Saturday Shopping Day

It's Saturday again and it means that we again go shopping with Sandra from zsazsazsu. ;)

This week I don't have only three new pieces to show you, but each and every of them is very special.

I would like to start with Forgotten World - large bead embroidered pendant with ammonite fossil, crystal, very long and playful fringe and natural leather backing. It' definitely one of my favorite pieces. Every time I get the courage to use one of my ammonites, the jewelry piece turns out to be special. In my opinion, ammonites are very challenging materials to work with and they like to be surrounded only with the best of my supplies.

Next I'd like to show you Majestic Swan earrings. They are very simple, only two colors - white and tarnished silver. Two tiny vintage cabochons, Japanese seed beads and sterling silver findings. They are also my entry for Etsy European Street Team weekly challenge. This time the theme is wedding, you can see other beautiful entries here.

And last, but not the least is this sweet Peach Nectar set of brooch and earrings. It's cute, but practical, work with many different outfits and for variety of occasions. Ocean jasper, freshwater pearls, glass beads, Japanese seed beads and sterling silver findings.

Thank you for shopping with me and Sandra! Enjoy your Saturday! ;) See you next week!

xo,

Giveaway at To Sew With Love

Would you like a free pair of bead embroidered hairpins?

Visit Lelanie at To Sew With Love to enter the giveaway and also read an interview with me. The winner will be picked next Thursday and he/she can pick any pair of bead embroidered hairpins from my Etsy store.

Thank you, Lelanie, for the wonderful post and this great opportunity!

Good luck! ;)

xo,

My Creative Space

Nothing much has been going on lately at my creative space, but I have a new thimble display that I can brag about. :) Check out this cute little box with glass door and tiny latch! Not all of my thimbles could fit in there, but that's why I have an old re-purposed printer drawer for the rest of my collection.

And this is the corner, where my jewelry goes to show out and shine a little, before I pack each piece in the bag and put in the storage drawer.

On the big mannequin you can see a corner of my latest piece - pendant with ammonite and very shiny crystal. It will be available in my store later today. ;)

Hmmm... What else?

Wanna know, what am I going to do in the evening?

This! Sounds yummy, right? And I have all ingredients in my fridge!

Thank you, dear Frances, for this amazing recipe that I'm about to try! ;)

To see other creative spaces and play along, visit Kirsty.

xo,

The soup is here!!!

Today my bead soup party package arrived! Mags, who is an amazing jewelry artist and also warm and sweet person, sent me an envelope full wonderful treasures. Just take a look at these beauties!

I love the bright colors and interesting bead selection! And do you see a tiny silver butterfly in the middle? Mags designed it herself! It's so precious!

Lori's rule for the game is that we have to use focal and clasp and the rest is up to us, but looking at the bead pile in front of me I want to use everything! :) We'll see how it all works out. ;)

Watch this place for the big reveal on February 26th!

If you'd like to see, what treasures other participants have received for the game, check out this flickr group.

Thank you, Mags, for being a great game partner! And thank you, Lori, for hosting the game for us! xoxo

Happy beading! ;)

xo,

Decorating Workroom

I have new decoration in my workroom - paper art frame created by wonderful Tatiana from la boom!

I think Mr. Red looks good on my bright wall, don't you think? ;)

Thank you very much, Tatiana!

Visit Tatiana's store to see more of her original paper art or enter this giveaway for an opportunity to win one of the amazing shadowboxes by la boom! Only two days left! ;)

Happy Tuesday and have fun decorating! ;)

xo,

Flea Market Finds

I went flea market shopping today and brought home some lovely finds - 3 cute glass bottles that I will fill with beads and use for decorating my workroom. One old and very solid date stamp (made in Germany). I just hate those new plastic ones! And one big weird wooden object, which I fell in love with the moment I saw it. Actually, I believe it's intended for storing liquids (maybe wine or something stronger), but I think it will look great on the shelf in our living room. I love the double-sided hand-crafted ornaments and rough leather handle. Made in Bulgaria in 1976.

Hope you had fun and thrifty weekend! ;) To see other interesting flea market finds, visit Sophie, she's also giving away two beautiful brooches that I would love to have in my collection!

xo,

Saturday Shopping Day

This week I have couple of new interesting items in my Etsy store to show you on Saturday Shopping Day with Sandra.

Amber Wasp pendant with brown cat's eye and natural amber beads.

Blue Night Flower brooch with sapphire and freshwater pearls.

Fun and colorful Carousel barrette with pressed turquoise and glass seed beads.

Simple Elegance brooch with mahogany obsidian.

And Coquette jewelry set - pendant, earrings and ring. Sandstone, sterling silver and plenty of freshwater pearls.

I hope you enjoyed shopping with me! ;)

Have a nice rest of the weekend!

xo,

My Creative Space

My creative space has been lately abandoned by me and I feel very guilty. I've been busy with my day job and my table looks so lonely without me...

I have whole box of new glass cabochons waiting for me.

Unfinished pair of earrings...

And even my always happy lucky witchy is looking sad these days.

I promise to be better next week and spend more time creating something nice. ;)

Want to see other Creative Spaces? Visit Kirsty's place!

Happy Thursday!

xo,

Celebrating 100!

I've been in a great mood for over a week now, because my blog and I have the most wonderful 100 followers and friends! Actually, at the moment the number is 105, which is even better!

