Tuesday 1 November 2011

Mud Maid!

Regular readers of this blog will know that apart from an obsession with jewellery, my second love is St Ives in Cornwall. My daughter and I went to stay there for half term and as always, we had a fabulous time - our dream is to live there one day....you gotta dream!

Ok, so this was the view outside our window....



We visited the Lost Gardens of Heligan. Heligan is the name of an estate which belonged to the Tremayne family and is described as one of the most mysterious estates in Britain. After years of neglect and a hurricane, the gardens were covered in bramble and ivy, like a modern day story of sleeping beauty. A small room was discovered in the corner of a ruin and a team of people set about restoring the gardens to their former beauty.

There are some sculptures by local artists, a giants head made of mud and plants in the ground but the most spectacular for us was the Mud Maid...


She was created by local artists, Sue Hill and her brother, Pete.


In the spring and summer she is even more beautiful with flowers in her hair!

If you want to read more about Heligan then click here.

We also visited the craft market at Hayle which houses some very special handmade shops and products...I didn't take any photos but you can read and see more here.

We always shop to within an inch of our lives because there are so many unique and handmade items to see.
I bought a cute crackle glaze penguin made by Chloe Harford and Chris Hawkins aka Glazed Amazed for my little girl at Imagianation Art Gallery.







I also bought a gorgeous handmade silver bangle from James King Gallery, I think I have bought something from James King every time I have ever been to St Ives - that's a lot of silver!






Finally, I bought some books - purely for medicinal purposes of course!






All in all, a fabulous and very productive week!

Thursday 13 October 2011

BSue Boutique Sari Ribbon Blog Hop Party

I jumped at the chance to take part in BSue's boutique sari ribbon blog hop party. I rarely work with sari ribbon and this was a good opportunity to make another design I've been wanting to try out for a while.

I had some sari ribbon left over from the bead soup party and I wrapped it around an old silver bangle. I secured the ribbon by hand wrapping gun metal copper wire and swarovski crystals around the bangle. I really like the effect and it is lovely to wear!











The list of sari ribbon partygoers is as follows:

Vicki Wills
Susan Kennedy
Michelle Mach
Michelle Lee Hardy
Ruth Crawford
Hilary Frye
Diana P
Brenda Sue Lansdowne
Elizabeth Owens-Dwy
Connie Rios-Relyea
Jennifer Justman
Deb Davis
Beanzie
Cathie Carroll
Rosemary Cowit
Georgene Lockwood
Cathy Buckley
Harry Wood
Songs Stille
Mary Deis
Heather Goldsmith
Susan Rouleau
Terry Matusyk
Pam Chesbro
Mary Shannon Hicks
Janice Everett
Davinia
Kristina Johansson Maneki
Kris Binsfeld
Alice Craddick
Mandy
Charlene
Catherine Jeltes
Jackie
Sharon Palac
Deb Beechy
Jean Yates
Patrice Pfeiffer
Dorcas Midkiff
Lynn Perry Bennett
Linzi Alford
Me!
Cynthia Wainscott
Marie Noel Voyer-Cramp

Have fun hopping round the other participants!

Wednesday 12 October 2011

Andrew Thornton's September Challenge

The September Challenge from Andrew Thornton really appealed to me, it had all my favourite colours! Here are some of the beautiful beads which were included.



I wanted to make something a bit different and finally went for a construction type necklace which I have been wanting to try for some time.











There are some other lovely pieces which I will be using to make some new designs soon, I just ran out of time for the posting deadline!

The other designers taking part in this challenge are listed below, have a hop around to see the gorgeous results for September.

Lorelei Eurto
Sally Russick
Tara Linda
Paula Kramer
Melinda Orr
Beth Emery
Tracey Stillman
Heather Goldsmith
Lori Bowring Michaud
Rebecca Anderson
Me!
Patty Gasparino

Monday 10 October 2011

Champion Challenger!

I've been sooo busy hopping round the bead soup party! I have also been busy making some pieces for two reveals this week.

The first reveal will be on Wednesday 12th, I took part in Andrew Thornton's September challenge. Unfortunately some of the participants are a little late in showing their designs due to the vagaries of the postal system but the beautiful selection of beads were well worth waiting for!


You can read more about Andrew's challenge and see the first set of reveals here


My second reveal this week will be on Friday 14th. This is the Sari Ribbon Blog Hop Party which is being hosted by BSue Boutiques. You can read more about this here.

I hope you are looking forward to the reveals, make sure to come back and join me!

Friday 23 September 2011

The 5th Bead Soup Blog Party

For those of us still hopping round the 4th Bead Soup Blog Party, please take note that the 5th party is already being organised by the amazing Lori Anderson!




To read more about the next bead soup party then click here to be directed to Lori's blog post which explains how to sign up and all the rules.

Back to hopping now!

Saturday 17 September 2011

Today is Bead Soup Blog Party Day!

It's finally here!! I'm thrilled to take part in the biggest bead soup blog party ever. Over 300 bloggers have swapped beads, focals and clasps across the world to be involved in this amazing blog party organised by the incredibly talented Lori Anderson of Pretty Things blog.

My partner is Ann Rishell of My Critical Eye blog. Be sure to visit Ann's blog to see the bead parcel i sent to her. These are the gorgeous beads and components that she sent to me.





Ann sent me so many beautiful items I couldn't use them all! I am especially loving the turqouise beads and the coral sari ribbon and focal - turquoise and coral are my favourites right now. I added some coral czech glass beads from my own bead collection to complement the soup, Here are the two necklaces that I made:




Here is the list of all the fabulous people who took part, I can't wait to hop round them all although it's going to take a few days!


Click on each name to go to their blogs.
These are the partner pairs.
The Hostess, Lori Anderson and her partner, Manuela Wutschke
19. Anna Sabina­­­­ and Erin Siegel
140. Mary Hicks and Laurel Steven
For a total of 362 pairs!
Amazing!
If the links in my list don't work for any reason then please go to Lori's list and hop through that way.

I have really enjoyed the whole experience and hope you do too. A huge thank you to Lori for organising such an amazing event...you rock!