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.

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.

My arm’s a little better today so I’ve managed to squeeze in a bit of beading. I really enjoyed making these little angels! They’re all available here  ; )

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…..

I finally got around to making a set of beaded beads to go on the website. I love these colours, they’re practically edible! I made them using Japanese Toho beads, weaving in one tiny bead at a time. Perfect for a necklace or bracelet, you can find them here.

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.

Well my resolution of making a card for every beady piece I create hasn’t lasted the month! I’ve been busy working on some bead tutorials and that’s been taking up most of my spare time. Here’s a peek at what I’ve been up to, hopefully some cards will appear very soon!

These earrings were made for a challenge on UK Beaders, where the theme is A Novel Idea. You have to base your piece on the title of a novel which I thought would be fairly easy but hmm…let’s just say…the books on my shelf…serial killers…horror…thrillers…not exactly jewellery inspiring titles on any of them! Thank goodness for Anne Rice’s “Blood & Gold” which was something I could work with.

I’ve also been busy making bookmarks using my beaded beads. These are available on my website and on Etsy,  Misi, Folksy and Coriandr as well as my Beaded Bead tutorial!

I find myself so engrossed in beads sometimes that I neglect my cardmaking. Now I love making cards very much but find it hard to get into ‘card mode’ when beady ideas come along. So I’ve set myself a challenge…for every piece of jewellery I make I have to also make a card…that should get my card box filled, let’s just hope I can keep it up!

I’m so pleased with these earrings I made yesterday, mainly because the design is my own. After a few dodgy starts, I finally figured out how to make a beaded bead using only size 11 seeds and peyote stitch that was actually round and not lumpy! There’ll be no stopping me now. I also love the way the colours go with the gold. I’m using a bit more gold in my work now so that I can use colours that don’t really work that well with silver. These are available on my website.

Here’s my card for the Sketch Saturday challenge. The image was stamped for me by my friend Sue, the papers are DCWV retro Paper Stack and the embellishments were free with a recent magazine.

Happy new year! Brr, it’s bitterly cold here, we even had a bit of snow this afternoon. I love the snow but we don’t get very much of it these days so it’s always lovely when we get a flurry, even if it’s just for 5 minutes like today! I’ve been busy making new jewellery this week, these are already on my website and there’s lots more to come.

I love the beads I used for these earrings! Depending on which way the light catches them, they look clear or deep topaz and teamed with Swarovski crystals I think they look fab with gold.

Purple and green is always a gorgeous colour combination and looks lovely with antique gold.

This is a gorgeous bead handmade by Anna Richard of Beads on Toast, I thought it would look lovely on it’s own as a focal pendant.