Golden Ivy

My one and only entry to the 2009 Create Your Style Swarovski Competition. I wasn't going to enter anything as this year has been sooooo busy and I didn't feel I could contribute something worthy, but I changed my mind (a girls perogative to do). Started it yesterday and finally finished it about 4.00 this afternoon. Ugh my aching back!!!! Nothing like leaving it until the last minute!!!!

This piece is dedicated to my beautiful Nana who, even though she passed away many years ago, left a mark on my life that has made me the person I am today. Her name ... Ivy May. She was a very proud, old fashioned woman, who had a wicked sense of humour, and a great sense of family values.

So ... down to the nitty gritty!!! I love Golden Shadow and it goes so well with Bronze Swaro pearls that I just had to team them together ... and added a smidge of cream rose in there just to break it up a bit ... and a whole heap of 2mm crystal rounds that I don't want to see again in a big hurry ... LOL. Believe it or not ... there's close to 1000 crystals/pearls on this cuff.

Here she is .....

Used 2mm crystal rounds, 3mm, 4mm, & 5mm Golden Shadow bicones, AND 3mm, 4mm Bronze Swaro pearls AND 4mm Cream Rose pearls.

I've since found out that this piece didn't make it through to the final 30 ... bit of a shame as I'm so in love with this piece, but at least I get to keep it now for the Exhibition I'm trying to organise. :)

Muse revealed

The long awaited reveal of the Muse has happened ... and what a reveal. Not only was the beautiful pendant revealed, but the multitude of entries and winners as well. I had so much fun today going through all the entries and gazing longingly at the array of designs from people all over the world.

Congratulations to all that entered and hearty congratulations to the finalists .... which I am happy to say, I am part of. You could have blown me over when I logged on this morning to find that I was one of two Australian finalists. My fellow finalist - Amanda Katz - with her amazing design and winner of the "Handmade Component" section ... congratulations Amanda. Finalists can be found here. There's also two galleries that have been set up with every single entry showcased - these can be accessed here.

Sooooo ... finally I can reveal my piece with the secret Muse - a gorgeous pendant from Lillypilly. I had so much fun making this piece, my first using this sort of design and stitching. Can't wait to see what secrets the "Use the Muse III" kit will reveal to me when I receive it. Thankyou Scarlett for such a great competition and beautiful Muse.

"Under a Moroccan Sky"

Ekka results

Well I guess I better put these up :)

I entered two pieces into this years Brisbane Show (Ekka as it's fondly known) - and this is the first year for me at the Ekka. Lady of the Lake and The Deep Blue are the two pieces that made it down there and I'm very happy to say that I got ..........

1st Place - The Deep Blue
3rd Place - Lady of the Lake

My mother went to the opening day last week and took some rather dodgy photos - not her fault, they are behind glass afterall. So here are the photos - except that you can't see the card for the 1st place, they hid it around the side apparently, and had the card and piece for the 2nd place winner in front of my piece *rolling eyes*.

Dragonfly Garden

Every now and then on the Beading Forum they have a Designer Quest (DQ). You buy the kit of beadies from the sponsor and from there make your creation. This time around the sponsor was Beadglass, and what a gorgeous lot of beadies it was.

When I saw the pack, and it's colours, I saw lush green gardens, and I had this idea of doing something wired. I set about finding a focal to go with the colours and just happened to have an Agate slice of the same colour. Using the Czech glass and seedies in the pack I wired around the slice and then set about making a frame to wire around for the main part of the necklace. I added in some little dragonflies here and there ... hence the name!!! I really love this and i'm so glad that I wired instead of stitched with the seedies. Just as a little something extra I made a dragonfly brooch ... really, really happy with how this turned out - so I may make more. :) Dragonfly Garden

woohooo I got cabs

Just got my delivery of a beautiful bulk package of cabs from Nomad Craft ... an Etsy seller based in the US. Oh my, some of them are stunners!!!!

I'm going to have so much fun with these ... oh and I got the most gorgeous starfish pendant from them as well. Definately worth a look!!!!

My gorgeous starfish pendant ... isn't it beautiful? :)

Japanese Blooms

Another Beading Forum Challenge - this week the theme was "Chiyogami". Chiyogami is a beautiful Handmade Japanese paper and the designs are just gorgeous ... AND I just happened to have some in my house. :)

For this piece I set some Chiyogami paper in resin and then based my cuff around the design on the paper. I used these gorgeous Czech cup flowers and mini flowers for the blooms on the branches. I really love the way this turned out - of course with all firsts I made mistakes and slightly miscalculated a bit on the size, but that was easily sorted. Would really, really love to do another one ... perhaps even a collar with these beautiful Japanese designs in mind. I'm also going to practice more with the resin ... love making my own focals :)

Japanese Blooms