Sort and organize

The lovely spring-like weather we've been having recently has inspired me to spring clean my workroom and organize my beads and findings for a better workflow. So pleased with the new storage boxes I got from my local DIY store:

Bead candy

Sorted by finish: my bronze box

Bead addiction

Some of my lovely new aquisitions:

The above two gorgeous color mixes I bought from Millefiori in Gothenburg.

Swarovski beads in the new shades of Denim Blue (bicones) and Padparadscha (lg heart) and sweet lilac foiled rocailles from Canvas, Gothenburg

These beauties are HUGE. From Westers in Jönköping.

New paper and a flower shape cutter. Paper roses from Toytime, Habo.

The glass rocailles made a lovely heart for my friend E's birthday.

A Good Read

Just finished reading one of those books that you never want to come to an end. A brilliant read. It was this one:

Day in Gothenburg

Alice and I had a great day out shopping during the half-term break in Gothenburg recently. I visited several beads shops and Alice bought clothes and crystals. There are so many cute, boutique-style shops in the Haga district:

Millefiori on Linnégatan is great for beads, and Canvas is just around the corner (lots of seed beads and Swarovski). We also stocked up on Cadbury's Cream Eggs at the English Shop.

 

Recharging our batteries with tea and hot chocolate...

When the shops started to close, we trekked across town to the Gothenburg Museum of Art, Göteborgs Konstmuseum which was open till late that day.

It's hard to convey in a photo just how huge this exhibit of a plaster-cast rotating pole-dancer was. I would guess about 15 ft high....

 

 

 

All in all, a great day!

Hope Street

One of my favorite photos of Alice, taken on a trip to the UK, Dec 2011.

Random buys and my first wholesale order...

I'm now on the craft show circuit until Xmas and something I like to do is buy a souvenir from each craft show I do. The first is a cute little ceramic bird that I couldn't resist, bought from pottery artist Majlis Elgåker at Konstfest Spinnet, Habo. He now resides on my bead-room window sill:

My neighbour at the YMCA craft show last weekend in Bankeryd Carines Virkade Kakor sold gorgeous crocheted cakes. I had to treat myself to the most Swedish of cakes, a princess cake:

On another note, my first wholesale order has now been delivered to Fröken Frö, Habo. I'm so excited that my jewelry is going to be sold there! The shop has now moved to the high street in Habo so the address given on her website here is the old one. Here's a little taster of my items:

Craft Show at Spinnet 2011

It hardly seems like a year since I did my very first craft show, at the old wool mill in Habo, Spinnet. Now I'm there for the second time. Such a lot has happened in the year that has passed and my full-time bead business and jewellery webshop joony.se are now officially up and running!

Here's a little taste of the photography and jewellery that I'm displaying this year. And if you are in the area, you're welcome and take a look in person. Carina who runs the café makes a great apple cake, so it's worth making the trip for that alone! Konstfest runs until October 9, 12pm-7pm every day.

Back to school

This weekend was the official opening of the huge new primary school that they have built down the road from us. They had an open day for the general public to come and have a look round. It was very impressive and miles away from the dingy primary schools I remember from my childhood. I snapped some photos on my phone.

The art gallery-like main entrance

 No narrow, dark corriders here

Each class had its own entrance and each classroom had a door out to the yard, with benches and tables so that the children could work outside.

The whole school was decorated in fresh lime and white. Even the kitchen staff all had matching lime t-shirts.

 Many classrooms had smartboards

 

I have never been in - or worked in - a teacher's room this big! And every teacher's room had a little kitchen. And a kettle!

The main building is shaped like an E, and at the end of each of the 3 blocks there is an after-school club. At the top of these stairs.....

 ..... was a chill-out area for the kids.


The best bit of course was the yummy carrot cake on offer in the cafeteria