Red Nose Day!!!

Hellooo everybody - Happy Red Nose Day!!

Don't forget to pop over to the Crafter...oo Comic Relief Shop over on Folksy where all proceeds are going towards Comic Relief!!! There are some great things for sale over there including some of my buttons of course! How about this great corsage made by Cloudhopping

or maybe these cute little slippers from Blonde Design...

and don't forget there's still time to put in a bid for the challenge necklace....

just send an e-mail to me with your bid!!! Winner will be announced this evening and all proceeds will of course go to Comic Relief!!!!

March Snow and Challenge Necklace Auction

Yes we have yet more snow this morning! The poor mini daffs that were doing their best to flower in our garden look a bit weighed down don't they!? I don't think the snow will last long, the sun has been out a couple of times but we do have heavy snow showers forecast for during today so maybe we will get even more.

On a different note....Incy and I have decided to auction off the necklace we made to raise a bit more cash for Comic Relief. So we are taking e-mails for bids over £20!! Come on folks...it's a gorgeous bright necklace and will look great in the spring and summer months!! It's also a one of a kind...what with the lovely embroidery done by Incy and the handmade lampwork beads that I made there is a lot of value in it!! But best of all it will mean more money for Comic Relief so all proceeds will be going to a really good cause!!! I will even pay the p&p myself so no extras to pay. Send an e-mail to either myself (see my profile page) or Incy with your bid and we'll announce the winner on Comic Relief day!!!

Combined medium challenge!

Over on the Crafter...oo forum we decided to do a different sort of challenge where we worked together in pairs so that we could make something using the mediums of both people. We could make anything we like but it was to be in vibrant colours!

I had Sam from Incy Wincy Stitches as my partner which was great and we decided we would make a piece of jewellery combining felt beads which she would decorate and glass beads that I would make. Sam also stitched a great little pouch to put the finished piece in.

So, this is what we came up with...

We will be selling the necklace to raise money for Comic Relief!

Jewellery from Sea Maiden Gems

I was contacted by Sarah of Sea Maiden Gems a couple of days ago as she had used some of my lampwork beads in a bracelet she made. It's so lovely I thought I would show some of her work on here! Isn't this gorgeous...I love what Sarah has done with my beads!

Sarah has only been making jewellery for a year which is difficult to believe! This necklace is another of my favourites especially as it's turquoise which is my birthstone!

Here's a picture of a commission Sarah did recently, an unusual combination of gems, crocheted wire and welsh yarn! Really special!

Not only a talented jewellery designer but Sarah takes a great photo too! I must ask her for some advice!

And the winner is.....

So it was time to draw the winner of the bead giveaway and I decided to enlist the help of my trusty assistant (aka Hubby)! I put all the names into a hat and he drew one out for me. Here's how it went...

So Crafty Clare is the winner of the beads!! I'll be in touch very soon for your details and will send the beads out to you later.

Thanks so much for your comments everyone! I will be doing another giveaway very soon!

Lampwork glass beads and bead giveaway!!

I managed to actually make some beads that had no blue purple or turquoise in them which doesn't happen very often! I received my new batch of oddlot rods from Bridgetown Glass in the US and the colours were great so I combined 3 of them to make this set. I have put them up for sale on my website here.

Also, don't forget today is the last day to enter the bead giveaway so if you'd like a chance to win some beads just leave me a comment on the giveaway post!! Thanks for entering!!

Finding Photos

I picked up my little digi camera this morning to quickly snap some photos and when I uploaded to the 'puter I discovered photos I had taken when we had the snow of couple of weeks ago still on the camera. One of them was this great shot of Sadie running in the woods...

She was certainly enjoying herself, she looks like she's laughing although that could be my imagination as she is a bit of a blur!!

There was also this one of the ben...

It really did look snowy up there! It's almost all gone now though, just a few white patches in the shady spots.

Lampwork beads and knitting

I've finally got round to lighting the torch and making some more lampwork beads! It's been a while as I've been distracted with other things. Mainly playing with polymer clay and making buttons as you may have noticed! Anyway, here are 2 sets of beads, one made in pandora glass which strikes in the kiln to all sorts of colours and it's a case of waiting to see what comes out. These ones were great... lots of purple, blue and soft green! I've put some black spacers with them to make them even smarter.

The other set are a lovely, deep ruby red heavily encased in clear with white spots. These are fun to make and I think I could get addicted to making them.

