Sunshine Awards

Just popping in to say that I am a lucky recipient of this Sunshine Award from the lovely Elaine of ChatElaine Jewellery



Elaine is a fellow lampworker and also makes a range of lovely jewellery and I am particularly fond of her Autumn Sunshine Bangle. So thanks very much, Elaine, it was a lovely surprise!!

The rules for accepting the Sunshine award are:

1) Put the logo on your blog or within your post

2) Pass the award onto 12 bloggers

3) Link the nominees within your post ~

4) Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

5) Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.



So my award winners are:

Hazel - All Those Things

Helen G - Glass Beads by Helen G

Angie - Beads by Angie

Becci - Fired Silver

Dawn - Zelda Zog Blog

Helen - LaLa Lampwork

Becky - Chameleon Designs

Monkey - Monkey Chatter

Jennie - Raspberry Rings

Gemma - SilverGem's Blog

Jess - Jessamine Designs

AR Jewellery - A & R Jewellery Daily Ramblings


You will find a great selection of lampwork beads and jewellery as well as lots of chatter among these great blogs - please go check them out !!

So that just leaves me to pop along to these blogs myself and leave them all a little comment to tell them the good news... !!

Ta-ra

June
XX

I've been spending...

Too much money!! Firstly, I decided to finally invest in some..



Lindstrom ultra cutters. My Xuron cutters were ok, but a bit too wide when trying to cut smaller sized rings. So I finally succumbed to getting the best!!

So these were used to cut some rings to make another Persian bracelet which I coupled up with a couple of my beads made with some lovely Val Cox frit



And then came..



A Koil Kutter, and it's fab. Makes cutting those jump rings a breeze! So I had a practise with some copper wire and made a byzantine bracelet. So I'm now set up for chainmaille and I have one or two ideas I want to have a go at, but all in good time!

As for beads, I have only got one set to show at the moment. It's part of my Agité series called 'Just Red'



I hope to get these listed at some point in the next few days.

That brings me to today. Today I spent a couple of hours in the company of a few FHF'ers at Sabines lovely studio. It is always a pleasure to spend time talking glass (amongst other things) and having the good fortune to see a demo or two as well. A great day was had by all and Sabine is not only a pretty good beadmaker and glass sculpturer (just take a look at her website and you will see what I mean), but a great hostess too! Thanks Sabine.

So that brings me up-to-date.

Ta-ra

June
XX

Where has the last week gone? !!

I really don't know where the week has gone, so if you find it, could I have it back please? !! The last week or so has just flown past. I finally ventured out on Saturday having been stuck indoors with all the snow and ice about, which I was very pleased about because I was getting a bit fed up looking at the same four walls. Since then, though, the time has whizzed past! I have just had a couple more hours at the torch, so I used it trying to get to grips with my marble press. I'll let you know how it went once the beads have emerged from the vermiculite and been kilned. I've also got a couple of other bits to photograph, but I just don't seem to have found the time to do it. So, as seems to be be the way with me and photos, you'll have to watch this space for a few more days (sorry)!!

Have a good week.

Ta-ra,

June
XX

At last !!

Finally.... I got a couple of hours at the torch!! It didn't go too badly considering it's been a few weeks now. I hope to get an hour or two tomorrow, too.

I've also just managed to get an Etsy Treasury, but as it was purely pot luck, I didn't get any time for inventive titles, so it's just 'Lovely Beads' to show some of the lovely beads that are available in some of the Frit-Happens members shops. If you want to take a look, you have until Monday (11/1) 11:21pm.

So how's the snow where you are? We've had a bit here in Derbyshire today, but it's not looking good for tomorrow or Monday. My lovely daughters are due back to school on Monday, but I'm not so sure they will be there if the forecast is right..

Hope you are enjoying your weekend.

Ta-ra,

June
XX

I Promised Pictures..!!

I finally dug the camera out and took a couple of pictures today to share with you here.

I'll start with my beautiful necklace that I received as a Secret Santa present from a member of the Frit Happens Forum



Next up is the first of my chain maille projects. I saw this Christmas Tree design in Step by Step Wire Jewelry and it just grabbed me, so when I saw that Beadsisters were selling the kit, I just had to have one! I decided to make them into earrings and, of course, I had to wear them on the day!



Whilst ordering the Christmas Tree kit, I couldn't help but order a few more coloured rings to attempt the tutorial by Sarah Austin in January's issue of Beads & Beyond to make a bracelet in Turkish Round Maille, so here are a couple of bracelets, one in bronze and red and the other black and fuschia



And also in the January issue of Beads & Beyond, another lovely tutorial by the very talented George Harper East for some earrings in the Pheasible weave, which I added my own lampwork to



Finally, I received a Beadalon jump ring maker and some Xuron flush cutters for a present, so I have been playing a bit with plated silver and copper. Unfortunately the rings are not cut as flush as they should be, so there are some small gaps (and I have found the smaller the rings, the worse the joins are), but this is only to practise some weaves I hadn't tried.

So this is Full Persian, which I am quite pleased with (well, aside from the rings!)



Anyway, that's about it for the moment, so thanks for looking and enjoy your week.

Ta-ra

June
XX

2010 - Let's hope it's a good one!

Happy New Year to everybody and I hope you have a happy, healthy and prosperous 2010!

It's been a quiet start to 2010 so far, but yay, my 'lil Bobcat, Bertie, is now ready and raring to go again.... Just need a bit of time! It feels like it has been absolutely ages since we spent some time together so I am hoping to snatch an hour or two this week (though may well not be until next weekend, tbh).

Still, I've not been completely unproductive over the past two or three weeks. I've been playing at chain maille instead, which I am also enjoying. I made a couple of bracelets for Christmas presents and have since been practising with a couple of different weaves and am quite pleased with how they are going. So when I dust that camera down, I will take a couple of pictures and post them soon.

Anyway, here we are, Sunday 3rd Jan and the day before many of us come back to earth with a bump! As ever, this holiday fortnight has disappeared far too quickly and it's back to work and reality. So I hope you have all had a nice time and we can all move forward into 2010 with renewed vigour!

Ta-ra

June
XX