Monday 26 October 2009

Happy Monday!

Hi guys! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I got into a bracelet-making mood and here are two of my favourites from Saturday :) Above is Candy Corn Halloween bracelet (candy corn, for all my British friends, is a quintessential American candy that is practically mandatory at any Halloween gathering - interesting side note: I can't stand the stuff but it IS really cute!) I created this bracelet with three of my handmade candy corn lampwork beads and gorgeous felt beads from Debbie. Her felt beads are FANTASTIC! Well, everything she does is fantastic ;) The beads are beautifully formed, light and easy to string. I really enjoyed working with them and I will definitely be making more felt bead jewellery!

Next up is Jester Halloween bracelet. All my Halloween jewellery this year is black, lime green and purple to match my new synthetic dreads (which I've just been told have not shipped yet even though I received an email last week saying they were going out Special Delivery.. PANIC MODE ON!) *cough* I'm going to be optimistic and believe they WILL arrive in the next couple of days. Anyway! This bracelet is all Debbie's felted beads with simple Sterling silver spacers. I am so in love with these beads! Comfy, cute and handmade by a darling friend. What more could you ask for?!

I'll have to do another post later this week showing off all my Halloween jewellery. I REALLY spoiled myself (if I may say) but I think I deserved it after all my hard work for the show last weekend ;) In the meantime, I'm off to bake Halloween cupcakes.. MMM!

Have a great day, everyone!

Love,
keiara

Tuesday 20 October 2009

I LOVE MY FRIENDS!

Yes, I do. Why? Because my friends send me awesomely cool Halloween stuff like this!!! This is a big reason why I love what I do so much. I mean, it's great and fun and wonderful all by itself PLUS I get to meet lots of other amazing artists who make lots of ridiculously cool stuff! Case in point: the above picture. My fabulous friend, Laura, made me these fantastic Halloween-themed brooches (am I the only one who always wants to say 'broach'?!) and the adorable card too. The Nightmare Before Christmas brooches are actually from last year but, hey, they deserved to have their pictures taken too! How awesome are these?! I LOVE them. To say that my jaw dropped when I saw the Dia de los Muertos (sugar) skull is an understatement. And how freaking cool is the Oogie Boogie?!? *swoon*

Not only did Laura send me an awesome package today.. but so did Debbie! I've talked about Debbie loads of times before. She's my go-to girl for felt jewellery, beads and her own handmade dolls and trolls too. Her work is incredible! I asked her if she could make me a pair of Halloween bracelets with some embroidery. This is what she came up with!! The lime green bracelet has fantastic, delicate embroidery featuring spiders and the black bracelet has sparkly stars (which don't show in the pic) and an AMAZING black cat face charm! This picture SOOOO doesn't do these bracelets justice. They are just phenomenal! I'm so in love with them :)

I've officially decorated my house for Halloween (pictures soon) and I'm planning a Halloween-themed dinner party! OooOoOOo! I can't wait :) Halloween is one of my favourite holidays. OH! I've also ordered some gorgeous black, lime green and purple synthetic dreads! I hope they arrive soon.. I can't wait to see what they look like installed (pics of that to follow too).

I have all my Halloween jewellery sorted including a button jewellery set from Collette at Noodlefish, a ribbon jewellery set from Mel at Poor Robin and these wonderful felt bracelets from Debbie of Wychburydoll. I suppose I should probably at least wear ONE of my own creations too, huh? Spooky Skulls bracelet it is, then!

How about you guys? Anything fun planned for Halloween? Trick-or-treating? Dressing up? I'll be baking up a bunch of ultra spooky cupcakes for hubby's office (as I do every year) and I have some GREAT ideas! I hope they turn out as cool as I'm envisioning ;)

Off to make more beads. Hope you're all having a great day! I know I am after receiving all these fantastic Halloween gifts!

Love,
keiara




Monday 19 October 2009

showing off my rack..

My bead rack, that is! What did you think I meant?! My wonderful hubby, Steve, made me some GORRRRRRGEOUS mahogany bead display racks. I have four of the tall, upright displays, two spinning displays and two focal displays. You can see one of each in this photo plus all the bazillions of beads I had for sale at The Big Bead Show! I had a GREAT time! I met up with old friends, made new friends and have so many new, wonderful customers. My beads seemed to be quite a hit and I was ecstatically happy! It was also fantastic to admire other people's work from seed bead jewellery and ornaments to ceramic bangles (SO awesome!), fabulous jewellery and interesting hairstyles, tattoos and piercings. What a day! I'm so glad that Sam asked me to share a table with her and gave me the courage to do this show. Thank you, Sam! I will definitely be doing more shows in the future :)

Here's a pic of us behind our table. Doesn't it look great? Between Steve's stands, our beads and the signs, I think it looked amazing! I had a smile on my face all day long.. so much so that my cheeks were really aching by the end of the day! I wouldn't change it for anything though. A HUGE thank you to everyone for all of your amazing support, compliments and purchases. You've all made me a very happy girl!

I came home to custom orders in my inbox already and tons of new mailing list subscribers. You guys rock so much :) I am so blessed!

Keep an eye on my website this week. I'll be listing TONS of new beads including pairs & trios, cupcakes, kitties, lentils and even some jewellery. Hope you like it :)

Also, now that the show is over I've reopened my Etsy shop. I'll be adding some new items to that shop too, so keep an eye on it :)

Thanks again, everyone, for all of your support. I love you guys!

Love,
keiara


Thursday 15 October 2009

it's just about that time..!

It's nearly time for The Big Bead Show! I'm super excited (and nervous) and I just can't wait! Steve has made some truly gorgeous bead displays and I'm so proud of him. I'll post pics of them after the event!

