New Bling Earrings!

I’ve been a bit quiet of late….we’ve had severe flooding here – I was on holidays and travelling at the time and got stuck away from home.  Back now though and getting back into the swing of things.  Finished off this pair of earrings for a lovely customer…..think I might do some more in different colours.  What do you think??

Hope you’re having a good one….whatever you’re doing!

Cheers

Sandy

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Oh No!! I did it again!!

I don’t know why I have such an addictive nature.  I’m forever grateful that I don’t gamble.  I’d be living on the riverbank under the bridge by now.  But I just can’t help myself!!  I’m an addict……and all you bead and glass junkies out there know EXACTLY what I’m talkin’ about…..

THE NEED FOR GLASS and BEADS and MORE GLASS!!  I’m insatiable!  I have about 900 kilos of the stuff and I just ordered more!!  Should be here tomorrow.  Just in time for a torching session on Friday – woohoo!!  I figure at the rate I buy glass, I’m gonna need 4 more lifetimes to use it all up.  I told myself last time I ordered glass (about a month ago), that this would be IT for a very long time.  That was before I realised I had the attention span of a goldfish – about 3 seconds – and that one month in a goldfish’s world was indeed a very long time!!   Anyway…..how can I help it when the glass companies keep bringing out all these “to die for” colours!     Must…..have……more…..colours……

Anyway,  because I’ve got such a massive stash of beads – both my own lampwork goodies and store bought treasures – I have decided to have a massive de-stash of lots of stuff.  Mainly because I’ve got no room left to put anything – my little studio is busting at the seams and spilling over into the rest of the house (which as you can imagine, impresses my DH no end!!  NOT!!!  lol).  I can’t find anything and my head is all cluttered up too…….so time for action!  I’ve spent the last couple of weeks sifting through my bead pile and stringing some bits together – it’s dawning on me what an ENORMOUS job this de-stash is going to be!  But has to be done.

So no pics just yet……but watch this space – there’ll be some bargains to be had!

Hope you’re all having a great week…..if not – get busy being happy!

Cheers – Sandy 🙂

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More Dangly Earrings!!

Here we go – last one for tonight!  These are the most gorgeous colour combo of light and dark green-ish with crystals and sterling silver components.  They are to be found on my website…… Enjoy!

EARRINGS ARE NOW SOLD!!! Thank you Alex!!

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New Earrings!

Just another quick post…… Unusual “Flying Saucer” lampwork bead earring with gold filled wire and hand crafted large loopy ear wires.  Great accessory for that little black dress!  Available on my website now…….

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New Bling!!

Just a quickie post to let you know that I have some new “Bling” that I’ve just listed on my website.  So here’s a piccie  and if you’re interested, click on the links to my website…..

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New Bracelet

Hi guys!  Just wanted to share piccies of a bracelet that I made recently.  I’m quite proud of this – it’s almost completely hand fabricated by me, all except for the brass jump rings.  I’ve cut the links out of brass sheeting, then filed, hammered, shaped, drilled waxed and polished it.  I have used 2mm square brass wire and wrestled it into shape for the toggle and  links between the beads.  The lampwork beads have been made by me….of course…lol.  I’ve also attached a little handmade tag with the intials “SP” stamped on it – this stand for “Sandy Pandy” and means the piece of jewellery is truly OOAK (one of a kind).  It’s gorgeous to wear – so comfy!

It’s available on my website, along with all the relevant details – if you’re interested click on My Website on the right hand side……the link will take you straight there!  Hope you like it….

Footnote:-  Bracelet is now SOLD!

Lampwork Bead & Brass Bracelet

Lampwork Bead & Brass Bracelet

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Gotta Get Me a Shed!!

Oh I sooooo need me one of those!  A shed!

A great big, awesome GIRL’S  SHED!

Yeah!  Somewhere I can put all my precious lovelies and not trip over them on the floor.  I would have loads of cupboards.  Floor to ceiling.  A great big workbench for my torch.  And my workbench would be high enough for my oxycon to fit underneath.  Along with my gas bottle and my stash of recycled bottles that I’m gonna smash up…..one day (probably around 2043, at the rate I’m going with my “gonna do that one day” projects…lol) and the big box of my paper, plastic, organza and all sorts of other bags, jewellery stands,  photo props, boxes of spare business cards (that I splurge on whenever Vistaprint has a “freebie” sale), cardboard, tags etc etc.  And that’s just the stuff UNDER the table!

I would need a whole cupboard just for my sterling and gold filled stuff.  Three cupboards for the recycled bubble wrap – no make that 4 cupboards, ‘cos that stuff breeds baby bubbles when you leave it alone!  (I always have more of it than I remember last time I looked….lol).  Six cupboards for my jewellery and metal smithing tools.  Nine cupboards for my own lampwork beads that need photographing and uploading.  Sixteen cupboards for other  beads and findings.  And twenty-two cupboards for my glass rods and lampworking stuff.  Whew!  That’s gonna be SOME shed!  Probably bigger than my house….

