Crafted Gems Lampwork and Jewellery

New Blog

2011-01-07T21:06:00.001Z

I'm not longer posting on this blog, please see my new blog 'Caroline's Crafty Adventures' for all my future crafty stuff!

Etsy Changes

2010-11-21T13:27:00.002Z

I know I've been a bad blogger but things have been very quiet here since I got back off holiday. Anyway Etsy have made some changes to there shops meaning you can now offer discount codes for your shop so to try it out I'm offering 25% off with the code TWEETCRAFTEDGEMS5, a long code I know but it was all I could think off at the time, lol.

The other change is you can now list items in £ instead of $ so I'm not sure what to do about that but I'll be having a good think about it over the next few days.

Shining Stars

2010-10-08T15:59:00.004+01:00

Not much to say except I love making these!

I won!!!!!!!

2010-10-06T14:38:00.003+01:00

I entered a retweet compition on Twitter and won!!! My prize arrived today containing 15 balls of King Cole Dreams Chunky yarn and 2 pattern sheets and some vouchers from Deramores. I'm over the moon as it's very rare that I win anything. I just need to decide which pattern to knit now!

FO: Travelling Woman Shawl

2010-10-03T18:09:00.003+01:00

My Travelling Woman shawl is done and blocked. The bottom photo is a bit pants, it was hard to photograph it and get it to lay stright on the rug and the light is rubbish here today (it's only just stopped rainning here) but I wanted to take a picture to show everyone, the stitch definition of the Zauberball I used to make it is amazing. I would of normally modelled it as well given the weather but this is desistined for someone else.

Crazy Dots

2010-09-24T13:12:00.002+01:00

Okay so the photo of the red bead s rubbish but the light is alful here today. I went a bit crazy with the dots this week. I am completly in love with both the top bead and the set below, these are completely different than my usual beads so I'd love to know what you think.

FO: Embrace

2010-09-13T18:21:00.002+01:00

After finishing the knitting on Saturday and then sewing up and blocking it my Embrace cardigan is finished and it's my favorite cardigan so far. This one is in cotton but I'm tempted to knit one in wool for winter. You'll have to excuse the photo but my Husband is ofshore again and my Little Man was trying to watch Ben 10 while taking a picture so I resorted to using the hall mirror for help. The pattern is called Embrace and is by Kim Hargreaves and is from the Misty book.

it's not a snowflake

2010-09-11T12:59:00.003+01:00

Okay it dose look a bit like a snowflake but it wasn't intentional, I just picked colours that I thought would look good together. I'm rather impressed with how this bead came out and think the pink dots really make it stand out that bit more but it's a pain in the bum to photograph. I have more of these planned but for now this one is avaible on Etsy.

Beads!!!!!!

2010-09-10T13:31:00.004+01:00

I've managed to get a few sets of beads made this week, these are some of the ones that are going on my website today, there is some more but these are for myself and I'll show you them over the weekend. I seem to have had a bit of a thing for pinks and purples recently and this continued this week but in stronger shades and fresulted in the above nuggets. The beads below use raku frit that I found in my frit draw while looking for the frit for the above beads. I love raku frit and this time it seems to have gone into shades of blue and pink this time that really seems to go with the green base colour I used!

Popular Crafts Magazine

2010-09-08T18:49:00.006+01:00

Well I've been having 'one of those weeks' this week so when I checked my post box today (we don't have a normal letter box but a box attached to the front of the house) I found a copy of Popular Crafts Jewellery special with an interview with yours truely in it but what really made my day was seeing my beads and name on the front!!!! It certainly brightened up my day!

Waving Lace Socks

2010-08-25T09:09:00.003+01:00

I know there's still no new beads, I promise there will be soon, in fact I'm planning on getting some made tomorrow! Last week though we went upto Aberdeen with Hubby as he was working up there. As we where driving up I thought the perfect car knitting would be a pair of socks as they are small and compact. The pattern is Waving Lace Socks by Evelyn A Clark from the book Favorite Socks and the yarn is some handpainted superwash yarn I got off Etsy, it was hard to get the colours to come up but they are blue and green and I'm quite pleased with how they came out. I also used my new knitpro needles to knit these, they are only 10cm long so just the right size for socks.

Apple Cake with Cider

2010-08-13T15:53:00.000+01:00

Need I say anything else except nom nom nom!!!!!

Little Shells

2010-08-10T13:15:00.002+01:00

I know, more knitting no new beads! But I do have a very good reason for that! Last week I went out to the shed and turned the kiln on and it wasn't working. After a few attemps to get it working (turning it on and off) Hubby came out and took it inside and opened it up. After a bit of looking at the insides of my kiln he decided it was most likely the relay had gone. I managed to find one on the internet and once it had turned up and been fitted the kiln sprung back to life. Unfotunatly this was the same day that my Husband was going back off shore and with it being the school holidays I've not managed to get back into the shed to use it.

Anyway about the knitting, I found this little shawl on Raverly and just fell in love with it, it's knitted in DK weight yarn so it was a quick and easy knit, I started it on Sunday, finished and pinned it out to block it yesterday and this morning it was all dry and ready to photograph. The yarn is Rowan RYC silk wool in Milk that I got in the January sale at John Lewis, I got 6 balls at the time and this used just under 2 so I've got another 4 to use up, I'm thinking of making a berret to wear with the shawl and maybe some fingerless mitts as well.

FO: Bunny Cushion

2010-07-28T13:22:00.003+01:00

I found a knitting magazine in my local supermarket yesterday that I hadn't come accross before and it in was a booklet with quick and easy knits. One of the patterns was for a bunny cushion and my Son moaned for hours till I finally gave in this morning and put down my current knitting project. I dug around in my statsh to find left over yarn in the right weight and my son picked out some cream and red. The only problem I have with this project is that it calls for 5mm needles, my gauge is correct according to the pattern but I think 4mm or 4.5mm needles may have been better as it would of given a more closely knit fabric that would lkook better onces it's stuffed but it's used up some of my leftovers and my son loves it!!!

