O Tannenbaum

A quiet combination of artisan beads, larimar and wood - each element reflecting the next.

Glossy,  smooth yet rustic wooden nuggets echo the branches of the regal fir tree of the clasp, and the darkness of the wood is picked up in the organic larimar slices, which also reflect the cool blue-turquoise tones of the button.

Linked together with the grounding quality of the forest olive green  - the tiny seed beads springing from the handwoven round, running through and closing the clasp and connecting the beads themselves. 

Available in my Etsy shop now. 

Love Light

I spoke on Friday about my new year's resolution to take better care of myself - not (hopefully) in a guilt-inducing manner, but in a gentle, kind and above all holistic manner. I think this thought was on my mind when I created this bracelet. 

I've said this before, but I am an absolutely terrible hoarder. I'm not quite ready for 'The Hoarder Next Door' yet (thank goodness - please somebody shoot me before they come knocking at my studio door) but I have the most ridiculous stash of beads. I know I'm not alone with this, and that does make me feel a little better, but really, it's time that some most of my beads saw the light of day, and fulfilled their beady destiny. The two art beads featured here are 'only' 2014 acquirements (I have beads going back....WAY back...and back....and back......) but still, they are both beads that have been preying on my mind for some reason. Kylie Parry's beautiful blue firefly in particular - Kylie does previews over on Facebook for her very, very limited edition bead collections, and I spotted it there and knew it had to be mine...You have to have fingers of fire to snag any of her beautiful handmade ceramics, so I was extremely lucky to pick this one up, exactly the one I was after. It's been to cafes on working dates with me, to and from craft fairs, it's been down to England with me for Christmas, and then finally, it's found its home with Something to do's heart. Something about the word 'here' - I loved the idea of this glowing firefly being drawn to the heart, and the quietness and stillness of that word. 

Here. 

Still. 

Be. 

Can't you feel the quiet flutter of her wings? 

Putting Kylie's firefly with Claire's heart put me in mind of one of my favourite Abba songs. (Yes, I love Abba. No apologies.) This bracelet has a much quieter feel than the song, but the title and some of its joyful spirit are definitely there. Love light. Drawn to the light of 'here'. 

You can find this sweet piece here. 

PS As an aside, when I first got to know this song, it connected very definitely with a specific person at that point in my life, not that they knew. Not someone I'm in touch with much anymore, but isn't it funny how songs retain those connections years on? Like a particular scent or taste, songs take you right back to where you were when they first resonated with you. And no, I'm not telling you who ;-)

Happy Post

Hello all! Here are some of the gorgeous handmade lovelies that have arrived or will be arriving with me soon. Don't you just love a good post day?

How sweet is this little guy? I love his sparkly turquoise ploominess. He's from Elukka.

Scorched Earth spiky droppers, in the most fantastic swirly red glaze. My Scorched Earth earrings have definitely been one of my best sellers this craft fair season. Got a few more on the way but I don't think they will be here in time for my last show, unfortunately. Ah well, all the more for my etsy shop!

Claire Lockwood has been making ceramic beads for a wee while now, and I have amassed a miniature collection (there are never enough ceramic bead artists in the world for me - I always have room for another in my collection - Bo Hulley, Kylie Parry, ChelleV2, Mary Harding, not to mention the ladies featured in this post....I could go on, and on and on....). These beautiful bead caps will be joining my others soon....

...as will these beautiful rustic roses. I have a thing about roses - in real life too. I always have - my Grandma had some absolutely beautiful old-fashioned roses in her garden, and bead roses always remind me just a little of them. Check out Claire's etsy shop - she had a huge update recently!

I hope you've enjoyed seeing the little treasures I've been acquiring recently! 

Owls, Roses and Art Beads

Almost all of my designs feature handmade beads in one material or another. Handmade beads, or 'Art Beads' as they are known, are just what they sound like - tiny little pieces of 3d art, ready to be used by jewellery artists and included within our work. I always think of this as a silent collaboration between myself and the bead artist(s) and it really is a tremendous privilege to work with handmade components on an almost daily basis. (Oh, and if you are passionate about handmade and beads too, you will want to check out Art Bead Scene for more scoop on artisan-made beads and jewellery the features them. I am one of the editors over there and post for them at least once a week.)

