June Bugs go floral!

I won't have time to do much blogging over the next week as I'm going to a wedding and then have to prepare for my first craft fair. I'm quite excited about the fair but a little bit worried too as I have never done it before. Not sure if I have invested to much in packaging but I thought a purchase looks nicer if it comes in pretty packaging. We'll see how it goes.  In the mean time I have been listing every day in my Folksy shop as a member of the June Bugs.  I have picked the floral themed items listed today. They are very varied and pretty. Click on the picture and you will be whisked off to their respective shops.

I'm afraid I didn't make any floral items, mine were inspired by the Pirates of the Carribean and have Black Pearls in them. Hope you like them, I'm quite partial to them myself.

June Bugs are busy bees!

I've not had much time to get creative recently but fortunately I have quite a stack of pretty things prepared  for this months listing club, the June Bugs.  Other busy June Bugs have also made lots of gorgeous items and I will show a nice selection of them as well as some of my own.

And here are a few pretty items I have made

Couldn't sleep last night.

Last night I was lying awake and my mind was whizzing with ideas to make stuff.  I had bought some gorgeous red pearls from Madcowbeads and was totally at a loss what to do with them. On one of my wanderings about I walked past some red spotted fabric and a little light bulb came on.  Today I actually started of with some of it.

This is the pile of materials I started with.  I have some spotty fabric, some iron-on vylene, wooden skewers and large wooden beads.  I was being supervised by a sleepy feline who had stowed away in a cardboard box.

 Fortunately he was very sleepy and stayed in his box so I managed to get on and give a couple of different bead styles a try.  I made some barrel beads an inch long and just under half an inch diameter, some titchy "bi-cone" ones and covered three large wooden beads as well.  I have made the bi-cone type before but I had never covered wooden beads or tried to make really tiny ones either.

 Tomorrow I will add the gorgeous pearls to it and post the results.  Please let me know what  you think.

Last of the Mayhem

Commission necklace finished!

I finally finished my commission necklace. My customer was very happy with it. Here is a picture of the finished necklace.  In the first picture my daughter  is modelling, in the second it is shown in more detail.

Some more Mayhem!

AnnaKingJewellery, Whimsical Wren, AprilisForever, CottonsAndDreams, LittleRedRobin, Withhugsandkisses, JAusten Jewellery, SteampunkStorm, GladysAndAlbert

Just a few of the lovely things on offer by the Mayhem listers. A bit of a blue theme.

Necklace under construction

I have been working on the necklace I have been asked to make. It has been great fun and it is nearly finished.  Here is what I have been doing:

 I collected the various materials, memory wire, beadalon rubber tubing and some large ribbed, red wood beads

Threading the wire through the tubing. That was a lot easier than I expected and it gives a really nice finish. I shall have to see what other colours are available.

The beads slide on very easily but the holes are a little too big and the beads won't stay in place.

I decided to locate the three beads together by drilling them and pinning them together.  It was "fun" to try, as my drill bit was a little bit too short and my tiny drill not quite powerful enough and I spend ages getting the first hole drilled. I borrowed a small drill and achieved what I wanted in a minute flat! I guess good tools are worth the money you pay for it.

 Here are all the elements of the necklace. I solved the problem of the holes which were too large by using some small, black,wooden beads either side of the red ones.  I had to ream the centres a little to fit over the rubber tubing but they really finish them of nicely. It will be a necklace in two parts, the three bead choker is one part and the slightly longer necklace that lies lower on the neck. Tomorrow I will finish of the ends and then it's ready for it's first inspection. Hopefully my customer will like it, but in any case it has been a great learning experience.