So that's it then...

...another summer over. Back to work tomorrow (proper day job that is!). Bead time gets severely curtailed now and it won't be long before the thermals come out and I am working in the studio freezing me butt off!!! I love the summer, not necessarily because it is warm, sometimes I prefer the cold to being to warm especially when it is humid like it is at the moment. I love the fact that I can sit out in my garden in the evenings (I don't like the mosquitos!!!), I love sitting chatting with my neighbours, I love being in my studio making beads and it still being partway light when I finish for the night! I love August, the fact that I get more than just 1 or 2 weeks holiday to chill out and kick back a bit! I am feeling quite relaxed and I have had a lovely holiday - black cloud is....back to work tomorrow.
As of tomorrow I am officially part time but because of the severe financial probs I have had to remove Savannah from my childminders on a Wednesday to save money! This will be nice cos we can have the day together but also I wanted some time for me...is that selfish or what. This is where I struggle with the working mum thing. I should be grateful to have time off with my children but having some time for me is quite important to yet I feel bad for wanting some time alone!!! I need a wide open space to scream.....

Anyway it is nearly half seven, time for a little girl to get her bath and get to bed! So I best be off
TTFNx

Minature Railway

Hiya, sorry I have been a bit quiet this week. My OH has had a week off and we have all tried to spend a bit of family time together. Tuesday was a bike ride to Reculver (my backside is still a little tender!!!) and today we went on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Minature railway. Follow the link for further information! http://www.rhdr.org.uk/rhdr/home_flash.html

My OH has never been on this despite living fairly close all his life. My grandparents and parents all hail from that neck of the woods so it was nice to revisit old "stamping" grounds!

I have managed to get some bead time in sneaky preview above. The picture is not that fab but I hope you get the gist! My OH has also been busy making a little bead rack for my Belita beads (silver core beads). This is a minature version of one he made for my bigger beads. I am exhibiting at a bead show in November so this will come in very useful for my beads!

Anyway, gotta go been a busy day will catch up soon.

TTFNx

Not gonna talk beads today!!!

I have had a lovely day!

We went for a bike ride to Reculver reckon about 20 - 25 mile round trip along the sea shore! The photo has (from left to right) my nephew Alex, my dad holding my niece Lucy, next to them is me. Behind me is my youngest daughter sitting on my husbands lap and next to him my eldest daughter. The lady in the pink T-shirt is my youngest sister Judith and next to her her son Andrew. Lucy is hers as well! My mum was working as was my other sister and both their husbands!!

The weather was not to bad, bit windy in places but fab for riding warm but with little sunshine. We had a picnic at Reculver before riding home. Follow this link for Wiki info on Reculver http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reculver

Poor Imogen (my eldest) she had never cycled that far before and really struggled about halfway and then we introduced her to the wonders of gears on the bike! She seemed to grasp it and coped very well indeed with the cycle home! I have uploaded all the photos onto facebook which hopefully you can follow from this link http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=55707&l=60f29&id=543460738

Now my ass is killing me! I ache all over and am gonna pay for it in the morning but it has been such a lovely day! Days like this make me very happy! Family are so important and I love mine to bits!

TTFNx

Another washout Bank Holiday Weekend!

Still at least it did not rain down here anyway!!! Not really done much today but I have photographed my beads that are going up for sale in the shop in a few mins!
I am hoping to get a stand at The Big Bead Show in November I am waiting to see if there are any stands left for hire. Part of me really hopes so cos it would be a good experience and the other part of me thinks what the hell are you doing girl! Your beads are no way good enough to consider selling at an event like that. I really have to practise my self esteem thing and confidence. Beads are selling from my website and feedback has been positive - if you have bought beads from me please let me know what you think. I can take it honest....

Anyway, plans for the week coming are to spend some time with the family. OH has 4 days off and it is back to school and work next week, my how these last few weeks have flown by. 4 months today is Christmas Day.....and another year nearly gone. It is scary how time flies, what is even more scary is that my 11 year old says the same thing!