The longer that one works with these miniature pieces of art, the more one learns to recognise which beads work with one's style. Sometimes when I am trawling through etsy (it's a hard life, but somebody's got to do it!) searching for new art beads, I will spot certain beads that I love but that I don't necessarily feel would work within my jewellery. Sometimes I take a leap of faith and buy them anyway, and edge myself out of my comfort zone - it's good to push yourself creatively after all -  but sometimes you just know that certain art beads are not meant for you. 

You also get to know that there are certain art bead artists that you have a real affinity with. There are several bead artists who really speak to me, and I will no doubt blog about more of them in the future....but vying for the number one spot must be the extraordinarily talented Kylie Parry. Her quirky animals and pictorial beads are absolutely the perfect match for my narrative, story-telling jewellery. 

Some of Kylie's beautiful beads

Here, I have paired one of her owls with another of my favourite bead artists, Leah Curtis of Beady Eyed Bunny. Poor old Leah recently had the misfortune to have to make me thirty rose beads as a custom order - I'm sure she never wants to make a rose bead again now! 

Some of the beautiful roses that Leah custom-made for me.

But aren't they just the perfect match for my own antiqued copper deco rose clasp? 

Country Garden set

I don't always make matching sets of jewellery, but I had three roses in this lovely pale blue, and after I'd made the bracelet, the other two were just crying out to be earrings. Wouldn't you agree?

Country Garden Earrings

It's hard to see there, but I've added some handmade oxidised sterling silver earwires to these. The steely silver is perfect with the cool blue.

Country Garden bracelet

And the bracelet....well, anything with one of Kylie's owls is a winner for me, but I am very pleased with the warm rust, soft topaz and sky blue. A soft, soothing colour palette, perfect for the country garden theme. Definitely an English garden I feel, perhaps in spring before all the plants are out in full bloom, and the earth is rich and ripe.

And what could be cuter than this wee face? 

T'wit T'woo!

Whale Watching and the Call of the Sea

It's safe to say that I am *not* an outdoorsy person. Whenever I see people posting about camping, hiking and generally getting out and about in the dirt, I wish that I was like that - I even feel a little bad that I'm not like that.....but I'm just not.

There are many reasons for this - and I'll be honest, not least is the fact that I am a bit lazy in some many ways. But I'm also pretty much as pale as they come, I am not good with extreme temperatures in any way (once I am too hot/too cold I stay that way until I am immersed in water of the opposite temperature!) and manage to have been born allergic to all of the world. Cats? Yes. Dogs? Yes. Asthma? Tick. Plants? Oh yes. Very much so. Particularly grasses, but a lot of other polleny things too. Hayfever til my sinuses are blocked to the max and my eyes are puffed up slits. Not only that, but my allergies also set off delightful skin rashes at times. And of course, along with that I can also count on being bitten to death my midgies/mosquitos - which, you guessed it, when bitten I'm also prone to having an allergic reaction to. 

It's not so fun. I even had to have an operation on the inside of my nose four years ago, because my turbinates (the squishy bits on the inside that become inflamed) had become so irritated with 29 years of being allergic to life, that they were permanently huge and I was struggling to breathe through my nose on a normal, non-coldy, non-allergy day. No joke!  I have a delightful nasal douche now that to me is as key to my daily routine as brushing my teeth. 

But.....there is one big exception both my physical and mental allergy to the outdoors...

...and that's the sea. 

St Ives, Cornwall

I LOVE the sea - water in general, but particularly the sea. I love swimming (although I don't do it often enough), particularly outdoors; I love being around water, being in the water, looking at water, listening to water.....If I am on a beach, it's pretty much the law that I have to dip my toes in, whatever the time of year. 

My feet in The Sound of Harris, Outer Hebrides 2013; my feet in the Atlantic, St Ives, Cornwall 2012. 

It's actually giving me goosebumps writing this post! 

The Pacific Ocean, somewhere along the Pacific Coastal Highway, view from Ala Lani the VW camper van, 2013. 

