Spring is definitely here

It dawned on me that I haven't made a bracelet for a while. Obviously all this lovely sunshine and the garden starting to spring into life must be beginning to have an effect on me. The main beads have been in my stash for a while and because the hole runs through the middle from back to front they were not really any use for a necklace. So a bit like yesterday I must have looked at these beads with a pair of fresh eyes and decided to make this lovely spring inspired bracelet. Some of the beads are yellow with white underneath and the others are white with yellow underneath. I started by using a small silver effect bead as the centrepiece of the flower.Then I joines them at equal lengths along a silver plated chain. My finished make for Friday 16th April is Sunshine.

Do you have a favourite animal?

The only reason I ask is because these amazing hearts reminded me of a zebra as soon as I saw them. They were the final 3 in the shop and I was going to leave them as I did wonder what I would do with three. However I couldn't resist and bought them anyway. I added some metal effect hearts and attached them all to a toggle clasp bracelet. Nice and simple but sometimes simple is what people want. I try to make charm bracelets to suit all people and while some like really chunky and busy bracelets, others prefer just a few charms or beads on them. Do you have a preference, if so let me know. So for Monday 12 April my make is Zebra Hearts bracelet.

More Craft Juice Tuesday

Oh my gosh, this Easter weekend has completely thrown me. I totally forgot that today was Tuesday. Just had a quick look through Craft Juice and decided to go for a purple theme. First up is Teddy with Parcel a lovely card in shades of purple with popcorn the bear on it. It has been made by boxofdelights and is for sale on folksy.

Next up is Purple Suede Heart bracelet, this is my kind of bracelet. It is simple but beautiful. It is made by Birdcage Creative and is for sale on folksy  

For my third choice I have picked the gorgeous hand dyed silk scarf  in blue and purple. It has been made by jpgallery and I would be ecstatic if someone gave this to me as a present. It is for sale on etsy.

Finally I could not resist this lovely scarf clip it would complete the scarf above. It jumped out of the page for me. It also has a hand died silk button and matches the hand tied element of the scarf. It has been made by Blueboxstudio and is for sale on etsy .

Well that's my choices for Craftjuice Tuesday this week. Hope you enjoyed looking at them as much as I enjoyed picking them.

Elastic everywhere

The makes for Wednesday 31 March were basic elastic bracelets of various sized beads to fill up some spaces on my table for Saturday. The only problem was I got a bit carried away and I made 6 bracelets all together. This will definitely fill up a few spaces on Saturday.

  

Monochrome

The make for Tuesday 30 March is made up of some lovely acrylic flowers that I have had for quite a while but was never too sure what to do with them. However if you have been looking at the fashion magazines recently you will know that flowers are all the rage at the moment. The bigger the better. So I went and looked out my beads and sat and looked at them for about 5 minutes.. After much head scratching and a few attempts I came up with the final result. I had 3 white and 3 black flowers, so they were obviously going to be used alternatively. I just needed some simple metal effect beads to seperate the flowers so that the bracelet would fit better around the wrist. I have called it Monochrome Flowers.

How about a bit of bling

First of all major apologies for neglecting you recently. I have been making my one item every day but just had issues with finding enough time to actually post my new items here for you all to look at. Going to catch up today and tomorrow so watch out for a mass update. First up is the make for Saturday 27 March. First up was some simple gold effect beads and then I needed something to bring them to life. My local bead shop had a special offer basket and I cannot ignore a special offer basket. After a quick rummage I found these triple effect diamante beads in gold plate. Just some simple stringing and ta da the finished article. I have called it Saturday Night Out as I think it would be just the thing to brighten up the little black dress that I know every lady has in her wardrobe.

 

Matching bracelet

Monday's make was a bracelet to match yesterday's necklace. The big difference being that all the beads are the same size this time as I had already used all of the large shiny pruple ones in the necklace. The plus side of this being that it doesn't need to be bought as part of a set if someone take a shine to it on it's own. It is called Purple Heart bracelet. (and yes I know there is no heart on it but I have just called it the same as the necklace so it can be identified as part of a set.)

