New jewellery website

Is it really over 3 months since I last blogged!! I've been kind of side tracked for the last few weeks as I've been trying to get my jewellery up and running. I've finally listed a few things on Etsy and I'm planning to list more pieces over the coming weeks. I know that Etsy is pretty slow at the moment especially for newbies like me so I'm prepared for it to take a while to get going.

I won't be using my lampwork beads to make my jewellery so don't worry - there'll still be beads for you to buy!! Besides you all make such beautiful things with them - I don't think I could compete!

I do have some lampwork beads to list on my website a bit later today. A lovely customer from Canada who is back in the UK for a while had asked for some beads so I've kept everything back until she popped round this morning.

The weather has been so unbearably hot and humid that it was near impossible to make beads. Thank goodness it's cooled down now.

If anyone wants to 'heart' my Rose and Raven etsy shop I'll return the favour.

Obsessions

I finally got round to blogging again!! I think the problem is that I just don't have enough interesting stuff to write about. I keep thinking that I really must try to get a social life but the sad thing is that I am obsessed with beads. There I said it - I am an addict!

My hubby just doesn't get the whole bead/colour/shiny objects thing. I just feel a constant need to fill my head with new crafts, beads, books, colour, art etc etc. My newest obsessions are resin and collage. Oh and after just watching 'About a Boy' tonight, I think Hugh Grant may join the list!


I have however still found time to make beads. These are some of my latest creations. I was really pleased with these beads - I thought they had a bit of an Egyptian look to them with the gold and blue.




I used lots of real gold leaf in this bead. Boy that stuff is a pain in the bum to use - it sticks to everything except the marver and the slightest breeze sends it flying.


I will *try* to blog more often but don't hold me to it! I'm off now to dream about beads and Hugh - sigh!

In print!!

I was a little excited to see my competition entry beads in the Beads and Beyond magazine today. This is the set I submitted - I called it Neptune's Carnival...

We'll have to wait until next month to find out the winners - I have to say there were some fab entries so it'll be a toughie for the judges.

I realise that I haven't posted here since November - I am such a bad blogger! I really admire all you people that can keep up to date with everything.

Well I hope you all had a lovely Christmas. We were all a bit poorly with coughs and colds - hubby had man flu of course! I say all, everyone except my eldest, Josh. He managed to avoid all the germs and stay healthy, which is rather ironic as he is the one with the least healthy diet. That didn't help my ongoing efforts to get him to eat fruit and veg!

So here we are, the start of another new year. It seems all doom and gloom for the economy at the moment although how much of that is media hype I'm not sure. Anyway just as what goes up must come down, vice versa is true. I'm sure things will pick up.

I've got a couple of prize draws running for January - you find the details on the website under Free Beads. I've put some new beads in the shop too.

Brotherly Love!

How cute are these two? They often lay together like this - usually one of them starts to wash the other and it ends in a scrap though. They've been fast asleep like this for a couple of hours.

I really could do with an early night - I'm so tired. I woke up about 6 this morning and I could have sworn I heard someone going down the stairs. I thought it was one of the boys but they were both asleep. I ventured halfway down the stairs and then I panicked and had to get hubby to go down!!

I won't be to bed very early tonight though as I promised my son I'd take him to Asda because there's a computer game that's being released at midnight. The things we do for our kids!

I should have some beads ready to go on the website tomorrow. I'm also sorting some out for free draw so keep an eye out for that.

I've got a new kiln!!

Hubby finally gave in and let me order my new kiln which arrived on Thursday. Would you like to see it? It's very pink!
I was starting to paint the studio in the beigy colour you can see in the pic but now I think I might go for a nice pale pink. What do you think - too much?

I tried the kiln out for the first time on Friday. The shelf that it's on now has only just been put up - the kiln was standing further over to the left before which made opening the left hand side difficult because it was near my torch. Silly me forgot about that, reached over to put a bead in and heard a strange fizzing noise accompanied by the most revolting smell. Let me tell you that burning hair does not smell good!! Yep, my hair got fried. Not too much thankfully but let's just say I need to visit the hairdressers pretty soon.

You may have noticed that I've redesigned my header for my website and blog. I wonder how long it'll be before I do it again!

Would you like to see some of my recent beads? Well I'm going to show them anyway...

Lots more over on the website...

Sweet sixteen!

Ooops - it's been ages since I updated..again! Sorry about that - I keep meaning to do it but something else comes along and then I forget about it.

Well what have I been up to? Not much other than the usual 'life stuff' and making beads really. It was my eldest sons 16th birthday last week - 16! I can hardly believe it. I start getting all sentimental when I think of how quickly they've grown up - I can't even bring myself to think about when they leave home!

It seems that I've been 'tagged' - thanks Veryan and Ali. Now all I need to do is find 7 people who haven't already been tagged - could be easier said than done!

I've been really enjoying my beadmaking these last couple of weeks. I've been using lots of clear glass and layers - it really gives the beads a lovely depth although it's pretty time consuming. I've also been using more red and orange - colours I wouldn't normally use but I think they add a really nice contrast to the blues in these beads. What do you think?

These are some of my new focal beads which will be in the shop sometime tomorrow. These two I call 'Water Gardens'.

Silver glass beads

I've never been a follower of trends - things tend to just pass me by most of the time. Silver glass for instance. I've really only just started playing with it....I've had rods sitting in my glass stash for ages. So last week I thought I should use some of it up. Now I can see why everyone loves it so much! I'm so pleased with the beads I made - the lustres and dreamy blue-greens are gorgeous. I love this focal bead - I think it's very Monet looking. This set of nugget beads is made with the newest silver glass..Triton. I think I'll have to play more with this one.

This next set of beads is one of my all time favourites - something about the rich blues and greens that seem so mystical and dreamy. I'm looking forward to getting into my studio tomorrow to play some more!