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!

Stash challenge :o)

DSCF9190, a photo by littletreats on Flickr.

#97

Ok guys only 2 more posts before I get my give-away sorted so please spread the word - the plan is to make a start on my challenge piece for the Bead Buddies forum I told you about last time, and fingers crossed offer it up - let's mix it up a bit!

So I finally finished the cuff, can you believe it?? Overall, for a first attempt, I am pretty pleased with it, but have learned a few lessons on the way:

*When measuring up... Make allowances! (I was going to put this onto a metal cuff blank... Unfortunately it wasn't quite long enough... Oops!)
*Cut as close as you dare to the edge of the threads... I could have done with cutting the backing and ultra suede closer to create a closer edge to the beadwork
*Possibly do a row of brick stitch around the piece before doing the edging that pulls the ultra suede onto the backing? If I had realised, I probably would have done this, to get rid of the bit of backing that's still visible
*Don't be afraid to dive in and let the beadwork create itself! I had no clue where I was going next whilst I was making this, and although it is completely random, I love the finished piece

All in all, this has got me pretty excited for my Laura McCabe class in September! I can't wait, it's going to be a fab day and hopefully we'll meet a great bunch of people at the same time. Here are a couple more views, I went for a chain finish with the clasp, which I had to have as the cardboard didn't quite dry bent enough when I attached it to the beading. (Kindly modelled by my mum who then tried to hide it when I left!!)

Aanyway, I need to start brainstorming what on earth I am making for you wonderful people, so I will be back soon to update you.

Embroidered cuff

In progress:

Back in civilisation

Well, after a week of no internet (yeah, cheers for that Virgin!) I'm finally back on and have just had a proper catch up with as many of you as is possible in under an hour. I did find a sneaky and great little thing that my iPhone can actually be used to access the internet on my PC, which would be great if I had unlimited usage, but as I'm limited to 500MB I had to use it sparingly.

Anyway, we have a new challenge on Bead Buddies... Sooz challenged us to show up to 3 bits in our beady stashes that we haven't figured out what to do with yet. We have to make something out of the norm from what we normally make (eek!) and be super proud of our achievement - and we have until the end of May. HELP! Here are my 3:

Now, I think that Laura's lampwork cuppy-cake is calling out the most at the moment, so I will probably work on something for that first. I'm still brainstorming the others - the aventurine leaf is a bit of a beast, it's 25-30mm or so, and I've no clue what to put with it! As for the wooden hearts, I'm thinking if I get chance that I might do a bit of bead embroidery (I know it's not 'out of the norm' per se, but I haven't done an awful lot of embroidery beading...) 

So, I'm currently half way through another pearly necklace:

ANNNND... Drum roll please... I have finally finished the Spring Necklace that I started over a year ago:

Stay tuned for some better photos - these are just a gist of the finished piece, I'm so pleased with it!

In progress

Sea, sand, sunshine and waves...

Slowly slowly catch a monkey

I'm really sorry about the lack of communication, and that it has gotten even worse. It's been a bit of a long week, and it could be a long few weeks with some changes and whatnot, so I'm going to apologise for the distance between me and my blog now. I thought I'd just update you all with a snap of my Spring necklace which I'm slowly but surely getting around to finishing - fingers crossed in the next few weeks I can show the finished item.

I hope that you are all well, and fear not, I'm still loitering and trying to keep up with you all and your lovely blogs.

BTW

Bead Table Wednesday - I will try to keep this up now that I've started!!

Happy crafting!

Sparkly Things!

Hello there you lovely lot. I know I owe you all a proper update but I'm dashing around trying to get organised for  Mother's Day making pretty things, and making something lovely for my blog giveaway. I'm on post #91 now, so I will promise you that by #100 I will have gotten my butt in gear and sorted one of you out with a special trinket.

I think this bracelet will be a Mother's Day gift, hopefully it will be received well. I just love the colours of it - I will get a better photo in day light for you. I was pleased with how quickly it worked up, and it's so slinky. I've already got more ideas for this kind of bracelet a-brewing...

I don't know if any of you scuba dive, but I had a day out with my dad yesterday at LIDS (London International Dive Show) which was great. I've got my heart set on diving Wakatobi now, so perhaps in ten years time I'll be showing you snaps from under the water there! I can hope.

Still not found my MOO cards - looks like I'll be ordering a new batch, what a shame hehehe. However, we are now on a strict budget so that we can save the maximum amount every month to get onto the housing ladder by January 2012, boo! Better get making some jewellery to try and sell, no?

Testing iPhone blogging

Just ignore this post I'm just testing out the blog features from my iPhone so I can blog on the move!

In case you are reading, here's another snap of my recent necklace (as you can tell, I'm pretty pleased with it!)

Happy crafting x

FOLLOWERS!

Ohh you've gone and snuck up on me faster than I expected - I've just hit the 50 followers so watch this space for details of my giveaway... I've got to come up with something lovely for you now!

