Monday 12 November 2012

UK Inspiration Challenge


Here is the reveal for the UK Inspiration Challenge on Artisan Whimsy.

My Region, as one of the Hosts, is Bath, the Historic City originally built by the Romans in AD60 on the site of natural springs, the Roman did like their Hot Baths!!!  It was known then by the name Aquae Sulis which means "The Waters of Sulis".  Later the city was very popular during the Georgian era which lead to a massive expansion resulting in some of the glorious Georgian architecture that we can still see today.

It was the Roman influence that interested me the most, the fact that many of the jewellery techniques that they used then, are still being used today, nearly 2000 years later.  I find that completely amazing!!!

Here are the pieces I created:


Roman Inspired Pendant and matching Earrings

The Romans loved their gold, so I used Gold Polymer Clay as the base for my pendant and incorporated it in the Leaf Cane that I made.  Knowing how fond the Romans were of Leaves and as everyone who knows me and my creations know, I too have a bit of a thing for leaves, I wanted to incorporated them into my design.  I was thinking broadly of the Roman Laurel Wreaths that Emperors are often depicted wearing, I created a Pendant and a pair of Earring, the earrings use a wire wrap technique that Roman Jewellers would have been familiar with.

I have so enjoyed this challenge and so, I think have lots of other people, judging by the number of entries that we had to the challenge.

Please take the time to visit their blogs and have a look at the amazing pieces they have created using the 6 regions of Britain as their inspiration

 All the links can be found here on the Artisan Whimsy Challenge Page.

 We will be picking the winners on Tuesday!!!!

Monday 8 October 2012

Artisan Whimsy - Come and Join Us!!

I'm a member, are you?  If not, then please, come and join us!

Artisan Whimsy is a new website and learning centre for anyone who is interested in Handmade Jewellery and Beads and everything to do with them.  It is a fantastic place to meet like-minded enthusiasts from all over the world and make friends and basically indulge in our favourite topic!!

Today is the first blog post of the UK Blog Team and there are prizes to be won!  We introduce ourselves and tell you a little about our work and influences and there is a challenge for you all to take part in.

Each member of the Blog Team explains whereabouts in the UK we hail from and your challenge is to create a piece of jewellery or a component drawing inspiration from the region that we live in.

My nearest City is Bath, the beautiful Georgian city which has it's roots going back to Roman times, when they had a Spa there.  You can still visit the amazing Roman Baths today and imagine yourself back in time 2000 years ago.

The Roman Baths at Bath

Bath Abbey

Beautiful Pultney Bridge

The Incredible Royal Crescent
The Romans were very fond of their jewellery, so much in fact that there was a law passed, banning people from wearing too much gold - it was considered "tacky"!!!

If you look at this picture of some examples of Roman Jewellery you can see that many of the techniques they used are still in use today, 2000 years later!  I find that amazing!

Add caption
If you decide that you would like to choose Bath as your inspiration for this challenge then I am offering a set of my Petal Capped Beads in Teal and Black Cherry as a prize!

Petal Capped Bead Set
You can chose which region appeals to you the most out of the ones listed, and of course if you want you can do more than one region, although prizes are limited to one per person.

So, how do you join this fantastic new website and take part in all the fun?  Go here and just follow the instructions, it is really simple.  I do hope to see you there!

Pippa x

Tuesday 18 September 2012

Are YOU One of the Three???

Ok, here is the thing....

The rules of the game say that I choose the first three comments on my blog post yesterday to be the lucky recipients of something gorgeous and handmade by me.

The First Three.......that is soooo hard!

When I put my comment on Cilla's Blog, I wasn't one of the Three....and yet she was so generous that she included a couple of extra comments as well, so in the end I was one of the Three...well one of the Five actually.

So, as this is a Pay It Forward theme, it felt only right that I should continue with Cilla's generous idea and choose more than three.

First lucky person then is Jennifer from Souls Fire Designs - (do check out her blog, she is amazing!)

Second is Julie from Made By Jules, one of my lovely and very talented fellow Craft Fairers!  Well Julie, this should get you blogging again!

Third would be Emma.....however Emma is my lovely neice from Canada, and not wanting to be accused of favouring family or anything, I am not going to count her, but will still send you something lovely Emma!

Fourth is Leigh, a lovely new friend I have "met" on an online beading group, so excited that you will be joining in Leigh!  Please go and check out her blog, Jewellrleigh

Fourth is Sky, happy to be sending something to you Sky!  Here is her blog for you all to check out Creative Chaos, what a great name!

