Holiday Fun

I know that strictly, this is off topic, but I wanted to share some of my holiday photos with you all... Last week I went to visit my best friend (and her husband and baby), and then went to visit my family for the rest of the week.  It was a lovely, relaxing week, spending time with my family and boyfriend, doing a bit of the tourism thing in the south east, the highlight of which was a trip on the London Eye.  

Now I fully admit that I am not a big fan of London - too many people, most of whom are only thinking about what they're doing, and not the people around them.  I know that sounds like a  sweeping generalisation, but at heart, I am a country bumpkin, and cities freak me out.
So... the London Eye... I'm scared of heights, I'm slightly claustrophobic... it would be fair to say I was a little nervous, but it was an amazing experience, and I would recommend it heartily.  It was a cloudy day, but that didn't ruin it at all.  I surprised myself by being totally taken by the houses of parliament... a gorgeous building, it just inspires wonder - especially at the skill of the crafts-people who built it.
I took one photo of the houses of parliament which I am immensely proud of... especially the fact that it is so crisp, there is no reflection from the inside of the pod, and I even managed to get a nice red London bus in the foreground!

I love the way the style of the architecture of the houses of parliament contrasts with that of Battersea power station.
There was a lighter side to the trip to London...

This was the penguin outside the London Aquarium... it was very cute!  
Tim and I had some fun chilling out at my parent's house, the weather was quite nice, and it was just nice to be somewhere peaceful!

And we also had a nice time on a very windy beach where my Nan lives...

Holidays are great, aren't they?? I can't wait for my next one... a week learning silversmithing and precious metal clay!

Beading up a Meld

Tonight I started work on a project for a challenge, a beading challenge, organised by the Bead Mavens.  It's called the Maven Meld, and the idea is to make a piece of jewellery based on two or more of the tutorials written by the Mavens (a group of top class beaders, who design the most beautiful beaded jewellery).
So, I've been giving this challenge a lot of thought... like, several weeks thought - which is quite unusually for me; normally I just start beading and see where the beads take me.  Basing some jewellery on two other people's tutorials is much more difficult than it first seemed!  Normally I never stick to patterns, and add a little twist of my own, but actually getting two patterns to meld seamlessly was really tough.  
I've decided to base my design on the Trellis Necklace by Nancy Dale, and the Satellite Bead by Heather Collin.  It's going to be like a Pandora-style piece, with three satellite beads on a trellis rope, all based on my favourite shades of green, and grey with silver thrown in for good measure.  I've made two of the satellite beads, the third is going to have different shaped silver beads, to make it stand out as the centre bead.  

I'm not sure what the plan for the trellis rope is, but it is going to involve the teal, the matt black, and its going to be accented with the light grey AB beads.

As it all comes together, I'll keep on posting...