Are you ready for Mothers Day?

Hello everyone,  just a short update from the goings on at Spellbound.  I've returned back to work full time now after arranging most of my Dad's Estate & I was doing rather well, but then I came down with an ear & throat infection on Wednesday & by Thursday it was so painful I could hardly croak, a lot of friends have all said it's probably the build up of the stress & then as things return to normal it's manifested itself as an infection.  Either way I'm not too happy about it, ears & throat doing better, seems to have moved to a head cold.

Well Mothers Day is a week today, are you ready for it?  If not I do happen to have a few handy last minute suggestions on the handmade beaded jewellery front ;o)

This week I've been catching up on my Bedazzle Bracelets & I made a couple of earrings to match.  These are limited edition sets, first to see how well they are received & secondly I've actually run out of one of the tibetan silver beads I use & I'm struggling to source more!  I have 2 sets available, one in Aqua Blue & one in two tone Dark Blue which uses dark blue & metallic blue glass facted beads.

I also found some interesting blue lava stone beads whilst out shopping last weekend & I made this wonderful set from them.  Beautiful blue lava stones with blue glass beads interspacing them; this set was inspired by the beads themselves, such an interesting texture & shape.  I was able to make full use of the circular shape of the beads by stringing a coordinating coloured bead in the centre of each. I'm sure you'll agree it's a little bit different!

Maybe your Mum is a kitty lover, how about this gorgeous cat necklace called "Autumn"?  He's very well behaved.

All these gift ideas are available to purchase from my Misi shop along with more!

That's almost all for now, except to say I've been working on some Workshop ideas so you can learn to make your own beaded jewellery.  I'm looking to start these in May so watch this space for details.

Hope you've all been enjoying the nice weather & having a lovely weekend.

Kendra x
www.spellboundjewellery.co.uk

Spellbound Jewellery at Emerald Grove

Hello, hope you are all having a lovely weekend.  I've not managed to do much beading recently, still been so busy after the passing of Dad and I returned to my day job this week too.

Inside The Emerald Grove

I have been working on some beautiful gemstone collections but these are all for a wonderful Shop called The Emerald Grove.  The Emerald Grove approached me mid January after I'd listed some bracelets on Misi & asked if I'd supply stock to their store.  As some of you may know I had looked into potential Retail supply with very little joy, but after speaking to Julie over e-mail & reading the T&C's I took the opportunity.

Their shop policy & ethos is very similar to mine & they are passionate about handmade goods, eveything they sell in their shop is handmade, from jewellery to clothes, cards to gifts, handbags to furniture.

So if you do find yourself in lovely Ledbury in Herefordshire (I spent a lot of time there as a child) then please do pop in & say hello.

love

Kendra x

www.spellboundjewellery.co.uk

A Time To Reflect

Hello dear readers, I've not written a blog for 4 weeks now, this is because sadly my father passed away on Valentines Day. I've spent the last 4 weeks spending every waking moment making arrangements, sorting things & clearing the house.  Instead of being surrounded by beads in my spare time this has been exchanged for being surrounded by paperwork & fond, happy memories.

Going through things at my Dad's house was difficult but I found lots of things that made me smile & I realised where I get my passion for handmade items as both my parents had very craft driven abilities and hobbies.  My Dad loved to do carpentry & I found some dolls house furniture that he made me, my mum too was extremely "crafty" and was a great knitter, sewer, embroiderer, you name it she did it!

So whilst going through the things I found my old craft bag where I'd given knitting & sewing a go, unfortunately I've completely forgotten these skills but I'm sure I could pick it up again.  I also found my old box of beads & findings from when I first started to make jewellery 24 years ago!  I had no tools back then so either used my fingers or a pair of eyelash tweezers to bend the headpins.  Below is a photo of one of the first pairs of earrings I made, as you can tell my skills have improved greatly, and having the right tools for the job certainly does help!  As you'll see I used gold plated findings, probably because that was all they had at the craft stall that day.  The earrings are clip ons & it took me a while to realise this was most likely because I wasn't allowed to get my ears pierced until I was 15 so when I was 11 years old most of the earrings I made were clip ons!

Earrings I made when I was just 11 years old! Thank goodness I've improved!