Bright Colours to Warm a Cold, Rainy Day!

Just thought I'd jump on here and post a little pic of another bracelet that I made a few weeks back.

These beautiful lampwork beads are by Marie of Bleu Verre on Etsy. I love the combination of bright, fun colours and even looking at the picture is making me smile on this cold and wet day.

The orange and pink go really well together and look great with the metallic touches. I have used Swarovski crystals in Crystal and Greige colours (Greige being a smoky grey colour with a hint of brown in it).

Well, that's all from me. Hope you are managing to stay warm and dry.

 PS. Is anyone else hanging out for the big Lost finale tonight? I am so going to miss all of those characters and those kooky occurrences on that crazy (but beautiful) island.

(Blogged to: Message in a Bottle - The Police and Dreams - Van Halen).

Let Them Eat Cake!

After Miss 6 had her lion birthday cake...Mr now-four put in a custom order for a tiger cake (don't mind me...I just do what I'm told ;-).

It really wasn't very hard to make and I am pleased with how he turned out. I did have some difficulty cutting out the tiger stripes. The Woman's Weekly Cookbook said to use your pinking shears...and I did. I am not sure if they will ever work on cardstock again...but the stripes looked good! I also tried the 'quick freezing of the cake' method to reduce the crumbs in the icing. It worked well.

In other news...we spent the weekend in Sydney and went out on the Harbour on Saturday to help welcome Jessica Watson back after her 210 day, solo, non-stop, unassisted circumnavigation. It was a fabulous day...one I won't forget for some time to come.

Congratulations Jesse!

(Blogged to: Beautiful Day - U2 and Johnny Come Home - Fine Young Cannibals).

A Bevy of Beautiful Blue Beads...

This little bracelet features more astoundingly beautiful lampwork beads by Sari of Gaialai on Etsy. I just love the combination of blues that she has used for these, and the lovely designs too!

(Photograph by Sari of Gaialai on Etsy).

This is the bracelet that I have made with these beads:

The silver beads and findings are all Sterling Silver and the crystals are Swarovski. I have used cubes, helix, ovals, a bicone and even a tear drop (never used one of those before - me likey). The two blue cubes are in Montana Blue (makes me want to pack a bag for Montana tonight!).

Now I really am going to bed,

(Blogged to: Blame it On the Boogie - The Jacksons and Bette Davis Eyes - Kim Carnes).

Sailing stormy seas...

We have a fourth birthday coming up here soon, and I've had waves on my mind for some time. This nautical theme is, in part, inspired by the fabulous Jessica Watson, who is due to sail back through Sydney Harbour Heads after her solo, non-stop and unassisted circumnavigation of our planet this Saturday! I have watched Jessica's progress from day one and am in awe! GO JESSICA...YOU ROCK!!

Once again, I have digressed. Before we all fall asleep...here is my nautical-themed card:

List of Ingredients:


Cardstock: Pacific Point, Baja Breeze, Tangerine Tango, Kraft, Glossy White and Summer Sun;
Ink: Baja Breeze Classic Ink and White Craft Ink; and
Accessories: Scallop Circle punch, 3/4 inch Circle punch, Rellie Rave and Tiny Bubbles Cuttlebug Folders, Chit Chat Rub-ons, miscellaneous Designer Series Papers, SNAIL adhesive and Dimensionals.

You may have noticed that my yacht is not pink, like Ella's Pink Lady (Jessica's yacht)...this is because the card is for my son...and he is not partial to pink.

You may have also noticed the abundance of white craft ink. I am afraid that I got a tad carried away while I was applying it to the wave tops with a sponge. It is mean't to look like white-caps. You know, the foaming, frothy stuff that gets whipped off the top of waves in a good gale. Unfortunately it looks to me a bit like poorly smeared white craft ink. Sigh! It looked perfect in my mind ;-).

I have listed the Designer Series papers as miscellaneous because I grabbed them as scraps from my DSP scrap bag and now I am too tired to go get the catalogues and look them up. I sure hope you don't lose any sleep over that...I'll try not to...LOL!

