Kerrie Slade

The Dream Divers!

2012-01-31T19:11:00.000Z

Normal beady service has now been resumed after my metal clay adventures of last week and I have just finished the latest piece for the Midnight Garden exhibition. As usual, I am juggling all sorts of balls and one of those is creating some finished pieces for The Beadsmith using their Elegant Elements range of clasps. I originally chose two clasps but I also received a third bonus clasp and when I first saw it I was reminded of a turtle. Now turtles wouldn't have been an obvious choice for me to feature in a midnight garden, but I only have so much time and so I had to be a little bit creative and try and make the idea fit. Maybe our garden is near the coast and there is an overgrown pathway leading down to a secret cove?

I knew straight away that I wanted to try and make a beaded turtle, but once I had done that I was left wondering how to create a finished piece. I tried making a bracelet with a row of turtles and I tried attaching them to a cuff bracelet but there was no spark in their little pearly eyes and so I knew that I hadn't given them the home of their dreams. It was then that I heard the story and saw the image flash before me. The Dream Divers represents two turtles diving through the deep glistening moonlit sea of our dreams, past long fronds of gently waving kelp, singing a song that few can hear.

Do you see their little mouths? Do you hear their song? Do you feel the call of The Dream Divers?

Don't forget that you can see the inspirational work from all the artists in the Elegant Elements group in this Facebook album.

Kerrie

Art Clay Silver Masterclass with Beads Direct!

2012-01-23T12:38:00.011Z

If you are a regular follower of my blog you will know that one of my favourite UK suppliers is Beads Direct and that I have been lucky enough to work with them on a couple of occasions. So when they told me that they were going to be running an Art Clay Silver Masterclass with two of the UK's top instructors and asked if I'd like to join them, I jumped at the chance! I have never worked with any kind of metal clay before (you know me, I am normally a strictly seedy girl!) but I have often admired the finished work created using this medium and when I saw that one of the classes was to make a silver leaf, I thought that this would work well alongside my current work. The classes were held at the easily accessible Yew Lodge Hotel just off Junction 24 of the M1 and as we arrived we were all welcomed by the Beads Direct staff who pointed us in the direction of tea, coffee and biscuits. Nearly everyone arrived early and so it was lovely to sit in the plush hotel foyer and get to know the other students and learn how far they had travelled, what kind of beadwork they enjoy and what they hoped to achieve from the course. After a round of introductions and a quick health and safety chat, it was straight down to work and our instructor Natalia let us all choose a leaf that she had picked from the hotel grounds that morning - I think the hotel guests who were having their breakfast in the warm dry glass-fronted restaurant must have wondered what on earth the woman foraging in the wet foliage was up to! I chose a small leaf and carefully began to coat it with my Art Clay under the watchful gaze of Natalia:

Natalia explained to us how to mix each coat to the right consistency, gradually building up the coats of clay on our leaves as we carefully dried each layer before moving onto the next one.

We then learnt how to set a decorative stone into our leaves and eventually our leaves were ready to go into the kiln to dry while we wandered around the room chatting to the other students and staff.

Although they aren't perfect, our leaves were not bad for a first attempt and we were all happy with the results of our work, keen to try out other ideas and hoping to eventually achieve something more like our tutor's inspirational work!

I had a thoroughly enjoyable day and I can't wait to incorporate my little silver leaf with its peridot crystal into some of my seed bead work. If you would like to have a go at using Art Clay Silver, Beads Direct offer a comprehensive starter kit complete with instructions and they also sell a great range of tools for when you are ready to branch out. Don't forget to keep an eye on the Beads Direct website, blog and Facebook page to see what other exciting events they have planned for the future!

The Family Tree

2012-01-13T13:23:00.000Z

As promised in my last blog entry I finally managed to finish my first piece which uses one of The Beadsmith's clasps from their 'Elegant Elements' range. As soon as I saw this beautiful nest clasp, I knew that I wanted to create some kind of leafy necklace with two little birds waiting for their brood to hatch. I've lost count of the number of hours and the metres of Fireline that have gone into this piece, but I know that it has taken me the best part of three weeks to complete. Several times I found myself merrily attaching leaves in what I thought was the right place and then later feeling dissatisfied and chopping them off again, but I am finally content with the outcome and I think the birds look at home too.

Of course I stuck to the palette I have challenged myself to work in until September 2012 but I think that 'The Family Tree' will fit in quite nicely with the Midnight Garden exhibition. Now I have another clasp to work with and I will show you the results of that as soon as it's ready. In the meantime, you can see the inspirational work from the other artists in the 'Elegant Elements' group in this Facebook album.

An elegant element!

2012-01-10T20:10:00.000Z

Well here we are on the other side of the holiday season with 2012 already well under way. I hope you all had an enjoyable time and that you haven't broken all your New Year's Resolutions just yet! I had a lovely quiet family holiday and I managed to squeeze in some beading time, which is just as well as the projects are mounting up. A few weeks ago I was invited by The Beadsmith to join a group of international bead artists who were all asked to choose two clasps from the new 'Elegant Elements' range and then to make a couple of pieces to show possible ways to use the clasps. The first clasp I chose was the CLSP40SP Nest with 6 pearls:

I fell in love with this little nest clasp as soon as I saw it and all sorts of ideas popped into my head, some of which turned out to be completely unworkable! However, now I've spent around 50 hours on this piece, it is starting to take shape and I am hoping to have pictures of the finished necklace to show you in just a few days time. In the meantime, here's a little peek at what's been on my bead tray for the last couple of weeks:

And as another teaser, here is a rather ungainly shot of one of the finished components. Can you tell what I'm trying to create yet? Leave your guesses in the comments box and I will be back to reveal the completed piece very soon!

Season's Greetings!

2011-12-23T11:24:00.001Z

Around this time every year I like to look back on the previous 12 months in my little beady world. As I ponder, I try and work out whether I met my goals for the year and I smile when I think of how some of those goal posts had to be moved time and time again. I like to think about the lessons learned and the ones that I need to re-take and I also like to reflect on all the little unexpected twists and turns that life threw at me. I also spend time dreaming about the promise of the coming year. I have some plans in place, but really, anything could happen and although that thought makes part of me very nervous, the rest of me finds that an exciting prospect - I have beads and I can make anything, I have life and I can do anything. Thank you to each and every one of you for your support throughout 2011 and whatever your beliefs, I wish you a wonderful holiday season and a 2012 full of health, happiness and hope!

See you in 2012!

Kerrie x

The Gateway to the Garden!

2011-12-02T14:05:00.001Z

This piece only measures 2 inches by 1½ inches (5cm by 4cm) but it has still taken me the best part of 3 weeks to make! I've loved labradorite since the first time I saw it and I always felt that it has magical properties, so I knew I wanted to use some in my Midnight Garden exhibition. When I spotted this pendant at Kandra's Beads I thought it looked like a doorway (one I very much wanted to walk through) and I wondered if I would be able to create my vision in beads. My idea was to make it look like an arch through an ancient walled garden that you might stumble upon on a moonlight ramble. The wall would be covered in vines and leaves that had grown up around it with long grass at the base and maybe there would be an old gnarled tree curving around the entrance. All of these things would form a frame and through that frame you would be able to glimpse the magic inside. Then, as you stand transfixed, not knowing whether to cross that threshold or to leave with your secret, you hold your breath as you gaze at the glorious backdrop of the night sky wondering whether the dark intriguing shapes could be fairies dancing in the moonlight? So I set about using my beads, needle and thread to create The Gateway to the Garden ...

I hope you enjoy looking at my new piece but more importantly, I hope that you can see what I see.

As always, I love to receive your comments. so let me know what you think and I'll be back whenever something new grows in the Midnight Garden.

Kerrie

The Guardian of the Garden!

2011-11-09T14:46:00.000Z

A couple of weeks ago I visited the Harrogate bead fair and although I didn't really need any more beads, I was on the look out for some unusual components that I could perhaps incorporate in the Midnight Garden exhibition. One of the things that caught my eye was a little Amazonite owl from Meena's Gems. I was drawn to him immediately, but as he's a carved ornament and not a bead, I wasn't sure how I could combine him with my beadwork - but I gave him a home anyway, just in case. As soon as I'd finished the Dragon's Egg ring I set to work on creating a piece that my owl would be happy with. I imagined him nestled in a hollow in an old tree, snuggled deep inside, half hidden but still able to peer out of the foliage to keep an eye on what exactly goes on in the garden at midnight. It was also important to me to make sure that he would still be able to fly whenever the mood took him (when I'm not looking of course!) and so here is the result of my work for the last 2 weeks - Asio, Guardian of the Garden! I think he looks right at home, what do you think?

Now available in California!

2011-10-26T18:30:00.001+01:00

I'm afraid I don't have any new beadwork to show you this week as the next piece in the Midnight Garden collection is taking a bit of coaxing, but I do have some exciting news! My friend Kandra recently opened a new bead store in Solvang which is in California (USA) and not only does she stock a mouthwatering range of beads and beading accessories, she now sells copies of my patterns on CD. So if you live within travelling distance of Solvang you can drop into Kandra's Beads at 1539A Mission Drive and purchase a CD and then browse through the great range of beads to choose the colours for your project! Of course you can still purchase a pdf of each pattern direct from my website and these will normally be emailed to you within a few minutes of your purchase, but if you would prefer a CD and cannot get to the store, Kandra also offers a postal service.

Although this is a new store, Kandra has a wealth of experience (this is actually her fifth bead store!) and she is also a talented beader and teacher, so she knows what she is talking about if you need help with anything whether it be choosing colours or tracking down hard to find materials. As you can see from the picture below, the store looks very inviting and although it looks small on the outside, it is actually deceptively large on the inside with a huge range of tempting beady treats including Kandra's own lampwork beads and the walls are lined with her beadwork too. The store also hosts trunk shows and offers a range of beading classes. As well as a bricks and mortar shop, Kandra also offers an international mail order service, so why not take a virtual wander through her store and don't forget to pop a CD in your basket!

I have my own little display area within the shop and as you can see from the pictures below, the CDs are all arranged in neat racks and they even have their own labels making it easy to choose the right project.

I'd like to publicly thank Kandra for giving me this opportunity and also for doing such a wonderful job in setting this all up for me. Thank you Kandra!

Kerrie

Dragon's Egg Ring!

2011-10-20T15:28:00.001+01:00

So, I've been busy trying to turn some of my beady imaginings into finished beadwork for the Midnight Garden exhibition and I think I am 'in the zone' now. A few months ago, I was wandering around a rock and gem shop and I spotted a small basket of opalite eggs. As soon as I saw them I thought 'dragons' eggs' and so I rummaged through the basket until I found the perfect one, bought it and took it home with me and then forgot about it until last week. After I had finished last week's necklace I wondered what to work on next and then my eye landed on the egg which was quietly gathering dust in the corner. Almost immediately I heard a little story begin in my head and as I listened, I learned how the very rare and precious dragons' eggs are held within protective flowers that grow in a beautiful enchanted garden. Apparently, these flowers (which are carefully tended by the fairy folk of course) only bloom on moonlight nights and the egg then absorbs energy from the moon until it is ready to hatch. Once I knew the truth, I began to bead ...

Ok, back to beady fairyland I go! Oh, and just a little note to my new readers - please do not be alarmed, I am really quite 'normal' ;o)

See you soon!

Kerrie

Midnight Garden!

2011-10-12T17:10:00.000+01:00

Remember me telling you last week about my exhibition plans? Well, you would think that with the luxury of 11 months stretching before me and 1700g of seed beads by my side, the rest would be easy, wouldn't you? I have really been looking forward to this time (having been very disciplined in previous months by only beading what I had to bead, rather than what I wanted to bead) and so I expected that when the time arrived, I would simply pick up my needle, thread and beads and my new collection would flow from my fingers. However, I discovered that it wasn't going to be quite as simple as that and I spent the first day surrounded by beads wondering where on earth to start! After another day of rising panic (which is surely the number one imagination killer) I decided to relax and just play and if there was nothing to show at the end of the first week, then so be it.