FO: Adrift

2010-07-25T18:16:00.003+01:00

First off you'll have to excuse the photo, my Hubbys working away so I took this myself and in the hall mirror, lol. A week and a bit ago I showed you a picture of a WIP and now it's finished, this is my Adrift cardigan. It's a great lightweight cardi in laceweight yarn, it's really lightweight and I can see me wearing it loads! I gave details of the designer etc in my last post so if you want to knit one of your own then the details are there!!

Lilac Glasses

2010-07-23T10:03:00.006+01:00

I came across some pale lavender and lilac glass this week while deciding what to make, these beads are really not what I went into the shed to make, I went in fully intending to make some encased beads but these colours where just crying out to be made into this style of beads.

I don't think I've ever used these colours for fritties so I had a bit of a play with them with frit and after I had a rumage through my frit draw I found some delicate purple frit (below) for the lilac glass.

This last photo isn't the best but I feel I'm finally getting there with my new camera and these beads are pale and delicate looking, I am so tempted to keep a set of these but I don't really suit pale colours like these.

Gah!!!! Hard beads to Photograph

2010-07-16T14:12:00.005+01:00

Both of these beads sets are made from the same base of blue transparent glass and both sets have been driving me round the bend today. In really like you can see the patterns on boths sets of beads but once photographed you just can't see. The set above has white frit on them that reminds me of fluffy white wispy clouds on a bright blue sky. The set below is a mixture of dots and stringer work in an opaque blue. For some reason this shade is so hard to photo and this is the best I've managed, I even resorted to my old camera to get these photo's!!!!

WIP-Adrift

2010-07-15T13:38:00.002+01:00

This is my current knitting WIP or work in progress. The pattern is called Adrift by Carol Feller of Stolen Stitchies, I found the pattern through Ravelry and instently knew I had to knit myself one and bought the pattern, the cardigan is knitted in lave weight yarn and after some looking round and pricing different yarns up I decided to use the yarn the pattern suggested which is Malabringo Lace weight in a Forest green colour, this yarn is amazingly soft but as it's lace weight it feels like this is taking forever to knit and it has an amazing stitch definintion which you can see below.

Skylar Socks

2010-07-05T15:57:00.002+01:00

Okay, so I totally forgot to come back and blog about the rest of last weeks beads, I might do that tomorrow instead!!!! Today I finished these Skylar socks from the July issue of Lets Knit! Magazine and I have to say this is the perfect pattern for self striping sock yarn!!! You can't really see the design too much on the leg of these but the pattern makes holes in the socks that spiral round the leg slightly.

Desk Tidy Beads

2010-07-01T14:15:00.003+01:00

I'm going to put my hands up and say right now that I'm a messy bead maker, I generally don't tidy my desk where my torch is too often and yesterday I noticed it really needed a clean! Then I noticed that there where quite a few rods of glass on my desk that only had one or two bead's worth of glass left in them and I have a whole jar's worth of rods like this too so in order to use the glass I've made all these beads, they are either plain colours with fine silver wire melted in or dots on them! I'm going to list them on Etsy later on today and I'll show you the rest of this weeks beads tomorrow!

Hectic

2010-05-24T12:49:00.003+01:00

I've been a bad blogger again!!!! I've not blogged in a while and I really did mean too but things have been kinda crazy here. I was going to blog last weekend but we ended up booking a last minute holiday so it's been all hands on deck getting us ready for that. Luckierly the end is in site and we go on Friday, I just need to make sufre everythings washed, ironed and packed now! So this will be my last update before we fly out to Dubai on Friday, I'll updated with some snaps of Dubai when we return.

Perfecting dots

2010-04-30T11:52:00.002+01:00

My fantastic friend Helen P came over this week and while she was here asked if she could have a go of my torch to see what it was like as her's is a different brand. Anyway she'd brought some beads with her to show me so while she was sat at my torch I asked her to show me a few things, mainly the raked dotty beads you can see in this photo but even just watching her place normal dots on a bead was good so I've had a play and done them her way, I had a few beads break in half cause I let them get too cold but I found it much easier to get nice small dots and easier to place them too so I want to say a big thank you to her for taking the time to show me, I'll be making more of these next week and hopefully I'll perfect dots so that I don't end up with loads of beads in my water glass.

Baking

2010-04-27T16:15:00.003+01:00

People who have been reading my blog for at least a year or longer will know I love to bake. I do go through stages with baking lots and then not at all but I do love to bake when I'm in the mood. Last week I got a new book when doing my weekly food shop called 'Eat Me!' by Cookie Girl which just looked too good not to buy and since then I have had the urge to bake but not the ingreadients so today I decided I just had too and this is the result, I made Blackforest Cupcakes and Lemon Creme Fingers, yummy!! I'd defiantly recomend this book, everything in it looks fantastic!

A long forgotton Press

2010-04-23T15:41:00.004+01:00

I finally got back into the shed this week after the Easter holidays and running out of gas while Hubby was stuck ofshore (thanks to the Volcano) and I managed to make loads of new fritties in my first session of the week (pictures of these and all of this weeks beads can be seen on flickr) but I was just browsing flickr the other day when I noticed that someone had made a lovely pair of earrings with some beads they had bought off me at least 2 years ago. They where crystal shaped and I suddenly remembered I had this press in my shed! It's been sat there gathering dust so I just had to get it out and have a play. I just love this press, definaly my favorite one to use so a big thank you to Mary who reminded me I had it!!!!

Not much to say- Photo Fest

2010-03-18T18:53:00.010Z

Even more dots!!!

