Happy Halloween!

Its Halloween!!! And what a hellish week it has been!

Found this picture here: http://villains.wikia.com/wiki/Wicked_Witch_of_the_West

Unfortunately the 1st of November seems to have some magical significance in the Cosmos as in the next 12 hours I have to get about one hundred things done, this blog not being one of them!
Two out of three funding opportunities that I am applying for (for next year) have to be submitted tomorrow. Writing funding applications is a laborious, difficult and above all long process and getting the application document plus a encyclopedia's worth of supporting documents submitted in both hard and digital copies by the deadline is always a stressful matter. Now double that panic as there are two of them due at the same time. So my desk (and the inside of my head) are looking a little chaotic of late!

This document will be unrecognizable by the time I am done with it!

My desk with papers spread everywhere

So the fates decided that I was clearly not working hard enough. On Tuesday I get a message from the co-authors of a paper we submitted for publication. I should just pause here to say that my first ever paper has been accepted for publication with minor changes and that if we complete these changes and submit by (you guessed it) 1 November it will be published in the last volume of the year! YaY!! One of the things that needed changing was the figures (pictures of the fossils described in the paper). They have taken new pictures of the fossils and so now I need to reconstruct the figures (I had assumed that the person taking the new pics was going to do this so it caught me by surprise). Well its now 9 pm on Thursday evening and I have reconstructed nothing. Fortunately (I heard this morning) the editor of the journal has given us an extension until Wednesday. Shooh!


And on top of all this I am going away this weekend and have done no packing or sorting out for that either! This trip is a archaeological workshop in the Cedarberg mountains. We will be seeing and discussing many talks of varying subjects and visiting several important archaeological sites. I will tell you more next week. All I can say is that after this week I need the break!

And this is just a taster to show that I have not been up sitting on my butt complaining but have been beading

Testing out new techniques

Centurion Craft Show 2013!!!

Another great Centurion Craft Show is behind us and a lot of fun was had by all!!
The show was a great success with many visitors taking in all the interesting crafts on display!

I arrived late on Thursday evening and had a lot of fun setting up our tables. My show stand is really starting to take shape nicely nowadays (if I say so myself)! These some pictures of our tables which were set up in a 'L-shape'.

And some closeups of the jewellery on the table.

There were many other great crafts there.
On one side of us was Johan and his crew from Fire and Glass with their lampworked glass beads

Johan always draws a crowd!

On the other side were representatives of the Pretoria weavers guild
The wooden thing in the front of the picture  is a transportable spinning wheel. The foot pedals rotate the wheel and the spindle is positioned just in front of the users knees. This one folds up flat and has a carry bag! How cool?

And here you see a card loom that is used to make bands and similar narrow pieces. Looms like this one have been recovered from archaeological digs from as far back as 850AD!

Or how about this baby?

Megan was there with her teddy bears (Tin Soldiers)

And there she is hard at work on a teddy bear

These bears were brought in by someone hoping to sell their collection. I absolutely love the musketeer beer and had to really argue with myself about buying. Although if I ever find a pattern for making this bear...

And this is Marietha who has been doing Srilankan Applique for 30 years.

Here we have pewter work.

This is creative knitting. My mother has been doing classes in this for about a year (I think) and the things she has maid are amazing!

Of course it wouldnt be the Centurion Craft Show without quilting and there some amazing quilts on display!

Im already looking forward to next years show! See you all there!!

Sense of humor failure

Boy can that little, innocent furry brown cockroach can get under my skin some days!
To give this story some context I must first explain that last week the little monster rolled in fresh, stinky poo of the human variety (which, believe you me is extra smelly - proof that we are more disgusting than animals!). Thus I had to give him a bath the instant we got home that night which is a pain in the bum. First I have to climb into the shower, then I have to manhandle him into the shower, scrub him up and then clean the WHOLE bathroom afterwards, which requires a mop and bucket to remove all the splashed water. I was particularly annoyed cos I actually want to send him to the parlor for a trim, so now that has to wait.

Well last night, as I am loading the varmit (good word that) into the car I smell that smell. So I grab his head and before I have even gotten my face near his back to give it the sniff test I had confirmation, he has done it again!

Well my sense of humor did not so much fail as have a complete meltdown! I was tired, I was hungry and now I was absolutely furious!

The problem with being mad at a dog is that shouting doesnt help. They have no clue what you are going on about and simply give you the thousand-yard stare. So I resorted to that ultimate female fall back The Cold-Shoulder, combined with the women's nuclear weapon The Silent Treatment! From the moment we got home I didnt talk to him, make eye contact anything! It wasnt long before he had slunk off to his bed looking miserable.

It should probably be said in his defense that he still had no idea why I was so mad, but he did know who I was mad with!

About half an hour (or 1 episode of the Big Bang Theory) and a snack later my sense of humor decided to make a reappearance and I was now ready to deal with the problem. So I start by giving him the sniff test, only to discover that there is no smell on his back - what I am smelling is his breath! Ok thats disgusting enough on its own but it means that I dont have to wash the little monster and that I have been punishing him for nothing!

So morel of the story: Im a bi***and my dog is an angel. Although if (when) he does this again Im buying him doggie breath mints (if such things exist!).

I know I owe you some feed back on the show, everytime I have sat down to do a post on it I either forgot my hardrive (with the photos) or the internet wasnt working, but I promise its coming!

Bead Kits - Sneak Peak!

Hi All

The Centurion Craft Show starts tomorrow and there is still so much to do!

I wanted to show you a quick sneak peak at my new beading tutorials.

First there is a cocktail ring I made with a polymer clay flower, patterned ultrasuede and some beading around the edge. Its a very simple tutorial and is quick to make. The kit is available in green, red, blue and purple.

Flower cocktail ring

I made this beaded ring with the turquoise many months ago and it has caught the eye of many people! So I knuckled down and wrong it up, admittedly I had to remake the ring in order to get the directions right! It takes me at least two hours to make but its great to have a ready made ring at the end that fits! This kit is also available in an assortment of colours.

Notice the addition of the new logo in the images?

Crown ring kits

In this last project I wanted to create a project that could be used to teach a novice some basic skills for bead embroidery. I will be using this project to teach workshops during the show so I wanted something that could be finished in an hour or two. I intend to create more small simple bead embroidery projects focusing on different techniques. This kit is also packed with a selection of colours.

Although as I sit writing this I have suddenly realised that while I packed enough beads for both earrings in the kits I have only cut and packed enough backing and foundation material for one! Ooops! Oh well I needed to go to the bead shop to get thread and needles for the kits anyway, it was a lucky save!

Bead embroidery earrings kit

The kits have clear (I hope) instructions with diagrams (which I toiled over for hours) and enough beads, findings, needle and thread to complete the project. The only thing not provided is scissors, glue, beading mat and similar.

So come visit us at the Centurion Craft Show, Friday, Saturday or Sunday, to pick up a beading kit and check out many other cool crafts!

Love Jet