Bead Bonanza

Anyone who uses lots of beads in craft projects will know just how expensive they are too buy. Glass beads can be ridiculously expensive and can really push up the cost of making items. Too keep costs down, I try to utilise second hand beads by breaking up jewellery.

This weekend I managed to accumulate quite a good stock of beads. Yesterday I bought two beaded hair ties and three bead necklaces in a wildlife charity shop. The whole lot cost just £3.50. All the beads are plastic but they are useful colours, shapes and sizes and I quite like the turquoise and white striped beads.

Today, I had another good haul at a car boot sale. I bought four bracelets and two necklaces. The bracelets are all glass beads, so I was really pleased with those. The white bead necklace is crystal, so really sparkly in the light and the black necklace is plastic but has a good tassel which I can see being used on an evening bag perhaps. All of the items were being sold to raise funds for a donkey sanctuary. The sellers only wanted £1.00 but that seemed far too cheap, so I gave them £2.00 instead.

All in all, I am really pleased with the beads and a couple of charities got some money. The jewellery will be broken up shortly and the beads will probably be used to make some new handbag charms.

New Charms in Stock!

Having completely sold out of all of my handbag charms last week, I have had to quickly make up some more for the website.

All of the charms are unique and are made using beads reclaimed from broken up jewellery as well as some new beads and handmade beads. Some of the handmade beads are ceramic and glazed with dry glazes but most are beads I have made from fimo.

Hopefully the new charms will be popular as the previous ones. More will be added to stock shortly - when I have time to make them!

Charmed!

The first I ever heard of bag charms was a few years ago when my sister gave me one as a gift. My favourite handbag at the time was an appliqued fabric bag which worked really well with the charm she gave me.

Bag charms are such a simple idea, it seems surprising that nobody ever thought of making them before. Now bag charms have become really popular. If you have a plain bag, a charm can be a really great way of giving it an individual look. Different coloured charms can be used to tie a handbag into an outfit's colour scheme too, without the need for buying a new bag. Skip that last sentence, buying a new handbag is always a really good idea!

I quite enjoy making bag charms and spend ages deciding which beads to use and where to place them. Charms take me so long to make they certainly aren't cost effective but I don't worry about that. They are quite therapeutic to make and make a change from sewing.

You can use any type of beads, glass, wooden, metal, plastic. I tend to break up pieces of jewellery I no longer wear or buy cheap pieces in charity shops. Earrings can be really useful for making charms. Using unwanted and vintage jewellery can also offer unusual materials which can make charms even more individual.

Some of my handbag charms, past and present are below .....