Lest We Forget

As you are probably aware, we are fast approaching Remembrance Sunday, and with this year also marking 100 years since the end of the First World War, I thought a round-up of Poppy projects might be useful. There is still time for you to make something to mark the occasion in beads.

First, a selection of poppy themed kits that are available from us here at Spellbound.

We have launched two brand new designs featuring poppies this year the Poppy Pendant and the Poppy Field Necklace. Both of these designs use carrier beads in their construction, and the Poppy pendant works up reasonably quickly. The Poppy Field necklace is more of a project, but you still have time to have it finished to wear for any Remembrance events you might be attending this year.

Poppy Pendant

Poppy Field Necklace

We also have the ever popular Beaded Poppy Pin. This has been around for several years now and has raised lots of money for the Royal British Legion and Animal Aid. If you hadn’t heard, we donate £1 from the sale of each red poppy to the Poppy Appeal and £1 from the sale of each purple poppy to Animal Aid. The purple poppy can be worn alongside the red poppy to remember the animals that have lost their lives in conflict.

Red Beaded Poppy Pin- £1 from each kit sold is donated to the Royal British Legion

Purple Beaded Poppy Pin- £1 from each kit sold is dontaed to Animal Aid

We also have a Poppy Needlecase and a Poppy Scissor Keep so you can be fully accessorised with poppies all year round if you wanted to be.

The second thing I wanted to highlight for you this week was a lovely free pattern from the Preciosa website. They have masses of free pattern support for lots of their beads, but the one that caught our eye recently is the Flanders Poppies Bracelet

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This lovely bracelet uses Petal beads, seed beads and Solo beads to create the lovely, double-sided poppy motif. We don’t stock Solo beads, but as they are the same shape as Twin beads, (just having one hole instead of two) you can substitute them in the pattern very easily.

Rather than make a bracelet, I decided to make up two of the motifs and make them into earrings.

Earrings made from the Flanders Poppies motif from Preciosa. 

These are a little bit fiddly to make. You are using two needles to make each motif, and then join two motifs back to back using a peyote stitch thread path. This is a bit awkward as you don’t have much room to manoeuvre your needle in, and it is easy to get your thread caught around a petal if you try and rush the joining.

Overall this is a really lovely design to make- the individual poppies work up quickly and I think you could probably make up the bracelet in a couple of evenings work. As with other Preciosa patterns the instructions can be a little sparse although you have photos of every step to help you along, and as always if you get in touch with the shop I will give you any extra help I can.

To make the earrings I used:

R1 in pattern- RC740 8/0 Black seed beads

R2 in pattern- RC708 10/0 Black seed beads- I used these to make the hanging loop for my earrings

R3 in pattern- RC746 6/0 Black seed beads- the pattern calls for a 7/0 but a 6/0 is a good substitute.

S in pattern- TW001 Black Twin beads

Pet1 and Pet2 in pattern- GL5802 Siam Petal- I made all of my poppies in a single colour rather than the two colours in the pattern.

If you wanted to make the bracelet as in the pattern, I would suggest that you use GL6058 Emerald leaf. You need to use a cross hole leaf so that it will sit correctly in the final bracelet.

I used black nymo and two size 10 needles to make the motifs and a pair of FN001 fishhooks to turn them into earrings.

To finish, two more Poppies for you: Louisa’s dog Poppy, whose birthday is November 10th

and then my Poppy, who is now 8 months old and is still all legs:

and a bonus puddle of puppies- Poppy with her sister Maisie and her brother Bob.

Happy beading, and don’t forget to show us your makes on social media using #madeitwithspellbound.

Vicky x

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Change one bead

Also known as Vicky at Play episode 7!

What a busy time it has been since I last found time to sit down and write this blog!

We have sent out the 2018 catalogue, been to Exeter Westpoint, Cardiff, Alexandra Palace, Sandown Park and Harrogate Pavillions for shows, launched a whole heap of new kits (more on that soon!) served lots of lovely customers in the shop, and the mail order team haven’t stopped to make sure they get out all of your orders on time!

We have had three magazines arrive all at once this time around, Bead and Jewellery magazine issue 90, Beadwork Magazine Oct/Nov18 and Bead and Button magazine October 18.

Bead and Jewellery Magazine features the fantastic Imperial Bauble designed by Julie.

