The curse of the seed beads!

I've discovered i have a bit of a love/hate relationship when it comes to using seed beads. I love the sparkly-ness (probably not a word) and the colours and the versatility. However, there comes a moment when, after spending ages at the bead table making something fiddley with seed beads, you finally finish the piece of jewellery, stand up and it happens: the sudden cascade of seed beads EVERYWHERE!! This happened to me when i was making the bracelet in this post. I decided, stupidly, that i would pick up the bracelet, before i had finished it off, and have a look at it when WHOOSH, beads everywhere. And i mean everywhere. Rolling under the table, under the couch, under the tv and, as i discovered later in the evening, in my mum's wine glass. I'm not really sure how. I think seed beads do it deliberately. They wait until your focus starts to just slightly wane and they suddenly scatter. They even managed to hide in all the nooks and crannies in your clothes and wait until you stand up and then they scatter some more. I didn't even know i HAD nooks and crannies in my clothes. I'm rubbish at ironing though, so i'm not surprised. I hate seed beads...

They do look nice though, don't they?

Bits and Pieces

Ok, now that i am finally back at uni (yes, i really have been on holiday that long) I probably won't be able to make as much jewellery as i'd like to, but i'll still try and put up a post as regularly as i can. I've been trying out a couple of ideas recently that i've been meaning to for a while, but never got round to doing, like making a heart shaped, bead covered window hanging like this one:

I decided to use pearls rather than the crystals that are more normally used, to try and be a bit more unique, and i think it worked pretty well. So well, in fact, that before i had even finished making it, my sister had decided that, somehow, it will end up in her house, whether i liked it or not. And she was right, it did. I was also asked to make a bracelet in 'whatever style i liked, as long as it was hot pink'. So, i used some pink pearls, with smaller cream pearls and silver seed beads and threaded three bracelet strands, one pink, one cream and one silver, then joined the three together and loosely plaited them to come up with this:

I wish i'd taken a better picture, but never mind. I also managed to finish another Christmas order (Sorry for springing Christmas on you, you're probably hiding behind the couch screaming 'IT'S NOT EVEN HALLOWEEN YET!!!').

Every year, i think to myself 'I'm going to be really organised for christmas this year!' and every year i end up buying most presents on Christmas eve. So this year i'm going to think 'I'm NOT going to be organised this year!' You never know, a bit of reverse psychology might work...

WARNING: Rubbish Photos Approaching!

Firstly, i need to send out LOTS AND LOTS of apologies as it's been well over a month since my last post. You may be thinking 'Well, we can forgive her for that. She's probably been really busy.' But no, i haven't! I have been doing a few things, like going to a wedding, making jewellery for a fair and catching up on some jewellery orders, but that's it! That only takes up about a week of stuff, so that's about four weeks of nothing! Luckily, i have the excuse of 'I'm a student!' to fall back on, but in a couple of years i won't be able to use that anymore. SCARY THOUGHT!!

Anyway, as you can tell from the title of this post, it's going to be full of rubbish photos. Generally, my photos aren't great but they are in focus most of the time, which is about as much as i can hope for. However, on the morning of the fair, i didn't feel well and had about thirty seconds to take photos of all the stuff i'd made before we left. So, here's what happened:

I did take more photos of all the other jewellery, but you are probably ripping your eyes out in horror at the moment and screaming 'Look at that last one! You can see her shoe at the bottom of the photo! How could she take such rubbish pictures?!' so, i'll stop there. (Bet you looked back at the last photo just to check!) But don't worry! I'll try and sort myself out before my next post which, HOPEFULLY, you won't have to wait until next month to read!

A Catch Up!

I haven't posted for a while, so here is a catch up of all the stuff i've been up to (Don't worry, it isn't a long list. I've not done much):

1. After talking about it for AGES, i finally made an attempt at some macrame and, surprisingly, i managed it! Unfortunately, I'm a very impatient person and wore the bracelet before the glue dried fully and a bit of it has started to unravel, so now i have to fix it but NEVER MIND, i still count it as a success, if maybe only a partial one.

