Not that again???

I know I have blogged about my Ribbon Awareness Pins countless times now, and some of you will be bored of seeing the same old photos instead of lovely shiny new beadwork, but I am still getting quite a lot of people asking me where they can find the pattern. The fundraising aspect has now finished but the pattern is available as normal in the Beading Daily shop and if you click here and then click on the title 'Ribbon Awareness Pins' you will be taken to the relevant page where you can purchase and download the pattern. Of course October is breast cancer awareness month and I have noticed that lots of bloggers have added a pink ribbon logo to their blog, so I have followed suit and changed my banner for this month only. I am currently in the process of reading through all the entries for the Power of Beading Contest - the winners will be announced on Beading Daily by October 20th. A big thank you to everyone who entered the contest and shared their stories about how beading helped them through a challenging time.

Other news is that the talented and lovely Victoria of Three Fates Design passed on an 'I love your blog award' to me - thank you Victoria! As I have mentioned previously, although I am very grateful for having received a blog award, I don't pass them on as I don't want anyone to feel left out. I have a very long list of blogs and websites on my side bar, a link to all the Etsy BeadWeavers blogs, a link to Bead Artists who blog and of course Entrecard. All of these bloggers are deserving of an award in my view, and I would encourage you to explore some of these links.

Finally, I was also excited to see that another lovely fellow Etsy BeadWeaver, Kim of Regal Beads, has created a treasury entitled 'Little Black Dress' and included my Supernova Choker - thank you Kim!

Talking of the Etsy Beadweavers, all the fabulous entries for this months challenge 'Animal Instinct' have been added to our team blog - take a look, voting begins on October 9th.

See you next week!

A new trend!

I've been busy busy making floral cufflinks over the last week or so. I came up with the design for these some months ago and sent them to a beading magazine to see if they would be interested in them as a project - they wanted the flowers ... but not as cufflinks! So the flowers will appear in a future publication as a charm bracelet, which I am quite happy about, but I still think that floral cufflinks are a nice idea - maybe I'm just ahead of my time ;)

So I was quite surprised on a shopping trip last weekend, to see that this season all the major stores are now carrying not only gents, but ladies shirts with cufflinks! They are lovely as they are, but to me they look a bit plain as most of the cufflinks that come with the shirts are just little cream or white enamel discs. So I thought I would become a trendsetter - I bought myself one of these shirts and made some floral cufflinks to wear with it that also match a beautiful amethyst and teal angora top I have - perfect as the weather has become decidedly cool here in the UK!

When I first started making floral cufflinks, I tried to make relatively life-like flowers, such as poppies, apple blossom and wild rose and I have sold a few pairs of these, but now I have decided to add to this range with some 'fantasy flowers' that are just beautiful rich autumnal colours with either glass pearl or freshwater pearl centres. There are currently five pairs of floral cufflinks for sale in my Etsy shop or via my website and I will be adding to these in the near future - I am also happy to take commissions for any colour.

I used to call these 'ladies cufflinks' as I also make much plainer 'gents cufflinks' (see above) but I have sold a couple of pairs of poppy cufflinks to gentlemen, so I now consider them to be unisex, although of course you have to be a pretty cool guy to wear them! Both types have a sterling silver chain and bar attached. Why not treat yourself to a pair of beaded cufflinks and be a trendsetter with me!

A reminder and some news ....

Tomorrow (September 30th) is the last day of my charity fundraiser in conjunction with Beading Daily. So if you are interested but haven't had chance to download the pattern for my Ribbon Awareness Pins yet, there's not long left! Remember it's only $3 (approximately £1.50) and ALL funds raised go to charity. All the details can still be seen here.

Some of you know that my work is displayed at Studio 61, a gallery in the picturesque heart of the Derbyshire Peak District. This coming weekend they are holding a jewellery festival and I will be there along with other artists demonstrating our arts and crafts. This will be an informal event where you can meet and chat to the designers and watch them at work. There will also be an opportunity to buy work via the gallery and craft shop. There is an ice-cream parlour, an art cafe and FREE parking so it should be a great day out!

Publications, profiles and patterns to purchase!

It's been less than a week since my last blog post, but I have more news to share!

Issue 12 of the UK magazine Bead is out! Can you believe that this magazine is now two years old? In this issue I have two projects - "Daisy Chain Necklace" and "Magic Carpet Pendant" and also a three page profile. I have been quite candid in this interview and so if you would like to learn about some of the fact behind the fiction (my life hasn't always been filled with flowers!) with lots of beady eye-candy thrown in, it's available now. This magazine is also available online - see here for details.

I also wanted to tell you that a selection of my patterns are now available to purchase via the Beading Daily online store. I have set up a new page on my website and added the relevant links - please feel free to browse. If you wish to find out more about any of the projects, such as materials, tools and techniques, simply click on the title of the project and you will be taken to the relevant page of the Beading Daily online store. If you then wish to purchase any of the projects, follow the links and the pattern will be delivered to you by electronic download - modern, simple and quick! Below are pictures of the projects currently available, but please bear in mind that these are my photos of my own work and that the colours may vary from those shown in the actual pattern. If you have any queries, please contact me via my website.

See you next week!

Beading Hearts!

The Power of Beading Contest ends today (although you can still buy the pattern for my Awareness Pins here with all monies raised until September 30th going to charity) so it's time for a fresh start and a new project, although this one is also for charity.

