BTW

A slow start to the day today. Both of my college classes last night were starting new topics (anticlastic raising for the advanced class and silver clay basics for the beginnners) and I also had two new people in the beginners class, both of which meant a lot more talking and demonstating from me than usual. I don't like how tired I get from talking a lot after classes like that, but it's getting better as I recover more from the surgery I had last year. I keep having to remind myself that unless I'm very tired most people can't tell a difference in my speech at all, which is amazing when you consider that this time last year I was still re-learning how to talk clearly. And during the classes there isn't an issue, mainly because I love teaching and the adrenaline kicks in! All I can say is that I had a wonderful team and a wonderful speech therapist looking after me - and having a baby to sing and talk nonsense to also helped a lot!

Anyway, I spent the first part of the morning polishing and oxidising while my brain woke up - which is good news for my etsy shop as it meant that I finished off some new pieces, including the lovebird clasps above. These have been listed in the shop this evening with a few other clasps and connectors. Most of the new pieces are made to order, but the lovebird clasps are ready to go. I put them in the "limited edition" section of the shop as I don't make them that often and no two are ever the same.

And then the post arrived with two parcels from the States, and that definitely woke me up! Two very different parcels but such gorgeous colours, which sent ideas buzzing round my head! I've ordered them for some new projects, a couple for Beads and Beyond and also some for a new ebook that I've started work on - but I'll tell you more about that nearer the time! I had a lovely afternoon working the kinks out of a couple of the projects and taking step-by-step photos. Have I mentioned before how much I love my job?!