In the Beans

Last week was a very dreadfull week, nothing went as I wanted it to go. My feet moved as if they were in a big box of cement and I had a terrible temper... I wrote 3 posts, but dismissed them all, because they were angry, sad or somewhat depressing.

I have these kind of moodswings on a regular basis, and I really don't like them. Actually, I don't like myself when I am in such a downside of a moodswing. But I just don't seem to get out of it at that moment... It'll pass, it always will, but sometimes it takes a liiiiiiiiiittle too long. Sometimes it helps to get a hubbiehug, or to wallow with a very sad movie (because that makes your own life sunnier), or to eat a big can of icecream. But usually it just takes time. Time to gather my toughts, to go through the darkest sides of my inner being, and to collect myself. I sometimes think that people with creative interests have larger moodswings than people that don't care to sit down and create something altogether. When I go through a swing, I get very creative, I need to do stuff to get through it, my hands need repetitive work to give my mind a chance to straighten my thoughts.

So, last weekend, I gave a wall in our bedroom and our hallway a new wallpaper. I also cleaned up the attic.

And now, I am a happy girl again, with a lovely new papered hallway and bedroom...

Earrings for a swap

I have joined the swaps on Beading Daily a while ago. The first one I've joined is the Secret Santa's V Earringswap. (cool name, eeh?!). My swappartner was Rachael who is fond of the beach. So I sat down, thought about the beaches I've seen and what colours in my stash would reflect those beaches. This is what I've come up with.
This first pair was made in less than a minute, these are silverplated stampings, with Swarovski channels. I've had these little thingies forever, and I thought about them when I was reading Rachael's Bio. Now this second pair was different, I used Pacific Opal and Golden Shadow Swarovski's and seafoam colored 11/0's and ivory 15/0's. I've made up the design myself, and I've had so much fun making them! I hope Rachael will wear them!

Playing with 15/0's

Don't worry, I am talking beads here.... To all the non-beading-enthusiastics: 15/0's are the smallest seedbeads known to mankind. I have putting off working with them as long as I could. The 11/0's were satisfying enough. But now things have changed. I have been beading for a long time and my techniques have shifted quite a lot. Where I started with stringing large beads, I now find myself stitching beaded beads. I use a lot of techniques, and now, with the 15/0's these techniques will evolve more. Especially combined with larger seed beads (11/0 of even 8/0's), you can get intricate designs... But for now I am just playing around, and having a fabulous time!

I'm going to Use the Muse!

Oh dear....
I did it, after a month of thinking, weighing and wondering if I could do it, I finally purchased a Use the Muse III kit. Now the idea of this kit is that you create a piece of jewelry with it, you can use extra beads from your own stash, and you do not have to incorporate every single bead that's in the kit. There is a secret muse in the kit, you only get to see it when you order the kit. You HAVE to use the muse! And that's it. You can do whatever technique you like, and make whatever kind of beaded jewelry you like. Off course you can win prizes... but I am not really up for the prizes, I just want to join such a wonderfull group of artistic beaders. Last 2 competitions had such amazing entries, that it scares me a bit. I hope I will fit in...
It's going to be a challenge, and I am up for it!
Now off to bed, I just came home from school... (Funny thing to say when your 28 years old....)

Our first...

This weekend was our anniversary... Our FIRST anniversary. To celebrate we went to Trier, Germany for 4 days.

We had a lovely time, the weather was working with us and the hotel was nice. The weekend contained everything, we did a little shopping (I guess I'm one of the happy few with a husband who likes shopping, as long as the store has a malecollection..), a little sightseeing the Porta Negra and

the amfitheater,

a little (or a lot) schnitzel and bratwurst eating and of course we celebrated our marriage. When we got married the wheater wasn't that great. But we didn't had any problems with it. The day went by really fast, but not in a blur. We had such a fun day! And now, one year later, we have our pictures to look back at this fabulous day!

Have a nice week everybody!

Fabulous days

Weekend has flewn by again! The weather is cooling down so quickly, I've allready changed the duvet on our bed, since I've woken up cold twice last week. I really like the warmth in bed when it's getting colder. Weatherforecast is telling us temperatures will rise by the end of the week, so I guess we won't be happy with the thick bedcovers by then, but we'll see.
This weekend was really laid back, we did a little shopping, went to the market on Saturday and cleaned the house a bit. Yesterday the family came over for a familydinner and we had a nice time. It was quite a challenge to cook 10 kilos of mussels all in one time, but with the big pans of both moms, I managed it. I've cooked 4 kilos in water (and veggies), 3 kilos in dark beer and 3 kilos in white wine. I've baked 10 baquettes and 2 kilos of fries. We had applepie with vanilla icecream for dessert and lots of wine before, during and after dinner. And now I'm at work, with a light buzz in my head... But who cares, after a nice weekend?
I finished some necklaces for the co-worker, I'll try to post some pictures this evening. I am also working on earrings for a swap on beadingdaily. But I can't post pictures of them before the swap-date.... I hope (and I know this hope is not futile) that the stuff I'll receive in Beading Daily swaps will be of better quality then the ones from swaps on Swapbot. I have received some real bad things there. And when I say bad, I really mean bad. I usually spent a lot of time on my swaps, I've send some lovely beadwoven pieces, with crystals and such, to receive some simple strung plastic-elastic pieces in return. (not plastic-fantastic...) I have been disappointed too much, so I quit Swapbot. Hope Beading Daily Swaps will turn out better!!!

Fall's creatures

This weekend Fall really kicked in, I've woken up early because I was cold, and the wind was blowing around our house.... I haven't smelled it yet, but I'm positive it's just around the corner. The grapes in our yard are almost ready to be eaten, and the roses are being eaten...
Now I haven't got a macrolens for my camera, but I managed to take a picture of these little basterds, eating all of the leaves of our roses. It's been a hard year for the roses, they have been sick, and I had to trim them very short, in order to get them healthy again. They managed to grow some new leaves and flowers, and now they're being eaten. Sad...
I also took a picture of a spider, but it isn't a very good picture... I am one of those girls that isn't afraid of spiders. I really like watching them weaving their webs and catching their preys. Amazing how they manage to survive on those very thin threads, with winds blowing around. And the early morningdew on those webs is stunning!

We bought some new pillow cases for our livingroom, I really love them, the colors are very Autumn and I love the print. The red one shows the colors of our livingroom; red, orange and purple.

Tomorrow the family is coming over for dinner. I'm cooking mussels for 10, hope I'll manage. Looking forward to it, I love it when everybody gets together!

Have a good weekend, all!