This cuff had several working names…Vertigo, Vortex (sounds too much like a loo cleaner!) and Yeah Baby!…before I decided on Out of this Whirled. I love naming my pieces, I think it gives them a bit of character and hopefully will evoke a feeling or memory, but sometimes I struggle and it takes me longer to name something than it did to make it! It’s all part of the fun for me though.

Anyway, enough rambling. Here’s the cuff, made in peyote stitch using black & white Japanese Delica beads. It’s the first time I’ve ever made a peyote cuff from Delica beads and I just love the texture, it’s  like flowing fabric. I really enjoyed designing and making this, taking inspiration from this month’s colour challenge on the Bead Buddies forum. This one’s a keeper ; )

And here’s another Black Eyed Susan, this time using a yellow bead mix and I’ve used a button for the centre instead of a cabochon. Not sure what I’m going to do with this one yet, so it’s just a lonely pendant for now.

First of all, good news. Remember these earrings (bottom of the post)? Well Jean loved them and they are going to be in a future issue of Bead! I’m so excited : )

This is a bracelet I made over the weekend. I’m really pleased with it, partly because I’ve had these pink beads for some time and not really known what to do with them. They’re that strange shade of pink that I find really hard to match with other colours, but I put some copper next to them and wow! I have some left over so I think I’ll make a matching necklace. Watch this space ; )

Argghh…..I’ve got friggin tennis elbow! And I don’t even like tennis! The Dr said I’m to rest it for a few days, so no crafting for me…..I’m so bored already, some beading would take my mind off my throbbing arm but I ain’t allowed to. Luckily I got these bracelets made before so I have something to show at least. All of these are available on my website ; )

This is a Fire Agate focal with Carnelian & Citrine chips and Tiger’s Eye beads…..

Aventurine focal with Malachite, New Jade, Olive Jade, light and dark Aventurine chips…..

Rose Quartz hearts with Peridot, Rhodonite and Rose Quartz chips…..

And finally, Carnlian and Snowflake Obsidian chips with Hematite round beads…

Here’s another piece of jewellery I made last week, for the Big Bracelet Bead Swap Challenge on UK Beaders. The idea is that you send a selection of beads to one member, enough to make a bracelet, and you get beads in return from another member. Here’s what I receieved, a bag of size 11 seed beads and a bag of mixed beads including seeds, cubes, drops, magatamas and greek silver washers…..

…..and here’s what I did with them. My first thought when I looked at the beads was that I wanted to make a peyote base with ’stuff on top’ and as usual I made it up as I went along. I made the base first, wanting it quite wide so I chose 2-drop peyote (for speed, I can be a bit impatient at times!) with a picot edge.

As you know, I’m addicted to brick stitch circles at the moment so I made three of them with some of the cubes, seeds and drops. The whole thing looks very complicated but basically I just started at the centre, adding the first circle and then worked out to the ends, stitching on all the other little bits and pieces on the way.

Finally I made a loop and added one of the large swirly beads as a clasp (I have two left over for matching earrings!). So whaddaya think? It was brilliant fun and I can’t wait for the next bead swap!

Well I’m almost at the end of my beady journey through The Beader’s Floral and I’ve really enjoyed myself! Here’s what I did with all those flowers, a charm bracelet full to bursting. I forgot to take photos of the buds, leaves and tendrils – I couldn’t wait to make the bracelet up once I’d decided what to do with the flowers - but you can just see some of them peeking out in between. I’ve also added some green and purple glass beads to bring it all together. Possibly the most colourful piece I’ve ever made, I hope you like it!

A friend saw my favourite Tim Burton-inspired bracelet the other day and wanted one just like it – so here it is! Made from lashings of glass and acrylic beads with black and white polymer clay slices that I made myself. I love the original and wear it all the time.

I’ve also given my website a huge makeover – pop along and let me know what you think!

The new April/May issue of Bead is in the shops now and I’m very pleased to say that my floral charm bracelet is on page 14 – my very first published project! I’m not sure if I’m allowed to show the page so here’s a photo of the bracelet instead.

Here’s my card for this week’s Dutch Dare challenge. I’ve used a Paper Artsy stamp, DCWV floral papers and some Auntie Sarah’s Bloomers.

I was in the middle of making these Lavender bracelets which are Christmas gifts for some of my friends and thought I would create a tutorial to show how to make one.

You will need:

7″ length of chunky chain (I used chain with 7mmx x4mm links)

1″ length of small link chain (with links large enough to take a lobster clasp, mine is 5mm x 2mm)

7 small Czech bell flower beads

8 small Czech glass hearts

15 1″ headpins

1 lobster clasp

Put all the beads onto the heapins, making sure the hearts are facing up and the flowers are hanging down as in the photo below. Trim the headpins so that there is 1cm left above the bead and bend the heapins to make a 45 degree angle

And turn the heapins into a loops. Please see this post on my old blog for beginners instructions on how to make loops and the correct way to open and close them.

Open the loops and attach them to the chain. I put a bead on every other link, alternating which side of the link I attached them to. You can choose your own order and add more beads if you want to.

Finally, attach the smaller extension chain and add a glass heart to the end.

Here’s the finished bracelet. Very feminine!