Winter Snow Bracelet ~ Hurrah it's December!

I've been waiting for December to arrive so that I can finally show you my Winter Snow Bracelet, which, er, I've been wearing since well before Halloween... phew, there, I've got that off my chest!

It all started when I picked up the retired Trollbeads Winter (61717) preloved, essentially it's a snowball dangle and it was one of a series of four seasonal dangles and a charm I've always wanted!

I was keen to put it to use immediately - in early October.  I've tried to do a white based snowy/icy style before but never quite managed to make one I was satisfied with.  This time it surprisingly only took 4 main attempts (with some minor tweaking inbetween) and I'm delighted with the results.

I typically post any seasonal bracelets, either very late, or completely out of the season/holiday I was thinking of, so I thought I'd try and be good and wait to show you this one at a more "seasonally appropriate" time.

I love the single garnet showing on Pure Passion as the one splash of colour, it reminds me of the berries you sometimes see in hedgerows when they are covered in snow.

Have you started making a "seasonal" bracelet for December?

What will you make this year?

Favourite combos from 2013

Well as that's Christmas Lunch over with (yes I'm still digesting it a day later... huge feast!) and as I peek at, but studiously try to avoid the Boxing Day Bead Sales, I thought I'd cast my eyes and keyboard back at some of my favourite combinations from 2013.

In "no particular order" as they say on competition reality shows...

My first pick is my All Silver bracelet, on a Redbalifrog chain, although I must confess the tag has since had the snip; I love the chain but wasn't as keen on the tag!

My next choice is a leather combo that was usually paired with the bracelet above, and features one of my (many) favourite beads... Daisy.

I love the combination of black leather, silver with just a hint of gold.

X by Trollbeads launched in 2013 - black rubber and silver links combined and teamed here with a black lambskin Story bracelet.

It's not all monochrome; earlier in the year I was able to indulge in my passion for the retired red pink prisms and a trip to Wales saw me picking up the final 2 pieces for this particular bracelet.

It's not just bracelets either; this recent Winter Ice themed Pearl Fantasy Necklace is one of my all time favourite designs.

Nor did bangle designs miss out either; this one features not one, but two versions of another favourite bead of mine, the Navy Galaxy, one of the new designs from the "small and beautiful" dubbed unique release in early 2013/late 2012.

This year has also seen me pick up some gorgeous amber beads: the combo below features a lovely carved amber on the right hand side (to the left of the silver bead) and the first of my more unusual ambers.

It's probably no surprise that quite a few of my favourite combos are those bracelets that have survived my make and break mentality, including my Rocky Beach Bracelet and those fab Redbalifrog Silvers.

This remains made up along with my current Amber and Daisy bracelet... a departure from my continuously all amber bracelet variations throughout most of the year.

2013 saw another favourite silver design emerge, Skeleton Spirit, this bead made it's debut with the Fall Collection and by luck the one I have has the unusual tilted head!

There also had to be at least one combo from the Troll Date with Friends Series, this first one that I made to go out for dinner on the Saturday night, Summer Stones, a bangle and that unique I picked up on the troll date.

And finally, although it's another fairly recent combination, I really love the bracelet I made for over the Christmas period, it uses 4 pearl zodiac stars, and actually caused quite a few headaches as I had all the beads in almost every combination they could go in before I settled on this design.

So as I'm currently seeing double (one on the screen and one on my wrist for those of you who may be about to blame some Christmas Spirit) I shall love and leave you on this bracelet... hope you all are having a lovely relaxing time and the recent bad weather is not causing you too many problems.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Blizzards!

The new Trollbeads Christmas Collection has been out for a while now and I've been waiting patiently for my parcels to arrive.  The bead I'd most anticipated from the new release was the Blizzard glass bead... clear glass with a little snow storm inside... and the added bonus - they glow in the dark!

I was so sure I'd like this bead that I actually ordered 3 straight away without even seeing them in real life first.

I wasn't disappointed with my decision to buy 3, in fact I can see me adding more over the years!  My blizzards don't glow half as much as my Halloween Inner Glow beads from the 2012 collection but they are very pretty au naturel.

I set out to make a Christmas Bracelet and Fantasy Necklace.  To ensure this doesn't become too cluttered I haven't shown you the bracelets & necklaces I made before I got to the final two designs!

For the bracelet having only chosen 5 silvers (4 of which are the same) I figured I'd be able to just throw this one together... 2 hours later having had these beads in literally every combination they can go in I finally sussed it out!!  The Fantasy Necklace was a less painful and less frustrating process; having tried out a few alternative colours I quickly settled on all all white, silver and pearl combo.

Being a December baby Christmas in our house doesn't actually start until a few days before the 25th... however I thought I'd blog my finished designs early for a change as last year my red and green beads arrived so late so I actually made my Christmas bracelet in January - this year I would not be thwarted so easily, although I'll admit late-November is a tad early even for the dedicated Christmas fans!

I absolutely adore my Fantasy Necklace in particular and I can assure you it won't just be for Christmas!