Hello & Welcome
I love colour and I love glass and wire put them together with a little fire and my passion is here to see!
Mmmmm well what have I got to show you?
Look Jewellery!!
Clustered Bracelet using gemstone chips
Zebra Necklace
Mary Q Bracelet
You could say I have been buying some gemstones!!
Oh dear, spending money and at Christmas time too!!
I just cant believe that its only a week away now. I am not READY at all!!!! Up until today I had one present, YES just the one! But I did go off shopping for a few hours and came back with a few more purchases, so I am a little happier. I did do a bit of Amazon shopping too. So feeling a bit better now.
All I need now is a christmas tree and some deccies up. I'm afraid my hubbie is laid-up with his back which gave out on him again on Tuesday, he staggered in from work about half an hour after he left ~~ poor old boy!!! So hence no deccies up yet, I just don't do ~ going into the loft, ladders and me just don't get on!!
Clustered Pearls
I liked this technique which I picked up along the way, so I have run with it a little and found out I enjoyed doing this, its very simple and when hung onto tigertail (beading wire) they look great. The clustered technique could be making an appearance in the shape of a workshop as my Bead Group have requested one so more will be on the way!!
Finally I thought I would mention that my lastest tutorial has made its appearance in Bead magazine (current issue) Dec/Jan issue 35. I am so pleased with it and I've had some lovely comments. Mum also knicked it to go with her new christmas outfit and seems to have kept it, no not really I did say she could have it if she wanted it.
Here it is
Wrapped in Chains
Well thats about it for now, I will try and get some more photos done of the things I have just finished before christmas arrives. If not I want to wish you all
A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS
&
A HAPPY NEW YEAR
Lets hope it is a better year than this one!! I think you might know what I mean!!!
Love to you all in Blogland!!
E xx
I had a very traumatic half term, as my daughter hasn't been very well. So bit stressed right now!
That means not much activity on the 'making' front! I did get chance to make one or two beads last week in only the one session really but that is about it.
I made a few buttons
Mojito Madness
Strawberry Crumble
I am trying out different shapes and ideas, I liked this shape for strawberry crumble but it did take a long time to get it right, its a sort of rhombus shape with a little heart on the bottom edge, I think I over did the spots a little! 80))
The Mojito madness button is on my website now. I am trying to make the buttons a little larger in size but that is proving difficult to control the shape ~~ but I will keep going!
Another cabochon
Washed Ashore
I am trying to make a wire frame for the cab. so will show you that when I get it together.
And I made this chunky Chatelle big hole bead with the fabulous glass from Riechenbach called Multicolour (greeny dots) and Dark Multi (purple/blue bands), I so love Dark Multi a bit of a favourite right now, especially on ivory I just love the reactions.
Elmer Set
This too is on my website, time to pop it into my Etsy store I reckon!!
I seem to now have lots of ideas for beads but no time to make them, some jewellery as well, Christmas is coming too and as usual just not getting ready in time!! Time just seems to be flying by so quickly, it'll be here before we know it!!!
I can only do ~~ what I can do!!
Toodle-ooooo for now!
E xx
I am back to making jewellery again and have finally opened up my Jewellery Shop on my website, AT LAST I hear you cry, well I live in hope!!! I have added a few new items and more will be added as I make them.
The big 'C' is on the horizon and as usual ~ not ready for it at all but I am working on it ~ Yay!!!
I have been watching Jewellery Maker.com on sky, it sells gemstones and some of them are totally gorgeous, some great prices as well. So some of my spark is back and my fingers did do a little walking over to their website and I happened to pop a few beads into the shopping basket. they still haven't arrived yet though 80((
In the meantime I have made a few things, which I havent actually photographed yet, weather here is very dull at the moment and so the light is rubbish!! I am hoping the weather will be brighter tomorrow so will get the camera out then.
I have had a bit of a tidy up on the website and have altered things around so hopefully its a little simplier to get around and I have also added a few new pages one being for my Buttons and Cabochon Beads in my bead shop, with the Toffee Mayhem button sitting there all on its own right now. I will get some more added as soon as they are available.
Giveaways
I thought I would bring you some giveaways from other bloggers, it is something I promised I would do along with more tutorials as well so its about time I started doing the things I should be doing.
