Loops and Ladders..

This is the 2nd loopy necklace I made last week and is from the pattern Luxury Loops and Ladders from the most recent Bead Magazine. I much preferred making this one to the other. It worked up very quickly and easily. I love the colours too.

My neighbour has expressed an interest in learning to bead and really liked the style of the Through the Loops collar which is why i beaded it, so that I could decide if it would be a good first project for her. I didn't think it would be the best first project so I tried this one, which I think is suitable for a total beginner.

Holiday Necklace 1.

I bought these beautiful hand made lamp work beads
from Julie Fountain at Lush Beads when I saw them at
the Chepstow Bead & Gem Fair earlier this year.

As my holiday wardrobe leaned heavily towards the turquoise
& blue range they were a natural choice along with some hematite, turquoise & aventurine for a nice simple lightweight necklace to slip into my suitcase. Along with the other 4 or 5 nice simple lightweight necklaces I just had to make:-)

Through the loops

I am an avid collector of beading magazines, in fact I'm fast running out of space to keep them. I collect Bead & Button, Beadwork, Bead Unique, Step-by-Step Beads and Bead magazine.
Despite my huge collection, I don't very often make something from a current issue, I seem to keep them a while, ruminate on the projects and make something months after I have had the mag. This week has been an exception though. I got my B&B about 2 weeks ago & instantly wanted to the through the loops collar, I think this is for two reasons, 1. it reminds me of the simple lace collars that I made when I first started seed beading & 2. The materials needed were readily available, just 3 tubes of seed beads, sometimes it's hard to get hold of the more unusual supplies, here in the UK.

I like the finished result but I have to say I found the beadwork a bit fiddly and repetitive, this is not a fault of the instructions, which were excellent, it's just not a technique that I warmed too.

Summer, really?

The weather today has been dreadful. Lots of rain & grey skies so no photo's again. I hope it's nicer tomorrow, it's school holidays & kiddo has a friend coming over for the day and I was hoping to picnic in a local park. I admit that I do have a contingency plan which involves a dvd player, sweets and some scissor fun, these look like they will be lots of fun for a pair of five year olds, http://www.scissorcraft.com/masks.htm

While checking my e-mails I came across beading daily's earring swap. Although earrings are the item of jewellery that I wear most, I hardly ever make them. I think that this swap would be a great opportunity to stretch my earring design skills and also it would be great fun to receive a surprise in the post. I think I will sign up, is anyone else participating? Here's a link to the post
http://www.beadingdaily.com/blogs/daily/archive/2009/07/24/join-beading-daily-s-first-earring-swap.aspx

Wow - the last month has flown by!

I knew I was overdue for a new post but I really didn't realise that it was a whole month since I had posted. I don't have much of an excuse except having been on holidays. The main reason I haven't posted is that I have been feeling too lazy to take photo's of my work. Things seem to have been very busy here and about the only time I have actually felt like taking phot's was really bad rain & the light was awful.

I do have quite a few things to photograph, apart from the gold shoes;->, I had a stringing extravaganza before my holiday and made quite a few necklaces to take, frankly I am amazed I was within my luggage allowance. I had a bit of a break from beading after hols but am back with a vengeance this week, I have been feeling very loopy! I have made through the loops from Bead and Button and loops and ladders from Bead magazine, photo's soon I promise.

Our holiday in Cyprus was wonderful! The hotel was in beautiful grounds & our veranda opened straight onto the beach, it was heaven! My son turned into a total water baby & his swimming improved hugely while we were there. We met up with my family and had a wonderful time, particularly on our weeding anniversary when they took us to a fantastic restaurant that grew all it's own veg and served organic homemade wine, the mezze was delicious and even my son tried some.

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.