2010-03-12T12:56:00.002Z

So my obsession with dots has contiuned this week. I love making these dotty beads and I've been playing with some nre frit blends for my fritties as well (pictures of those on flickr). I do have to say that it's not looking like I've mkade many beads recently but I have had a few orders to do as well as other day to day things getting in the way of my beadmaking. I'm hoping to be more productive next week and make lots of new beads to show you, well thats the plan anyway!

Nautical

2010-03-05T09:59:00.002Z

I've gone a bit nautical this past week, it started when I bought some nautical style colthes last weekend and then it crept into my beadmaking, lol. I love these colours togehter and I'm impressed how these came out especally as I'm not normally good at applying stringer to beads.
What do you think?

Sock Animals

2010-03-01T12:23:00.004Z

I seem to be collecting lots of odds and ends of sock yarn as I knit more and more socks and it seems a shame that my scrap yarn bag is getting fuller and fuller. The other week I was browsing Ravelry when I found patterns for a sock monkey and sock piggy. I just love sock monkeys and already own one called Marvin that I bought from Etsy which my DS os always pinching so as these take so little yarn I decided to knit him one. It came out better than I hopped it would and I'm really pleased with it and so is he. My little sister watched me knit parts of the monkey too and decided she wanted one for her birthday. This was last Wednesday and I still had this one to finish and as her birthdays today we sat down and had a look at alternatives that would knit up quickier (so it could be done in time), we settled on a piggy. The snout looked a bit fiddly so I decided to use a lampwork button I'm made that my Little Sister had been eyeing up for week, the piggy only took 2 days and she's not seen it yet so fingers crossed she likes it.

Going Dotty

2010-02-26T11:38:00.003Z

As you can see I went a bit dotty this week, I'm not sure where the urge came from to make dotty beads but the urge did take me, I go through times when I just can't make them and it's fustrating but this week it came to me, which is good cause I love dotty beads, you can make them as bright and colourful as you dare really and the colours you use can make 2 sets with the same amount of dots per bead look completely different, so what do you think?

2010-02-12T12:08:00.003Z

I seem to have had some of those busy weeks this week where I always seem to be doing something but don't seem to be getting much done! I did have some fun in my shed however, well until it started snowing (my shed is ever so slightly drafty, lol).

As a lot of you know I love to encased beads and I rediscovered some powders silver glass frit in one of my draws this week so I've been playing with that as well as some transperent frits I found at the back of the same draw (note to self: I need to organise my frit better, lol) so please pop over to my site and take a look at these. Also please see my last post about the charity autions for Haiti!!!

In aid of Haiti

2010-02-07T20:06:00.003Z

The Collective are doing another charity auction in aid of Haiti, this is the second aution for us (I was suppost to be in the first auction but was moving house the same week so was upto my eye balls). The Collective has been organised by the super talented Mel of Kookie Designs and the auction lots are up on the site now (the above beads are mine and in lot 12) and there is some fantastic lots up for grab, for more info please click here.

Silver Cores

2010-02-04T20:33:00.003Z

I've been a bit quiet on the blog front recently but I promise I'll be better, lol! I've been bashing some silver cores this week and there is 4 new beads on the website. I had fun bashing these in, it's the best form of stress releif, lol!

Boro Beads

2010-01-22T12:17:00.003Z

I had an order for boro bead sthis week and while I had the boro out I made these as well, I need to play with this glass more and hopefully next week I'll get chance too as it's like discovering reactions between different colours all over again. I've also been trying out a different clear glass for encasing soft glass beads and these are now up on the website.

The photo's are still slightly naff as I'm still using my compact camera but I now have a new battery charger on order for my SLR and as soon as that comes I'll retake all the photo's so please bare with me.

At Last!!!!!!!

2010-01-15T12:00:00.003Z

I finally managed to make it to my studio (shed) this week now DS's school is open again and the snow has started to go and I really must say it was very very cold!!! The shed I'm using was in the garden when we moved in and isn't insulated and is every so slightly damp!! Hubby did say when we moved it was only until we had chance to get a new one so I hope it won't be too long cause I don't fancy another winter in a cold damp shed!!!

Anyway I cranked the heater upto full and started making and I encased nearly everything! I used to encased a lot and still do make encased beads quite often but this last year I've kinda had a love/hate relationship with encasing, where sometimes it just goes soooo wrong and I can't encased at all but this week it just came to me and nearly every bead was perfect, I was a happy little encaser!!!! Think I might do more encasing next week ;-)

First Post of 2010

2010-01-05T07:58:00.003Z

For my first post of 2010 I'm doing a speical offer for all the people on my mailling list and who read my blog, I'm offering a free set of fritties or a focal bead for every order from my website or Etsy shop, please put 'FRITTIES' or 'FOCALS' in the message to seller box when paying.

I was planning on making my first beads of the new year today but the snow has had other idea's.

Caroline x

Knitted Bow

2009-12-17T11:38:00.002Z

Last night I just fancied a quick little knitting project that wouldn't take long at all and I was browsing Raverly when I remembered that this little project was in my queue of projects. This only took about 45mins to make (with my little one boucing around next to me, lol) and it's perefct for using any scraps of wool as you can use any weight of wool you want and add more or less stitchies to make it bigger or smaller. This one is going to my little sister as I think I'm far too old for bows in my hair!

Updated my website

2009-12-11T11:56:00.003Z

I think a theme is appearing with my recent beads, I've gone slightly overboard on swirly and heart shapped beads, I just love making both of these types of beads at the moment and I really like the purple glass I used in the heart at the top, it's not quite opaque and not quite transparent. These beads are now on my website with some more I've made this week so please take a look.

New Beads

2009-12-04T14:06:00.003Z

I've been busy making beads this week in kinda festive colours, okay so the top set isn't exactly festive colours but this bottom set and the rest of the beads I've made are definatly in festive colours, I love3 the red in the heart set below and there is also a frosted heart shapped bead as well as a snowflake type focal so pop along to my site or flickr to take a look.

