Happy New Year!!!!!

I found this lovely pic on Milas loveology blog... It was mine & Mr Joalys 2 year anniversary yesterday so it sums up how i'm feeling....

Wow, I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas & is all set with their New Year celebrations this evening... I am looking forward to 2009 as this year has been kinda tough and maybe next year can be a bit of a fresh start.

I don't really have any resolutions (my willpower is dreadful!) but I have some ideas for the New Year... 1. I will learn to knit.... 2. I will stop cutting my own hair!.. 3. I will bake more... 4. I will practise my 3 R's (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle)... 5. I will try to be better at making time for my family & friends....

I am in the process of a mini spring clean; 3 bags full of clothes etc. for the charity shops, Xmas decs & cards down, cleaned & tidied flat... a nice clean canvas for tomorrows hangover!

Bye bye 2008 thank you for blogging, sewing, staying-in, Margarita, the inspirationally talented lovey-dovey Jeremy Larson & Elsie Cake (who remind me just how much i love Mr Joaly), my brothers wedding, Little Fish, Jamies Italian, new friends, rediscovering painting, Survivors, heart-shaped choclates, liking coffee, giving up smoking, learning scrapbooking.... & goodbye Simon, RIP, I love you x

Time

Time.... (i) the beautiful picture at the top by ToniVC on flickr, (ii) the fantastic album that ive been playing over & over this morning by Hootie & The Blowfish & (iii) the thing that seems to elude me these mornings....

Pic 2 is a new piece that i'm working on... probably another brooch, i'm enjoying those at the moment... pic 3 is one of moi... pic 4 is one of the beautiful angels hanging on our tree & pic 5 is... ta da... our tree! Mr Joaly finally bought a tree yesterday... its not a real one but it is black, we will reuse it & it looks very very cool!!!!

Glorious Day!!!

Its a beautiful day out there today! Blue skies & sunshine... packages in the post this morning... the only downside is the knowledge that I have to go to work later...

1. Gorgeous yarn from http://www.alchemyfibrearts.etsy.com/

2. Cute card from a miss-frugality giveaway...

3. Seeded SunStone Necklace that I made last night

4. Sun Burst necklace that i made last night - sunstone, red jasper & carnelian, I love this one

5. Amethyst Rainbow I made this one this morning. It has one large chunk of amethyst & the rest are upcycled beads. Its so bright & chunky!

(All the above are available in my shop, feltfuschia, see sidebar for my link)

Whilst I think of it, for those of you that live in the UK, get down to Borders... the kids section has all sorts of crafting goodies! Mainly kits for kids but it is so much cheaper than specialist shops & ive found a few gems in there.

Right i'm off to play with my new yarn...

Celebrity Necklaces

Its actually really hard to find pictures of celebs in statement necklaces... took me about 45 mins to find these in google! Oh well x

Brooches

Above is my latest creation, Spring Leaf Brooch, available at http://www.feltfuschia.co.uk I have a thing for brooches at the moment so the minute i get my mitts on some more brooch backs there will be more-a-coming!

I am incredibly tired & have a banging headache, so I'm off to bed, I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend! x

SHOP ANNOUNCEMENT

I have set up a new website & shop... feltfuschia (see my links)... let me know what you think x

The Secret Garden

I am reading The Secret garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett for the first time ever at the age of 31. What a gorgeous story... If you haven't read it, do. If you have then read it again!

PS. I have new slippers. They are warm & snug. I am happy.

Off Sick

So yesterday I got sent home from work sick, possibly due to the fact that a) I clutched my throat everytime I spoke & b) I was very very very grumpy (Not appropiate for a Restaurant Host!) due to my pain. Anyways I managed to get the above made whilst hiding under my duvet doped up on amoxicillin... 1) El Dorado 2) Purple Vine & 3) Green Goddess. All are made with upcycled beads & are in the lariat style.

Ohhhh I forgot to tell you about my birthday present from my mum... Its a bracelet making kit with nylon wire, seed beads & sequins & the thing is, to make them... you have to KNIT!!!!! So now I have accepted the challenge. I will learn to knit. If only because the finished articles apparently look beautiful. If anyone has any good knitting tips PLEASE let me know!

Its PAYDAY tomorrow & I cannot wait! I have only a very very limited spending amount to be honest but I'm thinking http://www.robsonandmason.co.uk/ is going to be worth a peek, as well as http://www.zbellagems.etsy.com/ for some more crystals as I appear to only have Tigers Eye & Aventurine chips left & I'm after some rose quartz.. maybe a cute stamp from http://www.corrabelle.etsy.com/... maybe a scrapbook so that I can try that... the more i look at http://www.abeautifulmess.typepad.com/ the more I want to try scrapbooking. Elsies stuff is beautiful! And maybe a BellatrixArt print for Mr Joaly for Xmas...

Speaking of Xmas... apart from Mr Joaly, I think the presents are done! Just need to get a bigger tree (mine is about 1 foot!) & lots of nibbles because we have my dad here for Xmas this year... hhhmmmm... lots of cups of tea & me ignoring them rant about the state of this country blah blah...

The electrician is here to fix our heating so I'm away... *********

Awake since 5.30am

I'm really feeling pretty ill so more pictures today....

1. Me with my new scarf

2. My newly tidy room

3. My mini Xmas tree

4. Me last night in my bday outfit.. my jeans are violet but you can't tell in the pic. I have cute red heart buttons on my cardi that I sewed on before we went out!

Happy Birthday To Me!!!!

Its my birthday today!!!! Piccy 1 is me being birthday-silly, piccy 2 is me modelling Snowflake, piccy 3 is Ice Princess (Both of these were made the same way as Crimsom Berry, see last post), piccy 4, the bracelet I made for my friend Kaths birthday, & piccy 5 my friend Kath modelling said bracelet!

I am very proud of the bracelet.. Kath has tiny wrists so it was difficult to get the lengths right.

This evening we (Me & Mr Joaly) are going out to a little French restaurant with Kath & Mango, her fella, I'm very much looking forward to it! I do feel completely rubbish, sore throat etc, so I shall dose up on Ibuprofen & go out & play anyway!

Crimsom Berry

So this little creation is Crimsom Berry which I made yesterday whilst you were all looking at pictures of cupcakes!

I made a piece a while back with handcut felt circles & I saved all the offcuts.. & thats what I made this with! I've threaded them on to copper wire alongside hematite beads, snowflake obsidian chips & seed beads & placed a handfelted scarlet red berryish shape in the centre.

I wore this to work yday & got a lot of positive feedback soI'm going to make some more in different colours.

Its beautiful & bright outside today so i'm going to crack on with some work before it starts to get dull & I have to head off to the Day Job. Have a good day!

Cupcakes...

Because they're yummy... & I have work to do!

Result!

One totally needle-felted (by hand) lariat by moi! It took me 3 hours... its called Desert Rose... please let me know what you think x

Needle Felting: Conquered! (Almost)

Ta Da!!!!!

First pic: A mixture of needle felting & 'lets see what happens if i put this in the washing machine' & these pieces are the result. Not quite to the professional level i've been buying, but it was my first go!

Second pic: A perfect Ball. Perfect! The only one. But I was so excited!!!!!

I may have a go at turning some of the nubbles into brooches as i've had the pins for ages. I found the needle felting quite therapeutic (apart from repeatedly stabbing my fingers with the needle, aaarrrggghhh!!!) & its quite good to do whilst simultaneously watching TV.

Am going to try wet felting next in attempt to make another perfect ball as the washing machine trick does not a perfect ball guarantee!