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!

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!

The Karma Award

I have finally managed to snatch enough time to post about The Karma Award, bestowed upon me by my gorgeous friend Sharon of Mana Moon Studios. Sharon is a beautiful person in every sense of the word, she has a warm and giving personality and has a knack for making everyone around her feel great! She is a talented artisan to boot who creates beautiful wirework and fiber jewellery. Thank you for the kudos dear friend, I just love the sentiment behind this award:

Karma Award

These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind of bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

This award epitomises everything that I love about blogging. When I first started Bead Fetish, I had in mind that it would be nothing more than a convenient place to store and share photos of my work. I never imagined that I would *meet* so many wonderful, generous, talented, amazing people from all over the world. These new and dear friends have enriched my life and opened doors previously unimagined. We may never meet in person, but we share an understanding and respect for one another that transcends borders, languages, and cyberspace!

I would like to pass this award on to the following bloggers. I understand that many of you will not want to pass it on, nor post about it on your blog, but it's just my little way of thanking you for your friendship, connections, support and inspiration! :)

Bianca of Bianca Velder Creations

Karyn of Releases by Rudydoof

Steph of Atelier Aqualuna

Vicki of Dragonfly Creation Jewellery

Julie of Meanderings by Julz

Anna of Il Mondo di Redanny

Rachele of Rachele's Originals

A Fabulous Award

It is always humbling to think that a talented artist believes my blog is worthy of an award *blush*

This fabulous award was bestowed upon me by the lovely Anna of Il Mondo Di Redanny all the way from beautiful Italy! Anna is a multi-talented artist, who creates in many different mediums including polymer clay, paint, and fabric. Her polymer clay fairies and pixies are unbelievably life-like...I'm certain they come alive in the middle of the night, while the rest of the world is sleeping :-)

I now have the honour of passing on this award to five of my most deserving blog friends.

*drumroll please*

And the nominees are:

Sharon of Mana Moon Studios

Karyn of Releases by Rudydoof

Nicole of Beadwright

Julie of Meanderings by Julz; and

Julie of The Jewellery Goddess

The Lemonade Award

It's been a busy few weeks, and I feel awful that I have only just gotten around to posting about this lovely award.

My gorgeous friend, Sharon from Mana Moon Studios, has bestowed upon me The Lemonade Award. The sentiment behind this inspiring award is that when life gives you lemons, you somehow manage to turn them into lemonade. The ability to turn a bad situation into a good situation, if you will.

I can't say enough wonderful things about Sharon, she's just too lovely for words! Her blog is one of my daily reads, and her warmth and humour really come through in her writing. Not only is Sharon a gorgeous person, but she is an extremely talented artisan also! With Valentines Day just around a corner, you may just find a gift for your special someone on Sharon's Etsy shop. Make sure you drop in for a visit!

Rather than pass this award on to one of my many deserving blogging friends, I would ask that you click on one (or all!) of the blog links to the right ----------->

Each and every one of my web friends is capable of turning lemons into lemonade (and some do so on a daily basis) and are therefore deserving of this award, so please show them your support and pay a visit to their wonderful blogs! :-)

The Evolution of a Collar

Since I have made a pact with the lovely Sharon of Mana Moon Studios to catch and finish some UFO's (that is, Unfinished Objects...not alien spaceships), I thought I would post some photos as proof I am keeping my word ;-)

Here is how this collar has evolved over the last six months. Yes, you read correctly. It has been a work-in-progress for THAT long!

*hangs head in shame*

It all starts with inspiration, and a sketch. Not necessarily in that order. And not always with a sketch. In this case, I sketched first THEN looked for inspiration. Weird? Perhaps, but that's just how I roll.

My initial sketch

The end result is, quite often, absolutely nothing like my original idea. This piece is no different, as you will see. I wasn't sure if I wanted to bead hummingbirds or butterflies. After finding this gorgeous pic of a ruby-throated hummingbird, my mind was made up.

Inspiration (photo courtesy of http://www.gypsywind.com/)

I beaded one hummingbird and then, as so often happens when I begin beading, I decided to change my initial idea of three hummingbirds encircling the neck. Instead, my vision changed to a solitary hummingbird nestled amongst a garden of brightly hued blossoms.

The completed hummingbird

Well, I beaded flower after flower, and NOTHING worked. You can't even begin to imagine the amount of unpicking I had to endure.

*insert image of me ripping my hair out by the roots*

Most of my floral pieces are dimensional. However, dimensional flowers would engulf and overpower my 'flat' hummingbird. And flat flowers just wouldn't work. Or should I say, I couldn't make them work.

My 'work station'...a trusty 'ol Stable Table with a folded baby's swaddle cloth as a 'bead mat' to prevent beads rolling around. Yeah no expense spared, I went all out ;-)

So I gave up on the flower idea and decided I would create a simple background upon which my solitary hummingbird would take centre stage. As the background would also be 'flat', I wanted to create patterns which would create the illusion of movement and provide visual interest, without overpowering my hummingbird. Swirls were the solution.

Am I sick of blue beads yet...?

I tried many different colours and finishes of seed beads before I settled on the gorgeous transparent sky-blue beads sent to me by the very generous Nicole Campanella. It was rather fateful that these delicious seedies made their way into my life when they did...I think they compliment my hummingbird rather well.

So this is where I'm at. Swirls and swirls of blue beads.

I'm unsure how the finished collar will look, what fabric/backing will suit the collar, what style of clasp I will use, what kind of fringe (if any) will be required to compliment the piece, etc, etc. So many questions, so few answers. Trial and error is a large part of my beadwork. I rarely bead a piece from start to finish with a completed vision in my mind. I make things up as I go along. I like to live on the edge ;-) Heh.

Stay tuned for more progress photos!