Pretty Wrists

I've been busy with bracelets this week and I am loving all the colour combinations and requests that everyone comes up with. This week's creations have included the simple-yet-pretty 'Rainbow' bracelet above and the bold-and-basic 'True Blue' one below.

I had a commission for a a proper princessy bracelet for a little girl and I went to town with the pinks and purples for it and even added some sparkly Swarovski butterfly dangles for extra girlishness.

After all that colour and crystal I made this muted 'Tiramisu' one. Ecru and grey-brown with oodles of spots.

The 'Tiramisu' bracelet is for sale on my Freshly Baked Beads page now and as usual, if you'd like to order a bracelet in the colours of your choice just let me know. Ordering details are here.

I'm off to clean the guinea pig hutch now. Glam Sunday!

'Chocolate Orange' Bracelet

This bracelet was a commission and I am so pleased with the way it turned out. It has such an autumnal feel about it and it's quite retro at the same time.

If you fancy commissioning a bracelet made in the colours of your choice, please click here for ordering details.

Poppies To Order

Lots of you have sent me lovely comments about the 'Poppies' beads that I posted the other day.  I do realise that at fifty quid a strand they are quite expensive, so I decided to make them available as single lentils and also as pendants.

I've also added some red and black spacer beads to the ordering page too.

The single lentils are £9.00 each, the pendants are £12.00 a piece and the spacers are £6.50 per strand. All prices include worldwide postage and they are all available to order right here.

Hooked

I taught myself to crochet when I was about eleven or twelve. My Grandma was amazing at crochet and after watching her one day I asked if she could teach me how to do it. We were just leaving to go home and she popped upstairs and fetched me a crochet hook, some crochet cotton and an old Coats crochet instruction book so that I could have a go and see if I could do it.

Although Mum was a fab knitter she didn't know how to crochet so I sat by myself with the things Grandma had given me and I taught myself how to crochet from that little black and white book of wonder. Next time I saw Grandma I showed her my doubles, trebles and clusters and she showed me how to neaten things up and how to do a couple more stitches. I gave her the crochet book back and I bought my own copy which I still have.

Now, although I've always been able to crochet and have occasionally made the odd item here and there, I never liked it as much as knitting. My BFF Jen sent me Jan Eaton's '200 Crochet Blocks' for my birthday and these past few evenings I've been sat making squares aplenty. I'll stitch them together to make a blanket as soon as I have enough.

I'm thoroughly enjoying myself. The nice thing about crochet is the speed at which it grows; way faster than knitting. It's really good to be able to switch from working tight, intricate cables on a knitted sock to crocheting bold stripes and flowers within a blanket square. Crafty equilibrium.

'Poppies'

I made some poppy lentils like this a good few years ago. Since then they have been one of my most requested bead designs but I've never remade them ... until now.

The 18mm clear lentil beads are decorated with bright red poppes. The use of enamels gives the petals a variegated, almost painterly effect. Each one of these lentils takes me about half an hour to make and they are such tricky beads to photograph. Red glass, like lavender glass,  hates artificial light. They look best taken in bright sunshine but alas, there is none of that today. 

These would look beautiful as a bracelet and lentil beads are so comfy to wear. I've teamed these pretty poppies with some small spacer beads.

They are available over on my Freshly Baked Beads page now.

'Splash Of Scarlet'

Classic black and white with a splash of gorgeous red.

These are for sale in the the usual place right now.

Halfway to seventy

Tis my birthversary today. My best friend, Jenni, made me this groovy, colourtastical and jollymaking scarf. I love it! I've had lots of wonderful presents and cards and the sun is shining so it's a pretty dang good birthday so far.

I'm going to sit in the garden with a pot of Earl Grey and have a natter with the guinea pigs now.

Zoom!

I went home to Hedge End this weekend to stay with my sister as it was my niece's birthday party. The weather was lovely. I took the above photo of my niece pushing my youngest sister on my nephew's bike. Crazy pair were making me giggle!

Whilst the wonderful Wartime Farm has been on I've been adding beads to my Freshly Baked Beads page and editing some photos of bracelets that I made last week.

My laptop is becoming hilariously bad to use. I've given up swearing at it and I kind of just go "Aw, you're just an old technobiddy!" to it instead. Poor old Sonya. She's hanging on, bless her dodgy spacebar.

Tomorrow I must remove the weeds in the back garden. Some of them are shoulder height. I have no idea what they are but they are big and plentiful. Seriously, the guinea pigs look like they're in a forest when they venture into the weed patch.

I'm off to find some strawberries to munch. I'm on a diet, a proper Slimming World one, but that's a whole other blog post ...

Sun, Sea & Sand

More smaller beads, this time in summery colours. These are available over on my Freshly Baked Beads page right now.

Lonelies

I emptied my Lonelies jar this morning. There are sixty-six beads altogether and there is plenty of jewellery making fun waiting to be had with this lot.

Please click here for details of how to buy them.

'Lavender Loveliness'

Every couple of years my beads suddenly decrease in size. These lavender gems are 11mm in diameter which makes them fab for bracelets and earrings and with a dozen in the strand you've got enough to make both. 

They are available in the usual place right now. I'll also be adding more beads for sale tonight, so do check back then.

Happy Tuesdayness!

'Green Gorgeousness'

I made some green beads the other day ... for me! The beads are slightly smaller than my usual ones and I've turned them into a bracelet which is currently decorating my wrist.

If you fancy ordering a bracelet please click here for details. A gallery of my bracelets can be found here.