The Collection is Growing!

I really thought when I received these watch faces they would be too big and look ungainly but when the bracelet was added it looks stunning. There is a lot of detail in the watch.

The clasps really do finish them off. I have posted them larger than I would normally, just to show the detail on the face. The beads are a pinky colour and silver spacers have been used between.

This is the same style of face but in an antique gold. There are two kinds of beads used, wooden and hematite. The thread was knotted to form a circle in the bracelet, this gives it a nice detail rather than straight.



And, I have made some little BIA books to take with me to Wolsingham Show, thought the children might like them. I have made quite a few more and I did not mess up one wire, I think I may have got the hang of it now. I spent two nights making these nice little notebooks. Just right for going back to school!

New Toy

Wow, I have given myself a treat and bought a Bind-It-All, I have been thinking of buying one for quite a while, Lynn is the culprit and the inspiration after seeing the books that she produces.

I have posted my efforts so far but I am am not letting on how many times I got things round the wrong way. Needless to say I will probably need to buy more wires.

The book above is covered with one of the Artylicious papers, front and back. I used polymer clay with a Ten Second Studio mold for the main feature on the front. Once fired and cooled I coloured it with the Tim Holtz alcohol ink and a corner swirl from Maya Road, painted and embossed.

I was quite pleased with this book. I decided I needed an album to store my holiday photographs, usually, I take them and download them and they don't ever get printed. Well, this year it will be different. So when I get back from holiday I am going to print and stick and finish my album.

I have added tags inside so that I can journal where the photographs were taken. The tags were first distressed and then stamped using some of the elements from the Journalling A4 themeplate. I finished the book with the little closure from Zutter, they really are nice and look very good. When the album is finished rather than it gape open with all the bits and pieces that I intend to put inside, I will be able to keep it neatly shut using this ingenious little fastener. You get two little decorative keys with the closure, these I threaded onto ribbon along with a few beads and tied it to the wire binding.

A Collection of Wires

In my last post I said I was doing a set to match one of the wire bracelet watches, well ta...da............I got it finished.

All using the same basic pattern, the necklace consists of six of the flower diamonds and is strung together using 6mm jump rings.

The watch is made up from four diamonds with two half diamonds to hold the fastener.

The bracelet is made up using seven of the diamonds.

In each diamond I have placed one Hematite bead.

Thanks to Emma for lending me her neck and wrists.

A Collection of Watches

In a previous post I mentioned the fact that I had bought two watch faces and attached them to bead bracelets, well one thing has led to another and I have bought several more, as you can see.

Some have been beaded and others have their bracelets made with twisted wire using the wire jig.

I have combined this watch bracelet with beads and I am currently working on a necklace and bracelet to match.

The bracelet watch above is done from twisted coloured 18 gauge wire, gunmetal, although in this picture the colour is not showing up too well. It is joined together with silver jumprings. The connectors between the watch and bracelet are done with 18 gauge silver wire

Purple and blue beads made this little bracelet very striking.

My favourite is this antique gold watch face which is inlaid with Mother of Pearl. It has tiny black stones around the outer edge on one side. The clasp finishes it off and gives an elegant look to it.

I liked it so much I have kept it for myself!

Black and cream made a lovely bracelet for this watch, the middle two strands in black have been twisted while beading. A close up of the twisting can be seen below.

Coffee and cream beads have been twisted to form this bracelet.

I have no excuse now to be late anywhere with all of these watches!


Time is of the Essence
"I'm late, I'm late..." - White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland.

I have a stand at Wolsingham Show on Sunday 7th September, so if anyone is in that neck of the woods please feel free to stop by and say hello, I will have plenty of Christmas gifts for you to buy!

View from a Window

Now we all know about Health & Safety and the regulations about spending time at a VDU, you need to have time out to adjust your eyes. Well how's this for a nice view to help adjust your eyes.

We have a lovely patch of grass outside our office window and these little creatures come out on an afternoon and sit and munch away to their hearts content or lay sprawled in the grass sunbathing, until of course you shut the window and scare them away. You can have at least a dozen at any one time, the babies are so cute.

I don't think the people who own the allotments are quite so fond of them, they sneak under the fence and eat the veg!

We visited Hamsterley Forest a few weeks ago, we often stop for a picnic, weather permitting. I took a few photographs while we were there. It is a beautiful place to visit.

This has to be my favourite photograph, the piece is called The Green Man. It is carved logs which are placed at intervals, when you are close to them or at a different angle they don't appear to be anything much. It is when you stand away from them directly to the front that you get the true picture. Good eh!

We do have some wonderful scenery up here in the cold North East of England.



Tunstall Reservoir, Wolsingham.

A rainbow that appeared above the rooftops after one of our heavy rain storms and the hot air balloon that followed shortly afterwards.