Daisychain Designs

More gorgeous earrings!

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 22:27:00 +0000

No posts for over a week and two come along at once - and both with earrings! These earrings were made by Brenda last weekend. She comes along for tuition a couple of times a month and I've shown her work on here before, but these are, in my opinion, the most beautiful piece of jewellery she has made so far. The back is just as lovely as the front!

Of course, she does have an advantage as Brenda is the owner of Iced Hot Rocks, the Etsy shop that I have bought just a few gorgeous stones from, so the amethysts here are from her stock. However, coming along for tuition so frequently this year has meant that Brenda has improved her jewellery making skills and, just as importantly, her confidence in her skills amazingly. We've been working on her sawing and piercing skills over the last couple of lessons too, so I'll soon have come more of her beautiful work to show you.

There are just three dates left for private tuition until the Autumn,

so if you've always wanted to start learning how to make your own silver jewellery,

want to add to your jewellery making skills by learning a particular technique or

want to make a special piece of jewellery for someone equally special,

check the available dates here and email me quickly (info@daisychainjewellery.co.uk)

before they all go!

Primrose Hill

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 22:09:00 +0000

It's been a while since I made a pair of earrings for the AJE earring challenge but as it was my turn to write the reveal post over on the AJE blog last Sunday I thought that it was about time I sorted myself out! It's not that I don't make earrings, it's just that most of them are from my Golden Collection so they don't fit in the challenge.

I'm really pleased with this pair of earrings. Yellow is definitely not a colour I work with much - ok, let's me honest here - it's a colour that I usually avoid! But something made me add a string of dusky yellow faceted glass beads to my shopping basket on Etsy ages ago, and seeing a friend's lovely yellow cardigan worn over a grey t-shirt encouraged me to actually use them! So here you are...

Primrose Hill - Soft primose yellow, subtle grey and silver with a delicate texture all add up to a dainty pair of earrings that quickly become your favourites to wear with jeans and a tshirt or a summer dress. Perfect for adding a lovely touch of colour. Picasso Jasper, faceted yellow glass beads and sterling silver.

New Tuition Dates!

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 11:59:00 +0000

New private tuition dates have just been added to the Daisychain Jewellery website and can be found here along with all the information you need about prices and how to book. Private tuition is available for one or two people at a time, and dates do go very quickly so if you've always wanted to start learning how to make your own silver jewellery, want to add to your jewellery making skills by learning a particular technique or want to make a special piece of jewellery for someone equally special, now is your chance!

To book a date please visit the website to check availablity and email me at info@daisychainjewellery.co.uk.

May Component of the Month - Poppies at Sunset

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Thu, 30 May 2013 23:44:00 +0000

It was Sue Kennedy's turn to design us something special for the AJE Component of the Month this time round. She did warn us that she'd been playing round with contrasting colours, so I knew that whatever she sent me was going to be a challenge - and I was right - an orange and purple lampwork flower! I forgot to take a photo of the flower when it arrived, but it's the one on the far right of the picture that Sue took of all of the beads for the AJE blog.

The flower sat on my desk for a good couple of weeks before I had any idea of what I was going to make with it. I've realised over the years that this is actually the best way for me to work - I'll push beads and stones around on my desk in little bowls, adding in and then taking away other components until everything finally clicks together. I used to worry that I was leaving things to the last minute, but in reality by the time I actually make what every it is that I've decided to make I've spent so long subconsciously thinking about it, working through potential problems in my head, that it tends to all go smoothly and quickly once I actually pick up my tools.


Poppies at Sunset - not yet on the website but it can be yours for £30 plus a little for shipping if you email me quickly!

And look what I added to Sue's flower - more orange! Yes, the colour that I usually avoid using! I tried more purple, or even using a mix of the two, but in the end I decided that the orange really made the purple 'pop', and the patinaed copper toned down the orange nicely. The beads are dyed jade. Not something that I usually use but they went perfectly. The poppies you will probably recognise by now as being from my Daisychain Extra shop.

Poppies at Sunset - lampwork flower by SueBeads, copper poppy links, charms and clasp by Daisychain Extra

To see what other colours Sue put together and to see what everyone else made follow the links!