Cardigan

2009-11-19T17:00:00.003Z

I've been a bad blogger, I've not blogged for over a week and I didn't show you last weeks beads!! I thought I had, sorry! Anyway I've finally finished my biggest knitting project to date, this lovely cardigan and I'm very impressed with it, it took me a while cause I kept getting distracted by socks (got another pair on the go now). I like the finished item although sewing it up wasn't much fun, lol.

Tidepool Socks

2009-11-12T17:52:00.003Z

Yippeeee!! I finished my second pair of socks. The pattern for these is from Ravelry and it's nice and simple to knit, the only thing I didn't like about the pattern is that the socks are too short for my liking on the leg bit but it's not something I thought about while knitting them and it's something to think about when knitting my next pair, apart from that they are fab.

Embers

2009-11-10T16:44:00.002Z

As a beadmaker I sometimes wonder whats happened to beads, sometimes people email you to show you what they've made and this is what happened yesterday. Embers was made by Elizabeth of Evy Design and pictures of it appeared in my inbox yesterday, it's stunning and she's really made my Cosmic Pink beads pop, whats more the beads where only bought at the end of last week!!! Talk about fast work and the wirework is so neat! You can check out more of Elizabeths work here.s

Free Fritties!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-11-09T10:39:00.002Z

I've been a bit of a bad blogger recently so I've decided to extend the offer I did to my mailling list to my blog readers (if there is any of you left that is, I must blog more).

To Celebrate the Royal Mail Strikes being cancelled I'm offering a free set of fritties on all orders from my website and Etsy shop, all you have to do is put the word 'FRITTIES' in the message to seller box at the paypal checkout, offer ends midnight on Thursday.

Beads!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-10-30T12:14:00.003Z

It's been Half Term this week and I actually got to my shed!!!!!!! These are some of the beads I made, I have this love/hate relationship with pink. I love the pink glass I used for the core of these beads but it's a pain in the bum to use, lol, and pink is never a colour I wear myself as it just dosen't suit me but in glass form I love it!!!! I seem to have got my encasing mojo back too as I'm encasing loads! Anyway I hope you like them.

My First Handknitted socks

2009-10-26T16:31:00.003Z

I've finally finished knitting my first pair of socks!!! My friend Alison has been telling me for ages to have a go at knitting myself and that once I got the hang of knitting that socks wouldn't be that hard!!! These where tricky, well the first sock was and it was a bit stop start as I kept calling my Mum so she could explain the pattern but once the first sock was done the second only took a few days. The next pair I have planned is a bit more complicated.

Knitting

2009-10-19T14:31:00.003+01:00

I totally forgot about my blog last week. Well not totally but by the time our Hub arrived for the broadband in our new house I was that busy catching up on everything I forgot about my blog. Mind you I've been trying to catch up on forums as well but no actually posted on them.

Anyway it's a bit late to show you the beads I made last week as they are already on my website so I though I'd show you my knitting. These are 2 of the 3 scarf's I've made so far, the top one being mine and the bottom one my sisters who wanted one like mine but in pink. The other scarf is a plain red one for my Son and not as interesting as these, lol. I've got the knitting bug now though and currently have 2 projects on the go, I've finished one sock (need a quite half an hour to start the other one off) and I've done the back and started one of the sides of a cardigan for myself which is quite a big waterfall style one so the sides are BIG, lol.

I'm still here

2009-10-09T11:12:00.004+01:00

I'm still here, the house move went okay and my studio is now up and running and managed to get a few hours in there this week so the website had finally been updated.

I've also started knitting so asw soon as we get proper broadband at home I'll show you some (I'm currently at my friends house using her internet, lol)

Moving House

2009-09-22T21:08:00.001+01:00

We're in the process of moving house so I won't be listing any new beads this week, on the plus side I am so excited and tired through decorating but I promise to show you pictures of the house once it's looking all nice!

a weeks worth of beads

2009-09-17T20:23:00.003+01:00

It was my DS's first week at school on full time days this week and this is all the beads i've managed to make? Not a lot is it!!! Well thats mainly cause of the house buying situation and the good news is we get the keys tomorrow and I can upadte my website tomorrow as well, yipeeeee

Apple Cake with Cider

2009-09-12T18:44:00.003+01:00

Ingredients

225g Self Raising flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

75g Butter

75g Caster Sugar

50g Dried Apples

75g Raisins

150ml Sweet Cider

1 egg

175g Raspberries

Seive the flour and baking powder in to a bowl and rub in the butter with your fingers until it resembles breadcrubs. Next add the sugar, apple and raisins and mix.

Pour in the cider and egg and mix together until properly blended and the add the raspberries very gently so they don't break up and pour the mixture into a greased cake tin.

Bake in a preheated oven at 190 for approx 40 minutes until cooked.

Ta da!!!! It's a scrummy scrummy cake and fab with cream, yum!!!

Feeling Sleepy

2009-09-07T17:08:00.002+01:00

I'm not sure whats wrong with me at the moment but for the past few days at about 1pm I start to feel really sleepy like I can no longer keep my eye's open. It's not a nice feeling at all and no amount of coffee can keep me awake.

Now it's not like I'm not sleeping at night or doing anything that I don't normally do. Anyone who knows me knows I'm just not one of these people who can sleep anywhere at anytime and I can't normally sleep during the day cause it just puts my sleep pattern out of wack. Normally I go through periods of struggling to sleep at night but still can't sleep during the day so this is really getting to me, hopefully it will sort it's self out but if it dosen't then I'll have to take myself off to the doctors.

Change in Season

2009-09-03T16:39:00.005+01:00

Well you can tell Autumn is on the way and where I live it's definatly cooler. In fact it's very windy and very rainey and the jumpers have definatly come out. Yesterday when I was taking my DS to school (it was his first day back) I noticed a tree near the school where the leaves where starting to turn in colour, well this reminded me I had lots of amber glass I proberbly haven't used since last autunm.

