Yay! Check out the site www.astringofbeads.co.uk cos I have been working really hard to today to get the photo's done and uploaded. There's one set of beads and some jewellery, and some more will be added but probably not till next week as the beads are away for annealing. I am so pleased with them!
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Scrap That Moment
- Here you can see all of my Desogn Team pages created for www.scrapthatmoment.com every month featuring a different sponsor. Cick on the pictures for more details of each months sponsor
August 31, 2006
The end of an era!
Yesterday marked the end of one chapter of my life, and the proper start of another. I handed my notice in at work, and it's pretty scary cos I don't now have a regular wage!! However, I had been wrestling with this decision for a while, and as some I know I have not been at work since I was signed off sick at the end of January. Happily I was fit to return to work in May, but my employers dithered about getting me back, so I had to be further signed off, even though I was not sick!! How crazy is that!! I wrote and asked if I could change my working hours to work term time days in June, and have only just received a letter asking me to contact them about said changes. Unbelievable! So yesterday I decided enough was enough. The lack of contact and communication during my absence has been a remarkable zero (even from the team I worked with) and in essence I felt I no longer belonged there. Just driving past the place fills me with no emotion what so ever. It's quite sad really as I did enjoy my job. As you can probably guess it was not some small private company either!
On a happier note this means that I am now self employed and the ownerofmy own business! I reckon this is more scary than the above! I am going to be expanding the site later on today to include my own homegrown beads, something I am very proud of. Here's a little sneek peak!
August 25, 2006
Are we neary there yet?
The end of the summer holidays, that is! One more week and then they are off, back to school, I am certainly ready for them to go back, and, so I believe, are they. All this lack of routine is not good really. We have pretty much exhausted the trips to the park, shopping, bowling and cinema experience (waay too expensive to do often) had umpteen movie nights in, made dens, cookies and jumped in and out of the paddling pool. I would now like my cushions back on the setee, the remote controls for the tv back in the lounge, the smell of trainer feet well and truly eradicated, and Tess the cat would like to picked up a little less often! Bless em! I shall miss their company really!
I have lots planned though to keep me occupied. My new bulk gas set up for the bead making has arrived and I have a shiny new creaton station to work on. All I need is the gas, and I'm off! I hope to sell my beads and some Jewellery made with them on my site eventually, but I can't stretch to the cost of a kiln yet for the annealling, so it will probably be a really small operation ( for now!) It's a very satisfying thing to melt glass, controlling it is another matter entirely, but seeing the melted blob turn into lovely tactile little beads is great fun
I managed some time to get scrapping last weekend too. It was for something very special I had been asked to contribute to, and I was rather nervous about whether I could step up to the mark! Sometimes when I'm asked to do stuff like that I do worry about finding the inspiration to be creative enough but I shouldn't think like this really. There's no point in pressurising yourself to keep up with the jones'. Anyway I did 2 pages I am really proud of and used some of the yummy new cosmo cricket papers. I wish I could share but you'll see them soon enough!
Enough ramblingfor now. I'll end with a pic of a bead I made this week. I have been practising a technique to make soft glass look like borosilicate. I'm not quite there yet,but I love this one ( and all the other wonky ones it took to get here!)
August 14, 2006
A Great Weekend
Not only was it the launch of my new venture www.astringofbeads.co.uk but I was also asked to design a class page for an online forum's summer fete. Here's the page I did.
I don't do a lot of scrap teaching, as I find it hard to put my ideas into words and instructions, but when I do it's very satisfying and always a nice surprise to see other peoples interpretations of my design.
I'm still busy bead making and somtime this week I have to fit in some scrapping. This is a particularly important couple of pages that have then got to be sent off half way round the world for something I can't reveal. Yet!!
August 11, 2006
New Hobby!
As if I reallyneeded a new hobby right now, but working with so many lovely beadslately has made me wonder if I could make some beads myself. Well after 4days I actually have something to show for my efforts, and I have to say I'm pretty pleased with them
The little yellow one was my actual first bead, and is so tiny, cos I was scared to melt to much glass!!
Here's some more
It's great fun playing with fire!!
August 07, 2006
Busy doing nothing!
Or so it seems! The school holidays are here, and we are all settling into a nice relaxed few weeks, with no school runs! So far we have been to the park countless times, last week we went to see the new Disney film 'Cars' Absolutely brilliant film, almost as good as Toy Story. Every time I see one of these films I am always awestruck at the amount of work that goes into the production of such a film and some how I appreciate them even more knowing this.
Yesterday we wentback to Stanwick Lakes. I love this place as it's been so well thought out and put together. The kids love it there. I just wish there was a bit more shade as it was boiling hot when the sun came out. I took loads of photo's of course, and here are a couple of my favourites.
The bottom one I converted to Infra red to try and give a bit more contrast. Not sure it worked though!
We have big news this week. A new arrival is due on Wednesday. A second rescue raggie will be joining us, if all goes well. We had been thinking about having another cat for a few weeks, and didn't know whether we should adopt another older cat or have a kitten, and who would be best accepted, when fate stepped in . Not sure what Tess will make of her new friend though!!
I have updated my Scrap That Moment gallery, with Augusts sponsor Layouts. This month we were lucky enough to work with Hamby screen prints fabulous range of products. This was one of my favourite pages.
July 25, 2006
Just for Me
This week I have resigned all my scrapping design team comitments. It feels so much better to say that, and is in no way a reflection of how I have been treated or something that has been said, but more to do with reaching the end of the road. I have really enjoyed working on design teams,the awesome scrappers I have met and the recognition that it has bought me, but priorities change, and right now I need to focus on my business. Scrapbooking is my hobby, my release, and if I am spending that time designing pages for others, then at some point you become a bit jaded. I want to use what precious time I have to do something for me, and only me. This is a page I completed over the weekend. Just for Me!
July 21, 2006
Moving day
Today was a moving day, in more than one way, It was jordan's last day at primary school, before he goes to secondary school in september, and it was indeed moving. Not only did he and all his class leave, but their lovely teacher Mrs York did too, so there were tears all round!
Here are some pics of Jordan and his teacher
Of course the scrapper in me couldn't let the opportunity pass for a set of photo's to mark the occasion, and I hope in years to come Jordan will look back on this special time.
July 14, 2006
Running to stand still
It's been a strange week, an incredibly fast one, and I've no idea where it went! I feel like a duck this week, gliding along in a slick fashion, whilst actually flapping madly underneath. There are so many things I thought I would achieve this week and haven't, and there are equally things that happened and I learnt, that I didn't expect to!
This week I had no time to
Scrapbook
Clean the house (alright I kept on top of the bathroom!)
Do the Ironing
Make any Jewellery
So what did I do?
Keep up with those who are important in my life (but I'm not perfect, and still managed to forget sports day!)
receive an irresistible offer
Master my camera!
Learn the art of patience ( especially with the one above!)
Get most of my stock ready to put on the website ( Actually this should be top of the list as it really has taken up most of my week!)
It's not top of the list though because although I have been so busy doing it this week , in a few weeks the mad rush will be over and forgotten and (touch wood) everything will be up and running, but those around me will still be there, helping me achieve my dream, and waiting to hear the next installment. Sometimes I just need to stop and look at the big picture
Now for something completely different. Do you like my duckie?