Guest Bloggers

Lorelei Eurto http://www.lorelei1141.blogspot.com/
Birgitta Lejonklou http://lejonklou.blogspot.com/
Heidi Post http://www.expostfactojewelry.blogspot.com/
Lola Surwillo http://beadlolabead.blogspot.com/
Kay Thomerson http://kayzkreationz.blogspot.com/

AJE Team

Jennifer Cameron http://glassaddictions.com/
Jenny Davies-Reazor http://www.jdaviesreazor.com/blog
Susan Kennedy http://www.suebeads.blogspot.com/
Linda Landig http://www.lindasbeadblog.com/
Melissa Meman http://melissameman.blogspot.com/
Rebekah Payne http://www.treewingsstudio.com/
Kristen Stevens http://kristen-beadjourney.blogspot.com/
Jo Tinley http://daisychaindesignsjewellery.blogspot.com/ (you're here!)
Francesa Watson http://francescawatson.com/
Lesley Watt http://thegossipinggoddess.blogspot.com/

Peacocks and Flowers

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Wed, 29 May 2013 22:53:00 +0000

Tonight has been a night of preparation for my college classes, working out the dates for my next set of private tuition days - and editing photos and writing project descriptions! I'm all written out for now, so I'll just leave you with pictures of the yummy pendants I've made with Mindy Macgregor's beautiful and amazingly coloured lampwork beads and say that they are all available on the website here now!

Indian Peacock

Bright Flowers and A Gentle Spring

Oh, and the next set of tuition dates will be out on Friday!

Finished Projects!

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Thu, 23 May 2013 22:11:00 +0000

Well, almost finished anyway. I did actually do all the work you can see in these photos last week with the intention of blogging about them and linking up with the post on Art Jewelry Elements last Saturday but blogging time has been short recently.

So, this is what I did with the unfinished bits and pieces that I showed in my last post - apologies for the over bright photos but I realised too late that I'd left my camera on the wrong setting after taking photos of the boys! This is also the reason that none of these are on the website yet, as I need to go back and take better photos!

Chrysocolla "bubbles" pendant with handcrafted silver bead and smoky quartz bead - this is eventually going to be a long necklace on a length (or maybe a double length) or soft brown leather. I've made the back of the pendant just as interesting as the front as a longer necklace is more likely to swing round so I wanted it to look especially nice!

I knew I wouldn't be able to complete this pendant, partly due to time and partly because I am still using it as a teaching example - honest! I need to add a bail, tidy up the prongs, polish, and then the stone is ready to be set.

Another one that is waiting for that soft brown leather. The bird is a clasp that hooks onto the ring at the top of the Botswana agate, and I'm planning a double strand of the leather to complete it.

Of course, a blog post showing off new jewellery designs wouldn't be complete with a Moogin bead! I know I've said it before, but I absolutely love Mindy's use of colour. The cage above was made with the longer piece of curved wire I showed in my last post.

And this is what the shorter pieces of wire became! I made myself a pair of these pretty petal stud earrings for my cousin's wedding in March and I've worn them almost every day since. They are so light to wear and have got me lots of compliments - so they will be on the website very soon!

Although I haven't yet put the moogin bead pendant and the stud earrings on the website yet they will be there very soon - but if you are interested in them please email me- address on the left!

Finishing projects!

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Thu, 16 May 2013 09:13:00 +0000

I have a growing pile of projects in every stage of creation from sketches in little boxes with the components I need to make them, to rings and pendants with the settings complete and polished and just waiting for the stone to be set. It has got to the stage that I am almost out of room on my desk, and it's not a small desk!

Two of the many cabochons that I've started to make settings for! I'll often make lots of bezel settings to fit some of my growing collection of stones and then they are ready for when inspiration strikes - and time allows!

I've always used the excuse that, because I teach jewellery making, I need part made projects to use as examples with my students, but as I have a pendant that has been waiting for its stone (the beautiful Botswana agate in the picture above) to be set for nearly three years now I think it safe to say that things have got a bit out of hand!

Beautiful picture jasper to be set in pring setting - may not completely finish this one as I am still using it for teaching!

