Thursday 26 March 2009

Easter jewellery :)

In my previous post I mentioned that I made myself some Easter jewellery.. well, here are some pics! The necklace is made with fabulous, custom-made ribbon and cord by the lovely Diane of SowZerE Designs. I am mad about her ribbons and have quite a collection. She creates the most beautiful, well-made ribbons, strings and cords that I've ever seen! Just look at those colours :) I also used a beautiful, hammered Sterling silver ring made by the wonderful George of By George. George is an amazing artist who creates gorgeous jewellery and chainmaille pieces. Her work is to die for! I've used one of my own lampwork focals for the pendant. This focal was an experiment and I'm relatively happy with how it turned out. My animals are usually in full 3-D and applying the bunny faces to the base bead was a great learning process. Since it's my first effort I had to keep it for myself and I think it works well in this necklace. I also used four of my Confetti Mini Gems at the ends of the ribbon and cord. This creates and bit of weight which makes the necklace lay nicer against the skin. I didn't cut the ribbon or cord (how could you cut something so exquisite?!) so, as an additional bonus, the beads hang down beneath the bow and create a pretty view from the back as well.

This is the matching bracelet. I created this bracelet with my own Confetti Twist Crunch beads and spacers made from one of my favourite glasses, Rose Quartz. I added one of my small bunny charms to the clasp. I'm very happy with the overall look of the jewellery as I prefer rather simplistic jewellery.. my tattoos are my real adornment ;D The colours are so quintessentially spring and the bunnies keep it whimsical enough for me to stand all the pink.. lol. I also made a pair of earrings with bunnies and pink Swarovski crystals. They are quite sweet :) I'm really pleased with how the jewellery turned out and I've already worn it twice! I've also made a necklace for Leah and pendants for my mother and Kaia. I think I'll string the pendants onto some of Diane's ribbon.. if I can bear to part with it!

Monday is my flight and I'm really looking forward to it now. Two weeks will be a long time to be away from my torch but I'll suffer through it ;) I'll try to update while I'm in Florida but, if not, I hope you all have a wonderful couple of weeks and a fun-filled Easter!

Love,
keiara

Tuesday 24 March 2009

keiara's keepers: ticklebean & Merkaba Jewelry

Each week I choose a couple of artists whose work I really love. I've decided I'll call this weekly write-up 'keiara's keepers'. I know, I know.. I'm obsessed with alliteration. Anyway! This week I've chosen ticklebean and Merkaba Jewelry. I purchased the above GORGEOUS purple lily hair clips from Amy of ticklebean as a custom order. She had looooooads of other beautiful flower hair clips but I really had my heart set on purple lilies. Amy created these little lovelies just for me and I adore them! They are the perfect size, colour and the flowers look so pretty nestled in my bright red hair :D Plus Amy is super friendly and talented. Stop by and see for yourself!

This is another custom order created for me by Jennifer of Merkaba Jewelry. Jennifer is an incredibly patient and accommodating seller and I'm so glad I met her :) She created this fabulous scarflette in my new favourite wool colour, Gothic Purple and also shopped for buttons according to my requests. The scarflette is warm, amazingly soft and very well made. It is a nice alternative to a bulky scarf and still keeps my neck warm. Now I'm actually sad that spring is here and I won't be wearing it anymore! Fear not, though, next winter this little beauty will be one of the first items of my winter wardrobe to make an appearance :) Thanks a bunch, Jennifer, for all your help and for creating this gorgeous scarflette for me! (I also broke down and bought a matching scarf from her. If you like handmade scarves and such PLEASE go check out her shop. Her scarves are to die for!)

In beady news I've made a bunch more bunnies which have proven to be quite popular! I love their little faces and I may have made myself a pendant.. and a bracelet.. and a phone charm.. and some earrings!!! Heehee :) I'm so excited about my upcoming trip to Florida and celebrating Easter. Tomorrow I'm having a little Easter tea party with my sister and my friend Sam. There's something about little sandwiches and cupcakes with pastel-coloured icing that fills me with joy. I have to convince hubby to iron the tablecloth and napkins for me when he gets home. Hmm.. here's to hoping that goes over well!

Hope you're having a great week :)

Love,
keiara
Thursday 19 March 2009

here I am :)

I've been spending lots of time with my sister, Leah, so everything else (even making beads!!) has fallen by the wayside a bit. But here is a picture of one of my new tree beads. I took a bunch of pictures in direct sunlight a couple of weeks ago just to see how they look. Some of them look sooooooooooo much nicer than the ones I take with the lamps but some of them don't look as good! The tree beads on the whole seem to look better when the picture is taken under the lamps. I think some of the detail gets washed out in direct sunlight. The colours do look nice in the sun though :)

I've been making more bunny bobble heads and bluebirds for spring. I've also made some nice, big bunny focals for Easter gifts for my family. I'll be leaving Florida the day before Easter (I might actually change my flight though) so we'll have to celebrate it a little early. It will be nice to spend some time with my family. My daughter, Kaia, will be coming down by train (she lives 4 hours away from my mother's house) so Mom will have all 3 of her girls back in the house! I can't wait to cuddle Kaia. I miss her so much. It's hard living so far apart but I know that she's working hard in school and doing great. She's pretty much the greatest kid ever :D

How was everyone's St. Patrick's Day? I had a LOVELY day! The house was all decorated with loads of beautiful things. I have some placemats and a runner from Cranberrymak which were stunning. Thank you, Mary! I also have a runner and some gorgeous mini shamrock pillows from Prairie Cottage Rose. You're the best, Shelley! My wonderful friend Debbie custom made me a gorgeous black wet-felted purse with beautiful shamrocks on the front. Plus I had my fabulous green button jewellery handmade by the lovely Collette. A huge thank you to all of you. You made my day so much more special!

