All aglow

I know that I am biased but I do think that this is one of my most favourite necklaces I have ever made. It has been a long time in the making, not the actual putting together but the thought process. You might know what I mean if you make crafted items also. The germ of an idea is always there but you can only see half of the picture. Well finally all of the pieces fell into place and this is the finished article. So my make for Friday 9th April is All Aglow necklace. I even made a very quick pair of earrings to match.

Earrings to choose from

The makes for Saturday 3 April were some new pairs of earrings. I needed to replace some pairs that I had sold earlier in the day. I got out the stash of beads and decided to go for bold. I made three pairs in total. Are these your style or do you prefer small and dainty? The first pair are Bollywood. They remind me so much of Indian films, I couldn't resist naming them as such.

Next up is Daisies. These lovely rhodium plated flowers are amazing.We couldn't make our mind up what kind of flowers these are. We started off with Roses because of the centre part but ended up with Daisies because of the open petals. Are there any gardeners out there. What flower do they remind you off?

 

Finally for today's makes is Blue Butterflies. These are very interesting as only one half of the butterfly has any adornment on it. However I think that it works really well as when you move your head the sunlight will make the crystals sparkle.

Choices for earrings

As usual Friday became making something that didn't take too much time. I was short of some earrings and thought that I should stock up on some pairs. I made some very basic earrings, I had already bought the main part of the earring and all I had to do was add the earring wires etc. Nice and simple but I think the finished result is very effective. Let me know what you think.
The first pair are called Triangles.

The next pair are Heart Dangles.

The final pair for today is Peace on Earth.

 

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.

When did you last look at your wife's ears?

Guy's listen up, here is a very good piece of advice, before you buy your wife, girlfriend, mum or any other female of the species any jewellery, you tend to try and find out her favourite colour. Maybe her favourite stone, does she prefer gold or silver. Does she prefer long or short necklaces, big and chunky or small and petite? Whatever her choice can I suggest you find out one crucial piece of information. Are her ears pierced or not? The reason I ask is because I had a really lovely gentleman come to my stall on Saturday, he explained that his wife had lost her earring and he wanted to buy her a replacement pair. Only stipulation was they had to be brown. Well I picked out 2 or 3 pairs for him and he picked out the pair that he liked. I asked the question, she does have pierced ears doesn't she. Panic spread across his face, he didn't know. I started to show him some clip on earrings and he decided to take a pair of these. Lovely. Job done. Within about 5 minutes a woman came back to the stall and guess what she had pierced ears. Yes it was the wife, coming back to swap the earrings. All's well that ends well and she actually did like the original pair of pierced earrings that he had picked, which of course I swapped over for her. So the moral of the story gents, do a bit of detective work and have a good look at her ears before you go shopping, just remember to do it sneakily if the earrings are a surprise. 

Simple Earrings

The make for Tuesday is plain and simple. I did not have much time, between being a taxi driver for the kids, cleaner, employee, updating websites, networking (general chatting) on the craft forum and all the other lovely things that general life throws at you, by the time I sat down to make something it was quite late. I was tired and to be honest didn't have any inspiration for making a new item from scratch, planning etc. Then I spied the last few Rose Quartz and Antique Silver beads left over from Powder Puff (see earlier posts). Just the thing thinks I, some matching earrings. So here they are. Ten minutes of so later, I was able to sit in front of the tv, with a lovely cup of tea and veg for about 1/2 an hour - bliss.

Craft Juice Tuesday - Mothers Day gift ideas

Well, doesn't the week fly. It's Tuesday, so once again it is time to post my favourite picks from Craft Juice. I thought that I would pick out some items that would be suitable for Mothers Day as it is only a week and a half away. Speaking as a Mum I would be very happy to receive any one of these as a gift (hint hint).
The first item is Pressed Viola Flower pendant/necklace. It is made by Shpangle Jewellery and is available to buy on his website 

My next choice was a handbag, now anyone who knows me will tell you I much prefer jeans and pockets but I really like the look of this. It is made by RetroFaerie and is for sale on Etsy

The card that I have picked is one I would give my Mum. She would absolutely love the wording on it. It has been made by MostlyFlowers and is for sale on Etsy  (I think, the seller is still there but seems to be showing mostly bridal bouquets now.

Finally I have picked a cute pair of earrings. Just the right length for wearing every day and not too showy. I hope you like them too. They have been made by frankie and are for sale at Folksy 

More Coiling

Well I enjoyed using the wire and coiling gizmo so much I decided to have another go again today. So Wednesday's make is a pair of earrings with simple blue wooden beads and this time silver coloured wire. The biggest issue for me this time was how was I going to attach the coil to the earring wire. So trying to work out how to finish off the coils with a neat finish was quite a challenge. I felt like my hands had swelled up like balloons and I had lost all the ability to move my fingers into the required positions. After a few attempts I got an end result that I was happy with, I managed to leave quite a neat circle top and bottom and put the ends of the wire neatly inside the coil. I then made loops in head pins and attached the beads to the earrings wires and jump rings. These are called Wood and Spiral earrings.

