Angina...

I went to the doctor's today. After the big "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh" with the popsiclestick in my mouth she stated I had irritated toncils. No surprise, I haven't been able to speak nor swallow for the last couple of days. Fever comes and goes and everything is juk! I am living on apples, icewater, biscuits sogged in yoghurt (or cookies in yoghurt) and chickensoup. and I gotta say: enough with the chickensoup!



Christmas was very cosy, not the big dinnerparty we had the last 4 years, but 2 smaller ones. It was different, and I needed to adjust. But it was al good.

I am wishing you all a lovely New Year's Eve, and that 2010 may give you everything you wish for!

Ill, again...

Bleeech, I have a flu. Again... I am feverish and my throat feels very ouch. Eating and swallowing is a pain and I am not happy!!!
Dull is being very sweet for me, he really is taking care of me, which gives me a great feeling. And last night Mom came over to make me some chickensoup. I love her for that...
I'll leave my post like this, don't feel like telling anymore about how I feel...

Christmas is nearly here.

christmas arrangement
Originally uploaded by Chrystallinya

Brrrrr,
It's cold, our city has been covered in snow for the entire week and I've been busy. I finally finished all the jewelry for the party. I did get a new order when I delivered it at the host of the party, but I decided that I couldn't get it done before Christmas.
This month (and year!) has flewn by, I haven't had the time to sit down and enjoy our decorated livingroom, and now I am going to have to take it down in 3 days...
I haven't even decided yet what I am going to make for dinner!
But well, all is well!
Just one more week before the year is over...

Christmas

Christmas arrangement
Originally uploaded by Chrystallinya

For me, Christmas is all about the reds.... (and purple and orange, but these are the colours of our livingroom).
Because I work 40 hours a week (and these weeks maybe even a bit more) I really don't feel like dragging all the christmas stuff out. I am toooo busy to sit down and enjoy them and the work it takes to put everything out is better spent at doing some ironing and vacuuming...
However, you can't let christmas go by without some ornaments around the house.... This is one of the corners, looks quite cosy, doesn't it? I wonder how much time people spent at getting all the decorations up and out...? Do you spent an entire day at turning your livingroom to a winterwonderland, or do you rather spent a little time decorating each day?
Oh, and I told you guys about the crocheted stars and snowflakes right? Here is the result:

I am quite proud of these, it's the first handmade Christmas ornament from my hands, and I am planning on making much more in the folowing years!

bracelets with silver leather & a little anxious

Okay,
First let me start by telling you that getting the tripod out of the closet was a great thing for this blog. I have so much to tell, and it is so much more fun when I have pictures to show what I am talking about.
Second: I have been stalking "the beaders muse blog" all day, because today is the reveal of the muse and the announcement of the winners. Really, I don't think I won, but I am so anxious to see what everybody has made with the muse.
To keep us all posted, Scarlett asked some questions for us to think over. She wanted to know how expressing your creativity through beading has enriched our lives and what our goals are for 2010, beadingwise.
Now, making up goals for the new year is easy! There are so many things I would love to do, dreams to fullfill and plans to make. I want to restrusture, organise and clean up the studio/attic, start a bridalcollection, participate in more challenges and competitions and so on. These goals come up every year, and every year I say to myself: this year it'll really happen...
But the expressing-my-creativity-through-beading-and-how-it-enriches-my-life question was a bit harder to answer... I have been beading for a decade now, and it's so much a part of my life, that I can't imagine myself without my beads. And altough I picked up some knitting and crocheting this year, I will never leave my beads.
And maybe that's just my answer to this question: I can't think of a life without my beads. They make me: ME! So there you go....

And finally, a pic of the leather bracelets. I had a piece of silver leather laying around the attic for quite some time. The night before the jewelryparty I came up with a simple design; I cut the leather in strips and made a wavy band with beads between the waves. I made the purple/black version for the party and the black version is one of the orders. I really like it when something simple takes the spotlight, don't you?

bracelets with silver leather
Originally uploaded by Chrystallinya

our garden, covered in snow

our garden, covered in snow
Originally uploaded by Chrystallinya

I know, I know I said my next post would be about the leather bracelets. But we woke up this morning to this wintery wonderland, and I just had to show how our garden looked like this morning.
We don't get much snow around here, and when we do it will only last a couple of hours. Our country is so crowded that there aren't much places the snow gets untouched.
I really love how the world looks like, covered in snow. So soft and lovely!

tripod in the winter = pics to post! Pt 1!

I pulled out my tripod and took some pictures... Not of everything I've been promising over the last weeks, but just some pics to keep you informed about everything.

