Finally!

The broadband "improvements" in the area have finally finished, so I finally have my internet connection back! So, this is going to be the first of quite a few posts catching up on everything I've got to show you!

This was the inspiration for the Art Bead Scene challenge this month. I have to say that I thought I'd be sitting it out again as the pinky brown colours in the painting aren't usually ones that I use on their own, but then a beautiful lampwork bead by Isabelle Anderson caught my eye - the advantage of keeping a dish of beads on my desk! The ivory stringer and fine silver encased in the bead reminded me of the hedgehog, and as I'd just made some more oak leaf toggle clasps one of those got added to the mix too together with a length of brown silk ribbon and my favourite stone, smoky quartz. I did try to keep to just the colour palette, but it just didn't work. In the end I decided that the important thing was to use the picture for a starting point and see where it led me - and so aquamarine and amazonite joined the mix! So, this is what I ended up with!

I started cutting out some copper oak leaves this afternoon with a new clasp design and a giveaway in mind. I'll let you know more soon!