Birthday makings!

Just a quick post from me this evening, two bracelets for my friend Jackie at work who hits the big 5-0 on Thursday! Bring on the hamper, flowers, balloons, desk confetti and CAKE! Quite a productive evening, I think :o)

Bails, Cuffs & Weddings!

Well it's been a busy couple of weeks, but I've managed to do some beading to share with you all! I've set off on my own little journey with this first piece, having conquered using wonky squares to make a star (which you can see here) - I decided to make a couple more "wonky squares" and make an eye catching bail for this turquoise donut. Goodness knows how long I've had this sizeable nugget sat around, but I finally have a use for it! The plan is for a little odd count peyote chain to sit through the top bail and look pretty and sparkly. As soon as it's done I'll update you!

Work has once again been hectic, and our senior administrator is off on her holidays for the next two weeks so it could be interesting. Thank goodness it's bank holiday next weekend! Tomorrow hopefully won't be too bad or stressful, it's Tracy's daughter's wedding tomorrow, so getting the drinking shoes on for the evening, fingers crossed! I'll be sure to take my camera :o)

Finally, I'll show you a little project that I started and finished within a week (shocking, I know!) Donna at Bead Buddies needed testers to make sure her peyote word charts are all correct, so I opted for her Autumn Flowers cuff, and this is how it turned out:

 

I definitely need to practise the attaching of the peyote strip to the cuff blank, but overall I'm pretty pleased - it's quite cute!

Good news on the fund raising - currently Sandie has pulled together over £340 for the African Crisis Fund!

Well I'm off to prep for the office tomorrow, see you all soon,

Busy busy busy!

It's been another busy week, though it seemed to go slower than usual. Friday is upon us again, and I have my new handbag, my new approach to eating (no chocolate in a week, if you don't count the two squares at my cousin's baby shower last Saturday! And no snacking either!) and looking forward to my weekend.

Me and flossy are hosting this month's pass the parcel over on Bead Buddies, and are giving away a tiara making kit along with a special little surprise from me. No peeking! I'll be sure to fill you in at the end of the month when we send it all off to the winning buddy.

It's the last couple of days of our charity auctions on eBay so if you haven't had a look yet, please click here and bid on what takes your fancy! There are some beautiful pieces, including a stunning set from Lynn Davy

You'd be mad to miss out on it!

So tomorrow I'm off to see the girls, then hopefully get my hair cut (need to call them in the morning!) and off out in the evening to one of my engineer's wedding receptions. Should be a good day. Sunday we're out to a barbeque, so I'm hoping the weather this weekend holds out a bit better than it did today.

What are you up to this weekend?

Raising money for East Africa

Over at Bead Buddies we're at it again, and Sandie has rallied the girls together to raise money for the DEC East Africa Crisis Appeal. There are lots of us who have donated pieces which are being auctioned off on eBay, so please pop over and have a look and if you bid, please bid generously!

I heart macro

Taken when I was in Sydney September 2008

Sunday night already?

This weekend has disappeared right in front of my eyes, and it's been an eventful one. Friday night, my beading buds and I had arranged for a night in so our hubbies could all meet. It was a really good night, and before we knew it, it had gone midnight! An evening full of chatter, laughter and good friends.

Saturday morning I headed out to see the girls for our regular Saturday beading sesh, and made these earrings! Unfortunately, an error of my own meant that I put an extra row of delicas in on one disc so one is fatter than the other - oh well, just means I will have to keep them for myself then ;) For a prototype though, I was quite pleased.

Saturday afternoon I headed to my parents house for a barbeque, which is where it became eventful. There's been a lot going on, and further developments have just got me thinking again. It's probably all for the best, but just now it's a little hard to see it. Later in the evening I headed off with my auntie, sister and mum to my cousin's baby shower, and though my mum and sister left after a short while, my auntie and I stayed on a bit longer and had a good giggle, including playing pin the sperm on the egg! It was very very close. We all did pretty well, but very funny to watch - especially as we were spun around first :D

So today we went for breakfast with my mother in law and were supposed to catch up with our brother in law and niece, which never materialised. In the end, my dad called and I went for a drink with him to catch up and try to make sense of what's happening. It's just changing, and it's not about me, but with work at the moment as well, it's all coming down on me. Things can only get better, right?! 

Well I'm off to do another load of washing, and prepare for an inevitably fantastic week at the office!

Today is a good day

I've had a really fab couple of days, including being drawn to win an adorable new handbag. Big thanks to tinchick over at Bead Buddies! Now it's my turn to put something up to be won... Hmmm...

I also came home today to a little parcel at my door. I opened it up and unwrapped the tissue paper to find another lovely surprise from Carrie - a lush polymer clay heart pendant that I had ogled at earlier this week. I love BB, such fantastic ladies to know!  

We went to visit the mortgage advisor today to find out whether we are on target as we hoped, and great news everyone, we really are! By October we should have our deposit and fees for the lower end of our budget, and by January, we will be able to put in offers on a property at the top end! I am so excited. It's mad how quickly this year has gone, and I know that even though January seems far away, it will be here before I even get chance to think about it.

I am off to update our spreadsheets and budgets, and see how close we are to our first home, and maybe do some beading!

Happy crafting everyone