2. I have started making a dress, which i think i mentioned in my last post. It's going really well so far! OK, that might be a bit of a lie. Actually, it's a big, fat LIE! I started it about two and a half weeks ago; i haven't finished the bodice yet, or done anything to the skirt; I've had to unpick it several times because i kept making mistakes; I bought new bobbin things for my sewing machine, then discovered they don't fit and, finally, I decided today would be the day i finished it! Then ran out of thread. I think that was because i've had to unpick it so many times. I doubt i'll ever have a future as a dressmaker, but at least the colour is nice!

3. Some gardening antics: I have, for the first time EVER, managed to GROW SOMETHING EDIBLE! Well, that's not quite true. I did attempt this last year, but only managed to grow one tomato, and i didn't even eat that, as i don't like them. Anyway, this year we have potatoes and (questionable) onions (they are a bit on the green side and not at all like the brown ones you buy in a shop).

4. I have just had to throw out my very lovely, comfy slippers. This may not sound like much, but in my little cottage, which is nearing it's 200th birthday, not wearing slippers is like wandering around with your feet strapped to some ice-cubes. Very cold ice-cubes. However, i couldn't justify keeping them for a moment longer, considering they were very misshapen, full of holes, a different colour to what they were when i bought them and pretty much falling apart. This may be because i wander around the garden in them. I may have to invent some off-road slippers to wear outside. Or maybe i'll just put some shoes on next time. But that doesn't sound as fun.

Unfinished

Without realising it until now, i've actually had a pretty productive week! I've managed to start a few jewellery projects that i've been meaning to do for AGES! I've also managed to get loads done in the garden and even had time to make AMAZING scones, with jam and whipped cream. I ate WAY too many though, but i couldn't help it, they were SO GOOD!! Just to prove how good they were, i took a picture.

I also received a lovely parcel through the post, telling me i had won a £25 goodie bag from MadCowBeads! And here it is:

The letter they sent.

A jewellery book.

Lovely pearls in black, grey, red, pink and blue. I love working with pearls!

Some gold eyepins, silver jump rings, gold flower spacers, silver earring wires and more gold spacers. I never work with gold jewellery, so i might have to challenge myself a bit!

And some charms ('made with love' heart charms, musical notes, dove peace charms, stars and gold holly leaf charms.)

 So, not too bad a selection considering i got it all for free! Most of it i would have picked for myself, so i'm pretty pleased! I also spent the morning digging up ALL the potatoes cause they are being munched by all the beasties in the garden, so now i'm absolutely knackered and never want to see another potato again. Which is a shame, as we're having some for dinner tonight. And tomorrow. And into the foreseeable future. Oh well, at least they taste nice!

I've also started attempting to make a dress! I've not finished it yet. In fact, i've barely started it, but here's a sneak peak.

Now, i've started loads of things this week, but not really finished many of them, so i'm off!

Jewellery and Jealousy!

I'm becoming very jealous reading about all the people taking part in the Bead Soup Blog Party. It looks like loads of fun and i wish i'd signed up to it this year! I can't wait to see what everyone makes and really hope there's going to be another one soon so i can have a go! I'd probably be rubbish at it but i'd have a good try!

Anyway, i've not had time recently to make much jewellery, but i have made a couple of things and thought i would show you them.

A necklace with some purple wire beads, pearls and spacers.

I also went a bit spiral mad this week, and made a few earrings.

I'm also planning to have a go at making a bracelet that featured in a tutorial at The Gossiping Goddess Blog, but i'm going to have to order a few materials for it first. I love shopping for new beads! Problem is, i'm very quickly running out of places to keep them! I may have to have a bit of a bead clear out. This turned into a bit of a 'bits and pieces' post, so i will try and put up a more interesting one later on, that is if i have anything interesting to say!

Lots of jewellery stuff

I've been really busy lately making LOTS of stuff. So, i thought i'd spend the morning showing you all the lovely things i've been making.