Now, I don't want to overflow you with my pics, so I'll post one at a time:

This is the first:

It's blurry and shaken, but I like the feel you get from this pic. It's an up close pic of our tree...

Tomorrow I'll make you guys happy with the pic of the leather bracelets that were a hit at the jewelry party...!

I know you can't wait!

Pic-less Posts

Well hello! I think we can finally draw the conclusion that I am not much of a social person during winterseason… In person I am – or at least I hope so -, but this little blog of mine have been neglected quite a bit. This is mainly due to the fact that it’s dark when I get home. I love blogging, but I really feel that a blog needs pics to be interesting enough to make people read it, let alone come back for it. And taking pics of my jewelry in artificial lighting is really hard!
I know I promised to show some pics of my work, but I’m honest to say I haven’t had the lighting, nor the time. So I apologise.
Did manage to make a lot of new stuff! I even had a jewelryparty 2 weeks ago, I didn’t sell as much as last year, but everything that gets sold is worth a happydance, right?!
The biggest hit at the party were leather bracelets, 4 people ordered one! I also made some necklaces… But no pics yet. (again, I apologise…)
So, now I am still working on some orders from the party, one bracelet in particular has been eating my time. The girl who ordered it saw a black/pink version on the party and decided she wanted it in black/ruby. So I happily wrote down the order, searched around for the right sized and coloured beads, started the thing and after 3 minutes I remembered what a lot of work it takes… But I can do it in front of the tv, so that makes up for it, and I am happy that the colours work up great.
In addition, the Christmas tree is UP! It’s feathery, purple and twinkly and it makes the livingroom cosy! (again, maybe I’ll manage to take some pics). I did get crafty on Christmas as well, I stumbled upon Lucy’s blog recently and fell in love with her blogposts about stars and snowflakes. So I made a couple and added them up to a lovely string of red and white wintery goodness. (again, I will take pics Ah, you get the idea, right?) I really love to make my own Christmasdecorations, there is so much junk being sold, it’s good to make your own quality-stuff!
Oh, and do you remember the Muse? The winners will be announced in 2 days, so that’s pretty exciting! Can’t wait to see what everybody dreamed up about the Muse, and also, I can finally show you guys what I’ve made with it. I bet you’re all very eager to see, right?
I reaaaaaally loved participating in this event. It triggered all my creative juices and gave me a chance to try some new stuff. Usually, when I get an idea I start out with one thing and it evolves to something completely different, usually with totally different materials then I pulled out in the first place. For this event, I wanted to stick to the kit and see if I could guide my creative juices between these borders. I think it worked out, and although I added some extra materials, I also used the entire kit. Please keep posted, because after the Big Reveal, I’ll put some pictures here.

Yeah! You finished this post, even without pics! It does work! Woohoo!

I am still here!

Nonono worries, I didn't disappear or anything.. It's just that I had a jewelry party last night.
My mom was stalking her neighbors to get them into action and book a party with me. So, one finally collapsed 2 weeks ago and said she would like to have it on the 30th of November. Mom called me to tell me the 'good' news and I just dropped everything and ended up in a blurry wirl of beads, necklaces, making booklets, earrings and such... I completely panicked. I always tend to do that, and I am sooooo glad that Dull knows this. I am very happy that he can cope with the wild stare in my eyes, the beads scattered all over the house, daylightbulbs on all evening and me wanting nothing else to do then bead.
"Honey, let's go to the movie tonight," "Uuuhm, sorry babe, but I really need to finish this piece." This went on for the entire 2 weeks.
And then, finally, it was the 30th of November. I put all the jewelry in a bag, got giftwrapping, change and a happy face (and lots of concealer on it to hide the dark circles under my eyes) and I went for it.
In the end, I worried for nothing. It wasn't a very very good party, but I did make some sales, got a few orders and some e-mailadresses and phonenumbers from girls who are interested in giving a party. So all in all, it has been a good night.
I love to do these kind of parties, it usually is a very good way to make some sales and have a nice night. But I really don't like the bewildered type of girl I get during the preparations of these events. I know it gets better when you do more of them, but I just don't seem to be able to persuade people to organise a party. Yesterday was not different. It feels a bit like begging to me. "Pleeeeeeaaaaaaaaase will you book a party with me, because I neeeeeeeed the money" That's how it sounds in my head when I start promoting myself, another thing I have to get past, I guess.
So it has been a very educational 2 weeks. The lessons I learned are:

1. Try to get more parties to get used to the preparation-part
2. Keep it together during the preparations
3. In the end, it will all come together.
Now I am off, to take some pictures of the work I didn't sell and to buy Dull a new PS game to thank him for his patience with me during the past two weeks (or 5 years).