Supporting Japan

I'm sure you're all well aware of what's going on in Japan, and thankfully there are people who are trying to help out in any way they can. One of those people is Laura Sparling over at Beads by Laura who has made a select few batches of beads to sell in aid of the British Red Cross Tsunami Appeal. 100% of the proceeds are being donated, and we all get the chance to buy gorgeous beads with the added bonus of helping out! I missed the first two, so was determined to get involved on the third round, and here's my latest purchase:

Isn't it the cutest thing? A delicious lemon meringue cupcake :) Watch this space, once I hit 50 followers, this may become part of my giveaway - we'll see what I come up with!

EDIT: Through the 3 sales and other donations, Laura and everyone involved have raised £150!

On another note, I've now completed my necklace and am back onto the cuff project!

As you can see, I'm loving the fun of playing on the iPhone, the above are photos from my Instagram! Love it.

Ooh! More exciting news! Me and my buddy Tracy are doing a day course in Norwich in September with Laura McCabe, making an embroidered cuff - I cannot wait! Watch this space... In September... ;o)

Long weekend

Ooh back to work tomorrow, have had a lovely long weekend. I've made a bit of progress on the latest project, and have had so much fun playing on my new iPhone! There's a fab photo journal app Instagram, which is great fun to use. If you have an iPhone, download it (it's free!) and add me - littletreats.

I had so much fun doing the Stylish Blogger award, and look forward to following the chain so I can find lots more of your marvellous blogs to follow. On that note, I'm almost at 50 followers and I am planning a giveaway once I hit 50! Spread the word, and I'll get planning on how to do it and what to give away to you lovely people. You'll have to excuse me, I'm still new to this, so I'll do my best. 

I caught up with an old friend today as well, it's been so nice to just have some time out of work and in two weeks time I get to do it again! I could get used to this. Anyway, must crack on and get some more of this necklace done - stay tuned!

Chillout time

Oh yeah, chilling out a bit too much now. Hair is cut, eyebrows looking lush, car is gleaming and I've been playing on my new iPhone for too long. I'm supposed to have washed up by now but I've been a little waylaid... Unfortunately o2 weren't budging on their deals so I am going to be with 3. Pretty good as well, they have put a 30 day suspense period so I won't get charged until April when my other phone contract runs out. Have still got the iPhone to play with in the meantime! Fun times. Off to pick up hubby now and go shopping x

All warm and fuzzy :)

I've had a rather good few days in the grand old scheme of things, work's been busy as always but I've now got Friday and Monday off, and then the same again in a fortnight - nice! So why has it been a good couple of days? I know you're dying to find out.

:1: As a new birthday tradition, I bought myself and Jim a lottery scratchcard for his birthday, and then won back the £2 I spent on them (unfortunately, Jim chose the wrong one and got nothing...) I'm still deciding whether to take the money or just get another couple - what do you think?
:2: I was pleasantly surprised when I came on to browse through everyone's blogs last night to find that Nicola over at Smitten Kitten had nominated me for a Stylish Blogger Award! Thanks Nic, I'll be trying to keep up the posting a bit more regularly than I have been. More on this as you read on.
:3: I was also pleasantly surprised to get a message on BeadersOnline to say that I'd won the draw for the Bi-Monthly challenge, which considering I don't normally win anything is amazingly cool. I had entered this piece, you may remember it :)

Now, onto my blog award! Firstly, if you head over to Nicola's blog, you'll find 14 other fabulous blogs to have a browse through, but before you do - I've got to follow the rules of the award:

Step 1 - Make a post linking back to the person who gave you the award!
Step 2 - Share 7 random things about yourself 
Step 3 – Award 15 recently discovered bloggers with this award 
Step 4 – Contact these bloggers and tell them they’ve won the award

So, 7 random things...
:1: I am a geek for things looking 'just so' particularly when on a computer, spreadsheets, emails, my blog... I can spend hours tweaking the most minor of elements to make things look right (that's why I keep my blog minimalist so I don't have too much to tweak!)
:2: I first rode a horse when I was just two years old and loved it, but I haven't been for almost 2 years now and would really quite like to go again in the summer
:3: I got married in June 2010 to my husband Jim who I met at a sweaty rock festival in 2007 - whoever said romance was dead??
:4: I hate shopping. Unless it's online, but then I get annoyed when things don't look like they do in the photos!  I can't stand walking around town because people are so rude/slow/indecisive and especially those people who just stop dead right in front of you ...
:5: It was an accident that I started making jewellery, my mother in law had bought Make Jewellery so I had a browse, started classes in beadweaving, met two crazy ladies who I love to pieces and couldn't now be without, and have never looked back.
:6: I'm actually quite excited about getting my iPhone this weekend - more to come on that!
:7: I find it hard to switch off from work and really need to do it more - fingers crossed this weekend I can let it go for a few days and absolutely NOT log on remotely. I do feel at the moment that I live to work and not the other way around.

