The Gossiping Goddess

Sunday, 11 March 2012

What happened to the weekend...

Where did it go...one minute it was Friday afternoon next it's Sunday bedtime!

Most of today has been caught up with listing lots of new components in my THEA too shop and it's really quite tiring. I just have some new headpins to list tomorrow and that will be it for a little while. I'm looking forward to a couple of lazy days and then getting down to some jewellery making - now that I've got my head around the components shop I'm hoping I can start to balance the two better and have plenty of time for both.

And besides... I've got to make something for THEA's birthday giveaway haven't I?

Hope you all had a great weekend.

Lesley

Saturday, 10 March 2012

Happy Birthday Goddess...!

It's party time... The Gossiping Goddess and THEA Jewellery are celebrating their first birthdays!

How did that happen...? It only seems like a few weeks since I wrote my first post and so much has happened since then and I've met so many wonderful people along the way - It must be true that time flies when you're having fun.

I'm a little tied up getting new stock ready for an update to my second shop (who's have thunk it!) THEA too right now but don't worry, I won't let the occasion slip buy without a little celebration - what do you think...a little Goddess giveaway maybe...?

I'll find something lovely and come back and give you all the details soon. In the meantime I'd like to give a big shout out for all you lovely people who have joined me on my journey over this past year and I hope you'll stay with me for the next one - thank you one and all.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Lesley

Thursday, 8 March 2012

THEA too Baking Day...

It's a baking day Chez THEA today...

No edible goodies I'm afraid but plenty of new components to go into the shop. I've been making some naturalistic pendants using moulds and texture plates I make myself from plants in my garden. I've also been using old textile printing blocks, bisque stamps and vintage buttons to create some of these pretty earring pairs and charms.

This is a naturalistic pendant I've used in my own work - the mould for this came from the flower buds and leaves of a Pieris.

These head pins and bead caps need a final clean up before that get fired later today - they have to look their best!

Once they're cooked I'll start to photograph and list items so look out for shop update announcements here and on Facebook over the weekend.

Hope to see you then.

Lesley.

Tuesday, 6 March 2012

Tell Your Girlfriends about Bronze...

Have you met my friend Cilla..?

You may know her as the design force behind the fun and fabulous jewellery creations to be found at the Etsy shop and blog 'Tell Your Girlfriends'. Cilla and I 'met' early last year when she won a stash of beads in one of my very first blog giveaways. Ever since then we've been following each others progress and when I've been trying out new techniques or styles she always has some positive words of encouragement.

Cilla was particularly interested in some of the bronze work I started showing on my blog and although I wasn't selling components generally at the time, she bought some of the pieces I was making for my own use and I think it's fair to say she got hooked on bronze. So, when I started thinking vaguely about opening a second Etsy shop to sell bronze components I just happened to mention it to Cilla and she was both delighted and excited.

Since then she has given me non-stop encouragement and has come up with numerous ideas both for designs and ways to help promote my work. It can be quite daunting starting out on a new venture and having someone to bounce ideas off has been invaluable to me and without her infectious enthusiasm I doubt I would have got things up and running quite so quickly. So thank you Cilla, I really do appreciate everything you done.

But now lets move on to some eye candy shall we...

Whilst I was working on pieces for the new shop, I sent some to Cilla for her to play with so that I didn't focus too much on things that suit just my design style. When I saw these photos of her beautiful creations I was 'chuffed to bits' as we Brits say. I didn't realise just how much satisfaction I would get from seeing how other people use my pieces in their work - I love it!

Anyway, I'm going to shut up now and let Cilla's designs speak for themselves.

Bronze tulip earrings with vintage glass bead, Czech glass and Vintaj findings

The flower beads on these earrings are a work in progress for me and after seeing these they are definitely a design I want to develop.

Bronze focal, square polymer clay bead by Gabriel Studios, blue patina chain
by Miss Fickle Media, turquoise and resin beads and vintage brass chain

I think this bracelet is really harmonious and balanced and I love the way the shape of the focal is mirrored in the chain links. The pretty square bead adds contrast and texture and pulls together all the elements perfectly.

