Friendship

There are certain people you meet in life who will touch your heart like no other.  


Sharon is one of those people.


The stars aligned one day and our paths crossed in this big ol' blog-o-sphere, and she has been a friend and an inspiration ever since.  


It was Sharon's jewellery that first captured my attention...her soulful, inspired creations were gorgeous, and her wire wrapped bracelets were unlike anything I had seen before.  Her talents lie not only in creating jewellery, but in graphic design also.  She has recently started a graphic design shop on Etsy named Plumrose Lane (so sweet, I love that name!), and through her inspiring blog she offers the MOST beautiful blog backgrounds, and tags, and all sorts of treasures.


Sharon has recently made the difficult decision to close down her handcrafted jewellery shop on Etsy, Mana Moon Studios.  Every beautiful piece of handcrafted jewellery is marked down by 75-85%.  So many beautiful treasures at bargain prices.

I couldn't resist this bracelet, Coral Horizon...as soon as I saw it I just knew that it had to come and live with me...

It is so vibrant and joyful in real life, I don't think I've stopped wearing it since it arrived...

And as I dug deeper into the parcel, I was confronted by a most wonderful and generous surprise...

...seed beads!  But not just a few packets...

...LOTS of packets...

...and the deeper I dug...

...the more I found...

...and then I started to cry...

...somewhere between here...

...and here...

...because I was completely overwhelmed by Sharon's amazing generosity, and kindness, and heart.  

If I wasn't already crying after opening this wonderful package, I certainly was after reading the beautiful, heartfelt card Sharon wrote me.

Thank you, my friend...for being beautiful right to your very soul ♥♥♥

~*~

Aside from thanking my lucky stars for having such wonderful friends, I also had the chance to crank up the torch this weekend and try my hand at silversmithing.  More on that later!


Thanks for looking, and be well!

Nicole's Necklace

Anyone who has the pleasure of knowing Nicole Campanella is aware that she is one of the loveliest, most generous and most genuine people around.  Not to mentioned talented!  She is a constant source of inspiration for me, and I feel blessed to call her a very close friend.

Nicole's birthday was on April 27 and to help her celebrate, I made her this sweet little necklace:

I wanted to send Nicole a little piece of sunshine to help brighten her day :-)

If you haven't already, pop on over and say 'hi' to Nicole!

An award or two

Sunshine is something that we are never short of here in glorious Western Australia. Having said that, I don't think you can ever get enough! Nothing lifts the spirits and gives us a feeling of wellbeing more than a good dose of vitamin D, I say ;-)

So I was delighted to receive the Sunshine Award from two of favourite blogging friends, Sharon of Mana Moon Studios and Nicole Campanella of Beadwright. Thank you ladies! You are both so special, thanks for adding a dash of sunshine to my life!

Here are the rules:

The rules for accepting the Sunshine Award are:

- Put the logo on your blog or within your post.

- Pass the award onto six bloggers

(it was initially 12 bloggers, but I'm going to follow Nicole's lead and split the difference!)

- Link the nominees within your post.

- Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

- Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

Here are some of my beading friends to whom I would love to send a little sunshine ;)

Andrea of Andrea's Beads & Fancywork

Anna of Il Mondo di Redanny

Joanna of Joanna's Blog

Margie of Marlier Designs

Nikoletta of Piky73

Karyn of Releases by Rufydoof

Speaking of awards, I was also fortunate to win the Czarina challenge on the Beading Forum with my 'Alexandra' necklace. Here's my pretty new badge:

I will have some more beadwork to show soon. And a pair of wire wrapped earrings! I've had fun playing with boiled egg as a patina on copper wire. A little bit smelly, a little bit hmmm...but interesting nonetheless.

In the meantime, have a great day and be well!

Sea Star necklace

When I first began beading (exactly two years ago!), I promised a good friend of mine that if I ever became any good at it, I would make her something. Two years is long enough, don't you think? I think I'm finally ready :)

She loves turquoise and she loves the sea, so I set about reinventing and revamping a starfish design from my Garland of Galatea necklace using delicas and size 15 seed beads.

Here is my offering to her, a Sea Star necklace in turquoise and copper (which, by the way, is my latest colourway obsession...):

I have recently learnt that an extender chain comes in very handy when you don't know a person's exact neck measurement! LOL

Detail of the starfish pendant:

And detail of the twisted herringbone rope...just because it looks pretty :)

I'm hoping to offer a free tutorial for my starfish design sometime this year...if I can convince my wonderful husband to buy me a Macbook and Photoshop *grin* Should I start a petition? *wink*

Thanks for looking and be well!