My first is a fab giveaway from Nicole of Beadwright its a fab book called 30 Minute Rings, I so need this book as I really dont do rings much at all, they seem to evade my creativity!
OOOOO I want it I really really do!!
Giveaway ends on 19th October.
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Over at Inspiration Avenue they are having a Blog Party so here is a link to the party for you, it is running from 16th - 23rd October so please head over a take a nosy around
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I will be having my own giveaway for you soon, so watch this space ............
Gosh is it that long since I posted, sorry for that!!
I have had a few things happening during september, my wirework workshop called Wicked Wirework went very well. I hope my ladies enjoyed there day, I enjoyed it immencely!!
We have also booked another 2 workshops for next year, one being a beginners course again 'Simply Stringing' and an intermediate called 'Vintage Trends' we will use chains and some wire linking techniques for this one.
I have been working on more new buttons and some jewellery too but cant show any right now because most of them are prototypes for the magazine. The rest arent quite finished so when they are I will show you and they will be going onto my website then!
Here are my new buttons
Toffee Mayhem Button
Made using some lovely CIM Ginger I just love this colour
can be a bit shocky at times
along with some CIM Phoenix (orange) and CIM Pumpkin (yellow) on ivory dots
Looks good enough to eat!!
This one I have called my Mayhem Duffle Toggle Button
I literally came up with the shape as I went along
I cant believe how impressed I was to have the shape appear
before my own eyes.
The shape reminded me of a Duffle Coat Toggle Button hence the name!! I may not sell this one just yet as I want to see if I can come up with this shape again!!
Oh what about new cabochon or 2!
Swirling Waves
Pinkii
Pinkii was a little experiment with some CIM Gunmetal glass to see if I could make the silver reaction come through and it has worked a little in the middle under the white dots. Wasnt sure if it is a little EYE like, I was having a little play with raking the larger dots!!
The Swirling Waves cab looks much better with the white backing behind the aqua glass, really helps keep the colour strong!! Loving making these seacape type beads/cabs!!
Right I have some ideas for making some cufflinks and tie-pins so YES!! MAN JEWELLERY could well be on the way ready for Christmas!! So you will have to wait and see if my experiments work!! Just think SPORT!!!
That will get you guessing, EH!!
Catch you all soon or if not sooner!!
E 80))
I so love doing seascape beads and so I decided to give a cabochon a go, and as it also fits in with Inspiration Avenue Challenge theme this week, here is my first attempt ~~ I am quite pleased with it.
Dark Aqua glass with silvered ivory for the beach, some lovely twistie makes the shells and the murrini thrown in the middle which gives the appearance of a jellyfish. Theres a few swirls and at the top was suppose to be the moon!!
Now I did show it to my bead weaver friend Sue at my Bead Group Busy Buzzer Beaders on Saturday and I asked her advice on what she thought of it from her point of view for beading around it. She advised that maybe not to much decoration around the edge of the bead and more in the centre as it is quite domed! Some of the decoration would probably get obscured by the seed beads as it has to come over it high enough so it doesn't slip out. That was very helpful as that is one side of jewellery making I don't do!! Sue does keep trying to get me hooked but so far has ~~ Failed!!! Bless her for keep on plugging at me!! Ha ha!!
Here are a few lentil beads to add to the theme as well
I forgot to add murrini into these, silly me!!
For those of you who dont know what murrini is, its a bit like making a stick of Cane Rock you know as in Blackpool Rock you eat!! If you look at the Cabochon above there is a white striped circle with a yellow and blue dot inside it, on the right hand side. I buy mine as I havent mastered the technique yet but you build it up on a glass rod adding different colours around the outside then when your finished you pull it out into a long cane until it gets thinner and thinner and then cut in off into small chips of glass.
I buy mine from Kaz of Kazkebab on Etsy.
~Right off to make more beads, catch up soon!!
Toodleoooo
80))
Yes time does fly when its school holidays!! Cant believe its been a month before I last posted. The kitchen extension is moving along a bit more, I don't have a 'hole' anymore and some of my cupboards seem to be on the move!!
I have finally been taking some pictures after finishing my tutorial photos for Bead Magazine, that should be out in November (Dec/Jan issue), so here are a few beads to show you for now.
