The Holidays Are Coming ..

Well according to a popular drink "the holidays are coming". I dislike it when the seasonal alie in the supermarket starts looking glittery in August but when Coca Cola billboards and adverts start appearing I have to admit that it is probably time to start thinking about the festive stuff. Iwanted to make my own cards this year, and preferrably not as they were being posted.  I'm not for one minute suggesting this has gone entirely to plan but I have managed to make a reasonable batch of cards to be sent from me. Maybe the snowy weather has spurred me on :-)

I fell in love with the Percy and Penelope theme from DoCrafts so most of the cards are from that set. There are some others like the Bently Bear toppers.

Minty fresh

Heck it's gone cold. All the more reason to get the heating going and have a crafty weekend. Not sure it'll turn out quite like that but I have a four day weekend so there's a remote chance. 

However while I'm pondering and planning the weekend here's another catch up.  These lovely minty beads are painted glass pearl beads that I purchased at the recent craft show at the Kings Hall.

Necklace

The necklace has been made using three strands of tigertail. All strands are threaded through the larger beads then threaded individually though small beads in between.

 

Bracelet

The bracelet is using a new technique where the beads are wired and linked together. I will be covering this technique in more detail in a new post. 

Earrings

There are also some earrings using headpins and fish hook earring findings.  

See those seeds?

Oh dear this is the first technique that I haven't gotten along with. Perhaps my aversion comes from picking up the tutors example and losing a whole string of seed beads. Embarrassed or what!!! 

Earrings

The earrings use tigertail, crimp beads, beads and earring findings. 

Slip both ends of the tigertail through a crimp bead. move the bead towards the loop and crimp leaving a small loop for attaching to the finding. Thread on beads to each side of the tigertail allowing for the beads to stagger near the loop so that they dangle freely. Finish the end of each string with a crimp bead into which the end of the tigertail is threaded back to make a small, tidy loop. Staggering the length of the two ends is the most effective look. Ensure that both earrings in the pair are made up the same.

Necklace

The necklace uses tigertail, crimp beads, seed beads, focal bead and findings.

The tassle is made using the earring technique to make three items. Unlike the earrings these do not need to be identical and staggered lengths look effective. 

Take one longer strand of tigertail and thread through the top loop of the tassles. Thread both ends through a crimp bead so that the tassle sits in the middle on the long strand. Thread the same two threads through the focal bead and crimp together again. String seed beads onto each of these strands to the desired length and terminate with findings.

Using Felt bead, seed beads,class hurricane beads, muyuki glass seed bead cubes.

 

Czech glass hurricane beads 9x7mm 'Mitsuba' and Miyuki glass seed bead mix 4mm cubes EARTHTONE from Beadaddicts on ebay

 

Tigger time?

More tigertail makes this time with three separate strands of tigertail wire which are crimped only at the ends.  Each strand is a different length so that when they are crimped together it gives the appearance of wearing three necklaces. I've used different, yet complimentary combinations on each strand within a necklace.

The class make ... first attempt

 The first attempt used a variety of beads including some of the felt beads I made earlier.

Monochrome

I love the classic look of black and silver.

Soothing lilac

Your eyes do not deceive you the tigertail is coloured :-)

Don't like the dark

I have to admit I'm struggling with the long nights and ever so short days we're having at the moment. It's proving hard to keep motivated to do much and the blog is one of the victims of the hibernation mentality. That said I do have some makes to photograph and write up so I think that will be one for this weekends list.  
Decorating the attic has turned into a painful process to some extent due to the limited daylight hours as checking on the coverage when painting white emulsion is a real hindrance. It's getting there just much more slowly than I would have liked. 

Fabulous Friday

Ok so it's not Friday as I'm writing this but tomorrow I'm off to the Creative Crafts show in the Kings Hall, Belfast. Been looking forward to this for ages. Credit card at the ready :-)

Not much crafting

Not much crafting being done at the moment but I'm making great progress on redecorating the attic. Wallpaper stripped, paintwork cleaned and today I removed the old carpet. Will be continuing with painting and papering this weekend and will hopefully be read for a new carpet by the end of next week.