A Midnight Garden themed giveaway!

I have some exciting news!  In conjunction with The Bead Shop (Manchester) I am running an easy to enter contest to win a fabulous hand picked selection of beads and it is open to international entrants!  All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning this stunning prize, is answer two simple questions and leave a comment on this entry of my blog, along with your name and a valid email address (or some way for me to contact you) to enable me to contact the lucky winner to arrange delivery of the prize.  If you have been following my blog you will know that for some time now I have been working on what I call my 'Midnight Garden' collection - using a very limited colour palette of beads I have been creating a themed body of work with a fairy tale feel to it.  I have a mental image of a secret walled garden bathed in the light of the full moon at midnight, all overgrown with twisting vines and leaves, full of night blooming flowers and mystical creatures, where magical things happen if you are fortunate enough to witness them.  One of the key pieces (shown below) is called 'Gateway to the Garden' and it represents an ancient arched entrance to the garden with an old gnarled tree curving round the door and lots of leaves and long grasses growing up the wall.  I have worked around a piece of labradorite and if you look very closely through the archway I am convinced that you can see the fairies dancing in the moonlight within the garden.

I was thrilled when The Bead Shop (Manchester) first contacted me to discuss the possibility of us doing some work together and we decided to start by doing something a little different.  I have carefully filled my shopping cart with the beads that I would love to incorporate in my Midnight Garden (shown below) but instead of them being delivered to me, we will be giving these beads away to one lucky winner to enable them to create their own imaginative piece.  The prize includes a delicious mix of Miyuki Delicas and Duracoat seed beads in midnight greys and silvers, lots of shadowy grey Swarovski crystal pearls, some super sparkly Swarovski crystals including an incredibly twinkly star pendant and a selection of whimsical charms that fit in perfectly with my theme.  It would be lovely if the winner decided to show me what they make with this wonderful selection of beads, but there is absolutely no pressure to do this!

So how do you enter this exciting giveaway?  It's very simple - leave the correct answers to both of the following questions as a comment on this blog entry along with your name and a valid email address (or some way for me to contact you):

1. In what year was The Bead Shop (Manchester) established?
2. How many different beading patterns do I sell directly from my website?

The closing date is the 18th of December and after that date I will put all correct answers into a hat and the lucky winner will be notified by me and then contacted by The Bead Shop (Manchester) to arrange delivery of the prize.

Make sure you tell your friends about this fun giveaway so that they can be in with a chance of winning this Midnight Garden themed prize.  Good luck everyone!

Kerrie  ♥
  

Another Creative Challenge!

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 ♥

Daisy Sliders

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!