Bronze donut beads with leather and lampwork beads by Outwest

When I made these beads it was as standard 4 hole connectors but Cilla has laced them with little pieces of knotted leather - very original and so effective.

Bronze heart connector with lampwork beads by Silverfish Designs

Another very pretty bracelet with a soft romantic feel to it and as I'm not a big user of pink beads myself, it's great to see how well they work with the bronze.

Bronze bird charms with lampwork beads by Clare Scott and Vintaj accents

Aren't these fun? the charms are a perfect match with the earthy iridescent tones of the lampwork beads.

Bronze script connectors, ceramic beads by Jean Christensen,
blue rock crystal and vintage brass chain and findings

This is a great bracelet which I think has a sort of 'ancient relic' vibe about it with the unusual ceramic beads the little scraps of writing on the bronze...ever the romantic me!

Bronze heart headpins with Czech glass and gold accents

And last but not least... the cutest pair of candy pink earrings made with a pair of heart headpins. I am really intrigued to see how people use these headpins and these are a great start.

Thanks again Cilla for bringing my work to life in your lovely designs!

You'll find some more of Cilla's work on the gallery page of this blog and of course her Etsy shop Tell Your Girlfriends has lots more lovely jewellery too so do please pay a visit.

If you have made jewellery using any of my components and would like to have it featured in the gallery you can find details here. I am also hoping to do a regular round-up post showcasing some of these designs so keep your eyes peeled for that.

In the meantime have fun!

Lesley

Sunday, 4 March 2012

Silks, Souks and Sumptuous Prizes

Marsha Neal Silk Colour Palette Challenge

I'm sure you all know Marsha Neal for the gorgeous ceramic jewellery components she makes and you may know that she also sells the most glorious silks to go with her components. Well Marsha is currently hosting a 'Silk Colour Palette Challenge' and I am delighted and honoured to be one of the the first group of 12 to be taking part. So what does this involve...

Well, using the image above as inspiration the 12 of us chose up to 12 silks from Marsha's collection to create a unique 2mm silk ribbon knot bundle and this is my bundle...

The vibrant but slightly earthy palette reminded me of pictures I've seen of stalls in Moroccan markets selling herbs, spices, leather and textiles in a glorious array of colours so I named my bundle 'Souks of Marrakesh'. And guess what's now at the top of my must 'visit' list...

You can see the individual colours in more detail below:

This is a great way to get your creative juices flowing and Marsha will be hosting the second round of this challenge starting on May 3, 2012 (click for details) and anyone willing to come up with a new palette and post a link is invited to participate!

Now obviously we would like to help Marsha sell some of these special bundles and she's come up with some very tempting treats that might make you want to get involved with the fun and buy some silk...

1. You can help me and the other 11 designers reach milestones of silk knot bundles so that that we can get free stuff! And if you come up with a colour palette and get voted into the top 12 next round the same will go for you.

2. For every 1 palette that you purchase in these 12 finalist palettes during this 1st round (ends May 2 2012) you'll get 1 entry for the chance to win a $50 Marsha Neal Studio Clay Pieces Gift Certificate - how cool is that!

3. Marsha will host design challenges on her blog themed around the inspirations from these silk knot bundles and inspirational photographs for anyone purchasing these palettes, using them in their designs and then entering the design challenge posts. Winner's prizes will be determined as the events are scheduled.

There will be some blog post tutorials about how to use these in some basic ways to create jewelry so if you're not used to using textiles in your work don't worry - I'm quite new to it too.

Extra ways to win before midnight (EST) tonight (4 march 2012)
To help promote this event Marsha has added some extra ways for you to win goodies until midnight tonight.

1. Add the 'Silk Colour Palette Challenge' button to your blog sidebar or website - you can get this here.

2. Tweet, Share on Facebook or any social media platform you take part in.

3. Leave a comment here on Marsha's blog detailing each action you take. Every comment you leave for each action gets you one entry into a draw for a free (10) 2mm silk knot bundle of your choice from the 12 finalist palettes.

4. Vote here for your favourite palette(s) (you can cast up to 10 votes) and then leave one comment once you have voted (one comment per person please) and you will be entered into the draw to win a 2mm silk knot bundle of your choice. The "12 palette finalist artist" with the top voted palette gets to select a 2mm silk knot bundle for themselves too.