The other thing that was distracting me from my beadmaking was that I actually started doing some knitting! Having bought my lovely new knitting needles from Pennydog I just had to have a go and see if I could actually remember how it was done...it have been at least 15 years after all. Well, apparently it's like riding a bike! So, I found some soft, fluffy mohair that I have had sitting waiting all that time to be turned into something. I have several colours but when I saw the purple it matches the needles so well I just had to play with that. Of course, in retrospect, the colour matches the needles so well that I can hardly see the stitches! Well, I thought a scarf would be an easy thing to start with and decided to add a second colour in random stripes. I think I'm also going to add some beads and buttons, after the knitting part is finished, to jazz it up some more. Here's how it looks so far...

Don't forget to add a comment to the bead giveaway post as I will be drawing a winner in 2 days time!!

Saturday sunrise and snow

Well it was a great weekend! Saturday was amazing, Richard and Heike told us all about the work they do and how they do it - so much information! I really want to have a go at casting glass now although not on the sort of scale they work. Just as I was about to leave on Saturday morning I looked outside and this is what I saw...
Sunday was great fun, the new studio at Retro Glass looks fab and I can't wait to have a go with the new 'toys' they have available.

Then yesterday, I had to go into Stirling for a hospital appointment and this is what it was doing outside...
Luckily I had seen the forecast and left the car down the bottom of our really steep driveway! Also the main road to Stirling had been well gritted so it wasn't too bad a drive but as I was leaving Stirling the snow started coming down really heavily. Normally I would have taken the opportunity to spend some time in town but thought it best to get home. Returned to find it hadn't really snowed any more there and by the evening it was raining and washing all the snow away! So now that I don't have to drive anywhere it's virtually all gone...awww not fair!

So no building snowmen for me...I better go clean up those beads I made last week...

Busy weekend!!

I've got an exciting weekend coming up this weekend!! Tomorrow I'm off to attend the first UK date of the Bullseye Lecture Tour. This should be a fabulous day with two amazing glass artists...Richard Whiteley and Heike Brachlow speaking.

Then on Sunday I've been invited along to the official opening of the new glass studio at Retro Glass in Alloa! This promises to be quite an event...I've already had a sneak peek inside the studio which doubles the space they have at Retro and means they will have more facilities for hire. I already have my name down for a session with their new sand-blaster!

I've also got a kiln full of beads which are annealing as I type, so hopefully I will be able to get them cleaned and photographed at some point in the next couple of days. With any luck there will be fresh beads for sale at the beginning of next week.

Giveaway!! A set of lampwork beads!!

Ok! I've decided to run a monthly giveaway here on my blog! All you have to do to enter is leave a comment below! This time, as it's the first giveaway, it's something a bit special that's up for grabs - a set of 5 sparkly pixie dust beads complete with 6 shiny black spacers!! Anyone can enter, I will mail worldwide! This will run until midnight on the 26th February and on the 27th I will draw a winner and e-mail the person for their details. So, good luck and don't forget to leave a comment!

My lampwork beads in a bracelet

Sold some of my beads very recently to Eve at www.jemsdirect.co.uk and she made this fab bracelet with some of them! Check out her website, she has a whole section of jewellery she has made incorporating lampwork beads. Really looking forward to seeing what she does with the other beads she bought too!

Finished bracelet

Really pleased with how the woven treasure bracelet turned out! These bracelets feel really great to wear and this one is especially nice because it is so full of 'treasures'. Not sure yet but think I may have to keep this one...

More beads!!

Well I really am in a beading phase at the moment. Yet more beads from me today. Once I start lampworking its difficult to stop but its the same with fusing too. Once I start making fused glass things I find I want to do more. So I end up either in a beading or fusing phase. Need to work out a good way to do both at once. Not sure the electric bill could stand having both kilns on at once though.

Anyway, here's some pics of the latest beadies

Lampwork glass beads

It's been quite a while since I have been at the torch as I've been doing more fusing work lately. I love doing both though and sometimes it's difficult to choose which kiln to turn on in the mornings! Looking through some of the bead sets I have for sale I thought it was time to list this lovely set of very colourful lentils and spacers so they have gone up for sale on Etsy today.

Lampwork bead pendants

Had fun yesterday putting together some jewellery, something I very rarely do these days but maybe I will try to do more in the future. I used my own lampwork beads and incorporated them with sterling silver beads and swarovski crystals to come up with these three necklaces. I've put them up for sale on my website, you can find them here.


Now off to empty the kiln and wash things ready for the finished shelf.