So, at the weekend I set myself the goal of finishing off the projects that you can see here before the end of Saturday, which is going to be a bit of a tall order as I taught all day yesterday, I'm about to start teaching again all day today and I'm teaching for college all day Saturday, not to mention my usual Tuesday and Wednesday night evening classes. My inspiration was a post that Melissa Meman wrote for the AJE blog nearly two weeks ago, challenging readers to show off the projects that they managed to complete before the end of Saturday.

Mystery lengths of square wire - any guesses as to what these will turn out to be?

My questions to you are, will you be joining me in Melissa's challenge, and do you have any part made projects older than my poor three year old pendant?!

Elegant rings and lovely earrings!

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Wed, 15 May 2013 22:41:00 +0000

I've been busy teaching over the last couple of weeks, which is why I've been so quiet on here, sorry. I really must get into the habit of just posting pictures and not much writing to show you what I'm up to!

Julie's rings - rutilated quartz and aquamarine set on thick silver bands

Two of my students over the last two weeks have learnt how to set stones for the first time and made beautiful pieces of jewellery - the same technique (bezel setting cabochons), but very different styles and colours, and all very well finished. I know that, because they are my students, I am slightly biased, but I don't think that anyone looking at the photos and not reading the text would have any idea that these were the first stones settings that Julie and Michelle made.

Michelle's first pair of earrings - I didn't have time to photograph the second pain made of silver sheet! Rose cut smoky quartz cabocons and amethyst briolettes

I will be putting new tuition dates for the summer months on the website here next week - to be in the know as soon as the dates are ready add your name to my newsletter using the link on the left!

Enjoy the sunshine with free shipping this weekend!

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Fri, 03 May 2013 13:50:00 +0000

The Spring sunshine is a time for a new injection of colour into your life! For me Spring means fresh colours, natural materials and textures - and long dangly earrings that can no longer get caught in woollen scarfs and bracelets that shorter sleeves show off to better effect!

Whether your tastes run to the one-off pieces in the Unique Collection, such as the earrings above, or the timeless elegance of the sterling silver and 24k gold designs in the Golden Collection, this Bank Holiday weekend brings FREEPOST on all jewellery orders above £25, UK or International.

No codes are needed, free post will automatically be applied for you, and the offer runs until midnight on Monday 6th May. Have a wonderful Bank Holiday weekend!

The earrings shown above, L to R, are: Ebony and Silver, Tropics and Luna

Shop Update!

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 12:51:00 +0000

The photos are edited, the descriptions are written -

the Daisychain Extra shop update begins at 3pm BST this afternoon!

Poorly spotty boy

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 22:57:00 +0000

My poor Jamie is a poorly spotty boy - a chicken pox spotty boy. He seems so far to be having a fairly light dose of it though and is trying very hard to be his usual cheerful self. I've stocked up on children's puriten and I've been putting a couple of spoonfuls of bicarb of soda in his bath though to help with the itching - and of course cuddles with Mummy whilst watching Peppa Pig DVDs are a very good distraction!

I had planned a Daisychain Extra shop update for tonight, but that's (obviously considering it's so late!) not going to happen until tomorrow now. The photos of new designs are edited, the descriptions written, but my poorly boy has obviously taken priority over finishing the listings! I'll be listing some old favourites and some new designs tomorrow evening - the collage above is a taster of what's to come!

A Beautiful Day

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 21:44:00 +0000

It's been a wonderfully sunny spring day here today, and as on all sunny days the radio station has been playing U2's "It's a Beautiful Day". I've now got the lyrics going constantly through my head, but I thought it would be the perfect title for this post!

I'm not that good at showing you what my students make during private tuition sessions, partly as I don't always get round to taking photos of their work before they go as we're so busy making jewellery up to the last possible minute! I do have a back log of student work to show you though, and I thought I'd start with Rachel and Dale who came out to the workshed in February to make their wedding bands and now that they are married I can show the rings off to you! I've helped men make special rings for their girlfriends before, but this was only the second time that a couple have come to wedding rings. I was so thrilled to have played a small part in their wedding preparations!

Both of the rings are beautiful, and of course even more special because they made them for each other. Dale's ring is a thick and wide silver band with a satin finish, and Rachel's is made from round 9k gold wire and brightly polished. Although the designs may look simple that actually means that the finishing of the rings had to be perfect - adding a hammered texture would have hidden any small imperfections in the soldering joins.

