Monday 31 January 2011

And the winner is...

Whoa, hold on a minute! Let's have a recap of the mosaic and all the beautiful entries first ;) A the beginning of the year we challenged you to make something using this gorgeous purple and gold colour scheme and you didn't disappoint!



Take a look at the wonderful creations you all came up with...





















Catherine (Mangetout)













What fantastic eye candy! Well I won't keep you in suspense any longer...the winner is...



Congratulations Elisabeth! I'll be in touch with you shortly :)

Thanks to everyone who joined in with us, I hope you've all enjoyed our first month-long moodboard. Tomorrow there'll be a brand new challenge for February so don't forget to drop by!

Saturday 29 January 2011

Another entry for the January Moodboard

One more entry for our moodboard challenge to show you today. These gorgeous earrings were made by Samantha in Australia using artisan lampwork beads and citrine and amethyst semi-precious gemstones. Thank you so much for joining in with us Samantha!

Wednesday 26 January 2011

More entries for the January Moodboard

We have some more gorgeous entries for the January moodboard to share with you today. The first is from Nicola (aka Quartz/Smitten Kitten) who has created this beautiful necklace using crystals, glass pearls and seed beads...


And we also have two wonderful pieces from Lesley (aka Tinchick), a wirework heart and a leather cuff.




Thank you so much for joining in with us Nicola and Lesley! There still time to join in with this month's Moodboard, click here for details : )

Tuesday 25 January 2011

January Moodboard Entry No.3

Another gorgeous entry to share with you today. This beautiful spiral rope bracelet with a handmade toggle clasp was made by Elisabeth (aka Autumn Weaves) using seed beads and drops. Thanks for joining in with us Elisabeth!


Don't forget, this challenge ends on Monday 31st of January so you have until then to send in your photos. You can either email them to me at liz@thecrimsonmoon.co.uk or add them to our Flickr group pool.

Wednesday 19 January 2011

My piece for the January Moodboard

As soon as I saw the photograph of the Venetian carnival costume I knew I had to include it in the mosaic! While there was lots of inspiration in this month's moodboard, for some reason I kept going back to this image. I originally wanted to make a full size eye mask but I soon talked myself out of that and went for something a little less ambitious, a bead embroidered mask pendant on a spiral rope necklace. I hope you like it.





If you would like to join in with us this month, there's still plenty of time. Just click here for more information and to see our inspirational moodboard for January.

Tuesday 11 January 2011

January Moodboard Entry No.1

Here is the very first entry for our fabulous January Moodboard challenge. Carol (aka Bead Queen) has made this beautiful flower using cylinder beads and crystals. Thanks for joining in with us this month Carol, it's beautiful!



I thought I would add a little bit more about the challenge, just to answer any questions you may have...

We've decided that anyone is eligible to enter, including team members if they would like to, it's only Sarah and myself that will be excluded from the prize draw at the end of the month.

You can create any item using any beading technique from jewellery to household items and beyond, providing you've made it with beads and followed the purple and gold colour scheme. If you only have time to make a simple pair of earrings then that's great, we would love to see them!

I'll be adding your photographs throughout the month and also posting a round-up of all the entries on the evening of January 31st when I will announce the winner of the draw (who will be picked at random from a bag by my lovely Mum to make it completely fair). The prize this month will be a mystery beading pack which I'm putting together. If you have any more questions please feel free to email me. Now go create!

Monday 3 January 2011

January Moodboard

Welcome to the first Moodboard of 2011! First of all, I'd like to announce a new and exciting change. We've decided to extend the moodboards so each one now lasts a whole month, giving everyone plenty of time to join in. In addition to that, we're also giving away a small prize which will be awarded randomly to one of our lucky entrants!

So here we go with a brand new moodboard for January and to start us off I've chosen the rich colours of purple and gold. I hope you'll find lots of inspiration from the images, shapes and textures.


Clockwise from top-left: Rooms from the runway plum and gold, stained glass flower, Woman in purple and gold, Purple Mitosis.


As always, you can email your photographs to me at liz@thecrimsonmoon.co.uk or alternatively you can add them to our Flickr group pool. The deadline for entries is January 31st 2011. We're looking forward to seeing all your wonderful creations!

Sunday 2 January 2011

Monday Moodboard Update - Green, Brown and Cream

Here's a beautiful piece made by our team member and OTTBS founder Sarah for our last Monday Moodboard of 2010. She created this wonderful Crysanthemum bracelet using size 11 seed beads and a faux pearl for the centre of the flower. Sarah, this is absolutely gorgeous!