January's Spring Clean.

 Blowing the dust of my blog is just one of the areas I have been Spring cleaning in my life since we stepped into 2016. The kids are still refusing to leave home and now even talk about the high cost of rent and how they have an easier time at home with servants... that would be me then, chief washer upper, clothes picker upper, clothes washer, hoover pusher, but not shopper or cook as those skills still elude me.  One of my new ideas for this brand new year, is to learn to cook, last year (2015) I actually conquered the intricacies of cooking an omelette and to date I have cooked at least three, one of which my son actually said was good.  He was starving at the time, been at work for 12 hours and was chilled to the bone and just wanting food, but I will take my cooking compliments where I can get them.

Last week I got stuck into clearing the wardrobe, ten years of piling 'stuff' in a walk in triple doored cupboard of a wardrobe, in a modern house it would be called the small bedroom.  I love this space and have used it to store an air-con unit my husband insisted on getting back in 2008 (or so) which was probably only used that one summer and since been stored due to lack of summer heat.  On top of the air con unit is Aslan, a massive handmade (6ft with tail) lion that was made for me when I was a child and I refuse to throw away so Aslan has been carted from one side to the country to another and stuffed in a variety of wardrobes and under beds.

Charley at 17

Charley approx 1 year old.

With Aslan and other stuffed toys I can't part with including my kids first teddies from when they were small, is shoes, camping equipment, a plastic skeleton for Halloween, the carved wooden elephant chair with the rattan seat my husband inherited from his Grandmother when she died, thought to be worth something but its one of those 'pick one up from eBay for £50 on a good day pieces of furniture....  old canvas' from my painting days amongst the discarded dog hairs that are embarrassingly large balls of hairy dust and the big box of photos and things that I have kept from the early 1990's when my kids were born.  The first paintings, old school reports and lots of photos of my daughter (and son!) which show her off to be the ugly bug she was as a baby.  Charley, my daughter, was helping me sort through the wardrobe, she was instrumental in getting me to throw away most of my clothes that were outdated, threadbare, washed out and seriously tired.  She moaned at me a lot that day for not wearing the lovely collection of clothes she has brought for me over the last 12 months, her being the shopper of the family.  We laughed at her in the photos, covered in chocolate, sat in the washing basket, or my favourite of her in the garden trug looking miserable and fed up - she still hates being outdoors in the fresh air doing jobs around the garden and at 20 can honestly say she has never cut the grass!  That saying, ugly baby beautiful child, is right from an ugly bug she did turn out ok.

Some one cute and dribbly just laughed and laughed... and kept out of the way of any clearing out. 

 Gordy plays a huge part in my life as does Teeko, Izabel and Defi, both the latter having been in the wars this week, Iz has a black eye from a fight down at the river (which she didn't start) and Defi managed to catch his nail on one of his front paws the following day and has been limping, when you stand near the treat box,  when he thinks he might get some sympathy.

Teeko has been snoozing on top of the fish tank letting the heat warm his old bones.

So this blog is going to about them and me, what we get up too, the trials and tribulations of living with an older cat, a cat with special needs, one dog with separation anxiety and the other that loves to roll in ..... stuff!

Until next time from Dust, Dribble and Dog hairs, long may the hoover suck! 

Morning snuggle

Keyrings and prints

 Now available in keyrings too.

 

Get yours at Canine Cavern ..... I am really excited about this new venture and returning to my artist roots and my pencils.  Next year I will be adding many more to the collection and thanks to Carolyn at Canine Cavern I now have an outlet for my work.

 

You can also visit my Izzybeads Facebook page for more information and pictures. 

In the bin

Cockerel

Bottoms up

Please don't disturb

Winter blues, squelching mud and dumplings.

I don't mind Winter, as long as I am indoors!  My daughters birthday is the 22nd Dec the shortest day of the year (could be the 21st but I use her birthday) and after that its longer days, I really look forward to that the promise of sunshine and long days in the garden.

