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Showing posts with label X by Trollbeads. Show all posts
Showing posts with label X by Trollbeads. Show all posts

Monday, 2 February 2015

X by Trollbeads - Limited Edition Red Rubber Links

Continuing with the red theme from last month; it was time to break out the new X links for a play! Or old X links if you're just ordering the new pink ones!! (Mine are in the post)

Trollbeads Stock Photo of Red and Bronze Starter Bracelet

I'd ordered the red & bronze My Star Starter Bracelet during the pre-order window so that I had it for release day, I was that sure I was going to love the red links.  I wasn't wrong and I ordered extra links as soon as the bracelet arrived.

Er, and then I put them away... for 2 months.  It sounds daft, but I wanted to do them justice and not just throw something together.  However I had no idea just how busy I was going to be in the coming months and that it would take quite so long to come back to them!

I wanted to do 2 red bracelets and 2 black and red bracelets, as well as incorporating my new (to me) much longed for Serpents link, oh and I wanted all 4 bracelets to work together as well as apart, at the same time, mix'n'match - not much to ask for a first session?!

Red, silver and bronze Triple My Star X by Trollbeads Bracelet.

Firstly I created a red, silver and bronze design using the 3 My Star links, (1 bronze, 2 silver) and using some single bronze links to make them stand out a bit more in the bracelet.


Secondly I made a red and silver bracelet using my new (to me) Serpents link and paired this with Lots of Love and Order in Chaos, both beautifully textured double silver links that I use repeatedly in my X bracelets.

L-R: Lots of Love, Serpents, Order in Chaos double silver X by Trollbeads links with the LE red rubber X links.

Now it was time to start on the 2 red and black bracelets.

One was to alternate black and red links in groups of 3's tied with a single silver knot link and one was going to be a half and half mix of blocked colour with a bronze & silver centrepiece of bronze My Heart flanked by a Soundwave link on either side.


Time to put them all together, firstly laid out in a line so you can see all the detail in all 4 bracelets at once.

When I put them on I flip the alternating black and red one (2nd from the top) so that the section that is 3 black/6 red matches up with the black on the other bracelet, and vice versa.

They are laid out in the order I wear them top to bottom, this is deliberate as the stars are bigger links and work well at the bottom framing the piece and the multi-black & red ones in the middle, topped off with my all red/silver combo.

My new quadruple stack of X by Trollbeads Bracelets, featuring red, black, silver and bronze links.

Below is a collection of images of what they look like on my wrist. 

When I put a new X stack on I tend to flick my wrist repeatedly, so it acts like a 4-reel one arm bandit - this way I can see what the stack will look like as the bracelets move throughout the day, and see whether there are any odd looking combinations that don't look quite right.

This stack passed first time with no adjustments... must have been all that thinking time I had in the last 2 months!!

My Red and Black X by Trollbeads Super Stack!

One of the advantages of X by Trollbeads is that it is such a light bracelet system that you can stack 4 high and it's featherlight on your wrists, as well as being much kinder to those of us who need to type during the day (or night)!

The red links are a winner with me, I could see how I would use them immediately when they arrived, and now I've made them up these will get a lot of use.  I'm still on the fence with the LE Ocean Blue Links, they remain pretty static in my jewellery box and are definitely not an everyday colour for me, I shall hang onto them regardless, who knows when inspiration might strike!

The red links were definitely worth the wait... for me!
What do you think?

Saturday, 13 December 2014

Saturday Stack - Perfect Partners

Story by Kranz and Ziegler and X by Trollbeads with a Twist combined for a perfect Saturday Stack. 


Prompted by a post on Facebook (where someone was buying the exact same Starter Bracelet in a sale) I decided to rework my Story bracelet, it's been a bit neglected recently so it was overdue for a new look.


A long time ago I'd picked up the big round Purple Aventurine Dangle in a sale but had yet to use it, using this dangle as a starting point I reworked the braclet and ended up with this...


I love the new arrangement and was happily wearing it on it's own, but I always love a good stack so I decided to add a Story dangle to an existing X combo and came up with this one...


Quick snap to share with friends and I was good to go!


I love the versatility of Story and X by Trollbeads, I pair them together quite a bit.  

I'd love to add the metal links Story bracelet to my collection; I fancy using a few of my dangles with that for a different look, however that's been bumped down to the bottom of a wishlist for while... too many wishlists and not enough budget!

What's next on your wishlist?  Do yours swap and change as much as mine,
or do you set yourself a list and work your way through it?

Saturday, 20 September 2014

Fabulous Friday vs Saturated Saturday

So who else has new collection news exhaustion?!

Bravo to all the "Hot Off the Press" Bloggers and Retailers alike as I was pretty much glued to my mobile and then my computer screen for most of yesterday... what a Friday!

Trollbeads Gold Love Art Collection and the People's Bead Winner "Perfect Balance"

Trollbeads Christmas Collection 2014

From Trollbeads we had the previews of the new Gold Love Art Collection, the announcement of the People's Bead Winner (Congrats Mirjam!) and previews of the Christmas Collection, all available to buy on the 1st, 10th and 17th October respectively.