Despite never having made jewellery before Dale also had time to use the skills he had learnt in making Rachel's ring to make a bangle as a bridesmaid's present for Rachel's sister. I was very impressed!

Thank you to Rachel and Dale for sending me the photos of them wearing their rings on their wedding day! Love and congratulations to you both.

If you'd like to learn how to make your own jewellery or would like to improve on jewellery making skills that you already have please visit my Jewellery Tuition page for more information on private tuition and workshops. New private tuition dates will be available soon - sign up to the newsletter using the link on the left of the blog to get the new dates as soon as they are released!

Happy St George's Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 09:31:00 +0000

When we were in Barcelona the other weekend (doesn't that sound good?!) red roses could be seen everywhere in preparation for La Diada de Sant Jordi (St George's Day) today. St George is the patron saint of Catalonia as well as of England, and Catalonians celebrate in a manner similar to St Valentine's Day with the giving of red roses - by the end of the day some 4 million roses will have been sold, many of them along Las Ramblas, the main street running through the heart of Barcelona, and the city is even more filled with colour, music and street performers than usual! Here in England we haven't really celebrated St George's Day since the time of Elizabeth I - on her death King James, the King of Scotland, also became the King of England and celebrating the patron saint of England wasn't exactly in favour, but there are moves to celebrate more. Even campaigns to create a public holiday, but we'll see!

To join in the celebrations I've got a special promotion running on the Daisychain Jewellery website, but only for today and tomorrow. Use the code "St George" on the Daisychain Jewellery website to receive 23% off orders of jewellery designs in the Bloom Collection - from the stunning Daisy Cuff to the sweet and dainty Red Rose earrings there is something for everyone. However, the celebrations end at midnight on Wednesday 24th April so you'll have to be quick!

Happy St George's Day!

I wrote about St George's Day for my post on the Art Jewelry Elements blog on Sunday, with lovely rose beads and components from some of the AJE team - it's over here!

Instant Downloads!

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 21:48:00 +0000

It's been a busy few days - but then again, when aren't I busy?! Not that I'm complaining - it's good to be busy when you're self-employed! We took advantage of the sunny spring weather at the weekend. I was teaching on Saturday so T and the boys went on a bike ride round our local park. Well, T and Ben rode their bikes - Jamie sat in style in the trailer attached to the back of T's bike! Sunday afternoon was spent putting new felt on the roof of my workshed, pressure washing the decking and generally tidying up after a long drab winter. Next up, pots of colourful flowers and maybe a lick of paint on the garden furniture!

Etsy have been doing some Spring cleaning and organising too. Virtual products such as my Macramé, Art Beads and Wire ebook can now be downloaded immediately after purchase - so now whether you order your copy through my website or through my Daisychain Extra shop it will be sent to you for you to enjoy 6 great projects straight away!

Life begins?!

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 23:43:00 +0000

So here it is, my 40th birthday! Heavens, I just got a chill seeing that typed up in black and white on my computer screen! I still feel 27 years old but according to my passport and my Mum I definitely am 40 years old today. Any you know what? I actually feel relaxed about it. That probably is partly because I'm still relaxed after T took me to Barcelona for the weekend while my parents looked after the boys. We had a fantastic time - Barcelona is such a beautiful city with so much to see and do that despite visiting four times now we still haven't seen everything! Don't worry, there will be photos later, and I'm going to write a new "Barcelona bead shops" post too.

Anyway, my birthday - fancy helping me celebrate? For the next 40 hours, use the code "BIRTHDAY" to get 15% off orders in my Daisychain Extra and of course on my own Daisychain Jewellery website too. So, if you've been waiting to treat yourself, you have until 4pm GMT on Thursday 18th April to make it an extra special treat!

P.S. I have decided to delay the changes to the Daisychain Extra shop that I wrote about here because of this sale, so the shop will be closing temporarily on the evening of Thursday 18th April - but don't worry, when it opens again there will be lovely new designs along with the old favourites!

Soup is ready!

