A new giveaway

I've finally got round to announcing a giveaway on my facebook storefront. I mentioned it back in June but haven't got round to actually officially doing it. When I reach 200 fans I'll give away this little green sea glass pendant  via a draw, including all the fans to date. Pop over and 'like' the page to be in the draw, and send all your friends too! http://www.facebook.com/Vintage.Beadery

Life has been a bit hectic recently with no car, my husband, Jay has been slaving over replacing a head gasket in every available hour, only to find that now it's all back together the fuel pump isn't working and we have no idea why. If anyone knows anything about Renault Scenic electrics please help!

I've polished the sugar tongs bracelet, but forgot to take a picture so I'll post that later. I'm quite pleased with it, but still can't decide whether to put a dangly pendant on it or not.

I've been working on a commission for a lady for a pair of cufflinks

 

These are the fragments I used but I was in such a rush to get them to her I forgot to photograph the finished article!

and also on a bracelet made with vintage lace and beads for possible inclusion in a new crafts gallery in Barnstaple , it's called Atelier and is really lovely but a bit tucked away.
I never seem to have any energy these days, all that walking I expect.
There are some benefits to having to walk home from the bus, there's a shortcut over The Cairn to my house from the bus stop and I spotted this plant growing down from the trees above in the sunlight the other day, it's either white briony or honeysuckle, not sure which. I also get to pick early blackberries. It's not much fun when it rains though, as the path goes under an old railway bridge just after this and it gets very muddy and slippery.

I'll post some pictures of my recent work another day.

Competition win from Zibbet

I recently entered a competition on the Zibbet site, in return for promoting the site on my facebook page I was entered in a draw and won 3rd prize, which was $25.00 to spend on the site. In fact it was $25.00 paid into my paypal account, so technically I didn't have to spend it on Zibbet. Of course I would have felt terrible if I hadn't, so I had great fun browsing around. I eventually chose some great vintage beads to add to my stash and a hemp and copper bead bracelet.

http://www.zibbet.com/beadsbeadsbeadsandmore

http://www.zibbet.com/lucysbeadstudio

Check out the shops I bought them from and have a look at the rest of Zibbet while you're there, if you're a craftsperson you can sell there completely for free.

Messing about with silver

I was trying to get a bit further with all the projects I have going at the moment.
The first job was a clearing up session to try to get a working area. During this process I found a little cheap St Christopher pendant I aquired when I bought a second hand chain. Well since he isn't officially a saint any more I decided to melt him. It's a fairly nasty little pendant anyway, (sorry if you have one like it)

 Here's the original little pendant, about the size of a 5p and very thin, with an embossed image, which is not much clearer than that close up.

Here's the melted result, I'm quite pleased that I've managed to keep the little hanging loop. I like the colours on the reverse, I doubt if I'll be able to keep those if I want to clean the rest, I'll give it a try though.

I've actually combed some of the fleece, I bought two 'slicker' combs for dogs from Wilkos (wilkinsons for the uninitiated) for about £3.50 each rather than about 10 times that for proper carding combs. I've also started making the body for one of the paper puppets. The paper rabbit has a coat of gesso ready for decorating. I've really got to concentrate on one project at a time.

As a complete side issue how about this jackdaw posing for me in the local churchyard last week.

Oh and here's a slow worm who visited last sunday.

In the background you can see a clutter of moulds and deckles, a bowl of pulp and the paper rabbit, just to prove I'm working hard.