Magazine subscriptions

I bought myself two magazine subscriptions as Christmas gift. The first one is BeadStyle is also available at Press-Stop, but it is pretty expensive to buy single issues at the shop. The second one is Step by Step Wire Jewelry. I have not read anything from the latter one, but I hope it is great magazine. I am very excited! Hope the magazines will turn up soon!

Charity Perlehuset/Stadsmissionen

I participate in a charity activity with the bead shop Perlehuset, Stockholm, to raise money for the organization Stadsmissionen, division Klaragaarden. The activity is about making jewellery to sell as auction item at Perlehuset 11th November 2006. The bead shop brings the beads and I use my jewellery making skill. The activity will bring money to Klaragaarden, which deals with homeless women.

I have made a set of jewellery with necklace and earrings. I named it Hope. Material used in Hope were faceted rectangular Rose Quartz, flat round Amazonite and cubic irregular glass beads. Findings are in sterling silver.

Diamond, Ruby and Sapphire

Last week, the topic of the lecture (the course in gemstones and minerals) was diamonds. We learned about the different grades, colours, chemical formula, shapes, synthetic versus imitated and more. Our teacher Linda also brought some real diamonds and “fake” (synthetic and imitated) diamonds to the lecture. We took a look on the stones under a 10x lens. They were so beautiful!

Yesterday’s topic was corundum. The lecture was mainly about ruby and sapphire. This time our teacher took some ruby and sapphire with her. The ruby stones were in different shades of red (both real and synthetic) and the sapphires in different shapes and colours. I forgot my lens at home, so I could not take a closer look on them. What a pity!

Learning more about gemstones

The course in gemstones and minerals at Stockholm University began on Wednesday. It was an introduction about different shape of stone, colours and briefly about chemical formula. Next week we have another lesson on Wednesday and on Sunday we are going on an excursion to Stora Vika. I am really looking forward to learn more about gemstones and minerals!

Discovering unusual jewellery in Turku

I came home from a trip in Turku in Finland today. My honey and I visited Turku castle (museum) from 13th century and they displayed some unusual materials for jewellery. During the Beidermeier era the jewellery was made of fish-scale! And also from the same era – jewellery made of human hair! In the early 20th century the Finnish wore jewellery made of faceted mineral coal beads!

Autumn glow

I received an e-mail today from Annlaug/Owl, the receiver of my secret beader gift. She likes the jewellery set! Yeah! This is what she received:

The perfect gift from Estonia

My honey came home from a trip in Estonia (the Baltic region). He said he bought me the perfect gift - an amber heart pendant with sterling silver finding. So sweet of him! :-) He told me that the heart is made of genuine stone and not imitated amber. I asked him how he knew it was real amber. Honey said he asked the shop assistant to prove that the pendant is made of genuine amber. First, she showed him by testing that the amber heart float on salt water. Second, she showed him amber that rubs against clothes get electric.

Course in gemstones and minerals

For a couple of months ago, I applied for an evening course in gemstones and minerals at university. Last week, I received a mail with the message that I have been accepted to attend the course. Yeah! :-) I am really looking forward to learn more about gemstones. The course starts in September.

Secret beader gift 6 finished

Yesterday, I spent a couple of hours to make a jewellery set for my secret beader in the Secret beader gift exchange. A bracelet and a pair of earrings made in her favourite colours red (different shades), green and copper. I have not sent it to her yet, but I will post a picture of the jewellery set after she has received the gift.

Licorice lariat necklace launched!

Licorice which is a black version of Marshmallow lariat necklace is now available in my Etsy shop!

Papercraft Essentials with PhotoPlus

I bought the 9th issue of Papercraft Essentials earlier this week. They have a special section in this issue about book art. Pretty interesting! The issue also include the CD-ROM Creative Design Elements Volume 1(for PC) with elements, tags, papers, photos and fonts. The CD-ROM also contains a free full version of Serif PhotoPlus 7. Well, not the latest version of PhotoPlus, but it is free with the magazine!

Striped - gift to Maddie

I made the jewellery set Striped especially for Maddie’s birthday. The jewellery set is made of black/red striped Furnace glass (mouth blown glass), Swarovski Olivine bicone crystals, Swarovski Tourmaline bicone crystals and 925 sterling silver. The colour scheme is in her favourite colours. She got a lot of compliments yesterday when she received the gift. :-)

Secret Beader gift exchange 6 in progress

I have signed up for the sixth round of Secret Beader gift exchange in the BeadStyle Community Forum. The gift should be mailed out before 14th September 2006. Caroline, designer of Crafted Gems, is the organizer of the gift exchange this time.