You can find the bead pack for this, either with or without the 40mm bauble you need on our website here: Imperial Bauble Bead Pack, and the magazine with the instructions in here: Bead and Jewellery Magazine 90. It really is a sumptuous design full of sparkle with lots of crystal beads and Rivolis to make your tree look extra glamorous this year.

The project I have chosen to blog about this time round is from Beadwork magazine Oct/Nov 18.

The project is Netted Pearl Earrings by Jill Mackay. These are a really quick and easy project, and I found that once I made one pair I just had to make more… so I made three!

These earrings only use a few simple ingredients- two sizes of seed beads, some 4mm rounds, flat spacers, headpins and fishhooks are all you need. Nothing fancy, things that most beaders will have in their stash.

What I thought was interesting was how changing one bead made the overall look of the earrings change. Here are the first pair I made:

 

Made using MB004 silver plated metal beads, 15-0451 and RC11-0451 gunmetal, I think this particular colourway looks elegant- perfect for that little black dress event. The MB020 6mm spacers cap the ends of the tube to give them a finished look.

I then swapped the 4mm metal round for a 4mm magenta pearl:

I left the spacers off the ends of the tube as the silver looked very bright against the gunmetal and pink combination. I think this combination looks more casual.

Bridging the gap between the casual and elegant is the third pair:

This combination uses the MB004 of the first pair, with 15-2024 and RC11-2024 Matt Light Rose Pink. I’m totally out of season with this pair as the look like they would be perfect for a spring/summer wedding. They are more elegant than the Gunmetal/Magenta pair, but not as formal as the Gunmetal/Silver pair. I’m not sure which pair are my favourite, but aren’t you surprised that there isn’t any turquoise or teal?

These are super quick to make- I made the first pair in around 90 minutes and they just got faster and faster to make as i got used to the pattern.

The third magazine to arrive was Bead and Button magazine October 2018 issue. I do have a plan to make a pair of earring from this issue but they are on hold at the minute while we are prepping for the show- hopefully they will appear in the not too distant future before the next round of magazines arrive!

Please do let me know what colour combinations you use- if you use #madeitwithspellbound on social media we will find the pictures and have a look! We love to see what you have made using our beads or designs so please get in touch.

Hopefully it won’t be as long til my next blog- although we are at the NEC for the Creative Craft Show from Nov 1-4th so who knows!

Happy beading!

Vicky x

Good things come to those who wait?

Also known as Vicky at Play episode 6!

Hello all,

I’m so sorry for the delay in this project write up. I went on holiday almost as soon as the magazine arrived at the shop, and then when I came back it was straight into testing for all the lovely new kits we have coming up in our Autumn launch!

The magazine was Bead and Jewellery magazine, Issue 89

Bead and Jewellery issue 89

There were lots of lovely projects to choose from, but as I was a little limited timewise I picked one of the smaller (but no less lovely) projects. The project I chose was designed by Becs Dean-Skinner called A Cute Little Beaded Vessel.

The inspiration behind the colour choices for my version were that of an ancient urn/terracotta pot. It’s a little bit lighter in colour, but gives the overall feel that I was looking for.

This was a lovely project that worked up in a couple of hours. I think there will be a few more of these appearing around Christmas, I’ve had lots of lovely comments from family members. The colour combinations are practically endless.

Here is my finished object:

A Cute Little Beaded Vessel by Becs Dean-Skinner

Pretty cute huh?

The beads I used are as follows:

A: TW0027 Metallic Gold Twin bead

B:GL6271 Metallic Gold Matubo Nib-bit bead

C: FG379 California Night 3mm Facet

D: RC1202 SL Frost Transparent Topaz size 10 seed bead

E: 15-1522 Sparkle Gold lined Crystal size 15 seed bead

F: RC220 Transparent Brown size 10 seed bead

G: 15-1429 SL Dark Topaz size 15 seed bead

H: RC214 Matt Metallic Gold size 10 seed bead

I: 15-4202f Duracoat Matte Galvanised Gold size 15 seed bead

I also used gold Nymo and a size 10 Tulip needle.

Better late than never with the write up, I hope!

Looking forward to the next installment

Vicky x

 

 

Vicky at Play 5- RAW Power Pendant

Hello again!

The vagaries of magazine publishing means that you wait aaaagggess for a magazine and then three turn up in quick succession! This means that we have had Bead and Jewellery magazine, Beadwork magazine and now Bead and Button magazine all turn up within a very short space of time, and there will now be a little break until the next batch of magazines arrive. Which is probably a good thing, as I’m sure you are getting bored of me by now!