Catch Up time

Hi everyone, missed a few posts this week, so this is a catch up for me. I has been a hectic week, doing lots of extra hours in my 9 to 5 job, meant less time for crafting. Also I am participating in the Secret Easter Bunny we are holding at the Craft Forum, it like a Secret Santa but we are holding it at Easter, This is the first time I have taken part and wanted to try and make sure that the finished result would be enjoyed by the recipient. I can't show you yet what it looks like or tell you who it is for as the person cannot open it until Easter Sunday. Remember to look back then and I shall show you. Anyway because of all of this although I managed to make my jewellery I have been unable to update on the blog.
So first up is Wednesday's make and it is called Sunny Safety Pins and the title pretty much says it all, lovely orange stripey round beads, each one threaded onto safety pins and these have been joined by jump rings.

Next up is Thursday's make. I was obviously in a orange mood this week. I started off with a very large acrylic orange flower, now with this as the starting point I could have gone subtle but decided to go all out for it and make this necklace zing. I think you will either love it or hate it, there is no inbetween ground here. There are yelow flower beads, orange flower beads, pink/orange crackle beads and numerous colours of seed beads to tie it all together. Let me know what you think. I have called it Orange Bloom necklace.

 

Finally Friday's make was a bracelet to match the necklace that I made on Thursday. I used the same beads as I did on the necklace but obviously there was no flower this time. Again it is called Orange Bloom bracelet.

  

Matching necklace and earrings

Today I finished off the bracelet and earrings to match the necklace that I made yesterday. I had already made all the componant parts so it was just a case of finishing off and asembling. Hopefully someone will like the set enough to buy as a whole lot and and not leave me with one part of the set as is normally the case. They are called Cosmic Rings bracelet and earrings.

Spring has sprung

If you had asked me within the last couple of weeks where is spring?  I would have told you I don't think it is happening this year. However today I had to deliver some mail and it was a beautiful day here in sunny Devon. So I think that spring has finally sprung and here is the picture to prove it.

Couldn't resist this one, it has the "aah" factor. However I do have some crocus in the back garden. Now I know the picture is not my flowers but those crocus means that spring is definitely here.

Obviously my inner physic was working on Sunday when I made this make. It is a silver plated stretchy charm bracelet with silver plated flowers and Lucite flowers in shades of pink and purple. I have called it Posy Bracelet.

Smiley Happy People

Short and sweet post for Thursday's make. When I saw the purple coloured beads with the smiley faces they just made me smile. Thought they might do the same for you. I have discovered that my more in depth (complicated) or time consuming makes are more likely to happen in the beginning of the week than nearer the end of the week. The end of the week seems to be taken up with organising the sale for a Saturday, much as I think that I am organised something always seems to rear it's ugly head and takes me completely unaware. So  what I am saying is (I think) don't expect huge mammoth makes at the end of the week. Sorry to go off  topic there but I felt like I had to explain myself. Anyway here is my bracelet. I have called it Purple Smiles.

Through the Looking Glass (Part 2)

Carrying on from yesterday's make I decided to make a bracelet to match the necklace. Following on with the same prinicipal, the only element not included was the heart shaped pendant. The fastener is magnetic, which I find makes it easier to get on. To be honest I m finding that Sunday's make has to be simple and not too time consumming. Sunday is catch up day, housework, shopping and trying to spend time with the kids. Then in the evening, updating the blog, website and trying to have a catch up session with my Mum and Sister in Aberdeen. Before I know it it is bedtime again. So the fact that I have already made up the design and all I am doing is the actual making is good for me. Here is Through the Looking Glass bracelet.

    

Chinese anyone?

No, I am not talking takeaway, although I am very partial to one. I made this bracelet on Thursday out of green beads with Chinese symbols printed on them. Alternated with blue plastic but metal effect beads and then Chinese coins to finish off the theme, all threaded onto elastic, so should fit any size wrist. I have called it China here we come.

