It's been kind of a busy and distracted month here - a quick weekend in New York, a work trip to the mountains, a flood, and a friends wedding all added up to not much beading.  I was glad that Lori Anderson is hosting a blog hop this weekend so I could get back at it. Lori's challenged all of us to pull things out of our stash that we've been hoarding - things that we see as to precious or too expensive to use anywhere else, and put something together.  When she announced the theme of the hop, I knew what I should be using.  I'd bought 5 bone pieces over 25 years ago from a cr ..read more

I'm participating in Beady Eyed Bunny's "History Hop" this weekend.  Each of us is to pick a country and period in history, do some research and then create a piece of jewellery around that research. I decided I needed a bit of a stretch, so picked China as my country from the list that Beady Eyed Bunny gave, then picked the Warring States period, manly so I could make beads with lots of dots on them!  The Warring States period is known for a specific style of beads, often used as inspiration by modern beadmakers, and is known for layers of dots, often referred to as horns.  I ..read more

The first three or four months of any year are pretty heavy on the travel commitments for me, and this year was no exception.  A long work trip, combined with a couple of shorter weekends away meant that I didn't have time to spend beading or on the computer.  It did mean, however, that I got to some pretty cool places, and got to poke around some vintage shops in my spare moments.  I always like making something current out of older components, and this bracelet is no exception.  I got the amber glass buttons in New York, and found the dual hole brass and lacquer compon ..read more

I'm participating in the Bead Soup Blog party this year.  Over 500 of us are participating this year, and this  is the third of three reveals of beautiful work.  I started with a collection of beads, a clasp and a focal bead from my lovely partner Merja Syrjamaki.  The reveals officially start tomorrow, but I'm heading out for a weekend away, and wanted to put the post up before I left. I was a bit challenged with this, as I haven't worked with gemstones in the past, and typically don't work with pink, but I love what Merja sent me.  I know she was a little worried ..read more

Blog Candy giveaway winner is Jen Ren!  Congrats, Jen! Overall Soup - isn't it pretty! I mentioned before that I'm participating in the Bead Soup Blog Party - a chance for beaders all over the world to exchange materials and create with something new with what they received.  My partner, Merja Syrjamaki, from Findland sent the most lovely soup, and I'm so excited to be working with it!  I have to admit that I tore into the packaging when I got the soup, so some of the photography groupings might be different than Merja had originally intended. Each so ..read more

I created a number of beads for the "Memories and Thanks" blog hop that Lori Anderson hosted a few months back.  I used a number of them in the piece that I created honouring my childhood babysitter.  I quickly realized that I have just too many, and some of them are just too similar to the ones in the finished piece and I won't ever use them in something else.   So - what better to do with them than host Blog Candy!  I'll draw from everyone who leaves a comment below on Friday, the 22nd of February, and send the beads off to whomever I draw.  If you do make some ..read more

I'm participating in Lori Anderson's fabulous project - The Bead Soup Blog Party.  There's over 500 of us, all beaders, and all from different parts of the world. Lori's hosted several bead soup blog parties before, this being the seventh edition, so I'm confident we're all in good hands.  What is a Bead Soup Blog Party?  Each of the participants sends their partner a selection of beads, which has to include a clasp and a focal bead and a few other beads, which is the "Bead Soup".  Each of the recipients then creates jewelry based on the items, including things from t ..read more

 It's a semi-cold and blustery winter day here - nothing like the northeast of North America, but just a few skiffs of snow to make the day seem more like winter than the weather has been.  I shared this picture on Facebook a few weeks ago, but wanted to post here as well.  This is Sabine and Scout, who usually aren't too sure if they like each other, but sometimes show that they share the same household.  Besides, it's nice if someone else cleans the top of your head ..read more

I'm really enjoying joining blog hops this year.  I had joined a lot of exchanges in the past, and although I loved the time and effort that everyone put into their work, there were times that I kind of liked what I'd made, and wasn't ready to part with the item yet. I love that blog hops allow you to make your own thing, but you also get to check out what others have created.  The Inspired by Winter blog hop is just that - a challenge to design a piece that reflects winter. I have to admit that the Inspired by Winter piece wasn't what I'd started out to create.  I'd imagine ..read more

I participated in the Bead Journal Projects 2011 year.  Or at least I intended to.  I made it to about March or April, behind by only a little bit, and life happened.  If you're not familiar with the Bead Journal Project, you create a bead embroidery piece, one per month, over the course of a year.  But of course, life had other plans, and despite my best intentions, I didn't complete the project.  Not that I wasn't busy - I followed favourite rock band around North America for a month. I got a new job. I got another new job.  I went on another vacation.  And ..read more