I like driving in snow as long as no one else is on the road and I love deliberately skidding in the car down our icy lanes, I love the feel of the slide, only if no one else is around though and the only thing I can hit is the hedge!  I would really like to have a go on a professional skid pan and I am determined one day to do doughnuts complete with smoke and squealing tyres.

I love coal fires and drawing the blinds when it gets dark so its all snug and cosy, long hot soaks in the bubbly bath with a good book, thick stews with dumplings and thick baggy jumpers that hide the rolls consistent with eating too many dumplings!  I am not so keen on wet stinky dogs after a trudge through sludgy fields, even though I quite like the sound of the squelch when the wellie boots sink in the sludgy mud.  I hate cold feet, but love a tingly cold nose feeling and I hate the fact that my clothes are dried in the tumble dryer and not on the line.

Today though the sun is shinning and the little robins are perched up on the leafless trees and singing loudly, I had a nice walk down by the river with patches of frost on the less exposed areas of grass, Defi rolled in the muddy puddles and chased the birds across the empty field, the only noise heard was that of the robin and the squelching of the mud.

Prints of 'Please don't disturb me' are now available to buy at Canine Cavern all designed and drawn by me.

 

Old Mog Claude

Claude

My old man Claudey, when he curls up like this in front of the hearth in the kitchen, I can forgive him for all the poops that don't make it to the tray.  I do moan and groan at his furry little self when I am cleaning up yet another round of poop, but, at 22 years he is still the most handsome mog, a bit bony, half blind, deaf geriatric, but he is our Claude, the one and only.

 

Lx



Its been a while.....

A few things have changed since my last blog, we have had Christmas, New Year, birthdays - both my children, one turned 19 the other 17, a wedding - my brother in law got married on New Years Eve, my sons birthday, was a busy day and I did end up with a slight headache the next morning!  We have had a divorce in the family, and sadly a death.  On December 16th we lost our lovely mog Megan.  We were sad for her to go over Rainbow Bridge but happy that we had so many long years with her and she passed peacefully in her sleep.  She was about 23, and had lived with us for at least 19/20 of those years. 

RIP Little Megan

So, old Claude is now on his own, not very gracefully going into old age.  He is suffering with renal failure and bad eyesight and an over active thyroid, but we still love him, even if he does manage to miss the litter tray every time he wants a poop!  We are giving him lots of love and attention and he is loving it!

Our Claude a few years ago now!



 

So, onto bead news!  I have had an article published in the Soda Lime Times a brilliant e-magazine edited by the lovely Diane, who does a wonderful job in filling the magazine with lots of beautiful photographs of simply stunning beads and talented artists from around the world, and I currently writting tutorials and articles for publication in other magazines, so a new venture for the New Year for me. 

Bead fairs start again this Sunday, my first bead fair of the year being in Kempton Park Racecourse, Sunbury.  Doors open at 10am and I have lots of bums and dragons and flowers to take with me, as well as some fused glass cabochons for all the jewellery designers out there.

To end my first blog of 2013, some more news!  I have signed up to the 7th Bead Soup Blog Party, click the link to read all about it.  I have followed a few of the other blog parties and not been brave enough to join in, but this year I took the plunge and signed up.  Should be great fun!

Laney x 

Festive spirit...not the drinking kind!!

 

I have been experimenting with 2D bead designs.

 

Yesterday I sat and made these cute Christmas beads into bag charms.  I am doing a local church fair tomorrow (Saturday 17th November) and thought they would be fun.  I found in my stash some silver tone Christmas trees and some really cute silver tone bells, like what you would get on a cats collar, added some bright white ribbon bows, red beads from a big bag of bead soup that I got from my friend Cazz aka Beadercollie

 

and Voila! bag charms.

 

 

The picture is a little rubbish as its just a quick snap shot!

 

I loved making these so much that I am already designing more 2D design beads for alternative, non festive, bag charms.  Who fancies a mog or a dog or a dragon....the possibilities are endless!