BLOGROLL!!!! (Half an hour to do this before I have to move the car from the free parking zone!)
:1: http://abeadaday.blogspot.com/ Lisa Crone, you never fail to find me a beautiful beady piece of inspiration, and there's so much variety in your blogging - I always look forward to finding out what kind of sparkly/whimsy/glitzy/bright and fantastic item you'll be showing today.
:2: http://cinnamonjewellery.blogspot.com/ One of the first blogs I ever started following, I'd love to give wirework a go, and if anyone could inspire me to do it, it would be this lady here!
:3: http://humblebeads.blogspot.com/ I've not long been following Heather, but the beads she shares are utterly gorgeous and you'd be mad to miss out on this beady porn! Tune in for bead table wednesday with Heather too, lush.
:4: http://justsomethingimade.com/ A huge variety of crafty goodness, you never know what you'll find!
:5: http://kelliechristie.blogspot.com/ Buttons! I love Kellie's jewellery, and her blog is full of pretty pieces, resin designs and all things jewellery
:6: http://labellajoya.blogspot.com/ I love Marcie's blog, it's full of beadwoven beauties that I would love to own. If you've not visited before, it's one for the watch list!
:7: http://lucidmoonstudio.blogspot.com/ I started following Lisa recently when I was browsing the participants of the bead soup blog party, come here for all things crafty, not just jewellery.
:8: http://kristen-beadjourney.blogspot.com/ My favourite find of 2010/2011, Kristen's witty insights and bloggings never fail to make me smile, her tagline is "creating a bracelet for every shirt" and she's on her way to doing it!
:9: http://www.quernuscrafts.co.uk/ Cute polymer clay - anything you want, you can have it seems! I was pulled in by the wee horses over a year ago now, and it never ceases to amaze me what has been made since.
:10: http://songbeads.blogspot.com/ The life and times of a singing beader - lovely jewellery and lots of inspiration
:11: http://www.sweetbeadstudio.com/ wirework, jewellery, pretty things and lots to look at
:12: http://www.beadinggem.com/ fantastic variety, all walks of life are looked at, all kinds of jewellery, techniques and ideas - worth settling down with a cup of tea for!
:13: http://allthosethingsandtheotherstoo.blogspot.com/ Beadies, bracelets, polymer clay - I loved the bead soup reveal Hazel posted, take a peek
:14: http://beadingbipolar.blogspot.com/ stunning bead embroidered projects, and much inspiration to be had
:15: http://beezinthebelfry.blogspot.com/ a more zentangle-based blog, which I found whilst researching ideas before I took the plunge, I wish I had a spare wall to doodle on!

Phew, just in time - got to dash now to move the car but I'll be coming round to send all the lovely comments later on today :) Thanks again Nicola, it's been fun!

All tangled up

Hi again everyone! No beading to show this time I'm afraid, but there will be another pretty piece to come hopefully by the end of the week. I've got Friday and next Monday off for a long weekend, and boy am I looking forward to it.

In the meantime, I have given Zentangle a go, as I figured having mentioned it a few months ago, it would be a shame not to follow my interest up. This title to the left was my first attempt last night, swiftly followed by another pattern (I've actually started a new A5 sketch book to do these in, so I'm hoping I'll really get into them and enjoy doing them) So far, so good - they are a little bit addictive. Now, these tangles are hand drawn by me, but I've scanned them and sharpened them on photoshop for your benefit as the ink on my thinner pen wasn't as black as it looked on my page!

To be honest, for a first go, I am pretty pleased. What do you think? Don't blow them up too big as that's when the flaws on the sharpening show unfortunately - but they look alright at this size! On a slightly different tangent, I did try adding some colour whilst I had them in photoshop, would you like a peek? Tell me what you think as I'm not sure yet:

Hmm... Still deciding... I do like the originals though. Anyway, stay tuned as I've got a necklace in the making and I've been experimenting with cabochons as I've been meaning to for so so long.

Back on the network

It's Saturday afternoon and I've got some 'me' time whilst DH is playing football. I've been wanting to see Step Up 2 for so long, and it's on ITV2 so yay for me! I've just fixed my wireless network so that the PC, laptop and printer are all friends again, so now I am going to chill out.

I'm a little annoyed at myself at the moment though, I have lost my box of MOO cards, and it's really frustrating me as to where I've put them. If anyone sees them - let me know :)

I've been wanting for a while to experiment more with some of the geometric shapes, and finally got around to having a little go at making a triangle cushion which as you can see has become a ring. It works up pretty quickly which is good, I may have to get some delicas to make one properly.

Speak to you all later

Hey everyone, I know I've not been around much on here but I've been keeping up with all of your blogs. In the meantime whilst I've been away I've been knuckling down and making this necklace from Beadwork! Goodness knows how long it took me, but it's been one of my favourite projects so far.

I've been absolutely shattered recently, but in March I'll be working four 4-day weeks thanks to the 4 days holiday I have to take before the end of March - that'll be a treat.

Soo... In other news, I've got a bunch more beads in my collection now so I *really* need to get on using them up.

What plans have you all got for Valentine's?