*Sigh*

Guess I will just dream on then, shall I??

Hubby tells me I just need less stuff…..

Yeah RIGHT!!!  I don’t think so!!

Must put pen to paper and fill you all in on our Epic Outback Adventure aka Simpson Desert Trip.  Sorry to be so slack….. have had a whole lot going on here!  Hope you are having a good one, whatever you’re up to!

Cheers

Sandy

 

 

 

 

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Such a Proud Mum!!

Have  I mentioned that my boys – aka Love Of My Life (LOML) and Scrawny, Pimply way-full-of Attitude Teenager  (SPAT) – decided to fully explore their interest in archery.  You know, bows and arrows,  Robin Hood – stuff like that?  Well they got all kitted out with their flash new compound bows, complete with all the “necessary” gear – LOML had to wait longer for his to arrive from the USA because he has such a long reach  (apparently due to the fact that his arms resemble those of a gorilla)  and they didn’t have any bows long enough in Australia.  Whatever happened to whittling a stick to a point and tying a piece of string to a curvy branch, I say??

Anyway….. they’ve been doing a bit of practicing and last weekend they embarked upon a road trip to Bundaberg in Central Queensland to participate in their very first archery competition.  YAY, I thought, rubbing my hands together!!  A whole weekend of peace!!!  So I dutifully cooked all the meals, packed the  tins of spaghetti, pkts of chips, chocolate and peanuts, (everyone knows that “emergency rations” translates to junk food) along with bananas and yoghurt (and we ALL know what came home un-eaten, don’t we?????),  packed lots of water, warm clothes, extra sunscreen, asthma puffers, bandaids, blah, blah, blah.  Jeff and Bryce – good friends, fellow archers and travelling companions – arrived at about midday, so I waved them good-bye, all set to “do mah own thang!!”   After all the prep and stress of getting them ready I was so tired, I went to bed!  Yep, that’s me – good-time party girl!

I digress – as per what usually happens when I tell a story!  After a couple of hours sleep, I was raring to go – the boys called to say camp was set up and it was starting to rain.  Me and the girls (my beautiful Staffy dogs)  had tea and then I sat down at my torch about 8.30pm.  So excited!!! This was my FIRST EVER night-time torching session!!!  WOOHOO!  It’s been usually too noisy to torch when people want to go to bed – my studio is at the end of the house but still attached to it and my house is not that big so everyone can still hear me…….so I respect the fact that “normal” people like to actually sleep between the hours of 10pm and 6am and that I’m the “not-normal” person who prefers to be awake at this time (or at least until 2am anyway).  Back to torching…..I had a great time!  Torched until 3am – kept the girls awake – then went to bed!

Same story for the rest of the weekend, torching, sleeping, torching, sleeping – felt the need for some human company so I caught up with Trish (Jeff’s missus that he left home too…) on Sunday afternoon.

Now the best bit of the story is this….the boys shot really well, especially for rank beginners and our son was awarded an Encouragement  medal for doing so well (which I must add has become permanently stuck to his neck because he hasn’t taken it off yet!)!  I was so proud my heart nearly burst!  Our son has Tourettes Syndrome and because he has so many involuntary tics and shakes etc, this makes it extremely difficult for him to hold his bow steady and shoot straight.  This award was specially organised for our son by one of the shooters  in his group that was aware of  his condition and wanted to reward him for the massive effort he put in over the weekend.  Awesome!!

Worst bit of the story is…..they didn’t take the camera!!  Nooooo!!!!  So I’ve got no pics of the comp for you.  I will, however, take some pics of the boys and their toys (and the medal, of course!) and post them shortly.

Have a great weekend, all!  Chat again, soon…

Sandy

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I’m in a Collection!! Check it out….

Hey everyone!  Just a quickie to let you know that I’ve been featured in a collection!!  YAY!!!  There are some awesome artists on here – doing all sorts of different handmade stuff including tote bags, jewellery, knitted items, ceramic plates and ornaments, photographs, steampunk and of course – my beads!!!

http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=collections&op=details&cid=1055

Have a great day!!!  Even though it’s Monday……..lol

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What – MORE beads???

Yep – they just keep on coming…..and it’s not over yet!! Well, it is over for tonight ‘cos this little chicken is off to beddy-byes!  Just thought you might like a little Sandy Pandy eye candy….. These cute and cool little cupcake or patty cake beads are the latest offering.  Many thanks to Laura Sparling who provided the tutorial for these beads and who has generously given permission for their reproduction and sale.

Cheers and have a good night! (or morning….)

Cupcake 1

Cupcake 3

Cupcake 4

Cupcake 2

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