Wednesday 2 January 2013

Spring has Sprung in Trollbeads HQ

The new spring collection of Trollbeads has been leaked on line with pictures and as always Victoria over at Endangered Trolls has the latest scoop. I'll let her show you the lovely collection and will just add my thoughts here.
I love the look of the asymmetric beads Pebbles and Fossils and I'm guessing they will vary loads. The whole kit looks like it will be much nicer in real life with Cliffs and Sand Beach looking like they might have a lot of depth.
The Happy Beach Kit appeals to me because I love the bright coloured Trollbeads and Beach Ball will have to be part of my collection soon! Strawberry Stripes looks quite nice in the picture too but I would have to have a really red version, I have bought 'red' beads in the past for them to actually be orange and then they are much harder to work with. The reason they go so orange is because red glass is much harder to work with and if it is heated too much it turns orange rather fast. I think Trollbeads have realised this because the beads I have seen in the last few months, and indeed in the Christmas collection, are a lot more red. 
I'm not a massive fan of the flower beads but I am impressed at the work that goes into making them. In this spring collection they have developed again and now the petals have different colours in them, this is really fun to look at especially in Blue Fantasy.
Beige Moonstone is an interesting bead as I found the Blue Moonstone from the Autumn collection to be a bit insipid so maybe with there now being a Beige version the Blue one will look more Blue. 
I'm sorry for not having more to say on the glass, but I want to wait until I have seen them in real life before passing too much judgement!

I love that the Silver beads follow on the seaside theme.Playing Dolphins is a nice evolution from Dolphins with more distinction between the dolphins and because they aren't joined they are easier to see on the bracelet and a bit more dynamic.
Sea Horses is another lovely bead, I have always been a bit enchanted by these animals so this may also have to go on my wish list. Next to Silver Whorl as the spiral in the Seahorses tails and the spirals in the Silver Whorl seem perfect for each other.
Coral Branch is another bead to go on my wish list. I love the amount of texture to it, it is very typically Trollbeads and this will go brilliantly with Cells.
Sunglasses is an odd one for me, not sure it really screams Trollbeads, but I can see a lot of people buying this as a gift for someone.
I love Starfish, It is simple but has more going on with it's texturing. I also love how both sides are different and I think it's details like that that make people fall in love with Trollbeads, and is why I keep collecting them.
Silver Sea Urchin is another fun Bead. This will go really well if you have other round silver beads, and if you do, you know how easy it is to work them into a bracelet. It would be fun to see Silver Sea Urchins between other bobbly beads like Whitecap and Moon Oceans in a repeated pattern.
The Blossom bead confuses me. I looks very Similar to Berries which is similar to Winter berries which is similar to Berry Big. But then we are due a retirement so maybe Berries is on it's way out. Which is a shame as it's my favourite of the beads mentioned above (too many bobbles on the others).
Swarm of Butterflies is a lovely bead but the name puts me off a little. A swarm makes me think of something menacing and Butterflies are anything but.
House is a bead that is fun to look at, but like Sunglasses, I'm not sure it's particularly Trollbeads. However you can now Propose with, Get married, Be pregnant, be a mother, or father, have a family, be a (or have a) baby boy, or girl and now buy a house and have a bead to remember it buy. Well done Trollbeads!
Mermaid and Seaman is a Trollbead Through and Through, it has its roots set in Fantasy and you have to look at it a while to work out what is going on. And even then you aren't sure!
Holding onto Love, sounds nice, and in fact Nic 'Awwed' when I told him. You then look at the bead and that's when I get confused. Are they holding their worlds together, is that a broken heart? The detailing is nice, but I'm not sure for what occasion this bead is meant.
Breakfast is a brilliant bead and I think it may have to be on my wish list even though I never eat Breakfast (as long as it's not too obvious that it's a couple - Trollbeads seem to love boobs) The gentle relaxing on the table and the newspaper in the lap, this bead just makes me smile when I look at it.
Elderflowers I think may be my favourite Floral silver bead. I like the shape of the petals, it looks like the flowers you drew as a child.

