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.

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.

I was looking for something in my ‘bit box’ yesterday and found this black polymer clay face that I made sometime last year. I thought it would be great for the centre of a flower and immediately black eyed Susan’s came to mind. So I dropped what I was working on and had a go at one! I’m really pleased with how it’s turned out, another one of those make-it-up-as-I-go things, I think the best stuff is made that way : ) If you love it as much as I do you can find it in my Esty shop.

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!

This little snowdrop combines herringbone and square stitch and was another one I enjoyed doing. I chose ceylon seed beads which are beads with a lustre finish, I think they’re perfect for the snowdrop.

I chose fiery colours for today’s flower. This one is herringbone stitch with a bit of square stitch around the petal edges and it’s meant to be a peony. The orange petals were supposed to have some more beads on them but I got a bit lost in the pattern and thought it looked ok as it was! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a peony in real life anyway. Lol.

I really enjoyed making today’s flower, which is a fuschia. It uses herringbone for the tube, brick stitch and 2-step brick stitch for the petals, a kind of loopy stitch for the inside flower and then some simple fringing for the stamens.

I’m moving onto tubular flowers today and this is the first – isn’t it pretty?! It’s a combination of herringbone stitch for the tubular stem and peyote stitch for the petals.

First of all some good news. Bead magazine has accepted another one of my projects! This time it’s for one of my book thongs, which I’m really pleased about : )

At the moment I’m working my way through The Beader’s Floral by Jill Devon and Liz Thornton. It’s a fabulous book and I’d highly recommend it to any beaders who love flowers. Hopefully I’ll be learning how to create a new flower every day and posting photos of the finished flowers as I make them. Eventually they’ll all be made into one piece of jewellery – no idea what, I haven’t actually planned that far ahead!

Here’s the first flower, a Stargazer Lily made with herringbone stitch.