I'm pulling the wool over my eyes... Hmmm, so toasty!

My latest blog posts have been mostly about making stuff for other people, but this one is mostly about ME ME ME! I've deviated away from beaded produce in the last number of weeks, they require time and patience and good lighting. Instead, due to recent unfortunate incidents including illness and accidents of the cycling variety, I've been sitting in bed doing a lot of crocheting. Now, my crochet skills are poor at best. I'm not sure if it's even real crocheting that I'm doing! My mother reckons it's more like knitting using a crochet hook and my finger, but the stuff stays together, and that's what's important!

So, my latest crocheting buzz began with a gift for one of my favourite people ever. I had been promising a lovely homemade hat for quite sometime and due to my lack of expertise in the area, it was taking ages and it looked rubbish. I was stuck in bed though, and I decided that due to the continuing cold spell in some countries that I had to power through and complete my project.

No image of the completed head-heating apparatus available, a picture will be posted when I finally get to see it modeled. 

Now, I've covered my "Gifts for Others" part to the blog, have to tell y'all about the woolly wonder I made for myself! It all started when I went out to buy black wool for the hat, and I was moseying around the lovely wools and fluffy things. There it was. The most beautiful skein of wool I had ever laid eyes on. It faded from browns to beiges to whites and to greens. Plus, there were sparkles running all the way through it. I knew I had to have it. And it didn't break the bank! €5.50 ain't half bad in my estimation! 

There it sat on my bedroom floor for the best part of six months. I looked at it from time to time, less looked, more gazed at its glittery glory. I couldn't for the life of me decide what I wanted to make with it! Disaster! I knew I wanted to make something that I couldn't screw up, and based on the level of difficulty of my hat-project, I decided a nice simple scarf was the way to go.

Once I started, I became obsessed. The fading of the colours into each other just allowed to monitor how speedily the whole thing was going! "Oh, I got from white all the way through beige and on to brown today... Boom". Then my period of imposed laziness was over, and my poor scarf fell by the wayside. Only briefly though! On a whim I decided Kerry was where I had to be this weekend, and with the help of my trusty elf-cat Radley (aka Little Orphan Annie) and with a bit of Quantum of Solace era Bond on d'telly, I finished it! 

My little elf insisted that she should model it first... It is stripy, like her, after all... 

I knew from the start that I wanted to tassel the ends as I think it makes for a cosier looking scarf, so gauging how much wool I'd need left over to finish it was fun, but I managed to do a pretty good job! Poor Radley got tired from all the work she was doing, so she didn't get to see the finished product. Shame, she worked her paws right down to the pads!

I had to model it, but my face wasn't very camera worthy at this time of night... 

Pretty awesome scarf, huh? It shall be debuted on the train tomorrow, just wait til the Iaranrod Eireann boys take a look at it. I'll be sorry I paid for a ticket I'd say!

My inspiration, and the source of my materials... 

Right, had best be off, I'm on the lamb...

Let me present to you...

So, I've neglected this ole blog of mine in a serious way in previous weeks. This is partly due to the fact that I'm so busy with my silly full-time college course! How annoying I hear you say. Bah humbug.


Anyway, moving away from the angry stressed out student side of myself, I'm going to show off a few presents I've "crafted" lately... I haven't even looked at what photos I'm going to attach to this yet, I have a horrible sinking fear that I've only made two things since my last blog post, and that this will be a very skimpy entry. I like a bit of meat on my posts! 


Just a bit of background to what's been keeping me company while I bead... My flatmate has got me into the US Office in such a serious way. The episodes are great, super short so I may get to use them as wee study breaks come exam time, and they're perfectly cringy.


Right, back to jewellery. 

So the middle section of this bracelet is actually a bit off a keyring. It was a big clunky one that I could never actually put keys onto or take them off of as it's quite heavy duty. I decided that it was strong enough to hold the string I used for the bracelet, and I decided that the ring should be slightly off centre as I've got a bit of a thing against symmetrical jewellery. Haven't a clue why!

Here's how it looks with the last bracelet from my previous post. I based them around similar colour schemes so I think they go together relatively well...

