And The Winner Is....

So I have chosen the winner of these Labradorite and Irish Linen Cord earrings that I made for the Bead Soup Party using random.org. Each comment left on the blog was given a number in order of the comment being left from 1 to 17. 

Congratulations to...

JEAN

Could you please leave an email address in the comments below and I can get in touch with you about sending these out on Monday.

Thank you to everyone who entered and has followed the blog recently.

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Weekend Reading

My sister bought me a subscription to Bead-It Today Magazine for Christmas. Long story short there was a bit of a hiccup with the first issue or two but they lovely Joanna has been great and sorted everything out so quickly for me. Hey these things happen but its how a company handles problems that make them a success and I couldn't have asked for more from them. We have all experienced bad customer service somewhere in the past but I wanted to point out how great it was handled by them and say thank you. So I'm just happy that this morning I got this lovely little present in the post. I think this is my weekend reading sorted. 

Birmingham Assay Office

Recently on twitter The Assay Office, Birmingham asked for people to like their facebook page so I did. A little while later I got a message to say as I had liked it they would be sending me a Badge. It arrived this morning and its beautiful. I have always loved assay marks and the anchor for Birmingham has always been so distinct so I'm really happy with it. I'm going to put it up in my workshop.





The badge was made by Thomas Fattorini in Birmingham. It is enameled in black with the anchor and year of the Assay office showing well.

Thank you for sending me this beautiful badge. It will be displayed in my workshop as long as I'm making jewellery.

Earring Tutorial: Gemstone and Linen Cord

I have been receiving a lot of compliments and questions about the earrings I made recently for the Bead Soup Swap so I wanted to put up a simple tutorial showing how I made my Labradorite earrings. For these ones I have used Labradorite and Rhodochrosite chips. 

What you Need:



Irish Linen Cord (2 x 5 inch lengths)
2 x Labradorite Chips
2 x Rhodochrosite Chips
A pair of silver plated studs

Step 1: Take a length of the Linen Cord and loop into the the stud earring making sure to keep one side of the cord shorter than the other. Secure with a knot.

Step 2:

Slide a Labradorite chip onto one end of the cord and secure with a knot. Now slide a Rhodochrosite chip onto the other side and secure with knot. Trim off any excess cord below the chips and secure with a dab of glue if needed. As I'm using waxed cord there is no need for glue here. 

And now enjoy wearing them. 

Let me know in the comments below if you have made a pair. Have you used a different cord or gemstone chip? All pictures and words in this tutorial belong to me so please ask before you use them anywhere else. 

Time For A Giveaway

I made a pair of earrings as part of the Bead Soup Swap but I don't wear earrings (don't have my ears pierced at all I just love making earrings). So I decided I wanted to do a giveaway to find them a new home where someone would actually wear them. After all the lovely comments I received about them since I first posted the picture I knew I had to give them to someone so who wants them? 

They are made using silver plated studs, Irish waxed Linen Cord and Labradorite Gemstones (thank you to Ana for sharing these with me).

So for a chance to win all you have to do is comment on this blog post. Its that simple. One comment per person will be counted. I will use random.org to pick a number and whoever commented in that position wins the earrings. Of course this is open to anyone around the world. I will post a blog announcing the winner on May 31st (giving 3 weeks to enter) at 11.30pm Irish Time and the winner has a week to get in touch with a mailing address. Entries must be in by 10.30pm Irish Time on May 31st to guarantee you are included in the draw. It may be helpful to follow the blog so you don't miss the announcement. You don't have to share the giveaway but feel free to do so if you would like. I love when new people stop by.

So that's it. Get commenting.

Connect with me on Twitter or Pinterest. I'm also on Instagram under the name vovsjewellery. Click here to see the whole set of jewellery I made for the Bead Soup Blog Party.

Bead Soup: The Big Reveal

The day has finally arrived to reveal what I have made with the beautiful beads I was sent by Ana of Acbeads. I found myself struggling a little bit at first as there was such a variety of beads that I honestly didn't know where I was going to start but finally I decided to break up the beads into different sections and ended up making four different pieces. 

As a reminder of what Ana sent to me click here to see all of the photos. And click here to see the soup that I sent to Ana.

So my first piece is a pair of earrings. I made these using the Irish Linen Cord and Labradorite Chips. I love the simplicity of them. I didn't want to loose the beauty of the Linen Cord or the Labradorite. 

My Second piece is a bracelet made using the large glass bead, blue mother of pearl discs and blue wooden beads along with the clasp from Ana's packet. I used my own seed beads and freshwater pearls along with some rose quartz that I still had from last years packet form the Bead Soup Swap. (I knew I would find something special to use the last few in eventually.) I love that this bracelet is so neutral coloured with just a pop of strong blue.

My third piece is another bracelet. I made this piece using the Labradorite Chips, Shell and clasp from Ana's packet. (If you haven't noticed I'm a little bit in love with the Labradorite now). I finished off this bracelet by just adding some seed beads that I already had in my stash. The colour is perfect with the Labradorite I think. This is my favourite of the 2 bracelets. 

My fourth and final piece is a necklace. I started by using the beautiful Focal pieces that Ana sent along with (again) the Labradorite Chips on the beautiful blue Linen Cord. I added a small copper bead on either end to tie in the copper chain and clasp from my own stash. I knew as soon as I seen these focal pieces that I would be using them with copper somehow. It is my favourite metal and I knew the colours would all suit each other. I would never normally use cord and chain like this but I'm so happy I tried it out. I think the Linen Cord is soft next to the beautiful clay beads before the harsh metal. 

I think the necklace is by far my favourite of all four pieces I have made and I cant wait to wear it over the summer. Its a nice new piece to add to my collection. 

So that's all the pieces that I have made. Please click here to see what Ana has made using the beads I sent to her. Also click here to see the list of all the participants of the Bead Soup Blog Party. I can't wait to get around all the blogs and see what everyone has made. 

Thanks for stopping by. Feel free to leave a comment below.

If you want to win the earrings above then click here to enter. 

Bead Soup Update

I thought I would post a little update about the Bead Soup as it has been a while since my original posts. Unfortunately the reveal has been postponed for a week meaning we will all reveal our pieces next Saturday (May 11th). So my partner is Ana at ACBeads. You can visit her blog here. 

The Soup I Sent To Ana

I sent Ana a mix of turquoise, gold, clear, black and amber coloured glass bead. Copper wire head and ball pins and a copper watch style toggle clasp. The focal bead/pendant I chose is a turquoise stone. My favourite thing in this soup has to be the toggle clasp. I had been admiring it for a while in my local bead shop and as soon as I had signed up it was the first thing I knew was going into the mix. 

What Ana Sent Me:

There are so many lovely pieces in this soup that Ana sent to me. My favourite of everything in the mix has to be this beautiful pendant and beads set. 

And I was very lucky to receive this amazing bracelet and earring set from Ana as a gift with my soup mix.

So don't forget to pop back on Saturday May 11th to see what both myself and Ana have made with all of these beads. (To make sure you don't miss out follow my blog by adding yourself along the right hand side. 

Ah Thank You!

I only this week noticed that the Jewelry From Home blog featured my necklaces on their Makers Gallery section twice over the last few months. They said lovely things about them all so I'm really happy. 

My Jigsaw, Heart and Star pendants where featured on their March Makers Gallery Post (which you can see here). 

My Copper Spike Necklace (which you can see here) was featured as part of their April Makers gallery post. You can see my tutorial for that piece here.