Firstly, i've been making LOADS of bracelets. When i say loads, i actually mean 12. With matching earrings. And a necklace. They're not all for me. In fact, i didn't get to keep any of them. ANNOYING! They are all part of an order for someone to give out as gifts. So, as you are probably DESPERATE to see all these lovely bracelets (This is untrue. You're probably just a bit curious), here they are:

Red and yellow crackle beads, orange 'shard' beads and yellow crystals. (I'm not really sure what all the proper names for the beads are.)

This has to be my favourite. It's made with turquoise beads, silver bead caps, grey and black 'crackle' beads and small blue bicone crystals. I'm definitely going to make one for myself.

This one was just simply grey and petrol pearls with bead caps and silver spacers, but it turned out quite well.

Black and pink bracelet.

Silver and green bracelet.

Blue pearl and crystal bracelet.

This one has purple beads with a blue and silver 'splatter' pattern, with some pearls and spacers.

This one is made to match a necklace that i featured in a previous post (I was going to put up a link to the post but it turns out i never did put a picture of the necklace up. So, imagine this bracelet, but necklace sized. Excellent.)

I really liked this one cause it seemed to have sort of (?) spring colours. Anyway, it's nice.

This one is a sort of apple-y green colour. Probably didn't need to write that. You can see it.

A sort of coffee coloured one. Obviously.

I was asked to make a 'pink and sparkly' necklace, bracelet and earrings set.

I apologise for this post being so long, and not having much in it, but i promise i have just one more thing to show you, then you can all go back to ...hmmm...whatever you want to do.  The world is your oyster! I still don't really understand what that phrase is all about. I don't even like oysters, and i don't particularly want to live on one. But i digress...

Lastly (hooray! You've made it to the end of this endless, and not very interesting, post.) I wanted to show you a new necklace charm i've been working on.

A lovely bird nest. I'm going to buy a bird charm to hang next to it, then put it on a long necklace.

So, congratulations to all who made it this far. Don't worry, i'm going to stop now.

Nice things and not so nice things.

Here are some of the nice things that have happened to me recently:

1. I have just had some lovely new beads delivered through the post.
2. I bought more new beads when i went to a bead shop (i really need to start making things with all the bits and pieces i have left to make some room. I might make some charm bracelets. Hmm...).
3. I received my personalised stickers through the post. (I stuck one on a parcel so you could see what they looked like.)

4. I have received some orders to make bracelets, necklaces and earrings for some family friends.

I wish i could have kept this one.

5. I've received another order to make christmas presents.
6. I have just discovered that 'Despicable Me 2' is coming out next year. I absolutely loved the first film. I can't wait! I realise that has nothing to do with jewellery. Or crafts, really. But it's still nice.

Here are some rubbish things that have happened:

1. One of my bracelets broke, so now i have to fix it.
2. I drank a milkshake this morning that was so horrible, it made my nose hurt.
3. I was in such a daze this morning that i managed to put my pants on back to front. I'm not joking.
4. I slept in this morning. This may be a nice thing for some, but i actually got up so late this morning that it stopped being a nice thing. Bet you never thought that could happen! I'm not even going to write how late it was, as you will be too shocked.
5. I was still in my pyjamas when someone came round to read the meter.
6. Yesterday i fell over and hurt my hand and knee. ALOT.
7. I have been made to watch sport on the television for a million years. Literally. I hate sport.
8. This year in Britain is 'The Summer of Sport'.

Jewellery making antics

I've been pretty busy over the last couple of days with jewellery making antics, so i thought i would take a break and show you all what i've been up to.

Firstly, i finally made the long necklace that i've been planning for aaaaggggggeeeessss. I even put it on my 'to do list' post to make sure that i actually did it.

I added a few extra things to it, like small pink and silver pearls. I also added a silver flower connector to break it up a bit and finished it off with some chain as the beads were getting quite heavy. The chain sits under my hair anyway so you can't see it.