Hasta la vista bloggers,

(Blogged to: Blue Canoe - Frances England and Blueberry Pancakes - Frances England).

Fabulously funky felt flowers for...

...Mother's Day! I had a lot of fun making this Mother's Day card for my mum:

List of Ingredients:

Cardstock: Kiwi Kiss Textured, Whisper White and Chocolate Chip
Ink: Kiwi Kiss Classic Ink
Stamps: Itty Bitty Backgrounds (retired)
Accessories: Felt (brown, green and blue), Spellbinders Nestabilities (blossom, plain circles and scalloped circles), Cuttlebug, Chit Chat Rub-ons, Button Latte Designer Buttons, paper piercer, white gel pen, miscellaneous green spotted ribbon, green embroidery thread, SNAIL adhesive and dimensionals.

The felt is just el-cheapo stuff (70 cents per A4 sheet) from the local craft store. I was amazed at how well it cut using the cuttlebug and nestabilities...very little fuzziness at all!

Gotta run now. Have a lovely afternoon,

(Blogged to: Do You Mind - Robbie Williams).

More beautiful Gaialai beads...

I bought some more fabulous beady beauties from Sari of Gaialai on Etsy recently:

(Photograph by Sari of Gaialai on Etsy).

...And this is the bracelet that I made with some of these lovely beads:

Aren't the colours and designs in Sari's beads amazing?

I had a lovely relaxing Mothers Day today...hope you did too!

(Blogged to: Doctor Who - The Time of Angels).

Long time no post...again!

I know, you've heard it all before...suffice to say I am a slack blogger! We have a wee project underfoot here, and it is taking up pretty much all of our time (it even has its own blog...and I've been spending a fair amount of time there....even hubby is in on that gig, and he has never blogged a day in his life).

I do want to thank and apologise to all of those wonderful blogging buddies who commented on my last post, and to whom I have not responded. Also, big thanks to Jocelyn and Karen for the blog awards too. I am very honoured to have received these!

I have had very little crafting time here...but have managed to get a few projects done over time. Here is another lampwork bracelet that I recently made. These magnificent glass focal beads are also by Sari of Gaialai on Etsy - love them to bits Sari!

The beads remind me of fabulous pieces of smooth marble encrusted with pods of turquoise (not that that would happen in real life). I studied Geology at uni so rocks and gems are never very far from my mind...even though I am not involved in anything remotely geological any more. The large blue crystal charm is a Swarovski Cosmic crystal in a very groovy blue called Indicolite...which happens to match the focal beads perfectly. If I'd had some more, smaller ones I would have used them as spacers too.

I've also been doing a bit of cake making....this one was a custom order for Miss just-turned-six!

It is straight from the Woman's Weekly kids party cake book...but I had to downsize and cut it out freehand because I didn't need a cake for seven thousand (their cakes are ginormous...and I always end up throwing some out because we just can't finish them). Master about-to-turn-four has put in an order for a Tiger. Hope that one is as easy as this one was!

Last, but not least, I was moved to try my hand at quilting again. I bought a simple quilt kit from my local quilting store, addictedtofabric and gave it a go. It looks very nice on the front, but is a bit wrinkly on the back (so I won't show you that side ;-)...

FYI: The focal panel, with the individual print frames is a single piece of fabric...my quilting skills do not stretch to that level just yet ;-).

Anyway, I hope you will forgive my blog neglect. I've also had a bit on my mind of late. I have decided to give up being a Stampin' Up! demo. I was not very happy about the changes introduced in the IDA last year, and finally decided that it was best if I quit. I miss it, but think it was the best thing to do for me.

Hope you are all well, and enjoying some Autumn sun! :-)

(Blogged to: Love Generation - Bob Sinclair and Gary Pine and School's Out - Alice Cooper).

PS. I also mean't to show you a pic of the bracelet that I made for Susy for her blog candy win:

It ended up almost exactly the same as mine...I still love how it reminds me of the surf.

Catch the sun if you can...

We are moving into Winter at a rapid rate of knots down here in the southern hemisphere. So every little drop of sunshine counts. When these fabulous lampwork glass bells arrived recently...I knew straight away what I wanted to make with them:

(This photo, and header photo, courtesy of Sari at Gaialai on Etsy).