Fifth is Elizabeth from Elizabeths Art, what a lovely blog you have Elizabeth!

and Lastly Sixth is Rebecca from the wonderful Songbeads.  Rebecca is an incredible Jewellery Designer who I am sure you have all heard of and have drooled over her gorgeous designs.

Dear Jody, who also commented by did not want to take part, I am so sorry that it didn't work out for you the last time that you did something like this, but thank you so much for commenting Jody.

So, over the next week or so, I will be contacting you all to find out what sort of things you like, colour preferences etc etc.  I will then make something for you, it might be a piece of jewellery or it might be some beads, if you have a preference, just let me know.  I want you to be happy!!! 

Of course, you will have no idea when I will send it to you.  Might be next week.  Might be over Christmas.  Might be in the depths of February to cheer you up on a dark and dismal day.  You will all have to wait and see.

Thank you all for taking part and playing along.  And Remember.........you all must Pay It Forward too.  Do a Blog Post and choose three (or more) people who comment and send them something gorgeous too!

Hope you are all having a lovely week so far

Pippa

Monday 17 September 2012

Something to Brighten up a Monday - Pay It Forward

I discovered such a great game on the lovely Cilla of Tell Your Girlfriends blog (do check it out, it's fab!).


It goes like this:


I’ll send a surprise gift to the first three commenters on this blog post. The gift will be a handmade surprise by me and will be sent to you some time in the next 365 days (yep, mystery gift at a mystery time).

 
Here’s what you need to do, leave me a comment and make sure you include your email address (if your profile doesn’t include it). I’ll email you for your snail mail address and a ask a few questions (likes/dislikes, favourite colours, sizes general stuff like that).

 
To complete signing up you MUST play along too. To do this you must blog a similar post and pledge to make a surprise gift for the first three people who comment on it.

 
So, do you want to play?

Comment below and I’ll sent a thoughtful handmade gift to the first three people who do.


Just how much fun is this!!!   So, what are you waiting for - get commenting!!!

Wednesday 5 September 2012

Autumnal Beads

Well Summer is over.  The children started school today and that always heralds the end of summer for me.  However it means that Autumn is coming, my favourite season of the year.

To celebrate this, I have created some new beads echoing my love of all things Autumnal.  Leaves, Berries, Nuts, Toadstool, the last of the Summer flowers, Pods and Birds.


Jenny Wrens

Woodland Acorn

Tiny Toadstools


Logan Berries
I do hope you like them as much as I have enjoyed making them.

They will be up in my Etsy Store tonight if you would like a closer look!

Hope you have all had a great Summer.

Oh yes....and stay tuned over the next couple of days for another Blog Post where we can play a great little game I discovered over on the lovely Cilla's Blog Tell Your Girlfriends, called "Play it Forward".  You won't want to miss this one!

With love

Pippa

Monday 16 July 2012

And The Winner Is........

Thank you all so much for coming and leaving a comment!  It has been so much fun!

So without further ado The Winner Is....

No 48 who is Creations by Kari - congratulations!!!

Please contact me with an address and I can get those beads winging their way to you.

Thank you everyone for taking part and it won't be long before I do another giveaway I know.

Hope you all had a great weekend.

Love Pippa

Monday 9 July 2012

GIVEAWAY !!!

It feels like just the right time to have another giveaway!

Set of 4 Beach Hut Beads
This is a simple giveaway and is open to Everyone, including all my lovely International Friends! 

All you have to do is to leave a comment on this blog giving your name and contact details!

If you would like an extra chance to win, then pop over to my facebook page and like it, (if you "like" it with your personal profile, rather than your page, then my likes will go up, apparently FB doesn't count likes from pages!  Something I learnt this weekend!).

For yet another chance, share this giveaway on your own Blog or on Facebook! Then come back here and leave another comment to let me know you have shared!

So up to Three Chances to Win!

Important:  If you enter more than once, please be sure to leave an extra comment on here with the links to let me know!!

So, What Can You Win??

This Giveaway is for a set of 4 Beach Hut Beads as pictured above and also for this set of my new Bell Blossom Beads.

So you can win 4 Beach Hut Beads And 10 Bell Blossom Beads!  What are you waiting for????

Bell Blossom Beads In Cranberry and Pale Pink
 I am so excited!  I love doing giveaways!

Good Luck everyone - I will be doing the draw next Monday 16th July 2012.

Love Pippa x

Thursday 5 July 2012

Some New Work

Well, it's about time!  I have some new beads up in my Etsy Shop for you!

Bell Blossom Beads

Love these!

They are called Bell Blossoms, because, well it's pretty obvious why!  I have a few more sets in the oven as I type this in some different colour ways and they will be listed hopefully later today.  I do hope you like them!