Well I just had to dig it out and have a play. I know amber and SIS is a classic combo in beadmaking terms and the top 2 sets are nothing fancy but it's nice to keep it simple with a classic combo and I just HAD to etch these. The last set is a set of encased beads with silvered glass frit, well I couldn't resist encasing something, lol.

Back From Stourbridge

2009-08-24T09:02:00.003+01:00

I had a stall at the Stourbridge Bead Fair yesterday and I had a fantastic day. I must say the Bonded Warehouse where it is held is the nicest venue for a bead fair I've been to this year, it's a beautiful building even if it does get a little warm in there (my stall was infront of a big window so there was a lovely breeze coming in). It was great to meet up with everyone again there and meeting new people or people I hadn't met in person before and I had a fantastic day all round. I managed to resist buying any beady goodies even though there was some beads I had my eye on, lol.

I didn't take my camera with me but Richard Downton did so as soon as he post the pictures on flickr I'll post a link here for you all to look at.

i Also updated the website last night and will be updating Etsy as soon as it's back up so please check them out.

I'm still here

2009-08-20T16:15:00.002+01:00

I am still here and I am still making beads. I've had a few orders to do this past week so I've been busy with those and I've also got a bead fair on Sunday at the Bonded Warehouse in Stourbridge so I've been busy making beads for that too. And I've been a bit lazy cause I didn't fancy cleaning them so have cleaned all my beads in one go this afternoon, lol, to see the whole lot please check out my flickr account here.

Etsy

2009-08-12T09:38:00.003+01:00

I'm having a bit of a give away to do with my Etsy shop and thought I'd let you know about it. I'm currently 6 sales (which on Etsy is 6 items) away from 200 sales so for the person who buys my 200th item I'll be sending them a free set of fritties (i'll pick to colour of the set depending on whats in their order) so please pop over to my Etsy shop and have a look round, you can find it here.

Back at the Torch

2009-08-07T14:30:00.003+01:00

Well I got to have my first proper session at the torch since returning off holiday yesterday and as well as making my usual style of beads I had a go at raking dots. This is a technique I've been meaning to try for a while and it keeps being pushed down my list as other things come up, lol, but yesterday I finally got round to it and I like the results. What do you think?

I'm Back

2009-08-02T20:32:00.002+01:00

Well I'm back off holiday, well I've been back since the early hours of Friday morning but I had a bead fair to preper for today, now thats out of the way I've got the job of updating my etsy shop which you can check out here.

I'll post a few pictures from my holiday tomorrow when I've sorted some.

Holiday Countdown: Sunglasses

2009-07-18T12:52:00.002+01:00

Here's my collection of sunglasses that is coming on holiday with me. I'm quite hopeless with sunglasses and have a habit of braking them. Last year I broke a pair the morning we where going away and had to buy another pair from the airport which then broke in April this year so I'm taking 3 pairs with me this year just incase. They are all BIG, I love BIG sunglasses.

Only 5 days to go now, I'm so excited, off to pick up some holiday money in a bit!!!!

Holiday Countdown: Sandles

2009-07-17T17:03:00.002+01:00

We're off to Egypt next Thursday morning for a week and I'm excited so I thought a holiday countdown might be good so I thought I'd give you an insight into whats in my suitcase. I love these sandles and yes I bought them in 2 different colours, they are bright and funky while being in a style I know is comfy and whats more they didn't cost an arm and a leg. I'm thinking I like the blue more than the green but have lots of things that will go with the green. I just love the buckles on them. What else can I say really except I love them, lol.

Sterling Silver ring

2009-07-16T16:13:00.003+01:00

Okay so I bit the bullet and had a go at making a sterling silver ring and here it is. It needs a bit more tidying up but my dremel bit went so I need a new one, what do you think? I don't think it's too bad although maybe I should of started with a plain ring, lol.

Silver Cores

2009-07-15T19:14:00.008+01:00

I've spent the afternoon bashing silver cores into these large holed beads, only 6 out of the 9 beads servived. This blue one at the top is an encased boro bead, I made the beads a while ago but I've not had chance to core them.

These two beads I made a few weeks ago along with a grey/purple fritty one and a beautiful pink one but those chipped when I was putting cores in. I rather like the blue one.

Below is another boro bead with one of my favorite boro frit blends, I just love encased boro beads.

I can't remember when I made this bead but I found it and it hadn't been cored so I put one in, lol, I love the colours but I've since ran out of this frit blend. I've got a bracelet full of normal fritty beads with this same frit that I just love.

Finally is a red bead with filver leaf on it, it was one of those beads I made when I had just enough of the rod left to make one bead and no more of that colour left, I shall have to get more transparent red glass when I next order glass.

Etsy Half Price Sale

2009-07-12T12:02:00.004+01:00

Have you ever totally over prepaired for something? Well thats what I seem to have done. I'm off on holiday on the 23rd, get back on the 31st July and have a bead fair on the 2nd August at Haydock racecourse. Anyway so I'd be ready for it when I get back my aim was to have everything ready before I go. Well I was doing a stocktake of my beads the other day and I've made too much. If I take all these beads with me my stall will look like a jumble sale and it would seem a shame to have them just lying around (some of these beads haven't even been photographed) so as my holiday is nearly here I though a sale in my Etsy shop would be a good idea and you get to buy some of my beads at bargin prices so please pop over to etsy and have a look.

A Wordless Post

2009-07-08T16:44:00.002+01:00

Jewellery

2009-07-05T17:47:00.004+01:00

I've not been feeling very well today, I seem to have caught a bug off my little one so I've been sat on the sofa today, well anyone who knows me and knows what Sunday TV is like will know I got fed up very quickly so the jewellery making stuff came out. The necklace at the top is so chunky it's fantastic, I made the plain coloured beads myself and the silver disks are greek cermaic beads that Melanie from K&M creations got in after I asked if she could get bigger ones.