From the outset, I knew that I wanted to create a themed exhibition and if you are a regular follower of my blog, you will know that not only am I very fond of flowers, but that I also love the escapism that fairy tales give us. Ever since I was a small child, I have always loved to sit by a window on a moonlight night, gazing out at the garden, imagining what the fairy folk might be up to and so I thought that this would be the perfect time to indulge three of my passions and create a beaded midnight garden! With this in mind, my first experiments began with vines and tendrils and I created this simple (yet hopefully elegant) little herringbone necklace with a single night bloom at the centre - if you click on the picture it will open a larger version.

I hope that my midnight garden will soon sprout many fantasy flowers with leaves, vines, buds and petals all unfurling in the magical moonlight ready to be made into jewellery fit for a Faerie Queen! As promised, I will keep posting my garden news and I would welcome your company on my journey.

Kerrie

Exhibition news!

2011-10-04T12:59:00.001+01:00

The last couple of years have been a truly amazing time for me with lots of thrilling teaching and travelling opportunities and all manner of exciting offers landing in my lap and I have done my best to meet each challenge. When I look back at the last 10 years of my life and when I started beading (and particularly why I started beading) I can hardly believe that I am the same person now as I was then. It has been a wonderful learning experience and a huge confidence builder BUT I feel that the time is now right for a little change in direction. I am planning on spending the next 11 months mostly working at home and creating a themed exhibition of my work that will have its first showing at Stitchncraft Beads in Dorset (UK) in September 2012.

The picture above shows 1700g of seed beads that I recently purchased to enable me to make a start on my new project and I am hoping to turn these tiny beads into sculptural works of art that will delight and inspire visitors to the exhibitions. I have been keeping a notebook of ideas throughout the last year or so and I promised myself that once all my teaching commitments were met I would start experimenting and let my imagination unfurl again. I will regularly post pictures (if only sneak peeks!) of my new pieces and the inspiration behind them and blog about my journey. I have a head full of ideas, I have cleared my diary and I have purchased the beads. Let the adventure begin ...

Kerrie

A change of direction!

2011-09-26T19:17:00.001+01:00

I have neglected my poor blog a bit recently as I got caught up in a whirl of obligations and deadlines over the last year, which meant that something had to give. All that is about to change though as I have set myself an exciting year long creative challenge which I am really looking forward to and almost ready to embark on. I will write more about this next week and I also plan to blog about it regularly, but my adventure means that I will probably not be writing any new tutorials for the coming year. So, I wanted to remind you that I now have nine tutorials for sale via my website:

POPPER FLOWERS

CORE BEADED BEADS

RIVOLI DAISY BRACELET

DOUBLE DAISY

DAISY CHAIN

SPINE FLOWER

POPPY

TWINKLING TILAS

ENGLISH ROSE NECKLACE

I also have six patterns for sale via the Interweave on-line store and you can see those on this page of my website

Five of my patterns are available to purchase via the Bead & Button on-line store

There are also various patterns and a CD collection of my work available from the Bead magazine on-line store

So hopefully with all these patterns to choose from you will not mind if I take a little time out to have some fun, which should produce even more patterns in the future!

See you next week with news of my plans!

Kerrie

Home from Hamburg!

2011-08-24T17:27:00.000+01:00

Do you remember me telling you that I was going to Germany to teach my Popper Flower project? Well, after over a year of planning and preparation it is all over but what a fantastic time we all had! Teachers and exhibitors travelled from all over the world to attend the Bead Art Fair in Hamburg and although now it seems to have gone in the blink of an eye, when I close my eyes I can see a slideshow of beaming beader's faces, breathtaking beadwork and an incredible array of unusual beads and supplies for sale.

My two classes went very well and although everyone knew at the outset that the project would not be finished in class, everyone went away with a couple of perfect leaves and petals, confident in the knowledge that they would be able to finish their Popper Flowers at home. I am ashamed to admit that I do not speak German (although I did manage to do a little bit of counting in German in class!) but I had two wonderful translators working with me and helping me whenever there was a problem - thank you Nicole and Barbara!

When I wasn't teaching, I was either at my stand or else I left it in the capable hands of my husband Simon while I wandered around the hall putting faces to names and chatting with old friends (such as the beautiful and talented Olga Vinnere Pettersson) and meeting new ones.

And even when the fair was over, the lessons didn't stop! The next picture shows my good friend Zoya Gutina showing myself and Anja Schlotmann how to add Soutache to beadwork, after breakfast at our hotel.

The evenings meant even more socializing and it was wonderful to be welcomed into the 'family' of people who regularly travel all over the world attending bead shows. Everyone was so friendly and it was great to be able to soak up the atmosphere and learn from their experiences.

We stayed on for an extra day so that we could explore a little of Hamburg and we spent the afternoon sitting in the sunshine at a riverside cafe, drinking tea and eating Apfelkuchen and reflecting on what an amazing experience this turned out to be.

If you ever get the opportunity to attend the Bead Art Fair in Hamburg, my advice would be to grab it with both hands!

The Tale of Ms. Bougainvillea Bouquet!

2011-07-27T12:23:00.001+01:00

Did I ever tell you the tale of Ms. Bougainvillea Bouquet? She's had a long and interesting journey and I was reminded of that today when I received my copy of Creative Beading Volume 6.

I created the first version of this necklace back in 2009 after a trip to Spain. I have always loved seeing these vivid clusters of colour on my travels and they had been on my 'to do' list for some time. When I came across these little Czech pressed glass flowers, I thought that they would make perfect centres for the bright pink bracts. I was pleased with the end result, but as I created that design I had no idea of what a special piece it would turn out to be for me. That first necklace sold pretty quickly and now lives in America, but the design had already been accepted for publication by Bead & Button magazine and so I had to create another identical one. I posted the finished piece and the instructions off to America and the project was duly published in April 2010.

It seems that (like her sister) Ms. Bougainvillea Bouquet Mark II also wanted to live in America though. Bead & Button magazine returned the necklace to me after publication, but she wasn't delivered and unbeknown to me she spent some weeks sat miserably at my local sorting office before being returned to the Bead & Button offices.

Instead of trying to send her home again, it was decided that she would be auctioned at the 2011 Bead & Button show to help raise funds for breast cancer research. As my Mum has had breast cancer twice and as Ms. B. is pink, it seemed like this was meant to be. That same month Ms. B. also graced the cover of Bead & Button Favorites magazine.

Today I received my copy of Creative Beading Volume 6 and found her on page 180. I think that is the end of her story and I am hopeful that she is happy in her new home and that she is bringing pleasure to those around her.

I have no idea how much she raised or where she ended up, but I am certainly very glad that I was able to give life to the spirited Ms. Bougainvillea Bouquet. Thank you!

Popper Flowers!

2011-06-08T16:03:00.002+01:00

It sort of feels like I blinked and missed the last year, because one minute the Bead Art Fair in Hamburg was a whole year away with plenty of time to prepare for my workshops and now it is only 10 weeks away! So it's time for me to get busy busy and write the instructions for my classes, draw diagrams, take pictures, bead samples, send out invoices, make kits and so on and so on - have you any idea just how much work goes into preparing to teach a 3 hour beadwork class? I know I didn't have a clue until I stumbled into this game and became caught up in the whirl of it all. Not that I'm complaining, I'm really looking forward to my trip to Germany and mingling at the fair and meeting my students and the other teachers who are travelling from far and wide to attend what promises to be a huge and exciting event.

The fair is on the 20th and 21st of August and there are still a few places available on my Popper Flower workshops so if you would like to attend one of my classes, complete this on-line form You can read more about the project on this earlier blog entry.

Popper Flowers. Pop a flower on. Pop a flower off. Change them to suit your mood!

Another new pattern!

2011-05-27T16:54:00.001+01:00

Just a quick post today to let you know that I have added another pattern to my website. The new Spine Flower pattern is now available to purchase from this page of my website. The actual project is to make a pendant or brooch but this little flower has lots of other potential too. It works well as a single flower but it would be easy to make several and attach them to each other to make a bracelet or necklace - they would also fit in well with other finished beadwork and I can imagine several of them nestling amongst some lovely beaded foliage for an elaborate collar.

As you can see, you can alter the look of these flowers by changing the colours - from softly feminine pinks to more vivid colours which really makes the spines 'pop', or you might like to leave out the stripes and make your flower in a single colour which changes the look again. Whatever you decide to do, have fun with your Spine Flowers and don't forget to send me a picture!

Bye for now!

Kerrie ♥

The pattern shop is filling up!

2011-05-16T10:58:00.001+01:00

It's been a busy year (and it's about to get busier for the next few months!) but I've managed to find time to add two more patterns to my website. Both of these have actually been published in magazines already, but after receiving requests from people asking me to make the patterns available from my website, I have completely rewritten them and added lots of new diagrams and photos. The first pattern is Daisy Chain (originally published in Bead magazine) and as the pictures below show, you can make your little daisies into a variety of finished pieces - from a complex looking necklace or bracelet to a simpler pendant or pair of earrings. All of these finished pieces are surprisingly simple to make and full details are included in the tutorial.

The second pattern is for my English Rose necklace (originally published in Perlen Poesie magazine) and is bit more advanced than Daisy Chain, but again, there are lots of diagrams and photos to help you create the finished piece. The project is to make the necklace shown and the idea is that you make several 'roses' as they are interchangeable, but it would be easy to adapt it to make a bracelet (to save you making several feet of beaded rope!) or you could just make the 'rose' and turn it into a pendant or a brooch.

So the pattern shop is gradually filling up and there are now seven patterns to choose from. I will be adding one more in the next few weeks and then I really MUST start preparing for my workshop in Hamburg as it is coming around frighteningly fast! Bye for now!

Old favourites!

2011-05-09T21:21:00.001+01:00

I received a lovely surprise in the post today - a copy of 'Favorite Bead Stitches' from Interweave (the publishers of Beadwork magazine). I knew that I was fortunate enough to have two projects included in this 'collector's edition' but I wasn't sure exactly when it was out and I also wasn't prepared for it being just so GOOD! There are 41 projects in this 148 page magazine and as I flicked through it I was struck by what a really great collection this is, it's brimming with exciting and innovative projects and although I'm sure I have all the magazines that these projects appeared in, it was wonderful to see them side-by-side - page after page of inspirational designs.

My projects Periwinkle Choker and Frosted Flower Necklace were originally published in Beadwork magazine in 2008 and 2009 and so although it was nice to see them bob to the surface again I wondered whether I might be slightly embarrassed as I have learnt so much since then - but actually, although they are quite simple, I smiled when I saw them and it reminded me that things don't always have to be complicated to make pretty and wearable beadwork.

When I first started sending projects to magazines in 2008 I didn't really have a plan (I'm not sure I actually have one now!) and so it came as another nice surprise when I had a little count up this evening and found that this new magazine actually makes my 30th publication!

Bye for now!

Kerrie ♥

Wedding Fever!

2011-04-30T21:24:00.001+01:00

There seems to be a wonderful happy atmosphere here in the UK at the moment. After an unusually cold and snowy winter, spring has arrived and now we seem to have been rewarded by endless sunny days of perfect blue sky, trees wearing fresh green leaves, woodlands filled with the scent and colour of bluebells, lanes lined with cowslips, gardens bursting with lilac and laburnum, birds singing their little hearts out and butterflies dancing from flower to flower. We have two holiday weekends in a row, people are hosting barbecues, neighbours are catching up, children are laughing and 'most' people are smiling - it feels like we have come out of hibernation. And then there was 'the' wedding yesterday. We watched The Royal Wedding on a big screen in our local town centre, sat in the market square surrounded by cheering families waving flags and beaming broadly and it felt good. Talking of weddings ...

(Photo courtesy of Make Jewellery magazine)

... E-Beads recently asked me to design a wedding themed project (using materials from them) to appear in a special wedding issue of Make Jewellery magazine and with perfect timing, this issue of the magazine was published yesterday.

