Turning Thirty

One of my friends turned thirty on Thursday and we went out to Leeds on Saturday to celebrate. I met most of my friends through James and James met most of them at School or University so they are generally his age. James will be thirty in April and he is a little scared. Luckily for him he has a lot of friends to go through it with.

I don't think it's the fear of getting older because lets face it, it's better than the alternative but for me it's leaving your twenties behind. This decade is supposed to be when you are carefree and fun loving, instead it's about clambering onto the property ladder and paying bills. Getting to thirty means you have survived the most financially difficult decade and realising that you haven't been to Glastonbury or driven across route 66 in a Cadillac as you always hoped you would can be difficult, I imagine. Yes there's always some annoying twenty six year old (he he he) at hand ready and eager to take the mickey, and this will be true every decade to come unless she who will not be named pushes her luck and does not survive!

Getting older however will not stop me doing what I want. Even if I'm driving that Cadillac when I'm seventy nine!!

No Monday blues here

I have noticed recently how quickly the weeks have been going by, it's great when Friday comes around quickly but before you know it it's Monday and it all starts again. But why do we dread that so much? The cycle of life is filled with lots of little cycles, days, weeks, months, years. And yes for the most part our lives are routine. Get up, go to work, come home, sleep, start over again. It sounds monotonous doesn't it but its the little things in between that which make a day special. At work I have my own office and one wall is entirely glass, I love it because sometimes I can just spin my chair round and gaze at the sky and the trees (and the motorway and the industrial units!) and if I'm having a difficult day I can think how small my problems are in the great scheme of things. It's funny how three trees and a piece of sky can make me so happy.

I have to admit, I really dislike monotony and routine. I am chaotic and I love it. I do wish I could be tidier and more organised but I would hate the rigidity of a routine. I don't want to eat fish and chips every Friday or a roast dinner every Sunday. I don't want to have a morning routine. I understand that if you have children it can be necessary but I don't. I have known people who eat the same thing for dinner every week, like Monday; Pasta Bake, Tuesday; Pork chops etc. If it works for them then great but it's not for me, there is enough routine in my life with work. I value my freedom and I love my random life.

hmm, I've made myself want fish and chips now!

Never saw blue like that - Shawn Colvin

This is one of my all time favourite songs. I first heard it just a month after meeting James and I always think of him when I hear it.

Today we took a walk up the street
And picked a flower and climbed the hill Above the lake
And secret thoughts were said aloud
We watched the faces in the clouds
Until the clouds had blown away
And were we ever somewhere else
You know, it's hard to say

And I never saw blue like that before
Across the sky Around the world
You've given me all you have and more
And no one else has ever shown me how
To see the world the way I see it now
Oh, I, I never saw blue like that

I can't believe a month ago I was alone,
I didn't know you I hadn't seen or heard you're name
And even now, I'm so amazed
It's like a dream, It's like a rainbow, it's like the rain
And somethings are the way they are
And words just can't explain

Cause I never saw blue like that before
Across the sky Around the world
You've given me all you have and more
And no one else has ever shown me how
To see the world the way I see it now
Oh, I, I never saw blue like that before

And it feels like now, And it feels always,
And it feels like coming home

I never saw blue like that before
Across the sky Around the world
You've given me all you have and more
And no one else has ever shown me how
To see the world the way I see it now
Oh, I, I never saw blue like that before
Oh, I, I never saw blue like that

Some jewellery

As promised here are some pictures of a small selection of jewellery. The pictures aren't too great as the camera my brother lent me is useless so I used James' mobile phone. James was working on some T shirt designs so I had to take the pictures. The colours are so much more vivid in real life.

This is Coral and Carnelian



I made this one for myself. It's made using murano glass beads I bought in Venice on my honeymoon

These are so much nicer in real life

as are these

These are just the ones I made this weekend. I'll take more tonight.

X A

Glorious weekend

So this weekend was great, the meal was really good. It was so nice to go out on our own, even if it was only across the road!

I cleaned out my food cupboard, there was a bottle of sushi vinegar dated 2005!!!

I had so much fun buying beads, then we went to our friends and had a barbecue as the weather was so good. Yeah, Saturday was a great day.

