Last day!

Just a quick post before I take B to the farm to feed the cows and goats and bounce on the trampolines....

Today is the last day of the 10% off sale on my website - it ends at midnight tonight, so if you were planning on getting your Christmas present shopping started early, you know where to go!

I'll be back later with some photos. Have a good day in the sunshine!

Time to go to the newsagents again!

The September issue of Beads and Beyond is out this Thursday, although if you're a subscriber then you should have received your copy by now. I've got a 4 page article in there this time, 'Fossil Finds', that uses wirework coils and flower agates to create a bracelet, a couple of pendants, a necklace and a pair of earrings. I forgot to take a photo of any of them before I sent them off, though, so you'll have to wait until a) you get a copy of the magazine or b) I get them back and post a photo to see them! I forgot to photograph the set that I've got in the October issue too, but I've made a note to take photos of the current submission I'm working on!

The beautiful flower necklace on the front cover, by the way, is by Eve who I had the pleasure of meeting when she flew down from Edinburgh for the day for silversmithing tuition in May. I was so flattered that she flew all that way for a day with me!! Congratulations for a gorgeous project Eve, and for being on the front page. You can see some more wirework in one of the pictures at the top - some lovely leaves by Rebecca, who's also based in Scotland.


I also took part in the Designer Challenge again. I really enjoy these challenges - four of us get sent the same beads (and who wouldn't love getting a lovely parcel of beads and get paid for using and writing about them?!) and we have to come up with projects using them. It's great to see all the different ideas everyone comes up with, and I love the way that having beads sent to me that I haven't chosen makes me think outside of my comfort zone and come up with something different from my usual style. Two of the designs I came up with, a necklace and a pair of earrings (shown above), are bonus projects on the Beads and Beyond website, so even if you can't get hold of the magazine itself, have a look here and get the instructions for some free projects!

A great day out!

The Bathtub race at Arundel was a fantastic day out yesterday - a great atmosphere, great company, great sales, great weather and some hilarious bath tubs on the River Arun!! If you're in the area next year it's definitely worth a day out. The Black Rabbit pub (the hosts) is a lovely venue and they laid on lots of entertainment. B loved the bouncy castle, and was fascinated by the owls that were perched next to my stall!

Daisychain Jewellery stall

Going with the tide - the easy bit once you've got your bathtub to float!



The team from the Beresford Pub didn't get very far!

A river full of floating bath tubs

Coming back against the tide didn't look quite so easy!

Dave the Barn Owl

The photo of the Beresford Pub team was taken from the Arundel Bathtub website - if you fancy seeing more, have a look here!

Bangles, birds and bath tub races!

What a week! I've been a very busy (and happy) bee with all the orders I've had through both the sale on my site and that on notonthehighstreet. As well as the lovebirds I showed you on Wednesday, I've been busy making bangles of various designs and quite a few of my new 24k gold and silver pendants too. Add to that a couple of commissions and a magazine article to finish, and you can see why I had to ask my Mum to come over and help entertain B for a few hours on Friday! It's something that I know Mum is happy to do but not something that I like to ask very often as a) B is my responsibility (well, and T's too of course!) not my parents and they should be spending time enjoying their retirement and b) I like to spend the days that B isn't at preschool or his childminder spending time with him, not working. However, this week had to be different as B couldn't go to his childminder on Thursday as he was, very unusually for him, ill there on the Wednesday. Of course, he was absolutely fine an hour after I brought him home - isn't that always the way?!

Anyway, why have I got a picture of people dressed up and paddling strange boats on the river? Next Saturday 8th August is the annual Arundel Bathtub Race at Arundel (of course!) in West Sussex. If you haven't been to that part of the South Coast before then it's well worth a visit. It's only a small town but it's got a castle, a cathedral, a river, lovely pubs and things for the children to do too. The Bathtub Race starts at the Black Rabbit pub which is along the River Arun from the Castle. There's parking at the Castle, and a free minibus the rest of the way to the pub.

I'm having a stall in the grounds of the pub for the day, so if you're in the area come and say hello and see my new designs in person! There'll be lots of other events too, including a bouncy castle, face painting, vintage cars and birds of prey. The day starts at 11am and the race itself starts at about 2.30pm. The whole day is to raise money for Chestnut Tree House, a local chidren's hospice, and I will be donating 10% of my sales to them too. If you'd like to come along, you can find more details by following this link.