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I thought it was time to change my blog theme. If you’re looking for the Leave a Comment link, it’s now at the bottom of my posts instead of the top. Sorry for the confusion!

Some bits and pieces

Before I show you a few bits and pieces I’ve made over the past week, I’d just like to wish everyone a very happy Yule/Christmas!

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Here’s what I’ve been up to bead-wise. This is another of my Fairground Attraction pendants, inspired by the phrase ‘Eye of the Storm’. I love watching those ‘freaky weather’ programs on TV and I remember someone once saying that they looked up once the first wave of the storm had passed and saw a circle of blue sky. Now I don’t know if this is true or not but I thought it would make a great pendant!

These type of earrings are very fashionable at the moment so I thought I’d make my own version using beaded beads. I love this first pair a lot, they’re made using Toho metallic silver seed beads and silver plated findings. These are for sale in my Etsy shop along with a tutorial to make your own beaded beads just like these.

And for these I’ve used my favourite shade of seed beads, metallic abalone iris. These are gorgeous and have a multi-coloured effect without being too gaudy. I used mostly matt beads and then did a couple of rows in the middle with shiny beads in the same colour. You can just about make out the little bit of shiny in the photo!  And I think the antique-gold plated chain goes nicely with these beads : ) These should be in my Etsy shop very soon.

Difference between seed beads

Quite a few people have asked me how can you tell the difference between the types of seed beads – Japanese, Czech and Indian – so I’ve decided to make up a sampler and post it here for reference. Sorry the photo’s not too great, the light’s very poor here at the moment!

Pink Revolver

Although I make my own jewellery and very rarely buy any, it doesn’t mean that I don’t drool over massed produced jewellery! In fact I very often get inspiration from what I see in the shops and online. While I never copy anything directly, I can be inspired by shapes and colours. For instance, I fell in love with this gorgeous ring from New Look…

…it instantly reminded me of my Fairground Attraction pendants and I thought the gunmetal and pink would be a great colour combination to try! So here’s Pink Revolver, available on my website and in my Etsy shop : )

Lucky, lucky, lucky

December must be my lucky month! Not only was it my birthday and I received some beautiful cards, gifts and good wishes from my family and friends, including a gorgeous sewing box from my very good friend Sue. I also was lucky enough to win a box of amazing artisan lampwork beads from Sarah at FlameForceFive, thank you Sarah : )

Then I was so pleased to discover that I’d won the Artist of the Month challenge over on the UK Beaders forum with my Dark Twist necklace! As well as all that, my Enchanted Earrings project is in the latest issue of Bead Magazine (issue 19). I haven’t been too good healthwise lately with one thing and another, so all of this has cheered me up immensely : )

It’s been a while since I made any cards but I got the urge to make some this week. I’ve stuck to a very simple style; stamped Pollycraft Winter Elves and a polar bear by Anita’s coloured with Promarkers and glittered, Shabby Princess backing papers, some ribbon and sentiments printed on the computer. Hope you like them.

And here’s another of my Fairground Attraction pendants that sold before I had a chance to show you! I adore the colour combination in this one, based around the shades in the mix of cubes called Serenity, consisting of blue, purple, green and white.

Blog candy winners

Congratulations to Sarah and Anna!