Swarovski Heart Earrings

Last week I posted about the beautiful Swarovski Patina Hearts I won from JillyBeads and promised to show off what I had made with them so here is my first little piece.

I made a pair of earrings (which will be going into someone's Christmas present) using the hearts and a lovely deep blue pearl. I wanted to add some colour but not have the colour overwhelm the heart. I think they actually look quite festive so they will be a great addition to a gift. 

I still have eight of the Swarovski hearts left so its time to plan a few more pieces now (probably more presents). 

5 Minute Earring Tutorial: Tagua Beads

I wanted to put together a quick tutorial to show you how to make the Tagua Bead earrings I made recently. They are so quick and simple and can be made in 5 minutes. Let me know in the comment section blow if you have tried them out. 

What You Need:

Tagua Flat Slices

Tagua Coins

2x Ball Head Pins

2x 4mm Jump Rings

2x 1.25inch Length of Small Silver Chain

Earring Findings

Slide one of the coin shaped beads onto a head pin.

Make a loop on top of the bead.

Attach the head pin, leaf slice and chain together using the jump ring.

Attach the top of the chain to the earring finding. Now make the second one exactly the same and enjoy wearing your new earrings. 

I got the Tagua Beads for these earrings from Ecuadorian Hands. They have a great vast range of shapes and sizes available. See my post about Tagua Beads here. 

Tagua Beads Jewellery

I have spent some time trying to decide what I wanted to make with the beautiful Tagua Beads I won from Ecuadorian Hands recently and today I finally decided on a few pieces. These beads are so beautiful and have such an amazing story that I didn't want to overwhelm any piece I made. I wanted them to be the sole focus of the pieces. Jewellery is so often a conversation starter and I know that these will definitely be the focus of a conversation. Here is a reminder of the beautiful beads I was sent. 

The first piece I made was a bracelet. I wanted something summery and beachy to show the mood of the lovely weather we have been having so I came up with this bracelet. It is simple and focuses solely on the beads. I used cotton cord to string them and as per my style I layered the multi-strands that have great movement and never stay in any particular spot. 

The second piece I made was a pair of earrings. When the beads first arrived my sisters loved the combination of the green and pink so I went with their choice and made a long dangley earring again solely focusing on the beads. The colours are so strong and bright I felt I didn't need to add anything here at all. I love the visible grain on the beads, its so pretty. 

And finally the third piece I made was a necklace. (I wanted to finish out a set) I made the chain using antique copper coloured jump rings and I made a pendant in a cluster type style. I hadn't used the round tagua beads yet so I wanted to get them in somewhere and this seemed perfect. I surrounded the tagua beads with white glass pearls again not wanted to loose the beautiful tagua beads in the piece. I think this one has become my favourite of the three pieces. 

I love these beads and cant wait to make more pieces using them which I'm sure you will see very soon. I just could't wait to share these pieces. 

Labradorite and Irish Linen Cord Earring Tutorial

I put up a tutorial on how to make my Labradorite and Irish Linen Cord earrings a while ago (that you can see here) but I decided to make a little video tutorial as well. I love these earrings they are just so simple and pretty. I hope you enjoy making them and wearing them.

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.

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.