A belated Happy New Year!

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!

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!

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!

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

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!

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

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!