Autumn Leaves

A spot of colour inspiration for you, from outside our backyard.

Happy Sunday.

Coffee Shop Creativity

Wednesday was a super-productive day for me. I work best when in a busy but not chaotic environment  - a 'mix of calm and commotion', as it is described at Coffitivity. It's a fun (if a little silly) website that plays background sound from a coffee shop - it's true what it says though! That kind of burble does foster creativity - for me, at any rate. Not knowing anyone apart from my partner here in Belfast, I have been spending a lot of time by myself in our house. Not bad - we have a lovely house, even if it is still a little (a lot!) empty for my liking....but I have missed getting out and about. So on Wednesday afternoon, I took myself off to my new favourite coffee shop, Common Grounds, and drank tea and ate cake (only one small piece, I promise!) and.....made jewellery. I had a select palette with me, as you'll see, and everything just flowed. It really was a fantastic afternoon! I'm thrilled with all the pieces I made. Perhaps you'll see something you'll like - take a peek :-)

Available in my etsy shop. 

FLASH sale at The Curious Bead Shop

Let's get this weekend started with a FLASH sale! Hop over to The Curious Bead Shop and take a whopping 15% off all orders from now until the end of Saturday, using coupon code OCTOBERFLASH13. Not sure how coupon codes work? Send me a convo before checking out and I will point you in the right direction. 

Happy shopping!

Some new listings in the shop

A few new pretties in the shop. Plus, I've added a bunch of relisted stuff from the summer. Take a peek! 

Why did the dragon fly?

Heaven Sent 

Sweet Tweet

A Good Post Day!

Don't you just love a good post day? Yellow, white and manilla packages never fail to excite me. I don't get as many of these as I used to - I've learnt to be more retrained since going full-time with my jewellery and bead business - so when they do happen, they are extra exciting :-) 

Today's haul contained two extra exciting packages, all the way from the USA. A Green Girl Studios restock - whenever I designed with these in the summer, the items would disappear from my stand super-quick! Some old favourites, like the keyhole and the butterfly key; and some new-to-me pieces - like the little sparrow (bottom right), and the butterfly link. I am excited to get designing with all of these!

Next was a packet of gorgeous polymer goodness, in my favourite heathery, Scottish shades of teal, aqua and purple. Alison of Beads by Earth Tones makes some of my favourite polymer beads around, and a parcel from her never fails to delight! 

Watch this space for new designs featuring polymer and pewter, coming soon!

Luck of the Irish

Wow! A necklace, I hear you say! Well, you hear me say at any rate. Sometimes, I get real necklace block - I've blogged about it in the past, and it's something that I have improved upon over the past year or so. But after my busy summer, and then my move over to Belfast....well, my brain has been reaching for its comfort zone, at least in terms of designing, and so bracelets, bracelets, earrings and bracelets it has been. 

Last night, I was chatting with some of the member of my Curiosity Club in our FB group, and asking them what challenges them in designing. Symmetry/asymmetry were two things that seemed to challenge us in equal measures; flat beads, certain colours.....it got me thinking about what challenges ME, and I decided to work a few of these challenges into one piece. It's easy to work within one's comfort zone, but sometimes the most satisfying designs are those in which you pushed the envelope and tried something a little different. 

And here you have it: the piece containing three personal challenges. 

1. It's a necklace. Not so much of a challenge for me anymore, but right now when my brain is full and a little tired, it is definitely more of a challenge to sit down to a necklace, rather than a bracelet or earrings.

2. The Lucky Horseshoe pendant from Heather Millican. I have had it for some months now, and really - how cute is it?! But for the life of me, I couldn't work out how I could get it to hang in a way I was satisfied with. 

3. The lime-green Picasso faceted rounds, which were one of those purchases where for some reason, my monitor colours were different from the finished beads. Or maybe I just didn't look hard enough at the listing. Wouldn't be the first time....

I'm not usually a fan of a yellow-y green. But one of the things we were discussing last night was pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone, particularly in terms of colours. An inspirational source I cited was www.design-seeds.com (check it out if you haven't already - awesome stuff!), and something I truly maintain is that you can work with any colour, if you find the right palette and proportion. Here, pairing the limey green beads with the turquoise coins really works for me. And I've linked those two greens with a deeper green Picasso-finish seed bead, separating the coins. 

I also solved my horseshoe dilemma by hanging it first from a lampwork disc from Helen Chalmers (more teal there, to link with the ceramic coins), and then in turn from a branch component. Something of a nod to a saloon door there, for me. And the green, the luck, the daisy...(not quite a 4-leaf clover, I know, but almost!)....it had to be called Luck of the Irish, didn't it?! That'll please my Mum too - it was her name suggestion! Thanks Mum :-)

If you fancy a little bit of Irish charm in your life, this necklace is now for sale in my etsy shop. :-) 

New jewellery!

Hello! A quick stop in to let you know that there are some new pieces listed at over at Songbead :-) Take a peek!

 Floral Nest

Polka

Free Flying 

Lucky