PROBLEMS

My sobering thought for myself for the day.

"If we threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back."



I WANT someone to carve me an angel like this.

 

 

 



 

 

I found this in a mag and felt it was very apt for me. I really do need protection from what I want. I can't even remember in what context this was, but whatever!

 

 



I got the teeniest tile from Pearl and Dave with this picture on it. I love it and decided that my friend Bonnie needed it as well, so for her birthday in December I painted her the same picture, much bigger though.

 

 

 



 

We don't do big/expensive presents for Christmas, we save that special present for birthdays. So I made Bevan a recipe book of our favourites and some newbies. Included are old family photos, with this and that. Took me ages, Bevan only got his present in February. The book in the end was about 30 pages long, but I enjoyed it so. My style of scrap booking.

I can't remember if I've ever posted these, don't think so. Penny a friend of my sister in law, Sylvia, brought some beads to be strung, that she had bought while she was working in the East, China I think. They are the turquoise/green beads with a charcoal vein, I still don't know what they are but they are cold and heavy, so definitely stone. Penny loved both necklaces, her original order was for one. Penny had such diverse choices that I made two necklaces trying to cover all her options, so glad she liked both. The matching bracelet was an extra.

Penny's other stones were these bright orange ones, which are more than likely dyed Howlite. Penny took the 1st one with the turquoise and white ceramic beads. I find orders a bit stressful but then also exciting and of course, great when the customer is happy with the creations.

Nite! Didn't get much reading done last night. Thanks for having a look.

MONDAY

MONDAAAAY: At least I don't have to climb in my car and drive to Johannesburg and the office. The mundane is boring so it's never discussed on a blog. Who wants to know about the boring and chore filled parts of ones life.

So here are some things that don't involve the washing and ironing, the cleaning of bathrooms (yuk) and vacuuming.

Saturday a good customer and now a friend, Zelyne, came to choose beads for a "special bead bracelet". My bracelet is made of some beads purchased on holiday last year in Port Elizabeth and East London, as well as some old treasures. Zelyne who is super tidy and organised, said she didn't keep anything, that she didn't use or wear, so she doubted she had anything to add to her bracelet, but was more than happy to scratch in my stash. Zelyne chose so many beads, we decided that perhaps she needed a short necklace. She brought a pair of earrings that she'd got in Bogatar and never wore. I worked on the bracelet from about 12h00 to 18h00. I'd used all the beads Zelyne had chosen and we'd need about another 54. So I decided to weigh the necklace and concluded that the 350g would be too heavy to wear, especially if we still had to add beads. Each bead is individually wired and then attached to the chain with a jump ring, which also adds to the weight. So new chain was chosen and I started again with the bracelet.

The first pic above, is my bracelet, the next two are Zelyne's and include her earrings broken up, the large lilac stones are from her earrings.

Zelyne has come to collect her bracelet and is pleased with the way it turned out.

Sunday morning Rich and I went to a local Antiques and Art Market. Lovely setting on a smallholding. The vendors stands were set amongst the thorn trees and some old outbuildings. I purchased a book and Rich two old metal plates for one of his aviaries.

I've started reading the book (bought at the Klip Klap market www.klipklap.co.za), heavy going but still intriguing. I find it interesting to know where old beads come from. Especially beads that are referred to as "trade beads". As they often come from North Africa, I automatically assumed that that is where they were made, but as they are trade beads, they more often than not have landed there from some other place in the world, so fascinating.

Grrrr, I'm not getting to paint. I've got two pictures on the go. The one was on the 99 and I decided to outline what was on the woman's head in black. MISTAKE. So now I need to go over it to hide the black outline. Thank heavens I'm working in acrylic. The other one with the birds has a way to go to completion. Both pictures are "my" copies of work done by Julia Cairns. Nowhere near as good, but at least I feel I'm capturing the essence of the stories.

 

Below are bracelets started on Thursday or Friday, I can't remember because of the work and concentration on Zelyne's bracelet. Anyway they were completed yesterday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Isn't it queer how the head/hands get stuck on a colour, two lilac bracelets without being conscious of it until I lay them out to be photographed.

