There’s a new set up on ebay at the moment - “Funky”

I’ve also listed a few rose pandora-style beads up on etsy

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this already (and I’m too lazy to look through my previous posts) but I’ve opened another store for mum and I and our soft dolls. There’s a few in the store already and with Christmas just around the corner, these sweeties would make great gifts for your little ones. You can view the shop at http://sewsunshine.etsy.com

I’ve just finished dying some silk to overlock this week, hopefully I’ll have the new colours listed next weekend. That’s it for now, I need to get my bum into gear and complete a jewellery order. Hope you had a good weekend!

I didn’t realise that it had already been 2 weeks since I last updated. Time really just flies! I’m still alive and chugging along, and keeping busy making stock for the upcoming show. I find myself feeling frustrated sometimes because no matter how many beads I make, it never seems like enough, and my stockpile always still appears so low. I’m spending every spare moment that I can at the torch and sometimes I feel like I’m under pressure but it needs to be done. And because of this, the ribbons are slowly being neglected. I hope to get some new ribbons made by December (wow that seems so far away) and I’ll be moving them from the etsy store to my online store to help out my fellow Aussie beaders (thanks to the stupid AU dollar being so low!)

Empire Beads are currently having a 15% off seed bead sale untilNovember 13th so I splurged a small fortune on a heap of size 5 seed beads to use as fillers between my sets. Make sure to check it out if seed beads are your thing, they’ve got a whole heap of awesome colours.

Christmas is just around the corner (still don’t know where the year has gone) and I need to start looking out for Christmas pressies. Perhaps I should start making some Christmas sets…

“Life is not measured by
the number of breaths we take,
but by the moments
that take our breath away.”
-Unknown

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I don’t really have much of an update except that I’m heading over to the Hyde Park night noodle markets in a few hours with my fellow graduates for dinner then we’re off to the Shangri-La hotel for Sugar Hit (part of the Sydney October Good Food Month). I wonder if I will still be able to walk after all that food goodness?

Good food, here I come!

Check it out :D

I got a very pleasant surprise when I opened this month’s edition of ‘Australian Beading’ to see a little blurb there about my website. You bet I was smiling from ear to ear :) Many thanks to Kelly Norton for the praise :)

 I’ve just finished one very large custom order for jewellery (I don’t do custom orders but this is for my workmate going overseas so I HAD to do it) and now it’s out of the way it’s time for me to get on to making stock for the craft fest exhibition on next year. It’s definitely game on! I’ve got a small pile of beads ready to be tagged and priced (something I’m not looking forward to doing) but I’ve still got a long way to go. One thing that doing this exhibition has brought me is the motivation and determination to make beads. There have been moments in the past few months where I don’t look forward to sitting at the torch when I get home from work but lately that’s all that I look forward to doing when I get home. I’m very very excited and can’t wait to get it all together. My next plan of attack will be to purchase all the things I need for my display - table, table cloth, busts, trays etc

 Following my last auction on the tiger pandora-style bead, I’ve had a lot of requests for more so I’ve decided to create ‘The Tiger Collection’ of pandora-style beads. The name says it all… I will be offering pandora-style beads along the tiger print theme so if tiger-print is your thing make sure to check it out.

 I’ll leave you now with a new set of beads currently up on ebay. Hopefully I can list more beads next weekend.

I still don’t understand how the Australian dollar could go from 96US cents in May 2008 (http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,,23728958-14335,00.html) to just 65US cents in October 2008 (http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,27753,24486842-31037,00.html). I mean I get it, but I don’t. I understand what’s happening in the global economy and the impact it’s got on everything and anything, but it just seems so surreal that something so strong could break in half almost in an instant. It’s good for me in a way when I sell things off ebay (as I’ve always traded on the US site since forever), but also bad seeing that I get most of my supplies from the states. According to my Business Technology group Executive, the recession will last a good 18 months and it will take another 24-26 months for any kind of recovery to happen. Apparently it takes double the time it took for a recession to hit for the economy to recover. This is the first time I’ve seen anything like this in my life time (a very young 21 years) - last time this would have happened was back in 1991-1992 and I would’ve been too young to understand, but I find the whole thing sort of exciting and intriguing to watch.

A fair bit has happened in the last week in terms of craft for me. I’ll start with a review of the bead and gem show which I attended yesterday.

