Loops and Ladders..

This is the 2nd loopy necklace I made last week and is from the pattern Luxury Loops and Ladders from the most recent Bead Magazine. I much preferred making this one to the other. It worked up very quickly and easily. I love the colours too.

My neighbour has expressed an interest in learning to bead and really liked the style of the Through the Loops collar which is why i beaded it, so that I could decide if it would be a good first project for her. I didn't think it would be the best first project so I tried this one, which I think is suitable for a total beginner.

Holiday Necklace 1.

I bought these beautiful hand made lamp work beads
from Julie Fountain at Lush Beads when I saw them at
the Chepstow Bead & Gem Fair earlier this year.

As my holiday wardrobe leaned heavily towards the turquoise
& blue range they were a natural choice along with some hematite, turquoise & aventurine for a nice simple lightweight necklace to slip into my suitcase. Along with the other 4 or 5 nice simple lightweight necklaces I just had to make:-)

Through the loops

I am an avid collector of beading magazines, in fact I'm fast running out of space to keep them. I collect Bead & Button, Beadwork, Bead Unique, Step-by-Step Beads and Bead magazine.
Despite my huge collection, I don't very often make something from a current issue, I seem to keep them a while, ruminate on the projects and make something months after I have had the mag. This week has been an exception though. I got my B&B about 2 weeks ago & instantly wanted to the through the loops collar, I think this is for two reasons, 1. it reminds me of the simple lace collars that I made when I first started seed beading & 2. The materials needed were readily available, just 3 tubes of seed beads, sometimes it's hard to get hold of the more unusual supplies, here in the UK.

I like the finished result but I have to say I found the beadwork a bit fiddly and repetitive, this is not a fault of the instructions, which were excellent, it's just not a technique that I warmed too.

Summer, really?

The weather today has been dreadful. Lots of rain & grey skies so no photo's again. I hope it's nicer tomorrow, it's school holidays & kiddo has a friend coming over for the day and I was hoping to picnic in a local park. I admit that I do have a contingency plan which involves a dvd player, sweets and some scissor fun, these look like they will be lots of fun for a pair of five year olds, http://www.scissorcraft.com/masks.htm

While checking my e-mails I came across beading daily's earring swap. Although earrings are the item of jewellery that I wear most, I hardly ever make them. I think that this swap would be a great opportunity to stretch my earring design skills and also it would be great fun to receive a surprise in the post. I think I will sign up, is anyone else participating? Here's a link to the post
http://www.beadingdaily.com/blogs/daily/archive/2009/07/24/join-beading-daily-s-first-earring-swap.aspx

Wow - the last month has flown by!

I knew I was overdue for a new post but I really didn't realise that it was a whole month since I had posted. I don't have much of an excuse except having been on holidays. The main reason I haven't posted is that I have been feeling too lazy to take photo's of my work. Things seem to have been very busy here and about the only time I have actually felt like taking phot's was really bad rain & the light was awful.

I do have quite a few things to photograph, apart from the gold shoes;->, I had a stringing extravaganza before my holiday and made quite a few necklaces to take, frankly I am amazed I was within my luggage allowance. I had a bit of a break from beading after hols but am back with a vengeance this week, I have been feeling very loopy! I have made through the loops from Bead and Button and loops and ladders from Bead magazine, photo's soon I promise.

Our holiday in Cyprus was wonderful! The hotel was in beautiful grounds & our veranda opened straight onto the beach, it was heaven! My son turned into a total water baby & his swimming improved hugely while we were there. We met up with my family and had a wonderful time, particularly on our weeding anniversary when they took us to a fantastic restaurant that grew all it's own veg and served organic homemade wine, the mezze was delicious and even my son tried some.