This week I caught up with Chloe Menage from Bead Magazine to find out more about the British Bead Awards:

Give it a go…

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Beads Direct are lucky to have the chance to be listed as an award winning company on their website, but we can’t do it without your help. Read More

So Wimbledon is over, and Novak Djokovic won his first ever Wimbledon title, beating Rafael Nadal. But for some of us it wasn’t the Wimbledon tennis that really mattered. At the same time, the all important Beads Direct Wimbledon was running! Our facebook wall was flooded with some fab designs using the Wimbledon purple and green shades, or playing on other Wimbledon tennis themes – including the ever-present rain! But there could only be one winner….ok, except in the case of a tie! Read More

We finished making the collar necklace but the day was far from over. We went our into the sunshine to go for a visit to ‘Swarovski Kristallwelten’ otherwise known as ‘Crystal Worlds’.

Pam and I by the giant Our first sight of Crystal Worlds was the giant who protects it - a huge and impressive fountain. Pam and I took some photos standing next to him and I really looked like a midget! Inside we saw the crystal wall, Jim Whiting's mechanical theatre, the crystal dome, Crystal Theatre, The Giant's Belongings and many more interesting sights. The idea behind 'Crystal Worlds' sees crystal merging with art to unleash powerful creativity. Certainly an interesting experience! My camera filled up mid-way but here's a few snaps:Inside the Crystal DomeA real crystal palace!

A crystal jellyfish

After our visit we quickly nipped back to the hotel to change before Swarovski took us out for a lovely dinner and we got to eat, drink and chat. Went to sleep well fed, happy and sparkly!

Day 3

We went back to Swarovski for a morning trend presentation where we saw their latest innovations including the stages of love heart pendants which we loved so much. We’ve got the Miss U and Crazy 4U hearts in stock now!

Next we did lots of making! We loved this Poseidon Reef Bracelet as we got to use stones with settings and we thought the finish was really professional. If you want to make it too, we can help! We’ve been busy making a YouTube video, Gallery entry where you can see exactly what you need and downloadable Project sheet. If you stop by to watch the YouTube vid, make sure you subscribe to BeadsDirectTV as there are more Swarovski Elements videos coming soon!

Making the Poseidon Reef Bracelet

We also made these lovely minnow motion earrings which we’ll be showing you how to make next week.

Minnow Motion Earrings

What a lovely trip, hope we get to go back some day

Claire xx