Beads and bangles

A few weekends ago now I went on a jewellery making course with my friend Sarah. We were in girl heaven, sat in a little cottage in the Cotswolds surrounded by jewel coloured beads of all shapes and sizes and taught the basics of making necklaces and earrings.

I am a bit of a magpie when it comes to sparkly things, so the afternoon was right up my street. We threaded beads, critically looking over what we had done, before un threading them and starting again. There was a lot of 'Oohing and Aahing' over each others designs and we both went home happy (via the craft shop- and a few pounds lighter), keen to get started on our new found skills.

These are the earrings I made on the course itself, and although I probably won't actually wear them, I just fell in love with the beads, I think they are so pretty! So instead I just pick them up and gaze at them, full of admiration for whoever had the skill and patience to hand paint the tiny gold edged pink flowers on them. Beautiful.

Now a warning for anyone considering this as a hobby- it is massively addictive! I have spent several evenings in front of the television, surrounded by beads, wire cutters, clasps and other paraphernalia having a great old time of it! I also now have an absurd amount of earrings (these are the easiest thing to make!) and am writing a list of how many people I can palm them off on for Christmas....I have branched out to charm bracelets now, having seen the fabulous array that the lady who ran the class had designed and made. I am halfway through making one for myself in reds, blacks and silvers, and another for my father in laws partner, in blues, turquoises and silver..

I keep adding extra beads and baubles to them, seeing gaps here and there and fiddling about with my pliers and wire. Maybe it is time to stop now. I think i will see how well the blue one is recieved before I make any more. Rob kept looking at them out of the corner of his eye with a slight frown on his face, so I am not convinced yet as to whether they are actually that nice, or more like the sort of thing one might buy in Claires Accessories...we shall wait and see. Either way, it's very relaxing and good fun having lots of plastic jewels to play around with.