Xanadu

I love learning new words. Obviously I've heard of Xanadu, as in the place and also as in the film and the Olivia Newton-John and ELO song, but today I discovered that it's the name of a colour too.

While I was searching for a name for these beads, looking at paint charts and colour swatches, I happened across xanadu which is a grey-green. The colour is named after Philodendron xanadu which is a plant with grey-green leaves. The history of the colour is fascinating and if you like you can read more about it here.

These 'Xanadu' beads have cores of CiM Foam that I've encased with Effetre Dark Steel Grey 088, some heavily and some thinly, and the decoration is Effetre Pearl Grey 268.

The beads are currently available in my shop and tumble-etching is available for them at no extra cost.

I saw Squeeze and Badly Drawn Boy last night. Squeeze are big supporters of the Trussell Trust and they arrange collections at their gigs. As a foodbank volunteer I got to go along to the Cambridge Corn Exchange last night to collect cash and food donations.

I wasn't expecting many cans of beans and tins of sardines but we ended up with heaps of foodstuffs kindly donated by the audience. I also got to watch a bit of Badly Drawn Boy's set and most of Squeeze's and both were bloody marvellous. What a treat!

'Daydream' shimmy bracelet

There was going to be two bracelets today, one of them a gold one, but the gold chain I ordered is way too chunky for my liking and the beads don't sit nicely on it so I've sourced some other chain elsewhere and am now waiting for it to arrive, so it's just this 'Daydream' one instead.

The colours in this shimmy bracelet remind me of sweets, fizzy bath bombs, pink-toned sunrises and unicorn-related gubbins. The glasses I used for this one are CiM Douglas Aster and Dollhouse Milky, and Effetre EDP 254, Light Sky Blue 224 and Dark Lavender 081.

All metal is high quality silver plated base metal which is lead-free and nickel safe. The bracelet is in my shop as I type this. I've reduced the prices of a few jewellery items so do pop over there and have a look-see.

In other news, it was my birthday on Saturday. Chris and I had a quiet day but on the Sunday we met my littlest sister, Emily, and her fiancé, Adam, in London as they'd got me tickets to see Ash as my birthday present.

The gig was to celebrate the 21st anniversary of their album Free All Angels which means that it's been twenty-one years since I last saw them, which was in Cardiff when the album was new.

Em and her youthful glam face,
me and my aged un-glam one

The gig was at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town which is a lovely little venue. The show was great and a highlight for me was Ash playing A Life Less Ordinary which is, as Emily would say, a banger.

If you've not enetered my prize draw yet you've still got time; I'll be drawing the winner of the lonelies beads tomorrow. Head this way to add your name to the hat.

Marvellous Mister Minchin

That there is Tim Minchin and on Thursday night Chris and I went to see him and the Heritage Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall in our nation's capital.  I'm not fibbing or exaggerating when I tell you that the show was one of the best things I've ever seen in my whole entire thirty-three-and-a-bit years of life.  It was astounding.

I've only ever seen the Royal Albert Hall from the outside and on the television and that magnificent building is a wonder in itself.  I snapped a few pictures on my iPhone; the one above shows the Hall from the outside and the one below is inside, looking up.

The following picture was taken before the show started and you can see that we had a good view of Tim and his piano:

If you're familiar with the work of Mister Minchin you'll know that he combines comedy with his own music.  If you've not seen him or heard his songs, here is his YouTube channel but be warned - there will be swears. Minchin really is quite the musical genius and his lyrics and wordplay are amazing.  His songs cover a wide range of subjects - social satire and religion (Minchin is an atheist) are two favourites.  Tim also writes the most beautiful love songs.  The wonderful Heritage Orchestra added another dimension to Tim's already excellent songs and I had quite a few hairs-on-the-back-of-my-neck moments.  I laughed and I also cried.

The night was just superb and I cannot wait to see Mister Minchin again. In fact, the show we saw was being recorded for a DVD so we should be able to relive the whole experience again very soon.

Yippee!

Boppin'

I got an iTunes gift card for my birthday last week and with it I have bought Mika's new album 'The Boy Who Knew Too Much' and it is rather spectacular! I have listened to his first album a squillion times so a whole new wodge of Mika music is a real treat. Thank goodness for digital music because if we were back in the early 90s and we still had cassettes then I would have worn 'Life In Cartoon Motion' out by now!

The new album really is fabulous - plenty of beadmaking-chair-boppin' is happening along to 'We Are Golden' and 'Blame It On The Girls'. Happy tunes!

I'll be back later today with beads .....

'In The Zone' Beads

I love to make these. I find their symmetry soothing and placing all those dots gets quite hypnotic. I could sit and make these kind of beads for hours and hours on end. I had my iPod on while I was creating these - Kaiser Chiefs, if you're interested. Their new album is pretty dang brilliant!

'Rhapsody In Pink'

I had my classical music album on while I was making these (I've got eclectic taste in music, me) and when I heard Gershwin's fabulous Rhapsody In Blue I knew that these beads would have to be called 'Rhapsody In Pink'. I think the name suits them.

I had more spider hassle today. It was a different one from yesterday - he was about three times the size! There was no way I could have worked in the shed with it there so I went and got Andrew, my next door neighbour, to come and evict it for me. Andrew was telling me about how he got bitten by a spider once. Bitten. By a spider. In his house. Next door. That is scary and way too close for comfort!

Canned Heat

I've been making beads to the sounds of Jamiroquai today. One of my favourite Jamiroquai tunes is Canned Heat and whenever I hear it I always think of the dance scene in Napoleon Dynamite. I love that movie! If you've never seen Napoleon's dance, take a look at the video above. His moonboots are ace!

I'll post again later tonight with bead photos . . . . .