Elephant seals on a beach up the Pacific Coastal Highway, 2013

 I remember having a student once who told me he felt such a connection with the outdoors that he longed to live in a tree. I do *not* relate to this! But being around water, I guess I can relate to how others feel about the dirty, itchy, allergen-riddled land-based outdoors. I think on some level, my body senses that the sea and it's watery, cool saltiness is a safe-haven from most allergies for me.

Clockwise from top left - The Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland; Over the Sea to Skye, Scottish Highlands; El Capitan State Beach, California; the coast of Skye, Scottish Highlands; somewhere in the Red Sea between Egypt and Jordan; the Sound of Harris, Outer Hebrides. 

The sea is amazing in all its guises, and I do have dreams of one day having a coastal home, somewhere around Edinburgh. I just have to look at the sea to feel a sense of inner-calm wash through me. Ok, we don't have the weather of the Californian coast, but Scotland's not so bad-looking either!

So when one of my absolute all-time favourite, desert-island, got-to-have-them-all bead artists makes ocean-themed beads, I am of course going to have to buy some, right? 

Whale bead from Kylie Parry

Whale Watching

Here's the very sweet and beachy bracelet I made with one of my Kylie whale beads. I have another couple of whales, quite different to this wee chubster, and I'm looking forward to making some more ocean-themed pieces. I just had to pair wee Mr Whalie with a starfish clasp from Green Girl Studios, and a few keshi freshwater pearls.

I would, of course, love to go whale watching one day. 

Found on Pinterest

Aren't these creatures simply magnificent? 

Found on Pinterest

 I hope that will be me up there, some day, diving with the whales. I scuba-dived (-dove?!) in Egypt last year; a baby dive down amongst the coral reefs of the Gulf of Aqaba, and it totally whetted my appetite for more ocean adventures. It was literally one of the best experiences of my life so far, and I can't wait to go again. 

 Whether you are as in love with the sea as I am or not, I hope you get a chance to catch some waves this summer. I have a feeling mine will be chilly, steely North Sea waves and bracingly beautiful Outer Hebridean waves, but still as wonderfully wild and beautifully and intoxicating as any others.

Whale Watching - available on etsy.

A couple of owls....

It's been an evening of owls for me.....do you have a favourite image to work with in jewellery? I adore owls. Not sure why. I have a feeling it may just be as simple as - they are very cute. I like to think my mind works on a deeper level, but I'm not sure it does! The necklace owl is from kylie parry, and the bracelet owl is from Nancy Schindler. Love them both.

Some ceramic goodies

Last week I had a good post day - you know the ones! - when two lovely packets popped through the letter box. One from Marsha Neal and one from Kylie Parry. Two gorgeous ceramic artists. Can't get enough of clay beads at the moment! I took a bunch of photos with my phone but a lot of them didn't turn out very well so I will just share a couple with you. Iphone 4 is doing well but it can't beat my trusty purple camera!

I've been lusting after some of Kylie's 'Story Beads' since she first started making them. Aren't they gorgeous? Love those birds in silhouette. The flower pendant are a new design for Kylie - peonies. I bought two of these in a pale pink and this warmer pink pictured above. 

I was lucky enough to be one of the 5 purchasers to snag a goodie bag from Kylie when she hit 2000 sales in her Etsy shop! 

My goodie bag included a honeycomb pendant, a round bird pendant and a sweet wee mushroom. YOu can see them below.

This picture also includes the beautiful pieces I bought from Marsha Neal - a stunning flower pendant and a lovely butterfly. I have used the flower in that same green that the butterfly is glazed in before, in one of my favourite pieces of recent months. I have a not-so-secret ambition to one day make my own ceramic beads but until I work out how I'm going to manage that, I'll keep on buying from the many clay artists out there that I love! Thanks ladies.

Do you have any secret bead making ambitions or are you happy to stick with jewellery? 

Best Giveaway EVER!!

Hop over posthaste to Lorelei's blog for this awesome giveaway of Kylie Parry charms! You've got 24 hours to get your comment in :-)

BTW

Not many words, just a few photos...

A new bracelet, shot on a lovely dish; one of a pair I received for my birthday, from PrinceDesignUK - an artist coincidentally also based in Manchester.




Aqua birds....






Can you guess just how much I love them...?