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 22:13:00 +0000

My apologies to those of you who visited on Saturday hoping to see my Bead Soup challenge piece - as I was going to be away for the reveal I scheduled the blog post - and managed to schedule it for the wrong weekend! Ooops! And I thought I was being so organised....

Anyway, I'm home again now so here it is....better late than never?!

To be perfectly honest I was a little bit worried when I opened the bead soup ingredients Deborah Read that sent me as, lovely as the lampwork and dichroic glass pieces, they were on the opposite side of the world from anything that I would normally use - but that's what this challenge is all about, right? If you'd like a reminder of what Deb sent me please have a look at this post from last month. I did my usual bead soup trick of putting all the ingredients in a lovely wooden bowl that sits on my desk and every now and then I pulled a few pieces out, added some extras in and generally had a play. In the end, however, I decided to use just a focal and one of the two clasps that Deb sent, and this is a little hint of what I did.

I took part in an Artisan Whimsy challenge last year that used a tutorial by to set a flat back stone or found object in prongs that started life as rivets. The rivets were pushed through holes drilled in the backing plate and soldered into place so that they were strong enough to be pushed over the object being set. I set a beautiful Botswana Agate cabochon in silver for that challenge, and loved the technique, so I decided to use it again to set one of the pieces of dichroic glass that Deb sent me.

And this is the glass set in place. I love the contrast of warm patinea'd copper with the blues and greens in the glass. You've probably noticed that I haven't used the clasp yet. I realised once I'd made the pendant that I didn't have enough of the leather I wanted to hang it from, so as soon as the postman brings it I'll be using a clasp, promise!

Please do go and see what Deb made with the ingredients I made I sent her - you can see her post here, and for a full list of all the people taking part visit http://lorianderson-beadsoupblogparty.blogspot.ca/2013/04/7th-bead-soup-blog-party-2nd-reveal.html

I'm actually away this weekend (T's taking me away to Barcelona for an early birthday treat!) so I've scheduled this and I will start visiting the other blogs taking part when I get home!

Non-stop Mayhem!

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 20:43:00 +0000

Or, as those of you without young children will probably call it - the school holidays. I do love having Ben and T home more and the mornings are definitely more relaxed without the school run, but this school holiday has left little time for any Daisychain business other than filling orders. Blogging and work on new designs etc will have to wait until school starts again next week! I have had time to plan out the next few months for the business though, and I'm going to be making a few changes that will hopefully make things a lot more efficient.

One of those changes, probably the most visible one from the outside, will be that I am changing my Daisychain Extra shop from one with a few ready-to-ship items and mainly made-to-order designs to one with just ready-to-ship items. At the moment I rarely have time to build up much stock because as soon as I make something it flies out the door to the post office - which is a good thing for orders but not so much for my creativity. So, each week or so I will be doing a shop update that will be partly current designs but also new designs -and I will be able to spend more time creating new designs as making stock and listing it all at once if more efficient than making smaller batches a little at a time.

I hope that all makes sense! Basically, what it will mean for you is that everything that you see in the Daisychain Extra shop will be available and ready for dispatch and you won't have to wait for me to make it for you. It will also mean that there will be more new designs available more often as I will have more time to make them.

I will be putting my Daisychain Extra shop in holiday mode for a few days as from Monday 15th April (next Monday) and open it up again with a shop update and new designs, so if you need to stock up on any of the current designs you have until Monday!

P.S. Orders placed from now until Monday morning will be processed on Tuesday as T is taking me away for a long weekend for my birthday!

AJE March Component of the Month

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 13:18:00 +0000

As I think you may have guessed by now, it was my turn to design something new for the AJE Component of the Month challenge, and I sent out lovely copper hollow beads to my team mates and to some of the AJE blog readers. Normally we have the challenge reveal on the last day of the month, but as we thought we'd all probably be a bit busy on Easter Sunday we'd do the reveal today instead.

And this is what I made....

This pendant is actually the third piece I made for the challenge. I kept thinking that I had to make something more elaborate as it was, afterall, a challenge with my own component, but nothing seemed quite right until I kept it simple. I've used a gorgeous lampwork bead by (of course) Mindy Macgregor (Moogin Beads), a palm wood square bead from Smitten Beads and a purple Czech glass bead. I've been wearing it strung on a length of purple silk from Marsha Neal Studios, but I think that this particular pendant will be better on a length of brown leather - which I haven't actually got yet, which is why I'm showing it to you like this!.

