Beads and Birthday Cards

I completely forgot to mention that St Emilion has a BEAD SHOP. How seductive have they made this shop - everything is displayed beautifully - all colour co-ordinated in a series of wooden trays around the shop, then the metal beads, findings etc are all set out in those tiny weeny glass finger bowls (I was so scared of getting a sleeve caught and sending the lot flying all over the shop) the whole place was like a work of art!
Now, I thought it was a bit expensive, so managed to rein in the urge to fill my tray with everything in sight - I know this will come as a shock to some people out there..... but Hubby was there and he had that "Why did I let her in here, I'm soooooo bored" look on his face - besides he was holding the euros:-) Still I did manage to get myself a nice little selection, and as it was part of my birthday treat, I get to use them to make something for me!

After a day of trying to load a whole set of photos onto Blogger, and with thanks to Jo and Deb for their assistance with getting my slideshow actually into the message, I think I can show you the wonderful array of handcrafted birthday cards I received from some of the very talented people on the CBC forum

I was so lucky to get all these lovely cards and I hope you'll enjoy having a look-see. A HUGE thank you to those kind people who made and sent a card - it is a real joy to see all the creativity, the different styles and the many different techniques - I thoroughly enjoyed opening each and every envelope and I hope you're all really, really jealous!!! :-)