Gift Of A Blue Heart

I really love making gifts, and Christmas is a great time for this, if not very busy!!

Part of the challenge is to make something that will suit the intended from length, style and colour.

One of the gifts I made this year was this necklace

It started out with the blue heart, cobalt blue isn't normally a colour I go for, but I really like it in this heart. I wanted a longer length necklace so I used some hand-dyed silks from Diane (aren't they just gorgeous!) and to give it some weight and because I thought it looked un-finished, I added a long purple Swarovski crystal.

Just hope she likes it!

Trudi x

Long Hollow Necklace

Long Hollow Necklace, originally uploaded by Glittering Prize - Trudi.

Well it's Christmas, so I decided to make myself a neckace, and why not!

I've wanted a long chain necklace for a while and these beads are perfect for this time of year. They've been teamed with black crimpable chain and a few Swarovski crystals that just pick up the light!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Damson

Damson, originally uploaded by Glittering Prize - Trudi.

As you know I just adore getting pictures from customers when they've used my beads!

Sarah (Devongem) has just sent me this beauty!

And I quote "These sparkling beads from Trudi remind me of little damsons! Mixed with very heavyweight silver discs, this makes a very sumptuous bracelet for the Christmas period."

Isn't it just delicious. You can see more of Sarah's work on flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/45329108@N02/

Inkspired Challenge

One of the challenges in one of my forum groups last month was to design a piece that was based on a tattoo theme! Good challenge!!

So I came up with the hearts and flowers theme, ideally I would have included a dagger but these are quite tricky to come by, so I used a haging crystal drop instead as the piece looked unfinished without it.

The colours aren't normally ones I'd use together, I was taking myself out of my comfort zone, but looking at it now I'm really pleased with it.

New Currencies on Etsy and a discount

If you've never been tempted to shop on Etsy, now could be the time to give it a go.

Unlike Ebay, Etsy is designed more towards handcrafted items, and over the past few years it has grown in popularity. It has virtual shop like feel to it, as each seller automatically gets their own shop front making items easy to find. All prices are buy it now, so no having to wait for an auction to finish.

Until a few days ago, all listings were in $USD, which I think tended to put people off. But not anymore, now we are able to list in most major currencies, including GBP!! This makes it much easier for local buyers and for sellers as we don't see our prices fluctuating!

All my listings have now been converted into sterling and I've even revised some prices and lowered them. But if that isn't enough to tempt you to have a look, up until the end of December I'm offering a 10% discount across the shop (this applies to the item price and not the P&P). The discount code to enter at check out is CHRISTMASDISCOUNT - coupons are new to me so fingers crossed this all works, but if you have any problems just email me.

You can find my Etsy shop here.

Trudi x

Give Me Colour!!

Long before I stared making beads, I made jewellery. These days I tend to make more beads, but every now and then I get the urge to make up jewellery. Sometimes it's for gifts, but sometimes it's just because.....

This bracelet was a "just because" ........... I do like making beads to suit the season, and coming up blacks, greys and blues will be popular, but I just felt like I needed some colour!!! These beads were made with a light topaz glass, a colour I do love to use, with a little goldstone and rolled in Beady Sam's trifle frit!!

I had a root around in my bead stash and found some coppered ceramic discs and findings that really bring out the gold stone. A further root and I came up with the coloured ceramic discs that I bought from Hilary, don't they look great, and in between I have some cut glass beads that I bought at a bead fair from Buffy's Beads!

When I look at this now, one word springs to mind and that's

Happy!

Bright as a Button!

Custom buttons , originally uploaded by claires crystal classics.

While I was having a little look through Flickr, this set really caught my eye!!

It's bold and bright and is perfect for chasing away any winter blues!! I've always admired button jewellery but I don't seem to be gifted in being able to put a piece together as well as this!

This was designed by Claire, to see more of her work visit http://clairescrystalclassics.co.uk/