Hi everyone!

My lovely friend, Laura, over at Delightfully Delirious posted a handmade pay it forward for 2011 and seeing as how a) I LOVE her stuff and b) I LOVE pay it forwards, I decided to jump in on this! So, here are the rules, nabbed from Laura:

I promise to send something handmade to the first five people who comment on this post. But if you enter you must post this too, and offer something handmade to another five people that comment on your blog.

The rules are that it must be something handmade or homemade by you and it has to be sent to five other people during 2011, so we all have plenty of time :D!

If you'd like to join in the fun, then be among the first five to post a comment and something handmade or homemade will be coming your way at some point this year.

**Please only join in if you intend to pay it forward.. that's the whole point!**

Ready, set, GO!

Have a great week :)

Love,
keiara

www.bykeiara.co.uk
www.bykeiara.etsy.com
www.artfire.com/users/bykeiara

Hi everyone!

Over the holidays, I made lots of new jewellery and I decided to give you a preview of what's going to be up for sale in the coming days. Above is Mango Tango Fleur Necklace made with my handmade lampwork floral bead, Sterling silver, Swarovski crystals and a hand-dyed ribbon. I LOVE the colours.

This is Felicia, the beautiful deep honey-coloured kitty. Say hello! Felicia is handmade by me, etched for a velvety look and feel and I hand-wired her with Sterling silver, Swarovski crystals and a gorgeous hand-dyed ribbon. It's hard to tell from the picture, but the ribbon is stitched with sparkly golden thread!

Hi everyone!!!

I just got back from spending a few weeks in Denmark for the holidays. Above is a picture of me and my wonderful boy, Stefan, out in the snow :) There was a snow storm right before we arrived so there was TONS of snow and it was absolutely gorgeous. Being a native Floridian, I'd never seen anything like it and had to run outside every so often just to look at the beautiful winter wonderland.

Here is Stefan with his mother, Anette, and niece, Caroline. Anette is extremely artistic and we had a wonderful time talking about our creative endeavours. Caroline is just about the cutest baby ever and she's so sweet and happy. She's an absolute joy!

Hi everyone!

Soooooooo.. I tried to blog the other day. I was having an "admin day" (oh joy) and I figured I would update my blog as well but Blogspot said, "Oh. You want to accomplish something today? Well have I got news for you! DENIED!" I then ranted and raved and maybe got tears in my eyes just a little.. and finally I told it if it wanted to act that way then FINE I didn't really want to update my blog anyway! SO THERE! Welcome to my life. It's more fun than a box of tarantulas. *high fives Payton*

And back to the point. I have beads and jewellery for sale! YAY! The above necklace, Pastel Rainbow Spiral Necklace, can be found in my Ready to Go Jewellery section in my by keiara webshop (and that's all the links I could fit in one sentence). But wait! There's more!

These super adorable Candy Kooky Owl Earrings are also in my webshop. Candy is one of my favourite owls to make. I love the pink with the sky blue SO much. Actually, I love it so much that I also have a cat, cupcakes and coffee cups in the same colours. It reminds me of cotton candy (or candy floss for you British-types) and although I HATE cotton candy (what?? it's gross!) I lovelovelove the look of the stuff :) It always *seems* like a good idea.. then I put it in my mouth and grimace and, hey now, what are we talking about???!!! Moving on!

Hi everyone!

I'm still preparing for the Big Bead Show (OMG - it's almost here!!!!) and I thought the Cupcake Queen (as I've been dubbed by the community) should probably have, you know, CUPCAKES for sale! I made a few up yesterday in various styles and sizes. I just love cupcakes! (Speaking of which: I may have bought a cupcake salt and pepper set and a cupcake tote bag the other day. The boy wanted to know why I needed the salt and pepper shakers since I already have some gorgeous purple Fiestaware ones. I shook my head sadly and told him that he would never understand. It's all about THEMES, people!! When I have a tea party and use all my cupcake things, how awesome will it be to have salt and pepper shakers, too?!? Of course now I have to find an excuse to cook food that requires salt and pepper for a tea party.. hmm..!)

And why stop at cupcakes? I've tried my hand at pancakes and eggs before but I hadn't quite had the nerve to try a coffee cup. HA! It's a teeny bit wonky, but I am VERY pleased with my first attempt! I see more of these in the near future.. maybe with some bacon and a glass of juice!

Hi everyone!

