Florence and Your chance to win some Beads!

Florence

I had a short but sweet trip to Florence in honour of turning Forty! I think I'm over that number now - life just goes on in the end! We were blessed with fabulous weather - hard to believe it was October!

I was pleased to find the Bead Shop I had read about in Bead Magazine some months prior - The Beaded Lily . I had a very nice chat with one of the owners and Lampwork Beadmaker extraordinaire Tim James . Naturally I couldn't leave without a little stash of his lovely beads to use in my Jewellery!

I still haven't found the time to start making my own beads yet - watch this space!

Giveaway Time!

It's time I had a little giveaway - I'm going to share a few Beads from my Florence stash. If you would like to be the recipient of these lovely 4 beads (above) from The Beaded Lily in Florence then all you have to do is:

1. Become a follower of my blog

or

2. mention this giveaway in a social networking medium of your choice - e.g. Twitter, Facebook, Blogger

Leave a comment at the end of this blog and I will enter you into the draw. I will pull a name out of the proverbial hat next Sunday 18th October.

Thanks!

I have a couple of Thank you's to make. First to the wonderful Michele of By Your Side who featured one of my bracelets in her handmade goodness feature - Check out no.3 in Michele's picture!

Thank you also to Monica at My Funny Bunny who wrote a lovely little piece about me! I made this baby bag charm for her Mega Mother and Baby Giveaway. Keep an eye on her blog so you don't miss the details of that competition!

I haven't handed out any awards yet but if I did these two ladies would be first in the queue!

I have been added a few little things to my Misi shop so please take a look if you get the chance!

Next up for me is a lesson in Polymer Clay Beads. I look forward to sharing the results with you!

Here is one of my latest creations - this wire crochet necklace with Garnet beads

Jolicious is Forty-licious

This week has been a bit strange. I turned 40! I don't know why but that number seems to be such a milestone. I'm not sure how I feel about it - it's a mixture of good and bad. Unfortunately I have no means of stopping the wheels of time - it waits for no one! I guess I'll just have to accept it!

Anyone who knows me will know I am not a party animal or even that sociable! There was no big party just a quiet Dinner with my hubby who constantly reminds me that he is still in his 30's! We went to Claridges and had some great food at Gordon Ramsay's restaurant. I was even presented with a teeny weeny cake with a candle!

I received a fabulous gift from my friend Anne. It is a Pastel portrait of my three boys done by mutual friend and Artist Sarah James. I took it to the picture framing shop to be framed yesterday and can't wait to get it back to be hung in pride of place!

Sarah has recently set up her own Blog and Facebook Fan Page so please pop over and take a look at her pages - she is very talented.

My birthday celebrations aren't over yet! Next week I am having a long weekend in Florence with Hubby!

Before that I will try and get on top of listing new items in my shop. Here is a sneak peak of some of my new creations

I still have a tiny piece of the birthday cake the boys picked for me, so I might just go and finish it off before the return from school!