Tropical winner!

Waheyyy and the winner of my first bloggy giveaway (as randomly selected by my bead buddy Sylvia) is Kate at Tropical Blonde!

Congratulations Kate, pop me an e-mail or comment here as to how you would like your summer flower finished :o)

It's been lovely to invite new followers, and I have exciting news, I am going to be much more active in blogging land throughout July - watch this space as I have been asked to step in and reveal all as Bead Buddies Artist of the Month. Scary? Yes. Exciting? Very! I just hope I can find enough interesting things to talk about for a whole month. Better start thinking early.

Just as scary and exciting, my bead buds here and I are doing our very first craft fair on Saturday - and just to put the pressure on, we only found out/decided to do it TODAY! Eek! Should be a good chance to get some experience at least, and it's nice and local. Hopefully we can learn lots and come up with a proper table layout for future events. Nothing like being thrown in at the deep end!

Well, I need to get on with fretting about how little jewellery I have to sell - just as well I have two great friends two do this with.

Happy crafting!

Last chance to enter the giveaway!

Well, I've inherited another 6 followers over the last few days but no new entries for the giveaway! Remember, it closes at 9pm tonight!

In other news, my MIL has given us free run of her house whilst they're sunning it up in Florida. This means I have use of a proper kitchen, so if I can kick myself into gear, I may try my hand at making some of my own cuppy cakes! Watch this space. Obviously, they will not be as cool as these funky sheep cupcakes. I can try.

I hope you've all had a fab Father's Day, what did you do with your Dad today?

Happy crafting!

Fab finds

It's giveaway time, and I've got a few finds for you to browse!

Firstly, let me remind you of my giveaway for this cute embroidered flower, the entry guidelines can be found here. Remember - you can have it made into whatever you choose!

I've been having a little browse since I got back from Download (what a weekend!) and found a few new sites, blogs and giveaways for you all. I hadn't realised what fab sites are out there for us crafters. If you haven't either, make sure you check out Craft Blog UK - a comprehensive list of jewellery, sewing, papercraft, art, photography, knitting and all kinds of other crafty blogs. Get involved! I will be. They are currently running a Craft Photography competition, designed to get your product photos seen and to help us all understand what makes a good photo. The competition page can be found here - it's great even just to have a scroll through and see how other people present their items.

Kate at Tropical Blonde is also holding a giveaway - click here for a chance to win one of these lush pendants. Two lucky people will win one, so get commenting!

Moonlitfantaseas is holding a giveaway for Metalworking 101 - clicky here

Copper Diem is holding a Pass It Forward giveaway, and is giving away a selection of beads, charms and a lovely toggle clasp, which can be found here

Now, here's the biggy - Lana at somethingunique is having a MONSTER giveaway, and you will have to go to her blog to see the amazing collection she has put together, here are just a couple of things:

So - let me know what takes your fancy, and I'll see you over at these wonderful blogs. Just don't enter these too many times - I'd like the lot please! Coming soon, we are making a light box to try and get better and more uniform pictures - watch this space.

Happy crafting

Hey everyone, just checking in from Download festival - so far the weather has been hugely unpredictable and swinging from hot to cold in a matter of seconds! Currently it's sweltering. Whwn I get home, I will be doing a small feature of the giveaways that are going on at the moment in blog world, including my very own first giveaway - please spread the word!
Happy crafting

Summer flower

Happy Mondays, I managed to make a start on this for you before leaving for Download Festival! After a lovely catch up with the girls, and some super treats from Sylvia ( pics to follow when I get home! ), I am now packed and ready to go camping.

All that's left to do with this little summery beauty is to cut, edge, and attach to the winner's choice of finding! To enter the giveaway, please visit this post.

So, on Bead Buddies, we sometimes have challenges, giveaways, and swapsies. A couple of days ago, Helen of LaLa Lampwork posted a swap for her awesomely cool lampwork piggies. I had to get one for Sylvia - I don't think she's named it yet, perhaps you could give us some ideas? :P - If you would like to see what else Helen creates, visit her website!

Happy crafting, liking, commenting, tweeting and blogging! Entries for the giveaway close @ 21:00 on Sunday 19th June, so please spread the word and join in!

#100 - The Giveaway!

Hello there my lovely bloggers. Yes, I have just made it by the skin of my teeth and remember I promised a giveaway by post number 100. Now, the piece isn't made yet, but that Stash Challenge flower has inspired me to make a bright summery version in yellow! This is what it will look like:

So, I'll give you a couple of options with it as it's not yet been made;
1* Hairband - wrapped with a ribbon in your choice of colour
2* Hair slide - a bit like this one!
3* Made into a flowery pendant and hung on a bronze chain in a length of your choice
The flower will measure around 2 1/2 inches once finished.

How to enter (1 entry for each you do!):
1* Become a follower of my blog and leave a comment here with how you would like to receive the flower
2* Follow me on Twitter, and tweet about the giveaway
3* Like my page on Facebook and leave me a comment
4* Finally, if you have something you really want to try but just haven't gotten around to it yet - mention what it is in any of the above 3 places and I'll throw you in an extra entry! If it wasn't for the stash challenge, I don't know when I would have gotten around to using these super cute hearts!

I will give you a nice long two weeks to get your entries in - partly as I'm off on Tuesday to Download Festival! So get commenting, following and liking, and when I get back next Tuesday I will make a start on the flower itself. The giveaway will close on Sunday 19th June at 21:00 BST. Winner to be announced on Tuesday 21st June once picked by my bead buddies Sylvia and Tracy - to be pulled out of a hat... or beading tub?

In other news, I'm trying to start moving away from just making jewellery for myself, and so am starting to think more about you guys out there. My first piece that will go into the "saleable jewellery" box is this golden flat spiral bracelet:

What do you think, would you buy this for yourself or as a gift if you saw it? (Obviously with a better picture, mind you!)  I just love the sparkle it makes.

I hope you all have a lovely week if I don't get back on here before we leave, and I look forward to sending one of you a bit of summertime when I return!