Liz's Brooch

This is a brooch similar to the one I made for myself but larger and in red and black. I love the lusciousness of the red set against the shiny, glossy black shells. I've used vintage and modern beads and lovely smooth shells in red and black:



I made the brooch for my friend Liz who really liked the other one I made (you'll find this brooch at the bottom of this post: Shells and more shells, and then some)

Heart of Teal

This is another design where I've used different sizes and types of jumprings. I like the texture this adds to a design. This one uses real aquamarine nuggets and teal silverfoiled hearts hung from large rings and held together by oval and twisted jumprings, silvered wire bicone beads and the lovely connectors I've used in other designs. It's a very simple design but the lovely teal and pale blue look gorgeous together and the texture from the rings and connectors adds interest.


The bracelet uses just one heart and is reminiscent of the jewellery worn by 1940s film stars like Katherine Hepburn. The perfect jewellery to wear with a little black dress, or to soften a business suit, or just to add glamour to a pair of jeans. :-)


The earrings are lovely and dangly with lots of texture and shimmery, glimmery highlights.

Corazón

This is one of my alltime favourites. Corazón means heart in Spanish and this set is made with beautiful turquoise hearts, all different and special, and turquoise drops, which have come all the way from China. The turquoise is more green than the normal blue turquoise and it's wonderfully touchy-feely. The red works really well, adding passion to the rather cool turquoise. This is one case where the random design seemed to work much better than a symmetric one. If anyone knows why, please tell me. :-)


I've used lots of different beads, drops and hearts in dark reds (the flash on the camera makes them look brighter red than they really are). To bring it all together on the blackplated chain I've used teal Magatamas (yes, I agree, no design is complete without Magatamas ;-)).


Above you can see the lovely texture of the turquoise.

The bracelet is a simple charm bracelet with drops and daggers in reds, beads in teal and dark red and real turquoise drops and a single heart. It looks stunning when worn.

The earrings use the turquoise drops, dark red beads and Magatamas hung from little fan connectors. They look so pretty when they're worn!

I was going to keep this one to myself, but my friend Liz bent my arm until I gave in.... So it's gone now. Sorry.

If you really like this (little wave to Fhiona), I can always make a similar one. Just drop me an e-mail. :-)

Plum

This necklace was made for Theresa. She asked me to make her something in "plum". Here it is:



I've tried to capture the dark purple as well as the violets and dark reds, amethyst, and rose colours all found in a plum. The necklace is strung on copper chain to give it a warm glow together with the other colours. When I think of plums I think of a warm fire, of red Autumn leaves, of cakes fresh from the oven...

I've used vintage beads as well as Giverny and Czech beads. The centre piece is an amethyst and (24 carat) gold heart. The gold works really well with the copper as it has a lovely rose gold shimmer rather than the more yellow gold.

The design is symmetric and quite Victorian in a way, however that was the way the beads wanted to be arranged. ;-) It's funny how some beads want to be hung randomly whereas other won't work unless it's a symmetric design. Odd that.

Red Flannel Elephant Cards and Gretel

Gretel sent me one of her sample cards of the new Red Flannel Elephant series and I loved it. It even inspired a necklace and earrings set inspired by it which is shown below which I named after Gretel.


The necklace and earrings are made with three different types of copper chain: very fine, medium and a chunky curb chain. I've added a mix of vintage beads, glass beads - faceted and plain - rose quartz, garnet, dark red candy jade and coral jade chips, and jasper beads framed by copper bead caps and other findings. I love the soft rosy effect. The perfect necklace to enhance and brighten up pale winter skin.


The earrings are all dangly and glittering in soft rose colours and looks gorgeous with the different types of chain that add texture.

I am very pleased with the set and I hope Gretel is too! :-)

Necklace - Vintage Lustre

I made some earrings recently with beautiful vintage lustred crystal beads. I loved them so much I just needed a necklace to go with it. I really need a bracelet, too, but haven't got round to it yet. One of these days.... ;-)


Here it is in detail with the earrings. I've used lovely vintage beads with pretty Swarovski connectors in pale blue and gorgeous Cantaloupe Swarovski beads. The Cantaloupe bead is very odd, in natural light it looks like a stormy blue, in artificial light it takes on a rosy shimmer (as you can see above).

Vintage - Crystal

This set is made with many vintage (and a few new) beads. I wanted to recreate the lustre and shimmer of precious vintage jewellery. Although the design is quite simple it looks stunning when worn and would work perfectly for that Christmas party....


Here's the matching bracelet:


The earrings use the same beads as the necklace and bracelet and some very pretty and detailed chandelier hangers called "Floralie".

Vintage - Bleeding Hearts

Another love of mine... vintage beads. They have this lovely soft shimmer that is unmistakable and absolutely gorgeous!

Got these beautiful dark red hearts recently and couldn't resist making something with them, something very different and unique:



I've used different sized jumprings: large, oval, twisted and small, connectors swirly and twisted and some silverplated chain that will allow the necklace to be adjusted.

There are some earrings as well, very simple ones to allow the red hearts the full glory. :-) Finished the set this afternoon, but I haven't decided yet if I can let it go... so not sure if it's for sale or not... I'll let you know. :-) If you really fall in love with it, contact me.

Versatility

Very long flapper necklaces are currently the latest fashion, however they aren't very versatile as they are usually not long enough to be worn any other way. For this reason I've designed a very, very long necklace that can be worn three ways - very long, twice and three times wrapped around. I am sure there are some ways I've missed, but it's a playful, versatile design that will look great no matter how it is worn. I could even imagine it being worn as a belt on a little black dress. Fun! :-)

Choker: Jade

This started of with a mishap, as the choker began life as a bracelet, however, I got carried away with the beads and the bracelet ended up far too big. However, I loved the sequence of beads and didn't want to take it apart and remove beads so, in a stroke of genius, I turned it into a choker. The nice thing about it is that the design is very clever as it allows you to wear it as tightly or as loosely as you like. The choker is fully adjustable and the lovely pale green organza ribbon is soft against your skin.


I used gorgeous pale green vintage beads, real jade beads, beautiful Swarovski beads in two colours (Peridot and Erinite), Czech emerald faceted beads, silver bicones, some lovely lustred green seedbeads, and diamonte spacers.


The earrings are kept simple, although quite long, with a Fleur-de-Lis connector and the same beads that I used in the choker. They look stunning worn together with the necklace.


I haven't decided yet if I am going to make a bracelet to go with this set. We'll see. Watch this space.

The item is for sale. Contact me by e-mail if you are interested.

Shells and more shells, and then some

I absolutely love shells and the way they reflect the light, and the best thing is they make a lovely sound as well. The last couple of weeks I've indulged in my love of shells and produced some gorgeous designs (even if I say so myself). The colours fit right in with current fashion but the designs will work with any fashion trend the designers throw at us! :-)

All the jewellery in this post are for sale except the Blackberry Delight set and the brooch at the end. However, if you would like any of the sets or one similar to Blackberry Delight or the brooch, contact me.

Turquoise passion (set)


Limelight (bracelet): This has now been SOLD.


Silver Starlight (bracelet and earrings):


Blackberry Delight (set):

Brooch: