30 Words: Fickle, or, What's your favourite flower?

In June I will say roses,

in July, sweet peas,

in August it's the hollyhock ...

... but right now 

in March

the answer to your question is

quite unequivocally

the daffodil.

The premise of 30 Words Thursdays is simple...

Take an image (preferably one you shot, or have permission to use).

Write 30 Words about it. No more. No less.

Post it each Thursday.

Add your link to the InLinkz on Erin's 30 Word Thursday post. 
(InLinkz code will be open for one week.)
Enjoy seeing what others have captured by visiting them and leaving a comment.

Bead Soup Blog Party - What Maddy sent me!

I have been paired with Maddison Langford for this year's Bead Soup party, and I had no idea what she would send me in the way of soupy ingredients. She posted this teaser to give me a clue:

It certainly looked interesting!

Anyway, it came a couple of days ago, and I've finally had a chance to photograph it.

It was all nicely packaged up with a cute bird card - thank you Maddy!

What immediately struck me was this combination of colours, not one I've worked with before...

It would of course be perfectly acceptable to split the colours and work them into different pieces, but a lot of the fun of this challenge is trying something new, so I will have a go!

There are lots of lovely stones in muted oranges, crackly clear and shades of blue:

but these are my favourites (I don't know what they are, but they're beauties!)

Hmm, can see a pair of earrings already.... this is going to be fun!

Lesley

P.S. Maddy has just edited my photo to include labels for all the stones (thanks Maddy!) - here it is:

And the winner is....!

The winner of my Giveaway is...

Selena!! 

Congratulations - these will be on their way to you as soon as I have your address :)

Thank you to everyone who entered - all your likes, shares, and lovely comments are much appreciated - and I hope I see you next time.

Lesley x

Bead Soup Blog Party #8 - Off we go!

I am taking part in this annual event for the first time. It's organised by Lori Anderson from her blog.

To start the process, Lori pairs everyone up (a lot of work when there are over 400 of us!) Then we contact our partners and send them a 'bead soup', including a focal bead, a clasp and assorted beads to match.

Then we all have until May 3rd to come up with our designs.

I was very excited to meet my partner Maddison Langford, a graduate in fashion design, and an avid crafter with a shop on Etsy. She is a regular blogger and has lots of different interests and commitments, including teaching. Among other things, she makes the most intricate gemstone trees.

I had fun putting together my soup for Maddy - nothing like playing with your beads! I know she's received it now, so I can show you what I sent. (Another blog post to follow when her soup arrives with me :)

The focal is this handmade ceramic pendant by Natalie Fletcher of Peruzi. I have quite a stash of her wonderful beads...

Using the colours in the pendant, I added Czech glass -

metallic elements -

some semi-precious stones - 

and some other little bits and pieces - 

Oh yes, and I couldn't resist including this little fellow (made by Angela Pyke of BMUB on Etsy - 

Here it is all together - 

I can't wait to see what Maddy makes :)

Giveaway!!

So, it's Giveaway time again!

Why?

Well, if I need a reason, the rain has finally stopped, the sun has been shining and the spring flowers are flowering :)

The prize is this pair of handmade earrings in spring colours, made with Czech glass beads and sterling silver hooks:

Here you can see the lovely hooks better - they were handmade by Rebecca Anderson of The Curious Bead Shop.

To enter, you can do any of the following:

- like my facebook page if you are a newcomer :)
- share my giveaway on facebook
- favourite my Etsy shop
- follow my blog
- or anything else you can think of!

You may enter up to 3 times - PLEASE leave a comment here for each entry and a way for me to contact you if you win.

You have till 8pm GMT on Wednesday 19 March to enter. The draw will take place shortly after that. If I have not heard back from the winner by Friday 21 March, I will do a second draw.

Thank you for entering and good luck!!

Lesley

Latest additions to my Etsy shop

Well, in addition to the new teardrop earrings I showed you here, I have been steadily adding some new designs to my shop. 