I'd love it if you could take the time to visit the designers taking part in this month's challenge - I am really looking forward to seeing what they all made with their beads!

The guest designers this month are:

Carolyn (Carolyn's Creations)

Jess Green
Niky Sayers

(Kathy (Northern Light) hasn't been able to take part due to her mother's illness -
I hope she gets better soon Kathy!)

And the AJE contributors taking part are:

Making Hollow Beads

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 22:54:00 +0000

Have I mentioned before how addicted I've become to making hollow beads?! I think I may have mentioned it once or twice! The components I made for the AJE Component of the Month challenge for my turn this month were the copper hollow beads that you can see above, and if you'd like to see how I made them click here to see the post I wrote for the AJE blog today!

P.S. I'm currently working on a limited edition batch of these beads to go in my Daisychain Extra shop!

Tutorial Tuesday - Armful of Flowers

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 09:45:00 +0000

The April edition of Beads and Beyond magazine came out last week with a flower bracelet that I had lots of fun with. My starting point was discs of silver and copper - well, they started out round discs, but that was before I hammered them into submission! Each stem of a flower links behind the next like a daisychain.

And there's more! Each two page project in the magazine includes a varation, another way of using the design idea. The variation for this project is a brooch, and I've written a blog post for the Beads and Beyond magazine blog - www.beadsandbeyondmagazine.blogspot.com - with step-by-step photos of how to make it. You can find it here, and if you have a go I'd love to see what you make!

Good old fashioned bartering

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 20:59:00 +0000

Source: Uploaded by user via Joanne on Pinterest

A good friend of mine makes absolutely gorgeous polymer clay jewellery, including beautiful large hollow beads. She and I have just spent a lovely evening in my workshed where I taught her how to make her own sterling silver ear wires and simple clasps, and she swapped her son's old car seat for the tuition - I posted about the earrings she made a couple of weeks ago here. Her son had grown out of the seat, we needed another for T's car, and it's perfect for Jamie.

I'm a hopeless gardener. I'm forever optimistic about it but once I get out in the garden I don't know where to start, especially as the garden got out of hand while I was in the last few months of pregnancy with Jamie and then I was so ill after he was born. I perfectly happy weeding and cutting the grass but heaven help me when it comes to the rest of it, and what with the business and the boys I don't have the time to get the garden back into order. But another lovely friend of mine is has a small gardening business, and when I asked her if she could fit me in she suggested swapping gardening for jewellery. She gets so much more done in an hour than I could in a whole afternoon, and I get the time for jewellery making instead!

And then there's Brenda, she of the amazing stones that I've used in quite a few of my designs, such as here and here. She, and her husband Paul, regularly come for jewellery tuition, which she partly pays for in cash from stone sales in her etsy shop or in stones that she lets me choose from her stash. And, of course, they use Brenda's stones in what they make with me too! One of the rings that Paul has made Brenda is pictured above.

Three win-win situations - three situations where we swap our skills and goods for other skills, three situations where both parties are delighted with the deal that they've made. Good old fashioned bartering at its best! And I'm sure that my friends and I aren't alone, especially as websites, usually locally based at first, are now being built to help people link up to swap their services. So, have you turned your time and skills into useful goods or skills for your household, or treats for yourself even, without purses being opened?

Soup's ready to cook!

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 20:48:00 +0000

There was a sigh of relief on both sides of the Atlantic last week when the Bead Soup ingredients that my partner Deborah Read put together for me arrived safely. They had actually arrived in the UK over a week before that but I was out when the postie tried to deliver them so I came home I found one of those lovely "while you were out" cards. Unfortunately the sorting office had put my parcel in such a safe place that it took them a week to find it!

So, here at last are the wonderful goodies that Deb sent me! She has been so generous.

At the moment I'm leaning towards using one of the dichroic glass pieces to use as a focal - but knowing me I'll change my mind before our reveal on 6th April!

If you want a reminder of what I sent Deb, have a look here and here. We actually sent each other similar colours!

