Christmas Highlights

First of all I'd like to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a safe and exciting New Year. :)

I'm please to say that my MIL loved her necklace (see last post) and wore it yesterday at our Christmas lunch/dinner. It did look good on her... if I do say so myself.... ;)

I can now also post a piccie of my Mum's pressie (she see's this blog), as she got hers yesterday too. She loved it! You've gotta love that feeling.... :))

So here it is

Chrissie present for my MIL and one for me!

I've been busy making my MIL's christmas present and am glad to be able to finally show it off. I'm pretty proud of this one and am so tempted to just keep it for myself.... LOL



I really have to work on my photography. The actual colours are purple, mauve and a subtle copper colour.

I also made a necklace for me, which I also entered into the first Bead Infinitum competition. It's very comfortable to wear and incorporates one of my favourite combos... red and black.

I've been creating :)

Hi there

I know in my last post I said I was busy doing some competition pieces, well, I got them done and some more.... :)

I'll post my comp pieces separately, but here are the pieces I've also just completed.

This first pendant is a 'beaded bead' I made when I was experimenting. I'm quite happy with it, the colours are so soft.

This next set is made using amethyst rondells and violet coloured swaro bicones. It's very sparkly.

This next set I made using mocha colour swaro beads I received as part of a gift from the Swarovski Forum. If you want to check it out, just click on the link under "websites I love".

I love these earrings. I made them using golden shadow rivolis and size 11 delicas and 15 seed beads. As you can imagine, the depth of the rivolis really illuminate when under light.

This next piece is a pressie for my Mum. Mum was with me when I bought the red seedies and immediately told me that I had to make something with them for her... LOL. I hope she likes it. The pattern is courtesy of the French beading forum (see link).

Till next time.... :)

Hi there

Here is my second crochet rope - a necklace. It's getting easier that's for sure. As you can see this rope incorporates a row of 2 black, 1 silver, 2 red and 1 silver bead.

My next task is a competition piece for the Bead Infinitum contest, so keep an eye open for that one.

Cheers
Carrie

My first bead crochet bracelet

I haven't been around much lately, but I have exciting news (for me anyway :-/), I did a bead crochet class. It's just something I haven't been able to get the hang of, so it was great to see someone actually do it.

Here is my first attempt (back and front).





Watch out for more variations.

Till next time :)

My Inspiration

I often marvel at how awesome some peoples work is. To help you understand where I am coming from, click on the title "my inspiration" to go to the Bead Dreams submissions for 2008.

Here are a few of my favourites:

Jama Watts
Tatiana Van Iten - that's the back of the piece!
Irina Astratenko

and last, but not least....

Hiroko Toda

I could add more, but you get the picture.

These people really inspire me and constantly amaze me. I have a feeling I'm going to need to buy more beads! :)

A new bracelet

Hi there

I've been working on this piece on and off for a few days now and finally got it finished, so I thought I'd share it with you.

It's made using a herringbone stitch and peyote stitch.

Some new class pieces

Hi there

I'm in the process of coming up with new class ideas, which is a challenge, especially when you have to keep them to 1 and a half hours!

Anyhoo, I had a practice and came up with these two pieces.

The first bracelet is a spiral loop incorporating chips. Very easy but effective pattern.

The second bracelet is a simple wrapped bead. However, the technique does take a bit of getting used to. Not the mention, make your fingers very sore!




Enjoy!
Carrie

New Items for Sale on Oztion

Hi there

I've been busy creating and have put some new stuff up for sale on my Oztion site. You can check out the link on the left hand side of this page.

Here's a sample of some of my sale items....

Cheer
Carrie

Two bracelets and a ring

Hi Folks

Been making some new pieces from patterns on the French Beading Forum - http://www.ileauxperles.com/.
















I love making rings, so had to have a go at this one. It's quite a big ring with the centre bead measuring 10mm (1cm).

The first bracelet is very chunky, so I have to feel brave when I'm wearing it :-/ I don't normally "do" chunky. The second bracelet is a beautiful shade of blues, with a hint of topaz.... see the seedies










Anyway, I'd love to have some comments, so please feel free to post some.

Cheers
Carrie
:)

Two new pieces

Hi there, I've been playing again and created two new pieces. The first is a Swarovski crystal version of my red Baroca Bead necklace. I absolutely love this necklace, I can wear it with anything.























This second piece is a bracelet I've made for my mother-in-law. It's her birthday soon and she absolutely loves butterflies and purple.

My newest pieces

So, didn't I say I was going to add piccies of my new pieces??? Yep, I did, so here they are.

My first go at beading around a Swarovski Rivoli. This Rivoli is 18mm in size. Took me a few goes to get it, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.














This next piece is my version of a Baroca Bead. Love it and I've since make a clear crystal version. I'll pop a piccie up when I take one.

























Last, but not least, is a beaded bead bracelet (pattern in the latest B&B mag). Again, I have made this using clear crystals, but have added teal coloured swaro bicones as well. And yes, that's my arm... :)

Some of my piccies as promised

Here are some of my earlier works. We have a crochet necklace, some big bold hoop earrings, a woven bracelet and a simple linked necklace. These are some of my favs :)

Hi there :)

Hi everyone, this is my first post on my new Blogger site - Carrie's Blog Place (www.cmct188.blogspot.com).

I'm a beader, that is, I make jewellery primarily using beads but do venture into chain and polymer clay. However, my passion is beads. In this blog I will post pictures of my latest creations, but to get us started I'll post some random pics of my previous works.

I would love to hear what you think, so please feel free to post comments.

Speak soon!