Etsy

18/04/2011

Artists Spotlight - Ruthies Ramblings

Today I have the pleasure of blogging about an amazing beader, Ruth Duck.

Ruth had her first experience of beading when she was little and told me that she had been taught by her mother to make a daisy stitch chain with picots when she was four. After a long break Ruth rediscovered her early fascination for beading about three years ago when she went through an arch she hadn't been been through before at her local craft centre and found her local bead shop. It was like walking into Aladdin's cave and Ruth left there that day with an armful of beading materials and beads and treasure.

cuff6I really like this cuff bracelet and amazingly Ruth had only tried bead embroidery for the first time about three weeks before making it. It was her entry for a Making Jewellery magazine bracelet competition and it took second place. When I asked Ruth about the inspiration behind the design she explained - The coin came about because I was skint at the time and didn't want to fork out for a cabochon.

celtic-cuff
Ruth designed the pattern for this delicious peyote cuff one day when she was bored at the day job. She describes this Celtic cuff as a cow to work out but even worse to stitch. Since then Ruth has moved on to using computer software to design new patterns for her peyote work but her designs will always start out on paper first.

scarab-side
 This necklace is a real work of art. I asked about the inspiration behind it's creation and Ruth said - I’ve always like Egypt (used to have a bright yellow bathroom with Egyptian stencils all over and full of cheap and nasty nick knacks although the camel was rather cool) and I got a book out of the library about jewellery design through the ages, just to get an idea of the thought process behind designing a piece and there were some lovely Egyptian pieces. I had an idea to create a beaded Egyptian style piece and Google some images for inspiration and spotted the piece I made out of gold and enamels. bead embroidered pendent based on ancient Egyptian jewellery design. The polymer clay scarab was created by the very talented Caroline Harvey. In total this beautiful embroidered bead necklace took about 9 months from idea to completion.

Visit Ruthies blog and flickr to find out more about Ruth.

Jolene x

13/04/2011

Colors of Sunrise

Colors of Sunrise is a stunningly curated treasurey by of gipsy spirit with the most gentle and serene colour soft pastel colour pallete.

I was thrilled to see my Palma Violets bead set featured among so many other lovely hand crafted goodies. I'm particularly drawn to those very pretty edible butterfies (and how could I resist!) by Lisa G of Sugar Robot


Gypsy Sprit has an indisputable amount of good taste an style. Check out a few more of her collections (images clickable) above and you will see just what I mean. Thank you ever so much for the feature,

Jolene xx
Kitzbitz

Cheeky Bead Gallery 3 - Tattoo beads

Firstly a quick shout out for Craft Pimp.....Do you create with polymer clay? Why not enter our *all about FIMO® Competition* on Craft Pimp Forum with monthly prizes donated by STAEDTLER (UK) Ltd.

And now a quick cheeky gallery of some of my latest inspiration and beads. This gorgeous pram blanket was a gift to my son Ethan from my good mate Tam. It is the jumping off point for my first bead series, Tattoo Beads. These beads use three intricate canes based on the butterfly, scarab and bird that you can see in my son’s baby blanket.









I hope you enjoyed looking at my pictures.

Jolene x
Kitzbitz

10/04/2011

Artists spotlight - Smitten Kitten

Nicola describes herself as a devoted hobbyist, keen crafter, passionate about making clean cut simple stylish jewellery.

I love this Fiery Dragonfly, it is part of a  hugely successful series of stunning cluster pendants that Nicola has a talent for creating.



Aside from pure eye candy, Nicola also shows off the funky fun side to her designs. These tweety bird earrings inspired by the popular "Angry Birds" game are so cute.

I'm also loving Nicola's more serious side. Glam Rock in Schwartz is a tasteful little number which would be equally at home with a flirty little black dress or looking cute and moody next to jet black painted finger nails.

To see more from Smitten Kitten check Nicola out on Facebook and on her beautiful and interesting blog and on her own website SmittenKitten.de too.

Jolene x

04/04/2011

WIN! WIN! WIN! with Brand New *All about FIMO® Competition* on Craft Pimp with monthly prizes donated by STAEDTLER (UK) Ltd

I am so thrilled to be able to share the news that I have just launched an Brand New *all about FIMO® Competition* on Craft Pimp Forum with monthly prizes donated by STAEDTLER (UK) Ltd.



I am a huge FIMO fan as you may have gathered from my blog and can't believe how excited I am to be able to share this news and project, there will be a prize up for grabs every month now up until Christmas 2011!

Come and join the fun!

Jo xx


Please obtain full instructions/safety leaflet and stockists from STAEDTLER (UK) Ltd.
marketing@uk.staedtler.com

For more information and project sheets:
www.fimo.com
T: 0845 600 5930

02/04/2011

Artists Spotlight - Dizzy Kitten

Dizzy Kitten, otherwise known as Kayleigh is a fellow polymer clay addict. She has a real knack for combining zingy colours to create bold and vibrant jewelery designs. You can find out more about Dizzy Kitten by following her fan page, Kayleigh's Craftyness on Facebook.
This picture below shows a range of Kayleigh's whimsical toadstool necklaces which are very cute indeed!




And these pirate cats really capture the sense of fun that Kayleigh brings to her creations which brings her critters to life.

To see more visit Flickr and Dizzy Kitten's Arty Farty Stuff.

Jolene x