Busy Creating!

I cant believe how bad I have been,  I did promise to be good and up date more often but since I have had my new phone I have been whizzing around on that and neglecting everything I need to do here!!

So what have I been doing, well, I've been busy doing ~~~  various different things, like:

Pinterest ~ yes set up a new account  ChatElaine Wire and Fire

loving the storage of all sorts of fab photos around the net!

Come visit me there I have a new tab in my side bar too so you can visit me anytime you like

Flickr ~  ChatElaine Wire and Fire  ~~ I set up a new account just before christmas but never did too much to get it going ~~  I have been whizzing around finding contacts from my previous account (faerie wishes) I have shut my old one down but probably will only put more family orientated photos on there from now on.


Etsy ~  well you know I have two Etsy stores, I have been listing new jewellery and new beads too with more to come soon.

This one is in my jewellery shop ChatElaine Creations

I have new cabs and buttons in my bead shop ChatElaineGlassArt along with seascape beads and still more to come too.

 

 

 

 

 

I have been trying out shank type buttons too and here are my Hugs and Kisses set along with my toadstool as well.



 



 

 

 

 

I need to make more, more, more!!!! 

But life at home is very hectic at the moment and I just don't have enough hours in the day to get what I want done.  I have started doing my other job as swim club assistant along with running around sorting things for Billie as her exams are getting close, her prom too and we need to finish finding her outfit and Comic Con too with her costume still to create!!  We are making headway but all I seem to be doing is shopping, shopping and more shoppppingggggggggg!!  I'm exhausted!!!


More posts still to write so will try and get them done ASAP!!

See you again very soon!!

 

E x

Exams & Costumes

Right EXAMS first...

My daughter Billie ~~ my very clever daughter!!!!  80*  xoxoxoxox

She got her Science retakes results
(well couple of weeks ago actually but haven't got round to telling you all - Sorry about that, so here we go then!)

Yes I am very proud to say they were all A's  ~~ that means that all six of them are A's now (she retook the B results)

Physics P123 & P456
Chemistry C123 & C456
Biology B123 & B456

She loves Physics so much so she is taking it as one of her A levels
along with Maths, Art and now Biology (which she changed from psychology)

I am so happy, she is working so hard.

Next is her Art exam ~ which is over the next 2 days and she has just handed in her Product Design Coursework too.


Then she will have to complete her other art projects/coursework by 1st May.

And then its into all her other exams in May/June. 

Its very stressful for her and its been quite stressful for me too as I have been helping her as best I can, with ideas for her Art work, finding materials she can use (usually from my Aladdins Cave of a workshop ~ its amazing what I can conjure up from my cupboards) and just generally being there for her!!

She definitely needs the Easter break to have a bit of relaxation time!!

I expect we will need to go shopping as she will want to start sorting out her outfit for the next Comic Con  in May.   This is a comic/cosplay convention held in the Excel in London.  She loves to dress up and has recently dressed up as a Manga character Sakura Haruno (Naruto) for the recent Comic Relief 2013. 

She went around the school with her trusty bucket collecting for the charity but had some competition this time from the sixth formers doing the same thing.  She collected £28 as opposed to the last 2 events when she collected over £70 for Children in Need each time. She was a little disappointed but I told her that it was still good for one person to achieve.

She has decided to start blogging about her fundraising and her cosplay costumes and the events she attends.  When I get the link I will let you know (I cant remember what shes called her new blog!!!)


Next time will have new beads to show

Toodleoo

E x

Christmas is getting close!!

I have struggled so much this year trying to get ready for the arrival of Christmas!!  I can't believe I still haven't purchased any gifts other than my husband/daughter's present of a (joint) laptop.

Billie needs it for her school work so she can use it up in her bedroom for revision of her GCSE exams.  She got her Mock results last week and they were pretty good - some better than expected.  Her dragon for her Art & Design mock sadly broke in the kiln (previews in a previous post), she has glued it back together, hopefully with a good paint job it shouldn't be to bad!!  She then has her science resits in January, she got B's in 3 of them so we decided why not give them another go to see if she can get A's in those as well, she was only 2 marks off the chemistry one!!!  She can't lose as she keeps her best grade either way!! 

She will also resit her English language module which the school has agreed to put everyone back into resit it because of all the wooha over the government changes they made mid-year!! She got a D and her target grade was a C she was pretty devastated by that!!!  

