Tag, I'm it.

I was very excited to see that Tantra flower has tagged me, it's my first one, so here goes. I'm not going to tag anyone else yet because I'm not sure who too choose, but I really wanted to post my answers.

Here are the rules:1. Respond and rework; answer the questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your invention & add one more question of your own.
2. Tag eight other people

What is your current obsession?
Entering online competitions, especially for shoes, handbags and make-up, what can I say, my shallow side runs pretty deep!

What are you wearing today?
A white top, multi coloured skirt, a studded wide belt & enormously high gold wedges. Plus yellow beads and gold circle earrings. Today was a work day.

What’s for dinner? - Ahem, I would decide to do this the one day hubby promised Kiddo he could have chips from the chippie wouldn't I? So very unhealthy cod & chips with lots of bread & butter for chip butties. Can't wait! We don't usually eat like this, honest! I would normally have a can of Coke with this, but I said on Tantra Flowers blog that I would try to give up the pop so I won't be having one today.

What’s the last thing you bought? The previously mentioned enormously high gold wedges, they are so pretty and much admired at work today, although one colleague did comment that I had an Imelda Marcos thing going with the shoes, I think she's just jealous that they are mine & not hers.

What are you listening to right now? Nothing, it's blissfully quiet, I am home on my own after a visit to the Osteopath so there is no tv, no banging of doors or cries of Mu-uum. Heavenly!

Which language do you want to learn? Japanese

What do you love most about where you currently live? It's a great location, near to a good schol & close to independent, grocers, butcher and bakers, there aren't that many around these days. It's within walking distance of the town centre & fairly short drives to beaches and beautiful countryside.

What is your favorite colour? Purple

What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe? My new gold wedges, are you seeing a pattern here?

Describe your personal style? Calmly chaotic.

If you had $300 now, what would you spend it on? I'd use it it as spending money for my holiday in Cyprus next week. yay!

What are you going to do after this? Read a book with my son.

Your favorite smell? Fresh bread, mouthwatering!

Do you collect anything? Not really.

What makes you follow a blog? Lot's of things, in the case of bead blogs lot's of pretty pictures, other than that someone who shares other interests of mine such as meditation etc.

Do you like to comment on blogs or just lurk? I do like to comment when I can but often I feel a bit rushed so I don't. I should make more time for commenting.

What’s one thing you dream of doing? Visiting Japan, apart from the cherry blossom trees, the beautiful temples and art they have huge bead shops which I would love to go to.

What is your biggest regret? Listening to that little voice in my head that tells me I can't do something even before I try it.

What is your favorite thing to do on a rainy day? Lounge on the sofa with my son watching a fun movie.

Do you have a tattoo? No, much to the dismay of my husband who has a lot of them. A few weeks ago my son came down to the kitchen saying very proudly "Mummy look what I drew" I turned expecting to see a beautiful picture of a house, tree, sun/whatever, to see that he had gotten a black marker pen & scrawled a pretty good copy of a celtic design up his forearm. Guess how happy I was about that.

Are you left handed, right handed, ambidextrous, or a little of both? Right-handed

Do you play an instrument? No, not any more. I played guitar when I was younger & would like to learn again.

The question I am adding is:

What song takes you instantly back to those carefree school days when all you worried about was whether you'd get away with the "interesting" modifications you made to your school uniform and whether the boy you liked already had a girlfriend? Mine is Rio by Duran Duran.


Hope you enjoyed learning a bit more about me & thanks to Tantra Flower for tagging me, it was fun!

Brick and Strands Bracelet.

The brick and strands bracelet is a pattern I saw on on about.com years and years ago when I first started beading. I never made one at the time but I wanted a quick and easy pattern and to use up some beads that were in my leftover's box. It worked up quite nicely and I have some ideas for variations too.

2nd Crystal Bracelet.

Here is the 2nd bracelet I made using the pattern from Bead & Button's Brilliant Crystal magazine. I used Dark blue pearls and hematite firepolish beads for this one. the band is such a lovely fit and great fun to make that I want to make another one but I think 2 is enough for now!

Crystal Bracelet.

I fell in love with this bracelet and the colour combination when I first saw it in Bead & Button's Brilliant Crystals magazine. I really enjoyed making the bracelet and the colours are great, I have made another one which I will post later.

A Sight For Sore Eyes.

It's been a lovely Bank Holiday weekend here and me, my husband & son spent some time at the garden centre today looking for some new plants, we bought some bright orange & spiky magenta plants for one of our borders so hopefully in a few months I'll be posting a picture of a vibrant corner. In the meantime here is a picture of my gardens pride & joy, not many blooming just yet but if the last few years are anything to go by we've got a real treat in store. I'll take another photo when its in full bloom.

Forest Crystal Burst Ring

So like many of you out there I'm now completely in love with bezelling rivoli's. This ring is made using Laura McCabes Crystal Sunburst method. The surrounding crystals are some amazing jet abx2 crystals that my husband bought me as a surprise. The abx2 effect is beautiful, I can't get over how different the colours are in this finish. I am running out of Rivoli's so I'll have to try something else for a while until I get some more

Rivoli Earrings.

In the pursuit of expanding my earring collection, I made these simple bezelled rivoli earrings using instructions from Laura McCabes book. I used steel grey delicas and galvanised silver size 15's. I like the simplicity of these but I think I will need to also have a pair of Crystal Burst earrings, after all a girl can never have too much sparkle!