Bead&Gem Show

Ok.. let's face it. I never take enough money to these shows with me and usually end up blowing the majority of my budget at the first few stalls. This is what happened to me on Saturday in any case..

The Bead&Gem Show was on this weekend in Sydney and I went with my room mate, Ellisha, her fiance and his mum. There weren't very many stalls there - maybe about 20 or so? - and I went straight to the one where I knew they had what I originally went there for in the first place.. Those new czech glass spike beads. This particular store also had a wide variety of seed beads, so I was already treading in dangerous territory..
Come time for me to pay after picking my goodies (and desperately trying to hold back on getting more stuff) and then I realised I had spent about 80% os my budget at the one stall.. Oops!

We continued down the stalls - me and Ellisha carefully picking out what we wanted while constantly getting cracks from the other two about 'OMG! They have moved 2 stalls in the last half hour!' shock horror! - Lol. Alot of the stall holders recognised me from the last show that I went to because I was wearing the same shoes =P My shoes that are literally COVERED in metal spikes (they are amazing). We watched a demonstration about working with apoxy clay and using this paste that colours metal settings and the like.

Long story short, here is the stash that I came home with!


Clockwise from top left corner: 8x tubes 11/0 seed beads, 3x tubes 15/0 seed beads, 3x baggies of czech glass spike beads (black, nickel, hematite), Diamond glaze glue with round and oval clear cabochons and 6x patterns of rice paper, filigree findings, some of the colouring paste in silver, gold key charm, 2x cabochons (red and blue iris), 4x pear shaped swarivski crystals and 3x Montana ractangle swarovski crystals, flat backed swarovski hotfix beads silver, 2mm round swarovski crystal beads light siam and 3x tubes of 11/0 seed beads 



 So, I think we came home with a prety good haul this year :) the 3x tubes of seed beads in the bottom right are Ellisha's as is the gold key charm, some of the filigree settings and we are sharing the clear cabs with the different patterned papers.

I can't wait to start playing with it all!
Emma
xXx

Oh My!

PHEW!
It has been over 2 months since my last post, I have just been sooooo flat out!
I had a bit of a hiatus from the internet (part of that decision was not entirely made by choice - our internet provider died for about 3 weeks and I had no internet access.. nearly started going through withdrawals, haha!) However since getting the internet back up and running, I have been run flat off my feet so much has been happening!

Where to start...

I FINALLY got my beading loom! I know I was going on about it for ages, and when I got my tax money back at the end of the financial year I had the perfect thing to buy with it! =D

I love my new loom. It only took a week to come from the states which is pretty decent!
The length shown in the picture is only about half of the length that it could be, one of the sides extends to 22inches (I think).

You can see on the loom that I have started my first attempt at creating something with my loom.

I actually finished the piece in less than a day! I loved how quickly this whipped up!

This is the completed product of my first ever beaded loom piece :) Put into a gorgeous frame that I picked up for $4 - bargin! It is going to have a black backdrop, once I can find the right paper.

I made this picture using a cross stitch alphabet template to create this symbol of pride that is a subject very important to me.
Australia is currently going through a huge debate on whether we should follow the rest of the world and allow equal rights for gay marriage (which I am totally in support for). I made this after being inspired by footage of the gay pride ralleys that were being held in Sydney CBD.  

 I have already loaded another set of warp threads onto the loom and started a new project! I did however run out of a particular colour bead and am now on the hunt for it (again). It seems to be the never ending story of my life.. running out of beads and having to go get more =P lol.

Well, that is it from me for now. Shall be leaving the rest of my stories for another time. Just though I would drop by and let people know I am still alive!

Emma
xXx

Looks can be deceiving

And deceiving they were last night whilst I was mixing and matching my beading stash!

