Progress is slow

Oh man have the last two weeks been rotten. Amongst being spoken to like crap at work (not by my colleagues I would like to point out!) and being shouted at by people who think it's their 'right' to an engineer being on their doorstep within 30 seconds of them phoning a fault through, I'm just feeling a bit stressed out, a bit overwhelmed, and wishing I could have a couple of days off.

Just as well it's the weekend after tomorrow hey!

I've just made the decision also to cancel my contract with BT, having had a few problems and a few charges recently on my bill for stupid things, when the contract renewal letter came through my letterbox this week I decided that enough was enough. Just got to wait for confirmation from Virgin now as to when we can get it installed... And having said that, and looking around my lounge - when we are going to have to have a huge clean up so that the engineer doesn't think we live in a total dump! Just keep telling me that this time next year I will hopefully be looking to get a house of my very own, please.

Enough with the negatives, lovely people, sorry to bring you all down with that rubbish - it's nice to have a place to vent a bit though. Good news on the lariat, I am about a third of the way through now, so at some point over the weekend when it's a little longer I'll post an update - may even start embellishing the end then do some more of the chain afterwards, we shall see.

Is it sad that I got a little excited that I now have 34 followers on Twitter? Lol - not even sure why people follow me at the moment, I don't really have much interesting stuff to say (but then why do you guys follow me on here either??) :) It's just nice to be a part of something really.

Ooh I am a bit gutted though, I've just had my MOO cards printed and now I'm cancelling my BT contract the e-mail address will be wrong after the next couple of months :( sad times. Eek, I've blabbed on a wee bit much this evening, will let you all get on with important things whilst I procrastinate over doing some housework... Have you had a look at my 'library' page yet? I'm trying to get a bit more on here to make it a bit more interesting - do you think a gallery page would be good, or too much?

Update

Bloggers! Does anyone else have ideas to post on the blog during the day/night, but by the time you come to the screen, ready to type away, you just don't know where to begin? I've suffered this alot recently, not only with blogging but my beading, which is not good at all!

I am underway with my cuff, just chasing inspiration now - I've just got Microsoft Office this week though, and discovered MS OneNote - for the win! I'll have a designated inspiration gathering space for any project I start now. For my first cuff, I'm going for a gunmetal/black/turquoise colour scheme with the snowflake obsidian cabochons. Watch this space.

I sat and photographed my jewellery before I went out to see some old friends last night. They seemed to come out OK, but having reviewed them on screen I'm a bit gutted. It looks like daylight is my only option - only problem is, we don't have a great supply here in our flat. This is going to have to be a mission to complete at dad's when the weather's not too grim - if only my sister had just got her butt in gear, I wouldn't have to be doing it in the first place! I've also decided that I'm still not happy with my website, but I just can't afford hosting with MrSite or anything like that, as little as it may be. I think in all seriousness, I'm in no position to have an online business yet, I've nowhere near enough stock (or time). Perhaps one day.

Over at Bead Buddies we are having a Secret Santa! Everyone taking part gets a mystery goody bag and we have to use only what is in the bag to make a gift for our partner. Of course we can add a clasp where necessary. I've never done anything like this before, so I'm nervous but excited. Partners are to be drawn later this week when the bags are sent out. I hope there are seedies in mine!

I've made a decision that between now and Christmas I am going to try and finish (or pick apart) all of my UFBO's (unfinished beady objects), so that I can make a fresh start in 2011. I came across one such piece whilst taking my photographs. Having put it on the bust, I actually like it asymmetrical and think I may take off the green beads and replace them with a couple of lengths of chain - what do you think? Obviously the bottom needs finishing too.

Blimey - from no inspiration to a long blog entry - thanks for the venting space blogosphere, and if you're still reading, thank you! I would love feedback from you guys on my website and that necklace.

Happy crafting
x

All things new :)

It's September the 1st? Already?

Spent the day up in Dereham today preparing for the handover of contracts in my job - it's all change as of Monday (Exciting! Different! Scary? A little...) Also got to take the company Mondeo out for a drive - I should point out that I have a stupid thing about not driving big cars in case I scrape/bump/mark them in any way. The Mondeo is an estate car. Scary! But oh so fun when used to driving a small 1.4 Clio :)

So, the new website design is coming along swimmingly - no sneaky peeks yet though, but I think you'll be impressed :) and also on that note, dear sister who is taking my photos (hopefully very soon... Yes, as a beloved sister I'm left waiting!) has made her own portfolio website, which you can view here. There's some impressive stuff!

I'm also about to start my next commission, a choker to match the anklet, only this time with firepolish instead of swarovski, which I received today and are a perfect (and lush!) match. Duly noted that I have found a fab new supplier in Sheffield where I can get very reasonably priced, very lovely beadies from - Jencel - hop on over and take a peek. I was very impressed!

Ooh, and check out my bargain buy for the day from a fellow bead buddy Claire - 4 lovely display stands :) just as I was wondering what I was going to display my pieces on for that fair in October... Thanks Claire!!

Happy crafting
x

And to join the new website...

A fresh blog layout, courtesy of Blogger templates - thanks guys!

Still chasing up those new photos (that's what you get for asking a favour of a younger sister...) but here are some temporary pictures of my latest creation, a patchwork beaded bracelet - still deciding whether I like it or not but it is slowly growing on me. What do you think?

It's something different, a bit random and totally how I feel at the moment - all over the place! Mum has already tried to steal it, so I've no guarantee that I'll get it back after it goes for its photograph!

Coming next... An exciting charity auction that any beady lovers just can't miss!!

New Website!

Hey everyone, it's been quiet on the western front while I've been building my very first website! I decided to take the plunge and see how it went - here's the result! Have a click, take a look around, and let me know what you think!

I've got new photos to come as well (the ones featured are a bit all over the place!) so it will hopefully look a bit tidier in the next couple of weeks with the full range of pieces I have made so far.  Following my first sale it's got me really excited to be able to share my jewellery with more people - even if it is still hard to part with a piece!

Suggestions welcome

Happy crafting

x