Little Bead Shop

So, I'm just back from my fabulous home town - Edinburgh! I was there on a flying visit to do a day's teaching at the rather wonderful Little Bead Shop in Bruntsfield. I had a small but very sweet class doing my absolute favourite thing in the whole world (apart from singing Handel...Bach...Rossini..Mahler...oh, Ok - I have lots of favourite things to do!) BEAD EMBROIDERY. Everyone (including my lovely Mum!) did a really good job getting started on a beaded cuff (like the one above), I only work with a few stitches as the beads really do the rest for you, and everyone left having made a really good start to their project. Below are two of my own beaded collars for your perusal.

I had a great day and I hope everyone else did too! Gil Baird, Little Bead Shop proprietress, has a fantastic shop with a really unique range of beads and I thoroughly recommend if you are visiting Edinburgh (something I recommend in itself!!) you pay it a wee visit. Everyone who works there is always super helpful and lovely and if you're lucky, there may be some of the very talented Emma Baird's BEAUTIFUL lampworked beads...She's also very good at photography as you can see from the three pictures in this blog entry! It's a great place to visit and you can be sure of a cheerful welcome. I have a few more classes scheduled in November and December and I'm really looking forward to them already.

Butterflies

For some time now, I have been trying to come up with some beaded butterflies. Not entirely original in that there are tons and tons of beaded butterflies out there but I do love the wee things (and stars. I love stars!). So it's been quite a challenge to come up with a design that's slightly different from all the others out there in bead land but I think I have finally come up with something that I am happy with! I need to photograph the little beauties so I can share them with you but until then I thought I'd tell you about a giveaway I've just entered at fellow bead artist Lorelei's blog as it is also on the theme of butterflies - this time created by AMAZING artist Cynthia Thornton of Green Girl Studios.
One of the things I love about the world of the blog is the national and international interaction it creates between people - these two artists are based in America and hand crafting artisans working in their own studios...and yet with a few clicks on Cagney (my lovely MacBook, I love her...), I can see their work and read their interactive diary. Amazing!

New phone!

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I've been tagged (quite a while ago now, oops!)by the lovely Dinky-Daisy, thank-you. Have a peek at her shop, it's full of lovely goodies!

Right down to the rules,

• Link to the person who tagged you...yep done
• post the rules, here they are!
• Tag six people with a link (not sure I'm going to manage this one!)
  
• Let the victims know...(if there are any!)
  
• let tagger know when your done.
• And most important write six things about me..

Thats the rules now on to interesting facts about me....well... you can make your own mind up on that.;-)

1. I'm a classical singer in 'real' life - I consider myself very lucky that I'm able to call my two passions - music and beading! - my job. I do all sorts of singing but I particularly love Handel at the moment!

2. I am Scottish and proud!

3. I have my ears pierced 13 times - 5 on my right ear and 8 on my left. I usually only wear one pair of earrings however! Must buy some more studs.

4. I have three stars tattooed on my back.

5. I have a Masters in Compostion (musical composition!).

6. I am addicted to cheesy American detective dramas - think Murder She Wrote, Quincy, Cagney and Lacey...I love them all!!

So there you go, you decide if you think they're interesting or not! I'm not sure if I'm going to tag anyone yet; I'm quite new to this whole blogging thing and don't know if I'm brave enough to tag 6 strangers!

Cover Girl!

How exciting! I have made the front cover of Beads and Beyond with my sparkly pink chandelier earrings! I haven't seen the magazine for real yet but my lovely friend Susan texted me a photo of her copy. I can't believe it! Only a few months ago I could only dream of having my little designs featured in print and now I'm on the front cover...I really am chuffed to bits!