50 Shades of......

 

DULL!

 

What a miserable month January is, the grey is so depressing and endless. 

 

Down on our river walk this morning I tried to find some colour even the dogs took on a muddy grey tinge, thankfully they don't care what the weather is and will enjoy the walk and the day regardless...I wish I was a little more like that.

 

I only had my camera on my phone with me this morning but lets see if we can put a twist of a smile on an otherwise miserable day.

 

My wellies ....every girl needs a good photo of her wellies in a puddle....and a good splash too ;) 

 

The only colour is the dull wishy washy green of the rain soaked and sodden fields.

 

Good job nothing gets these two down, they are so happy wagging and splashing that the picture is all blurry, still some of the mud got washed off!

My Izabel just looking around for Defi who is in the woods behind following the pheasant, rabbit, squirrel, badger scent...there is never a shortage of wildlife scents around here.....

 



Ethereal trees just waiting for Spring.

 



 

Sludgy mud.  It might be grey and dull and miserable but you just can't beat the sound of walking through sludgy mud in wellie boots, that sucking and slopping sound followed by splashing in a puddle.......

Just to brighten up a dull and dreary day, have a look at these zingy beads, bold blues and lime greens.



Up for auction on eBay, just click the link below...

 



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291068364894?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

 

Blogger won't play fair this morning so the link is not pretty with a click 'here; thing, its the whole thing! 

 

 

Two words I hate......

Shopping.  Bra.

 

Or worse

 

Bra Shopping.

 

Firstly, I hate shopping.  Shopping in any kind.  I don't grocery shop.  I have a husband that does...he also cooks too but that is because I am rubbish at cooking and would live off toast or baked potato in the microwave, proper 'cooking' to me would be preparing a salad.  The closest I get to cooking is cleaning the oven and I have blown a few up just by cleaning them!

 

Then there is clothes shopping....  I would rather clean toilets.  I am a scruff by nature, the whole idea of getting dressed up for me is a clean pair of jeans and a top that has minimal dog hair on it with a pair of shoes I reserve for 'best'...the current pair now standing at almost 10 yrs old and in need of being replaced, but there is a few miles left in them yet.

 

Then....there is the whole matter of bra sizing.  Am I really the only woman in the world that just can't do this?  I tend to ask my husband to measure me, then you get the whole hand weighing business where he says 'about that much' although these days he tends to say 'about that much...and a bit'  and he has big hands!  It doesn't help when he is doing this comedy act around his middle, the idea being that age has had an impact on gravity.  Eventually he gets bored of this, and a few stern and filthy looks from me does help, and he gets out the tape measure and we go through the whole rigmarole of measuring finding a chart on the internet that I agree with and then me denying that I am that size and he has measured wrong.  After looking through the internet at the size I have now been measured and ungraciously agreed I 'might' be that size  - and it has to be said after disagreeing with him I made an appointment with the very nice staff at Marks and Spencers to be 'professionally measured' and she came to the same size and you can't shout and argue with a professional bra sizing lady!

 

So that brings me to looking at the various styles suitable for a lady of middle years who has had children so therefore, the elasticity in ones breasts it is safe to say has been better.  Something that is comfortable and yet pretty, sexy but not falling out of....

 

Who remembers the cross your heart bras?

Not exactly what I had in mind!  But it seems the norm for us older ladies with droopy boobs!

Still, thankfully I am not bra shopping...hooray.  So why the need to blog about bras you ask?

Because there is something more frightening to me than bra shopping for myself and that is my daughter (18) asking me to collect her from college at 1.30 this afternoon and go bra shopping with her...........gulp......

After flicking through Google, as you do I, came across a collection of fabulous bras...

Brilliant ...lunch in a bra!
http://www.teen.com/2012/07/09/quizzes-personality-trivia-teen-girls/fashion-beauty-style-personality-trivia-quizzes/katy-perry-3d-movie-style-personality-match-type-quiz/

 Ha! take your pets for a walk! web link

 

and who remembers the pointy bra from Madonna back in the 80's?  Well she got the idea from somewhere....

