Thank Goodness...

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Wow, what a crazy busy week!  I feel like I've worked about a million hours and spent all my time at work!  Because I work in a bakery (and we don't have a dishwasher, c'mon Area Manager, work your magic for us!) there is a *lot* of clearing up, cleaning and end of day stuff to do, which means I always get out late, get home late, talk to my boy for a while then flump into bed and wake up just to do it all over again.  I've managed to land the whole weekend off so I am going to make the most of it and do lots of relaxing and pamper myself.  I'm thinking...

♥ Long soak in a hot bubbly bath

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♥ Reading a good book in the sunshine outside

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♥ Perusing the internet for pretty beads, wool and fabrics for crafting

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Other than that bundle of awesome, I think my family and I are heading over to my Aunt's house to have a BBQ while the weather is warm and beautiful (^_^) I think it's going to be a great weekend!  Hope you all have a fabulous one too!

My Foray Into The World Of Jewellery Making - My First Attempt!

I *finally* got my beautiful beady things in the post *squee!* Look how pretty they are!  They're just what I wanted to get me started on this new venture.  I spent all afternoon thoroughly researching jewellery findings so I could figure out exactly what I had and how best to use them.  Luckily for me, my Dad has a small pair of rounded pliers so I was able to use those for my first tries at jewellery making, but I know if I carry this on I'll have to get some actual jewellery tools (especially one of those wire-snipping thingies, those are awesome!)

I figured I'd start off with the simple things, so I made a necklace, a bracelet and a pair of earrings and I'm pleased to say it went really well and I loved it!  I really, really enjoyed sitting and threading the beads, learning how to bend the headpin to make a loop for the earrings and figuring out how best to secure everything with only one set of pliers (the edge of the table came in *really* handy today) Here are some pictures of my efforts!

I used the utterly gorgeous cloisonné beads for the bracelet and earrings and the sparkliest gemstone chips in the world for the necklace.  For a first try, I am *so* thrilled with how they turned out and will *definitely* be continuing on with it.  I found it really relaxing, as I was able to keep all of the kitty cats out of the kitchen, put on some 80s music (Talking Heads, I love you) and just concentrate on what I was doing.  Working on this today has really inspired the creativity in me, I'm really excited to learn more about jewellery making and see what else I'm able to do!

I feel like today has been a really awesome day for me; I explored my creativity by doing something new and exciting, I bought a smart black jumper from the Oxfam shop in town (I've been looking everywhere for a smart black jumper and there it was, £2.99, in my size - awesome!) and I discovered some beautiful notebooks were on offer in the bookshop so I had to snap up a couple (a very tiny one for my bag and an A5 one for ideas, inspirations and plans) *AND* I've nearly finished the book I'm reading so I'll be able to make a (small) dent in my 10 things.  Not to mention that every day I wake up excited and happy that my boy and I finally set a date for me to come over *squee!* I set out to make this year my year and I really think it's going to be one of the best so far!  Now I'm off to go look at the Indie Business site to see what exciting, inspirational words have been posted!  Toodles!

Finding(s) My Way Forward

I'm so punny *snorts* Moving on...

I forgot to say yesterday, but some incredibly speedy sellers got my Ebay purchases delivered to me the day after I'd paid!  Really was super super quick!  I am now the proud owner of approximately 800 jewellery findings and some exceptionally pretty spacer beads.  Just waiting for my cloisonné beads and gemstone chips to arrive, then there will be no stopping me.  Right after I figure out what everything is.

I'm really so excited for the Indie Business course; people from all over the world are going to be taking part! It really will be an amazing, enlightening, informative and incredibly fun experience.  I can't wait!  In order to almost "prep" myself, I decided to undertake {this} 2-week creativity bootcamp!  There is a workbook and a guide to download and it's all wonderfully free (thank you so much!) I think it's going to be a really useful tool in helping me understand where my creative passions lie and channelling that into something I can be proud of.  It starts with a letter to my future-self (I love writing these - I've got one to open on my birthday this year which I wrote January 1st...I already forgot what I wrote) and the word "scarlet" as my inspiration for today.  With limited access to my craft supplies (under the stairs, behind bikes, fans and cat litter) I made it very simple, creating an origami envelope to house my letter, decorated with a scarlet origami heart.  It's really pretty and I'm pleased with how it turned out (I've made several of these before but they've never come out this good, due to my apparent inability to cut/fold/do anything in straight lines) I'm looking forward to tomorrow and seeing what my task and inspiration are!  I'm feeling more creative already (^_^)

My Foray Into The World Of Jewellery Making - The Beginning!

I've been considering it for yonks.  I even made a necklace once, out of amber and onyx chips, thread on silver wire.  And I really enjoyed it.  Then I went to university and it got hard to find time to do creative things outside of my course.  I thought my bead-threading, wire-snipping days were over.  But I was wrong.  The thought of making cute, dangly earrings and dainty necklaces was too great to resist.

Hello Ebay!  I spent hours poring over various jewellery-making kits, beginner's guides and beads.  I sifted through page after page, wondering if it was better to buy tigertail over silver wire, the quantity of jump rings I would need and if I should get ready-made beads or gemstone chips.  I genuinely had no idea.

So I stopped and had a cup of tea and a biscuit.

I need cups and saucers that look like this.

By the time I came back, I knew what I wanted; simplicity.  I bought a starter 'finishings kit' with all the basics I'd need, some spacer beads that look like little flowers, some pretty blue gemstone chips (the sparkles, they called to me) and some cloisonné beads which are just beyond gorgeous.  So I can have a play around, see if I can get to grips with the techniques and if it's actually something I really enjoy doing.  No fuss over tools and books and whatnot.  Just the bare essentials for a beginner.  Yay for parcels in the post!  I'm really excited to begin a new creative endeavour.

FYI - My boy got his card in the post today (way to go UPS!  Thank you for not taking six weeks!) so we're doing card openings tonight.  Today also marks our "9 Months Of Officially Being In A Relationship" so it seemed fitting.  Yay for cards!  And early Valentine's Day fun!  Happy happy (^_^)