This set here features my beads as well as some of my Art Clay Silver creations. I keep seeing these slogan bracelets on etsy but wanted one with my own beads so I made the panels out of Art Clay and stamped them and added some of my purple fritties to make the bracelet and the earrings feature some textured ovals as well as more fritties. I have got more but these last teo items are some of the pieces I ment to fire and finish for my week of jewellery back in May that I never got to finish.

Updated my Etsy shop

2009-07-04T10:16:00.002+01:00

I've put some new focal beads on Etsy as well as some other beads. Etsy seems to be an ongoing task and I've been trying to update it every couple of days. It means I now have 47 items in my shop which is a lot for me and some of these items are ending soon so if you look at my older listings I've reduced the price of these items so you might be able to grab a bargin.

I ment to post these the other night

2009-07-01T20:17:00.004+01:00

I ment to do a post with these bead pictures the other night but I couldn't get into blogger and I went to bead and forgot all about it the next morning, lol. The blue retro flower beads are now off to a new home (I'm going to make some more for myself) but I've done a pink version which I really like too.

I also haven't got through all the new frit I bought at the end of May, this is one of the last frit blends I have left to try out, I love these beads, the colours are so subtle. The final set is another set of encased raku frit beads, I'm loving my rediscovery of raku.

Phew!! What a hot day!!!!

2009-06-27T20:41:00.003+01:00

What a hot day it's been today, we've bead to the Trafford Centre and it was so hot and muggy in there, even in the cinema it was hot!!!! Anyway I made these beads yesterday morning, I love this first set, i'm planning on making more of these for myself and I just had to try them in a different colour combo too.

I then came accross my raku firt, It's been a while since I've used any raku so I just had to have a play with it, I love it when it goes all blue like this.

Summer Brights

2009-06-26T13:03:00.003+01:00

I've not had a huge amount of time this week to bead, what with sports day and the Cheshire Show but we've had some fantastic sunshine so I managed to squeeze in some time to make these beads, they are the same as my 'pools' beads that I normally make with silvered glass on a nuteral coloured base but I decided to make them in bright clashing colours and I think they are fab. I've just put them on my website with some of the other beads I made this week so please take a look.

Banoffie Pie

2009-06-18T12:42:00.003+01:00

It was Hubbys birthday last weel and instead of the usual birthday cake he wanted a banoffie pie so me and DS (well just me really, DS wandered off with the bowl) made him his favorite banoffie pie. I took a picture meaning to show you then promply forgot, sorry, but here it is now and it was very nice as well.

Oh and if anyone knows where one of the ends of the barrel for my tumbler is can you please let me know, he seems to have gone on holiday and I have silver clay bits that need a tumble.

Orphan Beads

2009-06-17T08:11:00.003+01:00

I'm over-run with Orphan beads at the moment, there's nothing wrong with these beads but I always make an extra bead for each set incase one is bigger or smaller than the rest etc etc and I just tend to save these up in a tub, well that tub was overflowing yesterday so I've decided to string them up into sets of 16 like this set of 16 fritty beads, there's also a set of 16 encased beads on Etsy, so if you fancy baging yourself a set please check out my Etsy shop here

Summer Sunshine Beads

2009-06-16T16:33:00.003+01:00

Dose anyone else find the weather influences what you make and the colours you want to use? I do big time, it's been beautifully sunny weather here recently and I've found myself making tipically summer beads. The above ones are a beautiful dark bright pink incased in a pale transparent pink rather than clear.

With the sunshine and my holiday fast approaching I've been making more seaside inspired beads, the above one I love, the green in it is just stunning and below is another set of my rockpool beads which I have so much fun making.

A bit of shameless promotion

2009-06-15T10:56:00.002+01:00

Okay I'm doing a bit of shameless self promotion today for my Etsy shop (there's still lots of beads on my website too) where you can find lots of my fritties and lots of my other beads like this set of disks in beautiful shades of blue, I've got 3 pages of beads in my shop now and I'm wondering if anyone goes past the first page and looking at my older listings so I thought if I posted about it here then people might have a good old look round my shop, well it's worth a try ;-)

You can find my Etsy Shop here

Website Update

2009-06-12T10:54:00.003+01:00

It's just a quick not from me today to say I've updated my website with lots and lots of new beads so please stop by and take a look. I was going to make more beads this morning but I burnt my hand last night while making a brew so I've been catching up on the housework instead as my hand still hurts a bit, it should be alright soon :-)

more new beads

2009-06-10T16:53:00.003+01:00

With all this misrable weather we've been having (who stole the sunshine?) I decided to cheer myself up by making some summer and beach inspired beads. Above is my first go at sand doller type beads and below is some lush new frit I have, I got 2 new lots of frit, some from the UK and some from America and I'm slowly working my way through them all but I do love the colours in these.

New Beads At Last

2009-06-08T13:24:00.002+01:00

I got stuck in and had a good old beadmaking session yesterday, I had a few orders to do but once they where done I got to play. These are just 2 of the sets I made, you can see them all on flickr as I made some new fritties with some of the new frits I've had sat on my desk. I wanted to show you these sets as I've rediscovered my love of silver glass, I've not had much time to play with silver glass recently mainly cause of Half Term and my training for my run has ment I've had less 'free' time, I've think I may have now worked out a balance which means I get more torch time and Hubby gets more time on his PS3, lol.

Race for Life 10k- I did it!!!!!!!!

2009-06-06T18:45:00.003+01:00

I did the Race for Life today. It was my first time doing this event and I decided to go for the new 10k distance that they are doing. The event was at Tatton Park, Cheshire and it was very wet, muddy and quite cold but I managed to do it in 57:37, I'm so chuffed I managed to do it in an hour, I did think I'd be longer in the weather and at one point it felt like I was sliding down this muddy hill faster than I was going up it, lol, but I did it and I'm very pleased with myself, I just need to decided what to do next.

