Z is for Zodiac Birthstone Stars

The final day of the A to Z Challenge!

It seemed fitting given that my theme was Addicted to Beads to finish on the one set of beads that I am known for being very addicted to... Zodiac Birthstone Stars from Trollbeads!

These are a set of 9 silver beads with a gemstone set at the centre of the bead to represent a birth sign, some of the stones are doubled up hence you have a set of 9 not 12.

As you can see I have at least 2 of each and more of some of the zodiac stars.  These were retired (no longer made) when I started collecting and it's taken me quite a while to get the first set, let alone the second or the multiples!!

I really love this set of beads.

Now if you'll excuse me... it's time to catch some Zzz's - but before you go...

THANK YOU, THANK  YOU, THANK YOU!

Congratulations to those taking part and huge thank yous (above) to all the lovely people who have popped by Curling Stones for Lego People on the way to read, leave comments and generally just cheer us all on!

Final question of the Challenge from me:

What has been your favourite bit of the A to Z?

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?

Trollbeads Wave of Dreams Bangle

Trollbeads Wave of Dreams was released as part of the Fall Collection 2012.

I think I was on a bit of a roll for using beads that I feel guilty at keeping in the bead box for far too long!  It did help that last month I picked up a particularly gorgeous unique that happens to compliment both Wave of Dreams and a unique I picked up last year.  Throw in a pair of zodiac stars and voila!

Do you have a particularly fine example of a production bead

that you've neglected in your bead box?

Themed Jewellery - Valentine's Day: Traditional Bracelet, Bangle & Fantasy Necklace Set

Sometimes when you're just bead playing you end up making something a bit special; at least that is what happened to me when I received some beads and a lock in the post.

Trollbeads don't have that many true red beads in the collection so when I picked up a second scarlet bud, two white stripes, another red stripe and a Heart Lock in a sale (one of the infamous liquidation sales earlier this year), I knew I wanted to have a go at making a more traditional Valentine's Day bracelet, and I had just the right heart unique to build the bracelet around.

Only I didn't stop at just the bracelet, I got a bit carried away and made a necklace and 2 bangles as well.

I tend to only dabble with themed jewellery when the mood takes me, or I've been inspired by a particular bead or set of beads; yet I know that this seems to be one of the most popular ways of putting together bracelets for some.

My everyday method is a bit more functional, I tend to match jewellery to my outfit (or in some cases choosing an outfit to go with a ready made bracelet) but I've played around with a few themes recently, just for fun like the set above, and quite enjoyed myself!

Now I'm curious! Do you make / wear themed jewellery at certain times of year?

What do you wear / make and what themes are your favourites?

Hit the comments and tell me more...

Oh by the way, you also need to "forget" ever seeing this post so I can reuse it come next February ;)

J is for Jewels

Jewels, as much as I love the precious variety (diamond, ruby, emerald and sapphire), I'm a huge fan of semi-precious jewels, essentially everything else as this includes minerals, rocks and organic material!

A selection of smooth beads made from jewels

I've been picking up lots of jewels and stones in the last 12 months, both new, in the sales and many preloved beads, I thought I'd just use J to showcase some bracelets that make use of them.

Amazonite (front focal bead), pearl

Turquoise Agate, Turquoise, Opal, Lapis Lazuli

Smokey Quartz and Labradorite

Amber

Amber, Turquoise Agate, Turquoise

African Bloodstone, Jasper, Rhyolite (front)
Canadian Jade, Amethyst, Jasper (back)

Canadian Jade and Rhyolite

Canadian Jade, Zebra Jasper,
Dalmatian Jasper

African Amethyst

Jasper, Ruby Rock, African Amethyst (back)
Canadian Jade (front)

 Do you like jewels (precious or otherwise) and if yes, do you have a favourite?

Bracelet makeovers - Blue Agate Bracelet 2014

This blog post was inspired by a question asked in a Trollbead Group last month:

"Do you have any bracelets with the same style bead

in different colours used repeatedly?"

I dug out a photo of my Blue Agate Bracelet, as whilst not strictly different colours, (as they are either turquoise or striped turquoise), no two are exactly alike so I shared my photo with the group.