Reminder: Email me using the contact form on my website to RSVP for the show and I'll give you a discount on all my beads at the show! Don't miss out on this as it will ONLY be available to those of you who RSVP!

I'll also be offering a fantastic giveaway to everyone who signs my book at the show! If you're going, find me and sign the book to be eligible!

I hope you're as excited as I am! See you Saturday :)

Love,
keiara

www.bykeiara.co.uk
www.bykeiara.blogspot.com
Friday 9 October 2009

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday everyone! I'm still working like mad to get ready for The Big Bead Show. Yeah, that's me, plugging the show AGAIN! I've also had a few custom orders for necklaces lately (everyone just loves Diane's ribbons, of course!) and here are my two favourites (well, I have another favourite but I don't want to show it because it's a gift for a friend's sister - shhhh) Anyway! Above is my Golden Dream Tree Focal that I've turned into a pendant and hung from Diane's glorious ribbon. It is hard to see in the picture but the ribbon is a delicious variegated apricot with gold stitching. PERFECT for the Golden Dream Tree!

Here is my Lexi Kitty Focal on another of Diane's gorgeous ribbons. Doesn't it just look like it was made for this bead?! *swoon* I lovelovelove the pink and purple together. I have also just had to beg Diane to make me more ribbons as I'm running a bit low!

And here are some bead sets for the show! I'm creating a whole new range of sets that are easy on the wallet. These sets will each have one whimsical focal, four cute feature beads (polka dots, raised dots, etc.) and two spacers. The best part? These sets are all under £15! I will be premiering this range at the show. I'll also be listing them on my website after the show for those of you who won't be able to attend. Now you can have a bit of whimsy without the bigger price tag ;)

Here is my current dilemma.. maybe you'd all like to help me out. On the left is my original Christmas tree focal design. On the right is my new Christmas tree focal design. Which one do you prefer? I like both but I'd like to hear what all of you think. Please leave a comment and let me know which you prefer and why. I'll be ever-so-grateful :)

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I'm looking forward to a somewhat lazy weekend. I'm still tired from LAST weekend! Heehee :)

Love,
keiara

P.S.- I have put my Etsy shop on 'Vacation Mode' until after the show. I will open the shop back up on Monday, October 19. In the meantime if there is a custom order you'd like to place, please feel free to email me! Thanks for your understanding :)





Tuesday 6 October 2009

what a weekend!

Hi everyone! I had a super busy (and fun) weekend.. I'm still recovering ;) On Saturday, Steve, Naomi and I all drove over to Glastonbury for the Avalon Faery Ball. As we were driving along what should we happen to spy on the side of the road.. STONEHENGE! I had never seen Stonehenge so we quickly pulled over and went over to see it. It is amazing! It was also quite chilly and VERY windy.. my dreads were whipping me in the face :( It felt so good to be standing so close to this incredible bit of history. I was surprised at the surroundings though. It really is standing in a field.. with nothing else around! You can no longer walk amongst the stones but it was an incredible experience. I got all teary-eyed! Then on Sunday, Steve and I went to a friend's house for a get together. I enjoyed myself and there was tons of wonderful food :) We had a great time but by Sunday night we were both soooo utterly exhausted. I could've slept all day yesterday.. if I didn't have beads on the brain! ;)

Speaking of bead-brained, I'm still working hard to get ready for The Big Bead Show on Saturday, October 17. I've made TONS of cupcake sets, Christmas sets and plenty of kitty, tree and cupcake focals too :) I still think I should make more though.. so more are coming up!

Here is a group shot of a day's work last week. This shot makes me giggle a bit as I have everything from an elegant tree focal to spooky kitties topped off with whimsical cupcakes and sophisticated lentils. It goes to show you how hard I find it to stick to a certain theme for too long! :D

I'm off to make more beads. I have a few orders to sort out and then it's back to creating for the show. Oh and did I mention I made FIVE more cupcake sets yesterday? Yeah, I totally did. Cupcake craziness :D

Have a great day!

Love,

Thursday 1 October 2009

Halloween Giveaway!

Happy October everyone! October is one of my favourite months because it ends with HALLOWEEN! YAY! I love Halloween and everything that goes along with it. I decorate the house, make spooky cupcakes, dress up and hand out candy to all the trick-or-treaters. So, in honour of one of my favourite holidays, I'll be giving away a Spooky Skull focal! Winner can choose the bow colour (or no bow) and whether you'd like it made into a pendant as well :) All you have to do to enter is join my mailing list! Go to www.bykeiara.co.uk and sign up using my Mailing List form. Easy :) Fear not, loyal friends, EVERYONE on the mailing list is entered to win. Winner will be chosen at random on Sunday, October 4. Happy Halloween!

Don't forget there's a few places to meet me and see my work coming up too! This Saturday, October 3, I'll be at the Avalon Faery Ball. My work will be exhibited by the wonderful Leigh of Magick Minx. I will also be an exhibitor at The Big Bead Show on Saturday, October 17. I'm running a very special offer for ALL my wonderful customers who will be attending The Big Bead Show. If you plan on attending, send me an RSVP email. In return I'll offer you a discount on all my beads at the show! You can email me at keiara@bykeiara.co.uk :) Just put RSVP in the subject and let me know you'll be there. I'll do the rest!

I have a very exciting weekend planned, how about you? On Saturday I'll be at the Avalon Faery Ball which I'm REALLY looking forward to. And then on Sunday I'll be heading over to a friend's birthday BBQ. I can't wait! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend too.

Happy October!

Love,
keiara

www.bykeiara.co.uk
www.bykeiara.etsy.com





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!