Showing posts with label Stainless Steel Elements. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stainless Steel Elements. Show all posts

Monday 29 July 2013

Prima Bead product of the month - July!

Hello everyone!

Do you remember me telling you about the new Prima Bead Blog Team and how our first products to review were items from the new Stainless Steel Elegance range? Well with just two days to spare I have completed my first task using 7 of the 8 stainless steel products that were sent to me.  If you follow my blog you will know that my real passion involves weaving hundreds of teeny tiny seed beads into various weird and wonderful shapes, but as there wasn't a single solitary seed bead in the welcome pack I received from Prima Bead I had to change tack and blow the dust off my pliers. First of all I made a fun pair of earrings which I have called 'Inspirational Dangles'.


The ingredients for these joyful little earrings that swing and dance as you walk are:


As I still had quite a lot of the circle link chain left, I decided to make another pair of swinging earrings but this time I snuck in a little bit of beadweaving too, using my free Gumdrops In My Garden pattern from Bead & Button magazine.


The ingredients for these cute summery earrings are:


And finally I used up the last of the chain, the third style of earring findings, the stainless steel round beads and a couple of lovely metal accent beads from the welcome pack to create a pin, ring and earring set which I've called City Nights.




The ingredients for this stylish urban set are:


So the only thing I didn't manage to use this time around were the spring ring clasps but let's wait and see what the August product of the month is - maybe I will manage to incorporate them into something next month.

I had a lot of fun working out what to make with these beautiful Stainless Steel Elegance items and I hope that my little makes will inspire you to experiment too. The high quality findings were all a pleasure to work with and although sterling silver would normally have been my metal of choice, I would definitely work with stainless steel again as despite taking more effort to manipulate than silver, it has a lovely look and feel to it and I like the slightly edgy look it lends to designs. Of course being non-tarnish and hypoallergenic is a plus point too.

If you would like to keep up with my beady news, be sure to complete the 'Follow by Email' box at the top of my blog.

See you next time!

Kerrie

Tuesday 16 July 2013

Prima Bead Blog Team!

Hello everyone!

Despite being a frantically busy beader, I have accepted yet another challenge that I found just too good to resist and I am happy to announce that I'm now a Prima Bead Blog Team member! So what does this mean and how does it work?


Well, firstly Prima Bead is a division of the large US based Cousin Corporation which specialises in jewellery making supplies and they have created this brand new team to tell the world about their products. There are 10 team members - 8 are based in the US, 1 member lives in Canada and then there's me in the UK.  Each member is an experienced blogger and has a passion for craft and design and although we all have very different styles we will all be sent the same product each month to review. See the Prima Bead Blogger Team links on my sidebar to learn about the other members and to visit their beautiful blogs - be sure to visit them all regularly to keep up with the news and to see what we all make from the same set of items.  The first products we have been asked to review are items from their non-tarnish hypoallergenic Stainless Steel Elements range.


Yesterday I received my 'Welcome Pack' from Prima and as you can see they have certainly made us all feel very welcome! But let's be honest here ... although I am thrilled to be part of the team and I love receiving beady bounty ... there is not one single seed bead in that box! If you follow my blog you will know that seed beads are my thing and so you might be wondering what I have got myself into, but you will also know that there is nothing I like better than a challenge. Remember the time Beads Direct challenged me to make something with a mystery pack or when they asked me to review their Art Clay Silver Masterclass? Or what about when E-Beads (now I-Beads) challenged me to make their logo in beads? That was a tough one! And then of course there was the time The Beadsmith invited me to use some of their clasps in my work and more recently I have been thinking up ideas to showcase Preciosa's range of beads.  So although I will admit to being nervous about this new venture, I am no stranger to this type of work and so I am very excited and I can hardly wait to dive into that wonderful 'Welcome Pack' and get the cogs of my beady brain turning.


See you soon with more beading news!
Kerrie