Monday Moodboard - Green, Brown & Cream

This week's Monday Moodboard is a yummy combination of Green, brown and cream. Don't forget that you can use the images themselves, taking inspiration from the shapes and textures...


Clockwise from top-left: Girl, Kerzers2 101, Happy Birthday! Love, Mom, Saturation Telephone

We love to see your creations so either email them to me at liz@thecrimsonmoon.co.uk or add them to our Flickr group pool.

Jennifer's Necklace

Hi, just a quick update on this week's Monday Moodboard. Jennifer Airs made this wonderful necklace with our yellow and grey theme. It's a fossil coral cab, encased in herringbone with two differently worked straps and a toning button. Jennifer, it's gorgeous! Thank you so much joining in with us this week :)

Wednesday's Wear It Or Frog It

Delving into my jewellery box this morning I found this necklace I made some time ago. It hasn't had much of an outing since I made it, I have no idea why! I don't really do much with netting stitches but I remember that I enjoyed making this and it's much simpler to do than it looks. It's a Sandra Halpenny design which you can find for free here.


Definitely not one to frog, I'm wearing this when I go shopping this afternoon :)

Monday Moodboard Reveal - Yellow & Grey

Welcome to the Monday Moodboard reveal! Here's a reminder of the yellow and grey mosaic I posted last week...

Clockwise from top-left: Fashion shoot, Yellow on Grey, Intimidation, Embrace The World.


I made this bead embroidered ring using a button and seed beads...



And Sarah made these gorgeous sparkly earrings using seed beads and crystals...



And Liri, one of our readers, has made this wonderful pendant!



Thank you so much for joining in with us this week Liri :)

If you've made something inspired by this week's Monday Moodboard why not show us! Email your photos to me at liz@thecrimsonmoon.co.uk or add them to our Flickr group pool.

Clair's Colours of the Rainbow

Another piece of jewellery inspired by our recent rainbow themed Monday Moodboard, Clair made this fab choker from safety pins, seed beads and a length of ribbon.

Monday Moodboard - Yellow and Grey

Welcome to the Monday Moodboard challenge! This week we have a slightly more unusual colour scheme for you to try, yellow and grey. Personally I love using grey beads but I've never tried combining them with yellow, so it'll be interesting to see what everyone comes up with for this challenge. There are many shades of yellow from zesty lemon to muted mustard and don't forget to use the textures, shapes and images from the mosaic for your inspiration.

Clockwise from top-left: Fashion shoot, Yellow on Grey, Intimidation, Embrace The World.

We would love to see what you create using this moodboard and you can send your photos to me at liz@thecrimsonmoon.co.uk or add them to our Flickr group pool. Happy beading!

Maria's Rainbow Earrings

It's never too late to send in a photo for one of our challenges. A few weeks ago we had a rainbow theme and Maria has made these wonderful daisy chain earrings using seed beads. I love how they meander gently, as Maria says, just as life does.

Wednesday's Wear It Or Frog It

I made this necklace for a challenge in Bead magazine and was really pleased with it at the time! I made the pendant using black polymer clay, stamping into it using a Tutankhamun rubber stamp before rubbing some gold acrylic onto the surface and rubbing off the excess.

The reason it's disappeared into the depths of my jewellery box is that it's a bit uncomfortable to wear due the strung matt beads which seem to pinch my neck. Also the pendant is very lightweight and would often disappear towards my shoulder - don't you just hate that?! So off to the frog pond it goes. I'll re-pot the beads and maybe use the pendant on a bookmark or something as I still love it :)

Monday Moodboard Reveal - Purple, Blue & Green

We've had four wonderful entries for our Monday Moodboard and all use different techniques. Before I reveal them, here's a recap of the mosaic from last week...


Clockwise from top-left: Octopus Babies, New Nice Threads, Le purple-keh, Garter.

Sarah made these wonderful peacock-like circular peyote earrings, using three sizes of seed beads...



For my necklace I made some felt beads from merino wool, dotted them with seed beads and combined them with sparkly Czech crystals and chain...



Maria created this sweet charm by combining amethyst, emerald and lapis chips, a lime green and purple pearl-coated bead and bugle beads...



And this week we have a beautiful entry from one of our readers, the very lovely Carol, who made this elegant bead embroidered heart...



Thanks for joining in with us Carol!

If you'd like to join in with this or any other Monday Moodboard challenge, it's very simple. Just add your photos to our Flickr group pool (you'll need to have a Flickr account and join our group before you can add to it) or alternatively send them to me at liz@thecrimsonmoon.co.uk

Wednesdays Wear It or Frog It

I bought the kit for this bracelet from Spellbound Beads at the 2009 Welsh Bead Fair. The instructions were easy to follow, plenty of beads and it was fun to make. It came out beautifully too (it's much nicer in real life, but as the clocks have changed and we have had no sunlight to speak of here in Wales, I had to use the flash). So how come I haven't ever worn this beauty, I here you ask? Because, despite the care I took in following the pattern, I didn't check the size and it is 1/4 inch too small! I could frog it and make it again, but I would really prefer to make myself a new one from some stash beads and give this to somebody else to wear. I have a few younger teenagers in the family so I think this will find it's way into the Christmas Bran Tub!

Monday Moodboard - Purple, Blue & Green

Welcome to another Monday Moodboard! I hope you can find inspiration in this week's mosaic. Quite by accident I seem to have chosen images which have a craft theme! Don't forget that you can use the images themselves as inspiration for your project, maybe you have some crochet beads tucked away, like knitting with wire, or perhaps bead embroidery is your thing. Either way I can't wait to see what everyone makes with this combination of purple, blue and green...


Clockwise from top-left: Octopus Babies, New Nice Threads, Le purple-keh, Garter.

As always we'd love to see what you create so please do send your photos to us! Either add them to our Flickr group pool or email them to me at liz@thecrimsonmoon.co.uk and I'll show them on the blog.