A great Canadian blogger I found!

I love this new blogger I just found yesterday. My Organized Chaos.  She's a young mom, shares great information, product reviews, recipes and has tons of giveaways on her blog. Right now she's featuring a great Rockport shoe giveaway, just click this link and I hope it'll take you there, haha!!

Bead Table Wednesday...

Well, this is my first week participating in BTW, I love seeing everyones messes as they create, it makes me feel a bit better about my own.  Here's my messy bead table this morning. This is all the beads and supplies that I used last night while I made a little summery bracelet. What a mess!

And here is the bracelet I made with all that mess. I love blue and green together, I think it just screams summer. 

Well, my kids are on March Break this week and my husband is away on course, so I am the one; the referee, the chief cook and bottle washer, the chauffeur, the fun maker.... I am the one!!  We have to head to the city tonight for my daughter's basketball tourney. I hope they do well (or even better...WIN).

I love to steal a few minutes here and there for me and a little creating, uninterrupted is even better, but not likely.  Oh well, such is the glamourous life I lead.

Have a fun-filled day everyone, whatever it entails!

Lisa



Have you seen this giveaway??

Have you seen the fantastic prize up for offer over on Gr8Findings.

She's giving away this gorgeous collection of handmade silver findings, they'are gorgeous! And only a little promotion of her blog in return, not a bad deal, eh! Just four little steps will get you four entries to win.

• Leave a comment below explaining what inspires you. You must leave a comment here if want to enter. — 1 entry

• Subscribe to my blog by entering your email address in the column on the right or following me through networked blogs (if you’ve already subscribed, let me know and that counts, too) — 1 entry

• Mention this giveaway on your blog OR twitter OR facebook and come back and tell me about it — 1 entry

• Find me on Facebook by clicking here and hit the “LIKE” button (you’ll also receive access to special coupon codes and important news on spontaneous sales events — naturally, if you’re already a “fan” and have done this, just let me know since that counts, too) – 1 entry

Anyway, I am off to enter, I would love the opportunity to play with these goodies. 

On another note, I stopped at the mailbox yesterday and inside was a card from Lori Anderson thanking me for participating in the BeadSoup. I thought that was so thoughtful of her, to send out a card to all who participated, that's a lot of work again for her. She never stops. Thanks Lori, it was a ton of fun and I hope I can participate again in August.

Thanks for stopping by.

Lisa

A day at the farm...

Well, I think I got through all the soup, finally. I know I didn't comment on each and every one but I did hit quite a few and I've got to say I saw some glorious designs. That was the tastiest soup I've ever devoured!! Thank you everyone for providing me with so much inspiration. Also, thank you to everyone who stopped by and commented on mine. My picture was terrible I realized afterward and I apologize for that. And another big thank you to Lori Anderson for organizing such a huge event.





Last Saturday, my sister and I spent the day at my local wool shop and took a class on wet felting by fibre artist Marilyn Rand, see what beautiful work she has created. We had the choice of either a tea cozy, a small purse or a vessel. I chose the vessel and my sister chose the tea cozy. We had such a fun day and I really love felting, both wet and needle. This was the third felting class I have taken and each time it amazes me how unspun wool(photo #1 below) can turn into such interesting, strong and useful pieces(like my vessel in photo #4). I think I may use it for a vase for some dried flowers. Wouldn't a big bunch of hydrangeas be pretty in that. I may also try to shrink the length down a bit as well, it is pretty tall right now. We also made a cobweb scarf but I didn't get a photo of that.

Thanks for stopping by and have a very happy March break everyone!! I am taking my kids to see Rango tomorrow, hope Johnny Depp doesn't disappoint!

Happy Crafting,

Lisa

Oh Happy Day -- Reveal Day

I am so excited that today is here. I cannot wait to start hopping around and seeing everyone's beautiful work. Oh inspriation abounds!

Here's a link to all instructions for the bead soup that was painstakingly organized by Lori Anderson of Pretty Things. She deserves a medal for all her hard work, what a huge undertaking to make this happen and pair up 210 participants.