Bead and Button August 2018 issue

Flicking through Bead and Button August 2018 issue, the project that really caught my eye was the RAW Power Pendant, designed by Barbara Hoffmann.

RAW Power Pendant designed by Barbara Hoffmann

Cubic right angle weave is one of my favourite stitches, and I really liked the simple, clean lines of the pendant piece. I also thought it was time to show you all I could make something other than bracelets!

I also needed an excuse to pick up some of our new Miyuki size 11 seed beads- you can have a look at them here: Miyuki size 11 seed beads. The hardest problem I had was choosing my favourite! I decided the best thing to do was to start with the 14mm Rivoli- as we have fewer choices here I thought it would be easier. As we know, I love teals and turquoises, so I went for Dark Aqua. I went back to the size 11’s and what do you know, we had a lovely Silver Lined Capri Blue AB that went with it! I love the combination of turquoise and pink, so I decided to go slightly away from the suggestion in the pattern recipe, and used a Silver Lined Rose Pink size 8 as an accent. This meant that I needed a more neutral colour to pull it all together. Black was too dark, gold doesn’t suit me so I went with a classic silver. This was used for the outer edge of the large frame and the bezel around the Rivoli.

I wouldn’t recommend this pattern as a first CRAW piece. As you are using different sized beads to create the circular shape so you need to concentrate on the placement of the beads which can be a little tricky if you are trying to learn the mechanics of the stitch at the same time. If you have used this stitch before then I am sure you will whizz through the pattern like I did.

Here is how my pendant turned out. I’m still trying to decide if I want to hang it from a chain, some ribbon or cord (or both!) or make a beaded chain for it. I will be sure to post a finished picture over on our Instagram page when I have decided what to do.

My finished version of the RAW Power Pendant

I used:

1 FS104 Dark Aqua Rivoli

RC800 SL Rose Pink 8/0

RC11-1025 SL Capri Blue AB

RC11-4201 Duracoat Galvanised Silver

DB0035 Galvanised Silver

15-0181 Galvanised Silver

6lb Smoke Fireline (this gives the pendant a bit more rigidity than Nymo)

Size 12 beading needle.

I made this in around 4 hours. I have lots of beads left over, so with the addition of another couple of Rivolis I think I could make a few more pendants. You could mix it up so use the silver on the face of the pendant and the blue on the edge which would give it a different look.

I am sure I will be making more of these in the future, they are very satisfying and can be dressed up or down as you need. I only wish the magazine had come in a few days earlier so I could have made one to wear to my sisters wedding last weekend!

There is also an interesting article in this issue about substituting beads in patterns- doesn’t that sound like something you might find useful 😉

I would love to see what you are making using our beads-it doesn’t matter if it is one of our designs, something from a magazine or your own creation, we love to see what our friends have been up to. You can share it on our Facebook page, or tag us on Instagram or Twitter- you can use #madeitwithSpellbound for anything, and if you are inspired by these posts, why not show me your version of the pattern using #beadymagazinemakes.

Write soon,

Vicky x

Vicky at Play – Inspired by Magazine Projects number four, the Desert Mirage Cuff by Shanna Steele in Beadwork Magazine

In the latest issue of Beadwork Magazine (Aug/Sept 2018) my eye was instantly caught by this stunning bracelet designed by Shanna Steele .  The original in the magazine was made in SuperDuo beads, which we don’t stock, so how would it work in twin Beads instead I wondered ?  I know that you can’t mix the two types of bead in a project but I have used one instead of the other in the past with great success so there is no reason they shouldn’t also work here.

The original bracelet featured in Beadwork

I absolutely love the finished result, but boy was it a bit of a fiddle getting here!

Firstly, choosing the materials for this one was quite easy, unusually for me, I often spend more time choosing my colours than I do making the project!  The tips from the designer in the article were absolutely spot on, they really helped me along the way.

First tip – choose a thread that will go well with your beads, the thread path is very visible and you can see in both the original (above on the right) and in my bracelet (above on the left) that the thread used really complements the beads chosen.

Second tip – you will need a moderate to loose tension.  I work a little on the side of tight tension and had to make a conscious effort not to keep pulling everything tight … at least I did after my first two false starts had the scissors taken to them!

