message it holds, the beautiful photo of my hubby and gorgeous little man but also that it was made especially for me by my dear friend..

Thank you so much Traci. 

♥  I miss you  ♥