Working with Gemstones

Wow, I am terrible at keeping this blog up to date.  Hopefully I will get better at it with time.  Anyway Christmas is fast approaching and although I made a few sales during craftfest things have been quiet since.  Yet, despite this I can't help buying new supplies, mostly genuine gemstones. 

For the last year and a bit all my jewellery has been made from glass or plastic beads which creates beautiful yet low cost jewellery but I've been looking at a way to up my game lately.  After watching Jewellery Maker (and enjoying a couple of glasses of wine) I found myself making 2 purchases and now I have some beautiful agate, haematite and shell beads to work with.  I also searched through my stash and discovered the genuine turquoise gemstone beads I had purchased months ago.  At the moment I am still experimenting with the beads I purchased from Jewellery Maker, but I have made some beautiful necklaces using the turquoise beads teams glass pearls.

 Turquoise Flower Necklace

Turquoise Tear Drop Necklace

Both these necklaces are available in my online shop http://folksy.com/shops/CassiaCreations.  Hopefully you'll see some jewellery made with my Jewellery Maker beads on there soon too.



Getting ready for CRAFTfest

Right, so here goes my second ....... entry?.  Is that what these are called?  Or is it my second blog? Well whatever it's called here goes.

As I mentioned in my first blog I am taking part in my first CRAFTfest next week.

For those who don't know, CRAFTfest is a week long online craft fayre and it's also the reason why I started to blog in the first place.  Creative-connections, which is a crafter's network associated with CRAFTfest, recommends getting your business out there and promoting it as much as you can, a blog is just one of the many methods they suggest.  In addition to this, I already have a facebook page, a twitter account and pinterest account (links on the right hand side).

The upcoming CRAFTfest begins on the 24th of Novemeber and runs for one week until the 1st of December.  While the CRAFTfest is on going I will be busy promoting my own business as well as the businesses of other CRAFTfest-ers, but before it begins I am busy designing and creating new pieces.

My most recent creations have been 2 coiled bracelets, a woven beaded bracelet and 2 hair bands.  These are not yet featured in my CRAFTfest stall or in my folksy account because on Saturday the 17th I have my first Christmas craft fayre of the season. I figured if they sell on the weekend (fingers crossed they do) then I won't have to spend ages uploading the pictures and writing decriptions on my stall, but just incase they don't here's a sneak preview of them.  Available in my folksy shop (link to your right) on Sunday if no one snaps them up on Saturday.

Beautiful bright pink coiled wire bracelet.

Sparkley blue beaded wire coiled bracelet.

Baby pink woven beaded bracelet.

Pink and white flower hair band.

Purple butterfly hair band.