Lunar Lily!

I've finally finished the second version of my Lily Cuff which has taken a lot longer than anticipated due to the poor light here in the UK at this time of year.  I prefer to bead by daylight (I do have some daylight simulation bulbs but they are just not the same) and so some days there have only been 4 or 5 hours when the natural light was bright enough to bead by.  Still, it is finished now and I am quite pleased with the result.  This cuff is worked entirely in one colour of seed beads and reminds me of a lily in a moonlight garden - hence the name!

I'm not going to write much this week, I thought I would let the pictures do the talking, but I wanted to let you know that this will be the last blog post from me for this year.  I intend to try out some more ideas over the holiday period, so I hope to have pictures of new work to share with you early in the New Year.  Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, I hope you all have a great holiday and I wish you health and happiness for the New Year.  I look forward to catching up with you all in 2010!

A big crafty circle!

This last week has reminded me how great it is to be part of the huge on-line crafting community.  First of all, I posted on my facebook page that I was struggling with getting a good picture of my latest piece 'Lily Cuff'.  No matter how hard I tried, the orange beads just didn't want to play and I ended up with a fuzzy middle and a grey background.  Then my friend Sue from Beadweaver came to the rescue and enhanced the photograph for me.  It's still not as sharp as it could be (after all Sue only had my original shot to work with) but the picture looks a lot more professional than it did, so I am very grateful to Sue who also gave me some top photography tips.  I'm currently making another cuff in a completely different colour, so let's hope this one behaves itself!

Then I found out that two of my crafty friends have included one of my pieces in their Etsy Treasuries.  Claire of Rhodes Annals Designs added my Flamenco Flowers choker to her Treasury and Ileana of Enchanted Beads featured Poppy Supernova choker in her Treasury West.  Thank you ladies!

I also discovered that Sig Wynne-Evans of Beadedbear passed the 'Superior Scribbler' blog award on to my blog.  Thanks for the honour Sig and I'm glad you enjoy my blog :0)

The five blogs I am passing the award on to are;

Amari Jewellery

Beadwork by Joanne

Bianca Velder Creations

Colour Challenge

Haute Ice Beadwork

If you want to play the game the rules are as follows;

* Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass The Award on to 5 bloggy friends.

* Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author & name of the blog from whom he/she has received the award.

* Each Superior Scribbler must display the award on his/her blog and link to this post which explains the award.

*Each Blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit this post and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List - that way, we'll be able to keep up to date on everyone who receives the award.

* Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog.

So you see, these are just a few of the reasons why I enjoy being part of the international crafting community.  You could view it as cold networking, self-promotion, climbing, whatever you want to call it.  But, if you really get involved, there is a lot of fun to be had along with the rewards of making friends, learning lessons, seeing lots of amazing work and helping each other out.  And to me, all of that makes the modern, uncertain and often scary world seem a much better place.  See you next week!