So now we are trying to work out what she wants to do for the future, its so difficult making these decisions now, she is still 15 and trying to decide on her future.  She wants to carry on into the 6th Form and do A levels. She is suppose to pick 4 only, so wittling down from 11 has been very mind-blowing!!   I think we're nearly there now!!  Phew!!

Mick needs the laptop to download his music collection (records) when we had to wipe the system on the main computer I didnt know he hadn't saved anything onto disk/memory stick so he lost everything he'd done already!!  He was gutted!! So they are both sharing the laptop, I will need to get him an external hard drive I think to save everything onto so he won't lose it all again!!


So hence Christmas has taken a bit of a back seat, I just cant seem to get interested in it at all. My biggest problem is the fact my oven is cremating everything I put in it!! 80((  Yes its about 23 years old and has seen better days, the thermostat has gone and my hubbie says the parts are now obselete so that means I need to get a new one.  I dont want to get a new one, they don't make them like they used to (mine is a split level one) my kitchen is only half complete and I just didnt want to buy one right now, so what to do?????  January Sales I think cheap and hopefully cheerful!!!   So not much chance of getting a christmas pressie this year! 80((


Its my birthday again in January, only this is a biggy!! 

Yep 50!!

Oh gosh!!  I feel ancient, at 40 I seemed to change over night but 50 I really dont know how thats going to go!  I know one thing I really want to do something a bit different, special ~


a flying lesson!





            No not a glider a real plane!! 





Checked it out and I have found a company on the web

http://www.intotheblue.co.uk/flying-experiences/fly/flying-lessons/panshangeraerodrome/

this is at Panshanger in Hertfordshire so not too far!! I am quite excited about the experience but I will wait until the spring for better weather.  I am still trying to work out what to do on my birthday, I am thinking of doing an Afternoon Tea type gathering, I'm working on that one!!  Will update you when I have decided.



Thats it for now, nothing new to show you jewellery/beads wise, I am working on tutorials for Bead Magazine right now so got to keep that under my hat. 

One thing though I can hear my paint brushes calling me from my workshop, I might just have to go answer that call, must be all the art stuff Billie is doing at school, she keeps raiding my art and craft supplies and its making me think ~ I do miss it!  I need to get those canvases out which seem to be cluttering up my space!  Mmmmmmm problem with that though is I love doing life drawing, I might need to go join an evening art class!!

Maybe I'm having another mid-life crisis at 50!!!  Ha ha ha!!

Catch you next time!!

E x

   

ChatElaineJewellery.com is Closed!!

I have closed down my website ~~ ChatElaine Jewellery .com but my Etsy stores still remain open. 

It has been a soul searching decision but felt it was for the best.  I fired up my domain name 3 years ago but found that I havent been very successful with sales from my website all my sales have been through craft fairs, home jewellery parties and for my beads from my Etsy stores.

Craft fairs have seen a decline, especially in my area and so I don't sell this way anymore! It is heartbreaking spending so much time making jewellery, travelling and setting up and then no sales, packing it all away again and not even covering the cost of the table, very demoralising!!!  Home jewellery parties are quite hard to come by and so I decided I needed to concentrate on my beadmaking from now on. Jewellery will take a back seat, making mainly for myself or friends and family, also coming up with projects for the magazine.

The way I would like to go is Bead Fairs for my lampwork beads, I am not at a place where this can happen yet but hope to be there in the future!!



The family has taken a bit of a back seat for the last few years but that needs to change, my daughter is in her final year at school and her first Mock exam is this thursday.  So I am concentrating on helping her when she needs me as this first mock is Art and Design.  She is working towards making a sculpture, she has made some preliminary models and so can you guess what it could be????

 

DRAAA-GONS!

Ain't plasticine great!!!  Ha ha!!

Its just like being a kid again, of yes she still is really!!!  Silly me!!

We are having a little trouble on how she can do the wings as she really wants them flapping up,  but I really think it might need an armature wire but worried it wouldnt survive in the kiln!!

Its a 10 hour exam which is all day thursday (5 hours) then 5 lessons of an hour each!! So over the next 2-3 weeks she will have to finish it. Her other mocks are next week, her science re-sits are in January and then her proper exams start in May.

Phewwww!!  Cant believe it, seems only yesterday she was starting school, now we have to start working out what she wants to do for her future career!!  Very hard decisions to make ahead!!  Mind boggling!!

Catch up soon.





E x