Beltane Beads - Wheel of the Year

Above are pictured all eight seasonal beads I made, one for each turn of the Wheel of the Year. Here in the southern hemisphere we are now entering Beltane, the gateway to summer and summers here where I live tend to get very hot. Pictured below are the beads I made for Beltane,you can read more about this HERE.

The traditional colours for Beltane are rainbow colours with an emphasis on purples, yellows, reds, green and whites. In making these Beltane beads I decided to limit the colours I used to white pearl beads, with pinks and blues along with pink spacer beads. If you notice, these Beltane beads are very similar to my Ostara beads but with darker pink and blue beads. This is partly due to my limited supply of beads, but I am happy with the result. In total I used 46 beads, not including the pink rhodonite stone spacer beads to create this.

Sailboat with bonus Sea Star #4

It has been a while since I have made one of these sailboats, in the past I have made a few of these sailboats, along with their accompanying sea stars, and this is yet another of those decorative art pieces. My previous sailboats in blue, green and orange can be seen here, here and here. This red/maroon coloured sailboat and sea star, or starfish, was yet another sailboat and sea star set I made as a gift.

I used the same pattern for this sailboat and sea star as I did for the previous three sailboats and stars I made. I also used all the same materials here as I did for the previous three sailboats and sea stars, with the exception of using a maroon colour material to highlight this set. I also used wooden skewers for the mast and boom, as I did with the previous sailboats I made. If you're interest about how this was put together you can read my previous sailboat posts for more information.

The full standing size of this sailboat is somewhere around 12 inches. It makes a cute and unique display piece, along with its matching sea star, and a lovely little gift set for someone who has an affinity for boat, sailing or just the ocean in general. And although made as a display piece, I happen to know these sailboats have experienced some playtime by little hands and have still held up, without getting too worn, which is good to know.

Ostara Beads - Wheel of the Year

These are the eight seasonal beads I made, one for each turn of the Wheel of the Year. Here in the southern hemisphere where I live we are experiencing Spring, although with the cold wet weather we had today it didn't much feel like it. Below are the beads for the Spring Equinox, you can read more about this HERE.

I made these Ostara seasonal beads using some pastel colours that represent this season, here I used pink, blue and pearl beads along with pink spacer beads. I used a total of 46 beads, not including the pink rhodonite stone spacer beads I used to create this.

Embroidered Star Sign Constellations - Gemini

This embroidered star sign constellation for Gemini was made as a gift. I purchased a packet to these mini framed cards that I thought perfect for this purpose. The actual framed card size is about 9.5cm by 9cm, and the inside window which has the silken navy blue material that I embroidered on with white is about 6cm by 4.5cm. I finished by stamping the word Gemini across the top of the card in blue ink using my alphabet stamps.

Ravenclaw Diadem #3 +pattern

I have actually made two previous versions of this Ravenclaw Diadem, one a simplified version in two colours similar to this one, and another that uses four colours to create a version with shadows and highlights. This Ravenclaw Diadem is very similar to the first simplified version I made, only it features a lacy design, keeping it simple while adding a little bit of charm. I also remade a matching pair of earrings to go with this new design.

The pattern for this Ravenclaw Diadem, including the earring, is below. Although I actually made the earrings and the diadem's gems on a round peg board, I have included it with the pattern below. This pattern is also a wallpaper, and I also have a simplified wallpaper below. To better view these just click on a picture to enlarge it. To download as a wallpaper, click on the picture you want and "Save Image As" to save to your computer or alternatively you can select "Set As Desktop Background"

My Beanie Koala

A new little creature for my ever growing collection is this cute adorable koala beanie. This native animal is so unique and special, I just had to make one, and he fits in right at home with my ringtail possum beanie I made a while back. I actually have a small collection of beanie animals that I plan to expand in the future.

To create this koala beanie I used My Beanie pattern that I have used for all my beanie animals, for the body and feet at least. As with all my beanie animals I then had to alter the ears, and create a nose that was koala like. Creating the ears did give me some trouble, there were a few different attempts at this to try to get it right, or at least close.

For the koala's body I chose a dark blue denim, partly because I only use recycled materials for all my makes and this was what I had, but I also liked the colour as I thought it was close to some of the grey/blue coloured koala's that you see. I then used the same white material for the belly as I have with my other beanie animals.

As with my other beanies, this koala has black safety eyes and is filled with plastic pellets making him fun and toss-able. And at such a small size being only about 11cm long, he is a comfortable size to hold in one hand or to have keeping you company as a unique little paperweight. 

Imbolc Beads - Wheel of the Year

Above you can see all eight seasonal beads I made, one for each turn of the Wheel of the Year. Right now in the southern hemisphere where I live the weather is getting warmer. Today was a lovely warm day to bring in Imbolc, and below are the beads I made for this season. Read more about this HERE.

To make these Imbolc seasonal beads I used the colours of the season, which are white and pastels. Using beads from my supply, I chose white, pink and pearl beads and separated these with green spacer beads. In total I used 45 beads not including the green amazonite stone spacer beads to create this.