The photo below is of one of the first bracelets I made when I started collecting Trollbeads (back in February 2012) and it got me thinking that it might be fun to remake this but with the choice of beads I have in my bead box today, I, a'hem, didn't have so many back then!

Being a make and break kind of girl my bracelets don't hang around for long, so a makeover for an old design results in a new bracelet.  Well it does until I get bored and dismantle it again to use one of the beads somewhere else!


Blue Agate Bracelet in April 2012

Actually, hang on a minute, in looking through my old photos I've realised I already did this once before... that's the problem with make and break, you forget these things as bracelets can be quite fleeting - good job I keep a blog and a record of (most) bracelets I make.  A'hem, here is the one from last year.


Blue Agate Bracelet in January 2013

What I do remember now, looking at this photo, is that it was only after I'd taken the photo, did I notice that one of my agates had developed a nasty crack along it, one of the problems that can occur with natural stones.

I really should have returned the agate to the original shop but I was feeling lazy at the time and I confess I didn't actually get around to doing it - it's still in my bead box!  I picked up another agate preloved to replace that one in case you're wondering where it is in today's photo and how come I still have 12...

So March 2014; what design to pick for this year's version?

I returned to some old favourite beads, even though I have brand new shiny new ones waiting to be used - I realised that I haven't used Wisdom in ages (shame on me) so out that came, along with some Zodiac Stars and I chose 2 different types of knotted silver beads (2 of each one) and the Freya knot lock to complement them.  One of the benefits I discovered in remaking this bracelet with different beads (especially using multiples of silver beads) is that I can better match up the design to show off the agates by matching the silver beads and lock so the agates really are the feature, looking back I think the 2013 version looked a bit busy.


Blue Agate Bracelet in March 2014

I'm constantly fascinated by bracelet design; if I had to rank these 3 in order of my preferences now, I'd put 2014 at the top, then 2012 in second place and relegate 2013 to third!

I'm curious as to how other people approach bracelet design, I know I'm unusual in that I make and break most of my bracelets on a regular basis (it's a rare bracelet that escapes my create / destroy / create cycle) but I know most of my own bead friends and people I meet seem to keep permanent bracelet designs together, and although they might make the occasional tweak with a different bead every now and then, the basis of the bracelet rarely changes.

I would love to hear from you about what you do and how you approach designing your own bracelets.

Are you a "permanent don't touch it" or a "permanent but tweak" - or are you a "make and break" like me or something completely different?  If you're just starting out, or thinking about it, what would you like to do?

Black'n'blue Fantasy Necklace Design

I fancied returning to the dark side for my next Onyx Fantasy Necklace Design.

This necklace was still made up in my lush red and black theme until I needed to borrow the red prisms for my Valentine's Bangle for Jess *mental note to self* buy more red prisms...  That necklace has had a LOT of wear and  I wasn't tired of the design at all, but after the brightness of wearing Sunrise Blossom Bracelet, I fancied a change and after all; the beauty of modular jewellery is not only that you can design your own jewellery, but that you can chop and change designs as the impulse comes upon you.

I wanted a necklace to wear with my Sky at Night Bangle and some of my X by Trollbeads and Story Bracelets.

Trollbeads Onyx Fantasy Necklace - Beads from bottom up:
Triangles, Blue Tiger's Eye, Chinese Snake, In Your Heart, Luccicare bead, onyx zodiac star.

I love my tree & crescent moon bead from Christa at Luccicare so that went straight back in.  Also a cert for this necklace was a blue tigers eye I picked up last month; so dark it almost looks black but is that lovely inky blue and ideal to compliment the darker blues in my Sky at Night Bangle.

The retired triangles silver bead I used at the bottom of the necklace I found in a sale in November, and in all honesty I wish I'd picked up the others that were available at the same time, unbelievably I was actually sticking to a budget on that purchase but for once I regret being good!  Above the stone I put Chinese Snake, who had been living on my Garden Bracelet but I'd recently broken this one up as I hadn't worn it in a while (I tend to wear it more in Summer) so it was time to recycle the beads!

I love the zodiac stars and onyx was the natural choice to finish this off in order to keep the design dark... I struggled a bit trying to capture how lovely this is with a photo, so whilst I'm happy with my new necklace, I perhaps need to work on my photography a bit more?!

