...and the winner of the prize draw is...

....................Trudy!


Thank you to everyone who took part, please keep an eye on my blog as they will be more before Christmas.

Prize Draw - Tirage au sort

I am organising a prize draw!
The bead set that you might win is shown below. This is a set of 18 tiny beads made in silver glass.

Send me an email with your name (or any name that you will recognize if you do not prefer to have your name published in my blog, should you be the winner) and 'Prize draw' in the subject line.


My email address is : millbank.cottage@dsl.pipex.com

I will draw a name at the end of October.



J'organise un tirage au sort.

Contactez-moi par email avec votre nom ou pseudo en précisant dans le sujet qu'il s'agit du tirage au sort.
Le tirage du gagnant pour le set ci-dessus aura lieu à la fin du mois d'Octobre.

Blowing my own trumpet!

I am one of six people whose work (my carnelian galaxy bead) has been showcased on the weekly 'Beader's Showcase'!

I am delighted at this!

Here is a link for everybody interested: http://www.beadersshowcase.com/

The Scottish bead fair (and all the excitement) is over!!!

We started the day early and even had to get the kiddies out of bed (a first! as they are the ones who usually throw us out of bed at the crack of dawn!) and drove down to Fife to drop them off at their uncle Davy, auntie Jill and cousins' house for a day of fun.

We then swiftly made our way to Perth and felt very pleased and smug to have made it just in time (we have always been late on previous occasions...) only to realise that we forgot to take some very nice beads with us (the sea/rock pool themed beads pictured in my previous post)...

We felt a little bit down about forgetting the beads (a lot of work went into the beads and the accompanying display) but we set up our stand, the doors opened, everybody came in and the day soon brightened up.

It was busy day, with a steady stream of people throughout the afternoon. It was a pleasure as usual to speak to so many people who share my interest in beads and jewellery.

The fair is over now and once I have tidyed up my house (which looks like a bombsite at the moment) I will look forward to a little bit of time-off after an extremely busy month of August.

My website will be updated shortly with new beads, plus the nice beads I forgot to take at the bead fair and I will try to add new beads to it on a more regular basis.

Thanks to everybody who stopped to chat and especially to everybody who purchased my handmade lampwork beads.

A very quick post...

I am still here ...just very busy preparing for the Scottish Bead Fair in Perth on Sunday and doing some very interesting things like going to a class with Claudia Trimbur-Pagel who I think is one of the best and most creative glass artist in the world. (Check her website here to see her beautiful beads).

I had a fantastic time...nice studio, wonderful teacher and very lovely people. The class was in Dublin at Cadenza studio.

Here are some pictures of beads I have made for the bead fair on Sunday.

Holidays are over - Les vacances sont finies

It has been one month already and we are preparing our suitcases to return to Scotland on Thursday for a very busy but exciting month of August.

I will be an exhibitor at the Scottish Bead Fair in Perth on the 30th of August. I do not have very many beads at the moment, so I am going to have to have to torch very hard to build up my stock and keep my website and etsy shop going at the same time. That is on top of my other occupation which consists of writing databases (I much prefer making beads).

On the 26th of August, I am going to Dublin to attend a week-end class with the very talented and unique Claudia Trimbur-Pagel. I am very excited about this class and I cannot wait.

I will also have to entertain Téo and Juliette (my two kiddies) until the 18th of August when school starts again.
Juliette will start her first year in primary school.

Finally, there is also the fact that we have started a few DIY projects in our house which is in total chaos at the moment, but I guess this is not a priority and tidying up can wait for a little while. I am definitely not a domestic godess! :-D

Promenade dans le jardin - A walk in the garden

Mes parents sont des amateurs de jardinage. J'aime découvrir les nouveautés chaque fois que je reviens en été.

My parents are keen gardeners. I like discovering the new additions to their garden when I come home in the summer.

Une jachère fleurie

I have no idea what this might translate into in English! (I need to do a bit of research).

La maison des insectes pour favoriser l'implantation d'insectes polénisateurs.
The insect house to help pollinating insects settle down in the garden.

Une des deux maisons pour les hérissons.
One of the two hedgehogs house.

La maison des enfants,complètement meublée.

The fully furnished children's (play)house.