Hi everyone! The other day I realised it's been aaaaaaages since I've had a "keiara's keepers" post and I have an artist VERY worthy today! Suzanne of Chelsuba creates the most gorgeous crocheted pieces as well as fabulous yarn bangles and more! I have a set of the yarn bangles (previously sold set pictured above - mine are in purples and black, of course!) which are beautifully made and very funky. They look GREAT stacked together on one wrist and come in a set of ten! Have I mentioned how reasonable her prices are? Get thee to her shop, pronto!

Hi everyone! Skyleigh has returned to my Etsy lampwork shop :) She is in my two favourite glass colours all swirled together. I love her!

I've just had my two year anniversary of making my very first bead!! Awww :) I can't believe it's only been two years (and yet, the time has flown past) since I lit my old Hot Head torch. I thought I'd share something with you..

When I first lit the torch, I was terrified of it! I hated it. I hated the flame, hated the noise, hated the way the glass melted and moved. As a matter of fact, I nearly gave it up altogether! Why didn't I? For the most basic reason of all: my competitive spirit! You see, my husband Steve could make a better bead than I could. His beads LOOKED like beads, not like horrible, mutant globs of glass with pointy ends. I could not let this stand! So, everyday while he was at work, I practiced. I turned on my little Hot Head, put on special protective sleeves, flinched every time I put the glass in the flame... and suddenly something clicked. I could make a round bead! I could make a dotted bead! Now that I could actually make a balanced, round bead, I moved on to the next logical step: encased florals (yeah, patience isn't one of my virtues!). I wanted to make encased florals and I wasn't going to let anyone tell me I couldn't! After much practice (and possibly tears *ahem*) I finally made an encased floral that I was happy with (which now makes me shudder).

Since then I've moved on to mainly sculptural beads but every now and then I look at my pot of starter beads and I smile. All those poor little mutant globs of glass look so adorable now because they represent the starting of the most amazing journey of my life.

Thank you to all of you who have walked this path with me and offered your support and praise. I am so lucky to love what I do.. and I have you to thank for that.

Have a great week, everyone :)

Love,
keiara

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

Hi everyone! Happy Friday :) I have a new tree series to announce! On Tuesday I had a lovely student and I created a tree focal for her demo (I demo a focal for students who come for a full day lesson: kitty, cupcake or tree) that I absolutely loved. I loved it so much that I decided to create an entire series :) These are the first four in the series called Crystal Trees. From left: Alexandrite, Peridot, Aquamarine and Pale Amethyst. I love how the transparent base lets the light through and adds a bit of sunshine to the overall look. They are elegant yet sparkling with colour!

I will be offering these trees for sale in my lampwork Etsy shop and also in my lampwork website shop.

Any weekend plans? I'm looking forward to going to breakfast at a place that my in-laws have been raving about and following that with Wolfman!! Ooooh yes! I can't wait to see it :) The trailer looks quite good and, although I'm not a huge fan of Benicio del Toro (ugh), he REALLY looks the part, doesn't he? I mean, I'm totally believing that he transforms into a werewolf and causes terror and mayhem. Just look at his face! It also stars one of my all-time favourite actors, Anthony Hopkins (does anyone NOT love that man?) and Emily Blunt who is apparently quite the actress (I've not seen her in anything yet). Have you seen it? What did you think?

I'm off to do some exciting custom work. Hopefully I'll have pictures of the finished pieces to show you on Monday! Have a great weekend :)

Love,
keiara

Hi everyone! How was your weekend? Yeah, it's Wednesday and I'm only just now getting around to asking.. sorry. I have a good excuse though! I had a bunch of orders come in over the weekend so I spent all day Monday (and I do mean ALL DAY) chained to the torch creating kitties, trees, cupcakes and such. Above are the focals from Monday's session. Passionate Paula is having a sudden surge in popularity which I'm guessing must be tied to Valentine's Day ;) Luxe Kitty still holds the title of Most Requested Kitty but Paula is closing the gap on second!

Hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day!! Lots of love to all of you.. pass it on!! <3

(I should probably not be left alone with Photoshop.. ever.. LOL!!)

Love,
keiara

Hi everyone! Happy Friday :) We're still waist-deep in snow (ok, that might be a slight exaggeration) here in Folkestone but that won't stop me from bringin' the Spring Fever! In the face of The Snowpocalpyse I have created more spring-inspired lentil sets including my new smaller-sized lentil sets. I have listed a few sets of my lovely spring lentils in my lampwork Etsy shop! Above is a shot of two sets in transparent and opaque lavender before I etched them all. There's also a big hole bead hanging out in there.. more on him later!

Hi everyone! I was getting a bit excited yesterday about the snow falling. Little did I know I'd wake up to the most amazing winter wonderland! I'm a native Floridian and I didn't grow up with snow. Before I moved to England, I only witnessed snow actually falling once when I was on a school trip to New York (and, even then, it was only the teeniest bit). I've never seen snow like this before! I find it all so magical and beautiful. I squealed like a kid on Christmas when I saw how much snow had fallen during the night. Of course then I quickly grabbed my camera (and coat) and went outdoors to take a few pictures.