This is definitely a pattern that you need to concentrate on, it is not one of those ‘sit down in front of the TV and it just sort of grows while you’re not watching’ projects.  I had a couple of false starts, at one point a tricky bit in the middle, and I did need to constantly refer back to the pattern as I was going, sometimes reading the same bit several times.  In total it took me about six hours to complete, quite a long time for the size of the project, but that does include some cutting up, a bit of frowning and a fair bit of re-reading.

There’s no getting around it – for me, this was what we call ‘a bit of a fiddle’, but I am very pleased I persevered because I am really quite chuffed with the result.

My version of Shanna’s design

The beads I used are
A – TW018 pearl forest green Twin bead
B – TW125 matt op teal Twin bead
C – TW025 met silver Twin Bead
D – 4mm ivory pearl beads
MB322 Toggle fastener and teal Superlon D thread and the finished bracelet is 6 inches long by 2 inches wide.

I really hope you are enjoying my occasional series on magazine inspirations, I am loving having (yet another) excuse to get my beading needle out and hope to bring you another project very soon.

We’d love to see what magazine projects you are making too so please share #beadymagazinemakes on social media with us.

until next time, happy beading all, Vicky

Quick and Easy Makes – Beautiful ideas for Speedy Jewellery

This time we have a beautiful multi coloured necklace that is both light enough for day wear and dressy enough to make the transition for a fabulous evening out, a distinct case of ‘great minds think alike’, and a pretty millefiore bracelet.

Biarritz Necklace and Earrings

To make this necklace Vicky has simply joined a 5cm piece of chain to the front of a necklace sized chain and attached these beautiful enamelled links along the chain drop and to either side of it.

The earrings are each a 2.5cm length of chain with 4 enamelled link attached to each.

To make the earrings you will need 2 each MB439 white links; MB436 teal links; MB435 pink links; MB437 apple links; 5cm FN326 curb chain; 8 x FN067 oval jump rings and one pair of FN001 fish hook earwires.  Or head over to the web site to buy a bead pack.

To make the necklace you will need 60cm of FN326 curb chain; 6 MB436 teal links; 6 MB439 white links; 5 MB435 pink links; 6 MB437 apple links; 24 FN067 oval jump rings and 1 FN023 silver lobster fastener.  Or head over to the web site to buy a bead pack.

All Ombre!

Ok, so ask four people what they’d make with some opaque rounds in soft pretty shades and, well, spot the difference!

Lisa used six shades of glass rounds, (GL6445; GL6444; GL6443; GL6440; GL6441; GL6442) some metal washers (MB909), a length of cotton cord and some chain and findings – stunning!

Vicky and Ellen both went for knots on the necklace and stretch magic for the bracelet but in different colours, and Jodie went for a straight thread using metal sparkle  beads to punctuate the changes in shade.  All of them beautiful we think you’ll agree.

Millefiore Bracelet

Simple to make and seriously pretty this bracelet is simply made by punctuating Millefiori tubes (GL6435)  with plain washers MB020, and MB021.  These tubes are also available in turquoise (GL6436) and Orange (GL6437)

We hope you like our easy makes for this week – we’ll be back with some more very soon!

Creating with Karo? New ideas from Preciosa and Vicky

A couple of months ago some of these arrived at Spellbound HQ

hmm, we thought, what to do with them?  Vicky started off with some bezelling, and she has made some lovely pieces but somehow the final piece of jewellery has not yet revealed itself, it will, but for now, it has been put to one side until the muse strikes and that magic bit that brings it all together into a finished design happens.  Knowing Vicky that will be at about 2am while watching a bike race and the rest of us will wake up to a Eureka email!

Jodie meanwhile had a little look around and downloaded this pattern off the Preciosa website.  It is a simple design and you can use all Karo beads, or a mix of Karo and seed beads in any proportion you like giving so many possibilities for textural variation.

Absolutely perfect if you like stacking bracelets – see how fabulous they look in the Preciosa photo above.

While Jodie was working on her bracelet, Vicky started to think about the similarities between the Karo bead and its fellow Preciosa bead, the Twin.  Vicky came up with this wider bracelet that she has made nice and long so it sits like a bangle at the top of your  hand rather than fitted to the wrist.  Perfect for these hot days (and it fits me perfectly, she might not be getting it back!), but of course easy to make shorter if you prefer your bracelet fitted.