Blush pearls, pale as a whisper pink faceted Czech glass beads from ArteBellaSurplus, purple chain from MissFickleMedia.

A selection of shots from my bead table...


General beady goodness.


Beautiful large brass filigree hollow rounds.


Gorgeous lily pad pendant from Kylie Parry.


Beautiful indigo washed wing; one of a pair from MissFickleMedia.

What's on your bead table today?

A new necklace

One of my new purchases from last week is a lovely clay bunny pendant from Kylie Parry (who's having a special sale today only - hop over to her blog or facebook page for more details) and I knew I had to keep this one for myself...I have made myself a simple (very simple for me!) necklace combining the pendant with some pretty turquoise beads - a couple of vintage Vaseline glass rondelles, a couple of semi-precious and a tiny blue Czech rondelle. All strung on some pretty cool Vintaj chain...I don't use loads of chain in my designs but I'm thinking perhaps I should include more....hmmm....

Pretty crappy photo I know (tried a new spot I thought would work well for these....it really didn't...) but hopefully you get the idea! I think necklaces are just the hardest to shoot, I just don't know where to hang them....

This one is a little better. I love this wee girl! She's so very sweet. SO nice to have a piece of bunny jewellery that isn't all cutesy etc. The necklace goes with the majority of my wardrobe (mainly on the blue-green spectrum...) and yes, it's another teal and brown piece....what can I say, they just go so well together! 

Hope you're all having a great weekend.

The postie always rings...seven times...

Hi! Firstly, if you're after a spot of bead soup, check it out here.

***10.03.11 Update: Only 20 more blogs to go!!! I've done my 20 for today, I'll visit the last batch tomorrow as I have a touch of bead soup blog blindness now...***

I recently posted about some bits and bobs which had come in the post...all very nice! And most of them have now been put to good use. Now, like many of you (I hope!), I am quite the little bead-shopaholic...a vice which does occasionally get me in trouble with my partner...I thought I had been trying to be good this year but imagine my horror when I got home from college yesterday to be told that my father-in-law (who had come over from Yorkshire for a flying DIY visit) had struggled to open the door because there were seven parcels behind it. Yes, that's right. SEVEN. Slightly extravagant, no?! Thankfully, most of them contained things like two spools of linen cord and nothing else. (Honest!) But there was one delicious parcel from Humblebeads and another equally lovely one from Kylie Parry. I think customs must save them up and then get them sent out to the postie all at once because it does quite often happen that a bunch of parcels I have been waiting for all come at the same time. That's my excuse anyway! 

The Humblebeads parcel was one I had been eagerly anticipating because it contained my January bead of the month! (See what I mean about customs saving them up? January...!) along with a beautiful clasp and a lovely M bead I bought for my Mum (Maggie). And a couple of sweet spacers Heather threw in for me.

 

Please forgive the late afternoon lighting with these pictures...they're not as bad as I was anticipating but still, they could be better.

And here's my selection of Kylie Parry....a new addiction....

Don't you just love her work? I cannot get enough of it at the moment. I love the finishes and the colours she uses, lovely and rustic and romantic...I adore the fact that I have a bunny rabbit bead that is sweet and lovely but not the least bit cutesy....I'm not really a cutesy girl, and bunny images so often are. Not that I'm saying my two house bunnies aren't cute because they definitely are! So this bead in particular makes me very happy. 

And last of yesterday...some gorgeous headpins from Genea, whom I discovered on my (still ongoing!) bead soup party blog hop. Her swap with Mary Harding was one of my favourite combinations on both sides and I just had to snaffle some of Genea's gorgeous lampwork.

And as a little postscript, here are some rather lovely beads which arrived a week or so ago and I didn't get round to photographing until now.

Yes, more birdies....I'm so predictable I know! These beautiful handmade paper clay beads come from Heidi Post. They are very sweet! And lovely colours. She has finished three of them off with a wonderful crackle glaze which gives them a lovely texture. She's got a few more available here - check them out! And do have a read through her lovely blog - she makes some really gorgeous pieces, I'm sure you will agree.

So how are your weeks going? Productive? Too many parcels?! I'd love to hear about what has come through your letter box.