Somehow I got carried away with the Beading Daily and Beadwork magazine Beaded Bead competition, and managed to finish ten beads - two of each style from the last five issues of Beadwork. Then the beads wanted to be strung and so became a necklace called "Purple Hues". Each bead is totally different from the others. They have been worked in different colours, using different sizes, but keeping the same tones. I am quite please with the way it turned out.

Voting is taking place over the next few days at the Beaded Bead Contest page but you need to belong to the Beading Daily community in order to vote. Interesting to see that there are at least two other Australian entries out of the 40 in total. Good luck everyone!

Retro Daisies by Janice Chatham

Today is the big reveal for Project 6 at Beading Babes, Bringing Beaders Together. There were three other projects, but I have only completed the Retro Daisies.

Started the Josephine's Collar, but got very bogged down and it is now in my UFOs tray for the time being. You can find photos of all of the Beading Babes gorgeous projects at Beading Babes Project 6 album.

What a week for etsy sales! I think it must be the best week yet, with five sales since last Wednesday. Not sure just what has caused the interest, but it is very pleasing, with some of my favourite designs heading off to the USA. Just when I think I need to redo the whole shop, this happens and I get a fresh burst of enthusiasm. Snake is off to New York, whilst Froggy has his sights set on Oregon.

It was greatly needed as a mystery bout of what I think was migraine but without the thudding head, reduced my beading capabilities severely over the weekend. With nausea and increased sensitivity to light I couldn't read, compute or bead and spent the whole day snoozing - something unheard of usually. Today I tried to make the Gwen Fisher Cluster Beaded bead from BeadWork magazine in different colours - I had made it once already. The brain freeze was still in operation though and whilst I could understand the basic shape, the lacy overlay just wasn't working out. After a quick nanna nap, I returned to the bead mat to a light bulb moment when I realised what I had done wrong. Out with the scissors and lets start again! This time I hope for a better result.

Gorgeous Rondelles

I found some more gorgeous coloured rondelles at Kays Artycles recently. They are just perfect for the Byzantine Bracelet project which I will be teaching at the Melbourne Bead Expo in November.

There are so many different options for this bracelet. I blogged about some of them earlier, but here is another one using a different type of bead:

This is the original bracelet inspired by the colours of the rondelles purchased from Beadglass at the Melbourne Bead Expo a couple of years ago. The subtle colours are just fantastic.

Byzantine Bauble Bracelet

Back when I was making Cynthia Rutledge's Honeycomb bracelet (Bead & Button magazine, April 2011)I fell in love with a whole swag of different coloured rondelles and managed to purchase quite a few strands of them. Well, one can only wear just so many Honeycomb bracelets, so there came a day when I had to think of another use for the rondelles. The Byzantine Bauble Bracelet was the result of playing around with a couple of strands of beautiful beads purchased from Beadglass (Sydney) at the Melbourne Bead Expo a few years ago. After receiving quite a few compliments on the bracelet, I submitted it to the Bead Society of Victoria Workshop Committee for consideration as a workshop for the Melbourne Bead Expo 2012 and am pleased to say it was accepted. The workshop is scheduled for the afternoon class on Sunday 11th November 2012 (1.30 to 4.30 p.m.) You can see all the classes being held on the Bead Expo weeekend by following the link. If you have a large stash of rondelles, this may be just the class you need to give you some different perspective on the rondelle shape.

Bobbly earrings.

This week's effort - earrings which will soon be on their way to my friends' shop, Opendrawer. Prue and Robyn have a beautiful gallery and shop containing many surprising and elegant gift ideas all hand made in Australia. If you are close by, drop in and say hello and tell them Chrisbeads sent you!