Handmade Monday: Getting the big cats mixed up

I love my charms, as most of you know.  It may be that outside of actual shops that sell charms, I have the world's biggest collection of bronze charms.  They are very popular in my online shops.  I'm thinking of putting a facility on my website for Chritmas so that people can design their own charm bracelet by choosing combinations of charms - do you think that would work?  It will take a lot of organising and I haven't started yet, although I have discovered a lovely little app (Framemagic) that lets me make collages like this really easily.

So browsing charms a couple of weeks ago I came across a lovely leopard head.  Great, I thought, it will make a pretty bag charm with a glass animal print bead I've already got.  So the charm came, I put the bead with it.  This is the result:

Spotted the deliberate (not) mistake (excuse the pun)?  Do leopards have stripes?  No, they do not.  Should I have thought of this before?  Yes.  Am I going to change it?  No.  It will have to be the big cats bag charm instead... Doh!

Here's a link to what other crafty people have been doing this week.

Alison x

Handmade Monday: mostly chain maille but some bag charms too

I'm still obsessed with chain maille (is there treatment available?!) but I did take a bit of a break to post some new bag charms in my Folksy shop.  It's been a good week for sales, and people seem to prefer the multiple purse charms without beads, so I've concentrated on that.  Now which do you like best...

This one is for when you need a bit of luck...

For lovers of emo, goth, steam punk etc,

For lovers of shoes, handbags etc,

For anyone with a dog.

Is that almost everyone covered?!

And this one is chain maille and a bag charm.

Here's a link to see what other crafty people have been up to this week over at Handmade Monday.

See you soon,
Alison

Handmade Monday: Kumihimo again and some wire work

Remember last week when I was struggling with my ends?! Well, thanks to you all reminding me not to give up, I did persevere and found the larger Kumihimo ends I needed in the bronze tone to finish the necklace properly. 

It's much tidier now, and I can think about starting my next braiding project.  There was almost a Sunday morning visit to A&E when I tried (thankfully unsuccessfully!) to glue the ends and the wire to my hand, but I'm sure with practise, it will all become much less hazardous.

I was lucky enough to go to the Hobbycrafts show at the NEC on Saturday and bought some lovely colour rattail, so watch this space for more braided necklaces and bracelet.

Here's a picture of the Kumihimo disc as requested, all set up with some pink and navy threads.

My only other make this week was a necklace and earrings set.  They are a bit of an experiment and the technique needs some refining (that means, the back side looks like a right dog's breakfast), but I thought I'd show them anyway.  I've nicknamed them the stained glass window set - they do look best in strong light where the gem colours look transparent.  Perhaps they need adapting into sun catchers or something like that - any ideas?

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

Alison x

Handmade Monday: Flowers everywhere

Bronzite flower bracelet

On holiday and suddenly seem to have become obsessed with making flowers - don't know why!  These are experimental pieces really, one offs for me to practice my wirework, so enjoying making them even though I  can see their flaws!

Field of flowers pendant

Lapis and pearl flowers bracelet

Hope you like them.

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

Alison x

Handmade Monday: Recent jewellery makes and bag charms, more bag charms!

Poor neglected blog.  Not sure why I haven't been posting, I have been busy making and listing, and have had a few sales on Etsy (and one on Folksy) which is always good for morale. I treated myself to a new gizmo - the 'deluxe' version with five different thicknesses of coiler, so had some fun with coiled wire jewellery. 

Wire coiled gizmo bracelet

This bracelet has double coiled 'beads' with pink crackle agate and smoky quartz cubes.  It's a bit of a big statement piece, but I'm very pleased with it.

Coiled wire earrings

The earrings are a bit more manageable for everyday wear, and they've been nicknamed 'Around the Globe' because the mosaic turquoise stones look just like a map of the world!

Ancient world bag charm

Meanwhile, I've been having an ancient world inspired season.  This bag charm with the lovely yellow and green agate vase bead sold on Etsy for a mother's day present. 

