A Cornish Inspiration Part 2.

Polperro

One of my missions whilst in Cornwall was to go beach combing for china and sea glass. So I googled about to find the best beaches and made myself a list of possibles. unfortunately this was as most of my plans for the holiday thwarted  by the tempestuous weather. Luckily one of the few breaks in the weather happened at just the right moment and long enough for us to walk through Polperro and down to the beach where I had heard (a little polymer clay bead making bird called Pippa told me) that there might be an opportunity to find the aforementioned beach treasure. As luck would have it the beach was closed off! I think it may have been fated though as we decided to walk up the hill to the coastal path to see what we could see....and boy was what we could see worth the walk....

Walking through Polperro

Love a bit of  rust!

From the clifftop looking back towards the harbour

 

My ideal home! :)

As we got to the path we found steps in the rock that wound right down to the most amazing rocks with the biggest rock pools I've ever seen. we could have easily gone for a swim in this one...

....and this is what greeted us when we looked out to sea, it really was breathtaking.

....and just around the corner...

I could go on and on and on (I took a lot of photos) but instead I'll  leave you with my favourite. I'm not absolutely convinced that this was the most sensible thing I've ever done but I just couldn't leave until I caught a descent breaking wave!

I fully intend to break out the oils and have a go at this at some point. I've put an easel on my Christmas list.

Well there we are, my inspiration. Now all that remains is to see what I did with it, please make your way through to part 3 for the designs.

Thank you x

The Bead Smitten July Challenge

AKA - To clay or not to clay Bird be the challenge!

I'm sure I've mentioned before the wonderful bunch of ladies that are the Bead Smitten! Our lovely little (115 strong) facebook beaders groups for Smitten Customers. Every so often I set the ladies a little challenge, a pack of pretties to create with what they will! You may have read my blog a while back about our fabulous Earring Challenge. Well this time the challenge was a cracker with 2 choices of pack both including an exquisitely made polymer clay component from the ever wonderful Pippa Chandler.

Here are the two packs which our ladies were able to pick from....

 Cool leaf

Bluebird

Needless to say all the ladies who took part in this challenge excelled themselves, there really were some breathtaking entries and I was rather overwhelmed with the workmanship and imagination that went into the designs. In no particular order here are the 29 stunning entries. There was a prize up for grabs for the top 3 designs which were voted for and by the group. You will see a collage of the winners at the bottom.

Prepare to be impressed.....

Catherynne Henderson

 Debbie Sullivan

 Tracy Collins

 Christine Gray

 Sharon Kamil

 Claire Lockwood

 Eileen Mather

 Helen Bowen

 Sheila Garrett

 Julie Sumner

 Jan Williams

 Leigh Thow

 Suhana Hussain

 Lucy (RB) Haslam

 Karen Howard

 Charlotte Rosser

 Ellen Lambrix

 Emily Smith

 Debi Riley

 Sam Grainger

 Lindsay Philipson

 Isabel Platten

 Janine Lucas

 Glenys Gibson

 Tanya Elliott

 Bernadette Hamilton

 Ailsa Jackson

 Rebecca Anderson

 Gillian Snape

Seriously......How stunning were they!

Now I guess you would like to know how we all voted? 

Here you go then the three oh so worthy winners...

From left to right 

In 1st place Charlotte Rosser - 2nd Lucy Haslam - 3rd Janine Lucas

The next Beads Smitten Challenge is already in the pipeline so keep an eye on the blog to find out all about it. In the mean time if you would like to have a go at one of the Smitten challenge packs follow the link below to take you to the website where you can peruse our range :) Challenge Packs

Pippa, Lesley & Bo

Not long to go now so here is a little introduction to our 3 artisan beaders who will be our Special guests at the Smitten Beads Open House on the 5th September

Firstly there's Pippa Chandler (of Pips).
I asked Pippa to give us a taste of what she's been up to and what we can expect to see on the day...

After many years of doing a weekly craft fair, in August this year I decided, after a lot of deliberating, that I wanted to concentrate solely on making beads and just a little jewellery that I would sell via facebook and Etsy. It was a difficult decision, the craft fair had been a part of my life for a very long time and I had made some good friends there. But it was the right decision for me, and now I have more time to make beads, which I completely love doing. I miss all my friends and colleagues, but certainly don't miss the early mornings and long days!

