Dogs and Pools

Last night, just as a storm was starting, we picked up a cattle dog roaming the streets. As animal lovers we just couldn't leave him out in the storm. Bought him home and put him in the shed. We got through the storm without a peep from him. Then 11pm came - yap, whine, scratch, whine, yap.

We ended up bringing the dog in to the house and having him in our bedroom. Very little sleep - pacing, whine, yap, sleep a bit, pacing, whine, yap. A nightmare.

Emails were sent around locals to find the owner but nothing so we had to take him to vets who scanned his chip and hopefully contacted his owner.

Now to the pool. As the cover was on the dog kept falling in. Hub removed the cover so that he could see the water. This was very early in the morning and the colour was not seen until daylight.Nice eh?

Looks like we have a few days of dumping chlorine in to it and cleaning. Geeeez!

The Ultimate Clear Out

I don't have a clue when I last did this. We bought the house in Dec 2006 and it has probably been piling up since then.

Well the oldest out of date package I found was 2008.This would be a cooks dream. All those mixes and flavours of the world.

Check out the amount I have just had to throw away. Boy do I have some room in my larder now.

My back aches some what but I feel good for doing it.

Maybe I should concentrate on my bead stash as I never know what I have left.

Endless Designs For Those Larger Beads

So I received some lovely hand painted glass beads from Aunties Beads and put myself to a challenge to see how many creations I could make.

Large beads can be used in many designs - big chunky necklaces, focal points on necklaces, bracelets and earrings - endless.
So far I have made 2 bracelets, 2 necklaces and a pair of earrings, all with the same style of hand painted glass beads.

What extras did I use? Well sterling silver chain, sterling silver wire, black, silver and red glass beads, silver fancy spacers, clasps and earring hooks. Most of these extras can be found hidden away in your unused stash.

The best design for using up odd beads is the pendant style necklace. Just wire wrap sterling silver, attach the odd beads and, there you go, a delicious pendant.

You can find a variety of handmade necklaces in my Beadsme and Artfire stores.

What About Leftovers?

Always end up with a few left over beads and not sure what to do with them. Just add them as a dash of colour to any necklace or bracelet. Even if you have just 1 left, try to make it a focal point.

I received some lovely large pewter glass beads from Aunties beads and previously had some velvet red chinese crystals left. Adding leaf shaped beads caps and some rondelles I put together this great necklace and bracelet.

Excellent addition for that night out. Accompany them with some simple dangling silver bead earrings you have a great set.

Pop into my Etsy store for a variety of jewellery. - Beadsme.

Back To Creating

After a few weeks of trying to get back to normality I now have the dining table covered in goodies for creating and a few new creations.

I received some more awesome beads from Auntie Beads and away I went.

My first creation was this gorgeous necklace using foil outline rectangle glass beads, a couple of sterling silver round starburst beads and Swarovski crystals.

Then I got carried away, creating 2 matching bracelets with the additions of sterling silver hollow heart bead, a sterling silver oval message bead and sterling silver round mirror beads.

2 matching pairs of earrings followed. I found the hole in the rectangle glass beads a bit large for my headpins so used some flat bali spacers to help them fit correctly.

Check out Aunties Beads for an awesome array of beading supplies or Beadsme for the finished product.

We are back!

We have been home for a week now after our wonderful holiday in Thailand, Koh Samui to be exact.

It's so hard to get back in to the swing of everyday life.

I cannot report on the holiday much as it was mainly relaxation for us. A couple of trips out to the mainland which I must say has been hit by bad storms.

When we arrived in Koh Samui there was water everywhere. We couldn't even get down our road to the bungalows as the water was gushing over it. After wandering along the beach we noticed that the sea was actually going in to the lagoon, which didn't happen last time we went there. As you can see by one of my photos the backpackers units and there cleaning block was ruined.
Still we had a great holiday whilst watching the tragedy happening in our neighbouring State of Queensland. These guys had a rough time with unexpected flooding and lives lost.

A store has been set up on Etsy with handmade donations from all over the world. All proceeds will go to the Flood Relief Fund. You can find this store here AusDisasterRelief.

Going back to Koh Samui - they also have a problem with dogs and cats and a rescue centre has been set up. You can donate on this site - www.samuidog.org

Thank you to all those people that support here and overseas.

A Gift For All Seasons

This will probably be my last post until the New Year as in almost a weeks time we are flying to Thailand to meet up with the family.

I wanted to share with you my last creation which was produced with more goodies from Aunties Beads.

This stunning necklace is created with
5mm flat Bali spacers,
Sea Glass Nugget Bead Strand, Dark Olive, 12 x 16mm,

Sea Glass Round Bead Strand, Olivine, 8mm

Sea Glass Round Bead Strand, Spring Green, 6mm

All wire wrapped with sterling silver wire. A great colour all year round.

Did you notice the different words that can be used for different shades of green - spring green, olive, olivine, emerald, jade - just a few.

With the left over beads I added them to a silver head pin and attached to white gold plated lever back ear hooks. Sterling Silver Round Mirror Bead, 4mm have been added for that extra sparkle.


You will find these 2 wonderful creations on my Etsy store.