Necklace Round Robin Swap Update

So its time for that Round Robin Swap post I briefly mentioned previously. The swap comprises of myself and two others and it is more of an collaboration than a swap. We each started necklaces (in varying degrees as you'll see further on in the post). All the pieces then came to me the swap's host, I then proceeded to put my stamp on the other participant's items before sending all three pieces onto the next designer, who would then send it on to the other participant, who would intern send the finished necklaces back to their origins. I am looking forward to owning a fabulously unique piece of jewellery to where this summer.

Anyway it is time to introduce the other participating designers of this my first Round Robin Swap.

Victoria of GiddyStuff

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Victoria drew inspiration for her piece's start from the sea, she blogs about it here and shares further about this RR journey she has embarked on here and here.

This is her starter piece, don't you just love her wired fish focal.

Upon see her starter I immediately thought of a teal blue cotton ribbon I could use which I doubled and attached to some links I made with wire and clear seed beads which will tie n with the larger clear beads Victoria used. I also doubled the ribbon over a blue glass bead and contrasting pinkish coloured craft wire was used to keep it all in place.

Trying to keep to Victoria's sea theme I placed at the bottom of the ribbon an iridescent shell fragment which I have had in my stash now for 16+ years, it felt good to finally put it to use.

I desperately wanted to add another fish element but I had no fishy charms and nor did my local craft store. I had already given up the search for this element but then I came across a practice piece of friendly plastic which made me think of waves and while I was trying to figure out how I might use it in the piece, when the patterns suddenly spoke to me and I saw fish scales. A little while later after a visit to the scissors I had my fish which I added a tiny faux pearl seed bead link too.

I though I was all finished but when I woke Saturday something felt like it was missing and my mind kept going back to the pearls in Victoria's inspirational collage images above, so I created and attached a string of faux pearl seed beads to the piece creating another strand element to the item.

Here is Victoria's piece with all the elements I added, she didn't specify a length so I have tried to keep it somewhere in the middle range, I do hope she likes it.

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Jane of Hooked Yarn

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Look at this pendant Jane put together.

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Jane's only specifications was for a long necklace and that her tastes lent to a more vintage vibe and though she liked colour she didn't want anything too colourful.

Immediately upon seeing Jane's pendant both myself and my eldest thought of Japan but as I had nothing in my stash that lent to that style it was onto plan no:2. the colours in the pendant made me think of some more fibre elements in my collection, this time it was some roughly woven mixed fibre cord I purchased a month ago at a craft fair I visited.

I used some upcyled brass elements from a charity store purchase at either end of the mixed fibre cording and some brass wire was used to wrap and attach some beads and charm elements to the cording.

Lastly I added a length of brass linked chain (another charity shop upcycled item) to create a double strand element to the piece, which besides tieing the piece together it helps the middle link at the top of the pendant to stand up.

And this is Jane's piece with my added elements, although the cording has many colours I think they blend well and do not stand out harshly but complements the pendant, well at least I hope it is perceived this way. Jane I hope you like yours too.

So you are probably wondering where is my starter...

Well here it is, I used scrap copper wire from my hubby's work and hammered some strips flat (I hammered them on concrete which gave them a distressed look) and wrapped them in some roughly homespun wool I got from a freecycle member in my area. I then wrapped on with a finer gauge wire some faux turquoise beads. I got inspiration for this idea from a most talented jewellery designer Mariedodd.

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With the finer gauge wire I also created some jump ring links for the pendant which I attached a scrap of material I cut in to a ribbon and dyed with food colouring (after rinsing out the strip of material I allowed it to dry all balled up to help give it an aged look).

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On the other end of the doubled up fabric strip I attached a larger link made with the thicker gauge wire and using one of the smaller jump ring links I hung a small ceramic bead.

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It was hard to not complete this piece and I was most tempted to do so and start something else but I forgo temptation and I look forward to seeing what Victoria and Jane adds to it.

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Another thing I noticed while I was working on the pieces was that some how I seem to have developed a theme of using fabric/ fibre and it has unconsciously featured itself in all three pieces. This was not my intention and I had no preconcieved ideas on how to embellish the pieces that were going to be sent to me but I simply acted on my first thoughts when I saw the two pieces sent to me. Ah well I must be going through a fibre moment, who am I to argue with my current muse, I quite like the outcomes.

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All the packages are all safely packed up in this magazine page decorated padded envelope and will be posted off tomorrow.

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Watch the video below to find out who its going to next...