These absolutely stunning, amazingly beautiful works of art are by Sari from Gaialai on Etsy. Sari calls these Ethnic Bells. I can only imagine the patience and skill that it takes to make these beauties!

As I said, I knew straight away what I wanted to make...a sun catcher!

I have used eye pins and joined several together (don't look too closely at my winding...it is pretty wonky...I think I needed to use finer pins), along with small Swarovski crystal bicones, 12 mm Swarovski cosmic and graphic beads (also in Crystal) and some sterling silver round beads.

I have hung the cosmic beads inside the bells and if there are gale force winds the beads and bells will chime (I tried unsuccessfully to make it chime more readily...maybe if I hang more Swarovskis inside the bells)...but otherwise, in the sun it casts beautiful moving spots of rainbow light in all directions. I tried it this morning in the kitchen and it looked beautiful.

Have a lovely day!

(Blogged to: Crack the Shutters - Snow Patrol and Livin' Thing - Electric Light Orchestra).

Blog Candy Winner

Hi everyone,

I hope that you all had a lovely Easter long weekend. We did, It was very relaxing.

I am sorry for the delay in announcing my Beady blog candy winner. Its been a bit busy here. Anyhoo...I managed to visit Random.org today and this is what they said:

The seventh person to comment was Susy:

susy said...

Sam, what a gorgeous giveaway, your bracelets rock. We've had quite a few memorable holidays over the years both good and bad, fortunately more good than bad, but a long weekend we had in Tasmania would probably be one of the best ones. Such a beautiful spot we hope to get back to one day.

17 March 2010 9:26 PM

...so Susy, I'll be in touch for your preferred bracelet size!

Thank you to everyone who took the time to comment. It was fun reading about your favourite holidays (commemorative or vacation)!

While I'm here...I also wanted to show you another wee pic of THE library bag...where I have added some Floral Fusion felt to cover the handle stitching. I was very pleased with myself for thinking of that...:-)

Have a great week.

(Blogged to: Parlez vous Francais? - Art vs. Science).

Ooooooooh - Pretty Fabrics!

Today, I was feeling like doing something a bit different, and I was out at the shops with Mr Almost 4 and we spotted some VERY, VERY PRETTY quilting fabrics. This was the dawn of the world's most expensive library bag!

I wandered in to the shop...and was even more overcome with the prettiness! I quickly succumbed, and ended up procuring the smallest quantity of each allowable....20 cm.

The fabrics are from the My Happy Garden collection by Cloud9 Fabrics:

How gorgeous are they? The colours are pretty much exactly Baja Breeze, Soft Sky, Kiwi Kiss and Chocolate Chip! YUMMY!!

So I came home and dug out the sewing machine. Ten points for me for knowing where the darn thing was! Twenty points for the machine for starting up first go (I have owned this machine since I was a teenager and it hadn't been started up in about 4 years)! Mr Almost-three was standing watching me with boggling eyes...going 'WOW...what is that machine mum?...It goes fast'!

With much umming and ahhing on my part...and some concerted harking back to my Textile and Design class days in high school...this is what I made:

I was pretty stoked with how it turned out...EVEN if you can see the checked lining fabric from the outside (I didn't have any plain fabric to hand to line it with)...deep breaths Sam...it is afterall, just a library bag! But NO...this is no ordinary library bag. This bag set me back a pretty hefty sum....I am going to be like 'WHERE is the library bag...WHERE IS THE LIBRARY BAG?'....and 'YIKES, what is that MARK on THE library bag' for the rest of my days ;-).

I hope it a very durable library bag, because as one friend pointed out...it is going to have to last until Miss Almost 6 graduates...in order for it to be a cost-effective library bag! It is made from 100% Certified Organic Cotton though...so I guess that helps. It is an environmentally friendly library bag!!

Seriously though...it was fun to make. Every year I go see the quilting exhibition here and stand drooling over those wonderous works of art. I think I might do some more quilting soon :-).

See you!

(Blogged to: Babooshka - Kate Bush and Bizarre Love Triangle - New Order).