...and the winner is......

2 hours ago I closed my blog giveaway, I would like to thank those of you who entered, I wish I could give you all a pair of earrings but hey ho!!!!
so now it is time to announce the winner.
It gives me great pleasure to announce that the winner of my first blog give away is......
drum roll please.....
well done Deb of greenshoot blog
So as soon as you send me an address Deb to post your earrings they will be sent happily on their way with love x

An alternative to a tiara

Not everyone wants to wear a traditional white dress on their wedding day and not everyone wants a tiara either. This is my take on a fascinator, it could be worn by a bride who has chosen not to go for the traditional wedding dress, it would also look stunning on bridesmaids or worn by the Mother of the Bride instead of a hat!.

It is made with silver plate wire and Swarovski crystals.

This is my sample piece which is taken around to shows with me, I have made them as commissioned items in a variety of colours, from lilacs and blues, through to black and clear crystal. I can make the petals any size, but as they are handmade, no two are ever identical.

Why not try a piece of unique knitted jewellery on your wedding day?

I have been making wire knitted items of jewellery for years, in fact this blog is littered with them! Such as this knitted tiara. Now how many brides in this world would have walked down the aisle wearing a knitted tiara, it just doesn't sound right does it? but I could name quite a few.

Last night I sat down watching the Brit awards with a pair of chunky needles planning on making another such tiara, and indeed the finished item would work very well as a tiara, but I chose instead to attach it to a choker wire instead. Wouldn't this just look lovely around a brides neck!

This choker has been knitted on silver plate wire with tiny glass beads and one swarovski crystal pearl, and then attached to a silver plate choker wire.

Could I also remind you that I have got a blog giveaway happening - a sparkly pair of earrings please take a look, follow this blog and leave a comment for a chance to receive these earrings at the end of the month!

It's that masquerade time of year- Happy Valentines

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to two more of my masks today.

 The mask above is made on a rigid frame wrapped with sari silk and infilled with a selection of glass beads on silver plate wire.

This mask was only finished yesterday, it has been knitted with black wire and tiny glass beads, and framed with fine wire wrapped with black ribbon, which is also used to tie mask onto face with black ribbon

Fit for a bride.

Happy Wedding Wednesday!

This is a multi stranded necklace made with Venetian piatene glass beads,with sterling silver clasp.
Of course I can make necklaces in this design using any bead or mixture of beads, as with all my jewellery featured on my blog, this is just an example of what I could make for you. Earrings and or bracelet could also be made to match.

Tuesday's Tutorial - Earring making

It's that time of the month again, and this time I will be showing you how to use some of the tools I introduced you to in the last tutorial.

How to make a pair of earrings

First let's take a look at what you need to make an earring.

Tools from left to right snipe nosed pliers, round nosed pliers , wire cutters.
materials ear hook, headpin and beads of your choice.

Next thread beads onto headpin in your chosen design.

I chose to use a Venetian glass bead, two tiny rocaille glass beads and a clear crystal bead.

Once the beads have been threaded on to the headpin you need to cut the wire leaving around 3/4 cm of wire above the bead ( just enough to make a neat loop).

I have to admit I wasn't looking forward to doing this as my fingers are always a state, one of the drawbacks of working with wire, so please ignore the state of my hands. I still felt as though it was necessary, as I wanted to show you how I work out where to cut the wire. I rest the earring on my index finger with the top bead in the centre of the 'ball' at the top and then cut at the nail. Well you can see where, from the picture above.

You are then left with a short piece of wire that needs to be made into a loop.

Use your round nosed pliers for this, hold onto the top of the wire and loop round towards the top bead.

Before closing the loop up totally, slip in ear hook.

( I really need a manicure)

Then close up loop using the snipe nosed pliers

Hold onto the end of the wire again and firmly push wire towards the hole of top bead, pushing into the index finger of hand holding the earring. Try and get the end of the wire to be as close as possible to the wire as it exits the bead but don't go past it.

You should then end up with a neat closed loop which will securely hold the ear hook.

  Then all you have to do is make another one to match!
Hope you enjoy making yours, of course if you would like further instruction on earring making you could always attend one of my workshops!

Starshine shimmer Giveaway

At last the big day has arrived. I have reached my first target and gained 50 followers on my jewellery blog, which is a huge achievement for me as, for some reason when you click on my icon no link details for any of my blogs are given, even though I have them ticked on my profile page.
So well done all of you for finding me and thank you for considering my blog worth following!
As it turns out, I have another reason for celebrating as today I have also entered the 'Top 100 UK Wedding Tweeters List'
So with this in mind and the fact that I have promised a give away when I reach 50 followers I would like to offer these beautiful sparkly earrings as my first jewellery blog give away!

I made these earrings with Swarovski crystals, of course, and silver plate diamante beads, the ear hooks are sterling silver.
 If you would like your name entered for this earring give away all you have to do is to follow this blog, if you aren't already, and leave a comment about this post.
The closing date for this will be 6pm (my time) Sunday Feb 27th
I look forward to reading your comments.
Please feel free to share this with your friends or on Facebook and Twitter

Strings of colour

For those of you who like to have beads all around the neck, take alook at these I made this morning.

There's nothing like a bit of colour to add the final touches to your outfit.

Freshwater pearls - simple stylish elegance!

Often a simple pearl drop on a sterling silver chain is all that a bride needs around her neck.
The three necklaces shown below are just examples of this type of necklace. I can of course make them without any crystals, or with a different coloured crystal the choice is yours!

Two of these necklaces are now available to purchase from my blog shop.