From Snowed-in to Snowdon. Well, not quite..

OK. Ten AA batteries and a flash headache later (!) I have managed to come with a couple of pics I like. They're not great by any means but they're the best of a very bad bunch!
I'm having a crisis of confidence about entering this in the challenge though. The other entries are amazing! However, Eleanor Roosevelt once said, 'no-one can make you feel inferior without your consent' which I think is going to be my mantra as I list it on Etsy!

See what you make of the photos. I still need to have a play on paint shop (that'll be a laugh seeing as I've never really used it before...) but all constructive criticism most welcome. I'm going out to play in Ambulances tomorrow night so they'll have to wait until the weekend to be 'perfected!

The big freeze has defrosted!

Happy New Year! After a slightly prolonged absence, I’m gradually starting to get my mojo going again. The run up to the holidays was very hectic; all the usual pre-Christmas pandemonium, I did some extra shifts in A&E, I had a few commissions to finish for Christmas Eve and we were snowed in almost permanently from the 18th of December to last Thursday. Cabin fever was most definitely becoming an issue…..

The snow has (mostly) gone now and it seems to have taken my inertia with it. Judging by the amount of work I had on before Christmas, I think I scunnered* myself of anything remotely bead-like. On Saturday I picked up some beads for the first time in weeks and I actually finished something!

I started beading on Saturday with the intention of trying spiral peyote for the umpteenth time; I know how it should work but for some reason, it never does. I had several sizes of abalone iris seed beads and I did actually manage spiral peyote for the first time EVER!!

In typical Me fashion, I then decided I didn’t like the way the spiral curved – I’d used 11/0, 8/0, 6/0 and 3/0 beads and the 3/0 beads were really just too big. So, it was dismantled leaving me with a sizeable pile of bead soup. What, I asked myself, can I do with this? Quite where the idea for freeform peyote – a style that in my symmetry-obsessed head I’ve always been petrified of – came from I will never know. However, my bead-soup fast became an undulating fabric of random ruffles resembling what? Wet seaweed although fortunately without the olfactory associations!

What’s more, I think it’s going to be my first entry for the Etsy Beadweavers Challenge. This month’s challenge is the ocean. I was brought up next to the sea and thinking about it makes me conjure up images of shimmery seaweed when the tide’s gone out. Many people hate seaweed but despite being much-maligned as slimy and horrible, seaweed has loads of health benefits; it is rich in vitamins and minerals, promotes healthy skin and hair and helps regulate hormones! So I have created my Kelp Cuff!

I’m so pleased with it but I have one problem. I just cannot get it to come out right in a photo. If anyone has any handy photography hints PLEASE feel free to share!! In the meantime, I’ll leave you with a pic of the view from my bedroom window, just until I can get something decent of my new creation!



*Scunnered: A Scots word used to mean that you are world weary, down-trodden, and thoroughly bereft of any lust for life