Craft Juice Tuesday

I am joining in with others on the forum and each Tuesday I shall look through Craft Juice and decide which handmade item of gorgeousness I like on there this week. It means that I get a chance to showcase some other people's work and show all you lovely people what amazing things there are to but in this world. Some will be functional, some sentimental and some that will just make you go I want one of those. After much searching oohing and aahing for over an hour I have found a pair of earrings that I really like. They are quite quirky but still wearable. They are made by A Touch of Glass Jewelry and are for sale on Etsy.

A quickie today

As we were going to the movie today's make had to be a quickie. I decided to make some earrings to match the pendant that I made yesterday. Nice and simple, just some black goldstone chips threaded onto some wire then attached to silver plated ear wires.

Sterling Silver - new territory for me

Apart from the odd chain on which I have strung pendants I have not really used sterling silver. I think I was just a bit too scared. Anyway I bit the bullet and ordered some findings, some lovely cabachons and sat down today and made these items. Can't quite make up my mind which colour I prefer, the Paua shell in blue or the Carnelian in red. Let me know which one you prefer.

Victorian Influences

Very occasionally I just sit with the beads in front of me and no set idea in my head. Thursday was one of those days. The idea just came to me when I saw what was in front of me. Often when I buy my beads I have no idea what I shall make with the beads, I just buy because I like, (I am a bit of a magpie). However normally when I start to make something I know exactly what I am planning to make. These blue beads have been in my stash for a long time, but coupled with the silver plated connecters it all started to make sense to me. The finished result looks very Victorian to me, hence the name Victorian bracelet and earrings.

Rainy Days

Well I don't know about you but we have spent the last two days alternating between rain and wintry showers, bearing in mind that I live in the sunny English Rivieria, I feel more like I am in my hometown of Aberdeen in North East Scotland. So I decided to cheer myself up and looked through my bead box and found these lovely gold coloured beads. The end result is a necklace and earrings set. I have called then Gold Puddle necklace and earrings, because of the weather but also because the finish on some of the beads reminded me of the colours you can sometimes see in the puddles.

Not enough time in the day

Well, it's been a weekend of mad rushing around. I am holding my first jewellery party on Wednesday evening and yesterday I began to panic what if I don't have enough stock, or display items. So trips to the wholesaler, the local craft shop, and the large general superstore that sells everything all came onto the radar. I managed to get everything that I wanted and even managed to photograph the wholesale items. Just need to upload them onto the website now. I have all the equipment to make the new display item, photo frames, wadding and fabric, just need to put them all together, hopefully manage to do that today (or sweet talk hubby to do it for me). I did manage to make some new handmade items to put on this blog for my one a day challenge last night, will photograph later today and post tonight. Anyway logging off for now to do major tidying in the house, shopping etc all the boring bits of family life but just before I go I do have one picture to upload. One of my customers has sent a picture of her Mum wearing a necklace and earrings that I made for her. Thought that I would share it with you.

How to get in a mess with glue

On Sunday I was invited to a trade fair and although I don't buy anything it is quite good to go along and see what the big boys are saying is going to be on trend for Summer. One of the main things that I saw was lots of necklaces and earrings made out of dice. Anyway this set me thinking and after looking through my bead stash I remembered that I had some dice beads to use. So last night I went to make some earrings as another of my makes a day and I made four pairs. Three of which went to plan but when I came to make the fourth pair I decided to glue a pair of dice beads to studs. I got the glue out and managed to glue the beads, earring posts, my fingers and the beads to my working board. I was using quick setting glue so panic began to set it. Anyway to cut a long story short managed to unstick my fingers and remove the bead from the working board. The good part is that the beads stuck to the earring post and the finished result is below.

Clip on earrings

Well, I have managed to kill 3 brids with one stone (or something like that). By doing this post I have managed to fulfill my one a day for Monday, my stock of handmade earrings was running low after Chrsitmas and finally I have managed to find a site that sells clip on earrings findings. Whenever I do a sale people are always asking for clip on earrings but I have never been able to find the suitable earring pieces to attach beads to. Anyway enough of my waffling here are the pictures of the three pairs of earrings that I made. I don't give my earring's names but maybe inspiration will come to you, if you can think of a name then leave a comment and I will name them as you wish with a credit to the most creative person

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Final part of the set

Finally I made a pair of earrings to match. I have attached a red malachite slab to some silver plated chain and then in turn the chain has been attached to some silver plated earring wires.