Things around these parts have been a bit emotional and hectic. My grandmother passed away last week. It's very difficult to be so far away from home at a time like this. Interestingly, I woke up that morning feeling very out of sorts. I couldn't quite put my finger on what was wrong. I decided, as you do, to visit Canterbury Cathedral. While I was there, I wrote out a prayer for my grandmother (as well as for my sister and her unborn daughter and a friend who recently passed) which is then placed on the altar during mass the following morning. I asked that god watch over her and keep her in his arms as her health has been failing for some time now. (Some of you will remember I took an emergency trip to Florida during the spring to spend some time with her.) A few minutes after returning home, my sister called to tell me that Gramma had passed in the night. I believe it was her spirit that moved me to make the trip and I am so glad that I did it. I'm sure she'll always know how much I love her.

I felt inspired to create a series of beads in Gramma's memory. She was always very supportive of my art and always asked how the beads were going :) She would tell me how proud she was of me and she was so excited when my beads and artist profile appeared in Bead Magazine (I took a copy with me to Florida and we read it together). So I created the above series which I entitled Granlee Gardens and I am so pleased with how they turned out. I think she really would have loved them.

There are two things I do when I can't sit still with my own thoughts: make beads and bake. I've been doing lots of baking this past week! The above shot is of my Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies from Bakerella's site. I iced mine with chocolate fudge icing and WOW are these awesome! The brownie is gorgeous and chewy while the cookie is more like a standard chocolate chip cookie. It has wonderful textures and they are so ridiculously easy to make that it's almost embarrassing!

Next up are Jelly Donut Muffins. I made these from a fantastic USA compilation cookbook that contains loads of wonderful American recipes. The downside, of course, is that it's also full of ingredients that I can't get in this country. I've been looking into importing certain things and, failing that, making some components from scratch. Did you know you can make homemade Cool Whip? Yeah, I didn't either! Anyway, back to the muffins! These were very, very tasty but not really worth the extra effort of putting the jam INSIDE the muffins, if you ask me. They bake up light and fluffy with a gorgeous, slightly crispy top. Next time I'll make the muffins and just serve them with jam, though ;)

Hi everyone!

Yesterday my little Munchkin turned 15! I can't quite believe it. Kaia is growing up so fast and she's such a great kid. I'm a lucky girl :) She asked for some lil bits, kooky kritters and classic cats, all turned into jewellery, for her birthday so now she has even MORE cuteness in her jewellery collection. It's nice to have such a loyal fan.. heehee ;) Above is a picture of some of my latest lil bits. They've proven quite popular so I added their own made-to-order section in my by keiara webshop. Check it out!

This cute kooky kitten, Blossom, is now available in my by keiara Etsy shop. I created her with one of my favourite frit blends. I just love those colours!

Hi everyone!

As many of you already know, I'm a serious game nerd. I wear the title with pride and have met SO many wonderful people through gaming. Having said that, I don't actually play Worms, a game that consists of ridiculously adorable little worm armies fighting each other. However, plenty of my friends do so I decided to make a little worm bead to make them giggle ;) There is an option for your little worm army to wear halos, hence the angel worm above. I think he's SO cute!

I've also been working on lots of orders and holiday-themed beads. I added some of these to my by keiara Etsy shop so if you like what you see, go have a peek!

Hi everyone!

Kaia left for Florida (and her first day of high school!!!) over the weekend and I was a very sad bunny indeed :'( Before she left she asked if I could make her a key necklace with the above key and, unable to say no to her adorable face, I let her choose a ribbon and put it together. Isn't it lovely? The ribbon is by the wonderful Diane of Sowzere Designs and it couldn't be prettier! The colours are so gorgeous and the way they flow into each other.. well, it makes me sigh with delight, that's for sure :)

I've also been making TONS of beads lately. Creating new beads, keeping up with orders AND making beads for the upcoming Big Bead Show is, literally, more than a full-time job! Above are some of my latest creations and some old favourites, too. As always, if you like what you see, feel free to check out my by keiara webshop and my by keiara Etsy shop. I have lots and lots of glassy goodies to choose from!

Hi everyone!

One of my lovely customers recently asked if I would recreate my Hummingbird Garden Focal. Last summer I did a whole series of garden beads that were very well-received and I really liked them. I had every intention of making more garden beads this summer but I've been so caught up in kooky kritters and lil bits that I never did get around to it! Anyway, so when I was approached about recreating the Hummingbird Garden, I jumped at the chance. Above is a picture of the finished bead. Relief work is super challenging for me and I really enjoyed the opportunity to push myself again. The recipient is very pleased with the results so everyone's happy :)

I've also been doing quite a bit of jewellery lately, too. Above is Princess Bast and Twilight Tree after giving them my 'spiral ribbon necklace' treatment. I love the way they turned out. The purple ribbon with the Twilight Tree really brings out the purple in the blossoms.