Blogshop: http://kellascreativewishes.blogspot.com/
Website: http://www.storenvy.com/CreativeWishes
Twitter: http://twitter.com/CreativeWishes
My Gardening Exploits: http://kellasvegeplotandothermusings.blogspot.com/

A Little Bit of This A Little Bit of That...

OK where to start….
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Ah yes I’ll start with info about a new group I have started on the ning site UK handmade forum. It’s a Round Robin group, which aims to create a space for other artisans to work on collaborated projects together.

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It has attracted quite a few members already and has two RR swaps in progress at the moment, one started by me which is jewellery based (I’ll go into more detail in another post when I reveal the pieces I am working on with two others designers). The other RR is based on the fabric creations of stuffed creatures, I look forward to seeing these. The group has a flickr group, where you can view the collaborated works of the group's members.
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I got the idea from reading a fellow jewellery designer’s blog, her name is Lorelei and she is super talented, so check her out. I approached her about basing my groups rules and guidelines on the ones she set out when she hosted a similar RR and she graciously gave me the go ahead to do so, thanks again Lorelei.
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And just for a little more info I have created a static page (see above) which will tell you about any groups I belong too in more detail, so feel free to have a read.
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I have also played a little with one of my recent purchase ’Friendly Plastic’ (blogged about here). I think I kinda got the hang of it but was not completely happy with the shape of the earring I made. My mum liked it though so she has them now.
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Lets see, the other crafting news I have would be the receiving of some commissioned felted beads from a UK based felt designer Vivienne Riddoch. I fell in love with her pebble like felted beads and asked her to create some for me.
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I look forward to using them in my jewellery creations in the near future, which you should see soon when I update my Blogshop later this coming week.
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My eldest is still off from school and the spring weather is favourable, so outdoor activities are a must. I took the girls to visit a local farm. We haven’t been there for at least two years but this is the perfect time for visit as there are lots of baby animals to see and to pet.
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Feeding the lambs


Feeding the calf (notice the big grin on my daughter's face, that was because the calf had just licked her up the arm, blech! my eldest refused to feed the calf after seeing that) :)

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The establishment has been busy over the last couple years and have added lots of play areas as well for the kiddies to run off pent up energies.

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Making Sweet Music

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Thrill Seeking

What a great day we had, they still didn't go to bed early though.

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I have also updated my gardening blog and you are more than welcome to come on by for a visit.

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Blogshop: http://kellascreativewishes.blogspot.com/
Website: http://www.storenvy.com/CreativeWishes
Twitter: http://twitter.com/CreativeWishes
My Gardening Exploits: http://kellasvegeplotandothermusings.blogspot.com/

Women Can Be...

I grew up watching videos like these and believed I could be anything I wanted to be. I don't see this so represented now with my girls, so I search out the vintage stuff and show them myself.

This one though was found by my sis, so thanks for passing it on sis.

Blogshop: http://kellascreativewishes.blogspot.com/
Website: http://www.storenvy.com/CreativeWishes
Twitter: http://twitter.com/CreativeWishes
My Gardening Exploits: http://kellasvegeplotandothermusings.blogspot.com/

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!!

Happy Easter

Everyone.

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Wishing you and yours lots of blessings.

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As you can see from the rain droplets on this primrose,

it is a wet day.

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Wet day or not the Easter bunny duties are still to be done.

(Please ignore the state of my garden, like I said in some of my comments left on the gardening blogs I follow my garden of late has been terribly neglected, which I hope to rectify this coming week).
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The girls donned their warm outer clothing over their pajamas and proceeded to find their treasures hidden for them by the industrious Easter Bunny and this year he had a friend called Lamb-bee to help. He normally leaves them a map but this year his helper left tufts of wool to mark where the treats were hidden.
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Back inside the warm house, with their treats (Grandmummy is relaxing on the sofa).
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I normally read the bible story but this year my eldest read the story of Jesus death and how he rose from the dead.

Most of this goes over the little one's head but my eldest is finally understanding what it all means.
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Time to enjoy the hot cross buns Grandmummy made for the Easter weekend (I would like to interject here that I have no recollection of having home baked cross buns at Easter when I was small, hmph!!).

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Listening to the hymns and sermons on the telly during their breakfast followed by the chocfest rounded out the morning for my girls.

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Hope you are having a splendid Easter in your home too.

Blogshop: http://kellascreativewishes.blogspot.com/
Website: http://www.storenvy.com/CreativeWishes
Twitter: http://twitter.com/CreativeWishes
My Gardening Exploits: http://kellasvegeplotandothermusings.blogspot.com/