Don't You Just Hate Dilemmas...

...however small they are???

I've been tinkering with the blog header, fancied a more rounder edge, but when saved the text was a bit blurry, so tinkered some more and came up with this:

nice...right?

But then I tinkered some more and came up with this:

and now I have a dilemma.....should I go with crisp and clear or should I be different and go with a mottled effect.....I really can't decide!

What do you think??

{Click on each picture to get a better look at the effects}

hugs

hello gorgeous xxx

BTW!

So, this is what is on my bead table this week!! ;o)

Trouble is, it's part of the Bead Soup Blog Party and one step away from being packaged up and sent to the gorgeous Cassandra over at Design By Cassandra

Cassandra was chosen as my partner in this challenge and for obvious reasons, as she hasn't received the beads yet, I want to keep the reveal hush-hush until the package arrives at her door in Canada! I was gonna show it in black and white but thought I would whet Cassandra's appetite with a little colour....what a tease!!

I have one or two non-bead items to add and then it's off to the post office in the morning!

If you want to check out more Bead Soup gorgeous-ness, visit the Flickr group set up for the reveal of beads received and creations made.

hugs

hello gorgeous xxx

Twenty Question Tuesday

In your eyes, what’s Paradise?

Paradise would be to be content at any one time, just doing what I am doing at that particular moment. I’m very unsettled.

Prized Possession

I don’t have one which makes me wonder why I don’t. Very odd. I’ll have to think on it.

Favourite medium to work with and why?

Emulsion. Dulux is the best to paint with, I use it for my Half an Acre wooden fish. It comes in a million colours and goes on smoothly and evenly. Very satisfying.

Flowers or chocolate?

Flowers.

Who influenced you the most?

My dad. He brought me up to think that I could do anything if I put my mind to it.

Who would you most like to go to dinner with?

A great friend. I don’t have any aspirations for eating with famous people. What on earth would I say?

Top Cat or Banana Splits?

Top Cat.

Today I wore:

Red/orange stripy pyjama trousers, blue/white stripy top, red/white fuzzy socks, Uggs and a black/white stripy fleece. Stripes make me feel cosy and I didn’t need to go out! I never get dressed when I don’t need to leave the house.

Do you have a favourite online {bead, craft or textile} place to shop and would recommend

Fabric Rehab ~ not really a place for rehabilitation, more a place of addiction!

What inspired you to do what you do?

I don’t know, it just happened.

McDreamy or McSteamy?

I’m not mad on either of them BUT if I HAD to, you know last man on earth, then McDreamy would have to do.  Neither of them are exactly ugly, eh?!

If you could do anything else, what would it be?

Run a boutique bed and breakfast with attached studio, opening out onto the waterfront. In summer I would fling the doors open to my studio chat to fellow arty types. People would come especially to see me and exclaim “So, you are The Bunny Maker, it’s so nice to meet you at last!”.

Favourite item of clothing

An old white Baja ‘hippy top’ I’ve had for over 20 years. Strangely enough it is still white and NOT that tatty. It’s soft and lovely and I wear it when I feel down.

Best childhood memory

I don’t have any. Sorry. Now I’m wondering why.

Most cringe-worthy moment

Oh good grief! Many, many, many. I’m hopeless socially!

Favourite holiday destination

Canyonlands National Park. USA. I had the nicest shower and cup of coffee after many days hiking at The Needles Outpost campsite. I spent my honeymoon there, all dirty and dusty. It was lovely. I doubt I’m fit enough now though, to do all that walking malarkey.

Which celebrity would you have as your best friend and why

Derren Brown. Fascinating.

Best “crafty” tip you can offer

Don’t buy cheap embroidery threads from Ebay – they ALWAYS split and you end up with about 30 packs which you then have to tolerate using until all gone. Yes, I’m still going through them!!!

What’s your Star sign?

Gemini.

What would you most like to see happen next?

A huge company wants to order 30,000 custom designed sock bunnies which then leads to total world domination.

My thanks to the gorgeous Anna at The Bunny Maker who, in her own words, is "a confuzzled mother of three boys, maker of sock bunnies, Thnakes and other soft monstery things for Widget and Friends. Designer and artist behind Half an Acre and creator of The Handmade Bunny, struggling to combine motherhood and a kitchen table business. Come on in and join the madness!"

So why don't you pop on over and share some of the fun that's on offer.....oh! and take a cuppa with you, you might be a while! ;o)

hugs

hello gorgeous xxx

Thank Folksy it's Friday!!

It has to be YELLOW this week,

thanks to the sun shining brightly in the blue, blue sky! ;o)

Lauras Jewellery

My Pretty Little Things

Gooseberrymoon

Wendy House

Joanna Corney

Wish Upon A Card

Even though the sun is shining and it looks amazing outside......it is bloody freezing!!!

Hope it's warmer where you are?

Click on the name of each shop to be taken straight to the gorgeous-ness that awaits you...

See ya next Friday!!

hugs

hello gorgeous xxx

BTW!

Bead Table Wednesday

is in it's second week and was the "brainchild" of Heather over at Humblebeads

It's a little bit of fun to break up the week. 

Every Wednesday you get to "share" what's on your Bead table at that moment.

Having missed out on the first one {by a day!} I have now joined the Flickr group and have posted some lovely Christmas sparkles left under the tree by Santa! Yum!!

but, in reality......here's what's actually on my Bead table

a christmas decoration, two glass shelves, a pair of earrings, two batteries and a bag FULL of beads!