My 'Lace Flowers' use brick, peyote, netting and ladder stitch and (as usual) can be worn in a number of ways. I used Swarovski cream crystal pearls, tiny seed beads and organza ribbon to create a set for the bride of a choker which can also be worn as a headband, a wrist corsage which doubles up as an anklet (think beach weddings!), a hair comb and a ring - all of these can be made using just the one flower design.

I also made a couple of extra pieces in gold and burgundy to show how easy it is to make jewellery to match the bridesmaids outfits as well as the bride.

Wherever you are in the world and whatever season it is, I hope you enjoyed the spectacle of 'the' wedding and that the romance of the occasion filled you with beady inspiration!

Bye for now!

Spine Flowers!

2011-04-11T16:07:00.001+01:00

The date for my next beading workshop is coming round fast and so I have spent the last 2 weeks busily preparing for it; writing instructions, drawing diagrams, taking photos and beading samples. The class will be held at The Bead Shop (Nottingham) Ltd on May the 26th and is called 'Kerrie Slade's Herringbone Flower', but you know me, I like to have a name for my pieces and so I have called this tutorial 'Spine Flower' because of the stripes in it.

This one is a fun little project that is quite quick to make and the finished flower has lots of potential. The actual workshop is to make a single flower that can be worn as either a pendant or a brooch, but I am sure that you will find other ways to use your Spine Flower. It can also look quite different depending on what colours you choose to make it in - maybe pretty pinks and lilacs or perhaps something similar to my Gothic red and black version?

This project has been set at beginner/intermediate level and ideally you need to be familiar with herringbone stitch, but as usual, I have written comprehensive instructions with plenty of diagrams and photos and of course I will be on hand to help out with any difficulties (if you are thinking of booking this class but are not sure if it will be suitable for you, please contact either myself or the shop staff to check). It is a 3 hour workshop and costs £40 per person with all materials and refreshments provided.

Hope to meet you on May the 26th!

A dose of daisy medicine!

2011-03-23T16:39:00.001Z

Unusually for me, I've had a couple of quiet weeks when I haven't done much beading, pattern writing or ... anything really. I felt a little 'under the weather' and it felt like my usual drive had driven off and left me. Even my normally over-active imagination went into hibernation and when I sat by my window in the evenings looking at the moon, instead of imagining fairies with beaded flowers in their hair skipping around in my moonlight garden ... I just saw the moon. I think it was probably my body's way of telling me to take a little break though and so I am now more or less back to bouncy and have finally picked up my needle and thread again. I hardly ever get chance to make the same thing twice and rarely make myself anything these days, so I started off gently by following my own instructions and made two of my Rivoli Daisies.

The first one (shown above) has a Montana blue Swarovski Rivoli for the centre and the beads are a mixture of galvanised Tohos and some delicious little Czech Charlottes I bought some time ago but hadn't got round to using. Although the pattern shows a complete bracelet of daisies, I just wanted to make myself one flower to hang simply from a silver snake-chain and I must admit I am pretty pleased at the way this has turned out - the blue Rivoli looks like a mesmerizing bottomless pool at the centre of my sparkling daisy and I just want to dive into it ... see, my imagination is fully restored!

I went on to make another Rivoli Daisy as a gift for a friend and this one has a Sapphire Rivoli centre and the petals are made with silver lined crystal and transparent lustered cobalt beads. It can be worn as either a pendant or a brooch and I think it will go perfectly with jeans and a t-shirt but equally well with something more dressy. Isn't it great how we can make our own jewellery to match our outfits ... or even vice versa!

I think this is a perfect spring project as the individual daisies don't take too long to make, you don't need many different materials and the great range of Rivoli colours available means that you too can soon bring a touch of beady sunshine into your life. Imagine the full bracelet (shown below) with each daisy made in a different colour or with all the same coloured petals but each one having a different coloured Rivoli centre! The Rivoli Daisy (bracelet) tutorial is available to purchase via my website.

See you again soon!

English Rose

2011-03-09T11:23:00.001Z

Several months ago, I was asked to create a necklace project for the beautiful new German beadwork magazine Perlen Poesie - 'English Rose' is the result of my experiments and the instructions can be seen on page 58 of the latest issue of the magazine. Once again, this is a necklace that can be worn in several ways as the 'rose' is removable and so you can change the colour of the flower, wear it high at the neck or lower down, knot or plait the stems or let them hang freely and cluster gently beneath the rose. This is quite a difficult piece to photograph as it is very long, but the following picture shows the soft drape of the stems and leaves as they are held in place by the flower.

The next picture shows the 'Silver Shadow' version of the necklace and also highlights the silver spines on the leaves.

The following picture shows the 'Burgundy Bloom' version of the necklace and the strong red provides a real contrast to the pale pink version - change them to suit your mood or your outfit!

Another view of the true 'English Rose' version of the necklace, showing the rose worn high at the neck with the stems gently braided.

And finally (now that I have learnt how to make them!) a collage of the 'English Rose Collection'.

I hope that you like the new necklace and that you will enjoy making your own - as always, feel free to send me a picture of your own version and I will gladly add it to the 'Readers' Gallery' page on my website. The Bead Shop (Nottingham) Ltd stock this magazine or you can subscribe directly via this page of the magazine's website.

Another Creative Challenge!

2011-02-14T15:20:00.001Z

Do you remember last year when Beads Direct gave me a beady challenge? I really enjoyed that experience of being stretched creatively when asked to design something different, and yet being bound by certain constraints (such as a particular size and colour of beads to work with) and so I was very happy when a couple of weeks ago E-Beads threw down the gauntlet and challenged me to make their logo using beads!

I knew straight away that the basic 'dandelion clock' would be fairly easy to create in beadwork and I set about using a combination of Swarovski crystal pearls and seed beads to get the look I wanted.

It still took me several attempts (and many hours!) to get the bead count right so that my piece had exactly the same number of large beads in it as the logo and to ensure that it laid flat without too many ruffles. As I worked, I kept wondering how on earth I was going to create the 'flyaway petals' included in the logo . At first I tried turning my dandelion into a brooch and attached the petals with wirework, but I didn't really like the look of it. Next I tried creating a flat piece of beadwork with the beaded dandelion and petals attached to it, but I couldn't really see how it could be worn as it would have been quite large. Then I noticed an image of a little bag with the logo on, on E-Bead's website, and that's when I came up with the idea of embellishing a bag with the logo and so I beaded the nine separate petals and attached them to the bag and then added a narrow beaded handle and some surface decoration.

As I had already created the dandelion and stem, I thought it would give the finished piece an added dimension if I also made that part of the logo wearable and so I attached a brooch/bail to the back of the dandelion so that it can be pinned to the bag, or removed and worn as either a necklace or a brooch.

Below is a picture of the original logo that I was working from and both myself and E-Beads would love to hear what you think of my version of their logo. Leave a comment on my blog, or email E-Beads via their website or become a 'fan' of their Facebook page and leave a comment there.

Let me know what you think and what your solution to including those tricky 'flyaway petals' would have been!

Bye for now!
Kerrie ♥

Teaching Timetable ...

2011-01-26T19:07:00.001Z

There's not much to report at the moment as I have been busy writing instructions, drawing diagrams and taking photos for my new workshops. I have managed to sneak in the odd hour or two for putting a new idea into beads for my next tutorial (after all there has got to be some light relief from all that computer work) but it will probably be some weeks before the new design is finished or added to my website - it's going to be a little bit different from my usual style with lots of citrus colours and an asymmetric twist, so watch this space! In the meantime, I suddenly realised that I haven't actually posted details of my new classes, and as there are still some places left I thought I should tell you about them as the first class is next week!

I will be teaching four 3 hour workshops at The Bead Shop (Nottingham) Ltd. The first one on February the 3rd is 'Spring Daisies' and I will also be teaching this again on May the 14th. The other workshop is 'Herringbone Flower' and I will be teaching this on March the 12th and May the 26th. The city centre venue is lovely and spacious and bright, with a beautiful bead shop stuffed full of sparkly goodies on the ground floor, all materials are included, workshop students receive a 10% discount voucher to be used in the shop after class, there are lots of tasty fairtrade refreshments on offer and the atmosphere is fun and friendly - what more could you wish for? Full details and booking information can be found here.

Resolutions!

2011-01-07T12:04:00.003Z

Happy New Year everyone!

Did you make any New Year's resolutions? I made the usual ones of course; eat more healthily, take more exercise and all the other ones that are usually broken by the second week in January, but I also resolved to keep moving forward with my beading. I have exciting plans for an exhibition in 2012 and my butterfly mind keeps flitting to thoughts of that, but first I think that 2011 is going to be all about teaching. I have 6 workshops lined up in the UK and Germany and I'm also planning on making more patterns available to purchase via my website, but all of that means a lot of detailed planning, writing instructions and drawing diagrams instead of designing new beadwork. I do have a head full of new ideas to try out though, so watch this space! In the meantime, I thought I'd remind you that one of my resolutions for 2010 was to start selling patterns directly from my website and I now have 5 available - details below. These are in addition to the 26 patterns that I have had published in magazines since 2008 and you can see details of all those on this page of my website. Most of them are still available from the publishers as pdf's or back issues, so if you see one you like but can't find, drop me a line via the contact form on my website and I'll try and track it down for you. All of the patterns below are available from this page of my website.

Core Beaded Beads tutorial

Poppy tutorial

Twinkling Tilas tutorial

Double Daisy tutorial

Rivoli Daisies tutorial

Bye for now!

Popper Flowers Workshop in Hamburg!

2010-12-09T12:00:00.001Z

Well this has been a long time in the planning stages, but I am finally able to tell you that earlier this year, I had the honour of being invited to teach at the first Bead Art Fair in Hamburg (Germany) in 2011 - and of course I said 'Yes please!' to that fantastic offer. Since then, all of the teachers have been busy preparing their workshop projects and the classes have now been announced and are available for you to book. The fair is on the 20th and 21st of August 2011 and promises to be a huge and exciting event with lots of exhibitors and classes. Workshop places are limited (I am offering one class on Saturday and one on Sunday and each has only 10 places available) and I have heard that they are already filling up, so if you would like to book a place, please hurry!

My workshop project is called Popper Flowers! In the class I will show you how to use a combination of stitches to create two different coloured flowers with a single base of green leaves. The flowers are interchangeable and so you can pop a flower on, pop a flower off and change them to suit your mood. The project is to make the Popper Flower into a pendant that you can then hang from a necklace of your choice, but you could just as easily turn your Popper Flower into a brooch, a bracelet, a ring ... anything you fancy really!

The price of the workshop will include the materials (excluding Fireline which you will need to bring with you) and I am offering 3 colour choices. Kit A has a pink and a purple flower, Kit B has a yellow and a blue flower and Kit C has a black and a white flower - each kit has a different coloured leaf base. This is an advanced project and will not be finished in class, but we will cover all the tricky bits in class and I will also be providing comprehensive instructions for you to take home to complete your Popper Flowers. The class will be in English but there will be a German translator on hand.

I think this is going to be a really fun class and I would love to meet you, but don't forget to take a look at all of the other wonderful workshops being offered by a host of great international teachers. The fair is organised by the German magazine Perlen Poesie and full details can be found on their website be sure to check out all the links under the Messe/Show 2011 tab.

You can see all the available workshops here and the booking form for all workshops is here. See you at the Bead Art Fair!

It's official ...

2010-11-29T16:21:00.001Z

... I teach beadwork! This has been a long time coming, but I finally have my first workshop under my belt with several more in the pipeline. My first class was held at The Bead Shop (Nottingham) Ltd. and it will definitely be a day to remember as we woke up on the morning of the workshop to be greeted by this scene;

We didn't feel that it was safe to drive, but fortunately the buses were still running and so I made it to the workshop on time, and so did the staff at the bead shop and my four lovely eager students. Although it was a full day workshop, we knew that it wouldn't be possible to complete the Double Daisy project in class, but everyone got stuck in, choosing their colours and juggling peyote stitch, ladder stitch and brick stitch until little petals began to appear. Keeping my first workshop small with only four students, meant that I could spend lots of time sitting with each student individually, checking that they were on track and also chatting about their favourite bead stitches and admiring some of the beautiful beadwork that they had brought with them. As well as a lovely spacious (and warm!) workshop area, the bead shop also provided plenty of tea and biscuits which all made for a really enjoyable day before we all had to wrap up and head off home in the snow!