I am currently working on my giveaway prize on my facebook page. I know in my head EXACTLY what I want to do, but it's just trying to actually bring it to life! I was hunting, hunting, hunting through my bead collection, which is currently scattered all over the floor - or as I call it.. the danger zone - thanks to a hectic weekend, for a particular coloured seed bead that was given to me by a dear beading friend. I finally found the colour last night and thought 'YES! This is the colour, it has to be this one!' and grabbed my box of threads.

The colour of the seed bead is kind of hard to describe, and the colour isn't written on the tube. It's like a red/purple transparent colour that reminds me alot of red wine. In the dull light of my bedroom last night however, the beads looked mostly red.. red thread it was! And away I beaded.

HOWEVER! (yes, I like using lots of capital letters to emphasise words =P lol) Coming to work this morning, I sat down to do some beading during a break and I noticed something. Under my VERY bright light at work, I can now see just how much gleam of purple and red and both streaked throughout the beads, it's probably about 50/50 of each, rather than one over the other. This however, makes the light red thread that I chose very noticeable..

It could just be that I am really, really fussy and I might be the only one who notices it, or Once the bracelet it beaded properly, you might not even be able to notice the thread at all, but it is incredibly frustrating! For me anyways, because this has happened to me a couple of times and it seems to me like the only way I can properly match colours when I am beading is to wait for the sun to be out so I can see under natural light.. I know there are special craft lights out there that I can buy, but I wouldn't know where to start looking for the right bulb! There's white ones, yellow ones (I think that is the one in my room), florescent, non-florescent, the list goes on and on! I don't want anything too harsh, because that could also bugger up my perception of the colours, shades, tones etc.

What is the best beading bulb?!?! (Apart from the sun, which is currently on hiatus for the winter)

Beading Babes - Project 5 Reveal

It's that time again! Where all us beading babes came together armed with the same projects and created something special!

Helena Tang-Lim was the star of our project 5, providing us with 2 stunning pieces! Her 'Echoes of Nefertiti' necklace, which was featured in Bead and Button magazine and her 'Four Leaf Clover' bracelet.

Unfortunately, I didn't get around to making the necklace, but I LOVED the four leaf clover bracelet. I made one and immediately had to make more, this stitch was so addictive.

Alternating amethyst swarovski crystals and white swarovski crystal pearls with dusty pink and silver lined fushcia seed beads

Turquoise round beads with matte brown and green lined transparent seed beads - including earrings 

I could not resist making a pair of earrings to go with the turquoise bracelet!

Here are links to the other beading babes blogs, Have a goosey and check them out!

Karyn Healey-White http://releasesbyrufydoof.blogspot.com.au/
Tanya Goodwin http://pixiloo.blogspot.com/
Joanne Brown http://josjewels1.blogspot.com.au/
Kassie Inman http://beadingbutterfly.com/blog/
Jennifer Mercer http://haffinacreations.blogspot.com/
Shirley Jones-Moore http://beadsandbread.blogspot.com/
Erin Simonetti http://beadsbeadingbeaded.blogspot.com/
Abbey Wilkins http://www.abbeywilkins.com.au/
Clair Rigby http://www.obstinatepursuit.blogspot.com/
Amy Allworth Serverino http://amybeads.blogspot.com/
Emma Andrews http://abeadingjourney.blogspot.com.au/ - You are here
Anne Pomeroy Dixon http://annepomeroydixon.blogspot.com/
Christine Wessling http://thereandbackagainstudios.blogspot.com/
Vimala Nichols http://thebeaddiaries.blogspot.com/
Marla Gibson http://spiceboxdesigns.blogspot.com/
Cynthia Newcomer Daniel http://jewelrytales.blogspot.com/ & http://cindydaniel.blogspot.com/
Ella Des http://ellad2.com/
Maryanne Villabla http://marynikydesigns.blogspot.com.au/
Ginger Bishop http://lilmummylikes.blogspot.com/
(Mary) Shannon Hicks http://uptwnsh-fallingintothesky.blogspot.com
Jennifer Stapp Sparks www.facebook.com/FotoJennicS & http://fotojennicart.blogspot.com/
Chiara Pugiotto http://unmondodimiyuki.blogspot.com/
Therese Frank http://theresestreasures59.blogspot.com
Rossana De Gaspari http://rdegas.blogspot.com/
Catherine Chinoy http://peapodbeads.blogspot.co.uk/
Kim Dworak http://cianciblue.blogspot.com/
Heather Goldsmith http://asibeadit.blogspot.com/
Dee Wingrove-Smith http://wingsmith2010beads.wordpress.com/
Virginie Bergar http://bebedesiles.canalblog.com/
Ichbindie Pup http://dream-of-beads.blogspot.de/
Lori Finney http://lori-finney.blogspot.ca/
Diana Carman Houkamau http://serendipitybeadsblog.blogspot.co.nz
Chris Hinz http://dream-of-beads.blogspot.com
Catcherine King http://CatherinesMusings.blogspot.com
Jan Tharp http://jaynasjems.blogspot.com

