...and on the 7th day, I'm waiting for the 7th bangle

I've been having a love affair with bangles ever since I plucked up the courage to try the Trollbeads bangle.

Trollbeads Carved Amber with the first Trollbeads Day beads
on the silver bangle

I've never really worn bangles much before this, the odd cuff that could be bent to my super small wrists, or perhaps the 80's fashion of multiple stacked metal bangles but generally bangles don't suit me.

Then there was an oval shaped one that did, and the rest is history.

3 silver bangles with Summer Stones

Very quickly I acquired 3 silver ones, who doesn't like to stack?

Rebeligion Skulls, X Jewellery and 2 silver bangles

Then came the copper version... Then the twisted silver and copper versions, add to this copper and dark oxidised stoppers followed by decorative stoppers and I barely wear anything else.

Copper, silver twisted and silver bangles

Copper and Silver Twisted Bangles

So what is the 7th bangle?

Well you'll just have to wait as although I'm camped by the letterbox it hasn't arrived yet...

Do you stack your jewellery?

Is it piled high, or artfully aranged in it's simplicity?

Purple & Green Stone Bangles with a twist!

I adore the Trollbeads Summer Stones Limited Edition Collection that was released in May 2013.

It was the first "special to me" collection that had been released since I started collecting that I could participate in from Day 1.

I wish I'd been collecting when the LE 2009 Chinese Silvers had their debut!

I went a bit nuts at the time, but even so I've not been adverse to adding a few more pieces here and there, namely a couple more of the African Amethysts that I've since found (yes of course I need 5, who doesn't?!) and an extra Canadian Jade - as out of the 3 I bought originally, one permanently lives on my Winter Beach Bracelet, along with my 2 red mud jaspers come to think of it (hmm could do with extras of these too).

So without further ado, and with extra amethysts and jades in hand, I thew in some Inner Glows (the twist) and voila!

Purple + Green (my two favourite colours) + Stones = Happy Mars

I didn't make these bangles with a view to pairing them with anything else.  However once they were made up I realised there was another bracelet that these might suit; my fabulous Bus Bracelet!

The bonus?  I often forget I'm wearing glow in the dark beads so when the Inner Glows start to do their thing as the night draws in, it never fails to make me giggle.

Do you have a favourite collection or set of beads that you really went to town on?

Trollbeads Amber and Amethyst Bracelet

I thought I'd show you my Amber and Amethyst Summer Stones Bracelet today.

I loved the Trollbeads Limited Edition Summer Stones Collection when it was released last May and it consumed most of my bead fund for a Trollbead Meet (and some)!  Whilst the photo below shows the final tally of what I picked up all together last year - I *always* intended to pick up some more when I had the funds, if there were any left of course!

My Summer Stones Collection

You can still find some of the other stones around, however the amethysts tended to disappear fairly swiftly as they were very popular at the time.  I was really pleased to stumble across a 4th amethyst preloved from another collector up for sale.

Trollbeads Summer Stone Collection - Amethysts

I immediately wanted to use all four together and decided to pair them with a variety of amber beads and some silvers to make a new bracelet.

The focal bead changed quite a few times before I finally settled on my Baby Dragon splitter bead which is more usually seen on my Pearl Fantasy Necklace but has since migrated to this bracelet for the weekend, and er, possibly a bit longer... 

Trollbeads Amber and Amethyst Summer Stones Bracelet

A friend has pointed out how awesome a nice faceted amethyst would look here as a focal... I don't have one yet (although I've been looking for the right one for a very long time), so I'm just going to push that up the To Do List a little higher!  Now should that come before or after my Boiler Replacements???

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!

Summer Stones Collection

I LOVE these stones.

My full Summer Stones collection currently - all 13 of them!

The Summer Stones Collection is a kit of 6 stones released on 31st May this year, initially sold as a complete kit but many retailers were prepared to break them up and sell individually.

From left to right in the photo above, I have 3 each of the African Amethyst, Canadian Jade and Rhyolite.  2 Red Mud Jaspers, and 1 each of the Dalmatian and Zebra Jaspers.

I'd been eagerly awaiting this release ever since Victoria over at Endangered Trolls had first broken the news.  So much so that I'd asked Lizzie at Beaverbrooks to see if she could get hold of any for our Trolldate, she could and she did (3 Kits!!) and my first haul included all bar the African Amethysts and the Red Mud Jaspers.