Amber & Blue Daisy Bracelet

I love amber and I've added a couple of great beads recently to my collection.  I decided it was time to rejig my current amber bracelet but first I needed to dismantle it and add the new beads to the pile...

My amber bracelet is one of the few bracelets I have that remains permanently made up, so taking it apart always feels a little odd.  I absolutely adore amber and these are mostly uniques, apart from a couple of the Limited Edition World Tour Amber beads, as I have 3 Baltic Gold and 1 Runes; I've not collected any of the production ambers yet.

Out of habit I started to make another all amber combo, and then stopped.

I always do this (who doesn't love an all amber bracelet) but for once I gave myself a new challenge, to finally make "that" bracelet with amber and my Daisy bead; an idea I'd had way before I ever got my first amber or my Daisy bead.

To add some spice I threw myself a curveball; I'd also acquired a new glass unique, shown above, from the recent D4E big unique sale and I was keen to use this too.

Plan B was shaping up... an amber, blue and Daisy bracelet!  I set to work!!

I had to fiddle with the placement and choice of amber beads quite a lot - my beads are mostly all different but I did want some semblance of symmetry, well as much as you can have when the beads are all different shapes, shades and sizes.

It's taken a while to get used to this bracelet as it's not one of my normal colour combinations (and I've been wearing a lot of X and my black lambskin Story bracelet recently) but after a day or two on the wrist I'm beginning to appreciate it all the more.

Silvers on Sunday ~ Pearl Zodiac Birthstone Star (and what happened to my haggis)

Last weekend I was all set to enjoy a Sunday afternoon at home when we randomly popped out for a goodbye drink with our near neighbour who was in the process of moving house.

After a few drinks I decided that this was a good time to attempt to cook the haggis from our Troll Date and as haggis takes rather a long time to cook, I used the time to catch up on some blog reading - if you want to see what I like to read take a look at my new Blogroll, it's at the bottom right hand side of my page.  You can click on any of the links to open that particular blog, most recently updated blogs appear towards the top of the list thanks to a nifty gadget I discovered on Blogger!

Whilst I was catching up with some of my favourite blogs last Sunday I discovered this post just published by Endangered Trolls alerting me to the fact that Perlen had some retired trollbeads zodiac stars in stock, including the pearl star!

The zodiac stars are a bit of an obsession of mine, I adore this set of silvers with semi-precious stones, and although I have two full sets I recently decided that I wanted 4 of the pearl stars and 4 of the garnet stars to complete my collection.

So with this in mind I put in an order for my fourth pearl star, alerted all my trollbead friends to this opportunity and still had time to choose the Redbalifrog Silvers for my beach themed bracelet - all before the haggis had had time to cook.  So glad we didn't opt for a quicker meal last Sunday :D

Four pearl stars sitting on a bangle - full of possibilities!

When two is never enough - Pearl Zodiac Birthstone Star

Speaking of multiples as we were in the last post, I was recently offered the chance to buy from another collector's set of zodiac birthstone stars.

Regular readers will know how much I love this set of silvers having recently completed my 2nd set as part of my New Year's Bead Resolutions.  Therefore I was feeling fairly satiated, or so I thought.

My tribute bracelet for Valentine's Day featuring my RAFBF Bead and my original pearl stars

When I was offered the chance to buy more I had to really think about what I would do next, as after helping a friend search for some recently I know that it's becoming a lot harder to source certain ones, particularly at reasonable prices.  After several days of thinking this over, I decided I really couldn't pass up on the opportunity of another Pearl Star, Cancer and Pisces.  I'd used my original two on my tribute bracelet above so I could see that I would also get good use from a third.

Pearl Zodiac Birthstone Star No. 3

I've also set myself a new goal for the stars, as I know I don't want another full set - which would be overkill even with my passion for this collection.  I would however like to have 4 Pearl Stars and 4 Garnet Stars in total.  I can really see me using these on a single bracelet together by type, or just enjoying having these as multiples to use.

Triple Stars... just one more to go!

But not just yet... Day 21 and still not bought any more new beads!