Thank You Ilkabeads

I recently won a contest on Ilkabeads blog that was run to celebrate the first anniversary of the blog. This morning this beautiful necklace arrived in the post for me!

The colours and the beading are just amazing so I wanted to thank Ilkabeads for sending me such a beautiful necklace that I will treasure!

Necklace by Ilkabeads

Tassel Bracelet

I picked up the April issue of Make Jewellery Magazine yesterday and was having a look through it today when I came across Fiona Eastmond's Tassel Set Tutorial.

It calls for bead cones, a clasp and different sizes and colours of chain. I have all of these sitting in boxes so decided it was a great way to use up all those bits of chain I pick up but am never to sure what to do with! Also I'm trying to force myself into making things that are different from my usual pieces so mixing chains and colours like this is very unusual for me. So I went through all of my stash and pulled out all the bits and pieces I needed and 20 minutes later I have this lovely bracelet on my arm!

Fiona uses black and silver chain for her piece but I had a beautiful piece of purple aluminium chain I picked up at the Creative Crafts show in Belfast last November that I love the colour of but had no idea when I would use it. This seemed like the perfect piece to put it into! The black aluminium chain I used is recycled from a broken necklace my sister gave me to use up. All of the silver chain and findings are silver plated.

I used slightly different sized bead cones to Fiona's directions because its what I have here and I used a toggle clasp that I thought went well with the bead cones rather than a lobster clasp. I'm really happy with the end result and I can already see myself making a few different bracelets on the same style using different coloured chains and findings!

I Won Some Beads!!

I get the Beads & Beyond Magazine every month and I love it. It has a great selection of projects every month to suit any style. They also have a few giveaways in each issue and I enter them most months. In the February issue Beads Unlimited where offering a selection of red coloured beads for Valentines Day so I entered and then completely forgot I had!

This morning I woke up to a package in the kitchen filled with three bags of red coloured beads! I was so happy, it was a great surprise. Now I just have to decide what to do with all these new beads!!

Preciosa Czech Pearls

Preciosa Czech Glass Beads

Mix Glass Beads

Purple Pearl Necklace

My sister spotted these glass pearls in the Yellow Brick Road bead shop a few weeks ago and decided she wanted me to make her this necklace which is almost identical to the Gossip Girl Inspired necklace I made for her last summer using the Gold coloured pearls. The pearls are available in beautiful colours and are great quality and an even better price!

We picked out a nice 3 strand filigree clasp in gold and I made this piece as my sisters birthday present.

I love the plain front to this necklace and the fussy and elegant back.

My Bead Soup Has Arrived!

The Bead Soup From Natascha

Today I woke up to a huge box from Natascha and I couldn't wait to get into it and see what there was! Everything was wrapped and packaged so nicely and there is even 3 big bars of Swiss chocolate. I have so many ideas already that I don't know where to start. I can't believe what was in the box as my package seemed a lot smaller and I hope she is as happy as with her package as I am with mine. 

I don't work with natural stones very often, only really as a special piece so this is going to be a challenge. I sent Natascha a package with mainly glass beads and copper. These are what I love working with and I put it together before I knew who my partner was so as not to be temped to sent her pieces that she works with normally. I wanted to be challenged and I wanted to challenge Natascha too. Otherwise what was the point in doing the swap at all?. 

Here are the pictures of everything that was in the package:

Such a beautiful focal bead.

A Silver Clasp.

Pearls.

And now we wait while I figure out what I'm going to do with all these beautiful things I have been sent. But I can now share the picture (un-blurred) of what I sent to Natascha because she told me this morning that she has received what I sent her too. 

This is a collection of beads that I call my "usual" beads. I always have glass pearls, glass crystals and other lass beads in my stash and I use them in everything I do. I also sent a copper celtic style clasp with a copper focal bead and a few copper rounds to tie it together. I love copper but don't get to use it as often as I would like and as soon as I saw this clasp I knew it was the right one and built my soup around it. 

I can't wait to see what Natascha has made using these beads. Don't forget to visit Natascha's Blog here to follow here side of the Bead Soup adventure! I think I have ended up with a great partner here and I couln't be happier!

I'm In 2 Magazines This Month!

I sent away a picture and a small email to Making Jewellery Magazine in October and quickly heard back that I would be printed in the March issue! I was so happy and it seemed so far away I could hardly wait. I knew the day the magazine was due out and was at the shop to get it immediately. I have never sent anything into a magazine before so I was really happy that the first time I did it was printed.

The necklace was a piece I had made last summer out of glass pearls and silver plated chain. I then saw an issue of Making Jewellery magazine from September / October and their featured tutorial was very like the piece I had made and I thought I would share the picture and story with them.

Making Jewellery Magazine, March 2013

You may have seen in other posts on the blog that  made some Byzantine bracelets for my family at Christmas in a few different colours. I decided to send in a picture of one to Beads & Beyond Magazine at the start of the year and I didn't hear anything so I completely forgot about it. 

Yesterday I went to the shop and bought some magazines and didn't really look through them until I got home. I was sitting there just flicking through the pages and right there on the readers page was my bracelet and a lovely note from the magazine about it! I then see that I'm being sent a voucher from Beads Unlimited! I was so happy to see my jewellery in print but now I can't wait to buy new things and Beads Unlimited have a great range! I will let you all know what I get when I've ordered it! 

Beads & Beyond Magazine, March 2013

Getting Close To 1000

So I promised a tutorial or something to celebrate having 1000 hits on the blog. I am only 2 hits away now so I'm going to upload it as soon as the counter hits 1000!! Thank you to everyone who has been visiting and subscribing. The blog has been alot more popular than I thought so early on! I started this blog on January 1st which is just over 6 weeks ago so it couldn't be going any better right now. And I have been getting great comments from everyone as well so thank you for taking the time to leave a message.

I am also on Twitter now so just click here to follow me!

And of course happy Valentines Day!!

Bead Soup Has Been Sent

I sent my bead soup to Natascha today and I can't wait to see what sh makes with it! I can't upload a picture of what I sent just yet because I don't want to spoil the surprise for her. Sure that's the whole point, it's supposed to be a surprise!

What I have done is distorted the picture just enough for you to not know exactly what was in the package. You can get a colour palate idea but that's it!

As soon as I know Natascha has received the package I will show you the proper picture.

My Next Tutorial

So I'm going to get working on my next tutorial for the blog (and I think I'm getting a bit better at making them haha) but I'm opening up the comments here for suggestions before I decide for definite what I'm going to do. I will be loading it up as soon as the blog hits over 1000 views which is getting close and this gives me a time limit!


So get commenting below and suggest something in the next week and I will let you all know as soon as I have picked something to do! It can be anything from an actual design to a technique that you just need a little help with. And hopefully I know how to do it haha. Looking forward to hearing your suggestions.

My Bead Soup Partner

So last night I got the email from Lori with the name of who I am partnered with for the Bead Soup Blog Party and I want to introduce you to Natascha Marty. 



Natascha's jewellery is beautiful and made using lovely gemstones. You can find her facebook page here with more of her work. 



I can't wait to send her the pack of beads I have put together on Monday and see what she can make with them! 

Bead Soup Blog Party Participants

So the full list of all Bead Soup Blog Party participants has gone up and it is huge! My goal is to visit all of the blogs which is a huge task but I reckon I can get it done and will hopefully find some great new blogs to follow. And hopefully this means I will be getting some new blog followers as well.

If your visiting from a blog taking part leave me a comment below to let me know you've stopped by!!

Click on the banner above to see the full list of blogs taking part.