Right got some beads to list!! Go have a look www.aurorabeadz.co.uk or follow the link from the right hand side of this page!

TTFNx

A day to myself...

...and what am I doing? Waiting for the bloomin postman. Some days he has been and gone by half 8 others like today it is gone half 11. Typical I am expecting a parcel so I am hanging around waiting and today of all days when I have virtually unlimited torch time. My eldest daughter is on holiday with her dad, my youngest has been "borrowed" for the day by my sister in law, the OH is at work so I am free...free I tell you and waiting for the blessed postie!!!

Still I have got a fair bit of torch time this week already, bit of a teaser for you up there. The big hole beads at the front will hopefully be cored today (providing my silver tube arrives!) and the others are sets or part sets! The 2 red white and blue large hole beads are the ones I spoke about the other day called Chris (Hoy) and Rebecca (Adlington).

I had loads of dreams last night about beads and have some ideas today that I want to try to do. Nothing to revolutionary in fact probably been done by someone else already but the mere fact that I had an idea is pretty awesome...sometimes I get into my studio and dry up!!! The dotty thing continues, mostly cos I am having fun doing them but also they are really good practice as there is a little bit of skill involved in keeping a steady hand to place them and not burn the glass!

ah ha there is the doorbell....yipee postie has been and I got silver tube so I am off now..

TTFNx

Later....I am so gutted! I have just cored my 7 beads that you can see above and only 4 survived. casualties are to be expected but 3 in one go!!! 2 of the dead ones were my olympic inspired Chris and Rebecca. Gutted! I will make em again later!

TTFNx

New day new mind set!!!

Right...after my whinge yesterday I have had a good word with myself and feel much better today!! I got some beads made last night and have used the Union Jack as inspiration (the strangest things I know!!!) Anyway Red White and Blue were my colours to work with last night, lapis, crimson red and white all from effetre to be exact! I have made a small set with a focal bead and 2 beads that will be silver cored. Shame really I should use gold tube to core them but I have not got any gold so silver will be used instead. These 2 will be called Rebecca (Adlington) and Chris (Hoy) hopefully they will survive the coring process and you can see the results round the weekend when I put them up on the website.

I have just watched Usain Bolt run the 200m and wow what an athlete!

Day 6 of my financial streamlining exercise and I got my credit card bill today!! I paid off the balance on friday and guess what they have added £76 interest cos the bill was paid 5 days after the payment due date even though I made the minimum payment! Once you have a credit card you are well and truly entrenched! Lesson to the wise: don't get a credit card. They are bad news especially if you are a weak soul like me!!! Still, I have cancelled it now and paid off the interest! so clean bill - Hoorah.

Right enough boring you guys for the moment I have a house to clean so must stop procrastinating!

TTFNx

What is the matter with me!!!

Right I am not going to bore you with crap from my life to much but I am struggling with depression (a bit!). Here is where the conflict lies...Am I actually depressed or not? When you look at the "traditional" definition of depression I don't think it encapsulates me! I was once told that I was the happiest depressed person they had ever met!!!! But I have a set of symptoms that come up and down and at the moment they are up! I withdraw, I cannot get motivated and my anger is something else! I have to pull myself together but that is tough when all I want to do is cry!

Anyway, I told you I was not going to bore you so I am going to try and move away from that subject! No beading for the past couple of days but I hope to rectify that tonight! I have been watching quite a bit of the Olympic games and I have a bit of an idea for a Team GB set! (Is that sad!!!) really just following the themes of red white and blue but I thought it apt to call it Team GB or perhaps if they become individual Belita beads (silver core beads) then I may well give them individual names! Rebecca (Adlington), Chris (Hoy), Victoria (Pendleton) and Louis (Smith) spring to mind intially! Lets see what transpires! Our sportsmen and women have done outstandingly well and I believe we are on the way to having one of our most successful games!