Jodie used:- GL6371 gold Karo beads; GL5832 Ripple bead for the fastener; RC303 Alabaster coral size 10 seed beads, CT1002 Papyrus cotton thong and some white Nymo for her bracelet.  (27 Karo beads, finished length 19cm/7.5 inches)

Vicky used:- GL6372 silver Karo beads; Twin matt opaque turquoise twin beads, RC503 porcelain turquoise size 10 seed beads and FN255 2 row fastener.  Finished length 20cm/ 8 inches and it used just under one pack of Karo beads to reach this length.

If you would like written instructions for Vicky’s bracelet let us know and we will get them written up.

Vicky at play!

I hope you are all enjoying the beautiful summer that we are having at the moment? It’s been so nice to be able to bead in the garden (under a big floppy hat and about a pint of sun cream) and be inspired by all the colours in the garden.

Now I’m on my third blog post about the same subject I think I can start to call it a series- I think I need a name for it, so if you have any suggestions then please let me know! This time around I have been perusing Bead and Jewellery magazine for inspiration again.

The latest issue is full of lots of lovely designs as always, but the one that really caught my eye this time is Debora Hodoyer’s Silky Passion Bracelet.

The original images that caught my eye

I think it was the colours of the samples in the article photo that  my eye at first- how can you not stop and look at the lovely sunny yellow of the top bracelet?

We don’t stock the Silky beads that are the main feature of the design, but our Diamond Tiles make a great substitution. They don’t have the ridge design that is the main feature of the Silky beads, but they are the same size and have the holes running in the same direction, so will work in the same way. I used Preciosa size 6/0 and 10/0 and Miyuki size 15/0 seed beads as we don’t stock Toho brand beads. If you are making substitutions like this, you need to be aware that different brands of beads can come up slightly different sizes- a Toho size 15/0 is a slightly different size to a Miyuki size 15/0. This might mean that you need to adjust a bead count occasionally, but usually you can substitute without worry.

This bracelet was super quick to make up- the magazine says that it can be made up in about an hour, and I would agree with that. My two big tips for this design is work with a long thread if you can- I ran out with literally 16 beads left to add, which was incredibly frustrating, and make sure you work with a soft tension. I work quite tightly and as a result my bracelet is a wee bit curly!

Beaded Staffordshire knot anyone?

It does lie flat when it is worn, but it was a bit alarming to make something that looked like a Staffordshire knot instead of a bracelet.

The beads I used are as follows:

A RC658 Size 6/0 Green Scarab

B GL5865 Fern Green 2 hole Tile bead (these are behind the Diamond tiles and aren’t really seen)

C RC224 Size 10/0 Copper Line Crystal

D 15-1522 Size 15/0 Sparkle Gold Lined Crystal

E GL6165 Magic Chrysolite Diamond Tile beads

F FG505 4mm Purple Pearl Facet

Clasp- I really like our Ball and Socket fasteners on bracelets, so I used FN210, 8mm Ball and Socket fastener in copper attached with two oval jump rings (FN067)

I used Olive Nymo and a size 10 needle. To be honest, I could have got away with a black thread, but I like to use a thread that blends with the background colour of the beads whenever I can.

My finished version of Debora’s design.

Overall, this was a really quick and satisfying bracelet to make, and I can see more of these in my future!

Looking forward to the next magazine delivery! As ever, if you have any questions get in touch- you can find us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. We also love to see what you are making- if you use #madeitwithspellbound then we should find you! You can also see us in all our beady glory on our new YouTube channel Spellbound on YouTube

Vicky

PS- I hope you all realise that it wasn’t me that wrote the last post that was singing my praises- I’m far too modest for that (autographs available on request ;))

Also, this post was supposed to be written yesterday, but I got distracted by one of our new puppies, Poppy who is 16 weeks old and a bit of a handful…

It’s not very often she is this still, so you see I couldn’t disturb her (or feel my fingers)

Designing new projects and filming for YouTube – a month behind the scenes

The last few weeks have been super busy here at Spellbound.  Each year as we approach our birthday month we wonder what we can do to celebrate and this year we set ourselves a bit of a challenge – to design some new free pattern downloads AND to get some videos onto YouTube.

