OMG! IT'S HERE!! - GANESHA - TRAVELLING BRACELET

Ooooh! I'm like a kid at Christmas at the moment!.. I can't contain my excitement being picked to receive one of Sigi Wynne-Evans' beautiful *Travelling Bracelets*

When Marcia De Coster contacted me over a week ago asking if I wished to receive one of these amazing bracelets - well naturally I said yes!!

The concept Sigi derived for these is fantastic!..and I lament with her that it came about during a time of convalescence - having gone through the same thing - but on my 40th birthday some 16yrs ago - some present!!..uggh!

Ah well - things happen when we are laid up for a period of time...we either go stark raving mad - go through a huge metamorphose - or we reflect on what was and what can be..either way it can be a great healing time.

Hence the complete title of this concept...........

*The Amazing Traveling Bracelets of Positive Energy & Good Karma*

So!!...to bring this up to speed!...Marcia let me know that the bracelet was on it's way!!...  OH YAY!!

I anticipated that it may arrive late last week - then a sudden sinking feeling hit me!...
Oh No!!  I was looking after my grandson at my daughters some 120kms away from Wednesday night until Friday night!!- and gulp!...my son isn't the best one to *keep an eye out* for something if you tell him days before hand!!..

Oh YIKES!!...pleeeeaaaase don't let it arrive during that time!! I thought - and thankfully it didn't!

When I got back from shopping today - there - at the front door was a package!!(insert huge jumping for joy - giggling and all sorts of things here!)...well I just couldn't contain my excitement and wonder if my neighbours were ready to dial the funny farm what with the loud squeals coming from me!!..lol

I took the package inside - mind you I just dumped the shopping in the kitchen and didn't give it another thought!...something far more important was in my hot little mitts...so putting the shopping away was not a priority!

Running to the studio - I carefully opened the package and low and behold!...a small box and a booklet were inside!.

The Book & the Box!...oh! what lays inside that little box!!???..

Without further ado - I grabbed the box and opened it!....

omg!..Omg!.OMG!!! - HOW GORGEOUS!!... Just the presentation of the box is wonderful!

Ohh! how beautiful the presentation is!..wow!

Ok...get a grip Suzi!...it's just a box!...I kept telling myself - then my creative self jumped in and said  "No!..it's not just a box!..it's a vessel for a wondrous unbeknown  artefact!"

Needless to say my creative self won over!!...hahahaha!

And TA-DA!!....Here it is folks!!  GANESHA - the 11th of 12 Travelling Bracelets!

It is just gobsmackingly beautiful!!!!!   WOW!!!

*GANESHA* - The 11th Travelling Bracelet

So far Ganesha has travelled from California in the USA - and now will reside with me in sunny *cough* (yeh right!) - Pakenham - Melbourne Australia for a week.   I will show it my home state as much as is possible - but alas - I'm not sure about a pic of me wearing it!!...see my wrists are so skinny - it slips off!!..lol

I will blog again about it's adventures during that week - then I must select someone wanting to participate in this wonderful adventure....so!...if that's you - simply click here follow the directions in joining up to be a recipient...and you're on your way!    If you are already on the list - send ya vibes out folks!!...I will be selecting someone 3 days before it has to depart from here so I know it's going to the right person, and also to let Sigi know who it will be going to.

So leave comment below if you are interested and I'll look for your name on Sigi's list..or if you are already on the list - brilliant!

I'd love to send this to New Zealand - especially to someone in Christchurch...personally I think that would be an amazing adventure for this bracelet to take.  :)

Oh!!....and you don't have to be a beader to receive one!..you just have to be willing to take part in the venture and willing to document it..

C'mon Ganesha!!...let's go visiting!  :)

Till next - remember - Smile! - it's FREE!

STUFF!!..or the accumulation thereof...Warts & All!

STUFF!!!...yes it's all the things that we accumulate over the years - and before we know it - it's either taking us over or we just throw our hands up in the air wondering where to start to do a massive clean up and get rid of some of it....well that's usually the plan huh...but yep!...even that goes totally awry at times!

Which is what I'm going through right now!

You see for me 12yrs ago I didn't have ZIP!  Unfortunately after meeting a very unscrupulous character - to cut an extremely long story short - he fleeced me and my son for nearly everything we had - and *sigh* suffice to say tis a reason I am extremely wary of people and their intentions...

Oh damn!...and I thought therapy had worked!!..lol

Ok - cut to the chase - come forward 12yrs - and well - my accumulation in regards to my craft has gone through the roof!

