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.

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 : )

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.

Here’s a little something I made for myself. Although I don’t think ‘little’ is the right word to describe it, this is quite a chunky piece! The original project was designed by Cindy Cohn and can be found in Jewelry Designs with Art Glass Beads, a one-off magazine from the makers of Bead & Button.

For my version I’ve replaced the art glass bead with a lava bead lentil and used my favourite black & grey colour scheme for the Cellini spiral. I finished it off with lengths of faux suede thonging and black chain. I tried to inject lots of different textures and bead finishes into this piece and I’m really happy with how it turned out. I’m going to enjoy wearing this : )

I’ve been beading a lot over the past couple of weeks but somehow I’ve got nothing to show for it! Here’s a couple of things I’ve made that are actually finished…..

For ages I’ve been wanting to have a go at making these fab microscope slide pendants. I was a bit nervous to start with, I’ve never soldered in my life so I pictured a horrible lumpy mess and/or the house on fire! Thankfully neither of those happened so I’ve haven’t been put off at all. I’m really pleased with how my first effort has turned out although there’s tons of room for improvement, I’m going to need lots of practise at this!

Here’s one side

And here’s the other side

I got a bit impatient while waiting for all my soldering bits and pieces to arrive and made this rather colourful pendant! I put a piece of Cupcakes paper between two microscope slides ready for soldering but then I had an idea of using the glass sandwich as a regular cabochon, glueing it down and beading around it etc. It worked well but it’s a bit on the colourful side for my taste! I might put it for sale one day, so if anyone’s interested just get in touch. I’m a bit stuck for a name for this piece – any ideas?

Last week I posted some photos of my Vintage Lace choker and I’m pleased to say that I’ve just finished the tutorial! You can find it on my website’s Beads & Tutorials page.

Here’s a little something that I made yesterday. I wanted to make a choker that had a kind of lacy ribbon feel so I used a combination of size 11 and size 8 cream seed beads in what I guess is a kind of right angle weave (I made the stitch up as I went but it’s so simple and I’m sure it’s been done 1000 times before!).

I designed the rosette using peyote stitch for the centre and then added petals in a beautiful turquoise, then anchored it to the choker by a glass pearl. Finally I made a fringe using the same seed beads and pearls. The fringe hangs straight and not wavy as in the photo!

I’m very happy with how this turned out, and it’ll be available in my Etsy shop very soon. I’m thinking of making a free tutorial for this design so watch this space : )

I’ve finally got the tutorial for my Black Eyed Susan pendant finished! I’ve been working on it for a while now but in the end I wasn’t happy with the step-by-step photos I’d taken, so I decided to redo them all. This project is a mixture of bead embroidery and beadweaving, using seed beads and a cabochon or button. All simple techniques and suitable for beginners and advanced beaders alike. As you can see from the photo, you’re not limited to making Black Eyed Susan’s either, with a change of colour you can make any of the flowers in the daisy-like family. You can find the tutorial in my Etsy shop and in the Beads & Tutorials section on my website : )

More playing with bead embroidery, I have to admit that I’m getting quite addicted to it! I already have plans for a seasonal set…lol. No cabochon on this one, I used mainly size 11 seed beads in 7 shades of red for the rays, tiny gold 15s for the outlines and gorgeous Miyuki drops in a mix called Magma for the sun. The only thing I’m not happy with is the necklace, I feel it’s far too skinny for the pendant (which is a whopping 2¼” in diameter!) so it’s going to be replaced by a slightly chunkier beadwoven one.

I got so many lovely comments about my circular pendants that I decided to create a tutorial! I’ve included large colour step by step photographs so it’s suitable for beginners and experienced beaders alike. You can find it here on my website and in my Etsy shop : )