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

New Year's Resolutions, and it's only December 29th :)

So Christmas is over for this year. It was lovely spending time with family and getting the house decorated for the festivities...

Pressie-wise we were quite restrained this year, but I was lucky enough to receive these:

Venus Beadery, Etsy

They are wire-wrapped amber, and absolutely stunning. I'd like to learn how to wire-wrap like this in 2013, but don't know if I have the patience!

However, I do know what I shall be trying, very very hard, to do next year. It all starts here:

I know from chatting to other jewellery makers that this is quite a common sight... 

Certainly I frequently end up like this, with beads and various projects scattered arranged everywhere, until I am literally working on the very edge of the table. Not helpful!

So I used the upcoming festivities as an excuse to spend quality time sorting it all out.

Much better!

The thing is, since doing this (on Christmas Eve!), I've been far more productive (well yes, I know it's the holidays too ;)

I've made lots of earrings, which I'll be listing shortly...

 


And some bracelets too...

So my New Year's Resolution? A nice tidy table at all times. I'm sticking to it so far ;-o

What are your Resolutions for 2013?

Projects for today

Well, it's a glorious day here - the sun is shining and it's lovely and still.


Here's what I'm going to be up to later.


As usual, I have several things on the go at the moment, so I'd like to finish them. Two bracelets and some earrings which are nearly done, as you can see here: 

In the top right you can see my first ever experimentation with memory wire, which I'm quite pleased with so far. For some reason I had thought that it would be a lot trickier than it is, but unless finishing off the ends is really difficult, this hasn't proved to be the case. The beads thread on really easily, and it's actually quite fun to do!

Then I have some gorgeous new beads which arrived yesterday to put away. I placed the order mainly to have some more of the rhinestone hearts, as they make lovely pendants, but I couldn't resist popping a few 'extras' in my basket at the same time!

And not forgetting to admire these fabulous tulips. I bought them earlier in the week and they have lasted really well, but I can see they haven't got long to go now - they're at the stage where you know the petals will be dropping off soon, but still time to enjoy them!

So I'd best get started then!!