To be honest I was quite disappointed with the show. The show was half the size that it was last year, and the selection of stock was not so great. The display’s for the competitions were not so great either and none of the pieces displayed the names of the artists who created them. Compared to last year, I can seriously say that I was not happy. I went to the show with a few things in mind which I needed to purchase for my show next year. My list included items such as display stuff, packaging material, and zip lock bags. To my surprise, there was not 1 stall in the entire show that sold white necklace busts. The selection of earring stands was disappointing as well. Another thing was that I could not find 1 single stall that sold small ziplock bags - the kinds that most beaders would keep in their stash. Looks like I’m going to have to resort to ebay, which was something that I didn’t want to do. Of course the disappointment didn’t stop me from coming home with lots of goodies and spending much more than my allocated budget of $200. In the end I came home with:

• lots and lots of organza bags
• lampworking glass rods and frits
• a lampwork technique book
• lampwork poster
• key chain findings
• ribbon end crimps (for my silk ribbons)
• packaging paper bags
• lots of czech glass seed beads
• ceramic beads
• other miscellaneous stringing material (to temporarily string pendants on)
• lampwork shards (thanks Nancy!)
• lots and lots of basic findings
• a small amount of sterling silver
• a yummy sparkly strand of labarodite faceted rectangles (this was the splurge of the day)
• japanese keishi beads and 2 fat quarters of very cute japanese fabric

That’s all that I can recall from the top of my head and I’m sure there’s probably a little more that I’ve left out. Most of it will be used for next years stall which I’m so excited about, and looking at the floor plan it looks like it will be MUCH bigger than the bead and gem show was this year.

This brings me to the other eventful thing that happened last week. Pearl from Pearl’s Creations  gave me a call about our stall which is happening next year. I’m so excited! We had a chat which lasted almost an hour talking about payment methods, display arrangements, and most importantly… STOCK. I need to create stock really really soon. So far I’ve got a few pandora beads, a couple of focals and a set of beads ready to sell. Besides that, I’m definitely not ready. I think I’ve made some kind of start by contacting a bank regarding credit card payments and being able to accept them. I also have the kinds of displays which I want written down and sourced - I just need to gather the money to get everything together. It’s a little difficult at the moment with the AU$ so low and I’m hoping to get everything I need sooner than later.

Ribbons are coming along slowly, just as slow as beads are. I’m really not finding enough time in the day to get much done. Although my headspace seems to be filled with nothing but display and stock ideas. (You should have seen me yesterday - my partner had to wake me out of a bead-daydream at least 10 times. To quote him: “It’s funny to see you on a bead day - you’re so out of it”)

Anyway, hope you’re all doing well and have a great weekend

My body has decided that this weekend was the best weekend to get sick. It started with a throat infection last week and now it’s turned into something like the flu. I’m a little too stubborn to go see the doctor again (besides the fact that I pretty much lived there for the past few weeks trying to sort out my allergies) so I’m not sure if it is in fact the flu or if this is the way that my body just likes to fight infection. I’m glad in a way that I got sick this weekend though seeing that it’s a long weekend I wouldn’t need to take any sick leave. Hopefully I’ll be well by the time I get back to work on Tuesday.

I’m totally in love with today’s etsy showcase.  I love the colour teal and in fact I’ve been working with this colour quite a fair bit at the torch.

Speaking of which, I’ve got some new beads currently cooking in the kiln. If you’re into the cool tones of green and blue, then you’ll love this set. It’ll be up on eBay tomorrow. Have a good extended weekend :)

I just have to mention how much I love and admire the staff who work at the cafe across the road from my building. They’re always happy and chirpy without fail first thing in the morning (every morning) and just bring a good start to my day (along with my flat white and 2 sugars).

all gone :D.. sorta..

As some of you would know, I have this funny fear of apples. I can’t stand the crunching sound that an apple makes and biting into one gives me shivers down my spine. I can’t really explain how it feels but it makes me feel irky. Anyway, I thought that it was about time to give this fear a hit across the head and I took the plunge and brought myself an apple for lunch. Here it is staring me right in the face (and giving me goosebumps). Progress pic on apple-munch will come later (let’s see how far I can go).

In other news, I know that I’ve been missing in action lately but I’ve been so busy with work
and when I get home after work I just don’t feel like doing anything. I bought a whole heap of
silk fabric last weekend so I plan to sew and dye to my hearts content this weekend (and there are some very pretty colours in there too! including the ones that have a shot-weave which means that it changes between 2 different colours in different light). Beading hasn’t really been happening as I’m still stuck on a huge lampwork/jewellery order for a workmate who’s going to India at the end of the year. Once it’s out of the way I’ll get back to making stock for the March Craft Fest show (and eBay of course!)

For now I’ll leave you with something from my inner nerd (it’s even funnier if you’re a technical person)

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 A man walks into a Silicon Valley pet store looking for a monkey. The storeowner points towards three identical looking monkeys in politically correct, animal-friendly natural mini-habitats.
“The one to the left costs $500,” says the storeowner.
“Why so much?” asks the customer.
“Because it can program in C,” answers the storeowner.
The customer inquires about the next monkey and is told that “That one costs $1500, because it knows Visual C++ and Object-Relational technology.”
The startled man then asks about the third monkey.
“That one costs $3000,” answers the storeowner.
“$3000!” exclaims the man. “What can that one do?”
To which the owner replies, “To be honest, I’ve never seen it do a single thing, but it calls itself a Consultant.”