My creative space...

It is well and truly Winter here.

There is a chill and a crispness in the air.  The trees everywhere are bare, the ground covered in sepia-toned leaves.  My two year old daughter likes to dance over and around the leaves, fluttering like a fairy...I can't help but stomp on them to hear that wonderful *crunch* when we go for our walks around the neighbourhood.

Whilst I enjoy the little treasures that this season has to offer,  I desperately miss the days of endless sunshine!  I have been craving warmth and sunshine and flowers...

Alas, my beaded flowers will have to suffice until Spring blooms again...

I have been working on some petite lilac blossoms...

...which will soon find their way into a petite necklace...

...with some petite gemstones...

They measure 3cm from petal tip to petal tip, and whilst I hate repetition, these little blooms are just begging to be clustered together en masse.

See what other creative people are up to today at Kirsty's blog.


Thanks for looking, and be well!

Lucky me!

I won something!


I'm not usually the winning type...unlike my husband, who won a two person kayak plus all the accessories just the other week...!  Only a mere $2,000 worth of goodies... *sheesh*


So imagine my utter delight to receive an email from the insanely funny and talented Juls to say I had won one of her beautiful handcrafted lampwork beads!

Isn't it beeeeautiful!


I feel so special :-)  It is my very first lampwork bead...ever!

I'm looking forward to using it in one of my creations...if I can stop staring at it and fondling it for long enough to actually create something... *my precioussss*


Juls not only has an amazing talent for creating exquisite beads and jewellery, but she is also hands-down the funniest lady is Blogland.  Bar none!  Do yourself a favour and head on over to her blog for some eye candy and a guaranteed laugh!  


Or pop into her etsy shop to buy some of her beautiful handcrafted lampwork beads...but you'd better hurry because I may just beat you there and buy them all up myself!


Thanks for looking, and be well!

Our Creative Space...

Fire...

...plus wire...

...equals practice making ball headpins...

More practice required...obviously!


Here's hoping hubby doesn't notice the holes in his workbench caused by molten copper... *snicker*


I wasn't the only one getting creative in this household today...


Letting a two year old loose with felt tip markers is usually recipe for disaster...unless you have a blank wooden aeroplane to decorate...and LOTS of newspaper...

I think India ended up with more colour on her hands than on the plane...but thankfully no carpet or lounges were harmed during the making of this masterpiece... *phew*

To see what other creative people are making today, head on over to Kirsty's blog...don't forget to add a link to you blog if you'd like to play along!


Thanks for looking, and be well!

Victoriana Pendant

It has been some time since I have played with wire...

Having been inspired by the likes of Iza Malczyk, Magdalena Borejko and Emily Gray, (who are all creators of the most exquisite wire jewellery you will ever see!) I decided to get back to wire this week and learn some new techniques.

I want my jewellery to (one day!) be a successful fusion of beadwork and wirework...

...I have so many ideas for combining the two mediums but, alas, my wirework skills still leave much to be desired.  So more learning is required!

I have mentioned previously that I don't like tutorials...but this week I bought two!  One from Iza and one from Emi Kaz on the Jewelry Lessons website.  Emi's tutorial was for a 3-D Layer Vine Ring, but I set out to create a pendant instead.  I really just wanted to learn how to create those gorgeous, swirling, organic-looking vines that I so admire in the work of the aforementioned artists.

Not wanting to dig into my stash of sterling silver wire, I opted for copper to practice with.  A few hours later, and my 'Victoriana' pendant was born...

It's far from perfect, and I need to practice, practice, practice a LOT more...but I learnt so much from creating this pendant.  I used Emi's tute for the central wire-wrapped briolette, and the rest of the pendant was made up as I went along.  As always!



The pendant measures 62mm x 26mm...

Everyone else has gone to bed, so I am off to do some beading (my fingers are sore from all that wirework!)


Thanks for looking, and be well!

My creative space...

I missed last week's 'My Creative Space...' because I was busy turning 30...


...and playing around with flashy new sewing machine that ever-thoughtful husband bought for said 30th birthday...


...and finishing my 'Idylle' necklace which you may remember from previous creative space posts...


...but now that those tasks are done and dusted, I can get back to my daffodil...

...it's coming along nicely...and it will soon be transformed into a beautiful, delicate necklace...

...if things go accordingly to plan!


...and if my supplies would hurry up already and arrive in my letter box! 


*stomps off to stalk the postman...*


Head on over to Kirsty's blog to see what other creative people are making today...and leave a link to your blog if you want to play along!


Thanks for looking, and be well!

The 'Idylle' Necklace in Olive

The relief I feel, when a large project is completed, is immense!  

Relief that an unfinished project is no longer hanging around on my desk (in its proper place, mind you)...

Relief that I can now move on to the next exciting project without getting a case of the 'UFO guilts' (that is, feeling guilty for the number of UnFinished Objects lying around on said desk)...

So whilst sitting back and enjoying this lovely feeling of relief, I can finally show you photos of my completed 'Idylle' necklace in an olive colourway.  You may recall seeing me working on it here and here.  (And you can find the original 'Idylle' necklace in the lilac colourway here.)

'Idylle' 

(French for 'romance')

I used the most delicious matte metallic rainbow turquoise/light green delicas for the main body of the necklace.  Depending on the light, they exhibit shades of olive and denim and yellow...and they perfectly compliment the gorgeous light green Swarovski crystal pearls...

For this variation of the Idylle necklace, I used flat spiral stitch ropes rather than St Petersburg chain as in the original version.  Beautiful 3mm cream Swarovski pearls are sprinkled throughout the ropes, and I have finished the necklace with my unique floral toggle clasp...

As always, I have made the reverse side of the necklace as pretty as the front...

Thanks for looking, and be well!