Lots of apologies and another list!

Once again, i have to send out a MASSIVE apology! I just checked my blog, and my last post was in OCTOBER! That's right, October! That was 3 months ago! I am a terribly disorganised blogger. I'm also not entirely sure what i've been doing during that time. Anyway, here is a catch up. I know, I know, it's another post in the form of a list. I just like writing lists.

1. I've realised that most of my posts start with 'sorry i haven't posted in a while' (including this one.)

2. I've just been sitting some exams for Uni. This should be a relief, as in 'YAY! No more exams until May' but actually it's a bit like 'Eek, now i have to wait to get my results. I've probably FAILED and i still have to do more exams in May. RUBBISH!'. I think i might be panicking a bit...

3. Since it has been Christmas, then New Year, then exams, i have had no time to actually make any jewellery. The last stuff i made was a christmas present someone ordered for a friend. I have still been buying beads though. Which brings me on to point 5:

4. I have no space left. All of my boxes are packed full of beads. I even bought a big basket thing to put them all in, but they still seem to be everywhere. Not that i'm complaining. They are all very nice beads, i just need to make something with them!


And here are some New Years Resolutions. I realise that they are very late, but i'll still try and do a few of them! (hopefully)

1. Pass my third year at Uni with (hopefully) a 2.1 average (for anyone reading this who isn't familiar with British University grading, it's about the equivalent of a B+. Not sure if universities use the same grading in America.)

2. Learn to play guitar. (I used to play when i was about 10, but gave it up after about a year, and now really regret it cause i've always wanted to play a musical instrument. So, i got a guitar for Christmas and will hopefully have learned at least a couple of songs by the end of the year.)

3. Make an effort to make more jewellery. (An obvious one, but i thought i'd still write it.)

4. Try and make other crafts (I've learned a few, such as sewing, knitting, crocheting but haven't really done much with them.)

5. Look through my wardrobe. Find clothes that i have never worn, or only worn once and either wear them, alter them (like adding new buttons, beads and stuff to give them a new lease of life) or give to charity.

6. This was going to be ' Try to be more organised and tidy' but i say this every year and it never works. Oh well, you never know. It could happen.

7. Read more books. I absolutely LOVE reading (due to my sister's influence) but i've been so busy lately with Uni stuff that i've barely read any books at all. Except Uni books, but they don't count.

8. Learn more star constellations. This is a bit of a weird one, but i've been watching a programme on the tv recently, and now i really want to learn more. I already know a couple of obvious ones like Orion, Ursa Major and Polaris but i think there's about 80 different constellations, so there is a lot of work to be done there.

So, i should have a pretty productive 2013 ahead! If i actually get round to doing any of this...

The curse of the seed beads!

I've discovered i have a bit of a love/hate relationship when it comes to using seed beads. I love the sparkly-ness (probably not a word) and the colours and the versatility. However, there comes a moment when, after spending ages at the bead table making something fiddley with seed beads, you finally finish the piece of jewellery, stand up and it happens: the sudden cascade of seed beads EVERYWHERE!! This happened to me when i was making the bracelet in this post. I decided, stupidly, that i would pick up the bracelet, before i had finished it off, and have a look at it when WHOOSH, beads everywhere. And i mean everywhere. Rolling under the table, under the couch, under the tv and, as i discovered later in the evening, in my mum's wine glass. I'm not really sure how. I think seed beads do it deliberately. They wait until your focus starts to just slightly wane and they suddenly scatter. They even managed to hide in all the nooks and crannies in your clothes and wait until you stand up and then they scatter some more. I didn't even know i HAD nooks and crannies in my clothes. I'm rubbish at ironing though, so i'm not surprised. I hate seed beads...

They do look nice though, don't they?

Bits and Pieces

Ok, now that i am finally back at uni (yes, i really have been on holiday that long) I probably won't be able to make as much jewellery as i'd like to, but i'll still try and put up a post as regularly as i can. I've been trying out a couple of ideas recently that i've been meaning to for a while, but never got round to doing, like making a heart shaped, bead covered window hanging like this one:

I decided to use pearls rather than the crystals that are more normally used, to try and be a bit more unique, and i think it worked pretty well. So well, in fact, that before i had even finished making it, my sister had decided that, somehow, it will end up in her house, whether i liked it or not. And she was right, it did. I was also asked to make a bracelet in 'whatever style i liked, as long as it was hot pink'. So, i used some pink pearls, with smaller cream pearls and silver seed beads and threaded three bracelet strands, one pink, one cream and one silver, then joined the three together and loosely plaited them to come up with this:

I wish i'd taken a better picture, but never mind. I also managed to finish another Christmas order (Sorry for springing Christmas on you, you're probably hiding behind the couch screaming 'IT'S NOT EVEN HALLOWEEN YET!!!').

Every year, i think to myself 'I'm going to be really organised for christmas this year!' and every year i end up buying most presents on Christmas eve. So this year i'm going to think 'I'm NOT going to be organised this year!' You never know, a bit of reverse psychology might work...