 

I've just finished reading the Fall of Giants (Century Trilogy 1) by Ken Follett. It ended suddenly for me. Perhaps there is another trilogy. I'll have to check out Amazon. I've also completed A Song of Ice and Fire - A Game of Thrones, volumes 1 to 5 by George R R Martin. Can't wait for book 6.

 

 



Roses in demand.

11h00 now, must go, have started Emperor - The Gates of Rome by Conn Iggulden. Never read anything of his before but the start is promising. I have to try and read a bit before going to sleep. I actually started reading while waiting for the pics to post. Band width or whatever not great here today.

Thanks for visiting, please leave a comment.



MARCH ALREADY

The older I get the faster time goes by, is it because we do less in a day than we used to?

These three were completed last night. The necklace is a princess length, large-ish open chain with a collection of heart charms and little glass beads. The orange and grey beads are from Glass and Fire www.glassandfire.co za, they are strung with unglazed ceramic beads. The 3rd one has one of the curved tubular glass beads that I found at Moonfull Crystals www.moonful-crystals.co.za.

I've always wanted to be able to crochet, my sister Glynis gave me some lessons in April 2012. After buying two books on how to crochet, I set out to make a blanket. Yip! nothing like diving in at the deep end. The blanket is now 2m by 2.2m. I just need to do the border and it's ready for our bed this winter. It's been so hot these last two months that there was no way I could sit with this on my lap doing the edging. So I started.....

this blanket. Sort of retro/nostalgic/granny colours. I got the tutorial from The Royal Sisters blog, www.theroyalsisters.blogspot.com

Lindy, my sister found this pattern in a crochet book. She can't crochet and thought this would be a good place to start. I find granny squares easier. Below my wonky cushion which was to be Lindy's birthday present. Hmm, not so sure now!

It is being made with love, I just wish it wasn't so wonky.

If I'm posting pics youv'e seen before, please forgive me but after so long I have no idea what's posted already, although I try and check, I don't always remember when it comes to posting. I've got to get a system going for my pics file.

Bought these two from a roadside vendor last week. Just loved them. They are made from Jakaranda wood and the vendor carved them himself. They now stand in my studio window. I must check with Bevan if I should put some furniture wax on them. Worried they'll discolour though.

Have to go now. Hopefully more tomorrow.

MAD AS A "MARCH" HARE

Where does the time go. Last here the day before our 37th wedding anniversary.

I'm mad at the moment, so many irons in the fire. I'm still Liams day mother most days. I'm beading, crocheting, gardening, doing paper things, sewing and painting. Never quite sure what to pick up or put down. That is except for Liam, he always comes first.

The Figtree market happened. We were successful enough, more sales would have been great but we were testing the water and hadn't advertised much. We were terrified we'd be swamped. We weren't but it was still hectec at times.

I see I don't have any pics of the displays on the patio or of the garden, Bev has those. I'll get some and post at a later date.

Aside from a bit of a slow down over the festive season, I've been making jewellery constantly.

Still on the bracelet binge. They are fun to make, as I can still get the beads to tell the storey I want.

I love these two and have not been able to put them on sale. I wear them together, they have bits from old jewellery of mine and I'm concerned they won't be loved, CRAZY.

Creations with my ice resin pendants. The pendants are double sided.

I do still make necklaces. I love beads. On the off chance that I'd find some stones I could afford, I went into Moonfull Crystals www.moonfull-crystals.co.za and to my delight they had a big bowl of mixed beads. I've scratched in it twice. I just love buying loose beads. The square bead in the blue and green necklace is one of the beads I found. Nothing spectacular, but I love the necklace it makes me smile.

to match the ice resin pendant i made

I can never be accused of favouring a colour or bead or gemstone. From the above you can see I did a serious scratch in the stash. Love it and all four sold like hot cakes.

I'm not posting in any particular order, as after more than four months, who knows what happened when. I know I always say this but maybe now that Liam is getting older, 2 and a half now, I'll have a bitty more time.

Thanks for visiting, comments are always welcome.