The first thing I made...

I first got hooked on jewellery making when I visited my friend Mel in the states this summer. She took me to a beading shop for the afternoon and I was instantly fascinated. I've always loved tiny fiddly sparkly things and have a real thing for collecting bits of pretty stuff and hoarding them in baskets and trinket boxes (it drove my mum mad for years!) so when I walked in this shop and saw row upon row of glittering beads, crystals and charms I was completely mesmerised. I took ages choosing what I wanted and just rifling through all the baskets and boxes and then we just spent a great couple of hours chatting and beading and playing around with stuff. It's such a great thing to be able to do, to spend time with a really good friend doing something fun and creative! The girls in the shop helped me to add the clasps and the earring hooks and finish everything off. I was SO pleased with the end result and the fact I MADE IT MYSELF that I couldn't stop looking at it. When I got back to England I was so pleased to find a shop near me that sold all the stuff to get me started creating my own pieces but it struck me that nowhere seemed to offer the same chilled out and relaxed atmosphere of the shop in the states where a steady stream of women just seemed to pop in with their friends and sit down to make something together. I would love to start something like that over here, a little crafty space where you can spend some time away from the hurly burly of life and just spend some time using your hands to create something beautiful!
Anyway, here are the two things that got me started, I still think they are great (even if the earrings do look a little bit like tiny UFO's)