This project was designed exclusively for The Bead Shop (Nottingham) Ltd. but now that the workshop has finished, you can buy the comprehensive 18 page tutorial via my website and make your own Double Daisy! The instructions cover how to make the finished daisy and include some ideas on ways to use it; you might like to turn yours into a pin/brooch, create a loop of beads at the back to turn it into a pendant or sew it onto finished beadwork or ribbon (as in the picture below) to make a glamorous choker or wrist corsage!

Whatever you decide, have fun and don't forget to send me a picture! The pdf of the instructions is available for purchase here and will be delivered by email.

Another new tutorial!

2010-11-15T12:14:00.002Z

Back in July, I made Mum a flowery pendant for her birthday, as a sparkly Swarovski crystal Rivoli had caught her eye and she wondered if I could make it into a little flower for her. Well, as you know, I do like a beady challenge and so I experimented with bezeling the Rivoli for the centre of the flower and then worked on creating some little petals. I was quite pleased with the end result (and so was Mum!) and I thought that several of them sewn together would make a lovely bracelet, but what with one thing and another, I have only just found the time to work on it.

I thought you might like it too, and so I have spent the last couple of weeks writing instructions, taking photos and drawing lots of diagrams, and the tutorial is now for sale on my website. This is the fourth tutorial that I am selling directly from my website and I am trying to make them as detailed as possible so that despite the fact that some of them may look quite complicated, all the steps are broken down into easy stages although you will need to know the basic stitches of course. This is a 21 page tutorial (the longest so far!) but I am keeping my pricing structure simple, so all of my patterns are currently for sale for £6.

One of the things I really love about beadwork, is being able to create a lovely, wearable little piece using only beads, thread, a crystal or two and very little else, and this is a classic example of that - just a Swarovski Rivoli, some seed beads and thread is all that goes into making a beautiful little daisy with a centre that looks like liquid gold. Of course, you can make these in any colour you wish as there are so many gorgeous Rivoli colours to choose from!

If you would like to make yourself, or someone you love, a Rivoli Daisy, the pattern is available here

Winter Sparkle!

2010-10-20T13:54:00.001+01:00

The new 'Winter Sparkle Special' issue of the UK magazine Bead has hit the shops! I received a copy today and I have to say it ticks every box; it's wintry, it's sparkly and it's special!

It's packed with all sorts of themed project ideas from quick party makes to more intricate sparkly wear. My project Daisy Sliders is on pages 13 - 16 and is a straightforward brick stitch and herringbone project that quickly produces a very pretty and feminine design that can be worn in a number of ways.

I made a necklace and earring set in an icy blue and called it Winter Sky.

And a bracelet or wrist corsage in gold and I called this one Winter Sun.

If you have a go at my project, don't forget to send me a picture and I'll add it to the Readers' Gallery page on my website. I can't wait to see what colours you choose for your Daisy Sliders!

A new tutorial!

2010-09-22T19:51:00.004+01:00

I finally managed to lay my hands on some of the new Miyuki Tila beads last week. I think they have probably been out for a little while now, as I have seen several lovely Tila bead creations on my travels through Blogland, but this is the first time I have had chance to experiment with them. If you haven't seen them, they are square (5mm x 5mm) but also quite flat as they are only 1.9mm thick, but the big difference is that they have TWO parallel holes running through them!

I must admit that I found them quite a challenge at first, as it was more difficult than I thought to use them with my usual stitches, but after a few false starts I came up with this design which I have called Twinkling Tilas as they remind me of stars.

I have been good and already written the pattern up and it is now available to purchase via my website. The instructions cover the single row bracelet and also how to make the wider cuff style bracelet. These little stars are quite versatile and you could turn a single one into a pendant, make two for a pretty pair of earrings or use them to embellish other beadwork!

I bought my Tila beads from The Bead Shop (Nottingham) Ltd and they have a great range of gorgeous colours so you could create lots of different effects - I'm sure the iridescent crystal colour would make a fabulously sparkly bracelet, or even a choker ... perfect for the upcoming party season!

The pattern for Twinkling Tilas is available here .

See you next week!

Poppy kits!

2010-09-13T10:44:00.003+01:00

Whoops! Another long gap since I last wrote a blog entry, but I promise that I have been beading until my little fingers bled, and that is no exaggeration! I will share news and pictures of what I've been up to, next week - but in the meantime I have some other news to tell you about ...

... not only is the tutorial for my poppy design available to purchase on my website you can now buy a kit for this project from RB Beads. The kit contains all the materials you need to make your own poppy (and the optional leaves) including a needle and thread and worldwide shipping is available - please note that the kit only contains the materials and not the instructions.

See you next week with more exciting news!

Daisy Workshops ...

2010-08-04T18:00:00.001+01:00

Wow this year seems to be flying by! Back in February I mentioned that I was going to try my hand at teaching later in the year - well it is all arranged and there are just a few weeks to go. I will be teaching the daisy design shown here, at The Bead Shop (Nottingham) Ltd on Thursday the 9th of September 2010 and Saturday the 27th of November. This versatile little flower can be made in any colour and then used in a variety of ways - you could turn it into a brooch, or a pendant or even sew it onto ribbon to make a lovely wrist corsage ... lots of possibilities!

This is an intermediate level project and is not really suitable for beginners - the bead shop also runs a great Introduction to Beadweaving class too though, so you don't have to miss out. To make your daisy, you will need to have a working knowledge of peyote stitch, ladder stitch and brick stitch - although of course I will help you through all the tricky bits and there will be a comprehensive handout to take home. All materials are provided, and tea and biscuits too, so why not join us for a fun and friendly day, learning how to make your own daisy? If you would like to book a place, you can do so here but there are only 8 spaces available for each date so hurry! If you have any queries about the workshop, feel free to contact either the bead shop or myself.

More Creative Beading ...

2010-07-21T16:05:00.002+01:00

Around this time last year, I shared the news that my foxglove necklace had been included in Creative Beading Volume 4 - a yearbook of jewellery projects from the publishers of Bead & Button magazine. This year, I'm pleased to tell you that I have two designs in Creative Beading Volume 5. This 256 page hardback book is bursting with fabulous projects ranging from beadweaving to stringing and from wirework to crochet and would be a wonderful addition to any beaders' bookshelf.

My project 'Hibiscus Twist' is on page 142 and 'Wilbur the Dragon' is flashing his gold teeth on page 70!

That's the news for this week! Hopefully I will be back in the next week or two with some new beadwork to show. Bye for now ...

A beady challenge!

2010-07-06T14:42:00.001+01:00

A little while ago, Claire from Beads Direct asked if I would be interested in being part of a ‘creative challenge’. The idea was that myself and two members of staff from Beads Direct would all be sent an identical ‘mystery pack’ containing a selection of beads, and we each had to come up with a design based around those beads. Our usual styles of work are all very different from each others, and so the challenge was intended not only to stretch us individually but also to show what diverse designs can be created from the same set of beads. I received my envelope just over two weeks ago, and this is what was in it …

When I first opened the envelope, I was very relieved to see lots of seed beads. I was also thrilled to see the labradorite, I have never worked with it before and often heard about ‘the flash’ but never actually seen it for myself. I looked at the pearls and the silver beads and thought that they shouldn’t present a problem and then I noticed the huge bag of extension chains! I think you know by now that I like to escape to fairyland whenever I can, and so first of all I created a piece inspired by the labradorite and the pearls that also incorporated the extension chains. I imagined a very rare moonlight night, a warm still night, a night full of magic. Only on a night like this, if you are very lucky, something special happens and ‘Under a pearly moon ... the labradorite blooms’.

No sooner had I landed from that flight of fancy and finished this piece, when I thought that perhaps I had not fully entered into the spirit of the challenge as I hadn’t used everything in the pack, and I had also substituted some of my own beads for the seed beads sent to me. It was the last day of the challenge by now and I knew it had to be something relatively quick to make – something that didn’t involve 8 feet of peyote rope! I began looking at the labradorite again, and in the sunshine, it reminded me of the colour of the sea, deep swirling sea with mythical creatures beneath the surface. The pearls seemed to complement the marine theme and yet the seed beads whispered that they would like to become flowers, fantasy flowers. I imagined a Selkie, trapped in human form as her husband had hidden her sealskin. I saw her standing on the shore, looking longingly out to sea but unable to return to her home, and that is when ‘In a Selkie’s garden’ came to life.

I hope that you like the new pieces, but please do let me know what you think (and whether you think I really ought to be locked up!) and I would also love to hear what you would have done with the wonderful contents of that pack. Don’t forget to take a look at the Beads Direct website to find lots of beautiful materials just like these!

Catching up and a new pattern ...

2010-06-17T17:43:00.003+01:00

Gulp! No blog posts for 7 weeks! Where have I been? What have I been doing? Well I can promise you that I haven't been idle, but things have been a bit hectic just recently, so I'm afraid the blog had to have a little rest. I've been busy behind the scenes, working on new ideas, writing patterns, judging contests, getting involved in challenges and discussing some exciting new teaching plans. Hopefully I will be able to blog a bit more regularly again now and keep you up to date with what's happening. So let's start by telling you that I have just finished writing my second tutorial 'Poppy' and it is now available to purchase via my website.

I had a very similar pattern to this one published in Bead magazine at the beginning of 2009, but the back issue is no longer available and several people have recently asked me if I could write my own instructions for it. I had a group of wonderful 'testers' help me to fine-tune this pattern and so we think we have most of the wrinkles ironed out. It's amazing how people can interpret things in completely different ways and I learnt a lot about writing patterns from this experience - thank you guys! The tutorial is now 14 pages long and although it is written in English, there are lots of diagrams and photos to make things easier, and there are also instructions for optional leaves included. I made the poppy above in traditional red and black, but take a look at the 'Readers' Gallery' page on my website (under Poppy) as there are lots of pictures there that people have kindly sent me, showing poppies in all sorts of colours with some fantastic inspirational design ideas - poppies definitely don't have to be red!

Daisy Sliders

2010-05-06T18:53:00.001+01:00

It's been a little while since I've had any new beadwork to show you, but here is my latest design which I have called 'Daisy Sliders' - shown in Winter Sky and Winter Sun. I created these for the Winter Sparkle Special of Bead magazine, which is due out in October of this year. I fell in love with this beautiful, softly sparkling organza ribbon in my local craft shop, and I knew that I wanted to find a way to use it in a finished beadwork piece. I chose Swarovski crystal pearls in soft shades of pale blue and gold to fit the theme, and teamed them with some marbled and matt seed beads to make these simple flower 'sliders' which can easily be threaded onto the ribbon. The ribbon is then tied in a big bow which gives a really lovely feminine feel to the finished piece. I think they would be perfect for a wrist corsage for a prom or an anklet for a beach wedding - let me know what you think ...

See you next time!

Special issue!

2010-04-23T12:53:00.001+01:00

The new 'Special colour issue' of Bead magazine is now in the shops and even if I wasn't lucky enough to have work in there, I would still be rushing out to buy it! This issue is packed with 115 pages of inspirational beady eye candy, a real variety of great projects and fascinating insights into how some designers go about choosing colours. My project, 'Maid Marian's Quiver' is on page 30 and 'Royal Quiver' is also shown on page 33 to give an idea of how different this project can look, depending on what colours you choose. I know some of you have been wanting to make your own version of this piece and I can't wait to see pictures of your creations - please do send me a photo and I will add it to the 'Readers' Gallery' page on my website!

