Thank you to everyone who joined in with the Festive Fun Challenge , as always some very beautiful and creative entries. Sarah G. Sarah made this beautiful embellished Christmas ornament. Fatema Fatema says - Since my favourite festival is "Ganesh/Ganpati utsav "-My Challenge piece is my very own and immensely popular creation-This palm sized  beaded idol of Lord Ganesha.I look forward to this 11 day festival break usually taking place in August/September.During this period, the ganpati idol is brought home or to public pandals and it is followed by festivities.Hundreds of ganesha ..read more

Hello, I'm sorry that I was unable to kick off a challenge earlier this month! Instead we're having a 6 week challenge that will take us into the first week of December and we'll start back in 2018. Crikey that year went so fast! This challenge is called Festive fun and I'd like you to create a piece, jewellery or non-jewellery, inspired by your favourite holiday. We are a diverse crowd and it will be wonderful to learn more about each other's traditions! It would be lovely if you could tell us about your inspiration too. THE PRIZE: This month our sponsor is Davida and she ..read more

Thank you to everyone who joined in the Stashtember Challenge! As always absolutely gorgeous entries!  Louise I chose Juno as my inspiration.  As juno is part of the asteroid belt I took the colours and the swirling image to create a cellini spiral bracelet. I have attached a picture of the asteroid belt to show the colours I saw and a final image of my Juno bracelet. Fatema  Here is my Stashtember challenge entry -A pair of peacock earrings - The pattern is  by my Russian friend Varvara Smith. Ihave created these earrings inspired by an aspect of  the F ..read more

(First of all I would like to thank you all for your good wishes and understanding, they were much appreciated!) I'm a bit early for this one, but I'm at home today and in work on Friday so I thought I'd get a head start! Welcome to the September or should I say Stashtember Challenge! This month, we will be digging through our stashes and pulling out those treasures that will help us celebrate the month of September. There are many interesting things listed on Wikipedia as having happened in September. I've pulled out a list below, please choose one topic to base your design on, you ca ..read more

Dear all, Please accept my apologies for the lack of challenge this month. There has been a lot of "Life" happening. Our beloved old dog fell ill and passed away and I'm afraid that, on top of an extremely busy time in work and covering the school holidays for kiddo, has fried my brain and I forgot! I'll try to be back on to of it still on, in the meantime I hope you have some beady fun! Love, Sarah ..read more

Hi all, Apologies for my tardiness this month, I couldn't quite fit everything I needed to do in the last few weeks! In order to try and catch up, I'm going to take a break from the challenge in July, but will be back with something tricky in August! Thank you to everyone who joined in and beaded some beautiful pieces, taking us on a lovely trip around the world!. Fatema Here is my June blog challenge-A kangaroo (and her joey) keychain.The pattern has been taken from a japanese book "animalia".Sine childhood,I have been fascinated with kangaroos.Kangaroos are endemic to Australia and have ..read more

Welcome to the June Challenge! The theme for this challenge is: Wander where you will. Puerto Pollensa, Mallorca 2015. There are so many wonderful, fascinating countries in this world of ours each with a unique history, intriguing traditions and a sense of beauty of their own. For this challenge I'd like you to take a virtual trip around the Globe, stick a pin on a map or lose a few hours on Google to choose a country that interests you and bead a piece inspired by anything about that country that tickles your fancy! You can find a list of sovereign states on Wikipedia to start you off on ..read more

Thank you to everyone who joined in with this challenge! I'm thrilled that so many UFOs now have a new lease of life as finished pieces! Carol H This is based on Shelley Nybakke's "Until I Breathe" I haven't beaded for over 12 months so decided to use 5 of the "dangles"  I had already done! Jenny A Sarah G The design credits for the base go to Julia Gerlach, and the Absolutely Stunning  'Sign of the Zodiac' cameos are courtesy of Davida Krill and The Old  Bicycle Shop....(I HAD wanted to feature every sign of the zodiac on my  necklace, but even I (lover o ..read more

Welcome to the April/May Challenge "Spring Fait Accomplis"!  This challenge is a 2 month Finish Fest. Let's dig through our stashes and pull out all those UFOs (unfinished objects) and half done WIPs (works in progress), I know we all have them, and get them done! If you don't have any UFOs or WIPs, you can still enter with the items you have made during this period. Just one photo per person please, with all your finished items within it, you get one entry per each item finished! Please include the number of items entered in your email. The Prize: This prize comes direct from my sta ..read more

Thank you so much to everyone who joined in with Mad March Hair challenge where we asked you to create a hair accessory. Once again the creativity shown is fabulous and a great range of styles! Audrey Audrey beaded a floral hair clip using a braid and flower pattern from the book A beaded floral. The idea how to put it together and make this using the flowers and braid is her own.  Fatema Fatema designed a beaded hair comb. Sarah G. Sarah G created this clip featuring a bead embroidered grey Muslin Moth. Shyeni  Shyeni embellished a hair band with a beaded be ..read more