Wednesday's Wear It Or Frog It

This week I rummaged around my largest jewellery box that seems to collect lots of seed bead work hiding in the corners. I chose this flat netted bracelet on black with a red poppy embellishment (Poppy design by Kerrie Slade in Bead Magazine). I loved this bracelet when I first made it and still do, but I rarely wear black anymore especially in the summer. My first thought was to give it to somebody who will love it (I can't bear the thought of frogging that Poppy!), but after further thought I have decided that I really want to keep it and will start wearing it with jeans and a white t-shirt so that I can get more use out of it.

Have you dug through your jewellery stash this week? We'd love to see what you have come up with, email your pics to OTTBS@hotmail.com

A Passion For Purple Reveal {Monday Moodboard}

Last week's Monday Moodboard was a sophisticated mix of colours and textures. Does your memory need a refresher?

1. ultra violet, 2. Concert flyer, 3. nina_brosh_nina07, 4. Purple

Inspired by the colour paletter and the fun, funky retro circles in the mosaic, Liz has been busy making this addition to her beautiful series of Fairground Attraction Pendants.

And, inspired by the netted gloves on the model in the top right corner (and the only purple beads I could find in my stash!) I've revisited one of my all time favourite necklaces and have made a new version especially for a friend who has been admiring it for quite some time.

But what about our lovely readers? Have any of you been inspired by the moodboards? We'd love to see what you've been creating, even if it isn't 'on time' for the fortnightly reveal, so do drop us an e-mail at ottbs@hotmail.co.uk or pop your photographs into our OTTBS Flickr Group.

Wednesday's Wear It Or Frog It

This week's WWIOFI is a pendant that I dug out from the depths of one of my jewellery boxes. I think I wore it just the once after I'd made it and then it was never heard from again. What did I like about it? I was happy with the polymer clay pendant I made, the swirls of black, white and grey remind me of the milky way and the glitter adds to that effect. I learned a valuable lesson using the coarse glitter which isn't really suitable for clay work, it was originally green but sanding the pendant took the surface off it and I ended up with silver! I also love the Crystal Vitrail Swarovski bicones which are a gorgeous shade.


What I didn't like about it was my wirework (you can't really see it in the photo but believe me, it's rubbish!) and the ribbon, which was too wide. So I've frogged it a little, redoing my dodgy wirework and making a black and silver chain from random lengths connected with jump rings. Now I'm really happy and it's something I'll be bringing out a little more often!


We'd love to see what pieces you dig out and if you alter them or reuse the materials for something else. You can email pictures to ottbs@hotmail.com.uk

A Passion For Purple {Monday Moodboard}

Well, we're onto the third week of our new feature Monday Moodboard. Are you ready for another inspirational colour workout?

This week's Monday Moodboard is a darker, more sophisticated palette of pure purple, black and white. But while you're focusing on the colours, don't forget about the texture. There's also an absolute ton of it in the palette - pinstripe, netting, cross-hatching, feathers and retro circles.

1. ultra violet, 2. Concert flyer, 3. nina_brosh_nina07, 4. Purple

Enough to spark the creativity of any self-respecting beader or jewellery artist. So, what are you waiting for?

And remember, if you do make something inspired by one of our moodboards, do leave us a link in the comments below or e-mail me an image at ottbs@hotmail.co.uk

Purple lilies and let's play with crimps now!

Feeling a bit better finally, so I've come up with my first goal for the stash-busting, and it's all about my favourite colour - purple!:-) I have these funky acrylic calla lilies and this purple mix I gathered up and was planning to turn into a Tiger Tail necklace:



But for some reason it didn't happen at all. though I made a sketch of it and everything! (I've never made sketches of jewellery before this year, art is not my strongest point lol)

Umm ok, not that I have played much with crimps before but I do have a Tigertail bracelet and earrings that I made this year, so maybe now is the time to get brave and make a necklace already! I might even make some earrings to go with it, as I do love making them, and have enough lilies for that.

I'm going to start this next month I think as I am entering a July competition on Making Jewellery forum first. But after that I am planning to give myself 2 weeks for each goal and see how that goes. I think I'd prefer to come up with my own designs for this blog, but I do have a few magazines now so I might mix and match my own ideas with those and online projects, maybe. That way I have a fallback if my creativity has a bad day hehehe!

Well, wish me luck with those rascally little things they call crimps! lol

[Sorry about the really small thumbnail, I don't quite know how to get it bigger. Can someone please advise me? Thanks loads:-) I'm not used to blogs clearly lol]

Wednesdays Wear It Or Frog It.

This week I dug through one of my jewellery cases and came up with this spiral rope bracelet. I made this using a size 11 bead soup mix of creams and beige and some cream dancing pearls. I think I wore it once and then put it it the case, never to be seen again until today. Having looked at it again, I think it's a lovely bracelet, just not the right colours for me, I tend to wear cool colours such as purple, teal, black and white. I would certainly make this style of bracelet again in those sorts of colours but this one is not for me! I have a friend who wears lots of browns and natural colours so I will offer it to her. If she doesn't want it, you may well see it frogged at a later date!

Have you dug through the jewellery stash to unearth any lost treasures this week? Please tell us all about them, you can e-mail us at ottbs@hotmail.co.uk .

Tickled Pink Reveal {Monday Moodboard}

Last week we started our new feature, Monday Moodboard, in which we hope to encourage you to get creative and use up your beadstash by drawing inspiration from the colours, shapes, textures and emotions of the moodboard.

We started with a soft and simple collection of pale pinks and mauves with a touch of green, grey and white.

1. For Kristin, 2. Carnation Or "And Now For Something Completely Different", 3. 192, 4. Strawberry Drops

Here's what the team made -

Sarah took colour inspiration directly from the palette by choosing beads in a pale pink colour with an iridescent finish that shows hints of mauves and purples. The sterling silver rounds also pick up on the shape of the round sweets in the moodboard and add interest and texture to these simple, but beautiful earrings.

To create these pretty earrings in circular netting, Liz chose white and pale pinks, combined with the tiniest hint of pale green which she spotted in the photograph of the roses - and this gives Liz's earrings the soft, light feel of the photographs in the moodboard.

And, although I had something completely different in mind, I was drawn to these beautiful handmade shell beads that I bought several years ago in Namibia. The natural shell colours show variations of white, creams, pinks and purples and their round, but slightly irregular shapes are reminiscent of the rose petals on the cake.

There will be new Monday Moodboard next week but in the meantime, if you have thoughts about any of our new features or have any projects inspired by the moodboard to share with us, please leave a link in the comments below, send details to ottbs@hotmail.co.uk or post it in our new OTTBS Flickr Group.