 

 

click here to take you to a page full of wacky bras!

 

So, today I will be shopping with my daughter, like a fish out of water I will be out of my depths in a fashion shop in my scruffy clothes and shoes that need replacing but are still comfortable, but before that I am donning those wellies and jeans with mud and paw prints on them and heading off to the river!

 

Laney x



Flowers, photos and housework!

I have a new camera, a Nikon D3200 in black according to the box, a newer - which means more buttons! - camera that gives better light and photos...according to the box.  Last week saw me swearing at the thing, the F scale that which measures light ....I was using the F for other words I can tell you, I almost had it then I lost it, finally I managed to take a decent photo but still it wasn't right, then I realized the ISO metering was off...what ever happened to point and shoot? 

 

 

I have tweaked and pressed a few more buttons over the weekend and the photos did improve but still they lacked that illusive light seemingly only achieved by professionals and nerds!

 

Today I am supposed to be cleaning house.  I started off with all good intentions, the living room is spick and span and shiny right down to the floors being mopped just don't look up I have since found a cobweb!  I still have the bedroom to go - if I don't hubby will not be too impressed to be sleeping on the floor as the bed needs making - and I might as well clean the bathroom whilst I am up there, I have already washed the bath mat and the mountain of towels, roll on summer when I can be in the garden and not notice the dust and cobwebbed ceilings and be too worn out sunkissed and back achey to worry about the bed covers....anyway I was supposed to be cleaning...

 

 

I got side tracked!

 

 

Started off with a cup of tea and some lunch after walking the dogs and ended up doing battle with the camera and by jove I think I have cracked it!!

 



Glass is a devil to photograph, hence the new camera hubby brought for himself and swapped with me as my one was just not performing the task...I have a good hubby :)

 

I made this focal bead a while ago but I am revisiting my flowers and after looking through the bead box I came across this gem and it really is a gem, made from silver glass, a glass I rarely use on account I burn it and its expensive!, this bead was inspired by a bubble bath soak...it was the picture on the bubble bath bottle :)

 



 

Currently up for auction over on eBay if you fancy a look.

This photo was another real devil to take so has been in the bead box for some time too, but just look my new camera really does do what it says on the box!  All of these photos have had nothing more done to them than cropping once I loaded them on the laptop.

 

Chuffed?  you bet I am.

 

Oh and its currently on eBay too!

 

Right I can hear the rubber gloves calling......

Stair rods are falling.....

 

Can you believe the weather?  Its raining stair rods this morning the lane is flooded the garden is boggy and the dogs still want to go out and I don't want too AND I have a hole in the side of my wellies!!  I suppose I ought to go really all that diet and exercise rubbish and I have just eaten a full English breakfast.

 

Diets.

 

I never make New Years Resolutions, don't really think they do much other than when you are in your late teens and alcohol is fuelling those fabulous ideas at 5 to midnight but this year I decided to make a quiet...so quiet I didn't tell a soul...... but I decided to diet.  Nothing too drastic, just a cut out of this here and cut down of that there and no drinking on a week night...that didn't last!  I did excel myself this time though and my diet did last longer than before.  Before, I made it to lunchtime this time I actually did a whole day!

 

I am still drinking on a week night.

 

Its the end of January and I haven't stood on the scales but I just know that nothing has been lost...dieting is over rated I was destined to live as a beauty from the 19th Century all buxom and curvy.

 

 

Edgar Degas The Opera Singer

 

Edgar Degas is one of my favourite painters, I love the work of the Impressionists and none of the models are twigs!

 

Hippy and happy...and heading out into the stair rods!

 



The beginning.....

Years ago when I was first married I kept a diary, a bit hit and miss but more consistent than my blog, full of daily musings, trials, errors, tears and giggles.