To celebrate this beautiful number I would like to offer all of you, my dearies, to participate in a giveaway, where you can win this elegant pendant created by me.

The pendant is made with African purple jasper and glass seed beads. It measures 72 x 40 mm (including beaded bail), it's backed with black faux leather and hangs from 48 cm long black twisted silk cord with loop and knot closure.

The giveaway is open to participants from all over the world. One winner will be randomly selected and announced here on my blog on February 8, so you have 3 weeks to enter.

There are several ways to participate. Each of you can have up to 5 entries. Please, leave a separate comment for each entry. If you don't have a blog or Etsy store I could contact you through, please, add your e-mail address to the comment.

And now the ways to enter my giveaway:

1. Visit my Etsy store and come back with the name of your favorite item.
2. Follow this blog. If you already are a follower, leave a comment about that. ;)
3. Follow Helmitarha on facebook.
4. Mention this giveaway on your blog and leave a link to it.
5. Mention this giveaway on your facebook page and leave a link to the post.

Here is a button to grab for your blog.

<a href="http://helmitarha.blogspot.com/2011/01/celebrating-100.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5243/5367596158_301935abaf_m.jpg" border="0" /></a>

Last day to enter is February 7!

Good luck!!!

xo,

Monday Moodboard

Warm and cozy...

Set of 3 Relaxing Candle Holders by ArzuMusa

Hooded Lady Cardigan by SmilingKnitting

Knitted Knotwork Slippers by Morrgan

perfect lamps - TTV Fine Art Photography by Artistico

Came home early today to find new Bead and Button waiting for me on the entrance table. Yay! Cup of tea, candles, warm blankie and fresh B&B - sounds like perfect Monday evening.

For more Monday Moodboards by Etsy European Street Team members visit fleurfatale.

I wish you all a wonderful week!

xo,

My Bead Soup Blog Party Partner

Yesterday I found out that my Bead Soup Blog Party partner is Mags of Mags-koruja. She is a talented jewelry artist from Finland, who creates sophisticated and elegant jewelry pieces with natural gemstones and silver. Take a look at her online store for a portion of beauty!

I already have some interesting ideas for my part of the soup. :) I know we'll have a lot of fun!

xo,

Lace Trend Report on Handmade Europe

I have some great news! My Black. Bronze. Elegant brooch has been included in Lace Trend report on Handmade Europe blog. Thank you Gia from Oneperfectday for this wonderful feature!

Here is also a complimenting treasury curated by Oneperfectday.

I am truly enjoying this trend, as lace is one of my all time favorite materials!

xo,

Flea Market Finds

I haven't been doing flea market find posts for a while, just because I didn't have time to go treasure hunting during the crazy holiday season. But today I have couple of things to show you.

Yesterday we went to visit relatives in Kouvola, which is around 40 km away from here and, of course, we couldn't resist visiting couple of local flea markets. There I found this beautiful hand-painted wooden jar with a lid. I assume that originally it's from Russia, but I could also be wrong. Now it lives on my shelf and is filled with small cotton yarn balls for crocheting.

Another find of the week is a brass thimble for my collection. I don't know how old it is, but I think it's old enough to go on the shelf with my other thimbles. I just liked its old look with a bit of patina and cute tiny dimples.

And the last, but not the least, is a beautiful pickle/olive fork. I've been looking for a perfect piece for ages. This one has very delicate double sided rose pattern and it's almost 19 cm long. It works perfectly with the rest of my silverware and I'm very happy about it.

If you'd like to see more of wonderful flea market finds, take a look at Sophie's blog.

Happy thrifting!

xo,

Golden Spring - bead embroidered brooch

This brooch was inspired by trip to oriental rug store. Beautiful floral and paisley ornaments were calling me for a challenge. In the end result it's not really paisley, neither a flower. But I still like it. :)

Central green marquise in cat's eye, I also used Czech and Japanese seed beads in five different colors and tiny natural amber beads. The whole brooch is around 7 x 4,5 cm big.

To me these are the colors of early spring, when first green leaves start to show and snow is playing of golden ground.

More details here.

I also want to say that now there are 100 followers of my blog and I'm very excited about it. Stay tuned, as I'm planning to celebrate this special occasion with a little something for you, my wonderful readers! ;)

xo,

Winter Sunset - jewelry set

I made this simple set of brooch and earrings right after New Year. I've always liked magnesite stone for it's creamy white color and beautiful amber brown patters. I don't know why, but I always see some kind of winter landscape in these stones. This time I saw misty sunset shining in the foggy air.

Besides magnesite I also used small agate beads, glass seed beads, sterling silver earwires and soft ultrasuede backing in matching color.

It turned out pretty good, a bit more simple than I originally planned, but I'm very happy with the result. I also opened new section in my Etsy store - Sets. From now on I'll put all the jewelry sets there instead of each item in separate category.

I have couple of more rather simple pieces in progress on my table. Hope I can show you something new already this week.

I also have a new blog button, you can see it on the right side. Grab it, if you like! ;)

Happy beading!

xo,

Monday Moodboard

I found some beautiful things for the workroom created by our team members.

Small wooden box by Utormeter

Natural stone magnolia paper weight by HomeOfficeDeco

Upcycled birds mobile by BabongoHome

Wide Flat Engraved Silver Square Format Frame by mackenzieframes

If you want to see other moodboards or play along, visit fleurfatale.

Have a wonderful week!

xo,