Better Late than Never!

Sorry about the delay. After a lovely weekend with a visit to Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, and then having an OU assignment due I didn't have time to put together a bracelet from the three beads that had a review last week!

But I'm really happy with the result (with Nic's very valuable help) I hope you all agree its worth the wait. Here is *Drum Roll* ...

Seaside Themed Bracelet!

It was pretty obvious the way I should go with Treasures being the only silver bead chosen. The Blue Agate are the perfect colour to be sea or sky and Light Blue Shadow, well, that goes really well with beach :P

Here is the combo!

I loved the way the light shone through one of my few remaining ambers and thought I would use it as a centre bead to signify the sun! The silver beads were co-selected with Nic. From Left to right we have Sandi (for a sandy Beach) Rolling Waves, Treasures, Unity (which looks like a beach ball) Tower (for sandcastles) and Viking Ship.

I wanted it to not be completely evenly spaced, but I couldn't leave it, so it's almost, not quite, even.

The glass beads were picked to the blue sea theme. Along side the Agates and Light Blue Shadow we have (L-R) Kimono, Blue/Yellow Unique, Blue/White Unique for the sky and clouds, Silver Mountain to balance with LB Shadow, Wave of Dreams for Waves on the beach, Beach, Blue Unique
Here's a few close ups:

And one last picture, I think the mini blogging mission was sucessful, I might cheat next time and write the whole weeks posts in one go, but Shhh!

Turquoise Striped Agate

*Warning, This post is rather picture heavy, I wanted to show the variety in these beads*

The final bead for this weekday review blog comes in the form of a final four beads!

These particularly lovely beads (if you happened to miss the title) are the Striped Turquoise Agate. Agate is a metamorphic rock and was given its name by Greek philosopher Theophrastus for all you scientist historians out there.

 

Trollbeads released 2 types if agate in 2 colours in January 2011. Pink and Blue. Striped and Plain. Due to the massive variances in colour and stripeyness these beads they are best seen in real life. I’m not sure why, but these beads didn’t sell very well and for a (not very) limited time in 2012 they were 40% off (the earrings went 40% off too (for a more) limited time)

 

I was always rather taken by the blue agate and when the offer came around I couldn’t pass it up! I have 4 really different beads and I have taken quite a few pictures so you can see the sides.

  

This bead is rather thin, thinner than the other un-faceted gemstones, but due to its vibrant colours they stand out beautifully in any creation! I know that Mars is fond of her Agates, so give her blog a look! 

It’s worth noting that they also have a Striped Black Onyx Kit which is really lovely too, but that is for another post!

So we have Light Blue Shadow, Treasures and Blue Striped Agates to work into a combo! Best get my thinking cap on!

I wanna see your Peacock

So following on from the very exciting parcel from Denmark holding my cherished Chess Lock I have to tell you about another very special bead that has had a very long journey. The bead went from Trollbead HQ in Denmark to Rome to Holland and then to me (thank you very much special Troll Fairy!)

This bead (that is amazing) is part of a limited edition collection of Unique beads called Small and Beautiful. There have been 800 kits of 6 beads created, and there are about 27 beads in the collection. Check out this post for a really cohesive list of the beads, with photographs, thanks Leann!

The reason this bead had to make such a long journey was because there was only one retailer in the UK selling these beads and due to their popularity the site crashed!

So... Without further ado here is my Small and Beautiful Peacock Bead!

This bead really appealed to me as it reminds me of my mum who collected Peacock feathers from Fiji when we went to visit family in 1996. It also reminds me of visiting my grandparents who have Peacock feathers in their house.

The beads are much very small (and you can now get some called Big and Beautiful with a Unique core which are normal sized) I tried to find a few beads which were standard sized so you could get an idea of the size so here it is with Amazonite and Blue Agate.

The colours are amazing, I love beads that have lots of colours and details in them; it means that closer you look the more details you can see. I'm afraid the pictures don't do it much justice. 

Here's a side view, I think that lots of these S&Bs have internal bubbles in them, but I don't notice it much when I'm wearing it:

I wanted to showcase my Peacock bead and was in a bit of a rush as I was going to see my family in Birmingham so I picked a few beads and grabbed my leather bracelet and this is what I created. I spaced out the beads with small silvers so that the Peacock doesn’t look too small.

I never wear my leather untwisted so I had to tuck it around itself to keep it tight.

I hope you like it!

xx

How I Met Trollbeads [Take 2]

Funny thing, time. I created my ‘How I met Trollbeads’ post last August but it seems like yesterday. When I started this blog I thought I could just use that as my first blog entry but when I read through it again I realised how out of date it was. So here is.

How I Met Trollbeads. [Take 2]

So I’ve been collecting Trollbeads for almost 2 years now. Time has really flown! My collection now holds 48 Glass beads, 12 Amber beads, 17 Silver beads with my same 2 Leather bracelets (Black and Blue – they have both worn to look almost the same) and a silver bracelet. It’s a collection I’m really proud of.

I gave up on attempting to wear all my beads at once quite a while ago, since before my last blog, which is why I only have the three bracelets. I would like a different colour leather bracelet – maybe red or green but at the minute the beads are luring me in too much! It also suits me to not have so many bracelets as I get bored way to easily so end up swapping my beads around all the time anyway. Nic hates it as it usually happens when we are supposed to be leaving the house to go out somewhere!

I am trying to cut down on the beads I buy and only get the limited edition ones but there are just so many lovely beads to own. Maybe a second job is needed! :) The newest beads to my collection are of course the ones I won at Fable, but before that it was the bargain that was the Turquoise Striped Agate Kit as they were 40% off! They vary massively mine are bright with brown stripes, one has a bit of something sparkly in it and another is part translucent.

And Nic bought me Fireflies and Flower Clouds to match the shirt to his brother’s wedding and I have bought Owl because I love all the detailing to it, it is lovely to look at all the feathers and is comforting to rub his little belly! I have also bought the Magician because it is retired and I love that he is coming out his hat with the rabbit under his arm.

I’m really lucky to now own Milky Way and Treasures, but have yet to own Angel Feathers. Trollbeads retired a whole host of beads that I need to buy up quick so I don’t miss out – they have already sold out of Jellyfish :( and they keep having new collections too!

Speaking of new collections I am so excited that the WorldTour Collection is available in the UK for a short while – since they launched those 18 months ago I have said I would love a world tour bracelet with at least one bead per country. The only problem with this plan (apart from cost) is that most of the beads I would like are silver so the bracelet would be really unbalanced. I think I need to rethink my wish list! I’d like to hear any ideas you have!

I still really enjoy working for Beaverbrooks, and helping people start their collections off, but the best thing is seeing what amazing journeys people take with their bracelets and the ideas they have and the ways they put together beads I would never think of. Having customers come in again and again filling us in on their exciting news and showing off their new acquisitions is brilliant. And a great way to steal all their ideas!

Whilst at Fable we heard that there is a couple of exciting announcements over the next couple of months, I hope they wait long enough so that I can save up a few pennies as I know I will like way too many beads from the new collection!

So that’s you all up-to-date with my collection. Although I’m sure it will grow again soon (I will try to order my World Tour Beads as soon as I can, a few have sold out already! Luckily Fable will hopefully be ordering a few more if Denmark have any!) I'm also considering buying a leather necklace to wear with only a couple of beads on, but I'm not sure if it would suit me or not.

Keep your fingers crossed for me!x