A Charmed Life...

In April 2006 an online friend Cyndi Lavin of Bead Arts invited me to join her and a few of her other 'on-line' friends to take part in a collaborative charm necklace which we would offer for auction to raise money for Breast Cancer Research.

First we voted on a theme and colour scheme for our charms, we chose the ocean for our theme, which led to a palette of blues, purples and greens for our charms.

This is what I made..

I used some Paua shell from New Zealand with seed beads and Swarovski Crystals to compliment the gorgeous blues, greens and pinkish purples in the shell.

When the charms were completed we sent them on to Cyndi, who then assembled them into the necklace.

We each got to wear the necklace to an outing, it created lots of interest where ever it went. I wore it to the local Rotary Club's annual Oysters and Art Auction to raise money for the Boys and Girls Club. The photo my dear husband took of me wearing the necklace was a nice shot of the back of my head but we can't see the necklace Joe! LOL

You can see the necklace I donated to the auction here.

Cyndi contacted Belle Armoire who featured it in their 'Simply Charming Collaborative Art Necklaces' in the Sept/Oct issue of their magazine. Sadly the photo they took does not do our necklace justice - plus THEY SPELT MY LAST NAME WRONG...

Here's a picture I took of the necklace “A Charmed Life” will be auctioned off, starting Sunday, September 9 and ending on Saturday, September 15, on eBay.

Search for it using the phrase “a charmed life necklace breast cancer”

Please share this information with your family and friends and mark it on your calender, so that we can get lots of people bidding to raise money for Breast Cancer Research, a cause that has touched all of our lives in some way.

Housekeeping...

I got bored with the colours of my blog so played around with the templates & as green is my favorite colour this seemed the perfect set up for me..

Freebird has this link to Bablefish on her blog & I thought it would be a cool addition to mine too, thanks Freebird ;9

I did get some beading done over the past couple of days & the starfish is almost done. Then I need to attach him to the page, I plan on doing a bit if beading to highlight the 'waves' in the ocean of the background fabric before I attach him tho & then it will be done.

Of course I still have to do August's page & here we are almost into September - I don't like being behind, so hopefully next month will see me catching up. Don't any of you hold your breath tho LOL

Today (already the 27th down under) my baby is 37 - Happy Birthday Elizabeth..

Oh my, how you have grown, I am so proud of the Woman you are..

A little bit of Saturday night silliness

Clearly a slow Saturday night in the US.... said Bobbi LOL It sure is Bobbi..

Anyhow... Lora has invited all who want to play to a mini contest & the winner will receive one of her beaded face pins check it out here

That sounds like a good deal to me, thanks Lora ;9

So here it is..

SCATTERGORIES... & it's harder than it looks!

Here are the rules:

* Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the questions.

* They MUST be real places, names, things ... NOTHING made up!

* If you can't think of anything, skip it.

* You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

* If your name happens to start with the same letter as mine, sorry but you can't use my answers!

My name: Ellen

1. Famous Singer/Band: Ella Fitzgerald

2. Four letter word: Easy

3. Street: Egmont Street

4. Color: Ecru

5. Gifts/Presents: Ear warmers

6. Vehicle: Edsel

7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: Ear-rings

8. Boy Name: Eric

9. Girl Name: Eva

10. Movie Title: East of Eden

11. Drink: Earl Grey Tea

12. Occupation: Engineer

13. Celebrity: Ellen DeGeneres

14. Magazine: Elle

15. U.S. City: Ellensburg (Wa)

16. Pro Sports Teams: The Eagles (Philadelphia)

17. Fruit: Eggplant

18. Reason for Being Late for Work: Empty gas tank

19. Something You Throw Away: Empty toothpaste tubes

20. Things You Shout: Eeek!

21. Cartoon Character: Elmer Fudd

Yeah I know I should be beading but well, ya know LOL

Thursday Dahlia

I picked the dahlia this afternoon so that the next one will have enough room to open

Here it is, Thursday 23

Of course it needed a big vase but I didn't have anything to put inside to hold the bloom up straight... Thank goodness for husbands, Joe managed to construct the perfect 'frog' to hold it up straight in the vase... Thank you dear ;9

I saw my Endocrinologist today, she's pleased that I have lost weigh, plus my cholesterol & triglycerides are both at excellent numbers, which pleases me very much too.

I'm going to bead for a while & maybe I'll have a progress pic tomorrow..

It's done

Well not really done but it is open completly & now the bud next to it is beginning to open as well, so here is the last pic..