Yes, I sometimes keep my beads in a big Butlers Chocolates box... What of it?

I made that bracelet ages ago, but for myself. I think it's possibly too personal a piece to expect someone else to love it. All creative criticism is always welcome by the way! I've been thinking lately about my plans for the summer, and about focusing a little more on making and potentially selling some stuff once the sunny weather comes back. I'm kind of excited... Hopefully I'll come across some nice new stuff to work with, or at the very least a few ideas, when I go on my holliers to Sweden this summer. 

Now, onto presents. As I've said to a few of my lady friends already, I have a little list above where I work with a few of my girls names, and the colours I immediately think of when I think of them. I find it much easier to come up with an idea when I have a colour to base it around. I bought beads to make something for myself recently. I found some lovely big, round animal print beads, and I found some smaller slightly sparkly neutral coloured beads to go with them. Watch out for that necklace cos I for one already know I'll be in love with it!

So, Jess turned 22 recently (BOOM!) so I sat about making a few bits for her. There's still at least one in the making, but I've already given this one to her, and she seemed happy enough with it!

I discovered magnetic clasps in time for this creation... YAY!

Let it just be known, I love birthday month. It's not only Jess's, but it's mine too, and a few of my most lovely ladies gave me bags of old unused or broken jewellery for my big day. Can I hear a whoop? Not only do I get beads that I fall in love with, and would have maybe never picked out, but I also get ideas from the different styles and designs of the stuff that's given to me. Bonus. Anyway, getting back to it, it wasn't just mine and Jess's birthday month. It was also Julie's birthday month, so I paid her a visit this weekend. And I could hardly go to visit herself (and the lovely Hazel) empty handed, so I threw together a little something. 

I instantly thought of green when I thought of Julie, and although it's not very visible in this picture, those larger beads are such a lovely emerald that they were just perfect. I added a few of my sparkly neutral beads to lighten the whole thing up, and I added a hanging bead onto the clasp section, just for fun. 

Now, it's way past my bedtime, and I've still got some internet pages to be refreshing... I just can't bear to pull myself away from all the gorgeous Oscars dresses that are popping up tonight... Gotta love Oscar night, plus, how great is it that Oscar night is always during my birthday month?! Bam.

A très bientôt...

I'll be Bach...

I've been doing lots of little bits of bead organizing over the last few weekends, stripping old bits of jewellery for parts etc so I haven't made a whole lot of stuff hence my silence on the blogging front. But I'm back! I've mostly been making for others lately, I figure there's nothing like a wee little bit of jewellery to brighten up ones week!

I've been listening to new music lately, some nice chill out stuff like a bit of Bat for Lashes care of my friend Jess, some of my cheesy pop like Nicki Minaj, and nice classics like Fred Astaire and Tony Bennett. Gotta love the oldies.

Anyway, back to business, bracelets!

My gorgeous buddy who made sure I will go to the ball this year got this one...

I've made a list of peoples names, and colours I think of based on what they wear, their colouring etc. I just thought RED when I tried to figure out what to make for Katie. The beads actually look slightly purple in the picture, but in reality they're quite a gutsy crimson. 

I actually made a necklace for Jess a few weeks ago, but as I hadn't given the gift I decided to keep the pics under wraps. They're not great pics either, I will have to invest in a camera rather than using the rubbish one on my phone, but for now they'll do!

The necklace is quite long, but just right for the wearer. The heavy white bead is from a FairTrade bracelet I shortened for her!

All this jewellery making is really chilling me out and just seems to make third year a little less awful. Despite the sore neck aspect, just sitting over a box of beads for a few hours is making me look forward to the weekends. I must actually go to a bead shop this week, I've got a few projects in mind for the next few weeks. 

I was in Penneys on Friday night, loitering while waiting for a lift to a houseparty. A heavy charm bracelet with a brassy gold chain crunched up with elastic caught my eye. I loved the colour scheme of the beads attached, but I felt it was far too clunky for my personal tastes. Unfortunately I ripped it to pieces before I thought to take a Before picture, but I might as well show off the results so far!

This one's another gift, hopefully she won't see it before it's given to her!

