Chandelier Crystals

I'm so lucky to have a BFF like Carmen. Look at the gorgeous chandelier crystals she gave me. I've got enough to make several necklaces and I know if I beg and put the 'hang-dog' look on my face and make her feel sorry for me she'll quite possibly give me some more.

I've used a very dark gunmetal grey chain and some small leaf connectors to join it all together and the combination of dark chain and twinkly clear crystals looks so good together.

But alas, it was very hard to photograph.

A large teardrop crystal that I wire wrapped and threaded onto a small piece of chain and then attached it to the main necklace so it has a bit of movement.

I've listed it in my Artfire store along with a couple of other pieces.
A busy weekend coming up, 2 engagements parties, my weekly visit to mum, and hopefully a little bit of time spent at my desk with some new beads to play with.

Laughing...and not all the way to the bank.

See the photo above....it's a gorgeous necklace made by Lorelei Eurto in a book called Chain Style by Jane Dickerson. Fabulous book full of gorgeous contemporary jewelry using lots of different styles of chain. So I was browsing through it the other day for the millionth time as is my want, trying to get some inspiration and to get out of the black and silver rut that I seem to be stuck in of late and this particular necklace by Lorelei spoke to me and thought I'd use it for inspiration.

This is what evolved.....ha, ha, ha, I'm laughing just looking at it. It's a dogs breakfast! You can laugh too....I won't be offended because it's really awful. Nothing sits right, the balance is all wrong, and frankly it's just terrible.
Ok, that's enough laughing now, stop it....see, now coffee is coming out of your nose, serves you right for laughing so hard at my expense. Snicker all you like, I'm just being brave and showing you that not everything turns out how you expect it to and sometimes things just don't work.....at all....and you'd better go back to the drawing board and hope that Lorelei never sees it!
Where's the chain I here you ask, well if you must know I forgot to add it.....ok?
But seriously if you want to see some stunning pieces of wearable art got to Lorelei's blog and be amazed.

The Last of My Black and Silver Rut (I think)

I'm having so much trouble with blogger. It's so temperamental for me at the moment and I keep having the same problem on and off, the bold and underline icons become highlighted as soon as I start typing and then all the text is blue and underlined, plus there's a weird black line on the left side flashing on and off. Trying to get someone from blogger to help is nigh on impossible. Anyway that's a problem for me to try and solve, nothing you'd be terribly interested in unless you've experienced the same problem, if that's case email with a solution and I'll be forever in your debt and you can have my first born or a piece of jewelry.....take your pick. Just quietly I'd go for the jewelry.....even though first born is a sparky and can be quite useful around the house for installing electrical plugs and such like, he's got a large appetite, so be warned.

So this piece below was quite a challenge. Lots of cutting, glueing, setting eyelets, embossing and smudging, making figure 8 connectors, making sure it sits right, adjusting the chain quite a few times until I was happy. And happy I am.

Silver wallpaper and grungeboard.

Just a close up. And now one of my photos has disappeared. Ok it's up the top of the post now Grrrrr!
Hot water is back on, so now we can shower and use the dishwasher. It was a toss up which was worse, not having a shower or not being able to use the dishwasher. I'd forgotten what an odious task hand washing dishes is, almost up there with cooking!

Oh for a Hot Shower

I'm in a black and white and silver rut at the moment. Oh well, I'll just keep going with it until it wears itself out.
We're living the pioneer life at the moment. The last few mornings have been the coldest so far this year and of course the law of averages means the hot water system, which has served us well for the last 17 years, sprung a leak. So I haven't had a shower, I've had to boil water to wash the dishes and I sooooo miss running hot water. The new system gets installed tomorrow afternoon, so it's off to SIL in the morning for a nice hot shower.

Black lava beads linked together, black enamel chain and a black and white cameo.
I did change the main silver jump ring in the centre and replaced it with something a little more interesting.
I've also made another wallpaper necklace that I'm thrilled to bits with the way it turned out. I'll post pictures later in the week.
I'm contemplating going to the Craft and Quilt fair this week. I can't remember if I thought it was worth while when I went last year or whether it was a disappointment, or maybe that was the year before. Well I won't know unless I go, will I.

Black and Silver

A very hard necklace to photograph so please forgive the awful quality of these pix. I whipped this up on Tuesday lickety split and before I could say good grief, it was done. I lie.....don't believe a word I say.....it's taken me a few days to put this together. I kept changing things around, different chain, tried different ways to highlight the focal added this, took off that, played around for ages until I was happy with it. Such a simple looking necklace too, who would have thought it would take me so long.