My 'Colour Musings' are on pages 34 and 35, along with a selection of pictures to try and illustrate my ideas about colour and to show how I have used it in my work so far. As you know, I am by no means an expert on colour and although I have a colour wheel and a couple of books on colour theory, I still don't really understand the technical side of it, so I've just kept it to some basic ideas which I hope you will find interesting and maybe try one or two of them in your own work.

I was also really pleased to see the tutorial for my Core Beaded Beads is given a mention in the 'Bead News' section on page 61. So all in all, this really is a special issue for me!

See you next week!

Feeling 'no' but saying 'yes' ...

2010-04-16T17:30:00.002+01:00

I've been blogging for just over two years now, and anybody that has been on this journey with me will have heard me say what a nervous person I am ... on more than one occasion! During that time, I've had some great requests and offers, whether it was to start selling my own patterns, teach in this country or even to travel and teach. In previous years I have always let my nerves take over and have said 'Thanks, but sorry, I'm afraid I don't do that'. For whatever reason, I woke up at the beginning of 2010 and felt a little different and now here I am, only 4 months into the year and I'm selling tutorials, I'm signed up to teach and I've said 'yes' to just about every opportunity that has come along. One of these opportunities arose just a couple of weeks ago, when Mona Hair of 'The Jewelry Connection' contacted me out of the blue, to ask if I would be interested in doing a live internet interview. I can clearly remember that day; I was stood in my 'studio' (that also doubles as a spare bedroom, my husband's office and the ironing room) ironing my husband's work shirts and I saw the email come in, opened it, read it and nearly fainted. The biggest shock however, was that I said 'yes'. Mona has been marvellous and held my hand throughout the process and the live interview went out last Sunday.

A couple of minutes before we were due to go 'live' my knees were quite literally knocking, I felt a rising panic and I wanted to snatch off my headphones and run from the room. Then I saw some familiar friendly names in the chat room and with that wonderful support, I relaxed and managed to get through the interview. It was a bit of a blow though, when I chatted to Mona afterwards and she broke the news to me that there had been a hiccup, it hadn't recorded and we would have to do it all again! We did a re-take last night (although this time without an audience) and I'm very relieved that it recorded successfully. It was a little strange running all through it again and so I think I left some bits out that I said before and I seem to have said enough 'errs' and 'erms' in one hour to warrant a place in the Guinness Book of Records! But anyway, I've done it and I survived, so I am going to continue embracing those opportunities and I hope that this gives other people the courage to do the same - if I can do this, anyone can!

If anyone would like to listen to me trying to answer Mona's questions and talking about the inspiration behind various pieces of work - then the new link is HERE. Keep an eye on Mona's blog too as I know that she is keen to promote the work of independent artists and has lots of great guests lined up!

Growth and change ...

2010-04-06T12:39:00.003+01:00

It's funny how things change. I remember back in around 2004, I hadn't been beading for very long and believe it or not, I didn't really know where to buy beads. I used to buy packs of Mill Hill beads from a large DIY store, and as these were really only meant to embellish embroidery projects, they came in tiny packs and it worked out very expensive if you wanted to make a large beaded project. Then I heard about a new family-run on-line bead shop that was opening and an open day that they were going to hold at the owner's house. I went to that first event and had a wonderful time rummaging through the tubes of beads and asking quite simple questions, like the difference between a seed bead and a cylinder bead, and what pliers I would need to create wrapped loops. That bead shop was Beads Direct and although the company has now changed hands, I have been buying beads from them ever since they first opened. I have always received excellent, fast and friendly service, with the beads usually arriving the day after ordering them and all beautifully packaged.

Beads Direct has expanded a great deal since those early days and I have grown too, so it was a lovely surprise when Claire, the marketing manager, contacted me to see if I would be interested in doing some work together, which of course I am more than happy to do. I think just about every one of my published projects, over the years, has used at least some beads from Beads Direct and you can see their great range of seed and cylinder beads here. Be sure to check out the other goodies they have to offer though as well, such as crystals, pearls, semi-precious stones and a great selection of clasps. There's lots to look at on their website too, like a collection of 'how to' videos and they also have their own blog - Claire recently asked me some questions about how I came to start working with beads and you can read my answers here. We are discussing the details at the moment, but one of my projects will soon be available from the Beads Direct website, so keep your eye on their website and blog for details!

Fashion Colorworks Beading Contest

2010-03-26T09:55:00.001Z

I promised my beady friend, the very talented Zoya Gutina, that I would let you know the exciting news about the new contest she is hosting on her website – Fashion Colorworks Beading Contest.

You can make anything you like, as long as it is comprised of at least 50 per cent of seed beads and uses one of the colour combinations shown below. You can enter up to three pieces, one in each colour combination, and collaborations of up to four artists will also be accepted. Entries will be accepted between the 1st of April and the 15th of June, ten finalists will be announced on the 20th of June and the winners will be announced on the 1st of July. See the ‘Contest Rules’ page on Zoya’s website, for full details of the rules and how to submit your entry.

Now, there are lots of good reasons to have a go at this contest, not only is it a great personal challenge to work in set colour combinations, but it’s free to enter, it’s open to international entrants, judging is from photos only (so you don’t have to worry about packing and posting your creation) and there are prizes to be won – how many beading contests can say all of that?

Oh, and if you take a look at the ‘Jurors’ page, you will see that I have the honour of being one of the judges. Thank you Zoya and good luck everyone!

Core Beaded Beads ...

2010-03-08T09:57:00.006Z

Nearly two years ago, when I first saw some beautiful silver core lampwork beads, I had the idea that I would like to try and replicate them in beadwork. It's a very simple idea, but for some reason it has taken me this long to find the right method and the best stitches to 'build' these. I use the word 'build' because beading (especially sculptural beadwork) can be a bit like that sometimes - you know you want to build a house, but what bricks to use? I tried many different stitches and have a big bag full of beaded beads of various shapes, sizes and colours that just weren't quite right. Some were the wrong shape or size and some wouldn't hold their shape enough and were just a little bit too 'squishy', but finally, I think I am happy with the end result and here are my Core Beaded Beads.

Of course this type of glass bead is very popular at the moment and you often see them threaded on to silver snake chains, so I thought I would complete the effect and make one of those too. I made a bracelet length and a necklace length and tried out some different colours and patterns. That is a whole lot of stitching but I am pleased with the results. I named the first one 'Warrior Queen' as the gunmetal beads reminded me of chainmaille and the metallic purple made me think of royalty. I stuck with the theme and so went on to make 'Elven Queen' in greens and purples with a gold core and then 'Tudor Queen' in black and white. These are really satisfying beads to make, they only take a couple of hours each, you can make them in an almost endless variety of colours and they are very easy to wear. My current favourite way to wear these is to string a few of them onto a piece of velvet ribbon and tie it round my wrist as it stops the beads rolling around.

If you would like to make your own Core Beaded Beads, the pattern is for sale on my website.

From hot pink to snow white!

2010-02-21T15:30:00.003Z

The April issue of Bead & Button magazine is out and my project 'Bougainvillea Bouquet' is on page 58. I used hot pink and bright green seed beads, and a combination of brick and herringbone stitch, to try and capture the feel of this well known plant with its papery bracts concealing the small white flowers.

I have always loved bougainvillea whenever I have seen it on my travels, whether growing wild or cultivated, and although it comes in many colours, the common pinky-purple colour never fails to brighten things up. Just look at the photo below that I took in Spain a few months ago and see how the bougainvillea livens up this tumbling riot of jasmine and morning glory.

I made my necklace with nine removable bracts, so that you can wear it simply with just two, or add a few, or if you are feeling in the right frame of mind - wear the whole eye-catching cluster!

Looking at the next picture, which was taken in my home town this morning, I think this afternoon would be a good time to get those hot pink seed beads out again to try and brighten things up a little around here!

See you next time, when hopefully things will have warmed up and I will have a new beady project to show you ...

The journey continues ...

2010-02-08T09:49:00.001Z

Ooops! I must apologize for another late blog entry. I have been busy making lots of new things (honest!) but I just haven't got round to taking pictures of them. I have also been working on some ideas for possible contest entries and some of those will need to stay under wraps for a little while longer. Anyway, the big news that I hinted at last time was that it looks like I am going to take the plunge and try my hand at teaching. When I first started beading, I never imagined that I would sell anything, let alone have a project published and the thought of teaching seemed like an impossibility to me, but step by little step, things are progressing. Despite my internet persona, I am actually a nervous bunny who lacks confidence, but this opportunity has presented itself to me and I know that I need to at least give it my best shot. I think the thing that I have come to realise is that although I believe in the power of positive thinking, I am also a realist and no amount of visualising myself as a confident tutor with a rapt class of students is going to make it real. I am nervous, I will shake, I will stutter, I will drop beads, but that is the way I am, and I am hoping that embracing all of those sometimes annoying human traits rather than denying them, will make for a fun and friendly class. The details are still being worked out, but hopefully I will be teaching the versatile flower shown below at The Bead Shop (Nottingham) Limited later this year and I will post exact details here when I know them.

Oh and before I go, I wanted to show you this Treasury West I managed to grab on Etsy on Friday. I saw this beautifully bright bag my friend Claudette of Moonflower 20 Creations made, and I found it so uplifting on a gloomy day, that I went off in search of other cheerful items to complement it and this was the result ...

Right, that's it for this week. I have some beads to order and then it's back to beading samples, writing instructions and working on the dreaded diagrams. See you next week!

A belated Happy New Year!

2010-01-21T11:52:00.001Z

Happy New Year everyone! I'm not quite sure how it got to be the 21st of January already, but better late than never. I hope you all had a very beady holiday season. I know I did, and although I didn't get quite as much beading done as I had intended, I did a lot of thinking and have some exciting new plans for this year ... but I'll tell you more about that next week ;0)

In the meantime, let me tell you that the latest issue of the UK magazine Bead is now in the shops and I have a small project 'Pretty Pearls in the Net' on page 106. Unusually for me, this one can be made in under an hour and is a delicate pair of earrings that was inspired by a new blouse I bought.

And finally for this week, I was happy to learn that the lovely Myra of Raicreations Designs has passed on the Sunshine Blog Award to my blog. Isn't that a wonderfully inspiring and uplifting picture? Thank you Myra! I don't usually pass on awards as I hate to leave anyone out, so instead, I would ask you to follow the links on my sidebar to discover a host of talented creative bloggers.

See you next week!

Lunar Lily!

2009-12-18T15:17:00.002Z

I've finally finished the second version of my Lily Cuff which has taken a lot longer than anticipated due to the poor light here in the UK at this time of year. I prefer to bead by daylight (I do have some daylight simulation bulbs but they are just not the same) and so some days there have only been 4 or 5 hours when the natural light was bright enough to bead by. Still, it is finished now and I am quite pleased with the result. This cuff is worked entirely in one colour of seed beads and reminds me of a lily in a moonlight garden - hence the name!

I'm not going to write much this week, I thought I would let the pictures do the talking, but I wanted to let you know that this will be the last blog post from me for this year. I intend to try out some more ideas over the holiday period, so I hope to have pictures of new work to share with you early in the New Year. Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, I hope you all have a great holiday and I wish you health and happiness for the New Year. I look forward to catching up with you all in 2010!

A big crafty circle!

2009-12-08T19:15:00.002Z

This last week has reminded me how great it is to be part of the huge on-line crafting community. First of all, I posted on my facebook page that I was struggling with getting a good picture of my latest piece 'Lily Cuff'. No matter how hard I tried, the orange beads just didn't want to play and I ended up with a fuzzy middle and a grey background. Then my friend Sue from Beadweaver came to the rescue and enhanced the photograph for me. It's still not as sharp as it could be (after all Sue only had my original shot to work with) but the picture looks a lot more professional than it did, so I am very grateful to Sue who also gave me some top photography tips. I'm currently making another cuff in a completely different colour, so let's hope this one behaves itself!

Then I found out that two of my crafty friends have included one of my pieces in their Etsy Treasuries. Claire of Rhodes Annals Designs added my Flamenco Flowers choker to her Treasury and Ileana of Enchanted Beads featured Poppy Supernova choker in her Treasury West. Thank you ladies!

