Round and Round the Rose Garden

I made this piece for a very good friend down in Melbourne. She loved one of the pieces I entered into the Swarovski competition this year - and put in a request for one to wear to her brothers wedding ... only it had to have lots of pink and it had to have a butterfly. So after much searching I found this pink Cubic Zirconia 18ct White Gold butterfly .. perfect!!!!

Finished it today - and promptly packaged up and mailed. While it does sort of look like it's original "sister" ... it's definately just as pretty ~ I'm sure you'll agree ... and LOL it looks great on. Below is the comparison of both pieces.

"Round and Round the Rose Garden" ~ September 2007


"Round and Round the Garden" ~ Swarovski Challenge - June 2007

LOL ... excuse my crappy photos ~ especially of the version 2. In my haste to get it photographed and mailed off, I didn't realise my hand/camera shadow was in the picture.

Anyway darl, I hope you enjoy your necklace ... I enjoyed making it for you.

To bead or not to Bead

That is the question .... LOL, excuse my play on these most famous of words

Welcome to my space.

My reasoning behind creating this space ... I'm hoping to document for my family and friends my journey through this beading bug that I seem to have caught ... and just can't get rid of. This bug caught me, or did I catch it? in early/mid 2006. Since then I've evolved from just plain stringing - which I look back on and just cringe at ... to designing and creating not only more complex stringing pieces, but also elaborate and time-consuming wire pieces. I seem to have found my niche with wire ... I love it. It's such a beautiful medium to play with, to create with, to do anything with.

I've even started entering competitions ... yes me, shy, reserved, not bothering anyone, ME!!! My greatest and proudest is winning First, Second and Champion at my local Show here in Mackay (2007). My main piece (below), "Jewelled Sea", took me 16 hours to make, the seemingly endless wire-wrapping used up two spools of artistic wire, some beautfiul Swarovski crystals, and made a few fingers raw and sore!!! My inspiration for it ... our beautiful oceans. The waves and swirls represent the waves and currents of the ocean, the circles are the bubbles bubbling along as they do, and the Crystals represent all the creatures of our oceans ... our "jewels".

"Jewelled Sea"
First prize and Champion

My Second prize is a beautiful (well I think so), cuff bracelet called "Autumn's Wings". By the time I finished this one it looked remarkably like a butterfly, hence the "wings". I love these colours, they are gorgeous and create a warmth about the piece.

"Autumn's Wings"
Second prize

I even entered three pieces into the 2007 Swarovski competition this year ... piccie of one of my pieces "Round & Round the Garden" is up the top of this page. I didn't make it through to the finalists, but I am proud that I can say that I entered the competition and at least made a go of it. And that's all you can do isn't it? Make a go of it, do your best - always, and to just be happy doing it.

I hope you enjoy this space and share with me my journey through this creative phase of my life.