A milestone to share

Just a quick post to share this little milestone - 500 sales in my Folksy shop https://folksy.com/shops/BlueForestJewellery

It's been a while coming, and it was reached at 1.15 am with the sale of a pair of earrings. I love it that sales can come at any time of the day and night, and go anywhere. Yesterday, three bracelets set off for Stockholm, and we all wished we could go with them!

Thanks to all my blog followers and commentators who have kept me at it over the years. Overall sales reached about 1,000 a couple of months ago.  It's great that people like things enough to purchase them, and it's always a lovely surprise to get a sales notification. 

Please pop along to have a look at the shop if you're interested. There are some new key rings, in vintage bronze and antique silver, and until the end of the month, you can use the discount code Celebrate 500 to get a 20% reduction. 

Here are some recent makes.  Which do you like best?  And what are you making at the moment?

Alison x

Handmade Monday: More poppies and Autumn colour

As it gets closer to remembrance day, I keep getting new ideas for poppy jewellery.  This week it's chain maille again.  The little poppies that make up the links take a while to do, so getting seven together for the length of the bracelet and earrings was quite a challenge.  In a way, it's a good job it was quiet in the shop this week, despite me listing a few new bag charms.

Apart from that, we've had this stunning Autumn weather, with the colours so fabulous and the sun shining on them like the middle of the summer. The park looked amazing the other day.

 Christmas themes are starting to creep in to my makes:

Isn't he cool?  I added the little daisies because the contrast between his size and theirs just seemed right!

and the stars always remind me of singing children's carols at school.

I've been working on my website too.  All will be revealed soon...

Here's the link to see what others have been making this week.

Have a great week,
Alison x

Handmade Monday: Jewellery for the coming season

I love that it's November, so I can start showing some Christmas makes. Only a couple, then I promise to shut up about it!

The snowman charm is quite big and looks so cool with the white beads and crystals. 

And this charm is double sided with the tree on one side...

...and the deer on the other side. Bag charms were popular in the shop last Christmas and I think they are good presents for people who love jewellery but just have too much!

Apart from that, I've been in an amber and brown mood

This is a memory wire bracelet and here's a lariat

And some simple glass bead earrings

So which do you like best?

Here's a link to what other crafty folk have been up to this week.  

Handmade Monday: What a holiday!

Hi all, I've been on a break from blogging but back now and ready to show you all what I've been doing in the meantime.

One thing that happened was the most amazing holiday - we caught the start of the heatwave in the UK, with the result that it felt like being in the Mediteranean even though it was the north east of England.

The sea and the sky were mostly these wonderful shades of blue.  Of course that meant that a certain brown labrador spent a lot of time either in the blue sea or digging in the sand near it!

What a perfect holiday.  And of course, such a fantastic time was really inspiring so lots of jewellery was created in the sunny garden.  Here's a selection.

Starting with the blues, a goddess bracelet and some earrings:

Some flower pieces - the bracelet sold to a fellow jewellery maker - what a compliment that was!

More bracelets:

And so on...

And that's just a few of them - I won't bore you with the rest.  Always good to know which are your favourites though, so please do leave a comment.

Hoping to be back soon with more tutorials. 

Here's the link to see what others have been up to on Handmade Monday.

Alison x

Handmade Monday: Busy, busy, busy flowers

What a busy week!  Record sales in my Folksy shop this week, and the little cord charm bracelets are still proving popular everywhere.  There's not been time to do a tutorial, and at one point in the week, I was literally selling faster than I could make.  Long may it continue, and if I can get to 100 sales on Etsy (I'm at 97 at the moment!) then that will make me a really happy crafty bunny.

Every sale just encourages me in my obsessional, charm-buying habit and this week was no exception.  These beautiful flower connectors arrived in time for me to make and list cord bracelets in pink, coffee brown, red and lilac.

Aren't they pretty?  One has sold today, so later I'll be making a replacement.

I thought they would also make nice bold but light earrings too and combined them with some of my favourite drawbench glass beads in deep blue with red and gold drizzled paint.

Drawbench glass beads, this time in red with green, blue and gold drizzles, also found their way into a flower themed bag charm...

... and into these 'bubble' rings...

...

 ...which were a bit of an experiment but might well get repeated.  I thought they looked quite Christmassy - what do you think?

Talking of which, I have custom orders to do in time for Christmas, and presents to make for the family.  And someone said it was only a couple of weeks away, now that can't be true, can it?!

Here's the link to see what other crafty folk have been up to this week.

Alison

Wordless Wednesday: Cute dogs!

Handmade Monday: Jigging about a bit!

I've been very lucky as it's been really busy in my Folksy shop this week.  Packing all the orders doesn't leave a lot of time for making, though, so this week has been time to list some simple makes.  Inspired by some of the guest designers on JewelleryMaker TV, I got my jig out of the drawer, dusted it off and had a play.  For the non-jewellery makers, a jig is simply a plastic grid that you can put peg in to wind wire around.  It's great fun, plus there are endless puns to be made on the subject of jigging about!

