Thursday 25 June 2015

The Ten Signs Of Jewellery Making Addiction





1. Your favourite sound 
is the thud of a packet of beading supplies hitting the door mat.

2. You no longer buy jewellery to match your outfit, 
you buy a whole new outfit to match the jewellery you've made!

3. You tell little white lies about how much that bead shopping spree
REALLY cost... 

4. You know the Swarovski crystal colour chart practically off by heart... 

5. When you meet someone new the first thing you notice is their jewellery.

6. You can't wait to start your next project before this one is even finished...

7. Sometimes you dream of jewellery designs... 

8. Time just seems to disappear when you are working on your beading...

9. If the phone goes, whilst your beading, it can wait....

10. You need to bead. RIGHT. NOW.

Monday 22 June 2015

Great Needles For Bead Embroidery


I have found some great needles for bead embroidery work
 from JBS Beads. 
They are really sturdy and make smooth work 
of piercing through  the backings.
Not bending out of shape like other needles I have tried in the past.
I'm not sure what exact brand they are, 
or if they happen to be JBS own brand, but 
whatever they are I am very pleased! 
I highly recommend them. 
They are size 10 .  
The perfect ten!! 


Wednesday 17 June 2015

Powder Rose Swarovski Crystal Close Up




These 8mm chatons are from the Swarovski Spring/Summer 2016 launch 
and they really are a beautiful new innovation. 

What makes them special is that they have an opaque coating 
 to the reverse of the stone which gives a lovely subdued 'powder' look to the crystal.
Looking at them 'in the flesh'  I can see that the crystal is clear and the effect comes from the backing.  

I do love these little beauties and am very excited to see that pastel colours 
are going to be in fashion again for next year. 
Bring on those pastel pretties! 

Saturday 13 June 2015

Is Hand Made Jewellery 'Rubbish' By Definition? Have You Experienced Hand Made Hatred?






Handmade jewellery made from beads VS gem jewellery made with precious metals. 
Can a girl like both styles 
or does admiration of one make you unable to appreciate the other?

For me I love all kinds of jewellery.  
Making my own beaded creations gives me an appreciation 
of the time, love, effort, and skill 
that goes into handmade things 
and I often buy other peoples' creations to support artisans
and the handmade movement.  

I am happy to flit between wearing something made from glass beads and something made from precious gemstones. 

Suprisingly, some people are not.

For them handmade jewellery is viewed soley as 'junk' because it does not contain , well, diamonds basically! 
They would never wear jewellery made from beads because it doesn't have enough perceived value or status. They only wear 'REAL' jewellery. 

So we've got the 'happy to wear handmade' on one team and the 'diamonds only darlings' on the other! 

I never realised there could be such a rift between people on this issue. 
We are talking divisive like Marmite level here 
(you either love it or hate it!) 

Has anyone ever been dismissive of your jewellery because it was handmade? 
Have you experienced what I am going to term as 'Hand Made Hatred'?! 






Saturday 6 June 2015

A Time To Stitch 7 Blog Hop Reveal - Sexy Siren Killer Mermaid Necklace!












Hi and thanks for stopping by. 

I have been so excited since I first saw the hop advertised on 
Christine and Thereses'  blogs. 
I have done some embroidery before
 but I am  very much learning still.
So I jumped at the chance for an opportunity 
to try and improve my skills.
I think the great thing about hops like this
 is that they provide the perfect motivation
 to learn new skills 
or improve existing ones,
and I am really grateful
 for the opportunity 
to try and 'go larger' with my work. 
I think this is the largest thing I've made to date, or probably ever!! 

So, the name... 
I was trying to decide on a name for this piece without success so in the end I 
decided to just go with 
the working title 

(Do you ever find yourself thinking of a name 
for what you're working on as you go along....) 


'sexy siren killer mermaid necklace!' 

 I saw the cabochon on Etsy 
and just had to buy it along with the skull anchors.
They were a little expensive for what they were 
but I knew I wanted them 
to tie in with her fishy tail 
and the skull she is posing by, 
whilst waiting for
 her next ship load of sailors 
to lure to the crashing rocks no doubt.... 

I think she's the original femme fatale! 

I used a mixture of glass seed beads 
in shimmery sea tones 
contrasted with the 
gunmetal  seed beads
 to give her a harder look. 

She is a  femme fatale after all!

I used labrodorite beads around the cab 
because they are a dirty earthy colur 
which ties in with the skull anchors 
but also 
(and it's a shame this doesn't show up in the pics) 
they shine a lovely 
mystical blue 
when they catch the light 
which ties in with the sea scape theme.

I tried to make it look 'wavy' 
around the cabochon, 
like a puddle of water. 
That was the idea anyway! 

The Swarovski crystal bicones
 are shade  'Black Diamond' 
(very femme fatale) 
and I used blue jade rounds 
to sit on top of the snakey skull anchors. 

The large rounds on the neck strap 
are massive moss agates, 
interspersed with the Swarovski crystals 
and labrodorite. 


Finished with sterling silver findings. 

As you can see  my
 beading buddy
 was keen to 'help' 
with 
the picture taking! 

A big THANK YOU
 to Christine and Therese 
for hosting this fun
blog hop,
 and a little thank 
you from my cat 
for giving her 
something new
 to sit on! 



Looking forward to hopping along the participants list: 


1.       Therese (Host) 
2.       Christine  (Host)
3.       Amy
4.       Lola
5.       Lori F
6.       Kim
7.       Becky Pancake
8.       Karin G.
9.       Debbie (Kepi)
10.   LizE
11.   Maryanne
12.   Paula

13.   Wendy
14.   Janet
15.   Jasvanti
16.   Ginger
17.   Alicia
18.   Bobbie
19.   Shirley
20.   Sarah
21.   Cynthia

22.   Lizzie
23.   Samantha
24.   Sally
25.   Niki
26.   Karen W.