LONG TIME GONE...

Unreal banana peel!!  And I thought it was a long time between posts last time!! How slack am I???
I really will make a concerted effort to post more often again, but maybe not until after Christmas.  And hasn't that snuck up quickly???? It only feels like it was a month ago.. 

Anyway, I really wanted to share some fantastic news I got last week.

Coatings by Sandberg are the BEST dichroic glass manufacturers in the U.S. and every year (for the last few anyway) they have this huge dichroic glass competition with entries from all around the world.  It has many different sections in which you can enter ~ and jewelry is one of them....YAY!!!!
This is the prime reason I wanted to learn how to bead!!  I had this idea for the competition but it depended on me being able to do certain things myself.  I had no idea if it would work and actually look alright, so after ripping it out a couple of times I did manage to bring what I saw in my head into being.  This is also the very first time I attempted to do bead embroidery.
OK ~ enough waffling on and I'll cut to the chase ~ I placed third in this competition with this piece!!!!  

You have no idea how happy I am!!!!  Grinning like a total idiot every time I think about it!!!!!

If you'd like to see the other entries ~ and they are pretty incredible ~ this link  will zoom you over there.