Firstly we asked the team to put their beady creative hats on, and think about tea dresses, gin on the lawn, roses, chilled cider, cream teas, picnics, maybe even sand between your toes – all the elements that make a party outdoors such a joy in the British summer.   The theme of our design challenge was ‘Garden Party’ and Louisa, Vicky, Gemma, Ellen, Lisa and Jodie have designed some simply beautiful jewellery that fits the bill wonderfully.

Designing

It is always interesting to see how each person approaches a challenge like this.  Some people will dive straight in, but for most there will be at least two weeks of head scratching after the initial theme is suggested.  A little quiet playing with beads when there is a free moment, lots of conversations about what it means – sometimes the broader the challenge the harder it is to pin down your design – and then the magic starts.  Each person begins to go off in their own direction.

With Vicky you can pretty much guarantee that small beads will be involved, she does love a good classic technique, and the possibilities that small beads give when you are creating.  Lisa is always running around and rarely gets even two minutes to sit and bead at work but when she does it is always something really fun and bright.  Louisa and Ellen can both go off at a bit of a tangent at times which can be really exciting (and sometimes quite a challenge when it comes to writing the instructions!).

Everyone has a different approach.  Some people have favourite motifs or colours, but we all like to try out something new and having the opportunity to talk through what can sometimes be a vague idea with someone who has different beady skills to you can take designs off in surprising directions.  Sometimes working in a team can distract you from where your ideas are going, but more often as we chat about our ideas, start and abandon things, discuss options, make half-formed ideas become real; a design that is not quite there suddenly reveals what it is missing – and yet each person retains their own individual style.  It really is a sort of magic!

Once the designs are complete they leave their creators to have photos taken and computer friendly instructions created. They then go back to the designers for checking, proof reading and a last check of the recipe before being uploaded onto the system and being checked again to make sure all the links work.

Garden Party

Here are a few of the designs – to see the whole collection head over to our website where you can see all the beautiful Garden Party jewellery.  The instructions for all of these projects are free to download … and there are instructional videos too.

YouTube

Once the designs for the collection were complete we got the camera out and started shooting.  Then we realised that we hadn’t switched the microphone on so we did it all again!

This has been quite the learning curve for us.   We have been asked many times about doing some YouTube videos and we wondered what to do, and how to do it, and this seemed as good a time as any to learn.  So, camera out, instruction book out, so many things to work out – lighting, where to put the beads on the mat, remembering to turn the microphone on – I know I only mentioned that a moment ago but you’d be surprised just how many beaders it takes to switch on a microphone!  We have quite a few silent movies in our collection now, as well as several with the opposite problem!

Filming

We already have two full length videos under our belts so you would have thought this would be a walk in the park.  Well, firstly we made those a couple of years ago, and we had a video expert on hand for our first day to guide us through all the lighting, camera settings, editing software.  This time we had to reach through our bead soaked minds to try and remember how we did it all – and how do all those YouTube stars make it seem so easy?  We do also have the problem of wanting everything to be absolutely perfect, and when you’re filming live we all fluff sometimes – let’s hope it gets easier with time!

One of the issues with filming beading is getting the focus right.  Most devices, fancy cameras included, really, really want to focus on flesh, and in all honesty we want you to see more beads and less fingers.  That issue sorted we are working on the tiniest area of bead mat so the demonstrator has to work in a very small area so you can fully see what is going on.  Rulers, a frame of small beads, bits of paper, anything that won’t get in the way of working and is just out of shot can be used and they all work if the demonstrator is paying attention.

First up was Julie, a little tired to be fair, and unquestionably not enough tea in her system!  It took an hour and 10 takes to get 15 useable minutes (a bit longer in truth as the first take had no sound!).  Next to the hot seat was Pat.  Now Julie has done this before but this is Pat’s first time.  Straight through, no problems – how did she do it?  Round of applause!  Now to Vicky who is a tad nervous, despite being a very experienced teacher it is still weirdly daunting to be shoved in front of a camera and there was a bit of a shaky hand but she too was a one take wonder.  Round of applause No 2!

The rest of the day was not quite so straightforward and due to some technical difficulties a couple of the videos had to be re-shot.  One of the videos you see on YouTube is not just the third incarnation – it is also the third demonstrator.

After shooting there is then the whole editing process, adding in all the static info – recipes, titles etc which takes rather longer than you might think, (watch out for the Top Tip bee, he’s quite cute!).