Sunday was spent making jewellery which was great. I made such a mess in the living room. The only problem is that a couple of months ago I was hospitalised after having a number of siezures. I was diagnosed with Epilepsy. I'm okay now, the Epilepsy seems to be responding well to the medication i'm on and I haven't had a fit for ages. However, I tore several ligaments in my back and chest as the fits were so violent and it takes a long time for ligaments to heal so i get a lot of back pain and leaning over a beading tray can be very painful. I wish I had a dining table to work on but sadly I have no room for one in my little house.

I was going to make a Christmas cake but before i knew it it was 5.30pm and that's a bit late to start making a fruit cake.

Overall a great weekend, i'm just sorry it's over so soon

Music

Why not go and listen to my music

Let me know what you think

Well done Dad!!

I saw my Step Mum today and she tells me that my Dad won some prizes for his vegetables at a recent fair! I don't know much about it and my Dad doesn't even know that i have a blog but......

Well done Dad

Darkness

I can't believe it. It's 4.50pm and it's practically dark! The clouds are very threatening and heavy and are blocking all the sunlight. The weather at the weekend was great so I can't moan really. It's usually sunny at work and rainy at home LOL

Optimism

That’s what jewellery making gives me. It’s that excitement I get when I think about what I’m going to make next. Creating something and seeing people wear it. My good friend Cathy buys an awful lot of my jewellery and wears it a lot and I love that. Plus she always looks lovely so she’s a really great advertisement for me.

The prospect of making jewellery makes me so excited, I'll be going home soon and I'm going to make myself a cup of tea, put some Voyager on and get my pliers out. I've got some beautiful Green Lamp work beads to work with. They aren't exactly up to the standards I've seen set on various blogs I read but for 50p each, you can't complain.

I just get so excited at the prospect of making a living out of something I love so much. How many people hate their jobs? One of my friends cries herself to sleep at night worrying about work, I’ve been there I know how that feels and what a negative impact it has on the rest of your life. Luckily I do like my current job and I would only leave here to make and sell my wares full time, but that’s a long way off yet. We should all strive to achieve our personal goals. I believe we get one life and we have to really live it.

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Okay so I promised but...

I got so carried away making jewellery that I forgot to photograph it. Actually I forgot to ask James to do it. He did fine art at university and he takes really good photos whereas my creativity does not extend that far!

Angry skies

It's been a nice day today but the sky looks angry now. It looks beautiful again, I wont think that when i get stuck in the rain later!

The weather is weird at the moment. Yesterday morning i could see my breath in the air and then by lunch time it was like summer again and today its just dull and the temperature is just in the middle of hot and cold.

Still, where I live I can't complain about the weather, Okay so I've never seen a white Christmas but I've also never seen a tornado, hurricane, cyclone, flooding or drought.

Friday afternoon

I'm so glad it's Friday afternoon but i feel a little guilty for thinking that today. Someone at my work lost their job today because my company is making cut backs due to the current financial climate. I understand, business is business but when it's someone you know, and like it's tough. I hope he gets a new job soon, I hope he's Okay.

My new Header...

is only temporary until James and James make me a new one

James....




I love this picture

Pay day!!!!

I've been waiting for this day for what seems like an eternity. Tomorrow i am going crimp tiger tail and bead shopping and i am so excited. I usually use a wholesalers but I've kinda exhausted their product range over the year and now they have stopped selling Swarovski 6mm bicones and i do use a lot of them. Problem is they are really reliable and the only way to get them cheaper is to buy them in the thousands and I really can't afford that yet.

So I'm off to Yum Yum beads in Leeds and I'm going to buy everything, well as much as i can afford. I need loads and loads of crimps and tiger tail and the problem is that being a small shop they don't always have the quantities i need but meh, it'll be reet.

As per usual I've missed out on Laura's beads today. One day I'll get some LOL.

So we are going to Aldos tonight, it's a local Italian Restaurant and it's great. It'll be the first time in ages James and I have been out on our own. I'm really looking forward to it.

