Cilla of TellYourGirlfriends fame sent me:

I see at least two necklaces with that. One with most of the lampwork and turquoise and another with a ceramic focal, the pretty copper beads and clasp and a couple clay beads i have that would work, I think. The face bead is definitely getting flowers with it. I do faces in flowers.

This is what I sent to Cilla:

Not sure what she’ll dream up from that but there’s plenty to mix around!

It gave me the chance to use one of the cute little bird beads I’d bought sometime ago as well as some of my collection of pretty stone beads.

I would say that life, last week at least, was CHILLY. There was a biggish milestone in it:

I guess that means there’s now a teenager in the house. So far teenage kiddo seems much the same as twelve year old kiddo!

I was happy to see she has a little of the same jewellerymaking vibe as me. Makes it easier to pick out treats then even if I know we’re supposed to be sending challenging bits and pieces to our partners.

Cilla has her own site at Tell Your Girlfriends and sells her work on Etsy in her shop of the same name.

For Cilla, here’s a teaser of what I popped in the mailbox for you:

One of those few times I get to use the silly filters in Photoshop! Yay!

This bracelet was fun – using a tab bead in a way I hadn’t really thought of until I saw others doing it on the ‘net.

This is another necklace – I need to take these while they`re hanging, I know – with a pendant in an oval shape with little (downright tiny) blue flowers. There are a few coordinating blue, green and brass beads on this piece.

And these are the dainty little coordinating earrings for the above pendant.

Want to share what`s on YOUR bead table? Show us at: Bead Table Wednesday on Flickr

Some of the latest in my Etsy shops – the pic is linked to my Tooaquarius shop but the canes can be found in my Claychicks shop. There’s a few of my new textured and distressed pendants, my Valentine’s Day offerings, a pile of new cane sets and… geraniums. Yeah, I know that’s out there.

There’s a similarly sized stack already done but I’ve learned to space out drilling tasks so the rest will be done today and the next few days. My hands thank me.

Below the cut I’ve included the simple steps for this little pair of earrings. Some version of this would be sweet with the crocus beads I make as well. And I probably WILL go do a little fancier version with bead caps and crystals, too.

This assumes you have the standard jewellery making tools like pliers and a basic knowledge of how to make loops or wrapped loops. These guys include 6mm rose quartz rounds (the pink glass in the picture was too large), two headpins, a pair of earring hooks, a tiny amount of seed beads and, of course, tulip beads!

Since I want to have upright tulips, I thread the green beads on the headpins first.

Next up is my tulip beads.

After, I tuck the little pink beads into the cup of the tulip to make the tulips “centre”.

Make wrapped (or simple) loops at the top of the works, snug against the pink bead. Hang your dangles on your earring findings.

So there’s my perfect-for-spring earrings. You could do a whole bouquet and wire them into a necklace or brooch, as well!

Here’s a few that haven’t gotten used yet. I have plans though!

This little pendant and nugget bead set got turned into a necklace and earrings. I added lampwork by Cheryl Harris, some tiny amethyst, a few pearls and lots of antiqued metal bits and chain.

• Pick up the pace on my blogging here and on CraftGossip both in volume and content
• Get into the tutorial-for-sale market. I have a few ready to go. Just a matter of putting them out there
• Work on surface, texture and sculpting related techniques
• Improve my jewellery finish work
• Learn how to make molds, stamps, screens, texture sheets, cutters and stencils. Some to use for clay, some to learn how it’s all done
• Improve my bookkeeping and organizational skills. Wish me luck, this is my biggest challenge
• Use all of the above to improve my business and income