Last day cleaning?

This morning I received 2 unexpected mails while cooking for tonight.
One was from Preciosa Ornela...amazing neon seed beads!

The other one was, well, one thing I didn't thought I would receive.
Remember my necklace beeh chosen by Nina Design as one of the Bead Soup winners?
Seems like after so many months my little price arrived...

So much generosity from our amazing hostess Lori Anderson, who provided basically everything except the silver Nina Design pendant. Thank you!
The post label says it was sent on april 1st...seriously! Do post office make last day of the year cleaning???! If so, I would love to have my necklace back!

In the meanwhile, here are some better shots of the necklace been published on Jewelry Affaire.
I am so proud!

First shot of the article!

The before shots

I guess we can close this year properly now.
I wish a sparkling new year to everybody!

New tutorial for Twin Beads earrings

Yesterday I received a request for a tutorial to make this can tab earrings, which features Preciosa Ornela Twin beads.

I love these earrings. They have a different shape and make me think I should experiment more with these amazing beads.
The tutorial is ready and you can find it here. Hope to receive good feedback!

Never ending drilling

No, I am not talking about drilling beads or pebbles. Nothing jewelry related.
It's just wherever I go, the sound of drills follows me - looks like buildings renovations are all over Italy.
And always next to where I live.

The weather is still not too hot, thanks to the strong wind blowing all over, but that means it is almost impossible to stay on a beach.
So I got back beading and making experiments.
By now all I can show is this

a mixture of colors and stones I really love. I'll have some new pieces really soon...in the meanwhile I am knitting hard to finish this shawl and I'm almost there.

Summer makes you thirsty

Even though this summer is really windy and cool, it's always nice to drink some fresh soda and so I always have a nice amount of can tabs to play with.
I am so behind with my beading schedule, I still have used only a small part of all the neon beads I had ordered and feel so guilty about it, so here are some good old can tab earrings with my new UV active seed beads and farfalle beads from Preciosa Ornela

The nice shape of farfalle beads is perfect for these earrings!

Also, I can't help but loving the beautiful confetti finish on the tabs.

I am working on a grellow pair and also on a grellow bracelet - I bought some pretty things on the local market this morning. Here you can see just the beginning of it from the balcony of my room

Brindisi, Puglia: thursday local market

It's huge! It has the shape of a Pi (more or less) and you can find everything there. And it's quite cheap.
So many projects on my mind, so little time!

More neon

A new bangle I just made mixing tubular peyote technique and simple stringing

I used both seed beads and big farfalle beads from the new Preciosa Ornela neon collection.
Don't you just love the decreasing effect from the thicker beaded rope to rhe size 11/0 beads?! I do.

I also had the smaller size of the farfalle beads, which I used to make these

They are thicker than usual and I love how the farfalle beads stick out from both sides.
Will make more experiments!

Farfalle bangles

Yesterday morning I was waiting for a small pack of beads to arrive from the Czech Republic (which arrived THIS morning) and instead I found an amazing surprise from Preciosa Ornela: 2 packs of Farfalle beads in neon color!
It took me 2 minutes to know what I wanted to make with them and to actually make it:

All you need is some memory wire and silver charms. Some of them come from different countries (like the hidden cow-bell from Austria and a silver camel from Tunisia) or just remind me of them.
The picture doesn't do justice to these amazing colors and the texture of these gorgeous beads!

Meanwhile other purchased goodies arrived

and I am too anxious for the run to play with them now!
Seed beads are from Preciosa Ornela and it's the first time I use them, I already love the finish they have - so silky. Maybe tomorrow I'll have some rest for my legs and bead a little.