Saturday morning I have Asda delivering my shopping and then off to Leeds and then all evening and Sunday will be devoted to jewellery. I will take pictures this weekend promise. I'll put some on Sunday afternoon. Even the Simms won't get a look in this weekend.

Then it'll be off on my weekly pilgrimage to the pub quiz where we'll be seeing Neil for the first time in ages! He's part of the original team and has been living in Barcelona for ages! It'll be good to have him back and we can change our team name to something other that "No more Neils"

Overall a great weekend awaits me, hopefully!

Weather

The sky is beautiful right now. It's grey and threatening but its a million different shades of grey with specks of blue. It's like the weathered face of the universe, the things it must have seen over the Milennia. Nature is awe inspiring, I don't think i could put into words quite how it amazes me.

While i have be typing this the clouds have shifted to allow a patch of pale blue sky to open up and display the vapour trails striping across. The clouds have turned to white, the Sky's threats have come to nothing.

Hmmmm (contented sigh)

Pricing

I recently sold a Swarovski crystal and sterling silver necklace and matching earrings set for £30. I though they got a good deal and so did they. I used over 50 crystals and a lot of silver and it took me about an hour and a half to make. If anything i think it was way under priced but someone i know disputes that. She says that people don't want to pay those prices! The necklace was beautiful, if i do say so myself. I think people are so used to getting mass manufactured items at such a low cost that they forget the value of things. Every piece is hand made, I only use the finest beads and on this occasion the metal was silver. Their argument was that you can't impulse buy at that price and that most of the jewellery she buys is under a fiver. My argument is that....

1. Some people can impulse buy at that price, not every one earns as little as me! LOL.
2. Not every purchase is an impulse buy.
3. It's not mass manufactured or plastic.
4. I made it so I'll sell it for whatever price I decide! LOL

So I get on my high horse about this but I don't like making jewellery with substandard materials and that is the only way of making cheap handmade jewellery. Anyway, the cheapest item I sell is a pair of Glass and plated silver earrings at £4, is that expensive?

The weekend

This weekend we were going to use our national trust cards to go somewhere and have a wonder. Sadly we don't have the money to do that until the weekend after. I know that it would be free to go but it never really is free, a day out. We'd buy lunch, or i'd have to buy some things in for a packed lunch. Parking, the odd coffe. It never works out free! So we are having the friends we were going with round for dinner instead which should be fun. I'm going to borrow my little brothers digital camera this weekend to take some pictures of my jewellery. I'll hopefully put them on here this weekend.

Not just Jewellery

I love crafting but at the moment all I do is make jewellery which I love to do but I'd love to do other things too. I used to make greetings cards which was great fun. Looking through all the blogs and websites out there I am feeling inspired today.

My dream is to own a crafty gift shop in the Yorkshire dales, I would love that. What i couldn't make myself I'd buy from other crafters and sell them in my shop. There would be nothing mass manufactured.

Colours

Yes I've changed my colours again. Yesterday I was loving Autumnal colours, today after visiting Iheartcrafts I have gone all pastely. I change my mind so often because I cant help being inspired by beautiful things. Choosing colours when decorating my house can be a nightmare! You should absolutely check out the blogs in my links section they are wonderful. The list will expand the more great blogs i find.

Autumn

OK am I the only one who is excited about the change in season? Here in England we have had a rubbish Summer, nothing but rain. I however was fortunate enough to spend the first two weeks of August on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean so I've had my summer. 36 degrees is more than enough for me, by the end of the holiday I was longing to see some brittish rain! So I'm hoping that August and September will dry the sky out and we'll have a sunny golden Autumn. I love the seasons but its the extremes I love, White winters, hot summers.

I'm also really starting to look forward to Christmas, now that is wrong. Maybe this year I'll see my first white one!

Dry spell

I haven't really made much since I got back from my holiday. The new techniques I have learned recently have overshadowed my old ones. The problem being that I don't have the equipent required to use the new technique. I looked at all my existing jewellery the other day and realised that it's all very similar. No two pieces are the same but it is all made the same way. I make jewellery because it's a fun creative outlet, so i don't make multiples of anything unless it's a commission for a wedding or something similar. I need to expand my range. Luckily there are lots of tutorials out there on the internet.