The last two have a few of the coral/rose coloured beads from the original bracelet. I'm really loving these sort of neutral colours at the moment, and I felt the wooden beads I already had fitted the colour scheme well.

I'd best be off, there's a room that needs to be tidied, some clothes that need washing and a hell of a lot of study to be doing! Let me know what you think of course...  :-)

Live long and prosper??

All weekend long baby...

So, I've had my first quiet weekend at home in the country for a while... With all the Christmas madness there was rarely a quiet moment. So I spent my Saturday and Sunday watching the end of cycle 15 of ANTM and messing with beads. I think my papa's getting a little worried, I was hunched over my bead board for two straight days.

Now, while I can't show everything I've made (some of it is to be a gift! i can't ruin the surprise!), I can post pics of my new necklace and bracelet... I'm not entirely happy with the necklace, there's a chance I'll shorten it cos long necklaces just don't tend to suit me well I don't think, but sure here's a look anyway...

I wanted it to be asymetrical, with the beads being so sparkly and pretty it could have turned into a boring chain. As I said, I might still shorten it to about an inch or so beneath my collarbone. 

And then there's the bracelet. I'm actually in love with it. I think it's the beads, I found them in a small bead shop in Delft on my trip to Holland in September. I've been looking at them since then! They're just gorgeous, dark, but not heavy, and beautifully sparkly. In a word, perfect!! I also had a bit of chunky chain left over from a bracelet I shortened last week. So, this was the end result...

I don't think I've ever liked anything I've made this much before... I'd like to wear it to work tomorrow, but I worry that the beads would slow down my typing... The beads are a little under a centimeter in diameter... Gorgeous tho, non?? 

I'm really excited to go and find some new beads, my deadly friend K has promised that she'll take me to a bead shop in Dublin that I haven't seen before... I'm really excited, I feel like I have some really stunning big statement beads, and I have loads of small ones, but I don't have anything in between. Also, this experiment with the chunky chain has made me want to explore other materials too. 

Seeing as it's late and I'm super tired I'm going to finish this post abruptly by telling you guys that it snowed this weekend... It came as fast as it went, but I managed to grab a few fuzzy pics on Friday evening. 

Hasta la vista babez...

Late night modelings...

Between yesterday and today I've had a bit of an ANTM marathon... Not a major one, just a few episodes here and there. To let everyone know in advance, this post will lean towards the girlie. Anyway, all that modeling blah blah etc got me in a creative mood so I decided to crack out my pliers and beads! The bf (<3) got me some super cool stuff for Christmas - a proper pliers, a bead board for planning stuff out, some catches, and a great box to put everything in!!

Bead box FULL of goodies :-)

So, all this intention to make stuff got me wanting to take photos of the pretty stuff, which lead me to want to share pics, but no one wants me posting loads of pics of crappy homemade jewellery on fb, so that's what I'll use my supa-mega-wicked-cool blog for... Showing people what I'm making and doing! As a result, don't expect to see much of me...

I mostly make stuff (jewellery, cards, cakes etc) for people, either for presents or just because I feel like giving them something! Homemade jewellery served as excellent going away gifts for two friends over Christmas... Sorted! I was always a little bit of a maker, but never a very good one... If I tried hard enough I could be kinda good though, just have to finish this silly engineering degree first. 

Anyway, I resized a few bracelets for people, and then I was looking at my beads, the small bit of nylon I had left over from a dissembled piece, and I decided I just wanted a few small, dainty, simple bracelets. 

I ended up with three - one was part of an old necklace, it was a bit heavy and black before but the small strand of it works quite well. It's a small bit too big on my wrist which I like. The other two are the same idea, just with different beads. 

They're hardly masterpieces, but I figure they'll cheer me up when I'm sitting tap-tapping at my desk at work tomorrow! Want to know what else is cheering me up these days? (not that I need cheering up, sure what have I to be down about?)

The bag that accompanies this coin purse is just as epic as this coin purse...

It's got owls on it for crying out loud!! :-)

I still don't know how to sign off this blog business... It seems a bit rude to stop typing without acknowledging that I've stopped typing, no? 

Good hustle?