Heaven on Earth

Yesterday was a big day! I went to Toronto and back, spending over six hours on the train, to attend the Bead Oasis show. It was worth every second of travel time. There were not any really great deals to be had, but with my wholesale discount I faired not too badly. I bought quite a bit from one vendor in particular. http://www.gemsnbeads.com/ out of Markham Ontario had some really nice cuts on some of their stones. One particularly beautiful combination he had was amazonite and malachite. Here are some pics of my purchases.
Blue Goldstone Twists



Carnelian Faceted Rondelles


Yellow and Green Turquoise Teardrops (dyed howlite)




Amazonite/Malachite Graduated Rondelles and Ovals


The colours and textures at the show got me so fired up, I had to buy some brightly coloured seed beeds, needles and fireline to bead on the way home on the train. Imagine these 42 year old eyes trying to thread the needle, several times, as the train bumped and rolled along! It made the time pass much faster than usual, but needless to say, that project is still a work in progress.

Finally, here is a pic of the bracelet I made on Friday night. I just felt the need to make something Springy, so my limey coloured polymer clay beads coupled with gold filled wire did the trick.
LI'mA Fashionista


Ciau for now!

A Bead A Day...

Yesterday I had an appointment in Ottawa, so of course I had to make a little stop at Sassy Beads on Bank Street. Being surrounded by all those colours and textures feeds my soul. I kept telling myself that, since I'm headed off to Toronto tomorrow to the Bead Oasis show, I really shouldn't buy anything. Did I listen to that little voice? Noooooooo! I don't think I've ever left a bead store without buying something. I was, however, more restrained than usual. Mostly I got seed beads (on sale...could I really afford not to buy?) and stringing material, but here are a couple of beads that begged me to take them home, which of course I did. Hey... maybe I could start an SPCB to rescue stray and abused beads.









Here are some pics of the necklace and earrings I made on Wednesday. I really love the carnelian/copper combination. They're pretty conservative for me, but I guess even Radicals have their conservative moments. I think I'll do another necklace like this one, but shorten up the distances between bead groupings.

Well, off to enjoy the sun while it lasts here in relentlessly snowy Ontario!

Got My Fix

Well I did manage to squeeze in a little creative time today after all. It was a pretty busy day, but in the end I really needed to get my fix so I made a necklace and earrings. I haven't taken any pictures yet, but when I do I'll post them. I'm taking the advice of some of my fellow Etsians and trying to use natural light whenever possible. That means waiting until tomorrow.

My youngest cat needed dental surgery today, and I needed to have some blood drawn, so the three cats and I were all fasting last night. I thought the two big cats were going to eat the skinny old fellow! They were not impressed. Turns out my fasting was unproductive, as after seven tries to get some blood out of me we finally gave up to try again next week.

I then headed off to a Tax seminar for small business. Our small business enterprise center really puts on some good ones. I went to a marketing and networking one about a month ago and it was fabulous. Today's topic of course was not as interesting, but the presenter was quite funny and basically let us all ask any and all tax related questions we had. I learned a fair bit, and I had already been to one at Revunue Canada.

Saturday I am off to the Bead Oasis show in Toronto. I can't wait. Being surrounded by and having the opportunity to handle such an enormous quantity and variety of beads is my idea of heaven! My cat's dental surgery and urinary tract blockages this month used my bead budget, so I'll have to restrain myself. I'm sure I won't be able to get out of there without buying a few things anyhow.

Well, off to figure out how to use my new web page design software.