Casablanca Beads

Faceted Nuggets from the Off-Cuts of the Casablanca Beads




I have also been working hard this week on some Casablanca Beads from the wonderful tutorial by Desiree, here is the link.  I have had fun with all the left over cuts and made some bracelet tiles, faceted nuggets and some hearts too!

Double Drilled Bracelet Tiles

Heart Pendants - Love all the different colour-ways I got from just the Off-Cuts!




It has been hard getting back into a strong work ethic after everything that has happened.  I have been struggling with getting things into perspective and finding it difficult to just settle down and actually spend time at the clay table.  This has been a good week, but I am trying to allow myself understanding that things will not always go according to plan.  I need to take things at their own pace and not push too hard to be doing everything that I think I should.  Not easy!  But I am getting there.


My Weeks Work!

Hope you have all had a good week too!

With love

Pippa

Friday 22 June 2012

*Sigh*

It comes to us all I suppose, and my Optician said that I had done very well to get to 48 without needing glasses before!
Now I can see how messy my desk actually is!

So, Varifocals were picked up yesterday and now I have "Nodding Dog Syndrome" as I try to find the correct focal points.

"Point Your Nose, Don't Move Your Eyes" she said.  Easier said than done.  My neck aches, I have a headache and even my nose aches!

2 weeks apparently and I will be so used to them I will wonder how I ever did without them.  2 weeks seems like quite a long time this morning.  Mind you, at least I can see what I am doing now instead of "feeling" everything lol!!

Someone tell me that this gets easier! :)

Hope you all have a great and in focus weekend.

Love  Pippa

Friday 8 June 2012

Baby Steps

After nearly two months I have finally made something.

No new designs, I think I need to take small baby steps at first, so I have revisited some old designs.
Butterfly Wing Beads - Cane instruction by Donna Kato
Beads - my own idea!

Slowly, I am starting to create again. 

So happy to be back here.  So happy to start interacting with you all again. 
Water Colour Beads - Technique by Maggie Maggio

Thank you all for all your support.

I've missed you all !
What I finally made with that Klimt Cane I posted on my Flickr Page!

I know I still have some outstanding orders and some enquiries to answer fully, will be making a start on those next week - I haven't forgotten!

Much love
Pippa xxx

Monday 21 May 2012

Lovely Blogger Friends, 

This is such a hard post to write, so I will keep it very short, I know you will all understand.

My lovely Mum, who I have been looking after and caring for for the past 7 years, died last Monday.

She was 88 and had suffered from Dementia.  As any of you who have had to help a loved one with Dementia will know, it was a sad and difficult road for us all to travel.

The one bright lining to our particular cloud was that we managed to care for her at home, right up until the end, even though the last 3 weeks were very hard.  She died in her own bed, in her home and that was what she had wanted. 

Her funeral is on Wednesday and the forecast is for a beautiful sunny day, she would have liked that.

I will need a little more time to get myself together and then I will be back.

Thank you all so much for all your wonderful messages of love and support that you have sent me, they have meant so very much to me.

With much love

Pippa

Tuesday 24 April 2012

A Leave of Absence

Lovely Blogger Friends, I need to take a leave of absence for a little while.

My lovely Mum is very ill at present and I am caring for her pretty much full time now.  So please bear with me.  I do not have the time at the moment to blog and did not all want you wondering what had happened, so hence this update.

I will be back as soon as I can and I hope you all will be able to join me again when time permits.

I will still be watching for all your beautiful creations that you post and checking out Facebook when I can.

Thank you all so much for understanding.

With much love

Pippa

Tuesday 3 April 2012

10 Minute Warning!!!

Ok, maybe a little more than 10 minutes!

I am off to wonderful Cornwall in a couple of days, so just wanted to give you all a bit of warning that my Etsy Shop will be put into Vacation Mode on Wednesday Night for about a week.

So if you have had your eye on any of my beads, if you order tonight or early tomorrow (remember I am working on UK time here!!) then I will have time to make your beads and get them shipped to you!

And just to tickle your fancy....some new Disc Beads!

Disc Beads in Duck Egg, Bassalt and Savanna
I have been experimenting with making a Faux Ceramic Mix in a Duck Egg Blue and finally got the colour I wanted.

Now of course after all that effort I couldn't think of a thing to make with it!!!!  Why is that always the way?

So I decided the best thing to do was to make some Disc Beads in all three colours whilst I wait for Lady Muse to put in an appearance!  Actually, I was really pleased with these Discs - really versatile and lovely and aged looking!

They are available in my Etsy Shop now if you would like a closer look.