Over the Christmas period, one of the two trees was placed on the bead table so all beady things had to be put away.  It's seems my mojo was put away too.... :o(

Hopefully, after today it might re-surface.....I am about to clean the house {top to toe}

What's the saying "a tidy house is a tidy mind"

and with a tidy mind maybe my mojo will jump right out and startle me!!

Who knows!!

What's on your table? 

Join the group and share in the fun!

hugs

hello gorgeous xxx

When The Sun Shines....

the only thing to do is......head for the seaside!!!

After a very stressful {and completely unexpected} end to a dismal day yesterday, today's sunshine was a welcome sight...another bonus was the hubby having a day off from work. There was only one thing to do....make a flask of hot chocolate, grab the coat and head off to the seaside with Millie to blow away the fuzz of yesterday's events...

{photo heavy post} 

 

it's hard to believe that only a few weeks ago we had this!!



it was a gorgeous few hours away from the stresses of the last 24hrs.....a moment of feeling free!

And now back at home with a nice cuppa and a jam sarnie! Yum!

One final photo to leave you with....

thought the concept of a shadow photo was cool, lined us up nicely and as I snapped the photo Millie "morphed" into Scooby Doo!

We haven't stopped laughing yet....it's hilarious to look at when you know how big Millie is in "real" life!

Hope you had a good Tuesday, wherever you are?

hugs

hello gorgeous xxx

The Soup is On!!

Sign up for this fabulous event has now closed, over the weekend Lori {our gorgeous organiser} at Pretty Things  sat down to partner everyone up.....no mean feat with a WHOPPING 210 participants this time around!! Wow! On top of this mamouth task was the added headache of hiccups with  spreadsheets and email systems not playing fair.....BUT ever the trooper that Lori is, she persisted {in amongst expletives} and before we knew it we were all being "pinged" with a partner!

I am excited to announce I have been partnered with Cassandra from Design by Cassandra 

Cassandra is located in Canada, it will be fabulous getting to know someone across the other side of the water, her likes and dislikes, why she started to do what she does, what inspires her and what she hopes her future will hold.  It's gonna be a whole lotta fun!

Go check out Cassandra's blog, she has some amazing designs and creates some gorgeous inspring Etsy treasuries too!  I am ashamed to say, Cassandra has been on my blog list for a while but I haven't visited {or left comments} as often as I should have....shame.on.me.!

What is a Bead Soup Blog Party?  Well, basically you sign up, you get partnered up and within a time period you have to send a bunch of beads, a focal and a clasp to your partner for them to create something wonderful out of what you have given them...they can use some or all of the beads received, it's up to them {I get to do the same with what my partner sends me} and then on the "reveal" date we all have to post a picture on our blogs and describe what we have done...we can then "blog-hop" to all the other blogs participating to see what they have created too....it's definitely going to be fun and very inspring too!

So the key dates now are:

Beads go Out: 28th Jan

Party Date: 26th Feb

Don't forget to check back for updates and reveals ;o)

The Soup Is On!!!!!

hugs

hello gorgeous xxx

Movie Magic!

Colin Firth

Well, who else would it be this week!

Congratulations to Colin for his Golden Globe Best Actor win for the potrayal of King George VI in The King's Speech

I  have heard and read such good comments for the film from "awesome" to "exciting" to "emotional" to "I wanted to give it a standing ovation at the end {but was too scared to stand up}".  I for one cannot wait to see it!

Colin Firth is best known for playing characters in period dramas, something of which I am not a fan, and somehow not your first choice for a "sex symbol"... BUT...he has a knack for playing characters who are more often than not underdogs and ultimately {throughout the film} win your heart...I loved him in Bridget Jones :o)

Let's hope the predictions come true and next month he will be holding aloft an Oscar for Best Actor, would be nice having just missed out on it last year!

hugs

hello gorgeous xxx

A Little Bit Like Christmas!

There's a place in Cardiff called The Pumping Station, it's an impressive Grade II listed Victorian building once owned by Welsh Waters

but now houses over 35 individual stalls selling a variety of antiques and collectable items....

and today I felt like a visit! 

We arrived in the pouring rain, parked the car and took a step inside........and suddenly.....it felt like Christams all over again! 

Here are just some of the things that caught my eye

a gorgoeus 1950's desktop clock/calender

1960's telephone's

{I actually had the red one in my bedroom when I lived at home}

some very pretty birdcages

a stunning 1950's voile dress ~ I LOVED THIS but at £350 it was not to be mine :o(

{the skirt of the dress was small pleats, it had a petticoat lining of what felt like fine tafetta ~ it was simply beautiful but my fuzzy pic does not do it justice at all}

a Route 66 gasoline pump

these beds were awesome

had visions of Queen Elizabeth {I} sleeping in one!

gave me chills, good chills

I loved this little line up, it looked stunning all shiny and inviting ~ the anitque stand clock; the picture frames; the crystal vases and lamps all stood on top of a beautiful sideboard reflecting beautifully in the most amazing wood framed mirror

apart from jewellery pieces I was on the look out for body/dress forms, saw a few but these two ladies caught my eye :o)

a bit of patriotism

a cute postbox

I came away from this alladins cave feeling like Santa had just left the most amazing pressie for me, every corner I turned my heart skipped a beat and my eyes grew twice as big.  A nice lotto win would make some of my wishes come true...

I didn't come away with any jewellery pieces but I did come away with a new addition....when she is nicely settled at home I will introduce you ;o)

What did you do with your Sunday?

hugs

hello gorgeous xxx

A Lil' Bit of....

Shoe Love!

All this gorgeous sexy-ness was created by the very talented

 Brian Atwood

You would need the income of a minor/major celeb

and feel comfortable with being TALL

*something I would be very happy with!!*

:o)

hugs

hello gorgeous xxx