20 Days to go...

...'till the shortest day.

Luculia Flowers in the garden - we need smell-o-cam!

It's already winter and I still haven't finished my autumn cleanup chores.
But it's a day for counting blessings...

I've been sorting through all of my bead stash for stocktaking and have put all of my gorgeous bead jars into the shop part of the workroom to sell from.  I get lots of people sharing their beading ideas with me and seeking my input and advice - there are lots of really creative people out there!

Part of the sorting out process has been labeling, pricing and coordinating all of the bits and pieces.  I'm almost finished with the Swarovski Crystals - just the last few jars to clean and labels to go.

I need to order another box of the little plastic jars so I can display the findings, too and get some hooks so I can hang little bags of findings up - if you're into fine detail this is fun for a while...

All of this means that the (lovely clean, tidy) bench has had little use in the past few days and I'm itching to get on with the business of melting glass.
 The last play I had was with plain clear class and white - I'm loving the crispness of the two together.

I felt a bit overwhelmed with winter and rote chores last week, but this week I'm loving winter - we've got into that part where it's freezing at night but we have glorious days.  Pure Golden Bay weather!

I'm enjoying wearing my Doc Martens again - these red ones are still my favourites.

The winter garden flowers are blooming - there's always a gap between the end of the autumn and true winter.  The winter sweet is making a whole corner by our bedroom simply radiate perfume - the flowers aren't much to look at the perfume has to be smelled to be believed!  The pink luculia has sprung its first flowers and they are always beautiful - they're another one we need smell-cam for!

In true colourful and vibrant Golden Bay style, this Saturday morning has been a blast!  We've had our monthly (weekly in summer) market here and there have been people dressed in fantabulous hats promoting their new theatre production, there's been a peaceful protest in the main street (it started outside our door ) against the use of 1080.  There's been music and buskers and all the usual locals hanging out and smiling together in the winter sunshine.
I think I really do live in paradise!

Luscious Ladies Love Lipstick!

I was going to call this post "Boring Lesley Buys Lipstick", but then I referred to all my positivity prompts...you know the mantra..."Accentuate the Positive"!

Counting beads...!

I've been bogged down in end of year financial stuff and was feeling totally over it all before we went over to Nelson for the day on Saturday - the Toy Boy worked at his stall at the market while I went off shopping and having a girlie morning out.

I went make-up shopping - just mooching around looking at all of the gorgeousness and remembered that galadarling had recommended the new Revlon Lip Butters.  I bought "Berry Smoothie"  and I love it!

 

Revlon Lip Butter - Berry Smoothie

It's lovely stuff - really moisturising and a nice shot of transparent colour - subtle but not too subtle, if you know what I mean.

There's a nice range of colours and I have "Pink Truffle" in my sights for my next purchase.

It's a good price too - $27.95, I think?

It was a freezing cold day so we met up with my big sister and went to Cafe Olive where we sat in front of their fire and ate a yummy tasty (and again, really well priced) lamb kebab for lunch.  

This is a spot I really recommend - it's cosy, comfortable, friendly and the food's great!  The place has had many incarnations since it was built as "Faces" long ago and far away...I can remember going there when the Wearable Arts still had their shows in Nelson :).  

Cafe Olive - full of sumptuous couches, carpets and kilims.  They get an A+ for atmosphere!

From there we went on to be wined, dined and spoilt by our long time friends who live at Marybank with a fabulous view over the coast.  They have a beautiful home and D has an  amazing design "eye" for design - she can put a montage of lovely things together just "because".  I love that!  She inspires me!

The little heart is made up of tiny bells

So, filled up with inspiration, I have come home to finish off the boring stuff and get my teeth into something more fun - I have a selection of brooch beads under way.

Autumn Cleanup

There's something about domestic chores - they make me feel really settled sometimes.  When I'm in the mood, that is!  A friend of mind suggested that I post some pictures of the tools of my craft on Pinterest, so I played around with that thought for a while...  The trouble was, my bench was in such a shockingly messy state that I couldn't photograph any single thing with it like that!

Before

 So, reluctantly, it was time for a clean up.