5. For any of the silk knot bundles of the 12 finalist colour palettes you purchase from March 1 to

March 4 you will get an entry to win an additional 2mm silk knot bundle of your colour choice AND a free pair of Marsha's new porcelain clay beads in your glaze colour choice (you pick round, chevron inspired, or shard inspired). Purchase must be made by Midnight EST on March 4, 2012.

Sounds pretty good to me but don't forget, these options are only available until midnight tonight (sorry I was late posting this) so don't miss the opportunity.

Oh, and if by any chance my silk bundle should turn out the favourite...then I will be hosting a little giveaway myself - I'm counting on you...

If you would like to find out more about this and the background to the challenge just visit Marsha's blog. The colour palette silk bundles can be purchased through Marsha's Website or Etsy shop.

Have fun and I hope to be visiting some of you for the next round!

Lesley

Wednesday, 29 February 2012

Sometimes something has to give...

If you've arrived here hoping to see my creation for Erin Prais Hintz's 'Challenge of Music' then I have to offer an apology. The period since Christmas has been unbelievably busy and I seem to have taken on just a bit too much. I realised at the beginning of this week that for my sanity something had to give and sadly, for the moment it's this challenge. I love music and really wanted to take part in this and boy do I hate to not see something through once I've committed to it but, I just didn't have the time to devote to it to do it justice and enjoy it. I really needed to step back and take a breathe for a moment.

Butterfly park in Singapore - photo taken by me

But it's only for now...I still fully intend to make my piece and while it won't be part of the blog hop, I will post it here for anyone who is interested. With that in mind I decided that today I would go ahead and post the video of the piece of music I was taking as my inspiration and then, if you want to you can come back later to find out how I've interpreted it and what this beautiful song means to me.

You can catch the 'Challenge of Music' blog hop clicking the button on the sidebar to the right - I'll be stopping by.

Have fun!
Lesley

Saturday, 25 February 2012

7000 Bracelets for Hope Blog Hop

Welcome to the 2012 blog hop in support of the 7000 Bracelets For Hope campaign and hosted by Erin of Elysian Studios and Christine of One Kiss creations. The campaign is run by the Global Genes Project which exists to raise awareness and support for the 30 million people who suffer from one of the 7000 identified rare diseases. The bracelets made in support of this course are passed on to families who have children suffering from these diseases in a gesture of love and support.

I've actually made two bracelets. Because the brief was to create simple, flexible designs I went right back to when I started making jewellery and made a memory wire bangle - I used to make lots of these but probably haven't done so for a couple of years now, This one combines denim blue Czech and Japanese glass beads with lampwork beads by Sabine Little and pewter accents. The two heavy pewter tube beads add a little bit of bling without making it too dressy. The bracelet is finished with glass beads charms and two little bird charms so I've taken a little bit of creative license and called it 'Bluebirds of Hope'. I must apologise for the poor quality of the photo's for this bracelet - they were taken in bad light and I had intended to reshoot them. However, an incident involving a cat, a table and a hard floor made that impossible and I will be camera shopping later today! It really does look much better in reality!

After I'd made this I was clearing out some old clothes and happened to come across a denim jacket. Deciding that I was never going to wear it again I thought about whether I could use it to make a bracelet. This is completely out of the norm for me as I do not feel comfortable working with textiles. I also happened to have just bought some buttons for no other reason than I thought they were pretty so I got them out and had a little play...and the result was this denim cuff.

I've simply sewn the buttons onto the denim and added a couple of little blue goat skin bows for extra contrast and texture. I can't really call it a clasp but the means of closure is provided by the existing button hole and 2 buttons make it adjustable. As I say, not at all my usual thing but I think it's quite fun.

Thank you so much for stopping by and supporting this event. To see what all the other participants have created simply click on the links below and start hopping.

Elysian Studios and One Kiss Creations

The Studio Sublime

Crafty Hope

The Gossiping Goddess Your are here

SilverRose Designs

Firefly Visions

Pink Chapeau Vintage Jewelry

Michelle Mach

Pine Ridge Treasures

Backstory Beads

Adventures in Creativity with Lorillijean

Carefree Jewelry by Lisa