Arandel and Licorice on focus

Arandel, photo and digital artist, of the jewellery collection Licorice, is right now on focus in the group Swedish Photographers at Flickr.com (svenska fotografer) with Licorice. See more of Arandel’s work .

Introducing Licorice 17th July 2006

The new collection Licorice is made with high quality glass seed beads and crackle glass crystals in different colours. Findings are in sterling silver. The black beads remind of licorice while the sparkling crackle crystals remind of yummy fruit candies! Digital artist Arandel have made the wonderful pictures of Licorice. The collection is one-of-a-kind jewellery and will be available as necklace, earrings and cell phone strap. Licorice will be available in my Etsy shop by 17th July 2006.

Colourful leaves

Colourful leaves – the name of the latest collection. I started with the collection today and have made earrings in seven different colours: pink, fuchsia, yellow, orange, green, blue and lavender. The collection Colourful leaves will be available in necklace and earrings in my Etsy shop next week.

Inspiration from book about colours and party

My mother bought me a book about creative and colourful ideas for party. The book Fest & Färg - Kreativa idéer med papper, dekorationer och pärlor is in Swedish, but is originally written in Danish by Gitte Schou Hansen. It deals with different party themes like dope, wedding, summer and more. The creative ideas are made by material such as papers, decorations, ribbons and beads. There are a lot of colourful pictures in the book. A great inspiration book for everyone who works with colours!

Sparkling and with blue eyes

Yesterday, my dear friend Arandel, digital photo artist, took several pictures of me at our photo session. Today, I received a copy of the finished version. He had turned the colour of my eyes in to blue and they are looking great! Yeah, this piece of photo is fabulous! I love the name Arandel gave it – Coruscation, because I love sparkling and glittering things. Take a look of his work at Flickr or visit his website.


By the way, the blue eyes inspired me to buy some blue glass beads to play with. :-)

Marshmallows lariat necklace

Last week, I have been working with the new collection Marshmallows. This lariat necklace is made with seed beads in white , crackle crystals (the crackling makes the crystals sparkling) and sterling silver findings. They will soon be available in my Etsy shop.

Spring in Scandinavia lariat necklace

Susana/susanatp, Spain, has received the secret beader gift from me. I was a little bit worried since I have not heard a word from her and I sent it for almost two weeks ago. Here is the lariat necklace that I made for her. I called it Spring in Scandinavia and it is made of green AB seed beads, cream seed beads, Czech glass flower and leaves, Czech facetted glass, Amazonite briolette and sterling silver findings. The cream beads symbolise the melting snow during the spring season in Scandinavia, while the green seed beads, flowers and leaves symbolise the spring.

Secret beader gift 5 received

Today, I received a package from United States. It was my secret beader gift from Sue (suemiteff) in the BeadStyle forum! A jewellery set made of Swarovski crystals and freshwater button pearls. I love pinks, I love pearls and I love glittering crystals! This girly princess set is just perfect for me! :-) Thanks for the jewellery set Sue! See the other jewelleries from the Secret beader exchange gift 5 here.

Secret beader gift 5 sent

Yesterday evening, I finished the piece of jewellery for my secret beader. I have sent her the piece today. I will tell you more about the piece and post pictures when she has received it. Hope she likes it! :-)

Collection Wood and Stone

Yesterday I worked with a new collection called Wood and Stone. The materials that I use were wood beads and Swarovski crystals. Well, Swarovski is not a stone, but the greyish colour (Black Diamond) symbolise the look of stone in the nature. So far the collection consists of two items – bracelet and earrings. The bracelet is totally handmade including the clasp by using silver plated wire and each of the wood beads have unique pattern. The wood beads in the earrings have similar pattern, but the pattern is not identical, since each bead is unique. The collection will be available through my Etsy shop this week. :-)

Custom banner for my shop

I bought a custom banner on Monday from Sararae on Etsy. Sara delivered the final version of the custom banner yesterday evening. The banner is beautiful with sparkling stars (but the banner does not have the animate effect on Etsy) and can be viewed in my Etsy shop. She was great to deal with. I got the banner exactly the way that I wanted. Gorgeous! :-)

Spring wine glass charms

After the Easter set, I made another set of wine glass charms. This one has spring theme with Czech glass cup flowers and glow in the dark glass butterflies. :-)

Easter wine glass charms

Today I made a set of Easter wine glass charms. I hand made the hoops with silver plated wire. The set contains six different designs in Easter/spring colour scheme. The beads in the designs are Czech glass, Japanese Miyuki cubes and Chinese glass cat eye.

