Happy Cab

The colours in this beaded cab & spiral rope make me happy! The weather is very grey and drizzly here in Wales today, so I thought I would brighten things up a bit!

The handmade glass cab is by Debbie Dew.


Happy beading!

Sarahx

Earth Song - Finished Object!

Earth Song is finished, yay! This is quite an achievement for me as I normally only manage fairly quick projects. I did things completely differently this time, I chose a colour theme and let the beads dictate where I went with it instead of knowing what I wanted to make right from the start.



I enjoyed the process and am really happy with what I ended up with and think that this is the way forward in terms of stretching myself creatively with my beading. I will still need to work the other way to build up stock for my Etsy shop but I am going to try and do this on a regular basis.

Happy beading!

Sarahx

Going Around in Circles

Hi everyone, its been a while!

It's been pretty busy around here so I have neglected blogland a bit. I'm spending some time catching up with everyone while my son has a playdate with his friends and thought it would be good to show some of what I have been up to.

I have moved from an obsession with circular netting to an obsession with circular peyote! I am also trying to work more in series and so far have 2 series. The Camelot series inspired by the ladies of King Arthur's court and have so far beaded designs in colourways inspired by Viviane, Ygraine, Guinevere, Morgan and Nimueh. The second series is based on birds and so far I have peacock and Raven with Dove, Flamingo and Robin to follow soon. Here are a few of the pieces for you to see;

Viviane Necklace

Peacock Earrings
Nimueh Earrings

Thinking Ahead to Christmas.

I am currently in full on making mode as I have a jewellery party this Friday, a sale in my work's coffee shop and two craft fairs before Christmas. I have quite a lot of stock already but it's always nice to have new stuff.

I made this bracelet using some of the lovely chunky, black and silver beads that I bought at the fair last week. I think it's perfect for the party season.


I had a few beads left over, so I made this trapeze style chain necklace.



While I was working, my 6 year old son asked if he could do some wirework! So I cut up some lengths of copper wire, handed him a pair of round nose pliers and he dug through his bead box (yes, he has his own) and he decided to make some Christmas decorations for the tree. I think he did a pretty good job as I did not tell him what to do (other than not to poke himself in the eye with the wire) but left him alone to freestyle.

Sarahx

A is for Autumn & Acorns.

Here in Wales the weather is decidedly autumnal, chilly mornings and evenings interspersed with bright sunshine in the day. I love September, we very often have have beautiful weather this month and I work in a building surrounded by trees which are a treat to look out of the window at.

I like to bead the seasons and have made flowers for spring and summer and icy crystal necklaces for the winter. However, apart from one choker with a Russian leaf centrepiece, I have never beaded autumn, until now that is. I was playing about with the technique that I use for my tulips and bell flowers and realised that I could make a pretty little bead cap. I then figured out that if I popped that bead cap on top of a bead that was a just too big for it, it made a perfect little acorn. Once I made one, I couldn't stop! Here are three of the necklaces that I have made so far. I have also made a little green and silver one but I haven't had a chance to photograph it yet.

Folksy July Jesters

I recently opened a shop on Folksy ( the UK equivelant of Etsy) and I have joined the July Jesters which is a monthly listing club. Members of the club try to list at least one item daily and support and promote each other. I will be featuring other Folksy sellers from the Jesters in July but thought it would be good to start with a catch up of my 1st 5 items


July 1st -Blue Sky Earrings.
July 2nd - Negative Space Earrings

July 3rd - Bluebell Woods Necklace

July 4th - Urban Greys Bracelet

July 5th - Copper Swing Earrings

If you want to have a look at my shop, here is a link->
http://www.folksy.com/shops/aprilisforever

Blue Jeans Butterfly

A Butterfly pendant to remind us that summer is on it's way!

Fluttering in on a Spring Breeze...

Is this sweet little butterfly pendant necklace, I'm anticipating a small invasion of this little pretties as soon as I get some more chains.

Yellow Tulip Necklace

I'm continuing to develop my crystal tulip design and really wanted to see what it looked like in a traditional tulip colour. I found these lovely yellow firepolished beads and the pearl in my stash and knew they would be perfect. It took me a while to decide what shade of green to use on the strap, in the end I decided to use silver lined green at the core to add depth and a transparent ab finish which picks up from the yellow in the tulip. I originally had a more elaborate necklace planned but eventually realised that a simple one would be best to showcase the flower. I even took a halfway decent photo!

Purple Fantasy Necklace.

This lovely necklace is made using a variety of both stitches and beads including Swarovski crystals and pearls.

Ice Queen

Ice Queen is a freeform peyote necklace which features a beautiful Swarovski Crown Crystal. The crystal is captured in peyote stitch.