Inspired: Scilly

Here's my first Design Team project for Altered Element! All the materials used came from www.alteredelement.co.uk . Gold and turquoise knitted-wire bracelet with handmade toggle clasp and a lovely blue shell-shaped bead to fasten. The colours remind me of the beach, golden sands and cool blue waters, but it also has a regal feel - a bit Egyptian or Aztec maybe?! This is made with 0.4mm wire and beads for both projects are from the 'Dress it Up' and 'Glass Naturals' collections. The tiara base was created by twisting 18 gauge wire, then wrapping this with 0.4mm gold wire (26 gauge) to create an uneven twisted base, to make it a bit more organic and 'fairytale'. Knitted into the tiara are gorgeous turquoise, gold and bronze beachy-coloured seed beads and shell-like beads and a bronze Vintaj bird charm. Lastly I added a lovely gold bow for the finishing touch!

We thought it was time we showed you a few of our favourite arty things. The first is this great new blog of handmade Scillonian work, some of which is available to purchase from the artists' websites. Check out http://www.phoenixcrafts.co.uk/blog.html and be dazzled by sparkling stained glass, stunning seascapes and perfect prints.

I've decided, on sparkly fish Disco Splash's advice, to put all the lovely shiny Swarovski Crystal colours for the Design Your Own Tiara Form all laid out nicely on the web page so everyone can see them. He's a clever fish, that Disco.

It's all gone a bit 'design your own' mad at Inspired: Scilly towers, with another addition to our range of items which you can design for yourself, letting someone else do all the hard work! The fun bit for the customer of course is getting to choose the colours and styles and embellishments to create something truly bespoke. Here you can have a look at our wire-knit bracelets - and have a go at designing something truly unique. The photo above shows just one of our inspiring designs.

Here's another sparkly hair comb to tickle your fancy! This has quite a gothic feel with a twist of geisha style about it! A beautiful antique silver butterfly with jet black Swarovski Crystals dripping from its wings and along the comb base and all for £6 - a bargain bit of bling! See it on Folksy .

Have just spent the Easter weekend doing some felting and am very pleased with my latest creation which is a little different! I think I'm going to use it to cover a hat base but it's a blue and green sea-themed creation with sticky-up bits of 'seaweed' on it which look a little like dreadlocks! Sounds bizarre doesn't it? Think I need to get a picture on here! Coming soon....! In the meantime, my Scilly scented narcissi are almost all out and smell gorgeous! At the weekend I had a walk in a beautiful daffodil wood which really was a sight to behold and I'm a bit chuffed that several plants I thought I'd lost during our long winter have come back anew. So, since it's all looking a bit flowery, I've put a picture of my floral pearl hair vine here. I've got a similar tiara on www.inspiredscilly.weebly.com which is the basis of a 'design your own' feature. Hopefully this is going to be a fun new idea!