I started by taking all the short ends of glass that need to be used up (did I tell you I never waste glass?) and sorting them out...there are all sorts of "treasures" in here from silvered ivory stringers, twisties, encased canes...

Then I took all the longer lengths and laid them out in another place...  There are THAT MANY??  REALLY?  I suppose I should sort these and use them up - sometimes I threaten myself with not allowing me to take a new rod till all of the old ones are used up..

.  

YEAH RIGHT!

Then I had all this clear space so I laid out the tools that were also in that same spot...

So, here we have them - this is what I use most of the time, though there are a couple in there that I hardly ever use, and there's a set of brass picks that aren't in this shot that I use all the time, too.

So then it was time for a cup of tea and a quick bead or two before I headed home.

and after....

I have to say that once I relaxed into it I quite enjoyed the process and now I feel quite super charged and ready to make another mess ;).

I need to find a new container for my hot tools, though...somehow the plastic box doesn't quite cut it.

Perhaps I should make a regular practice of taking photos of my work areas so I am forced to tidy up.

OUT WITH THE OLD AND IN WITH THE NEW!!!

We Are All Weird!

This is the cover of a book I've just read.  Yes, that's a pretty individual look alright!

It's called We are all Weird: The Myth of Mass and the End of Compliance by Seth Godin .

His premise is that the world has changed from the mass compliance of the 20th century, where we found safety and acceptance in complying with the norm, where mass marketing was efficient and cost effective, and a few very large companies became even larger - the larger they became, the more influence they had on our everyday way of life.

He says that the introduction of the internet and our easy, instant access to information about everything from sky diving clubs in Mongolia to Star Trekkies groups in Amsterdam has made us all able to express ourselves in new and unique ways, which means the demise of the mass market and "normal" societies are becoming a thing of the past.

It's a little book - I'm sure a faster reader with an a day to spend could gobble it up - and an interesting read.  It's well written and interestingly laid out to accentuate his points.

And I think he may be right - we all want to express our own individuality, and certainly in New Zealand, I think that we feel free to do that.  It makes me wonder about other oppressed populations and to appreciate the gift of freedom that we have here.

 I have been changing things around in the workroom this week, putting my bead stash on display for sale - it's always been available but I haven't had the place to show it off till now.  If there's anything you need in the way of Swarovski Crystals or sterling silver beads and findings, please just ask - I'm happy to sell bits and pieces for your own projects and I love hearing about your creative juice!

While I was going through everything I came across some beautiful Swarovski Light Sapphire 8mm bicones that are just begging to be made up into something - I've been enjoying tossing around some ideas.

 I have also just got in some Swarovski Rondelles for a project I'm planning with pearls - they're pretty gorgeous, and I'm thinking that I might need to get a range of sizes in these.  They're silver plated and nickel free, so should be nice to wear.

Have a wonderful weekend, and if you need a little treat and a pick-me-up, sit with this clip of galadarling talking about her Radical Self Love Project on TED.

They TOOK what they NEEDED

In the TAKE what you NEED poster, I found the best toy I've had in a long time!

It's been a real pleasure watching people first discover the poster, then noticing that more and more - and eventually all - of the tabs have been removed.

It was interesting to notice that "FREEDOM" was the first tab to go.

I wonder what that means?  Financial, spiritual, emotional...?  I guess it means something different to all of us.

The last tabs to go were PEACE and HEALING, then the very last was BEAUTY, which I thought was rather nice. It seems that our "takers" this week were more interested in their spiritual well-being than their physical appearance.  How very Golden Bay!

Now, I must tell you that I haven't owned up to doing this to anyone locally, and if you come into the shop and front up to me I will tell that I couldn't say who was responsible.  I will deny all knowledge 'cos half of the fun is anonymity!

A nice guy came in and while he was browsing the beads we chatted a little, as we do.  He did ask if I had made the sign and I just looked dumb (not hard - there you go - I said it before you did!). 

He said how cool he thought it was and showed me his tab - how sweet!

I think I'm addicted to this now, and I'll make another one soon.

Do you have any ideas of new "gifts" to use?

Oh, by the way, here's that new necklace and bracelet I was working on for the Stitchbird's new shop in Wellington.  Peacock Colours Chakra Lotus Flowers...