Bead Retreat - Northern Ireland

Some info about a Bead Weaving Retreat taking place near Coleraine on Friday 30 Sept and Sat 1 October.  Sounds like a fab weekend.

Magpie Crafts

Beadwork Retreat

Friday 30^th September and 1^st October 2011

The retreat is for all levels of bead workers, we have something for everyone.

Beginners and Improvers: We will cover four different techniques which will enable you to make a number of jewellery/decorative items to take home. Tutor: Marion Coupe

Intermediate: Building upon your knowledge, there will be a lovely piece of jewellery for you to work on, with expert guidance from Tutor: Jean Kerr.

Experienced: Pamela Campbell has designed a piece especially for the retreat, you will be the first to make this fabulous item.

The Beadwholesaler has kindly offered to sponsor one of the Beginners sessions, they will also have their range of Miyuki beads and other bead work related items for sale throughout the 2 days

The cost of the retreat is £60.00 for the 2 days.  This includes all materials, tuition over 4 sessions and written instructions, light lunch each day and all other refreshments throughout the day.

The retreat will be held here in Macosquin, for those wishing to stay over night, accommodation is available at Kings Country Cottages at an extra cost.

If you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me:

Marion Coupe on 028070321131 or mobile:07802248679

*Light lunch will be a selection of homemade vegetarian soups, crusty roll and homemade cakes.

My Nephew's Birthday Party

A great day at my nephew's birthday - he will be 6 tomorrow - I can't believe it - where does the time go?

As you can see there was face painting - also a bouncy castle and bouncy slide, some football was played and there were burgers, hot dogs, sweets, buns, cake - delish!

A Great Party!

Folksy Friday - 26 August 2011

My nephew M's birthday is soon - for my Folksy Friday I've picked items suitable for him.











I love the colourful pressies and card, so much choice on Folksy.  Click on any of the pictures to go direct to the Folksy Shop.

Folksy Friday - 19 August 2011

My big brother's birthday is in August, I don't buy birthday presents anymore but if I did these would be perfect.











It can be difficult to buy for men but there are brill ideas on Folksy.  What do you buy for the men in your life?

Two new pieces of jewellery in My Folksy Shop

I've listed two new pieces of jewellery in my Folksy Shop.

A bracelet

 and necklace in beautiful purple seed beads embellished with purple glass chip beads.

Although they look like they would be heavy to wear they are actually very lightweight and tactile. 

Please visit my Folksy Shop to see more.

Jewellery Display Stand

A few posts ago I mentioned a lovely jewellery display stand my sister-in-law bought for me.  I've finally taken some photos of it - I love it.

In the first two photos it looks like a dress mannequin but the third photo shows one of my handcrafted beaded necklaces for scale.

What do you think of it?

Gosford Forest Park, Markethill, Co Armagh

http://www.gosford.co.uk/

A fab day out with my rambling friends.  The weather was changeable but our motto is 'Hope for the best and prepare for the worst' so we are ready for whatever the weather !

Gosford Forest Park is huge with lots of walks, of varying lengths through the forest.  Lots and lots of trees - our ramble leader Mark took a particular liking for this one -

There is a sundial in a little seating area, unfortunately the gnomon - the shadow casting part is missing but the sentiment on the dial is lovely.

It's in french but I think it says - time flies but friends remain.

There are various archways, ponds, rivers and bridges throughout the forest - all very scenic.

 My rambling friend, N, on one of the bridges.

There are also deer, goats and chickens.  A large herd of red deer - grazing close to the path - lovely to watch.

We always end our rambles with an evening meal in a local restaurant - today we visited the Old Courthouse in Markethill.  Highly, highly recommended, probably one of the best meals we have had with the Ramblers,  do pay a visit if you are in the area.

What did you do this weekend?

Success !

From January to June this year I attend South Eastern Regional College to complete a City and Guilds teaching adult learners' course - PTTLS - Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learner Sector.

I thoroughly enjoyed the course, the other students were great fun, with different plans for their teaching careers which was so interesting.  A lot of work involved in the course but very worthwhile.

I am so pleased to say I was successful and passed the course and received my certificate to prove it.

My longterm plan is to teach beadweaving to adults, I've held some workshops in an informal basis to gain experience and I completed this course so I would have an appropriate qualification.

I've loved the teaching I've done so far and definitely plan to explore other opportunities.

Wish me luck!

Folksy Friday - 12 August 2011

I'm planning to visit Gosford Forest Park, Markethill, Co Armagh this weekend so the Folksy Friday theme is 'Forests' - Folksy is an online market place for UK crafters to sell their goods - just click on any picture to go to the Folksy Shop.

 A gorgeous selection of 'green' goodies ! 


What are your plans for the weekend?

Rained off !

My plan for today was to visit Greenmount Garden, Co Antrim with my friends - Norma, Elizabeth, Ann and Richard.

When I left home the sun was shining and I thought it was going to be a lovely day - 45 minutes and 25 miles later the heavens had opened and the rain was bouncing down!

Plan A had been to have a picnic lunch at the Gardens, wander around in the afternoon admiring the roses and then tea at the Templeton Hotel.

So tea was changed to lunch and we spent a very pleasant afternoon at the Hotel - food was delish and it was lovely to catch up with everyone's news.

Such a pity it was so wet as the Gardens are only open for a few weekends a year, no pics today but scroll down my blog to see the photos I took just a few weeks ago.

Another busy weekend - what did you do?

Day trip to Portrush

I had a fantastic day trip today with 2 nephews and niece, and my friend Jacinta and her daughter Rhianna.

We set off from Central station on the 10.27 direct train to Portrush -

It was full - who knew so many people would want to go to Portrush by train ?! The 6 of us travelled there and back again for £20.00 - brilliant family and friends ticket.

On arrival it was raining so we visited the traditional amusement arcade - Barry's !

The kids had £5 each to spend and made the most of it - girls went on the ghost train first - I think the boys were too cool for that!

Then a turn on the Cyclone -

Honestly they were having a great time!

We had our picnic lunch in Barry's while hoping the rain would stop.

After Barry's we headed to the Dunluce Centre and thoroughly enjoyed the Turbo Tours ride there - a special effects cinema environment where we felt like real speed racers in our space age race cars.

The weather then improved dramatically as it does in Northern Ireland and we spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach.

I love that beach photo.

We had a delicious tea at 55degrees North in Portrush.  Great food and we were so hungry after our busy day out.  The photo is a bit dark - it was taken in their outdoor dining area, superb views from there. 

Before getting the last train back to Belfast, we walked through the town and finished with a famous Morelli's icecream.

A brill day out.

Folksy Friday - 5 Aug 2011

My Folksy Friday Feature has a Rose Theme - I'm planning to visit Greenmount College Garden this weekend for their Rose Picnic event - the garden is open especially to see the roses and everyone is encouraged to come along and bring a picnic - weather permitting !






 Some really beautiful and unusual rose themed items - just click on the pictures to go straight to the Folksy Shop.