I've been saying for weeks now about to doing yet again - another mass clean-up of my studio - which by-the-way - looked quite ok some 4mths back...here's a pic to prove it...

OMG!!...clean!!   ....but not for long!! *sigh*

Well put it this way...this gleaming almost tidy studio didn't last long at all! 

Through sheer unadulterated CBF frames of mind - tidying up after I made something went to the dogs.   Add to that having one very active, hurricane-on-legs 19mth old grandson who is into everything! come and stay, saw numerous things that could be "thrown, broken, shaken, piffed, tossed, trampled-on" etc removed from his reach and yep!...you got it - the safest place for them was in my studio!!

So the *dumping ground* got larger and larger...and in this past week every time I look around yet more *STUFF!!* seems to be multiplying at a rapid rate of knots...'xcuse the pun!.  *grin*

Well - today was *D-day* - meaning *De-stash Day*.....HA!!! yeh right!   Or so I thought it would be *D-day* - until I started going through things and I realised that I have stuff sitting in here that I haven't touch nor used in almost 10yrs!!


Hmmm!..I come from a family whereby *hoarding* has happened and I rued the day when I too could be slapped into the same category - but when it comes to shoes - clothes and things within my studio....OMG!!   I'm a hoarder!  

Actually - think I'll stick with what was said to me some years ago - I accumulate things because so much was *stolen* from me that I feel the need to replace it to feel ok....oh K-rap!..even that sounds bad!!...LOL

All this has got me to thinking, do we get things because we actually need them or because we just want to say we *own* them?   You know - does our *STUFF* very much become almost like a status symbol and define us?..and that if we don't *have it* we feel we aren't able to join in conversations about said *STUFF* ???


Or are we just kidding ourselves by having all this *STUFF*  - and giving ourselves a false sense of reality in the vain hope and probability that *some day it will come in handy*!!???

So am I alone on this - or do you too suffer the same or a similar type of fate??  By all means please leaves comments, would love to know how this affects others.

Other than that and till next time...remember....keep smiling - it's FREE!

cheers

Farewell my beautiful boy..... :(

Well I know I just put a blog about a necklace I completed last week....but I haven't blogged in ages for several reasons, one sheer slackness, two - other things in life constantly throwing curve balls at me and the last and most important...I have had one very sick kitty-cat...and sadly on Wednesday I had to say goodbye to my beautiful beloved - faithful friend of the past 14yrs...my Gizmo .... :( :( :(

To say I'm shattered and my heart is breaking is an understatement..  
Anyone who met my beloved Gizmo - or *Schmo* as he was affectionately called, were amazed at his mannerisms - and nature.

He would almost have conversations with you - seriously!...you could talk to him and he'd meow back, and you'd say something else and again he'd do several meows back at you...very talkative....but there was more.   He would come into my studio and jump up on the chair and *prop* himself there...

This is an old photo - but this is how he "sat" in the chair...it was so adorable to see... :)

And at night...he'd come trotting into the studio and sit and wait till I was ready for bed...if I wasn't ready - he'd simply sit there patiently waiting.   Then he'd follow me in to the bedroom - wait till I was actually in the bed...then jump up - nuzzle his way under the covers for a good night cuddle...then curl up on top of the covers right beside me for the night... 
 
During the day if he couldn't get into the chair for whatever the reason - he'd simply find somewhere right near me to curl up...like directly under my feet near my desk....

He really was a character...but such a lovable one...he never bit or scratched - and would just lay there to have belly rubs...ohh and you always knew when a storm was coming...he hated thunder and heavy rain,  and would go hide under the doona on the bed.......yes - the *lump* towards the end of the bed in the photo below is Gizmo...lol

  He really was my shadow... :(

Even though I still have my beautiful girls - Tigga (on the left) and Piggy (who is Tigga's mum)....sadly they don't have the same demeanor as Gizmo had, but still have their own little character traits...and they are still part of my fur family and very much cherished... ♥♥

They too are missing their "buddy"...even though there were "altercations" on odd occasions...they are pining too...  Since Wednesday - I can find both of them curled up here in my studio on the cushions I used to have on my chair and alternate that Gizzy would sleep on.....the girls have slept on them when ever they are in here...  :(














He loved the new couch - and this is one of the rare photos I have of the 3 of them together so close to each other...  Giz would just plonk himself where ever he saw fit too....