 

I was walking this morning, as normal, down at the river and decided my blog needed an overhaul, as you do when you wrapped up in layers of jumpers, hats, scarves and gloves...and its not that cold today so I did end up doing the usual strip tease half way across the fields and trying to stuff gloves, hats and scarves into limited pockets on a chunky jacket the overall effect making me look even fatter, frumpier and definitely lumpier.... so there I was stripping off, losing dogs in the bushes and almost ending up face down in the sloppy mud when Roxy the lurcher (not mine) came racing towards us on the narrow part of the walk between the orchard and the sheer drop down to the river, to play with Defi (mine).  Much mud splattering later, three dogs happily covered in slob and sludge with tongues hanging out, I said good bye to Roxy's lady - I don't bother to learn the names of the humans! - and carried on with my musings.

 

Did a blog really need lots of pictures?  Did my blog really mean to be a blog to promote my glass and art?  Can't I just chat to myself, muse away and try and rekindle the diary of years ago, but this time bore the pants of the world and share it?

 

So I made a decision to not  use this blog as a platform for advertising my 'stuff'...but if you want to look check out my Etsy shop  or my beads in my Ebay listings - old habits die hard!  Instead I am going back to basics and swopping pens and old journals for this old laptop covered in drool...that's the cat not me, he dribbles part of his 'condition' or disability, call it what you will, I just call him Gordy.

 

Just so you are well aware and can switch off at anytime, I am boring with a capital B...dull as dishwater as my husband is quite fond of saying, the bins go out more than me, and they do!  If it wasn't for the daily dog walk down at the river I would be akin to a vampire and never see sunlight mind the dreary grey days at the moment I am a bluddy vampire anyway when was the last time we saw sunlight?

 

Now my kids have grown up...which is a contradiction in terms at the moment as my 20 year old son and I are at a stand off and not speaking which leads me to wonder how old he is as he is acting like a 6 year old that has been told no you are not having sweets today...so now they have grown up and I really only do the usual nagging (limited nagging if you ask me, horrendous amount if you talk to anyone inside these walls) climb the mountain of washing, which stinks to the heavens as my son is a farm labourer and apparently its quite fine to dump your clothes with cow poop on the floor of the utility room leaving the door open so the dogs and the cat can enjoy sampling the free treat and I can then nag (I don't think so!) oh yes and wash! ...don't even get me started on the daughter...but then we are friends at the moment, mind that can all change in a heartbeat too.

 

.........so now I have more time on my hands I tend to hide in my shed and melt glass, when I am not procrastinating, which is another favourite of mine, or faffing with Iz, Defi and Gordy.

So, I am not very adventurous...ok I did dye my hair purple just recently but other than that nothing more exciting than choosing whether to wear the pink wellie socks or the black ones...thermal socks .....warm toes....I know how to live.

Of to the shed.

 



Grow your Blog event January 2014

 

I am determined to use my blog better this year so I have joined up to Grow my Blog with 2 Bags Full 

 

To begin with we have to introduce ourselves, so a bit of waffling with a few pictures...I can do that...so why am I doing it last minute as always? 

 

To help me do this quick I am going to do it with pictures and few words, I am that woman of a few words ask anyone...except the husband and the kids and really anyone that knows me!

 

 

That me above...ahem...ok so its not, that is my youngest, my beautiful daughter who turned 18 at Christmas, I looked like this about 20 odd years ago if you squinted and wore dark glasses!

 

This is Defi.  He is my youngest Golden Retriever at 4 in February, he has been with us for 3 yrs now and is a mummys boy who walks around with a comfort blankie and loves cuddles.

 

This is my Izabel, and is why I am Izzybeads.  She is the only dog we have ever had from a puppy, and is the last puppy, boy they are hard work!  I am a rescue and rehome house all the way!!  Izabel is gorgeous but she does prefer the dirty and matted look no amount of grooming and care can make this dog stay fluffy and clean!

