Monthly Archives: April 2014

We’re all ears - April challenge

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Phew! I made it! Today’s the day of the third ‘We’re All Ears’ blog hop on the Earrings Everyday blog - something I only remembered last night. I’d imagined it was later in the month. So, I had to whip something up quick this morning. Here’s the challenge image.

WAE_April2014

And here are my earrings!

olivine 1

I resisted the temptation to go with bird beads and instead picked out various shapes, textures, materials and colours. Once I started, I kept spotting different elements that could be incorporated. I even made up some hammered steel paddle pins to match the handles on the cutlery.

olivine 4

Anyway, as I’m running a bit late I’ll be brief with my chat! These earrings are available in my Etsy shop, here. To see what everyone else has come up with, click here.

Spring fever

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Several weeks ago I was lucky enough to have my name drawn out of the hat to receive one of twenty Spring Fever packs put together by Lesley Watt, Caroline Dewison and Claire Braunbath of Thea Elements, Blueberribeads and Smitten Beads. Each of the packs contained an assortment of handmade ceramic beads and beautiful sari silk, and each had a different colourway. The recipients were challenged to use the components and share what they made today, as part of a blog hop. Here’s the pack I received.

spring fever pack1

And here’s what I made. Definitely Spring-y.

bunny button 1

So Spring-y, I threw in a bunny for good measure.

bunny button 2

(bunny button - Dottery Pottery)

For some reason, I struggled somewhat with the large flower pendant. I think it was something to do with balancing it with the shape and length of the necklace. I ended up layering it over one of my patinated leaves. I’ve made a couple of choker length pieces recently - I’d sorta forgotten about chokers, I think! Anyway, I think that it’s a good length for this particular focal.

daisy choker 1

daisy choker 4

My favourite bead was the larger bird with the wee flower on its side, so I decided to treat myself and made this simple pendant piece for me.

my pendant

The choker and the bracelet are now listed in my Etsy shop. I’d hoped to get a pair of earrings made using the sari silk but that hasn’t happened yet… soon!

Big thanks again to Lesley, Caroline and Claire! Here’s a list of all the other blog hop participants, so you can hop around and see what everyone else made, like I’m about to do:

Toltec Jewels - JewelSchoolFriends.com

 

Staving it off

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I’m getting ill - again! It started yesterday but I really can’t be doing with it right now (like anyone ever can…). My folks have both had a ferocious bug and I guess it’s my turn to have it. I thought I’d escaped but I should know better, really. And - perfect timing - it’s market day tomorrow.

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I’m just hoping I can keep it together for five hours, then resign myself to the full force of its grottiness. Anyway, here’s some of the new pieces I’ll have on the stall. My soup from Lori has had me thinking about greens and blues.

kiwi 1st

(driftwood wheels - Nature Scavenger)

coffee and cream 1

(lampwork bead - Glass Bead Art)

spice flower 2

I always photograph bracelets with button clasps with the button to the front, but sometimes that means you can’t see some of the ‘special bits’, like these lampwork beads.

spice flowers

But this view doesn’t really work. I guess I’ll end up having to photograph it again - argh! I’m afraid I can’t name the lampworker as I bought them from a friend who was de-stashing and couldn’t remember who made them. Anyone recognise them?

golden day

Still struggling with dismal grey photographs…

feather soft 5

(ceramic lentil - Golem Studios)

I shared this necklace a while ago, and said I thought it was too simple. I decided it definitely was and have dressed it up a bit. These would match nicely.

faded feathers 1

serrated 1

(ceramic drops - Scorched Earth)

I’ve got a bunch of pieces that I made for a project in the latest edition of Beads and Beyond. It’s funny - I’ve found, doing magazine stuff, that you sometimes make things that don’t really fit with the rest of the stuff in your shop. I’m not sure if I’ll list all of these, and these aren’t all the pieces I made for the project. Most of them have some Scorched Earth in them, so I won’t keep repeating my credits! The ombre polymer pieces were made by me.

ocean fans

coaster necklace

coastal bacelet

egg shell earrings

sea view earrings

I’ve got a confession I have to make with this next necklace. I was majorly led by a piece that Lorelei Eurto made, and the piece that initially inspired her. I got these wooden bars and was puzzling what to do with them. I did try to resist but… ach well… This is the piece I mentioned the time before last, featuring the tricky wooden rectangle that I included in Lori’s soup. I hope I’ve managed to put my own spin on it; and I managed to get one of those rectangles used!

mantle 1

(ceramic bird - Blueberribeads, ceramic rectangle - Jubilee, ceramic cap - Scorched Earth)

Finally, here’s a necklace in which I finally used one of my sets of Happy Fallout Palimpsest beads. It’s going to end up being pretty pricey because of all the different stuff I used.

the long wait

I’ve had it planned for some time. It would be lovely if someone bought it, but I suspect it will hang around… Hey ho… The market is on from 10am - 3pm tomorrow, in Frome town centre. My pitch is in front of Fat Face, just outside my front door. Small mercies!!