Hi everyone! I know, I know.. long time no blog. I'm a bad girl! I've been absolutely overwhelmed with custom work lately. I promise to make blogging a higher priority in the future! This is what's new with me: key beads! This one is called Unlock Africa and it's my second attempt at a key bead. For this key I wound the glass directly onto this antique brass skeleton key. Neat, huh? I'm really enjoying the process. I love antique keys anyway and this makes them infinitely cooler. Cause beads make everything cooler. It's true!

Speaking of cool.. I'm currently sitting here with my head wrapped in cling film. Ok, so that's not really cool. But the reason is pretty nifty! I've applied some Lush henna to my hair! I know many of you are already upset at the idea of me having any haircolour other than the bright red. Alright, maybe that's a stretch (unless you're Laura!) but I really had to do something different. I've been colouring my hair for so long now that it was becoming quite stripped and coarse. I happened to stumble into the Lush at Covent Garden last Friday (OMG I could totally live there!) and they had blocks of henna. I figured I'd give it a try and see what happens. It's supposed to be really great for your hair and this particular one is a bright red shade. Keep your fingers crossed for good results! I'll post pics tomorrow!

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow.. my BIL is bringing his gf over and we're going to dinner. Yay! He's such a darling and we haven't met his gf yet so I'm excited. Actually, the rest of the week is shaping up to be awesome. On Friday Saffie and Imogen are coming over (I hope she's still planning on it!) for a visit. Then Saturday Kaia's friend, Ariana, is coming over and I always love her visits. Ariana is the daughter of my American ex-pat friend, Jen, and she's such a sweetheart. We're planning to take the girls to see a film and, of course, we're having a BBQ because, hey, you can't NOT have a BBQ on 4th of July! I love 4th of July :) I decorate the house in all red, white and blue and make a bunch of red, white and blue food. It's such fun! It's especially interesting celebrating the holiday over here in England. It makes me giggle. I celebrate my country's independence from the evil oppression of Britain.. now don't mind me while I live in your country ;) Heehee! Anyway, it's gonna be fun and I can't wait!

How about you guys? Anything fun planned for this week or weekend? Anyone else wanna celebrate 4th of July with me?? lol ;)

Whatever you're doing this week.. I hope you have a good one!

Love,
keiara

I've been making TONS of kitties this past week and they've been so well-received. Thank you to everyone who has adopted one! This is Luxe Kitty and she is one special cat. I encased genuine 23k gold leaf and swirled it around creating quite the decadent lil kitty. I'm up to my eyeballs in kitty orders and I'm having such fun with new costumes and designs for them. So far I've done a pirate kitty, devil kitty, vampire kitty, nurse kitty, zombie kitty, hula kitty.. the list goes on and on! I'm so pleased that you all seem to like them just as much as I like creating them! Any ideas for kitties you'd like to see?

I had a wonderful birthday on Sunday. Steve and Kaia baked my family's special chocolate chocolate chip cake which turned out utterly divine. We went to my favourite cafe for breakfast, saw Terminator 4 and they also took me to my favourite Indian restaurant for dinner. I was thoroughly spoiled all day long! I received lots of lovely cards, flowers and gifts. My oh-so-loved friend, Laura, sent me a fantastic handmade pin and painting too! I love you, Laura! I'm so lucky to have you in my life.

My eBay auctions went well and I am going to try to have a few every couple of weeks or so. I better get cracking making more beads to list!

Today I've been running around all day so now I'm off to relax for a bit. I hope you're all having a great week!

Love,
keiara

Hi guys!

Just a quick one to let everyone know that my eBay auctions are ending tomorrow.. on my birthday!

Hope you'll have a look :)

I've also added lots of new kitties to my Etsy shop!

Have a great weekend :)

Love,
keiara

Hi guys! So after talking to the lovely and ever-supportive Kate, I decided to list some beads on eBay again. EEK! I haven't sold beads on eBay in aaaaaaaaaages (since they upped their fees for having a shop) and I'm a bit nervous as I've put the gorgeous Hummingbird Garden Focal (seen above) up on the block! All the listings start at just 99p. Keep your fingers crossed for me, please! Pop on over and have a look :)

Hi everyone!!

I've been tagged by the lovely Helen over at Blue Fairy Designs to fill out this Eight Things survey. I think this is a wonderful way for all us crafty types to get to know each other better and help promote each other as well. Let's keep it going!