Ok, this one is me, but is 20 yrs...or so...ago.  I am with my boys, my beautiful faithful Ricky, the German Shepherd, and my son, the same son that turned 20 at Christmas...yes I know Christmas babies, but then my birthday is March.....the joke is on me! 

 

The daily walk.  I took this photo last week, the mist was low over the river - that's the River Wye just to the right of the picture - and the sun was trying to burn through, was a glorious morning walk.

 

For those that don't know the River Wye is in Hereford in the UK.  I live 5 mins walk from this beauty spot.

 



What do I do?  Well, I draw, you can find my prints at Canine Cavern as well as some of my beads and bits.  More about those in a minute.  My first love of art was drawing, I have doodled my way into my....later years....I have no formal training just a love of doing.

 



My current love.  Glass!  I love glass I love to sculpt it.  Originally I wanted to be more realistic in my glass work, but everything came out whimsy so I stopped trying to change it and went with the flow, everything I make is designed to brighten your day and make you smile.

 



 

My glass is sold in my Etsy shop Izzybeads

 

My beads are designed to display as sculptures but I also make them to wear, sometimes I just get a bit carried away and keep adding sticky out bits!

 



 

 

 

Really there is not much to tell about me, I am a wife of 20 yrs with a very supportive husband, a mother of now grown children although they still live at home and make more mess now than when they were little and I create...well it keeps me out of trouble!

 

 

 We have always had animals.  We had chooks (chickens) until Foxy Loxy came and ate them, we live very rural here in beautiful Herefordshire surrounded by farmland, its idyllic and peaceful.  I am a real home body that can't cook!  My husband does all the cooking and shopping as I am completely rubbish at that, but I do occasionally run the hoover round and in the summer I grow veggies and tend our big garden with the help of my furry four paws.

 

Our newest recruit to the house is our Gordy.  Yes that's him in the washing machine, he uses it like a hamster uses a wheel.  Our Gordy is a bit of a celebrity, he has a huge following on FB, he is my beautiful boy, my British Shorthaired Black and Silver Tabby cat...and he has brain damage.  Gordy has been with us now for 5 months and is the baby of the house loved and adored by us all he doesn't have good balance and falls off of everything, he has no fear so can do silly things like sit on the cooker when its hot or try and sit in the coal fire, and he dribbles..alot...but as you can see we love him anyway, all of us.  He claim to fame is that he was featured in the January edition of Cat World, he is a real life superstar!

 

This picture is just because I like it!

 

So that's me Laney of Izzybeads

 

 

You can find me around the web, on my Facebook page in my Etsy shop and hopefully more often here!

 

Now I am off to have a look at the other Grow your bloggers.

 

Laney x

 

List of other bloggers involved in the Grow your Blog event are found here

 

Vicki 2 Bags Full

 



Wishing for sunshine

 

I am wishing the Winter away, especially this rain, more expected today what a gloomy forecast, the fields can't take anymore rain and the drains are bubbling and gurgling at full capacity.  I always find I am drawn to bright reds and yellows and oranges when the winter starts closing in on me.

 

 

Check out the flip flops on this dragon....hehehe...

If you go down to the beach today....wear your thermals its bitter here on the UK beaches this time of year...you might find Doris Dragon in her yellow polka dot bikini with her shades on her very own sand dune complete with molluscs, seaweed, and star fish.

 

 

61 days and 16 hours until Spring...whose counting?

 



Sunday morning

What a beautiful start to the day here at the river Wye in Hereford early Sunday morning.

Time flies

New year already where did 2013 go?

I have some big plans for 2014 don't we all in January?  I want to do so many things creatively and now I have found my niche in my art I am ready to exploit it further.  After years of being true and slavishly following photo realism my drawing has taken on its own way and my doodles have become art in themselves and I want to do more.  The stories that I attach to the beads and consequently to the drawings or is that the other way around...seem to have found their own momentum away from the reality that is life and into their own world of fantasy and the childhood world that never grew up maybe there is a book in me after all that would be a dream for filled for me.