My free time is up :o(

My new module is due to start at the beggining of Febuary, I'm going to start this weekend though to get a head start. There is a chance I may have to go into hospital at some point and would have to take time off the studying. Its nothing serious thankfully and is not definately something that will need surgery but I am preparing myself just in case. The story? I had my gall bladder removed in Febuary last year but am still having pains in that area, so my surgeon is running some tests, the next one is on Thursday and we will soon find out what the problem is. The very worst it could be is that I have a tendancy to develope gall stones and they are forming in bile ducts. If I do need to go in to hospital it will only be overnight and I will be recovered in about a week. Surgery is never nice but I am thankful that it is nothing serious and pretty routine for most surgeons.

On the stitching front, I have made very little progress. I had one night of stitching so I wont post a picture but the nights that I do get a chance to stitch from now I will make the most of it.

Jewelry wise, I have been playing with a tutorial for a bangle which I purchased from Corra. I am struggling to get the knots tight to a point that I am happy with, I am getting there with practice and so the next time I get to play with wire I should be able to have a go at the bangle.

And in other news... We are adopting a dog from the local animal shelter. He was taken in as a stray and needs treatment for a flea allergy. The shelter cant legally claim ownership of him yet as they have not had him for seven days yet, but from the condition of his skin they do not think that he will be claimed. Once the seven days has passed and his skin has cleared up we can bring him home. He is an old boy, about nine or ten years old and is a mixed breed, but he is so calm and relaxed and you can just tell he has a lot of love to give in his last few years. The girls adored him when we met him and he warmed to them right away. I cant wait for the day that we can bring him home, I am so excited and want to go out and buy everything that we need for him right away. But I think it may be wise to wait until he is legally in the ownership of the animal shelter and can be ours before I do that.
We have been thinking of names for the old fella, my oldest has stuck on the name Rory, and do you know what, I think it suits him to a tee. When we get him home I will post lots of pictures.

with my course starting back up I may not be able to participate in forums as much as I would like still but I will be following the posts and everyones blogs as much as I can.

Thanks for looking and happy creating.

My first succesful attempt at braiding.

I had a peek at Mei's blog the other day when i noticed she had a free tutorial about braiding. From looking at this simple tutorial I now know where I have been going wrong in braiding. This inspired me to get creative and so here is the latest...

I really wasnt sure what to do with the ends so I just twizzled them to give it some sort of finish. Next time I do this I will take more care with it though and also have a design in mind of how to finish it off. The other thing I need to do is to experiment with hardening wire, I dont sell jewelry so I'm not worried about it yet and I dont wear much myself either.

Next thing I want to try is a tutorial of a stunning bangle by Corra. I'm hoping to do that this week and also make some progress in stitching.

Stitching wise I have not really had much time to get much done, but this is the progress so far on the sister angels from HEAD

Its got a few hundred stitches in it and you can sort of tell that this part is an arch of some kind. This is the first project I have done using fabric with a count like this, the highets count before hand was 18ct this is 25ct I'm sure. So it is a bit of a challenge and the frogs have been visiting (yay!). But despite that I feel I can get it done in the next two years lol....

Have a great week.

Completed landscape and tag.

I stitched a picture of a landscape on the Isle of Skye for my parents as a christmas present. My parents absoloutly love Skye and would love to live there so this was the perfect thing to sticrch for them. Finally here is a picture of the finished piece...

My photography hasnt gotten much better since the last post, I couldnt quite get a decent angle on the picture with good light so you can see my shadow and you yougests shadow in the glass.

My mum and dad were thrilled with their pressie, and I was thrilled with how it turned out too.

I was tagged by a very talented jewelry artist called Jamee. She sells the most beautiful wedding jewelry from Maui alongside some great beaded creations. Check out her blog and her Etsy shop.

This version of tag is to give six random facts about yourself, here are the rules.

1) Link to the person who tagged you on your blog

2) Post the rules on your blog

3) Write 6 random things about yourself

4) Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them

5) Let each person know they've been tagged

Ok so my random facts are

It is my 26th birthday this year (tomorrow the 12th)

I'm scared of the dark (yeah I know how ridiculous is that ;op)

I have kived in the same town all of my life (Airdrie, Scotland)

The first birthday pressie I got my hubby was a tattoo of a lion rampant with the number 1314 underneath it. My first daughter was born two years later in the 13th of October and my second daughter was born on the 14th June (freaky huh!!)

I hate spiders

I love all things sparkly.

Ok so the lucky bloggers I am tagging are

Marjorie (marjories cracked plate jewelry)

No regrets

Rene

Meari

Carolyn

Sadie

Have fun guys, I found it really hard to come up with things to say about myself.

A try at some rings.

I have finished my final assignment for my last course and now I have a whole month to play before the next module starts, so to celebrate I got my wire out and made an attempt at some rings without the use of tutorials. A big step for me as I have not had nearly enough time to practice making wire jewelry for a long time and have only used tutorials in anything I have made. So without further ado I present my new creations...

The first is made using a black bicone glass faceted bead as the focal with a sort of herringbone weave around it. Unfortunately the light here recently has been shocking so I cant get a decent picture, this is the best I got

You can sort of see the weave, but I will have to get better pics when the weather brightens up a bit.

The second ring is an adjustable ring with three dangles. Within the weave I added some amethyst coloured seed beads for a bit of sparkle.

I have given myself the challenge of making rings for my girls tonight, they have such little fingers that I'm not quite sure how to go about it, but I have a bit of confidence back after making these so I'm sure I can manage it.

The rest of the week will probably be dedicated to stitching, I have a small chart I would like to do and would also make some progress on my HEAD project too.

Thanks for looking and I hope you have a great week.