AJE earrings challenge reveal

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 00:53:00 +0000

It's my turn to write the AJE post for the earrings challenge reveal, so I thought that I ought to get my own reveal post up on time for once!

I've continued on my poppy and wood them. Afterall, I make so many poppy head pins, charms and earwires for my Daisychain Extra shop that I should make more use of them in my own designs! And I bought some beautiful wooden beads from Smitten Beads in the New Year, and I'm really enjoying showing them off in earrings.

Ebony and Silver use a pair of hollow silver beads that I made as a demonstration for one of my college classes. I've given them a lovely matt finish and teamed them with long ebony twisted beads - hanging from poppy earwires of course!

Out of the Blue has Czech glass turquoise faceted beads and ebony rondelles strung on poppy headpins that I've turned into earwires.

I've kept to a turquoise/aqua theme for the earrings I chose from the AJE Earring Challenge Pinterest board - click here to see!

Introducing....

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 22:23:00 +0000

the new additions to the Daisychain family!

Aren't they adorable? They are brother and sister, Mollie and Pickles, and Jamie and I picked them up from the Blue Cross animal rescue centre on Friday. We've had our names down in the waiting list for kittens since the New Year, and they called a couple of weeks ago to say that they had a litter ready to go home and were we still interested? What a silly question! I fell in love with them at first sight. It took me ages to get these photos of them yesterday as they were dancing all around the kitchen, skidding on the laminate flooring and generally exploring so most of the photos I took were of blurred balls of fluff! We've let them in the sitting room with us this evening after the boys went to bed, and after a good old explore in every single nook and cranny that they can squeeze themselves into they have fallen fast asleep curled up on the sofa pressed up against me. I am definitely in love!

Our adoption of them has been bittersweet though. As those of you who I'm friends with in real life or on facebook will already know we lost my beautiful Millie cat on 19th November. It was horribly, horribly sudden. She spent the Thursday afternoon basking in the winter's sun on the roof of my workshed, keeping an eye on what my student was making. Friday morning she was quiet, but not unusually so considering she was 12, but by Friday tea time it was obvious that she was ill. T was taking the boys up to his Mum's for the weekend as I was teaching on Saturday, and after they left I took Millie to the vets. They found three tumours in her chest cavity, and said that we'd probably have a few months with her at best, but on Monday morning it was painfully clear that she'd had enough. I think she'd been hiding how ill she was until she couldn't cope anymore and it was time for her to go. It still makes me cry now just typing this, which is why there was no way I could write about it before, but she had a good life with all of us at her beck and call, and we were able to say goodbye to her. She's left me with plenty of good memories to smile about though - remember the climbing the bathroom wall incident?!

So, bringing the kittens home has reopened some barely healed wounds, but it's going to help heal them too. Our house has not felt complete since Millie died - and now it's full of two bouncy kittens and two equally bouncy boys getting up to mischief! Thankfully all four of them are getting used to each other already!

New Daisychain Jewellery website party - Pinterest competition winners

noreply@blogger.com (Jo) — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 22:57:00 +0000

Only a week has gone past (ok then, eight days!) since my last blog post but so much has happened! I think the next few days are going to be days of multiple posts to try and catch you all up with life at Daisychain HQ, but my priority tonight is to announce the winners of the Pinterest competition that has been running over the last two weeks to celebrate the launch of my lovely new website. To remind you, the rules of the competition can be found here.

So, without further delay the winners are....

First prize of £50 gift certificate for the Daisychain Jewellery website - Kira Withers-Jones with her pin of my Luna earrings.

Source: daisychainjewellery.co.uk via Kira on Pinterest

Second prize of £30 gift certificate for the Daisychain Jewellery website - Linda Landig with her pin of my Dusky Rose pendant.

Source: daisychainjewellery.co.uk via Linda on Pinterest

Third prize of £20 gift certificate for the Daisychain Jewellery website - Sarah Goulding with her pin of my Ever Decreasing Circles pendant.

Source: daisychainjewellery.co.uk via Sarah on Pinterest

Congratualtions ladies! Emails will be on their way to you tomorrow. And a big thank you to everyone who took part in the competition!