And then the upload.  By this point it is well over a month since we started the challenge and we have oodles of other things that are dead urgent so this is the quick bit, right?  Oh, so wrong.  Many days later we finally have nine videos uploaded.

We really hope you enjoy the new projects and the videos that go with them, we’ve had a lot of fun, (and a number of tearing hair out moments) creating them.  Maybe there will be more along quite soon?

In Other News

More FREE patterns – it is our Birthday after all, and we do like a bit of a giveaway so this month we have a huge box of Spellbound Patterns that we are giving away.  Every order that leaves us will have a pattern in it, and anyone buying at the shop can pick one from a selection.  While stock last!

A massive Delica shipment has just arrived and we are putting it all back online as fast as we can.  There are also 26 New Delicas – again, they will be up for sale just as soon as we can get them set up.

New Christmas Designs – we have two baubles and a decoration almost ready to go, we’ll be letting them out of the box this Friday!

Beautiful new beads and fabulous quick and easy makes – look what we’ve been doing!

In the last week or two we have had a wonderful delivery of metal, ceramic and glass beads and we just couldn’t wait to dive in and start making with them.

 

First there are these three lovely ideas from Louisa – using hoops and metal shapes from the new range they are simply linked together with a jump ring and attached to an ear wire – super easy and with the small earrings costing just 88p to make, a bit of a bargain too!

Next up, some more simple earrings – this time from Ellen and using a combination of plain metal with enamelled hoops to add a splash of colour.  If you would like to see more of the colour just leave off the small silver disc at the front.

The enamelled discs come in six beautiful colours – rich pink, teal, red and apple, shown above, and a soft mid grey and white as well.

Next, we have these two beauties.  Seven metal discs (MB416), nine 5mm jump rings and a heart shaped fastener (MB394) make up the bracelet to 7 1/2 inches/ 18cm long and it is so comfortable to wear.

The earrings have been made by putting a ceramic diamond (CE214) and a metal sparkle bead (MB060) onto a headpin. Turn a generous loop in the top and attach this to a 30mm hoop (MB412).  Finally attach to the ear fitting with a 5mm jump ring.

The ceramic diamonds come in six beautiful colours and there is a ceramic oval too.

The next project is by Vicky and uses metal, ceramic, and glass.  It is 70cm long (75cm if fastened at the end of the extension chain) and makes a very elegant necklace.

To make the necklace you will need:-

• 5 Ceramic Ovals CE204
• 8 8mm round glass beads GL6442
• 4 large oval links MB415
• 10 small oval links MB414
• 13 eyepins FN014
• 28 7mm jump rings FN065
• 1 medium lobster fastener FN024
• 1 extension chain FN184

Make each of the ceramic and glass beads into a link using an eyepin and then simply link the whole thing together using the 7mm jump rings and following the photo above.

 

Now for some very jangly earrings by Jodie, – to make these you will need 16 metal discs MB418; 10 6mm jump rings MB142; 2 20mm metal hoops MB411 and a pair of ear fittings.

To Make – There are three dangles made of jump rings and silver discs, each attached to the hoop to give a very full effect.  Put one metal disc on a jump ring and attach this to the hoop. Make a chain of three jump rings, add a disc to each of these, and attach the top jump ring to the hoop. For the third dangle make a chain of five jump rings.  Attach one of the end jump rings to the hoop and add a metal disc to each of the other four. Now use another jump ring to attach the ear fitting to the hoop and your earring is made!

For Gemma’s heart pendant you will need a 40mm metal hoop (MB413); a headpin (FN014); a 3mm metal bead (MB003); a 4mm metal bead (MB004); a 6mm jump ring (FN142); a heart bead (GL6413) and something to thread them on.  To make – simply thread the 3mm metal bead, heart bead and 4mm metal bead onto a headpin.  Trim and loop.  Use the jump ring to attach the dangle to the loop and voila, a beautiful pendant!  Gemma used TG066 lavender rattail, 2 small box lace ends, a medium lobster fastener and two small oval jump rings to complete her necklace but it would also work nicely on a string of seed beads or a plain chain.

 

and last but not least, a little modelling!  Gemma wearing the large triple hoop earrings from the top of this post and Louisa modelling a simple stretch bracelet made with the new chunky ceramic rounds (CE221)

There will be bead packs for several of these projects appearing on the website in the next few days to make buying the beads for one of these designs even easier … and we’ve a few more ideas on the way so watch this space!