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter.  I will miss you all whilst I am away, but will be back, renewed, refreshed and hopefully with lots of lovely Cornish Inspiration, not to mention a picture or 300 to share with you!

Pippa

Wednesday 28 March 2012

Come and take a little walk with me!

As you all know, I live in the UK, in the South West of the Country in a County called Wiltshire.  I am not far from the historical Roman City of Bath.

My little village is called Holt and I thought it would be nice for you to be able to see what I see when I walk outside my back door.

I am very, very, lucky!

This is the brook at the end of my Garden Path!
The Little Bridge going over the brook!

Turn Left and this is the path....

...that takes you to the village pond!

under the Willow Tree is the Glove Factory Studios - I would dearly love to have one of these studios!!

turn around and this is the back of our house - the one at the end on the right!

Carry on walking back down the path and this is the road through the village.  The Old Manse is opposite our house and the church is just a little further up.

If you cross the road you come to Withy Walk - isn't it pretty!

At the entrance to Withy Walk is this amazing house called The Courts.  It has stunning gardens which are open to the public and it is owned by the National Trust.

The Courts

Turn around and this is the village hall, you can see the Willow Tree at the end of the road where we walked earlier!

Look to your left and there is our house, right at the end with the Red Front Door!

It was such a beautiful day - we had ice creams in the park!

Thank you for walking a little with me - it is always great to share things with a friend!

Hope your week is full of sunshine too!

Monday 19 March 2012

Easter Bundle.......and some photos of what I made with all those beads!

Easter is just around the corner!!  I am excited!  I love Easter.

So today I was inspired to make some Easter Eggs.  I made some a couple of years ago as Easter Egg Tree Decorations and hung them with little bits of ribbon - very sweet (check out my Flickr Photos if you would like to see them in situ), but this year I thought my Easter Eggs could do with becoming a little more grown up.  I decided to make them in the Faux Ceramic Style I have been working on and to team them up with some of my other beads.

So here you are - an Easter Bundle - Just for you!

Easter Bundle

Round Texture Beads, Love Bird, Ivy Leaf, and Easter Egg
I do so hope you like them!

And especially for Rin, who left a lovely comment and asked if I would show what I eventually made with all of last weeks beads!

So here are some photos for you Rin, hope you like what I did with them :)

Seed Pod Bead Bracelet

Seed Pod Bead Long Necklace

Retro Cherry Heart Necklace

Metallic Motif Necklace



Purple Haze Snowdrop Necklace
Phew!  It was a good productive week, but tiring!  I have one more Craft Fair this Saturday and then I have a Saturday off to take my gorgeous daughter and her 2 friends to have their nails done and have lunch (a birthday treat) and then I am off to Cornwall the following weekend for a few days!  I can't wait!!! 

The weather is beautiful here at the moment, so I wondered if anyone would like to see where I live?  I could take a few photos of my village and some of the historic buildings we have.  It is a beautiful place.  I thought it would be nice if you all could picture where I live and work? 

Watch out for the next post!

Hope you all have a wonderful and sun filled week, where ever you are!

Pippa

Wednesday 14 March 2012

Bead Table Wesdnesday - Or...I've stopped faffing around and got something made this week!

After a slow start to the week which went something like this....

...OK, need to make a lot of beads this week, because I had a storming day at the Craft Fair on Saturday and now I have next to no stock...I'll just make a cup of coffee first because that will get me in the swing of things...while the kettle is boiling I'll just have a quick look on Flickr....oh Wow, pretty things, shiny things, gorgeous things!

Ok, really need to sit down and make some beads, but I finished my coffee whilst I was on the computer checking out important stuff so I will make another and then I will really get on.

I'll just check if I have some black opaque seed beads for this design first...ok really need to order some seed beads, just check what that new site has to offer....oh look lots and lots of beads and clasps and ooooh look shiny stuff and pretty things.....

Right I need to settle down and MAKE SOME BEADS.......gosh I'm hungry, look it's lunch time already, I'll just make a sandwich and then....

You get the general idea lol!!

But today I was disciplined, I was focused, I was productive (makes a change!)

And here is what I made!  Feeling good, feeling pleased and just a little bit better about the amount of beads I still need to make lol!

Would you like to see any of these on Etsy?  At the moment they are earmarked for necklaces for the craft fair, but I would love to know if you like them and if they are something you could use in your designs!

Thank you so much lovely blogger friends!
Seed Pod Beads

Metallic Motif

Candy Hearts

Purple Haze Snowdrops

Buttons


Lots of Sunflowers!
 Phew....That was a good days work.

Hope you week is proving productive too!

Pippa