Cirque du Soleil

If ever you were in need of a dose of inspiration, of colour, energy and excitement, Cirque du Soleil would fit the bill.   I saw one of their shows several years ago and it filled me with creativity for months and months afterwards.  Last night I was lucky enough to see 'Varekai' at the Trafford Centre in Manchester - wow.   The colours, the movement and the utter vibrancy of the show would be enough to inspire anyone.   The show finishes at this location in the next few days, so if you do

Another Felted Scarf

Here's another one I made!!  This was a mothers day gift and my Mother In Law Simone loved it.  100% Merino wool, graduated colours, little dark purple and fuchsia 'roses'....

How I Felt

OK, missing in action again...but I promise there are things happening.  Firstly, you know when you get overwhelmed with so much needing doing that you do none of it?  Well, yep, that's the way it feels like...I'm working through a big list of stuff following the trade fairs, the purchases of tons of new stock, all the new jewellery I've made and the

The Currency of Beads.....

Sometimes, to keep things fresh, you have to go in a different direction.   When Mark and I went to trade fairs over the last couple of months, I was under strict instructions to be 'on the lookout for the next big thing'...not sure what the next big thing was supposed to be or how I was supposed to know this big thing when I saw it (unless, indeed it was actually just a 'big thing') I mostly got on with happily perusing the current 'thing' of jewellery, beads, beads, jewellery and - well you get the drift.

Currently Reading

Library of Shadows by Mikkel Birkegaard....sigh...I had such high hopes for this book, I don't know how I manage to get suckered into this sort of thing time and time again, because the end result is always disappointment.   Here, once again, we have a Da Vinci Code Wannabe.  Here, once again, we have a Da Vinci Code No Where Near As Good As The Real Thing.   When, oh when will I learn not to waste my money.   I can't even bring myself to finish it, and I am kicking myself for the utter waste of time I put in it to get to the half way point, knowing I will go no further with it.   Get my drift?  Not even worth borrowing from your local library.

Enchanted Adornments: Creating Mixed-Media Jewelry with Metal Clay, Wire, Resin, and More by Cynthia Thornton - interesting, challenging, visually beautiful and inspiring with lots of diversions in terms of little side-articles that take you away from 'just' jewellery design and making and into the realms of symbolism of design and other interesting avenues.
A charming and useful book, highly recommended, if you only use it for eye-candy and those days where you sit at your workbench, stumped, (though it offers so much more) this is well worth reading.
Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman - I like the film, but I LOVE the book.   Of course often books and film bear little resemblance to each other, and this is somewhat the case here.  Hoffman's writing is full of feminine wisdom and she feels like the sort of person you'd love to have as a friend.  Having said that, the ending is slightly out of whack considering she's been working so hard to have all the female characters as strong and independent (can we feel a bit of arm twisting by the publishers there?) but if you overlook that as more than likely 'office politics' this is a charming, unusual and life affirming book that no-one should miss.   Lovely, lovely, lovely.
Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton - oh my goodness, another wonderful book!!  I stayed up all night with matchsticks propped up under my eyelids to read this, it is fantastic (I constantly promised myself 'just one more chapter, then I'll go to bed....well, I just read and read, right to the very end).   If you want a great story with fab characters, this one is it...I'd never read anything by Michael Crichton before, but as this one was already getting great reviews all over the place, how bad could it really be?, I reasoned.   I am so glad I decided to go for this one, and I will certainly be reading more of Crichton's work - this particular book was apparently found amongst his papers as a complete novel after his death in 2008.   Its full of swashbuckling, derring-do, frankly fairly unbelievable stuff, but still, very very entertaining and very evocative.   Don't miss it.  

So am I controlling my arthritis, or is it controlling me?

 Lately I've been been feeling my Rheumatoid Arthritis a bit - I started Pilates a few months ago, mostly as a result of the infamous sideways saddle incident which made me realise I was doing too much to protect my weak left side, I could see how disabled I was becoming because of it - when it gets to the stage when you can't get on or off your horse without using a crane, its time to look for help, which I have found via Emma my Pilates teacher who is doing a fab job with some frankly crappy materials, to be specific, my bones.    

 

Other than the pilates with Emma, I've had a busy few weeks - I attended several trade fairs - such fun! There is so much stuff you could spend your hard earned pounds on in an attempt to generate more pennies; so much stuff you never knew you needed before you saw it!!  It's fun buying, chatting to people, going back to the cafe for another cake and capuccino because you know you're going to be able to put it down on the business and the taxman will just have to lump it....I could spend and spend at these trade fairs, and it all seems like it could be the next best thing.
The last thing you want to do is wake up in the morning with your credit card receipt and think 'oh no, I didn't really, did I?'