I have also been asked to make a purple bracelet and matching earrings as a gift for someone, so i thought i would make 2 different bracelets so that they had a choice.

With matching earrings.



Or this one (apologies for the picture. It seems to have come out really dark)

With matching earrings

I then spent about two hours yesterday making a bracelet using bead weaving.

Then, after spending two hours making it, i picked it up to put it on, and the CLASP BROKE! So, i took it all apart, ate some chocolate to cheer myself up (i was pretty crabbit by this point) then spent another hour making it it again (using a clasp that actually works this time), tried it on and realised it was about an inch too long. Haven't a clue how i did this since i used the same number of beads as before. So, i am planning to cut it up again and, HOPEFULLY, this time, nothing will go wrong. Although it probably will.

A rescue mission!

I just had to rush outside and rescue a poor wee bird that my cat had decided to play with. Luckily, my cat admitted defeat and let the bird go straight away and i picked it up and tried to warm it up a bit in the porch. Eventually, after about 10 minutes, it seemed to perk up a bit and, after putting it down on the bird feeder, it seemed to revive and fly away (hopefully to somewhere safer than before!).

I'm not really sure what kind of bird it is actually, but it was very cute. However, i managed to get completely drenched in the rain trying to save it and have washed my hands 6 times so far and they still don't feel quite clean enough. I don't think they ever will.

A very soggy strawberry

Today i finally started (and finished!) a beaded strawberry from an article in bead magazine (www.beadmagazine.co.uk). So, after many hours, lots of beads rolling under the table, and many injuries (due to me accidently jabbing a beading needle in my finger), here is the finished strawberry.

Now, you might be thinking, 'That's not too bad for a first attempt'. Just wait til you see the other side.

Yes, that is a very lopsided strawberry. If it had been a real strawberry, it would have definitely been soggy. The start of it went a bit wonky. And the middle. And, if i'm honest, the end as well. I still like it though.

The School Fair

It's official. I actually sold earrings! It's true! I made 24 pairs (i would have made more but i completely ran out of earring wires. ANNOYING.) and i sold 19 pairs. I sold each pair for £2.50 and made £44, all of which went to Shelterbox. (For the smart cookies amongst you, yes, i do realise that £44 does not divide by £2.50, but someone didn't quite have enough money, so i let them pay a bit less). The fair only lasted an hour, so £44 in one hour is not too shabby! Also, out of the 5 pairs of earrings left, one pair i really wanted to keep for myself and one pair my mum really wanted. FANTASTIC!

So, i am now planning to sell on Etsy, and maybe Folksy.com (i only found out about this website yesterday, so should probably look at it a bit more first. And maybe buy lots of beads when i'm next on it. I'm only being polite...) However, i can't start selling yet because the school fair COMPLETELY depleted my earring wires and a few other things, so i'd best stock up first, but DON'T WORRY, i let you know when i start selling and i'll put up a link so you can go and have a wee nosey around. You know you will.

LOTS of earrings

I have been asked to make a few pairs of earrings for a local school fair, and all profits made will go to Shelterbox, a charity that provides tents and things to people involved in natural disasters. It's also a good chance for me to see what people think of my jewellery. So, in case your interested, here are some of the earrings i made.

These are made using some brightly coloured buttons i had, joined together with some jump rings.

These were made using a pearl for each earring, 2 crystals in the same colour as the pearl, and 2 clear crystals all put on indiviual headpins and joined together with a couple of jump rings.

These are just glass beads put on headpins cut to different lengths. I used the same colours as the button earrings, cause those colours are COOL! At least, i think so.

And these are fuchsia style earrings that were mentioned in a previous post.

I did make others (about 24, i think) but i forgot to take a photo before i packed them up. ANNOYING!
However, i mustn't get too hopeful. I may get to the fair, put all my earrings on the table, and people will rush over and shout 'What horrors do i see before me?! I cannot believe anyone would make such rubbish jewellery! It is so ugly i may be sick!' Then they will probably run away and not buy anything. And i will go home sad.