Day 16 ~ One A Day Challenge ~ Crystal Bracelet

Sundays make is a quick and simple bracelet with fire polished crystal drops in jewell colours.

Palladio ~ Karl Jenkins

Contemporary composer Karl Jenkins is a favourite of mine. His music is so powerful with its chord progressions. I love the depth of this piece. Another one to look out for is Adeamos.
Great video and still photography to enjoy too!

Day 15 ~ One a Day Challenge ~ Cufflinks

More Polymer clay scrappage use today. I have created two pairs of cufflinks using left over bits of polymer clay. I will soon have none left and will have to go shopping for some new clay!

Hide me now ~ Reuben Morgan

Thoughts and prayers for a blogger friend Alleluiabelle and her husband Ron as they face trying times.

Day 14 ~ One A Day Challenge ~ pink choker

I recieved an email yesterday after someone had seen my purple choker asking me to create them a delicate pink one, so here's todays make!

Day 13 ~ One A Day ~ It's for me!

It's my birthday today and so my make today is for me. My favourite colour mix currently is the purple tones and I also love pearls, so I have combined the two to create this choker.

Eva Cassidy - Fields of Gold

Over The Rainbow ~ The Eva Cassidy Story

What a fab birthday present! Thanks Mum and Dad!
Guess where I went to last night ....
Hull New Theatre to see the amazing show Over the Rainbow ~ The Eva Cassidy story.
The theatre production features a cast of about 9 people. Some with dual roles. The simple set being excentuated with the use of projected images of the places that Eva grew up in and visited.
The cast members are all competant musicians who form the band and the quality of singing is amazing.
The production shows scenes from her life and starts by introducing a fourteen year old Eva and her family. We see the relationships she had with them all and the shy, awkwardness with which she lived, her despiration to please her father, but her failure to do so. Her wonderful caring German mother, and her protectiveness and love for her sibblings.
We then see her growing up and getting her first job in a wild west theme park as a singer. Her tallent so obvious and yet her shyness holding her back.
When Eva was eighteen she met her sole mate Chris. Chris was a recoring engineer and Eva worked as a backing singer. Chris saw her tallent and when Eva asked him to help her produce a demo tape he agreed.
It was being introduced by Chris to singer Chuck Brown a black jazz singer and he dueted with Eva and was able to open doors into clubs and venues that had previously been shut to Eva.
Then came the famous Blues Alley album recording. Eva had borrowed money to fund it and everything was set. The night was by those that came hailed a success, but technical problems meant that the recording was of very poor qulality and Eva was unhappy as she felt her voice was nasily as she was suffering from a cold.
Sadly a cold was not all the Eva wa suffering from. Her arents owned a plant nursery and Eva loved to be working there, sadly a life outdoors tractor driving in the sun left her with a melanoma. The cancer was vicious and Eva missed appointments and it began to defeat her.
The Blues Alley Albumwith one additional song "O I had a golden thread" was not completed before her death.
On 17th September 1996 Eva gave her last public performance. Her friends organised a tribute concert. Eva arrived in her wheelchair, big fluffy hat and yet when she was lifted onto the stage she sang as though there was nothing wrong at all, her own version of "Wonderful world".
Sadly just six weeks later she died.
Eva Cassidy is the only artist to have achieved 3 postumous number 1 albums.
While she was alive Eva fought against the music industry and their closed minds. Albums had to be marketable in catagories, Jazz, blue, rock, folk, country etc. Eva transcended boundries. Her love for music was just that and her ability saw her totally capable in each genre. Record Labels were not interested in a wide tallent.
Eva Cassidy is still being discovered. Just recently she's had 5 albums all in the charts at the same time in Scandinavia as they have joined the throngs of Eva fans.
For those of you comtemplating going to the theatre to see the show, please don't forget the tissues. It's not only the end that has you weeping. Two songs in and they were flowing, women and men with tears falling.
The show features all her well known songs: Wade in the water, The rose, Kathy's song, Songbird, Imagine, What a wonderful world, Over the Rainbow, Fields of Barley, Autumn leaves and many many more.

Dispite the publicity showing Zoe Tyler. She wasn't there and from what I believe the whole of the spring tour, it will be by a girl who's voice, persona and looks were Eva. Sadly I don't know her name as she didn't appear in the programme. She was wonderful.

Day 12 ~ One a day challenge ~ It's just an illusion!

Day twelves creation is an eclectic piece made from various freshwater pearls, Czech crystals and beads left over from other projects. The colours are random and range from dark oily petrol blue, bronze and pinks.

INDESCRIBABLE ~ Chris Tomlin

The original and best artist. The designer of nature who see's the depth of my heart and loves me the same.

You placed the stars in the sky and you know them by name!

Beautiful ~Hyacinths

For christmas my daughter selected and planted some hyacinth bulbs for us and I think that today they are at their best. Beautiful pale yellow with a scent that delicately fragrances the air.

Look at the intricasy of the petals, how amazingly they are formed.

Day 11 ~ One A Day Challenge ~ Bead style

I have not actually assembled any jewellery items or other creations today, I have however been experimenting with bead finishes.
The beads above were plain wooden beads with a varnish coat on them. They have been hanging out in my stash for a long time and I decided to attack them with gold spray. I figured that I could use some gold beads in my designs. This morning I took and empty weetabix box, emptied all the wooden beads in and sprayed them until they were coated in gold. They looked great so I left thm on the back step and went out shopping. I can't believe what has happened and how good and stylish they look. The gold has adhered to certain areas and it now gives the impression that have applied gold leaf foils to them.

The second experimet is also leaving me very happy. I gathered some scraps of mica polymer. Mica is an inclusion in the polymerclay that adds a sparkle. Mica is a powdered stone.
Once the bead was baked I attacked it with a blade and shaved tiny areas of the curve so that it gave a hammered metal appearance. The mica is really brought out by this technique and it's quite metalic in it's look.
Both bead designs will find there way into some jewellery later in the week.

Day 10 ~ One A Day Challenge ~ Polymer clay bracelet

Had some more fun with cane making last night and then this morning I thinly sliced it and applied it to some "guts" to create these beads. After baking and buffing to a shine, I assembled them with some ruby swarovski crstals and some patterned Bali beads to create this bracelet.

Day 9 ~ One A Day ~ fresh water pearl and Swarovski crystal bracelet

Todays make is a simple bracelet created using Swarovski crystals, fresh water pearls and Bali beads.

Day 8 ~ One a Day Challenge ~ White necklace

Today's make is a simple chunky white glass bead necklace. A classic style that never dates.