AAP Reuters - Cairo, Egypt An air of excitement reigns over the archeological world today as the Egyptian Minister of Antiquities confirmed the recent discovery of a new tomb, a buried pyramid in the Valley of the Kings. There is strong evidence to suggest that the tomb is that of King Tutankhamun's Queen, Ankhesenamun. Designated KV64, this is the 64th tomb to be mapped within the Valley of the Kings and it promises to shed more light on the short life and reign of King Tut. Cataloguing of the artefacts discovered in the tomb has already commenced and the release of the first images of these magnificent treasures has astounded Egyptologists around the world, adding further weight to the belief that this might indeed be the tomb of a queen. OK........ just kidding! The real story here is that the wonderful focal pendant you see above was made by my Bead Soup Blog Party partner, Nicole Rennell of Nicole Rennell Designs . But it really does look like it could have come from an arche......

I am so excited... my Bead Soup has finally arrived.... all the way from the US! Feast your eyes on the wonderful components that my Bead Soup partner Nicole Rennell , has made for me. The criteria was that you must include a focal and a beautiful clasp in the mix. And she certainly did..... both handmade, forged even. And then some extras as well. How lucky am I?!! The idea of the Bead Soup Blog Party is to challenge the recipient with materials or colours that they wouldn't normally use. And Nicole has certainly done that. My style is clean and mainstream even though I'm a mixed media artist and these pieces are antiqued and organic looking. This will certainly push me outside my boundaries. The focal is forged in copper and then antiqued before being sealed with renaissance wax. In the centre is a textured crocodile feature which has been coated in resin. I'm only guessing here, but I think the crocodile texture might be polymer clay and she's coloured it with a vari......

Now here's something that's right up my alley.... a Bead Soup Blog Party! Lori Anderson from Pretty Things has organised another BSBP (the fourth one) and this is the first one I've signed up for. There are 363 participants who have been partnered up in pairs to take on the challenge so this is going to be huge! The Bead Soup Blog Party is all about expanding your horizons, and working outside of your comfort zone. So our partners will be selecting beads for us that are a little different to what we're used to working with - it should be quite a challenge. I've been partnered up with Nicole Rennell from Nicole Rennell Designs . Nicole works with polymer clay and creates her own beads and focals. Our styles couldn't be more different so we should have no difficulty putting together a soup that will expand each other's horizons. Want to see what I'm sending her? I don't want to spoil the surprise for Nicole, but here's a bit of a teaser. The only ......