Chrysanthamum Bracelet

Recently I have been more & more drawn to nature as themes for my beadwork including flowers and bird feathers. I was playing with looping seed beads around a bezeled pearl and realised that it looked like a chrysanthamum. I grew up with these flowers in my aunt's garden and constantly in vases at my nan's house, while they aren't my favourite flower they do bring back a lot of happy memories for me. In other news I finally got a daylight task lamp today which I used to light my photo, I am quite pleased and am looking forward to improving my photography!

Folksy Friday - In Honour of the Ryder Cup.

Here in South Wales, Ryder Cup Fever is in full swing, so my theme for this week's Folksy Friday is Golf.



First up is this beautiful brooch by Teasemade http://www.folksy.com/items/813217



I Love this card by Accidental Vix http://www.folksy.com/items/520621

This Shoe Bag from LifeCovers is the perfect gift for a Golf loving dad http://www.folksy.com/items/567053

Some lovely bright and funky notecards from Crafty Mushroom http://www.folksy.com/items/523485

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 Friday - I See Robots.

This week my son discovered re-runs of Robot Wars Extreme and Robots are now the hot topic of discussion in our house! We have spent several hours this week on You Tube and Google looking for instruction on how to make your own. The deal today is that if he sorts out some of his old toys to go to the charity shop, we will take him to Hobbycraft to buy a kit to make his own robot. So in honour of kiddo's latest craze my Folksy Friday this week is all about robots.

I love this milkshake carton print by Papercake Print and Make http://www.folksy.com/items/664425
These robot gift tags by Swirly Arts are perfect for a little boys birthday http://www.folksy.com/items/546485

As is this card by Crafty Mushroom http://www.folksy.com/items/645444

And this costume by I Wish I Was A would be the perfect gift http://www.folksy.com/items/448054

This woolly hat from Helen Makes is so cute, such beautiful colour work, http://www.folksy.com/items/406029