Some of my fellow Etsy BeadWeavers team members have 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 time 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.

I have spent the last week making four squares to donate to this wonderful project and it has been a lot of fun as well as a personal challenge. I started out by mulling over various heart related proverbs and sayings to see what images they would conjure up in my mind. When I began to think about it, I was amazed by just how many heart clichés there are, but I settled on three and set about experimenting with stitches to see which ones would be most suitable - I wanted each square to be different and have it's own little theme. I was only going to make three squares, but then I had another idea and made a fourth square "United Hearts" with a red and white heart on a blue background symbolizing 'the pond'!

I have never had to restrict the size of my beadwork before and as the rules state that each square must only be 1½ inches by 1½ inches, it took me quite a while to get the bead count of each square exactly right. The finished squares also have to be stitched to interfacing, ready to be sewn up into a quilt and this was the part I found most challenging as 'normal' sewing is beyond me - let's just say, you don't want to see the back of my squares!

So here they are shown from the top in the order that I made them; Ace of Hearts using Square stitch, Look into your Heart using Herringbone and a small acrylic mirror, Hearts and Flowers using two-drop Brick stitch, size 15 seed beads and a freshwater pearl and United Hearts using three-drop Brick stitch with a Square stitch heart attached.

Although it will be some time yet, I look forward to seeing the finished quilts and I hope they raise a substantial amount of money for the designated charities. In the meantime, I would love to hear what you think about my squares.

The power of beading and the power of the internet community!

I hadn't intended to blog again until after the finish date of the Power of Beading Contest & Charity Fundraiser as I thought it would make it easier for people to access the details. But ... I have had so much great support from my fellow beaders that I felt a little credit was due. So, in no particular order, here are the links to some of my 'bead buddies' who have kindly spread the word for me via blogs etc.

SuzyQ of Beadweaver

JoJo of Unique You

Alison of BeaDangles Jewellery

Bianca Velder of Bianca Velder Creations

Margot Potter of The Impatient Blogger

Tammy of Butterfly Beadwear

Christine of ChrisBeads

Caroline of Crafted Gems

Jo of Daisychain Designs

Lorraine of Lorraine's Place

Zoya Gutina of Gem and Beaded Jewelry and also Zoya's August newsletter

Jean Power of JeanPower.com

Susan of Clinkscales Arts

Smadar of Smadar's Treasure

Sarah of The Beaded Lily

Anna of A Rose By Name

Staci of Pink Pooch Designs

Marilyn of Grandma Marilyn's

Deb of Artistic Flair

Ileana of Enchanted Beads

A huge "Thank you!" goes out to each and every one of them and if I have missed you off the list, or you have blogged about it, or put a link on your website, and I don't know, just send me a reminder and I will add your link to the list.

Don't forget the instructions are still available to purchase via Beading Daily and ALL funds raised go to charity. The contest to win one of two pins beaded and donated by me runs until September 12th.

Other news is that the October issue of Bead & Button is now out and the instructions for my Double Dragon neckpiece are on page 50.

I have also been fortunate to have several pieces of work included in various Etsy treasuries and although it has now expired, I curated a treasury with the title 'Raising Awareness!' to complement my fundraising project and to highlight the many other Artists on Etsy who create awareness ribbon themed items to raise money for charity.

An exciting announcement!

Yes, I have some exciting news to share! From August 11th, my Awareness Pins project will be available on Beading Daily and there will be two aspects to this project - a charity fundraiser and a contest.

The instructions for the project will be available to purchase from Beading Daily and all funds raised from sales during August and September will be divided between two international charities - The Wellness Community and the American Institute for Cancer Research ( a member of World Cancer Research Fund International).

In addition, I have made and donated two Awareness Pins which will be the prizes in The Power of Beading Contest. The official entry form is on the Beading Daily website. Beaders will be asked to tell how beading helped them through a challenging time, I love this theme as I feel that without beads I probably wouldn't be here today! The two prizes are a Pink Ribbon Pin (to represent breast cancer awareness) with a 9ct gold stick pin, and a Teal Ribbon Pin (to represent ovarian cancer awareness) with a sterling silver stick pin.

Beading Daily have also added clear copyright details (which cover this project only) for me. I would like to encourage as many people as possible to get on board with this project and to make these pins in any colour they wish to represent the causes closest to their hearts. I am happy for people to donate them, raffle them, sell them to raise money for the charity of their choice - whatever, so long as the money goes to charity. I am hoping that this could actually be a lot of fun and a great way to raise money for local hospitals, hospices, education and support around the world. I originally created these pins to help raise some funds for the local hospital where Mum received excellent treatment for breast cancer, but which is chronically short of funds - it may be a drop in the ocean, but every little helps. However, I am really not comfortable with people making these for personal gain, as to me it is against the spirit of the whole project. I have given my time freely in designing, creating and helping to organise this project as it is ALL meant to be about charity, so I do hope that everyone will understand my aims and respect my wishes. If you have any doubts or queries, please contact me via my website.

Beading Daily is free to join and offers a wealth of bead related information delivered straight to your inbox! It also has on-line forums where like minded people can get to know each other and share information, and readers will have the option of sharing their personal stories and photos regarding their fundraising activities too.

If anyone has a blog and would be prepared to post about this project for me to help me spread the word, that would be great, and again if you need any more information, please contact me.

Oh and if anyone is wondering - I will be donating my designers fee to Cancer Research UK

Thank you for reading this;

Kerrie x