Buttons
New Buttons for you, I tried to do square buttons ended up a bit oblong but they arent too bad!! Needing more practice so I will try and develop those further in future. I do love the way the little heart came out on the green button. I have finally got a new gas bottle so I need to get into my workshop and get the torch lit!!!
Also trying to work on new Chatelle Hearts, I so love this blue glass its a CIM glass ~~ now what was its name again....... I have quite a few different ones you see!!!! Its either Chalcedony or Grumpy Bear well whichever it is, it looks pretty with the pink frit!
Pastel Swirls
I just love blue glass ~~ now don't I!! Ha ha! This is another favourite Effetre transparent Baby Blue. I was practising my pulling technique with the dots, this time, which creates the leaf type pattern you can just see it above the black and white swirls. SHINEY, SPARKLY! MMMMmmmmmmm!!!
Hope you like them.
Catch you all again soon
80))
Hi everyone, well as you can see I haven't posted much lately and I haven't been around to see you all much either. One reason is I haven't been able to post comments on blogs because of Bloggers problems, I think they have been sorted it out but I wont know for sure until I wonder around again, I have been successful on a few blogs, so we'll see!! The other reason is I havent felt I had much to blog about as I haven't been making much at all! I seemed to have lost ideas and inspiration, over the last few weeks I have steadily been doing some jewellery making and I fired my torch up again last week and already this week too. Its a slow process but I AM getting there!! I also believe that I really needed a rest from the crafting/blogging/internet world, I ended up ~ just frizzled up!!
Right enough of that!! I'm back on track now!!
Kitchen is back underway again and the internal wall has now gone!! Yaaaaayyyyy! Gosh it was messy, very hard work and the concrete lintel weighed at least 10tons!!!!
So I now have a big hole in the now massive room, well I think its mahoooosive!! Compared to what I did have its huge!!
There is still lots to do before I can use the space properly! At this stage I even have a bridge over a gap created by the old back door!! You can see it in the bottom corner, ha ha!!
Hubbie will be working on it after work and hopefully by the weekend we may well have the floor joists in ready for the flooring which will be a continuation of the current floorboarding around the rest of the downstairs!
Insulation needs to be ordered next on the list and finding an electrician is top priority, oh yes we need a skip as well, the pile of rubble is now mahooosive too!!
So off to check Celotex details, and delivery arrangements!! Off to Wickes tomorrow!!
See you again soon.
Yes there's been lots of events lately for me to attend, so I have been making presents, presents and more presents. Sometimes it is very useful being able to make your own gifts but it can also be ~~~ AAAAARRRRGGGHHHHH too!!!
What do you do? The person receiving it doesn't want to get the same thing everytime!!
Here's just a few I made for my gifts ~~
Susie's Birthday
This necklace was made using large ceramic multicoloured beads and lots of vintage brass chain.
Then there was some anniversary gifts in the way of Wine Bottle Stoppers with bottles of wine of course, then I had a rush order for 6 bookmarks to make for a friend. These were for welcoming newcomers into her church like a confirmation of sorts only they were C of E not Roman Catholic. Silly me forgot to take piccies of those, well they were very rushed as I only had 2 days to make them in! I made wire fish for the end of a chain with a small cross and a few glass beads, the mens were much simpler than the ladies versions. I think they went down well!
A few new necklaces for me with bracelets to match
Antique Jangles
This is 4 separate necklaces using antique brass chains, one with large freshwater pearls, bracelet has all 4 chains again with just the faux pearls to keep the weight down, as all 4 chains together can be a bit heavy with the freshwater pearls. I just love this necklace they do jangle together when you walk. Ha ha!!
Black Chains Galore
This necklace has some large smoky grey crystals purchased from my trip a few years ago to Barcelona, I finally got round to using some of them along with lashings of black and silver plated chains in my asymmetrical design I really love.
Then lastly the christening of my cousins daughter, this is a little unusual in that she is 11 years old. It was her own decision to get christened rather than as you would as a baby by your parents! What to give an 11 year old ~~ well
Izzy's Bookmark
After doing the 6 bookmarks for my friend I thought why not make one for Izzy! I added a little cross too. I also made a crystal cross for her which again I forgot to photograph!! (I must be slipping!!) If I make up another one in future I will show that one!
Thats about it, in my next post I will show you photos of my trip to London for my Mum's London Eye Experience for her birthday present.
See you again soon!!
