Beadwoven Snowflake Workshop Announcement!

I have been very excited about this opportunity, but have been refraining from announcing it in case anything went awry. Now, the information has been official posted I am happy to announce that I will be teaching a beadweaving workshop at the We Make London Christmas Fair!

Between 1pm and 3pm I will be teaching you how to make gorgeous beadwoven snowflakes - which can either be used as Christmas tree decorations, or worn as a festive necklace pendant.

I'm really excited about this workshop - they make look intricate, but these snowflakes are really rather simple to make. All materials, tools and a handout with helpful diagrams will be provided, but I will be on hand to help you create your snowflake too.

So if you are looking for something Christmassy to do on the 4th December in London, please come along. The fair is open from 11-5pm and as well as workshops there will also be lots of stalls selling gorgeous handmade items (perfect for giving as gifts!) and even a live choir to really get you into the festive spirit.

For more details about the event, go check out the We Make London blog here.


I have also been gradually adding lots of new jewellery pieces to my Folksy shop, and there are still more to come (plus I am always willing to do custom orders) so if you've started your Christmas shopping (or want to treat yourself ;-) ) then head over to my shop here. Below are just a few of the new pieces I've been busily listing.

N

XOXO

Earrings, earrings, everywhere...yes, it's craft fair time!

Remember that copper earring display stand I bought at the Big Bead Show? Well, I spent much of my Sunday and yesterday evening working on trying to fill it with earrings! The reason being, I taking Hollybird Beads off to it's first craft fair on the 20th November, so I every spare minute I have in the next 2 weeks is being spent beading so I don't end up with an empty looking stall. If anyone is local to North London and fancies visiting the fair, you can find all the details here.


Here's a sample of the earrings I've been making the last few days.

I still have one more row of the stand to fill up though, so I will be making more earrings tonight whilst I enjoy the second episode of Kirstie's Handmade Home.

For a bit of a break from earrings I also made up another snowflake - but I attached some ribbon to this one so it can be used as a Christmas tree decoration.

Think I will have to make up a couple more to go on the silvery tree I bought from Paperchase last year. I also hope to bring you some exciting news about these snowflakes this week - so keep your eyes peeled!


Thanks for reading

N
XOXO

Folksy Friday...piggie in the middle

I do love pigs...and since me and my bf have been exchanging emails this week mostly featuring youtube videos of some ultra cute micro pigs, I have decided to make them the theme for my Folksy Friday post this week.









1.) I love this little piggie soft toy from Dottie Doodle - lovely chocolate brown patterned  cord-type fabric with bright pink ears and a nose you just want to squish
2.) This pig cushion by Keleasel has a wonderful abstract quality and also looks like it would be nice to snuggle into on your sofa
3.) I really like the unusual pose of this ceramic piggie by Toucan Ceramics - and his adorable black eye patch too

4.) This mini pigling polymer clay creations from Quernus Crafts are incredibly sweet - I'd love to have a whole row of them living on the mantlepiece in my bedroom
5.) This decoupage style pig created by PrettyRose by Roosmarie reminds me of making papier-mache money boxes at school, but this one has way more finesse than we had slapping paper onto a balloon. I love this piggie's turquoise snout too ( I actually think I bucked the trend of doing pigs and made a whale instead!)
6.) I have always enjoyed puzzles so this one of a pot bellied pig by Puzzles In Wood really floats my boat - plus it would look lovely as a stand alone ornament.

The Big Bead Show

Sandown Racecourse was the setting once again for The Big Bead Show on Saturday...and being a lover of all things beady, naturally I had to pop along to see what was on offer. I couldn't make the previous one in April, but I was pleased to see that there were as many, if not more, stands than there had been at the October 2009 show, all jam packed with beads, findings, tools, book, kits and anything else you could think of related to jewellery making.

There were also the British Bead Awards finalists to go and coo over - I was particularly impressed by the geometric necklace in the seed bead category which had made fantastic use of bugle beads (which I am always ultra scared to use incase they manage to slice through my fireline!).

So, I hear you ask, what did I buy?

Some faux suede thongs in shades of dark forest green, purple and silvery grey....

An earring display stand which will come in very handy for the craft fair I am having a stall at in November...

I treated myself to a couple of strands of semi-precious beads - these ones are a kind of agate with a gorgeous frosted/matt appearance...

And some more faceted agate rounds...the camera doesn't do these justice as in real life they are a gorgeous deep purple, but this photo makes them look black.

I'm all about embellishment and fringing at the moment so I had to buy these gorgeous crystal rounds and bicones...and some more tiny glass hearts too.

 

I also bought a bumper pack of silver-lined size 8s and 3mm fire-polished crystals for a potential exciting project I may have coming up...will post more details when I know that things are definitely going to happen as I don't want to jinx it!

With the craft fair in mind, I also bought a few jewellery boxes to display some of my pieces in on my stall.

And finally, these flower findings caught my eye - I think they could work well with my daisy motifs - and whilst I was browsing the same stall I also spotted these tiny glass flowers to add to my flower bead collection.

So that's my purchases accounted for...all I have to do now is find time to bead so I can fill that earring stand come the end of this month!

Thanks for reading

N :)