I don't consider myself majorly patriotic but things like this are important and we need to get behind our team, they work hard to get where they are and deserve some recognition. Quite frankly I would rather support them and make personalities out of them that these "boil in the bag" celebrities like those in Big Brother! Best I don't get going on that topic eh!!!

Right "Wonderpets" is calling me, time for a bit of quiet time with my youngest daughter so I am off for my afternoon nap!! (OMG and I am only 36, having an afternoon nap already!)

TTFNx

music to torch to...

I have discovered that I need music to torch to!!! Muse, Dave Gahan, Depeche Mode, The Feeling, these seem to produce the best results!!! How very bizarre! Still if it helps then who am I to go against it eh!!!.

As you can see the "Dotty Mayhem" series continues! I am really enjoying practicing my dot placement and think that at last I have some dotty beads to be proud of. I have sold one of my sets so I am hopeful for the other 2 and who knows how many more will come along. It is a fab way of exploring colour combinations and very good for me to practice as I have quite shaky hands and this helps me to control it! These beads are going to be available for sale once the proper pictures are done. I will get a few more sets together so probabaly the end of the week before they go up! I went for a bike ride with my youngest yesterday and we rode along the sea shore and the sea was shades of green with a blue sky (and loads of cloud!) but hence the colour choice of periwinkle and teal. This colour combination works very well anyway so I went with it!!!

I have also managed to squeeze in some Olympics whilst I have been tootling around! I love the rowing and the cycling but have completely got into the swimming as well. Rebecca Adlington was supreme in the pool and will be worth watching in 2012.

anyway must dash!

TTFNx

Breaking Dawn....

Last summer I read the first 3 books in series by Stephanie Meyer (Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse). I loved them and the 4th book in the series was released last week. I bought it yesterday and 700 odd pages later I finished it!!! 24 hours to read it!!! Such a good book. If you like a brill love story that is not so gushy it makes you puke! and you like werewolves and vampires then this is a wicked series of books! Twilight has been made into a film and I believe the release date is later this year (US not sure about UK!!)
Glaring ommission from my list of fav books which I will rectify in a mo!!!

Its not very often I get obsessed by a book in that way but the compulsion to read it was huge...so no beads made last night. I think that Harry Potter fans may get it!!! I read loads but 10 mins here and there not hours solid to the exclusion of everything else. I will have to read it again but more slowly but I had to read it to find out what happens to Bella and Edward! excellent read and totally recommended!!!

TTFNx

Day one...

After a bit of a speaking to by our bank manager and some financial streamlining (!!!) my OH and me have had to get very strict with our money!!! The Sky package has been severely trimmed back (much to the eldest daughter's disgust!!! OMG no more high school musical!) and many other things lost for a while! Gonna be hard to cut back like we need to but it has to be done, going part time is gonna hurt finacially and we all live to our means and ours are about to reduce a lot! Still the lifestyle changes we are gonna have to make can only be for the better and it will help us to teach the girls some money sense, something I lack!
The bank reckon a strict year should see us sorted for the better so today is day 1!!! 363 (or is it 364 !!!) to go. I am not going to bore you with a daily countdown but I reckon the first few months will be the hardest especially with Christmas bearing down on us! and the temptation to spend like idiots!!! Still it can only be for the best and will ensure security for the girls later on!!!

Other news...I have sold another bead this week so things continue to plod along gently with my website I am tagging these posts with various ways of spelling aurorabeadz in the hope of raising my Google ratings! Lets see how that goes!! I have also got a Flickr account (not sure if I have told you this or not!!!) but the link is at the top of the blog page! Full of piccies of me beads! Not sure if I will get any bead time tonight the clock is whizzing along already be 9 before the kiln is up to temp already so maybe leave it till tomorrow night!

Anyway enough burble!!! catch ya later

TTFNx

Finally got some new stock listed!

Bless him my OH has done my photos again tonight and I have fianlly got some beads listed on the website for sale!

