Pink & Black Peyote Bracelet.

I'm loving picasa! I've only been using
it for 15 minutes though. Imade this bracelet
a few weeks ago using single drop & 3 drop peyote.
I was trying to break out of my usual colour combo's
of brown & turquoise & various shades of purple. I'm
not sure that it works though.

Slightly Better Photo of the Crystal Burst Ring

I discovered Picasa, it's still not great but the
colours are are truer representation, on my monitor anyway.
I've got some time on my own on Monday, so I think I'll play
more then.

Crystal burst Ring

Last week I finally treated myself to Laura McCabe's book Creating Crystal Jewellery with Swarovski. I've been wanting it for ages and I was not disappointed, it is a beautiful book 7 I wish I had more money to go out and buy a truckload of crystals to make every project in it! The instructions for this ring were easy to follow and it was a lot of fun to make. The photo is dreadful though, I wish I was a better photographer.

Herringbone & Medallion Necklace

I am a big fan of Suzanne Cooper's book Victorian & Variations and have made many versions of the medallions from it. I made these 3 to dress up a strip of herringbone that I made by experimenting with different size beads to create curves, the pendant is strung with onyx beads for the neck strap. I like the colour combination of the dark red, bronze and matte & shiny black in this piece.

Spring Tickle.

I loved these lime delica's when I saw them at Chepstow, so I snapped up a couple of packets. This bracelet is spiral peyote, which is a technique that I have wanted to try for a while. I liked it, I'll probably use it in a bigger project one day.

Knuckle Up.

I don't very often wear dress rings as they aren't usually big enough for me & I am usually focused on making necklaces. I have recently organised my stash & found a few odd beads leftover from other projects and I thought rings would be a good way to use them up and would expand my finger wardrobe nicely.

These rings are simple peyote bands with fringe to embellish, they take little over an hour & are great to do in front of the TV or when supervising a four year old bundle of fun. I think I'll go through the stash & make up a few kits for these so that I am ready to go when I want to do some beading but don't have any inspiration or time to think up a new project.

Unanticipated Exercise.

So my 4 year old son has a play date over for the day while her mums in work. They are having great fun putting things together all over his bedroom floor to make pictures of different things. It's really very cute & I am thrilled with their creativity, but, they keep calling me upstairs to look, it's only 9.05 & I am already worn out! Heaven help me by 4.30 when her mum is picking her up!

Random Facts about me #1

So far I haven't included much personal information, I thought it would be fun to occasionally post a fact about myself and what makes me tick. Here's the first one, it may seem trivial but it's something my friends learn very quickly!

I firmly believe that Celery is the Devil's vegetable.

Seriously, only give me something that includes this vile and heinous substance if you truly want to punish me! My husband says that it has a bland taste but to me it's really strong and the flavour that I hate most. I am not the only female in my family to feel this way either, it must be a genetic trait.

Friday Favourites

These are my favourite beads that I purchased at the Chepstow Bead fair. They are handmade by Julie from Lush Lampwork. Sorry about the poor photo. I am currently working through loads of ideas in my head to use them, but so far nothing is good enough for these beauties!

Simple Peyote Tube Pendant

Peyote tubes are a great way of using up those little amounts of beads left over in the tube when you have finished a project. I made 5 beads of varying sizes, increasing the length of the strips by 4 beads each time. I then stitched them together and strung them with some freshwater pearls. I couldn't get a great picture of this one though.

My favourite flower.

A few years ago we were doing up our garden and I was desperate for an oriental poppy, we searched three garden centres and eventually found one beat up half dead plant at the last one. I bought it not expecting it to survive but with a lot of tender care that year it did actually flower. From then it has grown huge and lush and I have a profusion of enormous bright red flowers that make me happy to look at them when I am doing the washing up!

So when I saw Kerrie Slade's poppy pin in the latest issue of Bead magazine I had to make one straight away, it was a lovely pattern to make, quick & easy to follow, I then stitched the flower to a flat netted cuff and I can't wait to wear it! Thanks Kerrie for such a great pattern! You can check out more of Kerrie's work by clicking on the link at the right.

Photo catch up part1

Well it's a very cold Sunday here. We had 3 days of snow this week, my son was happy as he had 3 snow days off school. I was not so happy because there was only an inch of snow with us and I think its crazy that the school shut for that.

The last but one issue of Beadwork had a great triangle project by Phyliss Dintenfass which I really enjoyed making. . The 1st piece uses Toho 11 seed beads and is flat triangles of 2 sizes stitched together, you might notice that turquoise & brown is my favourite colour combination! My 1st piece is using size 11 delicas and followed the directions exactly, I made 5 triangles and stitched them together, I then beaded a strip in the blue beads and wear it offset with the toggle in front, it always gets lots of compliments

Back online.

First of all I'd like to say thank you for the kind comments on my previous post. I very much appreciated them,

Our computer went kaput so I know have a shiny new laptop. Yay! It's nice to be able to sit on a comfy sofa and be online at the same time. Hopefully it'll help me post more often. It's going to ages to build up my bookmarks and favourites up again. Not to mention my itunes, ugh.

I have being doing some beading, mainly peyote stitch, I am really enjoying the triangles that were in the last but one Beadwork by Phyliss Dintenfass, they are so much fun and quite quick to complete. I am hoping to get some time to take photos tomorrow.

Yesterday I attended a Bead Fair in Chepstow. It was my second visit to this fair and I was a little disappointed. The stalls there had lovely things on offer but there was a decreased selection to previous years. I had been hoping to buy seed beads in various sizes but all that was on offer was 11's and delicas, I did by some of those though! I also bought some gorgeous handmade beads from Lush Lampwork, I'll take photos of my purchases too.