I quickly started to use them in combinations, starting with the 3 Canadian Jades and Rhyolites.

I started to experiment with a twisted leather combo and my bangle

Naturally as I'd just got the bangle and was researching for my "Bangle for the Medically Challenged" blog post there were a lot of bangle combos!

The African Amethysts and Red Mud Jaspers took a little longer to source and came from the US, along with a lovely purple OOAK and my first trollbead critter!

They were quickly put to use with more bangle combinations!

The other 2 stones in the first bangle are a Jasper on the bottom, and Ruby Rock in the middle.

I don't wear all 3 at once but until last weekend these were my 3 made up bangles, shown together just for ease of taking a photo!

Top: LE Jasper, Lucky Knot, Ruby Rock, Lucky Knot, African Amethyst
Middle: Rhyolite, Red Mud Jasper, Rhyolite, Red Mud Jasper, Rhyolite
Bottom: African Amethyst, Canadian Jade, Three in One, Canadian Jade, African Amethyst

The photo below is the one I'm really pleased with as the light yesterday was just right to show you some of the lovely variations within these stones, did I mention I *really* love this collection?

L-R: 3 x African Amethysts, 3 x Canadian Jades, 3 x Rhyolites
2 x Red Mud Jasper, 1 x Dalmatian Jasper, 1 x Zebra Jasper

For those of you who like them (as do I) here are the side shots of all the stones, please excuse the untidy composition of the photo... with my phone camera it's been incredibly hard to capture just how beautiful these are and I hit a sweet spot during the weekend where I got off 2 or 3 great shots that show this - I did try for "tidier" photos later on but the end result was just not as good.

I need to use what photos I have so far... or I'll be blogging this kit just in time for Christmas! 

The 3 African Amethysts I have can look everything from dark purple to the palest of the purples depending on the light... these really are the same stones in the photo below!

I'd asked for dark examples but with lots of inclusions/cloudiness all the way around the bead so when the strong sunlight hits them they look very very pale.  The reason I asked for this is the other amethysts I'd seen all had the natural inclusions, but where it was the odd spot on the bead, in my eyes, it looked more like a flaw.  However, all over the bead, in my eyes, it shows the variety and beauty in the stone.

The Canadian Jades are the other translucent bead where appearance is affected by the light, although not as strongly as the amethysts, I have one Jade that is far more milky in appearance and it's just stunning, you can see the difference best in the photo below.

Canadian Jades - the first bead is more milky green with black strands,
whereas the other two are translucent but slightly different shades of green.

I adore the variety in the Rhyolites and Red Mud Jaspers both of which are very striking, I've also been exceptionally lucky that I've had such great examples of these beads to choose from.  Although to be honest I don't think I've seen a Rhyolite stone that I haven't liked yet; with the Red Mud Jaspers I opted for the chunky, starkly contrasted versions, rather than the smoother more subtle terracotta shades that flow from one shade/shape to another.

The Zebra and Dalmatian Jaspers are the two beads I only have 1 of.  It's not that I don't like them (or clearly I wouldn't have bought any) but more that I saw amazing versions of the others that I really wanted and chose the ones I thought I would get the most use out of - plus, as usual, it also came down to budget... in that I couldn't have 3 of everything!!  I have since seen some stunning dark chocolate versions of the Zebra Jasper and think I may need to swap mine or at least buy one of those later on if they're still available.

For anyone who hasn't yet indulged in the Summer Stones, they were incredibly popular with collectors and created quite a buzz in the community, if you haven't found your beads yet, but see one you like then my advice would be grab it now as these were Limited or Special Edition (that's not to say they won't reappear again in some future incarnation, however there are no guarantees they'll still be available).  Judging by the stock levels on a handful of websites, unsurprisingly it seems the Amethysts were the most popular where retailers were prepared to split the kits.

I will leave you with one final photo as I rejigged one of my bangles whilst I was taking photos... to include the some of the new preloved stones I bought this week...

More on those another day but they are beads 2 & 4 on the front bangle with the 3 Rhyolites!

Guest Spot: Lizzie ~ Troll Date with friends post-script - A retailer's perspective

As we approach the end of the month I was quietly reflecting back on the mad weekend that penned a whole series of "Troll Date with friends" blog posts aided and abetted by Pauline, aka Guest Blogger and Troll Date Organiser Extraordinaire!  It seems hard to believe that it was only 4 weeks ago I became the proud (but slightly apprehensive) owner of a bangle and collected the first of my Summer Stones Kit.

