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.

Did you know that the Bumblebee Bat is the world’s smallest bat with a wingspan of only 6″, while the Flying Fox is the largest with up to a 6ft wingspan? The little beauties below are made from pewter and only have a 1″ wingspan! I wanted something between the bat and the earwire and after trying out various beads and colours I decided to go for some simple chain maille in Sterling Silver. Bat lovers can wear these all year round, they’re not just for Hallowe’en! They’ll be in my Etsy shop and on my website later on tonight : ) 

And talking of Hallowe’en, I’ve got a couple of freebie cross stitch designs to share with you today. One is a glowing pumpkin with bats and for those who love something a bit scarier there’s a design of the late great Brandon Lee as The Crow. This has to be stitched on black aida but the finished effect is amazing. I designed and stitched this for my sister several years ago and it still has pride of place on her wall!

>> Click here for the “Brandon Lee” chart <<

>> Click here for the “Happy Halloween” chart <<

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 made these earrings for one of the reader’s challenges in Bead magazine, where the theme is Outrageous Earrings. The name of the theme made me think of the collection of unusual earrings I had in the early 80’s, including minature globes, tiny Rubiks cubes and even plastic toilets! I remember wearing a pair of big white plastic triangles to school one day but the teacher quickly confiscated them : (

So as a tribute to my rebellious old earrings I decided to make something similar with seed beads. This is my first time peyote-ing triangle shapes and after several attempts I found that the trangle was still too small so I stitched together the three sizes I had made. Not quite the same as the original earrings but I love ‘em all the same. I hope you do too!

Judy Patrick sent me a photo of this fab tote bag with my “A Cross Stitch” design stitched on it. Well done Judy, you’ve done a brilliant job! : ) If you want to stitch this design yourself you can find it here.

I’ve had lots of requests this week for some of my cross stitch designs, which I used to have as freebies on my website. Due to popular demand I’ll be reposting some of them on my blog. I’ll also be sharing some new designs so keep an eye out for those!

I’d love to see what you create with my designs so please feel free to email photographs and I’ll post some of them here! And don’t forget to leave a comment if you download and enjoy any of my designs, I’d love to hear from you : )

The charts are in PDF format, just click on the link to open the file and save it to your computer. You’ll need Adobe Reader to view and print them – you can download this for free at www.adobe.com.

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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 : )

To accompany my beaded bead tutorial I’ve created a tutorial for my new Colossal bead! These 24mm beads are beadwoven using size 11/0 Japanese seed beads, make great pendants or focal beads for necklaces and have other non-jewellery uses such as light pulls, key rings etc. In the tutorial I guide you throught the process of creating one of these fab beads row-by-row and with step-by-step colour photos it’s also suitable for total beginners. It’s available from my website and my Etsy shop.