 Jig patterns can get complicated, but I tried to keep it simple.

The pearls were shining a little and refusing to cooperate with the photographing, but you've got to love them all the same!

These are with peachy bamboo agate beads. 

A delivery of new charms is always a cause for excitement in the house - not least for Lucca the labrador who likes nothing better than an empty used padded envelope to rip apart!  When these connectors came, I had to make a bracelet for myself first, then get them in the shops where one sold within a day - well, they are cute.

At the moment, I'm in a huge dilemma as to whether to have a go at Kumihimo braiding.  I've ummed and ahhed about it so long, it's ridiculous.  So next week will either see a blog about braided necklaces and bracelets or something else, and you'll know I've finally made a decision!

Here's the link to see what other crafty folk have been making this week.  As ever, there are already some beautiful makes.

Alison x

Wordless Wednesday: Watch out, angels about!

Handmade Monday: Chocolate and caramel

It's a well known fact that I have a relationship with chocolate.  Not always an entirely healthy one.  We got a chocolate labrador because he reminds me of one of my favourite things!  Truth is, I'm a bit of a brown person altogether.

I was reminded of this when I sold this bracelet in one of my favourite stones - bronzite - this week.

Bronzite is a deep chocolate brown, with amazing natural flecks of lighter browns and golds.  It's difficult for the camera to pick them up, but they are beautiful and especially in low light, give the stone a little glow.

So off to my bead stash to see what I could make.

Simple coin earrings with a little bronze wire work.  This time the camera did pick up some of the light play as it was a crisp sunny day.

Then I came across these beautiful glass beads with patterns like caramel and chocolate ice cream.  Food again! They look so delicious with a bit of wire work and some smaller bronzites.

Liked them so much, I had to do a necklace too.

There are still beads left, and I resisted the temptation to try and eat them!  But let's hope I've got it out of my system for a while ;-)

Have a great week and don't forget to visit other crafty folk's blogs to see what they've been making.

Alison x

Handmade Monday: that time already?

So, this week I've sold some snowflakes

and some snowmen

and not to the same person.  I guess someone is trying to tell me it's time to get organised for the big shopping, eating and relative visiting event at the end of the year.

Seriously though, I was quite sad to see the snowman off on their way to Scotland.  I haven't got anymore of the blue keishi pearls that are suitable for scarves waving in the breeze, so they won't be repeated.  I've got some more in the Folksy shop but done with gemstone chips and howlite beads - they look a bit more like they've been made by a professional snowman builder.  Last year, I tried to rebrand them as 'snowpeople' in the interests of equality and diversity, but it didn't seem to work.

While it's moving towards winter for some, lots of folk are still in summer festival mode, and these little cord and charm bracelets are still proving really popular.  I had a custom order for two at the weekend.

I don't know if people will still want to buy them after the summer festival season is over.  What do you think?

The butterfly is my favourite.  I've never seen a stressed butterfly, so I reckon they must be quite wise!

Here's the link to see what other crafty people have been up to this week.

Alison x

Handmade Monday: Beaded flowers

An exciting time for Blue Forest Jewellery, as my wire rose necklace and earrings were featured in Bead Trends this month.  I'm waiting for the hard copies to arrive so I can show it to you, as the mag is only available in the States.





While I was thinking about that, I started to list and make some more wire rose items

 I took these to the filming of the BBC show 'Handmade Revolution' in Hanley at the weekend, but was too chicken to show them in the end! 










And while I was making those, some daisies popped into my head as well!

 I've been mad on flowers for a while now, and thought I'd share the technique for these beaded beauties.  I've been turning them into rings.

 Here's a quick run through how to make them.

You will need:
Monofilament
5 4mm beads in your main petal colour
1 4mm bead in your chosen centre colour
Jewellery glue (optional)

Thread three of the beads, including the centre one, on to a length of monofilament.  Cut more monofilament than you think you will need so that you have enough to feed back through the flower for strengthening at the end.

Take one end of the monofilament (it doesn't matter which) and thread it back through the two main colour beads.  Pull tight to form a triangle of beads.

Thread the other 3 main colour beads onto one end of the monofilament.  Again, it doesn't really matter which end.

Take the other end of the monofilament and go back through the 3 beads you just added.  Pull the thread tightly and the flower forms.

When you pull, the centre bead will automatically become raised as it get pushed up by the other beads.  Go through all the main colour beads as many times as you can with the monofilament and the flower will gradually strengthen.  Knot the ends or continue to work them, and add a spot of jewellery glue if desired.  Done!



Here's a link to see what other lovely crafty folk have been making this week.

Alison x