Roll that forward 4 weeks and I've now got 2 bangles and a whole host of Summer Stones that I've still not managed to blog about yet (due mainly to having difficulties getting good photos of those pesky amethysts)! Not to mention the various ooaks, accessories, small and beautifuls, critters, artisan beads and another amethyst that have crossed my path in that time.

My thoughts turned to our lovely retailers and how it must be for them, so I decided to ask one of them what it's like getting ready for bead hungry collectors to descend on your store!

Photo courtesy of Beaverbrooks.co.uk

Lizzie, the lovely Manager at Beaverbrooks explains...

"When Pauline told me she had organised a special Troll "meet up" I wondered what I could do to make it extra special for the lovely Trollies coming?

I contacted my Head Office to ask if I could get my hands on a selection of uniques and they said "Yes".  I was expecting a handful but to my delight they told me they had organised for 34 special beads to arrive!

My next task was to ask our Troll Rep if she could let us have any goodies, which she duly supplied in the form of Troll sweeties and bookmarks.  Gosh how was I going to keep all this secret from my lovely Troll buddies...

Mars asked if we would be getting the new release of beads for the meet up as by pure coincidence the Troll Date had been organised on the same day... special request actioned!

The uniques arrived in the shop and what beauties.  I immediately knew which one Mars would bag and had a good idea which ones Pauline would love.  Having seen Alison's beautiful combinations online,  I guessed she would love some of the oranges.

My biggest challenge now was to ensure that none would disappear onto my colleagues bracelets!!  So into the safe they went with a big "DO NOT TOUCH" sign on them.  Two days before the actual meet up 3 sets of the Summer Stones arrived... Wow!

The day of the Troll meet up finally arrived, wine chilling in the fridge all ready.

It's always a pleasure to see Pauline, Mars and Emma but I finally had the opportunity to meet the lovely Alison.

 

Wine in hands I presented the first tray, the uniques, and they did not disappoint (phew), Mars went straight for "her" bead and before I knew it the stock was somewhat depleted.

Next the Summer Stones, Mars fell well and truly off the bead wagon diving straight in with a new bangle to put them on!

Then out came Pauline's "special box" of reserved beads with some gorgeous Royal Oranges and a Red Bordeaux Leather bracelet for Alison.

Bead in bags, gloves for sparkling their treasures and wine topped up we proceeded to have a catch up for the rest of the day.

Love my beads and the friends they bring.

Lizzie
X"

Photos by Mars and Shane

Double or Quits

So I've been really enjoying wearing my new Trollbeads bangle.

Bangle by itself with 3 small & beautiful beads

Bangle with a twisted leather combination and Summer Stones

Bangle and bracelet set featuring Rocky Beach Kit, Redbalifrog (RBF) beads and a variety of "stones"

If you follow Curling Stones on Twitter or Facebook then you may have noticed the sneak preview of the full bracelet and bangle set I made earlier this week...  I previewed the following surprise on there too.

Double Stacked Bangles!!

So having gone from no bangle, because it makes me feel sick to still feel slightly sick but with a bangle to yay double stacked bangles!!  So what happened?  Another tax refund?  Surprise present? Mugged a fellow trollie?

No, it was a case of right place, right time again.

Having previously returned a gorgeously deep purple faceted amethyst (fab colour but one too many inclusions) and having sold an artisan safety chain - my PayPal account was looking quite healthy, so coupled with an XS Aurora Bangle Set with the Aurora bead missing and it was bargains all round!  A few days ago I said that the only thing stopping me from buying a 2nd bangle was the price... obstacle overcome!

So how am I coping with the double trouble of putting two on and off?  Well I've struck extra lucky with this one, it's definitely an XS as it's the same size as my first, but with one slight twist...

The back of both my bangles, see the difference?

The second XS bangle has a slightly larger opening!

So my on and off dilemma on this one really isn't a dilemma, those extra couple of millimeters really make a big difference.

I'm so pleased to have found a second bangle at such a great price, and even more delighted to have one with a slightly bigger opening.  

So for anyone afflicted similarly, I guess bangles really are worth trying on/comparing in person.  I have no idea whether this is typical or a one off, but if anyone else has experience of "same size but different opening" I'd be really interested in your comments.