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Last year these didn't get much attention on my stall at all and I wondered if it was worth doing them except that they are such fun to make!
This year however they sold extremely well and I had to make loads more in between fairs.
Here are a few pics, I have been looking for cute new lampwork beads for the 2011 range. 

This is what I made for my Valentine!

Happy Valentine's Day!

With so much commercialism around this day and many expensive, lavish ideas on how to declare your love I wanted to do something more personal. Not a high value item but a gift of love!

As you will see, not an original idea, nor very different from mainstream Valentines gift but the one thing money cannot buy is time so that is what went into my gift. The intention being to show that OH is worth taking time over rather than just getting a token box of chocolates.

So this is how it all went............................
I bought a plain cardboard heart shaped box


and proceeded to decorate it.
In keeping with the Valentine Theme I used the traditional colours but went for Anita's Acrylic Spice Red and Sand instead of bright red and white.

I first painted the inside with Sand acrylic and once dry painted over it with watered down glue to seal the paint (less stinky than varnish)

and then cut out a heart from handmade paper with silver threads in it (not handmade by me)

I went around the inside edges with silver and then wiped it off to leave a thick, shiny, translucent outline


















I traced round the edge of the paper heart with 3D silver paint and then distressed it to give a hammered 'metal' finish,

added 3 mirror silver heart cut outs and a silver stamp saying 'may all your dreams come true',

stamped this lightly so it was just visible on the handmade paper

then used the silver stamp to finish off the edge of the box in silver (easier than trying to paint a straight edge)

Next the outside was painted Spice Red and once dry painted over with watered down glue.

I punched hearts from the same silver threaded paper on the inside and glued those around the

edge in 2's.
















I did some smaller mirror heart shapes on top of the paper hearts and painted cream dots on between the hearts.

On the lid I cut out another large heart from handmade paper to which I added a 'Love' transfer and a silver, metal teddy with a heart.
Around the edge I stuck silver cord and followed the shaped of the cut out heart with silver glitter glue. After much drying time I added cream dots and silver cutout stickers around the edge with 2 red diamond shape flat back rhinestones.
I bought some plain chocolate hearts in red foil, made some yummy whisky truffles and covered some with white chocolate, some milk chocolate and some with vanilla sugar.
It was tricky to make these close to the day and finding a place to hide them that was cold enough so they wouldn't melt but not be seen. If you are making truffles the fridge is an ideal place to keep them but not if they are going to be a surprise!

Late on Saturday night I folded some bright pink tissue paper for the base of the box and arranged the truffles and then placed box and card in a prominent place (hoping this was also cold enough not to leave a messy puddle of chocolate as we have such a lovely warm house.)
I also bought a small wooden heart to which I added a message.

Hope you liked this project.

One World One Heart blog giveaway!

This is one of those ideas that makes you (or perhaps just me) think 'I wish I had thought of that!'

I did this last year and got to see some amazing work from a variety of artists that that I would never otherwise have stumbled across.
It is a friendly, warm fuzzy event and I am very happy to take part again this year.
Although I am starting later than I should I am going to have the best time looking through the wonderful array of work on show.
Thank you Lisa Swifka for such a fabulous opportunity.

There is still time to get involved, click on the banner to find out how - just make sure you do it before 08Feb!

The draw takes place on 15 February 2010, I will publish the winners on my blog, be sure to leave me a means to contact you.
Last year my winner was in USA and was thrilled as she said she had not won anything before.

Last but by no means least - here are my giveaways!
Prize 1 - Cute glass 'Rock chick' tile pendant with chain. if you don't fancy this pic I can send you a glass tile, chain and bail and you can make your own! All my glass tiles are handcut and gently heated in the kiln by me to get lovely rounded edges.


Prize 2 - OOAK Pretty pink, crinkle dichroic 'handbag' brooch, great on a coat, bag or hang from a chain as a pendant!


Prize 3 - Abstract dichroic glass pendant

No strings, just let me know in your comment which one of the 3 prizes you would like to win.
I hope you enjoy visiting my blog, you are very welcome to pop back any time.
Take care xxx

Oops - have neglected my blog - sorry!

Yep - hangs head in shame..... I have been meaning to blog for a while and 'stuff' got in the way. I won't bore you with the details but here is what I have been up to......
This pendant I made when I went on a PMC course a few weeks ago. It was far more difficult to work with PMC than I had envisaged. Well that and the fact that we were given 5 minutes to come up with a design after a brief into to PMC. I was a bit flustered to say the least but not the only one. There was one stunning example of work and I was so envious of her skill but then I found out she had printed out loads of pics from internet and had copied a design. Nevertheless she had rendered it beautifully and had a gorgeous piece of work to take home. I am very keen to take up PMC but time is not currently allowing. This piece looks much better in real life and I am concerned that if I do PMC for my websie I wont be able to take good enough pics to showcase the pieces well but that's for future worry.

As previously mentioned we recently moved home, the last 2 months have been living in a building site and delighting in daily sawdust scatterings. Finally all that is over and the decorating is almost finished too. I wil be able to start making a house a home. I have painted this picture for my entrance hall. It is done in acrylic and I just need to varnish it with acrylic varnish to make it nice and shiny and durable.

One World One Heart

I am so excited to be part of an idea that grew from humble beginnings to reach out to people all over the world!
A word from the organiser....
This event began in 2007. The original idea behind this giveaway event was to bring bloggers together from around the world who may never ordinarily meet. It closes the gap of the blog community and enables us to interact, discover new and wonderful people, and in the process possibly win a prize or many prizes along the way. This is more than wanting to win something.......that is only the means.......in the end it's about finding kindred spirits. Someone who may be fairly new to blogging, not sure how to navigate, find others and have others find them....Some are long time bloggers and in some cases well known in the art community. Whatever the case it brings all of them together. It transcends geographical location, socio economics, political affiliation, religious beliefs......it's a coming together like the giant community we are on this planet. You don't need to be an artist to participate each year, this is open to everyone. The aim is for the event post itself to be about welcoming and showing what each visitor has a chance to win by stopping by.....AND giving the visitor a chance to read and learn more about each person along the way.

The winner will receive the Love Heart Necklace and matching Earrings pictured below. This was made especially for this initiative and is the only one if it's kind!

To enter all you need to do is leave a comment on this post. Please be sure to include your email address. The final day for leaving a comment is Feb 11th, as the draw will be made and announced on February 12th!

To find out more and see a list of the participating blogs and their links, please click the One World One Heart logo in the side bar.
Good Luck xxx