Emma
xXx

Cross Stitch

As promised.. Full size pictures of the cross stitch patterns I bought last weekend:

I'm sure the other day I said that I bought 7, but I must have miscounted.. I bought 8 of them.

The first one I want to do (once I have the supplies) is the 'Pirate' cross stitch. I have been slowly going through them all with my DMC to DBR coverter and getting all the matching colours for them. There are a few that I can't find, but it may just mean me buying a small section of those floss' and taking them to my LBS to match them up.

Emma
xXx

I HATE TECHNOLOGY!!!

I'm in a grump of a moof right now - with a capital 'GRUMP' - and I have decided to take it out on my blog...

You may be slightly amused by the irony of this post 'I hate technology' and decide to vent about it on an online site using computers/phone lines/etc. But this much is true, I repel technology.. there must be something wrong with my body or something because every piece of technology I touch, dies soon after!!

The other day when I was at home, I went to check facebook. It said that my account had been disabled because it was apparently sending out too much spam and facebook wanted to verify who I was by asking me for some details, one of those being my credit card. I thought 'hand on a sec.. facebook has never and nor would it ever ask me for a credit card. Someone has hacked my account'. So I tried to contact the facebook staff (or whoever) to let them know of the situation and I gotta say, facebook has the WORST help section set up I have ever seen! When I finally found somewhere that said 'contact us' I emailed them and still haven't had a reply!

I asked Trent what I should do. I didn't want to check my bank account or emails incase they were trolling me. He suggested to restore it back to factory settings. I got my USB and saved my 'pictures' folder as that is what has all of my beading pictures and beading projects in it, took it out and restored my computer.

After all that jazz, I popped my USB back in to put the pictures back on the computer.. Stupid me, saved the pictures shortcut, not the actual folder that contained everything.. So I have now lost EVERYTHING!!! Thank god for facebook and some random USB I had at work, I could save some things, but unfortunately, I have lost most of my subscription bonuses from Beadwork magazine and a few other 'inspiration' photos that I loved.. I was quite devastated.

What has actually pushed me over the edge though is when I came to work today, our internet was down.. AGAIN! So I called bigpond who tried to blame it on the people from D-link as I tried to tell them "NO! If it was D-link then our printer would also be down and it's not". After the first person hung up on me and calling back the second time I finally got it back up and running.. not 30 minutes later, I tried to put a Medicare voucher through out EFTPOS machine.. no dial tone. This also meant that our fax machine was down too as they are both hooked together. And oh my god, did I chuck a thrombo! If it wasn't for the fact that we still had patients in the waiting room, I probably would have picked up everything that had a cord and thrown it out the window!!!

My boss managed to get the fax machine/eftpos back online (thank god) but seriously! I do NOT look forward to the future of technology.. I am going to suffer imensly..

Thank you for putting up with my rant, I feel much better now =)

Will be posting some gorgeous piccys later on tonight.. stay tuned!

Emma
xXx

Quilt and Craft show

Good evening everybody!!

