More Bead-a-holic Shopping

I had to go to work on Saturday so when I got home I did some comfort shopping bead buying to treat myself. Does anyone else do that? I'm sure it can't just be me.

Here's what I bought. And the seller has a sale on at the moment 30% off for the next 3 days. Use code 30FOR3 at checkout.She's got some gorgeous stuff!

Purple Amethyst Collection

Monet Waterlilies Collection

Disressed Polymer Clay Cubes

Distressed Faceted Beads

I am a Bead-a-holic

My stash of beads has reached a near critical mass. I'm sure G would say that happened a long time ago.

I'm wondering if I admit to what I buy on my blog I will slow down my rate of buying, or will it just enable others to buy too!

But I'll give it a go.

Thursday I bought 4 strands of beads from Beads Direct (where I work as a packer making kits and packing orders, and some time designing the occasional item.) They have a £1.50 a string promotion on at the moment and I couldn't resist a few strings.

I bought:-

Small Crystal Quartz Chips

 

 

Red Jasper Chips

Red Aventurine Chips

 

 

Yellow Turquoise 6mm Rounds

 

And then this morning, after reading about Wingsmith2010 listing glass cabochons in her shop on her blog, I bought 2 of the 3 she had listed for sale.

I brought the gemstone chips home with me, and will hopefully receive the cabochons soon! I'm not sure what I will make with them, but they were just so pretty, especially the skull one. I couldn't resist!

Wordless Wednesday - Inspired by Peacocks

Tutorial Peacock Necklace - Beading pattern PDF by Ellad2

Watercolor Teal Peacock Painting - JessicaIllustration

Laptop Case 13 inch MacBook Pro Sleeve in Peacock

Unusual Faceted Glass Bracelet - by JoJosbeads

Red Peacock Feather Print Chaise Longue

Creative Chaos Blog Challenge - Geek Inspired!

Skye at Creative Chaos Blog set a challenge at the end of May in Honour of Fathers day.

"Raid the tool box, the junk drawer, or visit the hardware store to use up some of your pocket change ;) Then make a piece of jewelry out of your toolbox find / hardware store purchase and share it in your blog on June 16th."

 I asked G for some random "manly" junk I could upcycled and he gave me a grip-seal bag containing this.

 

My first thought on this bags of goodies was to make a rainbow bracelets but when I looked in to my stash of findings, none of my ribbon clamps were the right size.

Then I checked out the resistors but I couldn't get them clean enough. They were a bit rusty and dark in places. I'll look into how to clean them for the future though as I have some idea of what to make with them.

So I carried on with the bit of circuit board. I found I could cut it with my wire cutters which was a good sign and it didn't leave a sharp edge either. Bonus! So I even off all the edges and cut it in half so I could make two pieces from it.

I glued on a vintage escutcheon that I bought from a  vintage shop then wired on round tigers eye beads and some bronze tone butterfly connectors. 

I improvised a way to connect the cord by making spirals from the same wire that I made the eyepins from and clamping the cord ends in place.

Then onto the next piece of circuit board! I just love the patina on these keyholes!

And I thought I'd see what a similar pendant would look like with a chunky vintage style curb chain.

These are nice simple earrings using what I think may be LEDS? I've threaded patterned bone beads onto the wires that came out from them and used them like ball ended headpins for a quick fix pair of earrings.

Etsy is down at the moment but I'm hoping to get everything listed later today when I'm sure the glue has set properly and when Etsy is back up again after it's scheduled maintenance.

 Other Participants doing this blog hop challenge are:-

Skye - http://skyescreativechaos.blogspot.com/

Marlene Cupo - http://amazingdesigns-marlene.blogspot.com/

Pookledo - http://pookledo.blogspot.com/

Julie Anne - http://www.thepeacefulbead.com/

Shelley Graham Turner - http://www.shelleygrahamturner.blogspot.com/

Leslie Wayment - http://www.aabeadsonline.com/blog/

Sherri Stokey - http://www.KnotJustMacrame.com/

ingetraud - http://ingetraud.wordpress.com/

Dyanne Everett-Cantrell - http://deelitefuljewelrycreations.blogspot.com/

Keri Lee Sereika - http://pinklemonade.typepad.com/my_weblog/2012/06/something-from-his-world-blog-hop.html

Shaiha - http://shaihasramblings.blogspot.com/

Check out what they have done for their fathers day inspired challenge!

Wednesday Wishlist

I've been doing far too much spending these days for someone who is wanting to declutter...

So here's a Wishlist Wednesday. Things I'm tempted to buy

Bindi - Mixed Media on Canvas

Whimsical Painting - Art Print

Grandpas Garden I - Print

Blue Orchid Yarn

LUNA - Custom made shoes

Zombie Mummy T-shirt

Hathern Carnival Photos

Had a lovely day at the Carnival yesterday and actually managed to take some photos for once. I really do have to get in the habit of taking more photos!

