Take a Make Break – Quick and Easy Jewellery Making Projects

If your busy life is leaving you little time for your creative hobby, we can help! We know that being creative is a way of life, a relaxation, a treat. But we all have so much to manage in our lives: work, family, friends, kids, housework, pets… the list goes on. This often means that we put our hobbies and treats to the bottom of the pile. And we think that’s a crafting tragedy! You might have seen Heston bringing back the tea break. We’ve taken it further: Introducing the “Make Break”!

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I recently stumbled across the Firefrost Designs website. Intrigued by what I saw, I got in touch with Karen to find out more about her jewellery business.

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I noticed Rachel Lucie in a magazine and got in touch to see if she’d like to be challenged to make some handmade jewellery from some of our beads. I also wanted to find out all about her successful jewellery making career, her blog and website.

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Yes, we know it’s raining. But we were thinking about holidays…and we’re always thinking about making jewellery…so why not combine the two? This week I caught up with Julia to find out more about the Mid Cornwall School of Jewellery.

Founded in 2001, the Mid Cornwall School of Jewellery is the longest established independent jewellery school in Europe. With classes for all abilities, the school caters for total beginners as well as more experienced students. The school organises beginner to advanced level technique classes based on demand from working jewellers and the general public. It has become an internationally recognised centre of excellence for jewellery training and students come from all over the world to study there.

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As you know we’re excited to be stocking Shrinkles shrink plastic here at Beads Direct. Shrink plastic is a fantastic craft product, with various uses from cardmaking and papercraft to jewellery making and beyond. You can draw, stamp and colour on to shrink plastic and shrink it in the oven or using a heat tool. This makes it shrink 7 times smaller and thicker, leaving you with a more robust, useable charm, motif or pendant. Shrink plastic is fun to use for kids and adults alike!

We wanted to share a this cute shrink plastic project by Natalia Colman, author of the new book ‘Fantastic Shrink Plastic‘ available exclusively at Beads Direct!

Shrink Plastic Keyrings

Hello Kitty Inspired Charms Made with Shrinkles Shrink Plastic

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The winners of the 2012/13 Craft Business Awards have been announced and Beads Direct are extremely proud to have won the award for ‘Best Retail Website’.

Beads Direct - Best Retail Website

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Basia Rempelt Read More

There are some fabulous designs in Beads & Beyond Magazine’s Jewellery Maker of the Year awards. This year’s standard seems extremely high and we’d like to congratulate all who have reached the shortlist, what an achievement! Read More

Do you want to take your jewellery teaching to the next level? Or maybe you have a whole host of jewellery making skills that you’d love to share with others but need some support to get started? The London Jewellery School’s new programme could be for you. Individual jewellers, business owners or collectives can set up and run their own jewellery making classes using the successful LJS model and with the ongoing support from LJS in setting up, promoting and delivering professional classes.

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Beader wins £1,000 in Our International Prize Draw

Andrea meets Pam and Claire and collects her prize