I also discovered that Sig Wynne-Evans of Beadedbear passed the 'Superior Scribbler' blog award on to my blog. Thanks for the honour Sig and I'm glad you enjoy my blog :0)

The five blogs I am passing the award on to are;

Amari Jewellery

Beadwork by Joanne

Bianca Velder Creations

Colour Challenge

Haute Ice Beadwork

If you want to play the game the rules are as follows;

* Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass The Award on to 5 bloggy friends.

* Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author & name of the blog from whom he/she has received the award.

* Each Superior Scribbler must display the award on his/her blog and link to this post which explains the award.

*Each Blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit this post and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List - that way, we'll be able to keep up to date on everyone who receives the award.

* Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog.

So you see, these are just a few of the reasons why I enjoy being part of the international crafting community. You could view it as cold networking, self-promotion, climbing, whatever you want to call it. But, if you really get involved, there is a lot of fun to be had along with the rewards of making friends, learning lessons, seeing lots of amazing work and helping each other out. And to me, all of that makes the modern, uncertain and often scary world seem a much better place. See you next week!

Colour conundrums!

2009-12-01T09:46:00.002Z

I heard recently that the issue of Bead magazine that Maid Marian's Quiver is scheduled for, is going to be a 'colour special' and so I have been doing a lot of thinking about colour. Of course I often think about colour when choosing beads for a new project, but this time I have really been questioning my approach to those choices and trying to gain some level of understanding about the use of colour. I think I have said before, that I am not a natural when it comes to choosing colours. I know what I like to look at and what appeals to me, but when it comes to actually choosing the right beads for a project, well, I struggle. I think I am beginning to realise that the form of the beadwork could be more exciting to me than the colour. When I have an idea for a new project, I first envisage the shape, the stitches that might work and the mechanics of creating that piece and that's when I can't wait to get started. The next step usually involves rummaging around my bead drawers, pulling out a main colour that would probably work and then struggling to find something that I think goes with it. This stage often takes far too long for my liking and can dull my enthusiasm, and for me, it doesn't seem to be getting any easier with practice. All this thinking has given me a few ideas regarding the use of colour in beadwork though, so if you want to know what they are, make sure you get your copy of the April 2010 issue of Bead magazine!

On the subject of Bead magazine, issue 19 is now available and has my Mistletoe Earrings project on page 12, a picture of Maid Marian's Quiver on page 81 and a sneak preview of my Pearls In The Net project on page 119.

Staying with colour, I managed to create a couple of Etsy treasuries at the end of last week. One was to showcase the work of some of my fellow Etsy Midlanders teammates, and the other was just for the fun of it. I always like to have some kind of theme for my treasuries and so this time, colour was the obvious choice!

Right, that's it for this week and now it's back to the beads and racking my brain about what goes together and what doesn't. Let me know your thoughts on using colour and whether you find choosing colours plain sailing or like me, feel that sometimes it can be the hardest part of beading ...

Dark Faerie Handflower

2009-11-18T10:19:00.002Z

I created this new piece last week for an on-line forum challenge. The theme was 'Dark Faerie' and it instantly appealed to me, conjuring up all sorts of moonlight blossom images. I spent a happy evening gazing out of my window at the starlight night, imagining what kind of fairy I might like to create a piece of jewellery for. In the end, I became so immersed in my own little fairytale that I even created a story around the piece and couldn't wait to start creating the next day. The result is Dark Faerie Handflower ...

This is the tale that accompanies the piece; "My fairy is a good fairy, she spends moonlight nights roaming the woods, collecting night-flowering plants for remedies. Of course, not everything in the woods at night is as pure hearted as she is, so she wears this handflower with a magic mirror at the centre of a night bloom. Whenever she encounters anyone or 'anything', she holds the back of her hand up to them and their intentions are reflected back towards them. If they project evil they will receive evil and if they are good that too will bounce back at them. Either way, our fairy will be protected and free to continue with her important work" Yes, I know, I am probably away with the fairies myself! See you next week ...

Royal Quiver!

2009-11-05T16:56:00.002Z

Following the news that Maid Marian's Quiver won joint second place in the seed bead category of the British Bead Awards, I learnt that it will also be a project in a future issue of Bead magazine. I only had some hastily scribbled notes from the first time around and so I had to make another one, writing the instructions as I went. I thought I would try making it in different colours to see what effect this would have on the finished piece and my first thought was to try red roses. Can you believe though, that in my huge stash of beads, I didn't have any red beads in just the right shade! I'm not really a natural when it comes to mixing colours and so I spent ages ferreting around for other suitable combinations of colours for the roses, leaves and quiver that would complement each other. I eventually decided on purple roses! I think I ended up with a rather regal effect and hence Maid Marian's sister piece has been named Royal Quiver.

Maid Marian's Quiver

2009-10-20T12:37:00.026+01:00

I got back from another lovely trip to Spain this weekend and one of the messages that was waiting for me was the exciting news that my entry to the British Bead Awards won joint second place in the seed bead category!

I have often felt a little frustrated when I have seen beadweaving being labelled as a 'craft' rather than 'art' as though it is somehow inferior. I have had two galleries turn my work down for this reason and up until now, I haven't really had the confidence to challenge this attitude. I never used to consider myself an artist as I haven't had any training on colour theory, design or all the things I used to think were necessary to be a 'proper' artist. However, I have recently been thinking about trying to inject a little more meaning into some of my work and this is one of my first attempts. I am still feeling my way of course, so I wasn't sure whether I had gone too far or not far enough with my piece 'Maid Marian's Quiver'.

I live in Robin Hood county, near what is left of Sherwood Forest and I often visit the little village of Edwinstowe which as legend has it, is where Robin Hood married Maid Marian. There is a beautiful bronze statue of Robin and Marian in the village centre and the last time I visited, I started thinking about Marian. My mind wandered fancifully to an image of her carrying a delicate silver quiver and shooting rosebuds of love rather than arrows of death. This is obviously a rather naive and impractical idea, but still, I like it and the judges obviously did too - let me know what you think!

Crazy Daisies!

2009-10-01T13:21:00.015+01:00

Not much exciting new beadwork to show you this week I'm afraid, just a little pair of earrings I've made as a present to myself to match a new top. They really are as bright and colourful as the picture shows and I call them my Crazy Daisies! The centre is a hot pink Miracle Bead and the petals use a sparkling shade of lilac lined cylinder beads.

I also wanted to tell you about the new issue of Bead magazine that is out this week. This is the third anniversary issue and there is an interesting 'Where are they now?' article which looks back at some of the artists that have been featured since the magazine started. It's fascinating to read what having their profile in this internationally available magazine meant to the various designers and how their work has evolved since that time. My profile originally appeared in issue 12 of the magazine and was quite a bold move for me. Here is what I said in my profile update - click on the picture to enlarge it (used with kind permission of Ashdown).

My mistletoe earrings are also shown in the 'coming next issue' section of the magazine and although I have shown them in this blog before, I've added a refresher picture below. That reminds me, there will be no new blog entry for the next 2 to 3 weeks, but if you click on the links under 'Blog Archive' there are 63 previous posts - feel free to make yourself at home and have a look back through my beading history. I hope to have some pretty new pictures to share with you before too long ♥

Back to nature ...

2009-09-23T12:35:00.010+01:00

I had a flash of inspiration last week and saw a finished piece of beadwork dangling tantalizingly before my mind's eye. It was black, it was shiny, it was unusual and it wasn't flowers! I spent the best part of three days trying to turn that vision into reality, but right now it seems it's not meant to be. I haven't given up on the idea though and so I have put the poor sad thing to one side until I am ready to try again. In the meantime, I went back to what I know and created another flower pin. This one uses all cylinder beads rather than the mix of seeds and cylinders that I used for the daisies and I chose hex-cut Delicas in purple iris to create a deliciously dark flower which I have called Nightflower.

Another recent creation that I forgot to show you last week is Bluebell Wood necklace which is a bit different to my usual style of work. I created my bluebell earrings back in July and always meant to make a necklace to match but it didn't quite work out that way. If you know beads and beadwork, you will understand that sometimes the beads 'talk' to you and these little bluebells didn't want to be hung on a silver chain or attached to a beaded rope. They wanted to be wild and free, pretty, but a little bit rustic and so I searched for some wood to incorporate to make them feel at home and mixed it with some coloured leather and sterling silver. What do you think? I rather like it :0)

Cosmic Peacock!

2009-09-09T12:00:00.005+01:00

The new issue of Beadwork magazine is out in the US and should be in the shops here in the UK in the next couple of weeks, although subscribers have already received their copies I believe. My Cosmic Peacock lariat (aka Eye of the Peacock lariat) is one of the projects in this issue and so I received a lovely parcel from Interweave this week. It included my contributor copy of the magazine and Ms Peacock herself who has flown all the way to ♥Loveland♥ Colorado and back, to have her picture taken professionally. She's now up for sale in my Etsy shop

I originally designed this necklace in November last year and you can see the blog post about her creation here . I was fortunate enough to sell the original necklace and so I had to make another one to send to Beadwork magazine. Now as you know, I love beading, but this necklace takes a long, long time to make and a fair amount of patience and concentration to keep that continuous stripe going on for forty inches of cylinder bead rope! I do hope that you have a go at this project though or simply make the peacock 'eyes' to adapt for a project of your own - remember to send me pictures of your finished project and I'll add them to the 'Readers gallery of work' page on my website.

Have a great week and happy beading everyone!

Bunches of flowers ...

2009-09-02T10:34:00.007+01:00

I've just got back from a lovely week staying with my parents on Romney Marsh which is where I grew up. It is on the south-eastern tip of England and seems to have a little climate all of its own. While we have had a very wet summer here in the Midlands, Mum has complained about everything in the garden being parched through lack of rain. The garden still looked lovely to me though, full of beautiful floral beady inspiration and we spent many happy hours sat in the garden eating Mum's home-baked scones with jam and cream and also walking miles and miles to help balance out the calories!

Beads were the first thing I packed for my trip, but I didn't actually do any beading for the whole week. I spent lots of dreamy time thinking about beads and what designs I might like to try next though and so I'm full of enthusiasm now. I didn't take any pictures of my trip either, but I thought I'd share a picture of Mum's late birthday present which I took with me. It's made using the same principle as my recent daisies but it has different petals. I originally set out to make a Gazania, which is one of Mum's favourite flowers, but I ended up with too many small petals for it to be quite right - still Mum loves it and it looked great pinned on her navy cardigan on a trip out together!

Daisy Days ...

2009-08-18T10:45:00.009+01:00

I've been busy experimenting with my latest flower design and I'm really enjoying seeing what different effects can be achieved by making a few small alterations to the pattern or just by changing the colours.

I must admit that although I love the finished look of beadwork, sometimes I do get a little bored when making intricate pieces as they can be quite monotonous. Some days that's a good thing and can create a lovely meditative state, but other days I have to be disciplined and make myself sit down and finish something rather than moving on to the next idea. Although these flowers take a couple of days each to complete, I'm finding them really fun to make and they hold my interest as there are several different stages to them and they use at least five different stitches. I think they have lots of potential to either just be a fun bright fantasy flower or to look like a variety of realistic flowers such as Gerberas or Shasta daisies, depending on what colours are used - next on my list is a Michaelmas Daisy!

Sunshine on a rainy day ...

2009-07-30T15:05:00.010+01:00

Following on from my 'Hello Yellow!' blog entry, I've finally made myself a piece of yellow jewellery to wear. I wanted to make something really bright and cheerful to make up for the wet weather we are having here in central England right now - so what better than a sunflower?

Jean Power's new blog 'Colour Challenge' really got me thinking about why I haven't used many yellow beads in my work so far and so I bit the bullet and chose the brightest of yellow cylinder beads to experiment with. I also used a lovely shade of shiny brown beads for the centre and bright green beads for the stem and leaves. This is quite a departure from my early work which was often in muted shades of pinks and purples with dark greens, but hey - if nature can do it, why can't I? I'm really pleased with the way this has turned out and although it's only three inches high, I managed to squeeze in forty-eight little petals and broke three needles in the process! I've made two of these so far, one is for sale in my Etsy shop and the other one is for me - it makes me smile every time I look at it and I'm hoping it will spread a little happiness when I wear it out and about.