Thought that I would let you know what's been going on in my life lately.. Which is work, work and a lil more work =P lol. The Quilt and Craft show was on in Sydney this weekend and I saved as many pennies as I could so that I could splurge on beads! I got up at 7.00 on Saturday morning and got the bus into the city.. in the rain.. with no umbrella.. and as I was walking through Darling Harbour, I learnt a few things:

1. Wearing a leather jacket when it's raining MAY seem like a good idea in hindsight while you're at home, but you soon find that it gets very muggy very quickly.

2. Next time you look outside and the sky is pitch black and is very much threatening rain.. the moment you thinnk 'meh, I won't need an umbrella', the universe is going to smack you in the face and make it rain the second you step off the bus.

3. My Nightwalk shoes may look fabulous but they are NOT made for wet weather! But aren't they amazing?!?! Totally worth me nearly breaking my ankle in public because these shoes have BUGGER ALL grip on the bottom of them!

Really, I was walking on the wet bricks and looked like I had a pole stuck up my backside when I was walking around the harbour. Awkies!

But I digress..

I got to the exhibition centre and bought my entry ticket and then decided to grab a chai latte before I went in. There's me, standing in the middle of the foyer, waiting for my drink, casually bopping along to the macarena that was blasting from the speakers and the looks that I was getting from people!! Twas quite amusing.. lol.

The show was great, I realised the moment I stepped in though that I didn't have enough money and that I was going to be in ALOT of trouble.. I told myself that I was going to do one round of just 'looking' and then go around and buy stuff.. needless to say, that play didn't last too long..

One of the whole reasons why I went to the show to begin with is because I wanted to get some tila beads for one of our Beading Babes projects. Finally found a stall (in the end, it was the only stall that had them) and then I realised something.. I didn't bring the pattern with me and didn't know how many I needed. I frantically pulled out my phone - less than 20% battery - and went onto facebook and desperately posted on the Beading Babes page how many I needed. THANKFULLY, Christine was online and was able to tell me how many I needed!

I spent quite a bit of money on 3 cross stitch patterns (between $15-$25 each) and then the very last stall that I looked at in the very last aisle.. had them for $1 each. But there was some little old bitty guarding the tub with her life and going through them taking ALL of the gorgeous gothic ones! I was looking over her shoulder thinking "Please don't take that one.. NOOOO" every time she picked one up. By the time I got to the container, there were hardly any left, but I did get 4 nice ones.

I have decided that I want to learn how to make resin pendents.. The ones where you glue the paper to the back of the clear cabs. I bought one already made, but I want to learn how to make them! I also ran into my old boss from the bead shop I worked at, so it was good to catch up with her :)

AND FINALLY! - I just realised that I have been crapping on again, life for me always turns into an epic tale! Haha! - Here are some pictures of the goodies I got (again, the pictures aren't that great):


Clockwise from top:

- 2x silver hairslides
- Baggie of polymer clay roses in white, pink and a browny colour
- 10x little silver square thingos
- 2x sliders (green and blue, red and purple)
- Peach acrylic rose
- A green glass/resin cab
- 8x cabochons with skulls embedded on them (red, white, grey and pueple)
- 4x swarovski crystal rivolis
- 1x swarovski shell
- 10x swarovski beads
- 4x tubes 15/0 seeds (4 left tubes)
- 1x tube magmata beads (far right tube)
- 2x packets tila beads, bronze

Here are the 7 cross stitch patterns that I bought. I'm kind of kicking myself that I didn't take photos of each individual pattern, but at the moment, I'm too tired.. lol.

You can see the one on the top (which I looooove and can't WAIT until I get my bead loom to do this project) The 4 mystic stitch brand cross stitch patterns are the ones that were $1 each. Worth it!

So that is my epic adventure for this week, I'm sure that the rest of my week is going to be filled with boredom and such but if anything else happens I shall keep you all posted ;)

Emma

xXx