Sunday 30 January 2011

Sweets for your Sweetheart!

This week has had it's ups & downs, Dad has been out of hospital for 3 weeks now & I've been feeling a bit streatched & strained, mostly because he's obviously still not a well bunny, but I'm seeing a little light at the end of the tunnel & Dad will be going to our local community hospital for a period of respite to assess him properly medically and to get him on the road to rehabillitation with a goal of being able to feed himself etc.

Well I hope you are all paying attention, in a little over 2 weeks it's Valentines Day.  I know this as it's also our Anniversary, a double whammy!  As you know I'm pro handmade & I've been trying to turn the tiny cogs in my brain to think of something little I can make for him.  I'll let you know how that goes! 

Are you prepared to St Valentines Day?  If you're looking for something a bit different or fun, or if you want something colourful for yourself then I've just the thing.  I discovered some wonderful beads that look like Dolly Mixtures & I've made a choker style necklace, a tangle style necklace, an EmBracelet, a small bracelet, a pair of earrings & a little keyring.
The beads look so real that I had to hide them from Jay in case he tried to eat them.  I'll be displaying these at my stand at Sony on Friday 11th February, just in time for last minute Valentines shoppers.  Please give me your feedback, if these prove to be popular I may expand the range into Love Hearts & maybe Liquoirce Allsorts.  If you are tempted by these & considering them as a gift, best to keep them away from small children, they really do look good enough to eat so please be responsible!

Tomorrow is the last day of my January Sale for Facebook followers, so if you've been thinking about it, now is the time to do it before it's too late!

I'm going back to my beads now, hope you're all enjoying the weekend.



Kendra x

www.spellboundjewellery.co.uk

Sunday 23 January 2011

Sunbaked Goodness

Why is it 9.15 on a Sunday night & I don't feel like I've acheived much this weekend!  I'd anticipated a whole weekend of uninterupted beading, well ok, not the WHOLE weekend, but a majority of it.  I started out with all good intentions, but I remembered I had to write a letter & then I ended up doing some shredding of old paperwork & doing other various "admin" type things, then as I'd complained that the weather had turned colder I insisted on going out & getting some firewood so we could enjoy our open fire, and then to enjoy the open fire properly I thought I'd have a nice relaxing bath, then I'd do some beading ... deffinately... Around 7pm last night I felt so guilty about not making any jewellery I surrounded myself with beads & made some gorgeous gemstone bracelets ... then drank 2 glasses of wine to celebrate.

I purposely left all my beads, tools & equipment out last night so I'd have absolutely no excuse to crack on today. Yeah, you guessed it, more procrastination & distractions!  My lovely hairdresser came round to do my colour & I ended up having a trim too, and it always takes longer than we mean to because we get chatting!  Of course, before settling down to some serious beading I had to pop out & get my Dad a new lamp for his room (the carers seem to keep breaking them, not sure what they're doing?!), and as I was out I had to run a couple of small errands & get to an ATM.

I finally did manage to make 3 gemstone necklaces.  All these gemstone pieces are being stocked up for an exciting new adventure for me, which I'll fill you in on another time.


I also finished a set I'd been working on, the focal beads are Sunbaked Beads by glass lampwork artist Lush Lampwork, they are beautiful silverwrapped beads in toning shades of summer.  I've teamed them with Tibetan Silver heart shaped beads & sparkle beads, the necklace is a choker style strung on memory wire.  This bright & colourful collection is just what we need to shake off the January Blues.  This is a sneak preview, the set is not currently availble on my Misi or Etsy stores, the first time they'll be available is at my stand at Sony on Friday 11th February.

Just leaves me to annouce the winner of last weeks Prize Draw, the name chosen at random is Greta Wall, congratulations Greta, I'll arrange to pass on the bracelet to you.

Have a good rest of the weekend (what little there is of it!)

Kendra x



www.spellboundjewellery.co.uk
www.facebook.com/spellboundjewelleryuk

Saturday 15 January 2011

Competition Time

It's been a bit hectic in the Spellbound household this week, with Dad being out of hospital there seems to be no end of things to take care of, very little time left for beading or fusing for me!

I'm going to run a little competition, to win the bracelet pictured below, its a dainty  bracelet made with red cylinder millifiori beads, tibetan silver & seed beads.  It's a Prize Draw so all you have to do is comment on my blog saying you'd like to win & leave your name/e-mail address or post on my Spellbound Jewellery FaceBook page saying you'd like to win.  A winner will be chosen at random & I'll post out or pass on to you this sweet piece of Spellbound Jewellery. Deadline for entries is Saturday 22nd January 2011.
Win Me!
 I have managed to do one small piece of beading, I'm visitng my friend Keira (Hi Keira!) later today, she moved into her flat ages ago & I'm such a rubbish friend I've not been round to see it yet.  So, for a small belated house warming gift I made her a Dolly Mixture Keyring using some cute & terribly realistic Dolly Mixture Beads made from polymer clay.  They look so real I've had to hide them from Jay to stop him trying to eat them!
Yum!
I've also updated my website a little, some newer images & I've manged to put a slideshow on the About Spellbound Jewellery Page & a new tag line, let me know what you think!  That just leaves me time to remind you I'm still having a Jan Sale, please see my last blog (Happy New 2011) for details.

Kendra xx
www.spellboundjewellery.co.uk

Sunday 9 January 2011

Happy New 2011

Well a belated Happy New Year to you all!

My Dad is finally out of hospital & despite our worries, the powers that be have said they believe he is well enough to go back to his own home rather than a nursing home.

I don't really do New Years Resolutions, mostly because I believe that if you are going to do something you should do it because you really want to, not just because it's a New Year & a "new start", but probably more likely that I don't tend to stick to things like join the gym, eat less etc because they don't really motivate me!  

Having said that, there a few things I've made a mental list of that I'd really like to achieve this year:

1) I want to attempt at least one of the things in Kirsties Homemade Home book (lovely Christmas present!), just to try something new, even if it is something small! 

2)I want to attend a copperfoiling course to gain more skills working with glass, I really enjoy fusing glass for my pendants, rings & cufflinks but I'm interested in expanding to work on small glass projects like trinket boxes & mirrors. 

3)I have my Mum's old sewing machine, I know how to use a sewing machine but threading this one totally befuddles me.  I'd like to learn how to thread this machine so I can work on a project I have in mind.  More on the project another time!




Finally my Tibetan Silver beads have arrived in the post, delayed due to the snow they arrived just after the New Year break, so this weekend I've made some Bedazzle Bracelets, these are proving to be really popular & I sold out before Christmas.


So sparkly & shiny!  These are now for sale on my Misi Store along with two new Enchanted Bracelets, these bracelets have been made using beads from one of my favourite Lampwork Artists, Lush Lampwork.


Don't forget, I'm having a January Sale on my Etsy Store, 15% off when you quote FACEBOOK15 at checkout, but please "like" my Spellbound Jewellery page on Facebook first!  This code will only work on my Etsy Store, if you would like to use this discount on any items on my Misi Store then please e-mail me & quote the discount code & we can arrange.


That's all for now, time for a cup of tea! x