So now I am concentrating on developing new designs and new techniques and am loving every minute. This week I decided to go through the jewellery that was left to me from my Mum. I haven't had the heart to do it until now. She had some really interesting pieces, nothing of any value, but all meant something special to her. I loved the look of a few of the pieces and decided that it would be a lovely thing to take moulds of them and perhaps make them into beads. She would have loved that pieces of jewellery that meant to much to her, had inspired new pieces made by me, which would eventually go to someone else in a completely new style.

Here are the pieces that I made. I think she would have liked them!

some of Pippa's latest creations

Special guest number two is Lesley Watt (Thea Elements)

Lesley will not only be bringing her fantastic components to sell but she will also be demonstrating the wire macrame method she used to make these fantastic earring.......

 wire macrame earrings

Apart from the fantastic pmc connectors, pendants and beads that Lesley makes she has recently turned her hand to etched pieces and will be bringing both on the day.

 etched copper & pmc components

Last but not least we have Teresa Hulley (Bo Hulley Beads).

Smitten already stocks a range of beautiful ceramic pieces from Bo Hulley (in fact we have just restocked), so Teresa will be bringing a different range to sell on the day. You will be able to by from both ranges.

Bo Hulley ceramics you can find on the Smitten website

Some of the beads that Teresa will be bringing on the day

Well I bet this little lot has got your creative juices flowing, me too! I can't wait to see all these lovely goodies and their creators in the flesh on the day.....Something tells me there is going to be a lot of cake eating and a fair bit of chuckling!  I can't wait.

Don't forget to contact me (via the website) to get on the guest list

Claire 

xx

Preparing for the Smitten Open House

Scaling the Fabric Mountain - the destash begins!

It all started a long long time ago in a small city far far away (well about 15 miles anyway)...Before Smitten Beads, there was Smitten Accessories. My little shop in Bath, where I used to sell my handmade bags, cushions, throws, jewellery, cards and a fair few other bits and bobs. I ran the shop for 7 years and I can't tell you how many bracelets, necklaces and handbags I made in that time, but each year as the shop got busier I made less and less and bought more and more in from other designers and manufacturers, always trying to buy British where I could. When the day came to close the shop I sold most of the stock off in a grand closing down sale, but I kept some of the more interesting things we had back from the sale as I intended to carry on selling on line. However as the Smitten Beads website got busier and busier I found that all the lovely stock I had kept was just sitting in boxes along with all my fabrics, trimmings and beads that have not managed to make it onto the website.

Here's my little shop...

Now do you remember this, my very very large stash of fabric, trimmings, papers and faux fur.  As you can see I have boxes and boxes of the stuff....

Well on Thursday my long suffering (she's been helping me in one way or another since the shop began) and very understanding (her stash is almost the same size as mine) Mum came over to Bristol to help me start the mammoth destash....We sorted and sifted, tidied and trimmed and so the fabric mountain was conquered! We managed to sort through about 20 large boxes of fabric and a very large box of beads and various craft items.

Here is a little taster of the items to be destashed at the Open house, I'm dedicating a whole room to the discontinued and sale items so there will be some serious bargains to bag........

Fabrics & trimmings - Mostly furnishing weight for cushions and light upholstery plus huge amounts of very good quality faux fur and suede fabric.....all at a fraction of the original wholesale price, most will be £2 - £4 per metre. 

 

Hand made and Scrapbook papers going for a song.

 

I also have a few weird and wonderful craft items such as boxes of wooden slices! 

I'm destashing my large jewellery display stands

I also have a few leather, suede and fabric handbags left which will all be going for half price or less.

Hand printed shopping bags and purses, felted vases! And a few table cloths/throws/towels

Jewellery, mostly silver including some men's cuff links.

 

Last but not least, I have piles of craft coloured jewellery necklace boxes at trade price. 

And obviously lots and lots and lots of beads! 

There's still loads more to sort through but hopefully I will be ready and tidy for the 5th. Don't forget the Open house is invitation only so please get in touch via here, facebook or our website if you would like to go on the guest list.

Hope to see you there

Claire x