Oh, the excitement!

It is with sheer and utter delight (and surprise!) that I bring news this morning of my Dracula's Tango necklace winning runner-up in the Beading Forum Transylvania Challenge!

*comes down off cloud nine to do a happy dance around the room*

I received a colourful little runner-up badge to adorn my forum signature. It's so purrrrdy.

To receive recognition from one's peers is a confidence booster like no other. Sure, my family are always supportive and tell me how much they love my work. But if I strung some freeze-dried dog poo around my neck they would still tell me it's lovely!

So to be applauded and recognised by those in the know is, well, just damn brilliant.

My ego is overflowing this morning. I can't even begin to describe how chuffed I am right now. After having a few horrendous nights with our teething 10 month old, to wake up and receive this wonderful news is not only timely, but so appreciated.

So excuse me while I fly away, but cloud nine has my name on it...

Dracula's Tango

And finally, hot off the press, we come to my very latest completed piece...for yet another Beading Forum challenge (*Hello, my name is Belinda. I am a Beading Forum addict. It has been 2 days since I made a piece for a Beading Forum challenge...*)

This is without doubt the largest and most time consuming project I have tackled thus far. This little beauty clocked up at least 25 hours of work...mostly late nights while my munchkin was sleeping.

It was made using bead embroidery techniques...countless black seedies, a few red ones, black bicones, red glass drops (which have an uncanny resemblance to blood *mwahahah*) and *gasp* a couple of sequins for added bling.

As always, I wanted to avoid the usual cliches (bats, coffins, crosses, etc) and make something worthy of one of Dracula's innocent young conquests.

Embarrassingly, the name is inspired by a REALLY bad 80's song. I have no idea how that song found it's way onto my iPod...honest!











I'm quietly chuffed with this collar. Now if only I could wrangle a romantic dinner with my gorgeous hubby so I can wear it out...

Lemon Lime & Orange - a trip down psychedelic lane

Warning: please don your sunglasses now prior to scrolling down to view the following photos. In the event of blindness, dizziness, or a psychedelic trip...you were forewarned...

Another fabulous challenge on the Beading Forum...this one was too good to pass up, Freeform Psychedelic Stream.

I'd never tried freeform before and was itching to give it a go, although somewhat apprehensive as to how my orderly brain would cope with the 'free' part of freeform. As it turned out, I had a riot of fun making this cuff and it was a great experiment in colour and form. I enjoyed it so much that I am in the process of making a second in pinks and purples (at the request of a fellow forum member).

I named my cuff Lemon Lime & Orange...for obviously reasons...

Got those sunglasses on yet?

I really love the textural element of this cuff. Being a very tactile person, I lurrrrve how it feels.

Button Pendants

I created some pendants using buttons for another Beading Forum challenge...these time the theme was 'Recycled'.







The flower button pendant has found a happy home with my Mum :-)

Rambling Rose

My lovely mother made some beautiful polymer clay flowers at my request...

Her flair for clay play goes back to the 90's, when she used to create gorgeous brooches from polymer clay and bread-dough. You wouldn't guess that she hadn't made anything for about 15 years. As you can see, she's still got it!

I call this creation "Rambling Rose". It was my first attempt at making a spiral rope...it's a brilliant little stitch which works up satisfyingly fast.

I have worn this necklace often and it always elicits lovely comments (which I happily pass on to Mum...after all, it is a joint creation!)

Phoenician Scarab

Another Beading Forum challenge, another chance to learn a new technique.

This time it was bead embroidery.

I had some ceramic scarab beetles which I'd bought as a teenager...they seemed appropriate for the theme, so I dug them out and used them as the basis for my necklace. I knew I'd been keeping them for a reason *light bulb moment* I sewed one onto a piece of stiff felt and away I went.

Again, I had no real plan of attack when I started stitching...it's another piece which evolved of it's own accord. Can it be called 'designing' when you make something up as you go along? That's a loaded question...will file it away for a rainy day.

I fell head-over-heels for bead embroidery because of this piece. And it is still one of my favourite techniques. It almost feels like cheating though because it seems so easy compared to some off-loom techniques. Cheating or not, it is grrrrreat.

Here's my Phoenician Scarab:



And a close-up shot of the main pendant:



And a photo of the back of the pendant:

Dark Star of the Sea

My second seed bead creation was for another Beading Forum challenge, this time the theme being "Davy Jones' Locker".

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to create something for such a wicked and evocative theme, so I set to work. I took it as a chance to learn some new techniques...a challenge within a challenge, if you will. "Dark Star of the Sea" was what ensued. In my strange and warped mind, I envisaged Davy Jones manifesting himself in the form of an evil starfish. Hey, if the 'Adventures of Peregrine Pickle' says he rules over all sea creatures, so do I!

I created my evil starfish using five separate diamonds in brick stitch. The waves of the ocean were represented by the necklace, a peyote ruffle in three different hues of blue...and the seaweed was made with branch fringing with little shells and critters hiding amongst them.

These pics are cruddy...it was an overcast day and this was the best I could do. Well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. The starfish is made with black AB (AB = Aurora Borealis for those non-beaders) seedies and has a wicked sheen to it which doesn't come through in the photos. It looks much better in real life...I'm serial!