Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

Wonderful work from my polymer clay workshop last Sunday! Everyone worked fast and furiously and produced some great pieces, all ready for making stunning jewellery and embellished creations. Congratulations to all - it was a really lovely day and thanks to Bobbi and Jane from LambtoArt Studio for providing such a spacious and well-equipped workspace. My ETSY shop was one on 20 March, and I had a giveaway competition. This was the birthday competition which closed on 30 March. To celebrate a year of ETSY, I chose five dates randomly from 20 March 2008 to 30 March 2009 and if you "hearted" my shop on the chosen dates, you will receive a wonderful handmade item as a gift. The random integer generator online chose five numbers between 1 and 375 ( each day from 20 March 2008 - 30 March 2009 was numbered). No one actually hearted the shop on the randomly selected dates, so I chose the nearest date. Here are the winners: From the Random Integer Generator Here are your random numbe

Learn different polymer clay techniques for making stunning unique jewellery Sunday, 29 March 2009 10am – 3pm At LamboArt Studio, 53 Government Road Thornton NSW $50 includes - all tuition and notes, - 45gm polymer clay, - use of tools & equipment, - morning and afternoon teas. Please bring your own lunch. Book now 2 VACANCIES LEFT - CANCELLATIONS Enquiries and Bookings for workshops please contact: Wilma via the comments below

I am currently in the process of restocking the shop to celebrate my ETSY BIRTHDAY on 20 March . Hopefully, I will finish creating some special little items over the weekend while I am at the Rotary conference. I am also celebrating with great giveaways and bonuses , for example ... the BIRTHDAY BONUS for the birthday month, March 2009 - With all ETSY purchases this month, I will include one of my handmade birthday cards (blank - no greeting inside) To further celebrate a year of ETSY, I have 5 BIRTHDAY GIVEAWAYS - Be in it to win! It's simple ... Just click to the etsy shop site http://www.empresswu.etsy.com/ . I am going to choose five dates randomly from 20 March 2008 to 30 March 2009 and if you "hearted" my shop on the chosen dates, you will receive a wonderful surprise handmade item as a gift. So... if you have not yet "hearted" this shop , go to the section on the ETSY shop site "favorites" on the right and add me to your favorites before 30 M

What a great day! Today was the first of my 2009 workshops - the beaded mermaid bag or necklace. It was held at Judith Killen's Busy Hen Shed Studio in Dural with a delightful group of very skilled and creative women . They all achieved quite a lot in the day, and were well on the way to creating beautiful mermaids - the process includes stamping onto polymer clay, designing the mermaid and bead embroidering the figure. Here are some photos- all pictured being very conscientious and on task. Thanks and well done Judith, Megan, Johanna, Kellee, Janine, Carole and Toni. I was very lucky to celebrate International Women's Day with my sister in Townsville last week, with a group of Queensland women educators . The photo below shows us at the function where the special guest speaker was a student from our alma mater, St. Margaret Mary's College. While I was there, the Unifem function was being held here in Newcastle. My friend and fellow Rotarian, Lyn Thorpe was the guest spe

Here I am in Townsville, in North Queensland. You may have heard the news that a large crocodile was spotted on the Strand ( the foreshores) in Townsville this week. How did I happen to be here still smiling with this huge reptile. Well .... We came up here on Wednesday morning, 4 March to surprise my mother on her 84th birthday. This is a special birthday as this is her year  in the Chinese calendar - the Year of the Ox.  My sister invited our mum  to lunch at a coffee shop near her home, and we "gatecrashed " their lunch. I think she is still getting over the shock, and can't believe that she didn't have any idea that we were coming. Her first words were "How did you get here?" The simple answer, " By plane, Mum."  Amazing that no one else in the family who were all in on the surprise didn't drop any hints whatsoever.  We have had a few lovely days up here - eating out, shopping and gathering more information to help Jim write our family hist