It has been a rough day for me really and this has been quite therapeutic for me to finally spend some time sorting stock out! My youngest daughter is being quite testing at the moment and I seem to be the focus for her tantrums. It is quite stressful when you try not to lose your rag with them but they really do push you to the limits! hey ho though thats what you get when you have kids! My mum calls it finding their niche in life!

I have got an appointment with the bank manager tomorrow so hopefully that will help with the money stresses, not that I imagine we are any different to most other people in this country what with the cost of living an all that! But I am going part time in my day job in september so any little things we can do now to help will be fab!!! This also means I can spend a bit more time making my beads which quite frankly I totally love doing. They are so relaxing to make and it is a bit of "me" time. It would be even nicer if I can successfully make a small business out of it! Share my pleasure so to speak!!!

Anyway the hour groweth late and my bed is calling me

TTFNx

Where it all began!!!

These are the very first beads that I made back in July last year! Cool eh!!!

Had a bit of a stressful day!!! My OH forgot to sort out his van insurance so it fell to yours truly to sort it out this morning. Because today is the renewal date the request for some £400 has already gone through to the bank account and I can't stop it!!! Arrggghhhh! why can't it be stopped? Because it is not a direct debit!!! Well that'll teach us to be more organised now gotta wait for the money to be debited and then claim it back! For goodness sake what a complete inconvenience! Anyway insurance sorted now!

Eldest daughter (11) has finally agreed to having her hair cut into a decent hairstyle! Bless her she was adamant that she did not want a fringe but actually it looks quite fab! Will see if I can get photo up sometime!

I got a few sets of beads made over the weekend and hopefully photographing then tonight or tomorrow so should be up on the website by Wednesday morning. Check it out http://www.aurorabeadz.co.uk/ (that is all one word and z not s!!!).

I sold another Belita Bead (my silver core beads) this weekend which always makes me happy. I have cored 6 more today but gotta polish them yet so should get them photographed later as well.

Oh well, youngest daughter is not going to sleep so I best go off and amuse her! Catch ya later!

TTFNx

It's raining again....

It's bloomin well raining again. Poor kids on their summer hols and the weather is not so fab. Still I think it is better than last year!!! Eldest daughter was hoping to spend time in front of the TV but evil mother made her go and tidy her room! She has now enlisted the assistance of the boys from next door who are actually quite good at cleaning up so she can kick back and watch them do the work. Atta girl!!!

Got some beads made yesterday and just cleaned them up (my reward for doing some serious housework for once!!!) thought I would post picture for you! it's not a fab picture, hubby is the "David Bailey" in this house but you get the idea!!! Going on the site in next couple of days for sale! These beads are very much inspired by the work of Sarah Hornik. You can find her blog here http://glassbysarah.com/ her work is awesome and she has shared some of her "secrets". I never realised that Rubino Oro (the pink glass!) was a spreader and caused this effect and I love it! I also really love pink and grey together! Gonna try other colours later!

Right more housework beckons so best be off.

TTFNx

well hello again.....

It has been a while!!! I have a blog on my website but thought that as I had an account here I ought to use it more!!! So whats been going on then? Well....I have a new website and it is all mine!!! I have made some sales from it also so things are ticking along! So Aurorabeadz is alive and kicking. http://www.aurorabeadz.co.uk/

Bead wise things have been very quiet for about 2 months because of the mega marking marathon that is university life in June and July. I am now finally on holiday till beginning of September so I am just beginning to chill! I have managed to get a couple of hours bead time in this week and made part of a collection today! You'll just have to wait though to see what I made!!! I have managed to add a couple of pictures of my beads for your delectation!!! One of them is my new silver core bead. I have just started making these and I love em!!!

Finally I have a friend who is in Bejing for the Olympics, he is a hockey ref! He is keeping a blog and I thought you might like a look see! site is http://andymairbeijing.blogspot.com/ Go take a look!

TTFN x

Edited to add: for those of you who want to know what me and my family look like here is a link to my facebook album! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=50697&l=dfebc&id=543460738

Hope it works

TTFNx