AUGUST CUFF

I was given this little silver hedgehog charm last Christmas - with the challenge to create something with it! I love the delightful 'Nature' piece which Robin made for last year's BJP, and that has been my inspiration. 

The background is a photo of leaves in our garden printed onto cotton fabric. The tiny 'log' is a twig which I split in half and stuck in place. The hedgie is both stuck on and secured with stitches. The beading (hopefully) looks like a bit of woodland floor. A cobweb hung with a few tiny crystals connects the ferns with the mushroom and greenery on the opposite side.

The metal cuff is covered with dark green ultrasuede. I used craft scissors to make a decorated edge. They cut paper and card easily, but are not so successful on fabric. 

The real hedgehog visits our garden most evenings. He spotted a tasty-looking dog biscuit left on the lawn and made short work of it for his supper!

JULY PEACOCK BUTTERFLY CUFF!

July is the month of butterflies - the one on my fingertips is a gorgeous Peacock.  My beaded one doesn't do it justice. I wish now I'd bought more 15s and shaded the colours on the wings properly, but I used what I had in my stash to create the effect. The cuff is covered with black ultrasuede and the butterfly drapes rather nicely over it. I was going to stitch it down all round, but changed my mind as there is some movement of the wings and it looks as if it's just landed on my wrist. The cuff is comfortable to wear, but the painted wire antennae are rather vulnerable!   

The real thing!

PEACOCK CUFF

Got a bit carried away with this one! I was given some peacock feathers and this is the result. The cuff looks quite exotic, but it's virtually impossible to wear without damaging the feather. It's destined to stay an ornament.

MORE INSECT MAGIC!

These gorgeous orange tip butterflies (Anthocharis cardamines) have been over-wintering in safety, protected from the unseasonal snow. It's a lovely sunny day and so far 9 males have emerged and gone back into the garden. A few more to go, then it will be the turn of the females who come out a bit later. 

Butterfly about to emerge

Here I come!

Settling comfortably to dry their wings

Nearly ready

Out in the garden among the primroses

APRIL BJP CUFF

This month I wanted to celebrate the glorious cherry blossom - it's on its way at last!

I bought the little bee in British Columbia over 10 years ago. I've been waiting for the right place to put him.

Been beading like mad. Rita the rhino is 10" x 8" (too big for a cuff unfortunately). She's covered with all kinds of sizes and shapes of beads and some vintage pearl buttons. She's displayed on a box canvas covered with dark blue material.

March BJP




OLLIE THE OWL PUTTING ON HIS BRAKES TO AVOID A CRASH LANDING!

Well .... basically I just fancied having a go at an owl.  My school badge was an owl, the symbol of Athena the Goddess of Wisdom.  March is my birthday month - perhaps I'm supposed to be a wise old owl by now?? I've certainly had a few lucky landings by the skin of my teeth!

The original idea was an owl with its wings closed. Then I saw a great photo of an owl coming into land (yes, I know it might have spotted a mouse, but I'm ignoring that possibility!).

I sketched out the shape and got rather carried away. The piece is bigger than I had intended. If I'm honest, it's a bit on the large side for a cuff and you can't see the wings properly round the sides.

Still, I loved creating it and tried to capture some of the different textures of the feathers with a variety of stitches.

I may well take the owl off the cuff and turn it into a little wall hanging with a twig (something like the last photo). Alternatively, it would make a great feature on my fleece gilet/vest, which is a similar colour to the background. I'd have to make it easily removable as I don't think it would take kindly to going through the wash!

[PS I've been wanting to bead in browns and blues - thanks for the inspiration Susan (S)]

FEBRUARY FROG PRINCE!

Well, it is Valentine's month and you have to kiss a lot of frogs, don't you??

The thought processes behind this cuff are somewhat convoluted. February for me is dominated by visits to the dentist. Before Christmas I crunched on something rather hard in my breakfast cereal and broke a tooth and the filling dropped out - great! Repair involves root canal work and a crown. Bit of lateral thinking - dental crown....frog prince's crown! 

The green material represents a lily pad and I wanted it to show through and look 'organic' and crinkly (but maybe not that crinkly!) I had ideas of doing a separate froggy but then decided to embroider him in, peering over the top of his big crown. He's camouflaged as the main focus of the cuff is intended to be the deep green rivoli representing his pond. The rivoli is bezeled onto the material with peyote stitch and has rings of beads built up round it. The embroidery is wiggly backstitch, stop stitch and a leaf design to give the impression of weeds and greenery. I'm pleased with how the double picot edging to the whole cuff turned out.      

Nearly finished

His posh rivoli pond

Fun to wear and a great talking point