Blog Competition! Wish me Luck!

So I heard about this competition through Victoria at Endangered Trolls (who was telling Mars at Curling Stones for Lego People via Twitter!)

The Lovely people at John Greed are giving away £250 in lovely jewellery in their Valentines Blogger Challenge. Here's my entry :D

 
Unsurprisingly my entry consists of mainly Trollbeads and lots from the new Spring Collection, but I have also added possibly the best Swatch Watch I have ever seen! There is something mesmerising about seeing the inner workings of a watch working, team that with the bright contrasting colours that I am famed for being drawn to and I think this may be the perfect item for me (Also it's an amazingly bargainous price!)


 

Now back to the important stuff - Beads! :P

 













Silver Trace Turquoise/Green was the Trollbead that started off my fascination with Trollbeads and as of yet I still don't own it! Funny how that happens. Unfortunately it has been retired this year so I need to add it to my collection before it is too late!

I was given a Tigers Eye stone by my eldest sister Michelle while I was at school (during exam season) as it is believed to promote self worth and assist in achieving goals, I think that we can all do with a bit of help with that from time to time. I should also add that I have already bought Coral Stripe and Coral bubbles with the intention of wearing it with my tiger’s eye. Ooops! 

The Beach Ball was an obvious choice for me. It contains most of the colours of my collection so I could wear it lots and it also matches my new watch perfectly! Leading on from this is Strawberry Stripe the red counterpart reminds me of picking Strawberries at a Pick your Own farm (and eating far too many while doing so!) I also have a vision of a blue and red bracelet with Beach Ball and Strawberry Stripe as my focal point.

Fossils is from the Rocky Beach Kit, I love the shape of this bead and all the colours in it. I’m a bit of a sucker for the bobbly beads. It also brings back memories of looking for Fossils in Lyme Regis while away for summer breaks with my Boys Brigade Group as a teen.

Rounding out my spring wish list (for now) is Starfish if you know me then you know I am a bit obsessed with the shape of stars. Ever since I studied Graphics I have loved the simple geometric shape, I know I sound a bit weird, but this new starfish bead has that shape, but with lovely natural soft lines. It also reminds me of holding a starfish at Weymouth Sea life Centre which was a birthday treat (quite a long time ago now!) – Maybe all these beads need to make it onto a childhood memories bracelet, which was completely unintentional when I started choosing beads

Endless is the last, but not least, bead on my dream board I love the way this bead sits on the bracelet and that it has no end, sometimes the simplest ideas have the best outcomes.

I know my choices don’t really reflect Valentine’s Day, but they all have a really special meaning to me, and isn’t that the beauty of Trollbeads? 

Wish me luck in the competition and head over to John Greed to ogle their vast selection of Brands and non Branded Jewellery – they also have an outlet, if like me you love a bargain!

Helen Baber is very bad!

This blog post is very long overdue! It intends to act as a thanks and also a celebration of friendship. Helen was a customer when I worked at a jewellers, who unfortunately lost a bracelet :(

Anyhow in the small world that we live in it turned out Helen was training to become a vicar and had a summer placement in the church that Nic and I attend. She has been studying in Switzerland for the last 4 months (she has been home for about a week now... see how late this post is!)

She came home over Christmas and took me and Nic to Wagamamas to celebrate my birthday. It was the first time I had been and I have now become a bit obsessed (The first reason she is bad)

While we were there she gave me the second bead I have been given as a gift by someone who isn’t Nic (if that makes sense to you then some sort of reward is coming your way) and that is why she is very bad! I promised that day that I would post a blog about the event and better late than never, right?!

The bead I was given was Stay Positive from the Spirituality collection. I absolutely ADORE it! I thought it would be quite flimsy when I first saw it because silver is naturally quite soft and it looked quite thin; however it is strong enough to survive me wearing it. The round shape is one really easy to work with and I really like the look of it at the big end of my bracelet.

No matter which way you turn this bead, you will always have a plus sign smiling up at you. A reminder to stay positive and focus on the good things in life.

Here is a quick picture of the bracelet I made up with the bead on, unfortunately my photography leaves a bit to be desired and it is quite hard to see.

Thank you Helen!xx

Beads from across the Seven Seas (Almost...Maybe?) Thank you Facebook))

So I have been trying to be really good and not buy so many beads. In January a Facebook Group I am part of decided we should all set Resolutions for the New Year. My main resolution was to not buy any beads unless they were half price or better. This led the very lovely Alison to add me to some Facebook groups which allow other collectors to sell beads they don’t want any more or maybe got at a bargain price. Of course I went a bit mad (but more of that in another post). I managed to get a really good deal on a couple of beads from America and after a few weeks and a slight customs hiccup I was the proud owner of the Inner Glow Bead. This bead is from the Halloween 2012 release and I have been admiring it since I first saw pictures on Endangered Trolls in September. It doesn’t glow as much as I expected, at least you can’t really tell in daylight, but I still love it and Nic is Jealous! :P

Inner Glow is the bead of your interior light and when brought into the dark it glows bright green - showing you its magic.

The next bead I want to tell you about travelled even further - all the way from Australia. Another lovely lady (from my favourite Facebook page) Jenny became a partially lovely Troll Fairy and sent me the Retired Blue/White Armadillo, it is the first Dillo I have added to my collection and it was the inspiration for the bracelet below (which also features Inner Glow).  This bead was released in 2006 and retired in 2008 which is before I started to collect so I was really lucky to be able to add this bead to my collection.

The armadillo is a charming but slightly clumsy nocturnal animal from the American continent that rolls up into a ball, when it gets scared. Here in an orange form.

I would also love to add the Orange Dillo to my collection (if you see a nice one, let me know!) She also sent me a really lovely coaster and some Twinnings Australian Tea (I love tea nearly as much as I love Trollbeads so this was a big surprise, the tea is exclusive to Oz so I am trying to save it)

I was looking on My Trollbeads Facebook page and I noticed that Karen their stylist makes up combinations where the beads aren't symmetrical or grouped in even numbers and thought I would try it out. Usually I have everything really balanced but I think this works really well and will try the look again.

Definitely worth the wait.

11 days before my 22^nd Birthday I received my first ever Trollbead gift that wasn’t from Nic. My very dear friend since School Lorna gave me the Dice Bead. I got a bit too emotional about it and I think she was a bit bemused that such a small piece of silver could make me so happy! It was worth waiting 354 days!

This charm bead takes the shape of a dice. The perfect silver Trollbead for the one who aims high, takes risks, or likes a gamble, this charm is a symbol of lady fortune.

I do love the bead, but the thought that she had gone out of her way to look at all the beads and choose me one was really very lovely especially as she isn’t a Trollbead collector. I'm not sure I take risks, and I don't gamble. But for my 18th Birthday I bought Cluedo and we played that (we were supposed to go out but the weather was awful) so I think it represents that to me.

I have one gripe with the bead is that it is missing a couple of numbers where the bracelet goes through it (I’m not sure how you would get around this to be honest) the bead is price group one (£23) so is perfect for wearing every day, it sits nice and comfortably and I wear it almost all the time.

:D