This weekend was not really conducive to a summery feel : gusts of wind, below season temperatures and even worse ... rain, sometimes showers but ever so often a regular downpour. So, it was definitely not the weekend I would spend sitting on the terrace reading one of the many books piled up in my "to be read" stack and I needed to look for some other occupation.

As I already spent the last weekend cleaning up and reorganising things at home, I didn't want to go down that road again. Even Domestic Princessness has its limits, at least at my place :o). And therefore I chose to drop by the beadshop, grab some more supplies and spend my time fiddling with beads and wires instead of letting the weather dampen my spirits.

And this was the result : a couple of pendants and earrings and a polka dot necklace. The pendants and earrings are rather similar to what I made before but for the necklace I opted for a new and different approach, using ribbons and a metal chain. I never used fabric in jewellery before but it is something I will need to experience with, because I think it has a lot of potential.

I also bought some liberty fabric biais in view of another necklace but the band of fabric is too small to close it by using the sewing machine, so I'll have to sew it by hand, which is something I am not really looking forward to. Sewing has never really been my thing. But I'll give it a try and post about it once it's done.

Like every year before him, 2011 has come with a list of good intentions and two entries on this list are (1) participate in more swaps/tags/etc. and (2) do more creative stuff. And look at this : 2 birds with one stone with this Tangle Hearts swap on swapbot :o)

Seasonal obligation, the first ATC zentangle swap of the year has a heart's theme and should ideally reach my partners by Valentine's Day. Considering the less than punctual postal services however, I have my doubts on their timely arrival, but well ... we can always hope, can't we? I certainly had fun making those and I hope my partners will appreciate them too.

I went shopping for some jewellery supplies on Saturday and as always when I get new "stuff", I can't wait to start working with it. So I started fiddling with the beads and cords as soon as I passed the front door :o)

I ended up making this necklace twice however. When I finished it the first time, I realised I had used the oval swarovski backwards and even though I doubt that anyone would have noticed, I felt like it was staring me in the face. So I cut off the glued parts, undid everything and started over. Until I was happy with the way it looked.

The picture doesn't do it justice, but with the bleak winter light we're having at the moment, it's the best I could do.


I also made a second necklace which appears way heavier and ended up somewhat rosary looking. I liked the texture of the wooden beads and had bought these on impulse a while back ... but didn't really know what to do with them, just because they are dark and heavy and so unlike my style. In the end I like how this necklace turned out ... on a jumper in winter, I'm sure it will look great.