box of goodies

Psst... seriously yummy stuff inside!

 It came in an old torn yogurt box (can't see here), but as long as it was taped and arrived safely it didn't matter how bad it looked.

Of course, the delicious loads of stuff more than made up for the bad packaging!

This pic was taken under yellow lighting so it came up blurry & yellowish, the only area that uses white light in my house is the table lamp on my work bench, hmm... my home is definitely not suitable for photos!

Let's move on to the next photo, since this doesn't do my beads any justice ;)

 Not that this does either, lol, sometimes I have no idea what I'm talking about!

Anyway, this was taken in the midst of unpacking & sorting the beads into its compartments, took me quite a while as there were 100++ tiny bags. At least they were the resealable type so I can reuse for other findings.

 Got some flower cabochons as well, these are the ones I'm using for a customized local bulk order I'm currently working on.

(pics will be posted here once they are completed, almost there!)

I absolutely can't wait to dig my hands into my latest loot once the orders on hand are done :P

comic strip

Came across this while reading the local papers the other day.

I knew there was a bible verse about this, but I couldn't pin point where was it exactly. Then when I was having my quiet time reading my bible that night, Psalm 37:11 just popped up :)

But the meek shall inherit the earth,
         And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. 

Calvin & Hobbes is the other column I look forward to reading everyday, can't decide which one I like more, they both make me laugh!

I shouldn't be blogging now really, I have got a local bulk order to complete by end of this week, which means I most likely won't be updating my etsy store with anything new anymore this October.

Got to run, bye!

sewing pattern

I have not touched my sewing machine for a whole 2 months now, yikes!

I found a pattern I like over at Burda, see if you can guess what it is ;)

If this turns out successful I'll definitely post it here, but seeing that my sewing skills are amateur-ish, I'm actually in doubt. Good thing I have my mum to help me :)

 The pattern photo I have taken was so boring that I had to add some photoshop effects to it, so if you are wondering where I got the polaroid photo frame, hop over HERE. Awesome site with lots of cool textures, vectors & brushes.

(those sticky tapes are from there too!)

they have got zippers also:

I love these! No idea why I would need them though!


Here's another site with yummy freebies: PuglyPixel. Note the deco tapes :)
Click on this link if you would like some flower cabochon clip arts. 

Have fun!

alphabets

I have been busy working on these alphabets, a custom order from a local buyer of mine. She's having a high school reunion party with her girls end of this month and asked if I could make something with each girls' initials on it, of course I jumped at the idea! I love doing customizations as it forces you to move beyond your comfort zone and thinking hard to incorporate all the ideas into a piece of jewelry.

Some ideas can be pretty bizarre but they are all part & parcel of why customizations are so fun, I have been doing customizations for my local buyers for close to 2 years now and with each order, it simply gets easier. I still remember my first request and was really nervous with all sorts of possible scenarios playing in mind, but thank God everything went smoothly and ever since then, I'm hooked!

bead storage

I'm always facing a shortage of storage space for my beads (what a mouthful, try reading that line fast!), with my never-ending hunt for new supplies every other month. I have got 9 containers stashed out across the bead table (all filled with beads, with some compartments having mixes of beads!) and plenty more in plastics bags. It's a nice problem though, I like seeing these beads and new ones never fail to inspire me :)

I'm expecting some new supplies to arrive sometime end of this week so I cleared up 1 of my containers. These are beads my sister bought for me while holidaying, mainly lucite ones that I rarely use anymore. So instead of them taking up 'prime spot' on the table, I decided to pack them into plastic bags and have them kept at another corner. These mini bags are recycled from beads that came loose in packs instead of strands, I have got a stack of them after accumulating for few years, put to good use here, yay!

Misson accomplished!

All beads stacked neatly, ready to be stored away. (this means I would be using them even less when they are out of sight, definitely need a proper destashing plan to prevent myself from too much hoarding!).

I did find some 'gems' though while clearing up the box, made a bracelet from 9 lucite hearts, will be listing it in store sometime this week.

Anyway, as you can see, the empty container is now all ready to welcome the new arrivals, I can't wait!

New store banner

I have been meaning to design a new store banner for some time already, been procrastinating as graphics is not exactly my area of interest.

But I'm a happy girl today as not only is the store banner done, I'm changing the blog banner too, yay!

 Let's have a recap of my past banners:

  

My very first banner! I made this in 5 minutes, was too eager to have my shop set up that I was lazy to incorporate the jewellery pics into the background.

Someone commented the pics were a bit blurry which prompted me to change it.

 I was quite satisfied with this until my sister mentioned it didn't fit well with my store and the pink made my store look childish :(

(She told me about it long ago but I kept finding excuses to justify that it was okay, not until I spent some time looking at my store that I felt it was time for a change)

 and finally, here's the new one!

 Clean & simple, this goes well with the store (at least that's what I like to think!)

Just 2 pictures of my bracelets and it was really easy to do too, all I did was resize, rotate, added in store name plus a thin black border.

Time to gather some opinions!

Atlantis

I was at a craft shop last weekend to pick up some alphabet beads for a local buyer's bracelets (more on that later when everything has finalised), and these gorgeous mix of teal, purple & blue bead strands hung together caught my eye. Reminds me of the sea! Made a mental note and quickly worked on this bracelet as soon as I found time. (I hate it when I have everything envisioned in my mind only to lose it later just as I was getting my pliers ready, ughh!)

I have taken only 1 photo of this, will be listing as soon as the photos are done! (I work pretty slow, do bear with me!)

Added in a teal chrysanthemum in the center as the focal piece, cabochons are my favourite materials to work with :)

As a side note, I read in a magazine today that the pairing up of purple & black is the most sophisticated colour combo, it was referring to a dress but I have something in mind already, am going to make something out of this regal hue ;)

Treasury: Naturale

I have a weird affinity towards adding an 'E' after the word 'natural', I have no idea why either, but I think it makes it more 'chic'

Click HERE to see all 16 of these awesome 'naturale' finds ;)

Most adorable bookends ever!

I was just browsing the etsy treasury and stumbled upon this:

Cutest bookends my eyes have ever seen.
I love this owl, even my sister said 'this is so you!'

available in other designs too

but of course, nothing beats this: the bookshelf!

imagine having the whole collection with this shelf, I don't think I will put any books on it, they look too good as it is ;)

Here's the store: graphicspaceswood

check it out!

Sequins

I bought these sequins some time ago, chose them particularly for the shape that resembles a bead cap.

Instead of using antique brass bead caps all the time, now I have the option of decorating the beads with the colours I want!


Note the faux pearls! Covered with Lilac Flower Sequins ;)
Decided not to use the light green ones in the end as this bracelet would be too green then.

Will be listing it in store soon!

Snowflakes

Here's one of my latest purchases: Shell Coins with Snowflakes printed on them


I decided to make a Christmas theme bracelet with these, it's never too early to prepare for the holiday season :)

Available here
=)

=)

Hello!

You know how sometimes you get all excited over a new project and you have no one to share it with? Well, this place is where I talk about beads & more beads!
(& probably some other random stuff that comes to mind)

My mum taught me beading years ago but I never had the time to really indulge myself silly into it. That was until 2008 when I was forced to take a break in life, had lots of time to ponder about everything I never bothered about, met Christ along the way & converted to Christianity, read many beading blogs & decided to try my hands at it.

From simple earring projects to more elaborate designs, I amassed too many beads for my personal use. Started selling my handmade pieces to locals in 2009 and finally took the plunge in April 2010 with my etsy store.

So feel free to journey on with me here.... :)

mei.