Lori has the date for the next soup as August, boohoo. I will be on vacation that month and won't have time to participate. I'll just have to sit and drool over everyone else's fun!

My partner is Lynne Bowland from Islandgirl's Insights, she's a lovely lady who is also from the east coast of Canada. She is an incredibly talented beadmaker, or should I say glass artist and sent me the most gorgeous beads to work with, she made this challenge easy for me.

Here's what I made with her beads. Photo #1, the three strand necklace was my first attempt. I kind of liked it but it was just too much for me. I am more of a single-strand girl, I guess. I love what others make with multi-strands but I just wasn't diggin' my own. So back to the drawing board and came up with #2. Now I like the second one much better and I really like the wire wrapping effect. Remember I am new to jewellry making and the wire wrapping is a new technique to me.

Photo #1 The one I took apart!

I tried to twist the three strands together, but , blach...
I do like the knotted strand, that was an easy technique I will definitely be using again. A good learning experience overall!

And here's the keeper.

I love doing the wire wrapping technique, although I do need more practice at it. I am not usually a symetrical kind of girl so this was challenging for me to make it balanced. I prefer the willy nilly look! Anyway, like I said these beads were easy to work with and have swayed me over to the blue side. I never really liked blue much before but know I find myself looking for more blue beads and ideas. I can't wait to make something summery in turquoise!!

So here's the link for all the others, I would love to see some more beginner beaders work. I have so many of you pros saved and LOVE all your work. If you leave a comment, and I hope you do, let me know if you're new at this too!!

I'm a lucky girl...

to receive such a treasure as this!!

Bead artist, Lynne Bowland of Islandgirl Insights sent me these treasures yesterday to play with as my bead soup ingredients. I cannot say enough about how beautiful these beads are. I am not a blue lover but these might convert me. SHE MADE THESE, I am in awe of her talent.

I have a few ideas swimming in my head, just need some time, alone and uninterrupted to play.

My photography skills are not the best yet. I just got a new camera and I haven't quite figured everything out yet. I am excited about taking a photography course soon though!

Bead Soup ingredients..

Here's the ingredients I will be sending out to my partner today, I know I am two days late, but had to be done. She's very close to me, so hopefully Canada Post will be on time!



I hope this photo is not too revealing, I wonder if she'll think I got her pink beads!! Maybe I did, mayby I didn't. It is supposed to be a challenge after all, right! But that would just be cruel.



Anyway, here's what will be going out today to Lynne of Islandgirl Insights. I like what I put together, it is totally me. I just hope Lynne likes it!!

Just playin' around...

on a gorgeous sunny Sunday. I decided to try out my camera and take a few shots of a couple of bracelets I've made recently. I haven't done this in a long time. I used to take photos of my cards ages ago but nothing since then. I had a beautiful sunny window to work with but I think I need to work on the zoom. These aren't close enough, I don't think.

Here's a little silver and pearl beaded bracelet. Just simple and easy, but I like it.























And here's another one, I used the black cinnabar beads and some wooden beads on this one.

And the final one is just three easy little stretchy bracelets, I love the colors of these beads.

Well, that's my first time posting any of my jewellry and after seeing all the players in Lori Anderson's Bead Soup I think I am a little out of my league. I didn't realize there was sooooooo much talent in the soup. My partner, Lynne Bowland, designs gorgeous beads. Her blog, Islandgirl's Insights, showcases how talented she is as I am sure most of you already know. I hope she's OK with having such a beginner like me as her partner. Well, I am sure it'll be a good learning experience for me. You all sure offer lots of inspiration.

Happy Beading,

Lisa

Day One...

Day one on the blogging bandwagon again. Way back, when I was a cardmaker, I used to blog but haven't in two years less a week. Hope one or two stop by and have a look.

I am fairly new to the beading scene but love it. I need to have some sort of creative diversion in my life in order to keep me sane, I am sure many of you can relate.

Anyway, I'll try to be a good blogger and won't bore you with many mundane daily life details...