Little Gems

I used to make a lot of jewellery. I made for birthdays and Christmas for 9 ladies at one point. on top of all this I was making for myself and also accumulating a whole bunch of stuff I didn't want which is on sale in an arts centre up country.

Then one day, mid way through the piece that was to be my Mum's birthday piece I got stuck. The very thought of picking up my beading needle was suddenly horrid. And I didn't for 6 months. I had birthday pieces for my sister and my Aunt to make as well and these didn't get made either.

I bought some new beads for my sister and aunt to allow for some simple bead stringing rather than bead weaving lots of tiny seed beads. But still I couldn't bring myself to do it. It has taken six months and they have probably completely forgotten I owe them pressies. In fact my Aunt never got her Xmas present either because I have been waiting to post them together....



This is my Mum's necklace. I have one similar but in sea colours and she liked it and asked for one in purple. The big beads are made from lots of seed beads. I was on the last beaded bead when I got stuck and only had a few more rows and then to string it all together to finish...


This is my Aunt's necklace. You can't really get a good look at it but the sequence is large milky purple bead, faceted clear glass bead, smoky grey hex bead, purple AB seed bead, lilac delica, silver tube and then lilac swarovski bicone and then back through to the milky purple bead ad infinitum. So it has a little variety to it and some sparkle....


This is for my sister. The focal beads are round pillows with a spiral on them. They have an AB finish which gives them that irridescent finish of paua shell. Each bead has been placed on a pin which I worked to have a loop at either end. A jump ring connects each loop to a length of chain.

The odd thing is that these pieces took less than an afternoon to do, although my Mum's piece would have taken more than that altogether. My Sister and my Aunt know I have been struggling with my jewellery making so perhaps won't be surprised to see something rather simpler than normal....This is my Aunt's rather late Xmas piece.... i have vowed not to let this happen again - if I get blocked again i shall go and buy them small pressies rather than just let it all be late...

I have also printed off two of my favourite photos of recent times to send each of them and I shall write them a prper snail mail letter to go with them. This is what I have been waiting to do for my first 3 months of snail mail letter writing for my 101 things... Oh and these don't count for my always send pressies and cards on time because they are from before I started the 101 things....