Boxing Day.....

Boxing Day is my favourite day of the holiday period - the pressure has gone, Christmas Day has passed successfully, we eat leftovers in Bubble & Squeak for dinner, we get to play with our new toys, and all is calm.

I managed to finish the chicken hat, after adding a couple of little extra touches that weren't in the pattern - the red embroidery around the eyes and beak.  It is also lined with black felt to prevent an itchy head.  The recipient is very pleased with his gift and threatens promises to wear it today. (What have I done?)  As said recipient is still asleep, the hat is modelled here by Rowdy, the stuffed dog that lives on the back of our sofa.

Another thing we do on Boxing Day which has become a bit of a tradition in our house is to go and have a look at the sales in a neighbouring town.  We never buy anything in particular, but I always like to visit Paperchase and pick up my cards and tree crackers at half price in readiness for next year.  It's the only pre-Christmas shopping I am ever organised enough to do....

I generally find some other glittery tat that tickles my fancy - this year it's a silver sparkly plastic flamingo.  She already looks very at home on the little table under a pot plant.

It's also the day to make a start on the Christmas cake...........yum!

What Lies Beneath......

I've just been watching the movie 'What Lies Beneath' while making a bracelet - do you think it influenced my creativity in any way?? Actually, I have had the hammered silver teardrop shapes for quite a while with the intention of making a necklace, but this evening I felt like making a bracelet instead. It is made up of S shaped links with the hammered teardrops alternating with light blue glass teardrop beads and interspersed with clear seed beads. When worn it looks fluid and water-like, lovely against a tanned wrist.

If you are interested, this is £10 + P&P SOLD!....BUT I am in the process of setting up an Etsy shop (stop sniggering - you know who you are...) and computer dunce that I am, it's taking me a while. I have got as far as setting up the page, banner & profile, but not had the time to load up items for sale - a fairly important part of the process really! It will be done very soon, I promise, then there will be the grand opening....

In the meantime, I will be at All Saints School Summer Fair this Saturday 21st June, Heatherside School Summer Fair on the 28th June, and Zebon Copse Community Fair on the 6th July, all in Fleet/Church Crookham.

Copper Fish & some other bits

Last night I got on with a commission for a necklace to match a bracelet I'd given a colleague - can't be bad, give a gift and then make a further sale out of it! It's a silver wire necklace with various pink and clear lampwork beads - very tactile and quite chunky. No more of these, that was a bag of oddments from some bead fair or other and hardly any of them left now.

Then I decided to have a go at making a pendant that I dreamed of a couple of nights ago. That happens to me occasionally, I have better ideas asleep than awake! It's shaped and beaten copper wire,' aged' using heat and hung with a few green glass lampwork beads, all on a brown suede thong. £12 + P&P

I also made the above bracelet - the photo really doesn't do it justice at all. It is with dark blue wire and dark blue AB coated glass beads. Looks very striking when worn and the beads glitter in a lovely contrast to the dark wire. I may just have to make one for myself.....
£7 + P&P

And finally, as the clock crept towards midnight, I made a delicate little bracelet using heat-aged copper wire, vintage copper butterfly charms and some little jade green glass beads. Very pretty and sweet, the beads contrast beautifully with the copper. £10 + P&P

So, feeling a bit tired today but satisfied at getting some jewellery made. Now I have to get back to that portrait.......half-way there!

Glass & Gulls

I spent an evening back at the beads and wire last night and had lots of fun. I made the above two bracelets, the first using bronze wire and AB glass beads with a little vintage brass bird and heart charm. It is very delicate and pretty, extremely feminine. The second is chunkier with turquoise glass beads decorated with white flowers on silver wire with black seed beads as spacers. Both bracelets are £7 each + P&P
The above set is made using gold-coloured wire together with turquoise and clear glass cubes, very polished and shiny. There are three vintage brass gull charms as focals. Very clean looking and with a lovely sparkle in the light evocative of sun on the sea - that was the idea, anyway! Set £20 + P&P
The above is a pendant made with a very large chunky glass bead that I purchased from Pericles the little old man in Monastiriki market, Athens. I have bent silver wire around it and used a similar smaller square bead to keep it all in place, and hung the whole thing on a soft grey suede thong. I'm wearing this as I type, it's not going anywhere....not just because I like it but because I managed to break the smaller bead with my pliers and it's super-glued together - whoops!

And finally, here is the commission I worked on over the weekend - a deep blue chunky glass bead (again from Pericles - only one left now...) with silver wire twisted around it together with a turquoise glass cubic bead, hung on a brown thong with two cubic beads on the tassels. The earrings match with dark blue round beads faced with wire and the cubic turquoise beads. Needless to say, this is sold already.

Don't forget to enter the 200th post giveaway - you have until Monday.....