Cover story!

I am very pleased to announce that my Hibiscus Twist necklace will appear on the cover of the April 2009 issue of Bead & Button magazine!

The new cover looks very springlike and shows a riotous cascade of glorious flowers; some of my design, two of Melissa Grakowsky's Wildflower vine and a beautiful ring by Cassie Donlen.

I created these flowers when I was experimenting with increasing herringbone stitch and loved the way they flared out. I had a sterling silver clasp in the shape of a butterfly that I wanted to use as it added to the 'garden theme', but it had three loops attached to it and I wasn't sure how best to use it. In the end I stitched three thin Peyote ropes and braided them loosely together - hence Hibiscus Twist! I also made two removable flowers in contrasting colours, one in dark 'night-time' shades and the other in softer 'day-time' shades to give added interest to the piece. Both flowers have Swarovski pearl centres.

I am thrilled to learn that my work will be on the cover and I count myself very lucky, as of course it was only this time last year that my first project, Floral Fantasy, appeared on the cover of the April 2008 issue.

Happy Birthday!

Yes it's my birthday today, 43 - where exactly did those years go? Anyway, the sun shone, the birds flew and the flowers were out, well the winter jasmine anyway! I've had lots of lovely cards, presents and good wishes and really I couldn't have wished for a better day.

I've been very busy over the past week as I had a commission to make earrings to match my Foxglove Trio necklace, Copper Hibiscus lariat and new Cosmic Peacock necklace. Obviously I wanted them all to complement the main piece but they needed to be much smaller and so they presented quite a challenge and turned out to be a little fiddly. I am happy with the results though, especially the foxgloves as they are much smaller than the picture suggests and fit onto my little finger like little fairy bonnets!

They are now all winging their way to their new owner.

Lucky me!

Well I have been very lucky this past week; firstly I discovered that Helen of the beautiful blog MilesToSew has kindly passed on an award to me - this is my first blog award and I am both flattered and excited by that ... thank you Helen!

It is the Sweet home blogger Award for sharing beauty, love and joy - how nice, couldn't we all do with more of those things in our everyday lives? So, in keeping with tradition, I am passing this award on to five other 'bloggers' - believe me this was a tough choice as there are so many beautiful blogs I have come across and I am sure, many I haven't yet discovered.

So, in no particular order, the five blogs I have chosen are;

• Alison of BeaDangles Jewellery a good friend and an infrequent blogger - but when she does, it's worth waiting for, jewellery, photography and yummy recipes!
• Michele of Hedgelands Glass another beautiful blog full of interesting and varied crafty skills - follow the link to Michele's website and take a look at her stained glass!
• Chris of Kiamyka Gemstone Creations another multi-talented woman who also has a great way with words - her blog posts nearly always bring a tear to my eye!
• Valerie of Luz Bijoux who creates the most beautiful beadwork and has a real eye for colour - I also absolutely love the fact that she calls me 'a fairy beader'.
• Zoya of Gem and Beaded Jewelery a relatively new blogger, but a well known and talented artist who I am proud to call a friend.

I am sorry if I missed you out, as I say it was a difficult choice. These things can feel a bit like being the last to be picked for a school sports team (and I know all about that) but hopefully the above selection will provide my readers with some interesting links and will spread the word, the beauty, love and joy!

My next stroke of luck this week was split second timing when I was taking a photo of a foxglove in my garden. Well to be honest, I regard even having the foxglove as lucky, I didn't plant it, it just appeared in a prime space in the garden and has NINE very tall flower spikes on it. It's a real beauty and I count it as a gift from nature in return for creating my foxglove trio necklace. So, I thought I would take a picture of it in all its glory, spotted a bee hovering around one of the flowers and wondered if I could get it in the shot - as it turns out, I caught two (see bottom right of the photo) I'm sure I couldn't do that again if I tried!

My third piece of luck this week? My Poppy Cufflinks are currently appearing in another treasury - this time a wonderfully rich Treasury West entitled Le Rouge et le Noir created by Ileana of Enchanted Beads. Thank you Ileana!