And this charm bracelet has a similar feel about it, I think.  So many of my creations these days look like they could have been dug up - perhaps I should bury a few in the back garden!!

Love knot bracelet

Finished off this love knot bracelet - the matching earrings sold so this is the last in the series.

Flower necklace

And finally, a little flower wire woven with tiny pearls and pale blue sari silk necklace.















Hope you like the creations.  Let me know if you have a favourite.

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

Wordless Wednesday: Flower loom bag charms

Coming soon to an Etsy or Folksy shop near you!

Wordless Wednesday: New makes and new shops

And new online stores at:

http://www.storebeez.com/stores/blue-forest-jewellery/

http://www.wowthankyou.co.uk/blue-forest-jewellery/products/

Wordless Wednesday: Pink or Green?

Just can't decide! Can you help, please?

Handmade Monday: clasps and flowers

 I've been messing around with wire again and begun a quest for my favourite handmade clasp!  These are some of the contenders.

Some days, I like the more complex ones and other times, I'm really attracted to the simpler models.  What do you think? 





As well as these, I found a wonderful tutorial on how to make wire work flowers and now I'm getting a bit obsessed with making them!






 Dinky, aren't they?  So far, I've made them in every type of wire I have, so it's about time I started using them.  Here's a pair of earrings which I think might be the most delicate that I've ever made, combined with my favourite beads at the moment, red and green Brazilian jade.


Want to see what everyone else is up to?  
Here's the link to find out what other Handmade Monday folk have been making this week.  

Handmade Monday: Friendship bracelets

This week I've been trying my hand at my own version of the friendship bracelets which are so much on trend at the moment.  I wanted to do something with gemstones and have some really lovely coloured silky cords that I've never really used much.  Not sure I've got the design right yet - here are a couple of prototypes.

What do you think?  I've been wearing them more or less 24-7 to test out how robust they are, and so far (touch wood!) all of the knots and fastenings have survived intact.  That means they've survived both the office, housework and dog walking, so I figure that's a pretty good test.  The ones with the gemstones incorporated - rather than dangling as a charm - are better at staying the right way up on your wrist, so I think they might be the winners.

Hopefully I can decide on the design soon and maybe list them in one of my new shops - on GroovyCart and ToSouk.  Opening two new shops in a week is a record for me!

Here's the link to find out what other Handmade Monday folk have been making this week. 

Folksy Friday: Fruits of the Forest

The woods and forests look pretty abundant at the moment, and I keep having to pick up the fallen apples, so why not a collection of non-edible fruits from Folksy sellers?  Click on any of the pictures to go directly to the shops.



1. Fruity fridge magnets by Kettle of Fish
2. Fruit wreath by Cranberry Charms
3. Bowl of stained glass fruit by JTs Creative Glass



 1. Apple pendant by Funky Art 2. Berry bookmark by Cinnamon Street 3. Pear door stop by Crabtree Lane

You can find more Folksy goodies on this fruity Pinterest board.
And you might like this treasury on the same theme on Etsy too.

Bead soup!

Bead soup - sounds a bit indigestible, doesn't it?  But actually it's this Folksy challenge.

A little bit about Bead Soup… all proceeds are going to the Breast Cancer Campaign, as part of the Folksy bead soup party challenge. Shops that are taking part had the challenge of creating some jewellery with 10 beads, including two focal beads sent by another Folksy shop and adding their own beads to it to create a beautiful item or items to sell with all the proceeds going to Breast Cancer campaign.

These were the beads I was sent by the lovely Imogen’s Imagination on Folksy.

And this is what I made:

If you want to see what else has been made for this great Folksy challenge, you can visit the thread here

Have a look and why not treat yourself to something lovely - knowing that your money is going to a good cause.  If you don't want to buy, it would be great if you were able to publicise the thread with a link on your blog, or through Twitter or Facebook, so that the maximum number of people see the jewellery that's been created and are hopefully tempted to buy and we can raise more money for Breast Cancer Campaign.

Aren't they unusual?  And aren't the Folksters talented?