VERY EXCITED...

The Bead Challenge winners are now up on the Bead Society website and I am so excited. I have entered the Bead Challenge three times before and previously haven't done very well. In the past the Challenge has always been voted by the public at the Bead Expo and I guess my stuff does not have general appeal. However, this year we had a guest judge for the Challenge, plus a separate division for the Public Vote. The judge liked my work! YAY! I got a highly commended, which was almost as good as first prize as far as I am concerned.

I call this piece "Running Rings Around Me". It says a lot about my life at the moment. Lots going on that's for sure.

Finally managed to add some new things to my Etsy Shop

Now that the Bead Expo is over I have finally managed to add some new items to my etsy shop. Since the market stall I thought I was having next week didn't end up happening, I have a few items to list. I thought I would put just a few at a time.

Flower earrings and a bracelet as you will see in my etsy mini. I will put a bigger picture of the bracelet here. The colours in this bracelet are great together. At first I wanted to keep it myself, but have decided one can have too much jewellery. That's part of the problem. I make something new and then love it so much I hate to part with it. I have a lot of green and blue stuff now and can only wear them one at a time. Hope someone falls in love with it and wants to buy it. It took quite a few hours to make.

Showcase 2008 - BSV Bead Expo

My third entry in the Showcase is called "Glimpsing the Rainforest" and is a box created in 3D RAW, size 11/0 and 15/0 beads. When closed, there is a glimpse of a snake tail, disappearing into the rain forest. When the lid is lifted up and hooked onto the stand, two snakes fighting are revealed, with a small frog cowering below.

After the Bead Expo......

What a weekend! Four days of 9 til 5 at the BSV Bead Expo in Moorabbin, Vic. It was pretty hard work as I was allotted the task of speaking to all of the Exhibitors about advertising in our society newsletter, which is a pretty spesh full coloured glossy mag - check it out at our website www.beadsociety.com.au. It meant I got to talk to every exhibitor at the Expo at least once and ended up being quite a lot of fun, even though my feet were ready to fall off at the end of it. This morning I soaked for a while in the bath as I had rather a long drive to teach a class this afternoon and I was feeling a bit stressed out after the busy weekend.

This is a picture of one of my entries in the Showcase 2008 at the BSV Bead Expo. Japanese seed beads in 11/0s and 15/0s with a large faceted glass bead in the centre. The front section is all 3D RAW and the band is peyote stitch with buttons and loop closures. The bracelet is Art Deco inspired and I called it Napier after the New Zealand city which has many Art Deco buildings.

I had two other entries in the Showcase, this one is called Lazy Days and is also constructed of size 11/0 seed beads in 3D RAW. It is a deck chair and beach umbrella sitting on the "sand" with a bucket and ball close by. Hope you like it.

My third piece is also a 3D one and rather difficult to photograph. I will try and load a picture later in the week.

Busy Busy Busy

I just looked at the date of my last post and was amazed. Didn't realise it was nearly two weeks since I wrote anything.
We went away for a few days on the Melbourne Cup "Long Weekend". Spent some quality time with our son, DIL and grandson at their camp site at Paradise Valley on the McAllister River near Glenmaggie. It was a very relaxing weekend.
Last Sunday was the Bead Society meeting and as it was the last meeting before the Bead Expo there were a few "housekeeping issues" to be sorted out.
This weekend is the biggest Beading weekend in Victoria, with the Bead Society of Vic Annual Bead Expo taking place from Friday to Sunday. We will be setting up all day tomorrow and then once the Expo starts there will be no rest for the wicked, I am sure.
Fiona Hammond, who I have featured previously, is coming to stay at my house for a couple of nights and I daresay there will be a bit of a gabfest going on then.
Fiona and I both have pieces in the Bead Challenge and the Showcase 2008 Members Exhibition and I am looking forward to seeing her work in the flesh.
Once the Bead Expo commences, I will try to put up a couple of pictures of my work, but cannot do so until Friday.
In the mean time, yesterday I had TWO sales on my etsy shop!! One was for the instructions for the Lolly Pink Choker shown above and the other was for a crochet neckwarmer. Good stuff, since they were sales in US dollars and I need these for my USA bead purchases! The Aussie dollar is at a really low rate which makes my bead purchases really scary at present.