P.S. Hubby took this picture of me on the startline, he missed me finishing as DS decided he needed the loo at that moment! Oh well

a breif interuption

2009-05-31T13:54:00.002+01:00

When I started my Week of Jewellery on my blog it slipped my mind that me and Hubby where having a weekend away for our wedding aniversery hence no updates for the past few days. We're going to have a family afternoon together today and they tomorrow I promise I will play catch up as I forgot to set the kiln going with some metal clay before we went!!!!

On the plus side we had a fab tiime and the Bull Ring shoppping centre in Birmingham is fantastic but we'll get the Train next time we go there, lol.

A Week of Jewellery - Day Four

2009-05-28T16:50:00.002+01:00

Day Four of my week of Jewellery is here already and today I have a pair of earrings for you. This pair of earrings is made completely by me!!!! The earrings are a pair of my handmade fritties with fine silver wire melted in. The disc's are made from art clay which I've left shiney and texture free and the earwires are also made by me from fine silver wire, I love these so much I'm wearing them now, lol

A Week of Jewellery - Day Three

2009-05-27T11:30:00.002+01:00

Day Three of my week of jewellery contains no beads! These stud earrings are made from metal clay to which I've soldered earposts on to, the tear drops have gone to my friend Ang and the triangles my Mum pinched yesterday when I gave her the set I showed yesterday (which she loved). I like stud earrings cause sometimes I just don't feel like wearing big earrings or I want a more delicate look but I always end up loosing them so I'm over the moon now I can make my own.

A Week of Jewellery Day 2

2009-05-26T12:52:00.002+01:00

This is Day 2 of my week of Jewellery. This is a set I've made for my Mum, she's helped me out at 2 bead fairs this month and she was eyeballing these beads on my stall the other day so I poped them to one side and made this set. I'm giving it to her later today, fingers crossed she likes it.

A week of Jewellery - Day One

2009-05-25T18:00:00.003+01:00

I've been a bad blogger!!! LOL! But with Bead Fairs out of the way until August I've decided to make some jewellery and finish up a few projects I've not had chance to finish so I'm bringing you a wekk of jewellery, I'm planning on showing you a different picture everyday of jewellery I've made or finished off.

Todays set is called Rock Pools and it's for me, the long stiick beads where made by myself from silver clay a while ago and I've LOS them for an anitqued effect, the lampwork beads are mine and the headpins and earwires are also made by me. I'm so pleased with how much of this set I've made myself. I finished a few other bits today but I'm saving those for tomorrow, lol.

Huge Bank Holiday Sale

2009-05-24T19:22:00.003+01:00

I'm back from the Nantwich bead fair and I'm having a H-U-G-E bank holiday sale as my next fair isn't till August! It's in my Etsy Shop so check it out here!

Florals and bubbles

2009-05-13T18:16:00.003+01:00

Today while I was at the torch I decided to have another play with encased florals. Every so often I do this and then give up again but this time I seem to be getting somewhere. You'll have to excuse the slightly blurry photo, for some reason the flower isn't in focus but the 2 spacer beads are. But as you can see it actually looks like a flower and isn't smugged!!!!

I also made the set below along with a few others, I can't decided if I like these more than the similar set I made last week or not!!!!

Boro and loosing the will to live!!!

2009-05-12T18:37:00.005+01:00

I decided in my great wisdon to get my boro glass out last night! Well it didn't go quite to plan, it wasn't the glass that was the problem but both of my oxycons. I normally use them both when I'm using soft glass anyway but on half. For Boro you need them to be on high at nearly full pelt!

Well both my oxycon's decided to run on amber and where no where near as hot as they should be and one then decided it was going to pack up. The red light came on and the alarm went off! Well I managed to get it going again but they just don't seem to be hot enough to melt Boro at any speed and I quickly lost the will to live and made a lot less beads for the time I had!!!

Seaside

2009-05-09T11:17:00.002+01:00

I think I'm in holiday mood already, we're not even going on holiday until July but already I'm making beach inspired beads. Above is my version of sea urchins, I love how these came out. Below is a set called rock pools, made with silvered glass with plunged dots and a blob of clear on top. I'm so temped to keep them but I can't as these are the only beads I've made this week, might make myself some more after my next bead fair which is in 2 weeks!!!!

I'm Back!!!!!!

2009-05-03T20:16:00.004+01:00

I'm back from Beads Up North, it was a wonderful day and thank you to everyone who came and said hello and had a chat. Now I'm back I've updated the site with new beads including these 2 sets which I love, this yellow is fab and sparkles in the sunlight.

Beads Up North

2009-04-28T18:18:00.002+01:00

There won't be many updated on my Blog this week.

I've got a stall at Beads Up North Bead Fair at Haydock racecourse on Sunday so I'm busy getting myself ready for that.

If your going please stop by and say hello to me and my Mum who will be helpping me on the day.

Sunny

2009-04-23T17:12:00.005+01:00

I think I've been influenced by all the sunny weather we've been having here in Cheshire this week. I love these orange ruffles with these matching encased rounds with fine silver wire. The photo's make them look like they where made of different shades of orange but both came from the same rod of orange sparkle glass so they glitter slightly in the light.

Following how the blue disc's came out that I made on Monday I made a Pink and purple version, I can't decide which I like best, the blue or the pink!!

Challenge to myself

2009-04-20T18:47:00.003+01:00

What happens when you take 2 rods of transparent light blue glass, the same of opaque light blue, half a rod of clear and one of my favorite frit blends. Well this does, I had to stop before I used the whole tub of frit but now I have more idea's for expanding on this colour pallet. It got me out of the bead block I had this morning.