Secret beader gift exchange 5 in progress

The fifth round of “Secret beader gift exchange” is in progress. I signed up for this one last month and received the information about my Secret beader (receiver) last night from Lucy, the designer of Kitschkitty, who is the organizer of this round. I have participated in the third and fourth round of Secret beader gift exchange before and I loved it. I have made jewellery in different style and materials each time. Let see what I come up with this time! ;-)

PIF item (3) on Etsy

I have sold my third PIF item on Etsy. I changed the listing of a set of Christmas wine charms to a pair of earrings - Celtic Sweetheart. I made the Celtic knots myself and added pink cateyes and little puffy hearts. They were sold to a buyer in US within five hours! :-)

PIF item (2) on Etsy

I received a call today with happy news, so I decided to forward my luck to someone by listing another PIF item. "Pinky Eyes" is a pair of silver plated earrings made with pink cateyes (glass) and Czech glass.

PIF item (1) on Etsy

I have bought a Pay It Forward (PIF) item on Etsy. It was a package of three graphic logotypes design. I am so excited. Looking forward to see the logotypes!

So what is a PIF? A PIF is free for the buyer and often the item shipped without additional cost to the buyer. The only thing the buyer has to do is to list a PIF item on Etsy.

I sold a PIF item at midnight (Swedish time) to a Canadian girl. She bought the earrings for her mom! So sweet! :-) It was a pair of earrings from the collection “Dancing crystals”. They are made with Cosmic crystals, German seed beads and silver plated findings.

Wire works in papercraft magazine

I bought the latest issue of Papercraft Essentials today. The issue contains inspiration ideas for wire works like decorations and tiaras. Perfect for wedding and party!

Exhibition about jewelleries

Today, my boyfriend and I visited the Hallwyl Museum in the city. They have an exhibition “Silver & smycken – till fest och vardag”about jewelleries and sterling silver utility items during 10th February – 23rd April 2006. It is free entrance to the exhibition. Well, to be honest, it was too much utility articles and too little jewelleries. ;-) The exhibition showed jewelleries made in sterling and gold and different kind of gemstones e.g. Amethyst and Topaz.

Bargain shopping

I was at the craft shop Panduro, Barkaby (north of Stockholm) on Friday. It was sale and everything in the shop was 50 % off! I bought over 600 glass beads, mother of pearls pendants, funky plastic beads, findings, satin ribbon and waxed linen thread.

European bead swap

We have an European bead swap at the Beads & Button's/BeadStyle's forum . I received the bead package from Kristina in Sweden today. I picked some shell beads, lampworks and glass beads and replaced them with crystals, lampworks and glass beads. Tomorrow the package will be post to Kylee in France.

The beads that Kylee will receive look like this:


Close up, left:

Close up, right:

Secret beader gift 4 received

These are the gifts that I received from Amanah, United Kingdom, at Secret Beader Exchange 4. The colour scheme of the key chain was blue – my favourite colour! The pair of earrings was lovely designed with glass beads and blue freshwater pearls. Yes, and the whole packaging concept was gorgeous with the pieces in organza bags and the organza bags in a black & gold box. It felt really luxurious. :-)

Bead exchange 4 - gift from Anne Cinnabar

This is set that I made for Karen/beadsbydesign at the event Secret Beader Exchange 4 at Beads & Button's/BeadStyle's forum . The picture is photographed by Karen.

The name of the piece is Electric Orange and is made of Red Aventurine stone chips, Swarovski Emerald bicone crystals and sterling silver round bead with etched stars.

The inspiration idea was autumn, since autumn colours are Karen's favourites. The Red Aventurine has the same colour as autumn leaves and the Swarovski Emerald bicones is the colour of the leaves just before the summer season turns to autumn. And the sterling silver bead with etched stars is just like the twinkle little stars upon sky in the autumn evenings.