Leah and I made shamrock cookies and we had a lovely dinner of roast beef and potatoes with gravy, shamrock mac n cheese (my mother special orders pasta shaped like four leaf clovers and she sent it over with my sister.. it's a family tradition), yorkshire puddings (made by my wonderful hubby), assorted steamed veggies and my homemade Irish soda bread. It was a feast! I even had a Guinness :) All in all I definitely felt very lucky indeed.

For the next two weeks I'm trying to squeeze in as much beadmaking as possible since I'll be in Florida for two weeks. I'm trying very hard to concentrate on how much fun it will be to see everyone and not stress over not being able to torch for two whole weeks.. LOL! Who knew that I would ever become a workaholic?! Actually that brings me to a good point. If you're in a job that you don't truly love, please find one you do. I cannot tell you how much lampworking has changed my life. Our lives are precious and spending them doing something that doesn't move you is simply a waste. Don't wait for it to happen.. MAKE it happen. At the end of the day, happiness is really what it's all about, isn't it?

Ok, I'll stop preaching now :) Hope you're all having a great day and enjoy the upcoming weekend!

Love,
keiara

Friday 6 March 2009

the full monty!



I mentioned that the previous newspaper article was an excerpt from a larger article that would appear in the near future. Well, here it is! You can have a look at Your Shepway's site. I'm on page 8. There are a few mix-ups (uhh, I'm not a glass blower, thanks!) which I've already emailed them about but, all in all, I'm so thrilled! This one gives out my website info too which is fantastic. What a great start to the weekend!

Anyone doing anything fun this weekend? I'm gearing up for my sister's arrival. I plan to make sure this is the best holiday she's ever had! She's interested in seeing older villages, etc (especially the pubs.. lol) and I'm planning to take her to Rye and Hastings. I'd like to go to Brighton as well. Any suggestions? We hit all the castles last visit so we're just mainly doing sight seeing type stuff. Ooh I'm planning on a day trip to France as well.. shh, don't tell her, it's a surprise! :D

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Love,
keiara
Thursday 5 March 2009

keiara's keepers: Wychbury Doll and Ball of Yarn

Here are my artist picks for the week! The above fantastically gorgeous little purses are made by my friend Debbie of Wychbury Doll. Debbie says I'm her number one fan and I'm PROUD of that fact! Her textile work is fantastic and her dolls are beyond amazing. I have several :D Do yourself a favour and check out her website to see more pictures of her incredible cloth dolls. The rock troll in the upper left is MINE! I also have three seated faeries (including Midnight and Aurora). And my collection is about to grow very soon...! I love this chick ;)

And this incredible hooded scarf is a custom Enchantment scarf made especially for me by the lovely Karen of Ball of Yarn. I fell in love with this scarf instantly but it was in a colour other than purple or black (and we know how keiara feels about that!) so I asked Karen if it could be done. Not only did she whip up this bit of gorgeousness for me straight away (in Gothic Purple.. ohyeah, they must've made the colour just for me!) but she also said she liked the colour so much that she had to make one for herself as well. Happy to help, Karen! ;) It's actually serendipitous that I happened upon her hooded scarf as I was wrapping a standard scarf around my head just days earlier, trying to figure out a fashionable-looking way to keep my ears warm. Well, fashionable-looking for me anyway! I was glancing through treasuries on Etsy, as I do, and I saw it. How much better does it get than a hooded scarf?! I'm a happy girl. Thanks for everything, Karen, you're the best!

Stay tuned next week for new tree beads (plus a new tree bead design.. woohoo!), cupcakes and 'Simply Spangled' beads as well as bunnies, 'Simply Starry' beads and some new focals. Plus Leah will be here on Wednesday.. OMG YAY! I'm gonna hug her so hard her eyes are gonna pop out!

Hope you're all having a great week!

Love,
keiara




Sunday 1 March 2009

6 x 6 x 6 :)

I was tagged by the lovely Shelley over at Prairie Cottage Rose and so here is my picture. This picture was taken in the summer of 2006 when my family came to visit me in England! Mommy and me (in my obligatory Nightmare Before Christmas hoodie!) in Rochester :) I took a very brief departure from my usual bright red hair and went back to my natural colour, strawberry blonde, seen here. I went back to the bright red pretty darn quick!! It's been nearly two years since I've seen my mom now and I'm a bit sad. Thankfully I'll be landing in Florida on March 30th so I'll be able to give her a big hug.. if she actually picks us up from the airport.. lol :)

Ok now I have to tag 6 more people! I'll tag:

Sam over at Aurorabeadz
Elaine over at Chat Elaine Jewellery
Kate over at Sublime Beads by Kate
Collette over at Noodlefish Crafts
Carolyn over at CeeGee Jewellery Design
Helen over at Blue Fairy Designs

You have to pick the 6th picture in your 6th folder (I have hundreds!!) and post it on your blog. Then you tag 6 other lovely ladies (or gentlemen!) and they take part in the fun. It's a nice way to share a little about ourselves :)

Hope everyone's having a nice weekend!

Love,
keiara





About Me

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Folkestone, Kent, United Kingdom
Hi! My name is keiara and I'm a native Floridian currently living in Folkestone, England. I am a hot glass and jewellery artist and I'm passionate about what I do! I love to 'talk shop' so feel free to contact me. Thanks for stopping by!