Creative beading ...

2009-07-17T07:50:00.013+01:00

Well I had great fun with my new size 15's and used them to create a last minute entry to the British Bead Awards . I was working under pressure as the closing date is today but I'm fairly happy with my entry, although the idea has a lot more mileage in it when I get round to it. So of course I can't show you pictures of my entry yet but I do have things to share.

Yesterday I received my complimentary copy of the new book Creative Beading Volume 4. This is an annual that is brought out by the publishers of Bead & Button and includes "The best projects from a year of Bead & Button magazine". I had known for some time that my foxglove necklace 'Floral Fantasy' was going to be one of the projects in there, but I hadn't expected it to be such a lovely substantial hardback book. There are lots of great projects in there and I think it will make a nice coffee table book for me, but I may have to leave it face down as my foxglove design is featured on the back cover!

I've also had a good week on Etsy with my work appearing in three treasuries. The first two were created by the lovely Cheryl of Littlestone Design and featured Supernova Choker and Poppy Supernova Choker along with all sorts of gorgeous items. Thank you Cheryl! The third one was created by Etsy seller Moon Over Maize and includes my Poppy Pin - thank you!

Right now I'm off to work with some bigger yellow beads and get working on an idea I had when I wrote my Hello Yellow post. Suddenly Delicas seem quite huge!

Fifteen Flowers ...

2009-07-10T08:50:00.009+01:00

My recent work on a new range of floral earrings meant I needed to make much smaller flowers than normal. I find it quite a challenge to get in lots of detailed shaping and still keep the flowers dainty enough to be wearable. Last weeks bluebells were made using size 11 cylinder beads and each bluebell is only 1½cm high. This lead me to want to make not necessarily even smaller flowers but to be able to get more detail in - hence I have splashed out on some delicious new size 15 seed beads in a range of gorgeous colours. As you can see, pinks and greens are the predominant colours I have gone for and these tiny little beads look as though they will be perfect for my future experiments with all things floral. Looks like I will finally have to give in and wear those glasses I have been avoiding for months though!

On the subject of bluebells, it's expired now, but I managed to create another Etsy treasury this week 'She sells bluebells' - which of course I do! I am not comfortable including my own work in treasuries and so I searched for other artist's work with 'bluebell' in the title and look what beautiful items I came up with!

Late bluebells ...

2009-07-03T09:49:00.018+01:00

The bluebells here in England this year put on a real show and my favourite area of woodland was covered by a scented carpet of them. I had never really thought about beading them before, but when I bent to look closely at them, I was fascinated by how delicate each little individual flower that goes towards making up the total impact is. I went against the country code and picked a couple of stems (in the name of art you understand!) and kept them in a small vase in my studio so that I could follow them as closely as possible. Of course the real bluebells have all gone now, but finally, after nearly two weeks of trial and error, I have some little beaded bluebell earrings to show you.

I chose a semi-matte cylinder bead in a cobalt blue with an AB finish,which seemed quite close to the colour and feel of a real bluebell and added three of them to each earring to create a cluster. Once again, I have used long sterling silver earwires so that you get a lot of movement when you are wearing them, just like my 'Swingin' Poppies' and I've also added to the series by creating some 'Swingin' Daisies' too.

All three pairs of earrings are for sale in my Etsy store.

The gallery is growing!

2009-06-26T11:05:00.011+01:00

I've recently added some lovely new pictures to the 'Readers gallery of work' page on my website. These have all been sent to me by other beaders who have followed my published patterns, often going on to add a new twist of their own by changing the colours or incorporating elements into their own designs. I really enjoy seeing these pictures and receiving feedback on my designs and so I thought I would show a selection of them here this week. If you follow any of my published patterns (details of which can be found here ) please feel free to send me a picture and I will gladly add it to the gallery together with your name and links to any websites/blogs you may have.

Diane Fitzgerald uses the hibiscus flower to embellish her bee themed hexagonal quilt piece!

Adele Rogers Recklies added a frosted flower to strands of silk and organza ribbon to create this beautiful necklace.

Sarah Tucker turned her poppy into a dramatic cuff.

Sue Barker created her Supernova Choker as a gift for a friend.

Alison Inglis added a single flower to a strand of leather to create this beautiful fantasy foxglove.

Christine Moore created her own special pet using the dragon pattern!

I hope you enjoy looking at these beautiful beady pictures and a big thank you to everyone who has given me permission to show their work!

Awards, treasuries and a blog feature ...

2009-06-16T17:53:00.012+01:00

I'm afraid there is no new beadwork to show this week, but rest assured I AM beading and working on a project that needs to be kept under wraps for a while - she says mysteriously! There's still plenty to blog about though. Firstly, the Beads Perles blog has given me the honour of being their 100th featured artist . The top part of the interview is in Spanish, but if you scroll down past the photos, there is an English translation. Thank you Beads Perles!

I've also had my work included in two Etsy treasuries in the last few days. The first one 'Magic and Mystery', was put together by Lynn Davy and features my Double Dragon neckpiece which is shown on the top left. Thank you Lynn!

The second treasury 'Needle and Thread' is still live and was curated by Alice of snapdragonbeads My Peacock Pearl spiral rope necklace is shown on the top right. If you click on the image it will take you to the actual treasury. Thank you Alice!

Finally, Jodi Horgan of The Beaded Path has passed on not one, but TWO blog awards to me. Thank you Jodi! I tend not to pass blog awards on as I hate to leave anyone out, so I would encourage you to check out the links in my side-bar for lots of inspirational blogs.

Poppy Pin - version two!

2009-06-07T15:04:00.016+01:00

A little while ago, a friend asked me if I could make her a special poppy to wear around the time of Remembrance Sunday. Obviously November is some time away yet, but I don't like to keep people waiting and so I have been working on it and just finished the new version of Poppy Pin.

This one is very similar to my poppy design that was published in issue 14 of Bead magazine but my friend wanted hers without the leaves, which presented me with an engineering issue regarding how to attach the pin. As you can see from the picture of the back of the poppy, I decided to use a similar method to the one I used for my Awareness Ribbons and attached a few size 8 beads to the back of the poppy to hold the sterling silver stick pin in place. I also made the actual poppy slightly smaller with a larger black centre and five fire-polished beads to give it extra visual impact. It will be winging its way to its new owner tomorrow - let's hope this poppy is just what my friend was looking for!

Hello Yellow!

2009-05-31T14:51:00.011+01:00

Jean Power has recently started a new blog called Colour Challenge in which she plans to spend the next year exploring individual colours, their historical and social aspects and then experimenting with them in her beadwork. Jean's first colour choice is yellow, not because it's a particular favourite but because she thought it might be the most challenging colour to use in beadwork - kind of 'in at the deep end'!

I'm really enjoying following Jean's adventures with colour as I've been learning a lot about colour myself ever since I started beading. It's shown that my favourite colours in real life are not necessarily my favourites in beadwork.

I love a lot of colours, but if pressed, I would say that yellow is my favourite colour. My studio and my kitchen are both painted yellow and I find them cheerful and uplifting even on the gloomiest days. I also have lots of yellow flowers in my garden, ranging from soft yellow petunias to citrus yellow flag irises and laburnum. Yet I think I have only ever made two yellow items in beadwork; my Primrose Pin and a yellow dahlia pendant and both of those use soft yellow rather than the more vibrant shades.

I don't think I have ever made myself a piece of yellow jewellery to wear either and I'm not sure exactly why that is. It looks like I have sadly neglected yellow for no particular reason and I may just have to do something about that ...

United Hearts

2009-05-04T09:13:00.013+01:00

Last year, some of my fellow Etsy BeadWeavers team members volunteered to take part in Jeanette Shanigan's 2009 Breast Cancer Donation Project - "Bead artists have the heart to take on breast cancer". Each year a theme is set, this year it's hearts, in 2007 it was butterflies and the 2008 theme was roses. Jeanette collects all donated beaded squares and stitches them into quilts which are then auctioned off at the Bead & Button show to raise money for charity. Fifteen EBW members from four different countries donated a total of 35 squares and team member Susan Clinkscales did a magnificent job coordinating our efforts and sending the finished squares on to Jeanette. Susan also took photos of each square and created the mosaic below – please note, this is not the actual quilt, but a digital photographic version. For more information about the auction, please visit the Bead & Button show website.

First row (l to r): Susan Clinkscales, Eddy Downing, Eddy Downing, JoJo Curley, Swanee Hielscher
2nd row: Swanee Hielscher, Swanee Hielscher, Swanee Hielscher, Linda Davis, Smadar Grossman
3rd row: Smadar Grossman, Smadar Grossman, Smadar Grossman, Lisa Savoy, Lisa Savoy
4th row: Lisa Savoy, Jama Watts, Jama Watts, Jama Watts, Kerrie Slade
5th row: Kerrie Slade, Kerrie Slade, Kerrie Slade, Victoria Thompson, Victoria Thompson
6th row: Victoria Thompson, Kim Shaver, Dawn Nelson, Melody Murray, Melody Murray
7th row: Ileana Munteanu, Ginny Bracht, Ginny Bracht, Ginny Bracht, Ginny Bracht

I talked about the thought process behind the creation of my four squares in my 'Beading Hearts' blog entry back in September, but as a reminder, here are some close-up shots of my squares.

United Hearts uses three-drop brick stitch with a square stitch heart attached.

Hearts and Flowers is woven in two-drop brick stitch with size 15 seed beads and a freshwater pearl.

Look into your Heart uses herringbone stitch with a small acrylic mirror in the centre.

Ace of Hearts uses square stitch throughout.

Once again, I am reminded of how powerful beads and beading can be and how fortunate we are to live in an age when the internet makes these international projects possible. I hope the auctions raise a substantial amount of money for the designated charities and my thanks go to Jeanette, Susan, my fellow EBW members and Bead & Button for all the hard work involved.

Treasuries and tulips!

2009-04-29T17:11:00.009+01:00

I know, it's barely a week since my last blog post and here I am again - you never know where you are with me ;0) Anyway, this morning, I managed to grab a slot for a champagne themed Etsy treasury that I created and I wanted to show it on here while it is still live. It features a variety of beautiful handmade items all with the word 'champagne' in their title. If you click on the picture below it will take you to the actual treasury - feel free to click on the items, comment or even purchase!

A little while later, I learned that my friend Lynn Davy had created a brilliantly colourful Treasury West featuring lots of intricate beadwork by my fellow team mates the Etsy Beadweavers and included my Bougainvillea Bouquet - thank you Lynn!

I thought I would also show you another picture of me beading in the garden which was taken about an hour ago. The weather has been glorious this April and the garden is already looking lush and abundant - just look at those tulips! I could also smell the scented Narcissus and had cherry blossom drifting down around me like confetti. Who could ask for more?

Swingin' Poppies ...

2009-04-23T12:19:00.006+01:00

Things are still pretty hectic around here but I have managed to do a little bit of beadwork at last! First is my new range of earrings featuring ultra long sterling silver kidney earwires. The earwires themselves are nearly 5cms long and so once the flowers are added the earring is approximately 7cms from tip to tip. First in the range is Swingin' Poppies featuring a cute pair of little handwoven poppies in dramatic red and black.

I have a pair of these myself and although I wouldn't normally wear such long earrings, I have to say that as the wires are so thin and barely noticeable, you just get the effect of little flowers dancing round your neck - it feels great and very summery! I know they are not very clear, but here's a picture of me wearing my Swingin' Poppies.

I also made myself a pair of earrings to match a new blouse I bought for my holiday. I just happened to have some cylinder beads in almost exactly the same shade of green as the blouse and then I found some tiny freshwater pearls that seemed to complement the dots in the blouse perfectly. They are made using a combination of brick stitch and netting and hang from sterling silver Creole hoops.