Website Friday

2009-04-17T11:35:00.004+01:00

I've spent the morning updating my Wesbite, which wasn't an easy task! After making beads last night I first had to clean and photograph them. Then I had a stream of distractions and I've not long since finshed it, phew!!!! It's hard to get work done when little ones are running around!!! Lol

Progression

2009-04-14T14:25:00.005+01:00

This bead was inspired by my friend Annelyse Taylor who is a fantastic beadmaker. Unfortunatly there is cracks in the layer of clear glass. Anyway after I made this bead it lead me to make two more with my own twist on them.

As you can see i've added frit and used one base colour instead of several colours, I'm liking these ones and I really liked making themwhich is good cause there's only a few types of focals I do like making.

Lots of Beads

2009-04-10T10:07:00.005+01:00

I went on a bit of beadmaking bonaza this week, one session i went mad making fritties (got some new frit last week that I wanted to play with) and the other I found this rod of silvered glass on my desk that I'd forgotton about. I'm not sure which one it is but I made all these beads from it.

I really like the focal and the disks, I love making disks but they can be fiddly hence me only maing one set at a time. This last set was a bit of an experiment and I wanted to see what happned if I combined silvered glass and SIS. If you want to see all of this weekes beads I've uploaded them all to flickr.

Little Studs

2009-04-04T11:18:00.002+01:00

These are my first pair of stud earrings, the fronts are made from textured Art Clay Silver and then with the help of my friend Helen of Beady Bugs we soldered on some backs. I'm wearing them in my ears now and they are very very light and easy to wear which is what I wanted. I just wanted a pair to wear when you really don't feel like wearing earrings, I pair that you wouldn't know you where wearing if you get what I mean. Anyway I love these and I've well and truely got the Art Clay bug.

New Beads

2009-04-03T09:59:00.004+01:00

I've made lots of beads this week, I've made that many they are coming out of my ears, most of them orders but I have got a good selection going on the site too. Here's a few sets I've made, if you want to see them all then have a look on flickr, I've only uploaded the ones that will be for sale when I update my site.

I've got some more Art Clay bits to show you sometime over the weekend and I can't wait to get it out and have a play again.

I made a ring!!!!

2009-03-30T22:03:00.003+01:00

Yesterday Becci of Fired Silver had an Open Day at her new studio. I took along all the tools i'd bought since my lession with her in Febuary and as well as the tools she had I made this ring. I think Becci was beginning to loose it with me, lol, and the finishing on this could of been so much better but I was running out of time. A ring is something I could make at home over the period of a week and it will be fine but for me to try and do it all in a 10am-4pm day as well as chatting to everyone, well it's not good, lol lol lol, maybe I should of chatted less. I love it though and can finally see how I can make myself the ring I've had in mind for a while now.

Updating my Etsy Shop

2009-03-23T12:54:00.002Z

I'm slowly updating my Etsy shop and adding new beads, these ones are new to my 'Made to Order' range of fritties, I love these, I wasn't keen on them at first but then I etched them and it just made them so much better. I've added other ready to go beads as well.

I've also been tagged so as soon as I work out who I'm tagging I'll be back to do it.

I've been a Bad Blogger!!!!

2009-03-21T14:17:00.004Z

I've been a bad blogger this past week dispite having several beadmaking session. Mind you all the beads I made at the start of the week where from my Made to Order range in my Etsy Shop so there wasn't much point in showing you them. Then I just left all the other beads and cleaned them in one go last night. These 2 sets are some of them, I've updated the site with them and some of them sold stright away so no point in showing you them either, lol, but if you want to see more of what I have made this week then just click on the link to Flickr on the right hand side.

I'm still training for the Race for Life. I actually had to buy some new running shoes after wearing my other out, I was having to stop running as my feet where getting pins and needles and going numb, not good for running at all. My New ones are fab, I gave them their first outting this morning.

new beads finally

2009-03-12T16:55:00.004Z

I finally sat down and made some beads this week. I have made a lot more than i'm showing here but most of what I made where orders and are now off to new homes. I like the focal above, I also made a set of handshapped nuggets in the same combo that you can see on flickr.

Now these 2 sets are my fovorites, i'm not sure which ones I like more. I think the week off did me good, well mostly cause I made a set of encased beads with silvered glass which are pants and are heading for the bin!!!

Training For Race for Life

2009-03-02T16:09:00.002Z

I've been busy training for The Race for Life at Tatton Park in June so I've not had as much time to post on my blog but I thought I do a post once a week about my preperation for this.

Last week I managed 5 days of running with the other 2 days of resting and I managed an avarage of 4.5 miles each time, I still have the odd bit of running-walking-running but my running bits are getting longer while the walking bits are getting smaller. I run along the canal near my house so I have markers in my head link 'today I will run all the way to such and such a bridge before I walk for a minute'.

I've also managed, with the help of my wonderful Husband and the people he works with, to get £60's worth of sponsors already so a big THANK YOU to everyone who has sponsored me so far and if you would like to sponsor me the webaddres is

http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/carolinecash

All the money raised goes to Cancer Research UK

And i'll update you next again next week.

not really made much this wekk

2009-02-27T10:51:00.004Z

I've not posted much this week on here. I've not really made much either, not cause I haven't wanted too but because I just haven't had the time. I need to plan what I'm doing when more. I've been jogging most mornings this week and with the morning I help out at Nursery all my mornings where gone. I made these one evening, maybe I need to go back to evening torch sessions. I don't think Hubby will complain, he'll get some extra time with his PS3, lol.

Race For Life

2009-02-20T21:11:00.002Z

I've signed up to do the Race for Life at Tatton Park on Saturday 6th June. I'm doing the 10k distance, I've never ran 10k before but I have plenty of time to work my way up to that as I can apprently run 5k now (this is what my Hubby told me anyway).

Anyway I'd be very greatful if anyone could sponsor me, I had to give them a goal for sponsorship so I gave a goal of £100 but the more the better, here's a link to my page:

http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/carolinecash

I'll be sure to give you all updates of my training as I go along ;-)