It had been a while since I made any bracelets or necklaces, so I spent a couple of days focusing on these: 

Orange flower necklace

                                             

                     flower charm by Menagerie Studio

Black & Green Knot Necklace

Millefiori bracelet

Orange knotted leather bracelet

Then of course there were more earrings too:

Green agate earrings

Royal blue enamel earrings

including two pairs with gorgeous handmade ceramic beads by Bo Hulley :

Turquoise honey earrings

Blue polka dot earrings

And finally, a bit of fun: I'm not Irish, so I don't celebrate St. Patrick's day, but I just couldn't resist these beads!

Shamrock earrings

x

30 Words Thursdays: Winter Aconite

Implausible,

stark yellow outrider

improbably 

risking waxy nodding precision

and soft imposter spears

against the bitter possibilities of February:

baggage-free,

agenda-less;

yet we find in you

a promise.

The premise of 30 Words Thursdays is simple...

Take an image (preferably one you shot, or have permission to use).

Write 30 Words about it. No more. No less.

Post it each Thursday.

Add your link to the InLinkz on Erin's 30 Word Thursday post. 
(InLinkz code will be open for one week.)
Enjoy seeing what others have captured by visiting them and leaving a comment.

The dreaded UFO, or: What's hiding in your drawers?

We all have them, don't we???

The dreaded UFO, or Unfinished Object (in my case Objects...)

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to finish a project before going on to the next one. 

The problem, however, if you want to call it that, lies stashed in some mini sets of drawers that I keep near my work-table. They are a great idea - somewhere to tidy away projects I'm working on till I get time to finish them - except that it's been a case of 'out of sight, out of mind'.

A recent exploration of said drawers revealed quite a lot of UFOs. And some beads I'd forgotten about too :)

So I'm on a mission to finish some of them. I started with this, begun a couple of months ago. It only actually took a couple of hours:

One down, just another drawer-load to go...

So, is it just me? 

New earrings in my Etsy shop

I spent the afternoon making and photographing these earrings, and couldn't resist taking a picture of them all together. Not quite a rainbow, but lots of pretty pink and blue and some new colours too. 

Somehow I managed to take over 200 photos for the 10 pairs I made.... (the wonders of digital cameras, not like the old days!)

It's going to take a while to edit all the photos and do the listings, but eventually they are all destined for my Etsy shop.

These are the ones I've listed this evening (click on the links to go to my shop).

Berry pink earrings

                                    Baby pink earrings

Olive green earrings

It feels like a marathon session and it's only 3 pairs! The rest will have to wait till tomorrow ...

Valentine's Day Offer: 25% Jewellery Discount in my Etsy shop

Happy Valentine's day!

How many of us pretend we aren't that bothered, but actually get quite emotional when we find we have a card? No? It's just me then ;)

Anyway, onto the reason for today's post - a special offer in my Etsy jewellery shop. 

If there's something you've had your eye on, well, today it's got a discount of 25% off. 

Click the picture to go to my Etsy shop

All you have to do is apply the code KISS25 when you get to the checkout page and the discount will be applied automatically. Easy.

Minimum spend $25 or about £15.


And, if there are any non-romantics out there, Feb 14th is special in another way. It marks the halfway point of this month. The snowdrops are out, the daffodils are pushing up, and spring can't be far away :)

30 Words Thursdays: "Words of love"

As tokens

of this restless inebriation

this heady overflowing

or even, 

this contented companionship 

we write

with a papery purchase

"words of love"

enveloping love

consuming love 

on a card

The premise of 30 Words Thursdays is simple...

Take an image (preferably one you shot, or have permission to use).

Write 30 Words about it. No more. No less.

Post it each Thursday.

Add your link to the InLinkz on Erin's 30 Word Thursday post. 
(InLinkz code will be open for one week.)
Enjoy seeing what others have captured by visiting them and leaving a comment.

30 Words: A Winter's Day

Windy and wet,
a cold winter's day
by the water,
nothing special.
Yet, as we stood
watching the birds arcing and wheeling,  
a moment of still wonder
crept over us.

The premise of 30 Words Thursdays is simple...

Take an image (preferably one you shot, or have permission to use).

Write 30 Words about it. No more. No less.

Post it each Thursday.

Add your link to the InLinkz on Erin's 30 Word Thursday post. 
(InLinkz code will be open for one week.)
Enjoy seeing what others have captured by visiting them and leaving a comment.