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.

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 <<

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!

Here are a couple of pairs of earrings that I made recently. The idea for these started when I was trying to design some woven bead caps using the bronze beads and herringbone stitch. But try as I might, I couldn’t get the last row to stay flat. In the end I decided that I really liked the frilled effect and made another pair!

Florence is bronze cylinder beads with green rutilated quartz. Arabella is made with size 15 metallic silver seed beads and gorgeous faceted black onyx.

I’ve been very busy lately so I’ve not had time to post for a while! I’ve given my website a bit of a makeover, so rather than having all the info on one page each item now has it’s own little space with just sneaky thumbnails on the main pages. No more pop-up images! I’d love to know what you think.

 Here’s my latest batch of beady bits and bobs. I’m trying to use my vast collection of semi-precious gemstone chips in different ways, rather than just stringing them. I’m sure there must be tons of other ways to use them, ideas on a postcard please…..

Odessa is made from Citrine chips on a peyote base of Miyuki seed beads. I love this bead mix, it’s called A Touch of Teal.

Pan is Peridot chips on a peyote tube, topped and tailed with Swarovski crystals. It was meant to be one of a pair of earrings but it was so difficult getting my needle through the beads in the tube that I couldn’t bear to make another. So I made it into a pendant instead!

Last but not least is Katiyana, which is a square of matt black Toho beads in peyote stitch again with Snowflake Obsidian chips. This one is my favourite, you know how much I like black & grey so it was hard not to put it in my jewellery box! The name means ‘night snow’ in Inuit which I thought was not only appropriate for this piece but also a really pretty name.  All are available on my website ; )

Oh dear. So it’s true. There is such a thing as too much beading. See, I overdid it while I was recuperating last week and gave myself a right pain in the shoulder! So I decided to have a rest for a while and it’s getting better. I can’t survive without doing something crafty though, so I did some sketching instead. I’m quite pleased with my drawings but I always seem to leave them half finished so I’m reluctant to show them to the world at the moment! Instead, here’s some earrings I made last week…..

Thank you so much for all your lovely get well wishes! I’m feeling a lot better now, got the old antibiotic bleurgh-ness but I’m getting up and about much more. I got loads of beading done while I’ve been recuperating, more of my ferris wheel pendants which are really relaxing to make – I just choose the colours and off I go! These are all available on my website. The first one to show you is Atlantis, gorgeous blues in this one…..

Next is Robin Hood – blame my sister for the name, she thought of it!

This one was a challenge to myself and I’m really pleased with how it turned out. I wanted to see if I could make one with just crystal beads and no other colours. It reminds me of a huge snowflake!

And if that wasn’t enough I got a pair of earrings made too. I’m planning on submitting the design to Bead magazine so keep your fingers crossed for me. Talking of Bead, my book thong project will be in the next issue and there’s a sneak preview of  it in the current issue on page 22!

Phew, I think that’s enough! Thanks for looking.

I made these earrings for a challenge over on the UK Beaders forum where the theme is Earring Extravaganza, I think these have to be the biggest I’ve ever made at 2″ across! I’ve had the idea to do some big hoops using seed beads for ages but it’s taken me a while to figure out the best stitch to use. Peyote and brick stitch make great tubes but they’re not so good at bending and I didn’t think I could get a tight enough circle without cracking some beads. Then I tried herringbone and it’s perfect! I’ve also made a couple of beaded beads to go in the centres. I wasn’t sure about them at first but they’re growing on me, whatever you think of them they’re certainly different!

Here’s a few pairs of earrings I’ve made. They’re looking for new homes so if any of them take your fancy you can find them here. First off are brick stitch flowers made from seed beads and cubes and were designed by the very talented Lynn Davy.

My very first piece of maille! Ok so it’s extremely simple maille made by linking pairs of jump rings, but I’m pleased with it and think it looks fab with the Swarovski crystal hearts : )

I love these earrings! They’re made from Czech firepolished crystals in shades of purple and I’ve used some unusual silver plated chandelier findings.

And I finally managed to get a decent photo of my Blood & Gold earrings.

I’ve added these new earrings to the website today, they’re very simple but the crystals are absolutely gorgeous! I love the new faceted doughnut shaped beads I bought recently and for a change I’ve used gold plated components, which work great with this shade of amethyst. Hope you like them too! You can find them here.