Me in pink with Jo from JojosBeads

A selection of my wares

And some of Jo's

And I think this gorgeous creatures has to get the award for cutest dog of the day. I just love his red white and blue hat! I couldn't resist taking a photo. Can yous ee the cute baby with a sleepsuit with ears on in the background too?

More photos of some of the great stalls I saw and brilliant people I met coming soon...

Diamond Jubilee Celebrations

Just finishing a few last minute items for the Hathern Diamond Jubilee Carnival and Parade later today where I will be sharing a stall with Jojosbeads who is bringing lots of her Swarovski Crystal beauties with her.

The weather is forecasting no rain, but luckily we are inside a marquee so if we get the odd splash we should be fine in there.

I finally got round to taking a photo of my new sterling silver earrings to put in my shop. I've been out of earrings for ages so it's time I started filling up my earrings section again.

Hope the weather stays good for whatever you decide to do on this bank holiday.

Are you spending the extra time doing crafting like me?

Busy Bees, Bookcrossing and Bulk Sales

 

So busy!

I've booked tickets for me and Grom to go to the Bookcrossing Unconvention in Colchester. I haven't booked a hotel yet but we have tickets for the weekend and the ghost walk.

I've listed some wholesale listings on my etsy shop. Feel free to pimp them out to anyone you know who might be interested in buying in bulk
 
I went to London for the day on Saturday. I went to Covent Garden and then to a bookcrossing meet in Westminster. Then after that has a wander to Portobello market in Notting Hill. I bought a lovely dolls house tea set that I'm going to make some jewellery with.

 Made a few bracelets today which was nice, and planted some of my courgettes out into the garden.

Challenge Bracelets #13 and #14

Beige Recycled Button Cuff Bracelet

I still haven't forgotten about my challenge to make and document a bracelet a week in 2012. I am a little behind on taking photos though as I'm also trying to get up to 100 items in my Etsy shop too. (71 so far!)

I've got a couple of craft fairs coming up, the next one being at an Eco centre, so I thought I'd make a few more obviously recycled items.

Pale Turquoise and Peach Recycled Cuff Bracelet

And I'm part way through a free pattern tutorial for these too which hopefully I'll get posted in the next week or so.

Etsy Voucher for Mothers Day!

Special offer for Mothers day! 20% Voucher to use in my etsy shop. Just use the code MUM2012 when paying for your order. Treat your Mum! http://www.etsy.com/shop/Pookledo

Hand Dyed Thread - Challenge Bracelets #7 8 9 10 11 12

I love Etsy and I love finding artist made materials to combine with my reclaimed materials so when I found The Rainbow Girl I just had to try out some of her lovely thread so I bought these!

I found a few second hand bangles prime for upcycled so got together with a few simple macrame knots and started working away and came up with these stacking bangles.

I've listed them individually on Etsy so that people can choose what charm they fancy or combine them with other bangles they own for their own personalized set of bangles. 

Half Century in my Etsy Shop

I've been plugging away at it and finally got up to 50 items in my Etsy shop. I read in an article that to get a decent amount of traffic through your shop you out to have at least 100 items so that's what I'm aiming for and I'm half way.

My 50th item listed was this Rose Quartz chunky bangle. I'm a sucker for semi precious gemstone ships. I love the irregular shape of them, showing off that they are a natural stone.

Rose quartz is also the stone of Unconditional love, so ideal for a Mothers Day Gift.





And of course, the Rose Quartz bangle joins the other bangles I have made in this design. Quartz Crystal and Red Coral

Happy Monday! - And Hard Work Does Pay Off

I guess hard work does pay off! I spent most of yesterday doing my self employed work. I took photos for Etsy listings, wrote Etsy listings, made earrings and posted them out to one of my agents, and experimented with new designs.
 

 I also tweeted, facebooked, caught up with blog reading and entered a beading competition at Operation Tackle that Bead Stash.

I always check my email first thing in the morning, and I have received a large (for me) PayPal payment for something I was decluttering, had an item featured on Cuteable,

And one of the items with a new photograph has been featured in an Etsy Treasury! I guess those new photographs were definitely worth it!

Amethyst and Chrysotine

I'm still loving the green and purple combination at the moment.

I was drawn to it after being asked to make a commission piece by the owner of Suedo Designs using the two colours, and then again by Beads Direct for the designer blog challenge.

So my latest listings on Etsy had to be purple and green!

Amethyst and Chrysotine Earrings

Amethyst and Chrysotine Necklace

All Change!

I was feeling like the blue was a little depressing so had a very quick change over to red and I think I like it. I might change again when I get bored though!

I'm off  to London on Saturday to see some Bookcrossers. I love making friends and meeting people I've chatted with on the internet. I've done it loads and they are always so lovely.

I'm feeling quite disallusioned with my Etsy shop at the moment. I think it needs a set style to give it a bit of oomph. I like the items that I make, but I'd love the shop itself to look better. Haven't figured it out yet. I might just retake all of the photos. Any suggestions welcome of course! I want to get it just so.

And in good news, I've got an article in Creative Crafting magazine this month! I'm quite pleased with myself over that one They'd even used my photo as well as my tutorial.It's free to read online