Wed 22 Aug

I plan on doing some much needed garden work today & hope that these grey skies don't decide to open up & rain on me. I guess I can bead if it does rain ;9

I did manage to get a bit of beading done last night but I'm not taking any more pics until it's finished, so stay tuned...

Tuesday Dahlia

We've been getting rain during the night since last Friday & my garden loves it!

I do too, as God has been watering the garden for me..

Here's the Golden Emblem Dahlia this morning...

It is 8 inches wide!

Jazz & Oysters

Yesterday was Jazz & Oysters at the old Oysterville school, an annual event here on the Long Beach Peninsula, which is organized by the good folk from Water Music Festival


My husband has been a volunteer at Jazz & Oysters for several years but this was my first year helping out.

I worked at the dessert table & boy oh boy there were some tempting delights, all donated by local Bakeries & Restaurants!

I only had two plates honestly!

This is how we cook oysters up here on the Willapa Bay, where some of the finest oysters in the Nation are grown by the way ;9

Although the day started out damp & grey, by noon the sun had come out and with it came many locals... ...to listen to the Ron Steen Trio & the beautiful voice of Marilyn KellerI was lucky enough to speak with Marilyn, who told me she has been singing since she was a child & that she learnt to sing in harmony when she was in kindergarten.

Of course that meant I didn't get any beading done this past weekend but that's OK, I'm planning to make up for lost time this evening

Here are two photos of the yellow dahlia...

taken this morning
& again this eveningIt's really got a grow on now & that bud next to it is getting bigger by the minute!

Dahlia Sunday 19

Here's day 3 of the yellow dahlia, it has 2 more petals open..

Last year my girlfriend gave me a Hollyhock she'd grown from seed & which I put in a part of the garden that is a work in progress, not much has changed in that corner since last year - Except the Hollyhock, which came up from last year's seed & there are close to 30-50 plants there now LOL

They're such beautiful purple flowers I had to share them with you.....

Golden Emblem Dahlia

I've decided to share progress pics of my huge yellow dahlia as it opens, I've never seen one this big before & to think it started as a tiny tuber I got at the supermarket a couple of years ago...

Friday 17 August

Saturday 18 August

The flower that's opening now is just over 2" wide & the bud next to it is just over 1" wide.

I'm wondering if the slender stalks will be able to hold the flowers up once they are fully open. Time will tell, won't it?

Making Progress..

Here's a progress pic of my starfish, three points done & two to go. I think the center bit will go faster, the points are tricky to bead.

Well I had my appointment with my Neurologist yesterday & he wired me up & sent some electric shocks thru my hands to find out what the problem is with them >OUCH< It is Carpal Tunnel & my right hand is far worse than the left. He said that he wants me to have a steroid shot in my right wrist first & if that relieves the pain then in 6 months or so to go ahead & have the surgery - I am not a big fan of needles but if that's what it takes to do away with this problem then that's what I'll do but I might leave it for a few more weeks yet

I have to share these pics of my Phoebe with her Catnip plant which is in bloom at the moment

Of course just a taste of catnip takes her back to kittenhood & dust baths

You can see how well my thyme ground cover is growing to cover the patch where nothing would grow except weeds, it should cover that area totally by next summer which will mean NO MORE DUST OR MUD, boy am I looking forward to that!

Making progress with July

My July page is under way, it's moving slowly because I decided that each bead had to be stiched on one at a time - Nothing like doing things the hard way LOL

I'm happy with how it's looking so far so that is a plus, isn't it?

I made a 'starfish' & lightly stuffed it & I'll attach it to the page once it's beaded..

I'm not sure if I will bead on the acutal background, maybe just here & there to add a bit of sea like sparkle to the wavy blue lines - time will tell, eh?

On Wednesday I go to Longview -about 2 hrs east of here - to have the neuropathy in my hands assessed.

My Neurologist has the MRI that was done recently & his nurse told me that it does not appear to be from the damage to the vertebrae in my neck, so at least that's a good thing & it's not Carpal Tunnel either so what the heck is it?

Hopefully it is something that can be fixed.

Oh, oh it's August...

Happy birthday Stephen - It's hard to believe so many years have passed since I first held you in my arms but you'll always be my boy, my boy, my pride & joy...

Myself & my 3 children all have our birthdays within the space of 2 months so of course it's always a special time of the year for me

OK, back to what keeps me sane - My beads!

I've decided to stay with my original 6" x 4" size for my BJP page - thank you all for the encouragement ~smile~

This is for July

& this is for August

I recently bought Stitch Magic by Jan Beaney & Jean Littlejohn, which is a wonderful publication if you love to play with fabric & fibres.. My August page is the result of my first attempt at some of the fun things in the book, so stay tuned