...or he'd just lounge in it... :) ♥♥

..oooh my heart truly is feeling very empty!....till we met again my beautiful boy on the Rainbow Bridge... ♥♥♥ xoxoxo

*AVALON*

I finished this piece last week and was stuck on what to call it.   So I put it on the SRAJD group on facebook saying that I was stuck for a name, and a few people kept saying how regal it was...

After some thought and a sudden flash of King Arthur's time....I thought of *Lady Guinevere*....so proceeded to give the piece the name..BUT!!

....there's always a *but* huh..    Hmmm - another name I thought of was also from the legends of King Arthur - and that was the place everything happened....*Avalon*

...which also reminds me of Brian Ferry's 80's (or was that 70's??) classic of the same name...."Avalon"...

Needless to say - I was still stuck!....so I created a survey on my facebook fan page (and botched that up to!...*sigh*)  ...and waited to see how the numbers went....BUT!....see!!..there's a *but!* again!!

It was a draw!!!  *smacks head on desk!*....soooooo! - back to trying to decide.

Ok...next thing....both names went into a box.....along with several other pieces of paper...just to make it interesting!.lol...  :)

....And the Winner is!!!!...........drum roll!!....

   *AVALON*.....!!! 


Anyway - hope you like it....and remember.....

Creating is Limitless.....until next time..

When I get a round "To-It"

Well I did say at the beginning of the year that I'd try and be more diligent in blogging....ermmmm...think that's taken a HUGE! nose dive!..LOL

Here we are almost in the middle of March and I've done all of 3 lousy posts...well ok 4 including this one!!..pfft!!..how pathetic can you get!!??

Oh hey - I could use every excuse under the sun - busy - things in life taking up more time, even throw into the mix the age old one - "Oh!..I'll do that tomorrow!!"

..but!..as we all know - tomorrow rocks around and again you say the same thing - then another day etc, etc, ETC!!.....and before you know it - another week has been and gone and you still haven't done that one thing you'd set out to do...

In a sense all of the above is actually true, I have been busy - life has had a way of jumping out in front of me saying "Hello!!...remember this!!??"...and almost every day I do say - "I must blog!"...and every day - I go through the same thing..."Hmmm - bit late now - I'll do it tomorrow!"..

So - here I am - full of a cold/hayfever and just feeling absolutely lousy...did try to go to bed - but *sigh* coughing the lungs up put paid to that one...not to mention the incredible pain in the throat when doing so!!..omg!!...where's something soothing when I need it!!??...

And yes - here in good old "Oz"...(Australia to anyone who is new to my slack blogging!!..lol) ..it's just gone 1.18am!!...early hours of Thursday morning, and since I've "re-activated" the brain cells from semi-sleep mode...it'll probably be even later again when I finally succumb to the "tireds" and go and collapse again into bed!!  Oh and hey - I do suffer from insomnia as it is - so the latest fiasco ain't helping it!!..lol

But by jingo!!...how many of you can relate to what I've just written above??? That would be fascinating to find out just how many other "Artisans" suffer sleep deprivation because they either get way too wrapped up in what they are doing and forget what the time is - or they have all these ideas popping off all over the place and just have to get them out - either on paper or in an actual P.O.C. - which folks stands for "Proof Of Concept".

Anyway - one thing I was very good with - and did actually get it finished in reasonable time is the set in the photo above.    Mind you this was also achieved amongst doing a massive accounting job for a client - which I'm still doing as *oohh damn!!*....I found a discrepancy larger than Mount Rushmore...and yes - even us "Aussies" know what Mount Rushmore is...we did watch "Ritchie Rich"...or whatever the name of the movie was that depicted it in a satirical way!!..lol

But - overall I'm pleased with the set...ok - loads of "swearing" happened on numerous occasions due to either...oh never mind!!..just know this wasn't the most conducive piece/pieces to behave themselves and do what I wanted them to ...so a heap of coercing was required!!...LOL

Oh!..and before I forget......those pieces are made from Sterling Silver, Fine Silver and 12ct Gold filled wire, Turquoise Howlite, Genuine turquoise, Lapis Lazuli and 3mm 12ct Gold filled beads.  There is still some "cleaning up" to be done...ie - making sure there are no "jabby" bits and giving it a final polish...but!...it's done!  YAY!!  *big grin*  

.....now to go get some sleep and tackle the "Dooms of Mount Rushmore aka One Huge headache of an accounting job" tomorrow!