The dogs seem to really love the snow.. even though they can barely navigate through it! They jumped around like mad things and you could just tell they were having the time of their little lives :) It was incredibly sweet.

And here is a view of my street. The drifts came all the way up to the front door (and at the back door, you could only *just* get the door open!!) It's beautiful, fine snow and it's more like powdered sugar (icing sugar) than snow. I love it! I keep peeking out the window to see if it's still snowing.. and it is!! The only real downside is my head is absolutely killing me and I don't see how I can possibly get my Valentine's dreads installed in time :'( Ah well! I'll console myself with the blanket of white outside ;)

Have a great day!

Love,
keiara

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

Hi everyone! How's your week going? Yesterday I had a wonderful student who definitely seems to be quite the natural.. AND he baked me cupcakes!! How awesome is that?! They were totally yummy too with lemony icing and edible glitter. Can you say 'heaven'?? Speaking of yummy, what do you think of the new lentil set? These are Mojito Trails (thanks for the name, M!) and this set is in my small lentil size. My norm for lentils is the 21mm size (hey, I like my jewellery chunky!) but I thought perhaps some of you might prefer slightly daintier lentils to work with so, here ya go :) These lentils are 18mm hole to hole and the set includes a matching earring pair AND a matching 21mm focal! Not bad, hmm?

Hi everyone! Happy Monday :) I'm pleased to announce that I've donated some beads including the bunnies pictured here to The Collective's Charity Auction for Haiti. Several bead, jewellery and textiles artists have donated many gorgeous pieces to help raise money for this cause.

Hi everyone! Happy Friday :) I've updated my shop and added new categories and LOTS of new beads! There are lots of new lampwork bunnies, spring and Easter beads plus St. Patrick's Day beads (which will be added to very soon!), more kitty cat beads to choose from and TONS of new Schnibbles beads sets! I have plenty of beads that are ready to go plus lots more made-to-order beads as well. You're all going to be spoiled for choice!

I've also added beads to my Etsy shop, if you prefer to shop there. Let me know if there's something in my lampwork bead shop that you'd like to purchase through Etsy and I can put a listing up just for you :)

So what are you guys up to this weekend? I have plans to.. uhh.. maybe.. *cough* take down my Christmas trees and decorations *cough*. What was that? Did you hear something?? As I was saying, yeah, I'm totally chilling this weekend. Just gonna lay about and do nothing.. *shifty eyes* Alright, so it's true! I haven't taken down my Christmas decorations (or trees) yet! And, really, the only reason they're finally coming down is because I have to put the Valentine's Day decorations up! But it's not my fault, I swear. It's.. Steve's fault! Yes, Steve. Steve is an evil hubby who prevents me from decorating! It's true! Ok, ok.. maybe it's not true. But, still, it's not my fault. Somehow. Maybe.

Ok, I'm off to make more spring beads. I seem to have caught Spring Fever and I'm loving it!

Have a wonderful weekend :)

Love,
keiara

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

Meet Easter Kitty. She has a wee Easter basket filled with eggs and decorated with grass and flowers. She was very difficult to photograph because she's white but you get the idea ;)

Easter is available in my Etsy shop!

Happy Thursday!

Love,
keiara

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

Yes, it is about that time! I've started in on my St. Patrick's Day beads :) I absolutely LOVE making them with all the four leaf clovers and different shades of green. I created one of my kitty focals, named Lucky Kitty, with hints of green and decorated with a four leaf clover.

And of course I couldn't leave out the Lucky Bunny Schnibbles! I'm a bit obsessed with making Schnibbles sets lately. They seem to be quite popular and they're so much fun to make. The sets are perfect for a dainty pendant and a pair (or two!) of earrings. Or turn the set into a bracelet or necklace! They're quite versatile little sets :) You can find this set in my Etsy shop.

Hi everyone!

Sorry for the long-time-no-blog business. I've been working like crazy on raising money for charity as well as filling orders and creating new beads for spring. I also found out my sister, Leah, is expecting her first baby!! I'm SOOOO excited! Of course that means baby beads too so I've been creating all sorts of cute little things.

Aren't they adorable?! I created these in my popular Schnibbles style and I'm really pleased with them. I will definitely be experimenting more with baby beads in the coming months!

I made a few sets of Spring Bunny Schnibbles too! I love spring colours and I think these little sets just scream springtime :) I'm offering them made-to-order in my Etsy shop so go on over and have a look.

I made this focal ages ago and it's been sitting on my desk waiting for me to do something with it. I finally turned it into a necklace using some beaded silk cord and silk ribbon. I loved it so much I've kept it for myself ;) I never did make myself one of my garden series beads so this one had to be mine. I mean, after all, it IS purple!

I also wanted to say thank you to everyone who showed their support for Tanya through bids, donations and kind words. Together with many other artists and friends, we were able to raise the money for Tanya's surgery! She had her surgery yesterday and is doing well. We wish you a speedy recovery, Tanya!

Ok, I'm off to light the torch. I hope you've all had a wonderful weekend and have a great week!

Love,
keiara

www.bykeiara.co.uk

www.bykeiara.etsy.com