Imagine

John Lennon would have been 68 years old today...

Max was getting jealous

Max was getting a bit jealous that Carly had already had her picture posted on this blog and he hadn't yet, so here's a picture of both my little darlings helping me out at the beading table (Carly on the left, Max on the right):





Frank Perkins said it best: "A cat will do what it wants when it wants, and there's not a thing you can do about it."

Just a little change

It's interesting to me how just a little change can make all the difference to a finished piece of jewellery.

For example, here is a picture of a double strand necklace that I made in a bead class last year. The teacher had made up the kits in advance and I liked the colours, I thought the necklace turned out okay, I liked the design with the double strands of wire but in the end, I wasn't too excited about it, there was just something about it that kept me from being totally thrilled about having made it.

A couple of months later, my sister Janine was showing me some shell circles that she'd bought and I got the idea to add them to this necklace (and also made up a pair of matching earrings) and voila, here is the new and improved, finished product:

It just need a little change, a little something extra to make it "pop".

That is also the beauty of having a stash of beads on hand. You just never know when those beads you bought last month, or two years or eight years ago for no particular reason, other than you liked them and just knew you had to have them, will come in handy and end up being just the right thing to add to a current project. So when somebody tells you you've got too many beads, just smile and say, "you can never have enough!"

Vive la France!

Today is my boss/friend Kelly's birthday. Lucky girl, her husband has taken her to Paris to celebrate the occasion! How I loved Paris when I was there earlier this year, I'm sure they will both have a wonderful time.

I made a bracelet to commemorate the day and the trip for her:

I am really enjoying making charm bracelets - many thanks to Dwyn Tomlinson of Beadfx for showing me how she makes hers. This one has a birthday cake and a fleur de lis, as well as a couple of charms I made this past summer during a week long PMC class taught by Kate McKinnon in a small village called Durfort in the south of France (will post more about that adventure at a later date!) and of course, lots of red, white and blue beads to represent the French colours.

Wire Wrap Class #2

Another good wire wrapping class tonight. We made a bracelet and a ring. Not exactly my choice as far as bead selection and design, it's a little too masculine for my taste but I'm guessing it has something to do with the fact that we have a male teacher. But that's just a theory, I could be wrong! :)

One of the women in the class, Karen, made this little guy as part of her homework to practice what we learned from last week - isn't he cute? His name is Pete.

We have two weeks until the next class, I'm hoping to get a little practice time in myself between now and then. Maybe make a friend for Pete.

Wrapping with wire just seems like play to me, it's fun to just get going and see where you end up. Stay tuned for future posts - we'll see what I can come up with!

Another fun day at Beadfx

I helped my friend Stephanie (The Dixon Chick) teach a wire crochet class at Beadfx this afternoon. This is the 2nd class I've helped out with. The classes are so popular, they get a whole bunch of people signing up and Stephanie needs an extra pair of hands to be available to show people what to do. There are more classes scheduled over the next 2 months, so if you're interested in learning a really good and easy method of making a very interesting necklace, you might want to check it out.

I must also point out that the Beadfx sale ends tonight at midnight (isn't online shopping wonderful? the hours are so convenient) and as far as I'm concerned, it's just as well, since I've been to the store 4 times since the sale started and I've come away with purchases on at least 3 of the those occasions (managed to restrain myself once, but it was not easy!!).

On another note, a friend/work colleague is celebrating her birthday today, so here's wishing many happy returns to Lesia. Here's a photo of the bracelet I made for her:

A Successful Shopping Excursion

Home from the antique show and feeling quite weary but very pleased with my various purchases. Had a great time in Moffatt with Barb and Wayne, many thanks to them for taking me out to dinner last night at the Mohawk race track. Didn't win any money on the horses but had a lot of fun trying!

Saw a lot of wonderful things at the antique show. Brought a few of them home, left a few behind that I might regret but there's always next year! Here's a picture of Barb (in the red vest) perusing the offerings. I love the juxtaposition of the saddle beside the fur coat just tossed carelessly in the plastic container. I'll bet both items were greatly treasured by their original owners, who would be quite surprised to see them where they were today. Wonder if either item found a new home today?

My friend Kate says there's always a black panther at a flea market but we could only find a tiger. Every market we went to in France had owls for sale, and this one was no exception!