Then came an unexpected preview of the new X by Trollbeads Christmas Collection entitled Glow X Amaze - available 5th November.  Initially when I read the title I thought there might be a glow in the dark link (my mind works in weird ways) but when I saw the new red Limited Edition links I got a little bit excited!  Black & Red, Red & Bronze, Silver & Red, Red & Silver & Bronze, oh my!!

X by Trollbeads Christmas 2014
Glow X Amaze

So, now, on Saturday, I'm sat with my coffee mulling over the choices... what on earth do I do next with my current budget - I am determined to try and make good my promise to myself to spend less on jewellery this year, as well as my "upgraded" New Year's Bead Resolution to have saved more than I spend on jewellery.  I am well on my way with the former and hoping to meet the latter with 3 months left ticking on the clock.

So back to the beads...  What are my top picks from the affordable?  I say affordable as whilst I am very taken with the Gold Love, Live and Forgive bead and the Silver and Gold dangle Lucky Love, these are way out of my league unless I have some unexpected dramatic change of fortune.

Trollbeads Gold Love, Live and Forgive and Silver and Gold Lucky Love Beads

X by Trollbeads Visible Path

There isn't a price point for Visible Path yet from the Christmas X release but I've not yet bought any of the X pendants and I'm assuming this one will also be unaffordable on my current budget.  I do see some X pendants in my future but not my immediate future!

Initial thoughts are again I favour a lot of the X links... I'm beginning to see a pattern here, not bad for a brand that are barely a year old!

X links Flash of Light and Single Lots of Love

Limited Edition Red Rubber X Links for Christmas!!

X double link Slide Ride and Bronze My Star

From the Trollbeads Christmas release I've been a lot more choosy, there aren't individual pictures of the glass yet and I know I don't want either of the two kits in full.  So they are very much a wait and see, and also a see in person for actual finish - I liked a lot of the glass last Christmas, but found the finished designs could be a lot less like their perfect stock photo examples.

Trollbeads Heart 4 You and Holly Bush

Trollbeads Snowballs

Just 3 of the silver, unusually for me I really like one of the heart offerings, definitely want to see the other side but from the "front" I do like this.  I'm also so glad to see Holly in silver, being a bit of a fan of Holly in a nice hedgerow!  Finally I've chosen Snowballs as a possible contender, I wasn't sure at first but the more I look at this bead the more it grows on me!

Finally the People's Bead was announced and again I like the simplicity of this glass bead, I'm not a fan of black and white beads normally, but I think this is nicely done and as long as the quality control is handled well I think it will work beautifully on a bangle for those of us who've never quite mastered those black and white combos!

People's Bead Winner 2014 - Perfect Balance from Mirjam Seling

Right I don't know about you folks but I need another cuppa and possibly a lie down after that little lot!

What do you think of the new previewed Collections?  Splurge or Save? 
How do you decide what to get first if your wishes exceed your budget?

Thursday, 18 September 2014

Beads, Budgets & Collection Conundrums!

Well last month it appears was all about breaking the budget... I should have known I was tempting fate because just as the last "naughty" parcels were dropping on my doormat and I'd been chatting with a friend over coffee about savings; my electric toothbrush and then my washing machine went kaput!

So, there was one last naughty parcel to come before I reached the "no more orders expected" point.

Time to look at what I'd got left to spend on the new collections... which now, as you might have guessed (or know if you've read yesterday's post), was a lot smaller than my original proclamation of "Ooh how exciting I have a bigger pot than usual for new collections!"

When I first started to draft this post it was small; by the time I came to publish this post it was zero... oops! (Make that two last naughty parcels to come)

So that means I not only need to pick the absolutely must have, want to use them right away pieces from my wish list, but I must also wait until next month.

Given that we are then edging towards Christmas releases, do I wait even longer to make choices out of all of the collections yet to come, ignore new ones completely and pursue an existing project (taking advantage of the US 4 for 3 promotion running in October), or dabble in the available collections now and risk no funds for anything else - argh!  

This is before I even think about the Elfbeads launch and superb offerings from Great Lakes, or get touched by his noodly apendage offering from Ohm Beads.

So, before my brain implodes with the possibilities; today I am going to concentrate on the just the collections I mentioned yesterday:



Based on what I like and would most likely use I have a short list of the most favoured contenders... okay so this is actually a long list... I've not added up the cost of this little lot as I already know some of these pieces represent my whole budget by themselves - but these are my top picks!

Redbalifrog Frog Lock and Trollbeads Giant Lotus

Trollbeads Lapis Lazuli 

Trollbeads Lotus Top and Tree of Awareness

Trollbeads Sleeping Bat and Spooky Bats Lock

X by Trollbeads Bronze DNA and Bronze Flow Links

X by Trollbeads Bronze Lovers Bond and Zip Me Lock

X by Trollbeads Hanging Around and Protect Links

X by Trollbeads Royalty and Skull Me links

As you can see both X releases scored very highly on my wish list, I love *all* of the Halloween release and I'm a big fan of the new bronze links!

For Trollbeads, again Halloween was a winner with the bats, which along with X I would wear all year around, bats & skulls are not just for October you know!

Out of the huge offering from Trollbeads for Fall, I favour just 3 key silver pieces, although they are quite substantial and 1 of the stones, from Redbalifrog it's the Frog Lock; I think that is one of the nicest locks I've ever seen.

So what to choose?  Y'know what... I still don't know!

Out of my top picks which would you choose if you were me?