The rules are:
1. Mention the name of the person who tagged you.
2. Do the lists of 8.
3. Tag 8 bloggers of your choice.
4. Let them know that they have been tagged!

Here we go :)

8 Things I am looking forward to

1) Kaia arriving for her summer visit!! She gets in just before my birthday too!
2) Exploring my new Summer Garden series further.. I have soooo many ideas :)
3) Lunch with my SIL, Sonya, on Thursday.. and visiting my in-laws.
4) Arranging some playdates for Kaia with Ariana and Imogen! (yeah, she's 13 and I still say playdates.. lol)
5) Taking Kaia to the Kent County Show
6) Getting my British Citizenship
7) Continuing to get healthier after ditching my awful Migraine meds
8) Lots of cuddling with Kaia :)

8 Things I did yesterday

1) Photographed new beads
2) Played Sims
3) Played Left4Dead
4) Ogled other artists' beads!
5) Researched flower meanings for new Summer Garden beads
6) Watched Kitchen Nightmares with Steve
7) Talked to Kaia on the phone :)
8) Had lovely gammon & homemade chips for dinner (which Steve cooked!)

8 Things I wish I could do

1. Get rid of my physical limitations
2. Spend more time with Kaia
3. Make friends that live near-by!
4. Coax decent effects from silver glass (wow I suck at that)
5. Travel more
6. Get up earlier.. and be happy about it!
7. Make a name for myself as an artist
8. Blow glass

8 Shows I watch

I really don't watch television AT ALL. Seriously. Steve puts all the tv shows on our server and I will put one on while I lampwork but I can't really pay attention to it. Here are some I've watched a few of though:

1. Firefly - I've seen every episode and the film, Serenity, and LOVED them. My favourite show.
2. Buffy - Yeah, seen every episode of this too. I'm a vampire dork, what can I say?
3. Angel - Ok, now I'm looking like a liar.. cause I've seen all of those as well!
4. Charmed - I'm detecting a pattern here....
5. Moonlight - I don't care what anyone says, I LOVED this show. (Notice how they're all cancelled shows?!)
6. Dexter - I really liked this one at first.. now it's a bit meh.
7. Lost - I'm obssessed. Totally.
8. Supernatural - FANTASTIC show!

Mostly though I just watch Discovery Channel stuff and documentaries. I only ever watch current shows with Steve at dinner time!


8 People I am tagging

1. Laura at Goth Honey
2. Collette at Noodlefish Crafts
3. Kate at Sublime Beads
4. Shelley at Prairie Cottage Rose
5. Carolyn at CeeGee Jewellery Design
6. Julie at Dolmairic Design
7. Les at Flame Born Beads
8. Rachel at Jives Jools

Good luck girls! :) xox

Hi everyone! Recently I've been pretty busy with custom orders so I haven't had tons of time to work on new ideas. I decided that last week I was going to set aside some time to explore new things and I came up with my new Summer Garden series! I was sitting in front of my torch thinking about how much I love England in summer. It's a veritable explosion of colour in the summer and cottage gardens are so charming and welcoming. I wondered if I could capture that feeling in a bead. With that thought in mind, Daffodil Garden was born. I started with a bright summer's day for the base and then added flowers and ladybugs til my heart was content. I'll definitely be re-visiting the daffodils again this week!

Hi guys! Long time no update. Sorry about that! I've been working on several large custom orders. I had a few orders from the lovely Michelle again. This time it was pigs! Pictured above are (from back) Tamworth Pigs, Flying Pigs, Gloucester Old Spot Pigs and Piggies & Gentlepigs (haha). Aren't they cute? I had a lot of fun making these little guys. I think we're doing another round of cupcake sets next week. Yay for cupcakes!

Kaia will be here soon.. just a couple of weeks. I'm SO excited :) Every time I see her, I swear it seems as though she's grown another foot. She's not exactly my little girl anymore! She'll be here for 2 months so I'm trying to think of interesting things to do. I definitely want to visit the Rare Breeds Centre again. Ooh and hopefully the Kent County Show will be on sometime during her stay. Anyone else have interesting plans for the summer? I'd like to take Kaia to Paris at some point.. I did promise..!

Any suggestions on fun stuff to do with a 13 year old? I'm listening ;)

Hope you're all having a wonderful week!

Love,
keiara