Fishy Fishy

On Saturday while trying to sell all my items at the Market I had a young lady come along and start looking at all the jewellery. Eventually she asks me where is the man who is normally here. I reply I don't know, maybe he is on another stall. She explains that she likes to buy and that he often keeps back items for her, or hides them for her to find (alarms bells start ringing here). Anyway after lots of conversation along this vein she finally picks up a bracelet I have with lots of fish on it. What kind of fish are these she asks. I don't know, just general says I. Where are their teeth, if I can see their teeth then I will now what type of fish they are, dolphins, whales etc. I know these are not fish they are mammals. Anyway to cut a long story short after much debate it turns out that she really likes fish. I can see this is a conversation that will run and run over the next few weeks. If anyone knows where I can buy any authentic looking fish for me to make into an item of jewellery please let me know and you will make her day. This is the bracelet she was looking at.

 

Pretty in Pink - Part 2

Today I decided to use some more of the Pink Quartz beads. I am quite liking the effect of these beads, but I thought they needed brightening up a bit so I added these resin red oilslick effect beads. The shape is called a bicone. This is stringing at it's most basic but sometimes simple is best. I think I shall try and market it as a set with the necklace that I made yesterday. I know that it is not an exact match but lets be honest ladies, how many of you wear totally matching jewellery. Sometimes all that matches is the colour and sometimes even clashing pieces look like they should go together. So I have called it Rose Quartz Powder Puff bracelet.

The Big Day

Ok, on an earlier post this week I explained that I had been offered a market stall every Saturday in Newton Abbot, the next town to ours. I wasn't very sure if I would have the insurance sorted in time but I managed it and come Saturday morning it was up bright and early to drive to the market and set up the stall. We had a few showers of rain but on the whole it was an ok day weather wise. I have discovered that the weather I have to worry about is the wind. I had an ok day, managed to cover all of my costs and make a little profit and the best bit is I had such an almighty buzz. It was better than a fair, people were not there to specifically look at handcrafted  items, this was just Joe Public, walking past and hopefully liking what they see. By the time I got home all I was fit for was a takeaway for tea, a very simple bracelet and an early night. I decided to make a bracelet to match the necklace from yesterday. It is called Yellow Peril also.

  

Cat's Eye

Thursday's make was one that was always going to take more time than yesterday's earrings. The main beads are miracle beads and they are coated with a special substance that gives them a 3D effect in artificial light. They are also 1/2 yellow and 1/2 green, so depending on which way you are looking at them will help you decide what you think is the predominent colour of the bracelet. At either side of each miracle bead is a pale green cat's eye bead. These are so called because one part of the bead is milky and is reminiscent of a cat's eye. Each set of 3 beads have been strung onto a head pin and a loop turned at the end. Each loop is then added onto each link of the chain. The chain is silver plated. Although I know that a make like this may take a bit longer I do enjoy doing these as the repition is quite calming and thereputic. I have called it Green Dream.

Wire I never

I got a new toy the other week and I was waiting for a chance to use it. I finally got the chance on Tuesday. It is called a Coiling Gizmo and makes beads and actual bracelets, necklaces and earrings out of wire. I did state right at the beginning of this blog that I wanted to try using wire and this is the next step in my journey. The blue wire is quite fantastic to feel and although I was  bit worried that it would feel rough, actually it feels really smooth and tactile. I even made the chain part all by myself out of different sized jump rings, this is called Chain Maille. Watch out for more like this I still have lots to learn. I have called it Blue Coiled bracelet.

More of the same vein

Well for Monday I decided to carry on in the same vein as Sunday. I had some more multi-coloured beads, square shaped this time and I threaded them onto green silk thread with silver saucer shaped beads. Once again I do believe that this bracelet will brighten up the dreariest day. I have called it Tooti Frooti.

Cha Cha Cha

This is my first attempt at a cha cha cha bracelet. Believe me if you want to loose yourself for a couple of hours then this is the project to complete. You have to put all the beads onto head pins, cut them all to size then turn the ends into curved loops and all this before you actually fit them onto the bracelet. Having said that when there is nothing on the TV and the kids are upstairs in their rooms fighting the latest aliens or whatever there is nothing better than having that 2 hours peace to yourself. It almost becomes theraputic, it definately lulls you into another place, your own version of meditation. I am really happy with the finished result, hope that you like it too. I have called it (surprisingly) Cha Cha Cha. I used faceted fire polished glass beads and a silver plated bracelet.