The chain is very long, about waist length, so it can be worn a couple of different ways if desired.
The focal is wallpaper and grungeboard (what else?) with a silver metal filigree whatsit attached with some beads and crystals.
I'll see if Brighita likes it, if so she can have it as a welcome home present. Only 1 more week until she arrives home from three and half months working in New Zealand. Can't wait...I've missed my bratski.....I need her back to balance out the male to female ratio in the house and I know she's just dying to have some of my home cooked meals (my tongue is firmly in my cheek).
Speaking of cooking, my cupcakes were a hit last week but I won't bore you with photos of them. Your welcome. Now I have to try and think of something to cook for dinner tonight. Ugh!!!

A Mothers Day Letter

Mother

Because I cannot be with you on mother's day this year I have decided to bestow upon you the gift that keeps on giving; I think it is time for you to start teaching me how to sew. I feel it is your duty as a mother to bestow upon your only daughter the necessary skills needed to survive in this world. I think you would agree that you are teetering on the brink of failure with the skills needed to adequately prepare food that consists of anything more complicated than eggs on toast (although I hasten to add here that I do make a pretty mean poached eggs).

It is also no secret that I have grown up with a certain fondness for fashion or as you have so eloquently put it many times "you have champagne taste on a beer budget Brighita". So I would like to propose a weekly mother-daughter class where by you may pass on your sewing skills and I may start saving my champagne pennies for more important purchases like oh I don't know.... somewhere to live etc etc.

I would also like the opportunity to one day, in the very, very, very, far away future to have a legacy which I may pass onto my daughter.

So with that in mind, please send me your availabilities so that I may schedule in an appropriate time.

Love you mummy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

B xoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoDearest Darling Daughter

I too am sad we won't be together on Mothers Day. Find a surrogate Kiwi mother and spend the day with her. I'm sure she will be a much better cook than I. I can't understand why people don't realise that if you add something green, poached eggs on toast is a complete meal.
Sewing.......I recall when my mother, your grandmother, was teaching me to sew it wasn't the most pleasant of experiences. Being somewhat poor in those days, she would keep reminding me as I was very nervously cutting out a pattern, "that material cost three shillings and sixpence a yard so don't ruin it" or, "that seam is too wide", "the hem is crooked" "I don't know how many times I've told you that's not the way to sew in a zip" ....etc. So the whole sewing thing was rather fraught.
But I'm game if you are.
As for scheduling. Well evenings are taken up with rather a lot of TV, but I could possibly fit you in between Home and Away and Glee, or Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sister.
Saturdays are taken up with your Grandmother and you know what I'm like when I get home from there. Slightly non compos and in need of a cup of tea and a lie down.
So that leaves us with Sundays.......now if you can rise from your bed before lunch time I'm sure we could achieve quite a lot between your yoga class and drinkies with the girls at the Queens and I promise I won't ever say "that material cost $18.00 a metre, so don't ruin it."
Love and miss you too...............Mummzzee xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Cup Cakes, Leftovers and Lost

It's our son's 28th birthday tomorrow and I got the bright idea to make cupcakes thinking they'd be quick and easy and I'd have them made quicker than you can say"what-a-stupid-idea-and-you-know-you-hate-cooking-and-what-were- you-thinking". If you could see my kitchen you would probably pass out. How I get in such a mess when I cook is anyone's guess. After scrabbling around in the pantry trying to find patty pans, sparkly sprinkles, and the like, then trying to locate the cupcake pans and then mid beating one of the beaters fell out and cupcake mixture splattered everywhere, then the spoons I was using to fill the patty pans fell in the mixture..... I could go on. Anyway they're cooked and now I just have to ice them and see what kind of a mess I can get into again.
I made this with the left over beads that I stamped from the previous post. Lots of different beads, wire wrapped some of them and just did simple loops for others.I was really pleased the way these stamped beads turned out.
Some freshwater pearls.
Little silver charms.
It's designed to wear with the toggle clasp in front.
One good thing came out of today though. Last night while watching the second last episode of Lost, my eyes were so sore, it felt like I had the whole of Scarborough Beach in them and when I woke up this morning I couldn't open them properly. Damn, conjunctivitis and I had just been to the doctor the day before for a flu shot and I knew I would never be able to get back in to see him today. So I went to our local chemist all prepared to beg him for some eye drops and we'd sort the prescription out later with the doctor to be told as of the 1st of May you can now buy drops for conjunctivitis over the counter without a script. Yay. How hard is it to put eye drops in your own eyes? I kept missing my eye.
I'm going to miss Lost even though it was the most confusing, convoluted series in the history of television series. Are they in heaven or hell, is the past, present or future, how come Hurley never lost any weight, Jack and Clare related? and is Loch a good guy or a bad guy, I always liked Loch, he had a lovely crinkly smile, I don't' know.....even though it was confusing I never missed an episode.