Big Butterfly is an unusual bead for Trollbeads to release, but I guess if it is popular then we may see lots of variations of it. It also makes a lovely addition to a necklace and I think would look good off centre, like it is just resting on you.

Agate Dendritic is again a bead that will vary loads so I will pass judgement after seeing a few.

2 New locks make it into the collection. This is very exciting as I am running out of masculine looks to keep my bracelets together. I am particularly fond of Seahorse, but I think Dolphin is fun too.

The new leather bracelets look really nice and I think that I may have to purchase a couple of these(seeing as my current leathers have stretched a little) I'm just a bit concerned as to how the beads would fit on them as in the pictures they look a bit flat. and also if the 2 colours are 2 different pieces of leather I wonder if they will come apart.

The new Dolphin and Elderflower pendant are pretty but not very new in terms of design, Dolphin looks just like Ballerinas and Elderflower looks a bit like Zucchini Flower mixed with Strawberries and Rose. I think they will sell well though.

The collection as a whole work really well together and I am happy that there are a lot of silver beads for me to drool over for a while!

Oh and if you have been beady eyed you may have spotted the Valentines day dangle on Trollbeads universe. It is unknown if it is limited edition or not and comes in pink and pale purple as seen on Endangered Trolls.


Also for the third year in a row Trollbeads are retiring beads. They full list is unknown as of yet, but it is due of official announcement on January 25th. I wouldn't worry too much as you can still pick up beads retired in 2011 and often retailers reduce these beads as they want to make room for the new stock. However it may mean that it is harder to find beads with lots of variety so if a bead was on your wish list you may want to buy it soonish.

Tuesday 1 January 2013

A Tale of Mickey’s Past.



So I should warn you that I am a bit of a Disney obsessive and am particularly fond of my name sake Mickey Mouse. I think that he is the only reason I love Disney so much and it’s only because we share the same name that I became interested in the first place. 

Every year the Disney store has a special edition Mickey Mouse Plush (or Teddy) for Christmas with the year embroidered on his foot. I stumbled upon 2010’s Mickey by luck and a fun story. Nic was doing his usual trick of not wanting to go in any of the shops I wanted to go in (usually Paperchase, Body shop and the Disney Store) he then has to look at every item in the store and ‘coo’ and ‘ahh’  a lot. We were having one such visit to the Disney store when the manager invited to come to a ‘Lock in’ where we would receive extra discount and it was all in aid of charity. We made a friend go with us (which is lucky because as usual we bought too much to carry ourselves (in my defence mum it was Christmas presents) at the till they had a special offer on the Christmas Mickey and Minnie as a set but Nic’s Nephew wanted a Mickey for Christmas and so did I so the lovely staff let us have 2 Mickey’s and with my addictive personality (another) collection was born. We bought the 2011 Mickey at full price (which is too much if you ask me) and then in January it was reduced.

Once bitten, twice shy I decided I would wait until January to buy the 2012 plush. Unfortunately they had reduced Mickey in December and because I was so busy at work had not visited the store and they had sold out. Nic and I even asked our friends to look out for it; it wasn’t until he phoned a store that we discovered that it was out of stock in the whole country. :’(

Anyway...back to the Matter in Hand Trollbeads (Sorry for the ramble)

It has been a while since I made a new bracelet composition up and if I’m honest I’ve been lacking inspiration. It was while discussing my lack of 2012 Mickey on Facebook that looked again at my 2011 and 2010 Mickey’s and Inspiration struck.

I have created a green and red combo to match 2010 Mickey’s scarf. I’m not completely happy with this bracelet and I think it is because my red beads vary from Orange to Blood Red and the balance seems a bit funny. I’m going to post a picture of how it looks now and would welcome any ideas on how to change it. Also my green beads are a bit all over the place too.




The 2011 theme was blue and white and this came a lot easier for me. I just chose a few of my favourite beads and it seemed to make itself. I seem to be drawn to blue beads and have a lot more to choose from so I guess that may be why it was easier. If I was wearing a bracelet at Christmas this would have been the one I would have worn as it makes me think of winter ice.




Let me know what you think!x

Oh and I bit the bullet and bought 2012 Mickey from eBay USA for almost what it would've cost from here. But you live and learn and he should arrive soon!