More beady inspiration and an announcement!

2009-04-04T14:57:00.024+01:00

Well, I was barely back from Spain before I was off on my travels again, this time a few days in London! Simon had a job interview to attend and so we thought we would make the most of the trip and booked a couple of nights in the hotel where the interview was held, in the Bankside area of London. I'm ashamed to say that although I am from the south of England and often travel past it to visit my parents, I have hardly ever visited London and really don't know it very well at all - I think I have to put that right in the future as I absolutely fell in love with it during this visit. Considering it was very early April, the weather was fantastic and I spent a lot of time outdoors - I was even quite brave (for me!) and went exploring on foot whilst Simon was undergoing a gruelling four hour assessment. I ended up sat on a bench by the river Thames, soaking up the sunshine and trying to absorb all the famous landmarks that I could see from that one spot, including Shakespeare's Globe, 'The Gherkin', Tower Bridge, Tate Modern, the Millennium Bridge and St Paul's Cathedral.

The highlight of the trip for me however, was spending yesterday at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. I have been once before, but again, I vowed to be a regular visitor in the future. So much beady inspiration; the cherry blossom avenue, a carpet of Chionodoxa, the magnolia collection and the palm house to mention a few and that's besides the ring-necked parakeets soaring and squawking overhead and the beautiful turquoise winged jays hopping about in front of us!

So, it's back to business today and the first thing I did was to put all the names of everyone who left a comment on my giveaway post into a hat to see who won my daisy earrings. I'm pleased to announce that the lucky winner is Kat of Candles, Crafts and Whatnot - congratulations Kat and thanks to everyone who entered.

Spring in Spain!

2009-03-26T17:20:00.018Z

I've just returned home after a lovely two week break staying with Simon's parents who live in Spain. We try to visit every year, usually around Christmas, but for one reason or another it was a bit later this year and so this was the first time I have ever seen Spain in spring. Of course I am always on the lookout for beady inspiration and when I visited last January, I was struck by just how much green and orange there was everywhere; clusters of orange dates hanging from green palms, the odd orange coloured pomegranate still clinging to a leafless tree, the glossy green leaves of the orange trees laden with fruit and some gorgeous coppery bougainvillea bracts. I came back from that trip, fired up and raring to go and made several pieces using beads in various shades of green and orange.

This time, there was a much greater variety of colour with splashes of vibrant yellow mimosa everywhere, hot pink mesembryanthemum flowers cascading down cliffs towards the cobalt sea, fields of delicate pale pink almond blossom, pomegranate trees covered in shiny bronze leaf buds, vast areas of sage green olives and artichokes and pure white sails against a clear blue sky. I took lots of photos and made lots of notes, so as soon as I get some free time, I intend to start experimenting!

In the meantime, issue 15 of Bead magazine came out while I was away and I have two projects in this issue; the last in the series of my flower pins Periwinkle Pin which uses increasing and decreasing brick stitch to give the petals their distinctive shape and a simple netted sun catcher which is also shown on the cover!

Thanks to everyone who left comments on my previous post. There is still time to enter my anniversary giveaway, just leave a comment on the 3rd March 2009 entry and I will draw one lucky winner's name out of the hat on April 4th.

An anniversary and a giveaway!

2009-03-03T09:15:00.032Z

Monday March 3rd 2008 was the day I started a blog and you can see my first tentative step here. I wasn't sure if I would take to 'blogging' as I used to be a reclusive kind of girl, but one year and 45 posts later and it's still going strong and I've discovered I like it! I also find it fascinating to be able to scroll back through that years worth of entries and see my portfolio of work. The collage below shows the projects I have had published during that time.

In order to celebrate my blog anniversary, I am going to hold a little giveaway! The earrings below were made to compliment my 'Daisy Chain' necklace which was published in Bead magazine in September 2008. Leave a comment on this blog entry and in one months time I will put all names (excluding spam!) into a hat and the first name out will win the cute little pair of daisy earrings on gold-filled hooks as shown in this photo (photo courtesy of Ashdown Publishing). Don't forget to make sure I have a way of contacting you in case you are the lucky winner!

As an anniversary gift to myself, I am going to give myself permission to be more carefree about blogging. I have tried to post something every two weeks, but I don't want it to become a pressure and I don't want to bore my readers by having to come up with something just because it's blog time. So in future, if I have something to blog about, I will and if I don't, I won't!

I'm also happy that I have received gifts from others in the shape of seeing my work in two Etsy treasuries! The first treasury 'Rain Beautiful Rain' was curated by Sue of Beadweaver and includes my 'Frosted Flower' made-to-order necklace. The second Treasury West 'Is it spring yet?' was curated by Jama of These Precious Things and includes my 'Bougainvillea Bouquet' made-to-order necklace along with lots of other Etsy BeadWeaving beauties - thank you ladies :0)

See you whenever I have something to blog about - oh and don't forget the giveaway!

Cover story!

2009-02-21T13:32:00.023Z

I am very pleased to announce that my Hibiscus Twist necklace will appear on the cover of the April 2009 issue of Bead & Button magazine!

The new cover looks very springlike and shows a riotous cascade of glorious flowers; some of my design, two of Melissa Grakowsky's Wildflower vine and a beautiful ring by Cassie Donlen.

I created these flowers when I was experimenting with increasing herringbone stitch and loved the way they flared out. I had a sterling silver clasp in the shape of a butterfly that I wanted to use as it added to the 'garden theme', but it had three loops attached to it and I wasn't sure how best to use it. In the end I stitched three thin Peyote ropes and braided them loosely together - hence Hibiscus Twist! I also made two removable flowers in contrasting colours, one in dark 'night-time' shades and the other in softer 'day-time' shades to give added interest to the piece. Both flowers have Swarovski pearl centres.

I am thrilled to learn that my work will be on the cover and I count myself very lucky, as of course it was only this time last year that my first project, Floral Fantasy, appeared on the cover of the April 2008 issue.

Bougainvillea Bouquet!

2009-01-31T14:21:00.008Z

I have finally finished working on my new flowers and here is my entry for the Etsy Beadweavers challenge - Bougainvillea Bouquet!

Whilst I was working on this, I recalled some of the beautiful images of bougainvillea I have seen on my travels; arching over a monastery doorway in Corfu, cut into neat hedges in Spain, growing wild by the roadside in Thailand and Sri Lanka and vivid clusters set against a backdrop of deep blue sea in the Maldives. I didn't need to dig out the photos to remind of these scenes, they are all quite clear to me and I thoroughly enjoyed casting my mind back as I sat and sewed each bead together.

I wanted to create a piece that was not only eye-catching but also very wearable. Therefore I engineered it so that the necklace can be worn quite simply with just two bougainvillea bracts suspended from the woven rope, or all eleven bracts can be threaded onto the rope, creating a vibrant cluster, exposing their inner white flowers.

Botanical beading experiments ...

2009-01-24T16:44:00.023Z

I've spent many happy hours beading since my post last week, but I have very little to show for it I'm afraid. When I first read the Etsy Beadweavers challenge theme 'Tropical Holiday', images of big bold hibiscus flowers sprang to mind. I sorted through all my beads and chose some gorgeous shades of orange, red and green and then spent several days working on the shaping of the petals, experimenting with increasing within the petals and also on the outside edges. The trouble with beadwork, or maybe it's the charm, is that it's sometimes very difficult to tell whether a design idea will work, without spending several hours (or even days!) trying something out, only to discover that a slight adjustment 20 rows ago would have been better! I'm also not very good at visualising the finished look of a flower after creating only one petal, so I tend to keep going and then decide if I like the finished result. To me, none of this is time wasted, it all provides valuable lessons about the different effects created by varying the choice of stitch, count and bead - as long as I remember to keep good notes that is! Anyway, the hibiscus just wasn't up to scratch but I still want to enter the challenge, so I have put all the part beaded orange petals into a bag with my notes and will return to it later. I am now working on new flowers that shout 'tropical' to me and I'm using hot pink seed beads - any idea what flowers I am working on? It's going well and so I should have photos of the finished piece to show you next week.

In the meantime, issue 14 of the UK magazine Bead is now in the shops and has the second in my series of flower brooches as one of the projects - Poppy Pin.

I was also very happy to learn that my Poppy Supernova choker was selected by the lovely Irith of RioRita as one of the items in her beautiful Etsy treasury 'Rainbow the Fourth' - thank you Irith!

Flowers everywhere ...

2009-01-17T17:18:00.013Z

I'm still busy working on my entry for the Etsy Beadweavers challenge - Tropical Holiday. My piece will include some beaded flowers as usual, but I am trying out a new shape for me which is taking a bit longer than I thought, so I still don't have any pictures to show you. In the meantime, I believe the new issue of Beadwork magazine is now out and my icy blue and silver Frosted Flower necklace is one of the projects in there.

I also thought I'd brighten things up by showing you a picture of an Etsy treasury that fellow British bead artist Lynn Davy put together. It includes my 'red violet floral cufflinks' and is entitled Summer in the Meadow - isn't it pretty? Thank you Lynn!

Off to a flying start!

2009-01-10T09:33:00.010Z

Happy New Year everyone!

I'm getting back into the flow of things after spending Christmas and New Year with my parents. We had a lovely time with lots of beautiful crisp frosty days. Long walks, good food, a drop or two of home brew and a glass of elderberry port which is only brought out on Christmas morning. I didn't manage to get much beading done over the Christmas break, although I did make Mum a bracelet and I got the hideous job of doing my accounts out of the way!

I've been busy beading since I've been back. I'm going to try and enter the Etsy Beadweavers challenge this time, the theme is Tropical Holiday which should provide a good antidote to the freezing temperatures here. I hope to have pictures to show you within the next week or two.

Things are busy on the publication front too. My Frosted Flower necklace is in the next issue of Beadwork magazine, my Poppy Pin will be in the new issue of Bead magazine and my Hibiscus Twist necklace is due to be in the next issue of Bead & Button magazine due out in March.

Other good news is that the lovely Caroline of Crafted Gems has included my Poppy Supernova choker in her gorgeous Etsy treasury 'Red Red and more Red'. Thank you Caroline!

Christmas and New Year wishes ...

2008-12-20T12:36:00.009Z

Well 2008 has been an amazing year for me. Some recent low points such as redundancy and family illness, but mostly it has been a wonderful journey full of beady goodness. This was the year that I set up a website, an Etsy shop and started a blog - all quite alien things to me. I had my first design published and went on to have 16 projects published throughout the year and even made the cover of Bead & Button magazine. I found lots of fantastic new friends all over the world, either through beading or blogging and even found my best friend from school through Facebook after having lost touch with her many years ago. With the help of Beading Daily and my blogging friends, I raised a significant amount of money for various charities with my beaded Ribbon Awareness Pins. I learnt a great deal about beading and opened my eyes to some new possibilities which I can't wait to try in the New Year and I discovered many, many talented bead artists whose work excites and inspires me. All in all, a great year which I am very thankful for!

I hope life has been kind to you and that you were able to make the most of the opportunities that presented themselves to you. And finally, whether you celebrate Christmas or not, I would like to wish everyone happiness and health and I look forward to 'seeing' you in 2009!

Kerrie x

Happy Birthday!

2008-12-11T17:59:00.013Z

Yes it's my birthday today, 43 - where exactly did those years go? Anyway, the sun shone, the birds flew and the flowers were out, well the winter jasmine anyway! I've had lots of lovely cards, presents and good wishes and really I couldn't have wished for a better day.

I've been very busy over the past week as I had a commission to make earrings to match my Foxglove Trio necklace, Copper Hibiscus lariat and new Cosmic Peacock necklace. Obviously I wanted them all to complement the main piece but they needed to be much smaller and so they presented quite a challenge and turned out to be a little fiddly. I am happy with the results though, especially the foxgloves as they are much smaller than the picture suggests and fit onto my little finger like little fairy bonnets!

They are now all winging their way to their new owner.