Love Hearts

So I have by-passed some Christmas presents and jumped right up to Valentine's Day (so what if it was over a month and a half ago?!) Here is a necklace I made for Spooners, these 'crimp-style' necklaces are so quick and easy and they can still look really effective. I got these fuzzy hearts in France last year and have posted earrings of the same type before.

I added 2 little flower spacers on either side of the centre heart just to make it stand out and left the rest of the necklace very simple. See... Very minimalistic... well, sort of!

Pretty and speedy. I heart them.

That Looks A Bit Fishy!

Ok first of all - 'blushing face' - apologies for being away so long. I have been experiencing a bit of a crafting drought at the minute but that still doesn't excuse the fact that I havent posted previous pieces - so sorry and here goes...

Very late to post Christmas pressies I know but I have only just sucked these pics off my camera (more to come) but here is the pres I made for my lovely Mama for Christmas.

The reason for the title refers to the name of the wire weave around the red glass beads - it's called Herringbone Weave! It doesnt take long (this necklace took me one evening watching a movie) and you can make the weave as large or as small as you like. So here's a close-up to get a better look at the wire.

I made 5 wire weaves around each side of the bead and I chose red beads as my Mummy has lots of red clothes and accessories. You can use Herringbone to make earrings, rings and bracelets so it's a very versatile technique and one I will definitely use again in the future. So just before I go, here's a pic of my lovely aforemention Mumo modelling said necklace. Love you Mum!

Got To Bag It Up

It really does seem to me that I am forever posting bag charms but I have only ever made 4 so I don't see how that could be the case?! Anywaysies. I made this for Katrin(sp?) to thank her for letting us stay in her house over the summer. We really did have a super time. Handsome Prince loved the house and said it reminded him of his family home (high praise indeed) and for me it was great to be back among familiar places and smells (the swimming pool, the cellar, etc). So now that I think about it, this in-no-way was a sufficient present to give - oh well, will have to do better next time!!

For this one I chose a summery-themed combo of pinks and greens, heart, flowers, stars - and rather randomly - a teapot. But I love the little teapot, so quaint and homely. But I think I definitely need to add more charms next time I make a bag charm, when it comes to presents - less is never more!!

Ladies In Lavender

Very unexpectedly a lovely lady called Mary gave me money and a beautiful card for my birthday. This is the second card she has given me and the first came at a very difficult time in my life so I wanted to make her a little present to say a giant thank-you for her thoughtfulness and her generosity on both occasions. I wasn't sure what to make her but I had recently purchased a bag of mixed findings and one was a brooch pin so I thought I would give it a go. I chose the colour purple as it is beautiful and regal (and coincidentally I found out afterwards it is also her favourite colour - bonus!). I had a bit of trouble trying to make it appropriately mature but also give it a little edge so I just used a collection of different beads and pearls and wrapped them randomly around each other and the pin until I found a way that displayed the most beads as prettily as possible.

(Apologies for the appalling photos - I took them in bad light, at too close a range and without using a tripod so almost all the pics are dark and fuzzy but I tried to use the best two I could find here!!) I like the random quality of the arrangment and it is truly unique as I have no definite pattern to follow so I wouldn't even know how to make it again if I wanted to!!!

Bags of Charm!

Sooo this bag chain was for Tante Lidi herself when we saw her over the summer (slap on my wrist for only posting these now!) and I tried to make it 'age-appropriate' so I didn't have any skull&crossbones hanging off the chain but on reflection I think it looks a tad sparse - mayhaps I should have added a couple more charms?! Oh well, Let's assess it for what it currently is...

I did have trouble trying to construct the charms (with hindsight I see all the things I would have done differently) but I really am quite proud of two particular charms that I 'fabricated' - or well - at the very least I 'embellished' them.

First up is the wee bunch of cherries charm:

Obviously being a boy, Handsome Prince had not the faintest idea what this was supposed to be but both my beautiful sisters recognised it for what is was/is. It was quite fiddly to work with but I really liked the result and cherries are fabulous (both in terms of eating and accessorising with!)

And next up the lily charm:

This one is a bit of a cheat because I had the flower charm but improvised a little stamen/stigma out of tiny multi-coloured seed beads. A few green tube beads for the stem and a little leaf completed this particular charm.

I followed up the flower theme with some metal petal (it's fun to rhyme!) and flower charms, a couple of chains and a few Swarovskis and it was good to go!!!

Winter Star

Even though I made this necklace in July I think it looks a lot more 'winter appropriate' than summer. I was a super-duper easy necklace I made for my second-cousin Charlotte who (very kindly) let Handsome Prince and I stay in her room when we visited Tante Lidi in the summer.

Just a wee token to say Thank-you!!

Blue pearl beads, opaque blue swarovski crystals, blue shell star and little metal stars - such a lovely blend of beads and blues - in fact, it's a very good remedy for 'the blues' - pearls, crystals and stars - they make my heart happy!

Birthday Girl

It was my lovely sister-in-law’s birthday in late September so when we were over in Germany for the wedding I brought her present over with us to save on postage costs! Part of the pres was (of course) a handcrafted necklace which she wore to the wedding (it really was a very successful marketing day for Gingerbelle Jewellery with all of my beautiful life models mingling among the masses!)
Her necklace had to be young and a little bit funky so I chose these iridescent pearls and clear cube beads to make it a little bit more age-appropriate. I have since made this particular necklace two more times for craft sales (one in my college – youth-themed and one for the craft day that Spoon (of House of Spoon see:http://houseofspoon.blogspot.com/) and I tutored at last Saturday!)

And just for her I added in a rather coolio catch (though I must admit it is a little bit odd to use at first because it works differently to regular catches) a little heart to match the heart at the end of the extension chain. (Never enough hearts!)

And finally here is the lovely lady herself sporting the item in question and doing a stellar job at inadvertently advertising and promoting Gingerbelle Jewellery (aka GBJ)!! Good on you girl!!