 

Laney x

Where do you get yours?

Inspiration, that is.

I read lots, from fantasy to fables, novels to comics, childrens books, they have the best pictures, to classic literature, poetry plays..I read everything, except cookery books, I loathe cookery books, because I loathe cooking.  My husband finally banned me from the kitchen last week, after setting fire to a tea towel and welding egg onto the hob, but that is another story!  Thankfully, he loves to cook and is good at it.

So.  Other than reading, where else do I get my inspiration from?  Funny tales I hear from other people, of minor catastrophes that morph into funny cartoon beads, and pictures.  All pictures.  I have boxes of photographs, from back in the day when you developed film, all the animals I have loved and now lost, the kids growing up, holidays, gardens, lots of pictures.  I also have pictures on my laptop, sadly I have lost as many as I have kept due to not backing up my systems often enough.   And the internet. 

I love the wildlife websites, National Geographic being one, and just recently this one, Project Noah  This is a great website, with fabulous pictures of all wildlife, fungi and plants.  I found this fabulous guy on there, he is gorgeous...



Philippine Eagle
http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/8050935

Isn't he gorgeous?  Have a little look on the website, its brilliant, lots of lovely pictures.

Another picture to finish off and one that is exclusively mine...well whom else has a chicken in a bowl of water in the utility room sink, being stared at by an old mog?

Claude and Dave

Dave sadly, passed away not long after this picture was taken, nothing to do with the bath I assure you.  I was told to place her in a bowl of warm water, chooks love this when they are feeling unwell, it can revive them, and it did Dave for a few days, but sadly she didn't make it.  Still its a fab picture and a treasured memory, perhaps there is a chook in a bowl coming to an Etsy shop near you!!

For some of my inspired beads! visit my Etsy shop

Laney x
 

Knobs...not those knobs...these knobs....

Puddy Tat drawer knob, available on Etsy



Its official...I am into knobs, big ones little ones...be good here...just glass ones ;O)

This cute, especially designed by me, drawer knob will just be purr-fect for that piece of furniture that needs a twist of humour.

Available in my Etsy shop, just click the link under the pic :O)

Toadstool drawer knob, available on Etsy

Also available to decorate and personalize those drawers, is this fab Toadstool knob.  Bright, fun, whimsy and fab!

Just click on the link below the pic to take you to Izzybeads .

Right I am off into the shed to make more knobs, got the bug now...oooo, bug knob.....

Laney x

Animal gods, mythology and me.

Goddess Bastet in my Etsy Shop

083, a photo by Izzybeads on Flickr.

I love mythology, but then I love stories too.  When I was a little girl I had a fabulous book on Aesops Fables, and I still have it somewhere on the dusty bookshelves in my daughters bedroom.

Aesop was a Greek story teller and slave who lived in Ancient Greece around 620 - 560 BC, so a while back!

Fables are like our modern day fairy stories with animals being anthropomorphized (my favourite word ever!) 

Myths and legends also tell of anthropomorphized animals, with many gods and goddesses taking on animal characteristics akin to the strengths, or weaknesses, of the god or goddess.

Goddess Bastet, the Ancient Egyptian Goddess of music, dancing and pregant women, she is depicted as having the body of a woman and the head of a domestic house cat.  I found this wonderful link to famous moggies (another favourite word to describe cats, I always refer to our old geriatrics as mogs, which is an old word from the North of England, but that is another blog post for another day...)

To read more about the Goddess Bastet, click this link to the Famous Moggies

Check out my Etsy shop to see my Goddess Bas[tet] - she is known by both names.

A quick reminder that in just 10 days, a few of us lampworkers are gathering together to raise money and awareness for Beads of Courage, Children with Cancer.  I have a donate button at the top of my blog, if you want to donate to this very worthwhile cause.  Be Child Cancer Aware - Beads of Courage 

Laney x