If you've been following the saga of THAT dress, then you'll already know that today was to be the day I passed the verdict on which one of the 7 pieces of jewellery I've made this week that I will wear with the dress for Easter. It's not often that I make so many pieces of jewellery with myself in mind and so choosing one was a task I delegated to a friend who was coming over to the studio today. Unfortunately, we had a last minute change of plans and I'm in the studio on my own. So my plan to model each necklace with THAT dress has also gone out the window but nevertheless, I thought I'd have a little bit of fun with it and have a virtual fashion parade instead. So, cue the upbeat catwalk music and let the fashion parade begin.... Welcome to the Easter Jewels by Mill Lane Studio Jewellery Parade. Fashion experts agree that great jewellery can make an outfit and today, we'll be putting that statement to the test. If you want your jewellery to be noticed in......

I just spent a fun morning with a friend, shopping at one of my favourite bead wholesalers. She shopped..... I shopped..... and between us we wouldn't have had any money left for a cuppa after. Lucky they provide the coffee free! I've become determined (read obsessed) to find a jewellery design that will work with the swirly yellow, orange and brown dress so one of my tasks was to suss out their selection of wooden beads. I picked up a few strands of dark wood and some dyed shell beads. But my happiest find was the strand of kukui nuts (bottom). It reminded me of the leis the girls and I made in Hawaii a few years back. At the time, customs wouldn't let us bring them back into Australia and we had to leave them behind but seeing these brought back some happy memories. It's strange though that we can now buy them here on our own shores!  Anyway, I'm hoping to turn some of these beads into the piece that finally works with that dress. I'll report back once I'v......

Earlier in the week I completed the spiral rope necklace to wear with my swirly yellow, brown and orange dress. I loved the way the necklace turned out but it just didn't work with the dress. Such a shame. But the good part is that I learned a new stitch and ever since I have been itching to start on the next kit. It's a lariat using St Petersburg stitch and the packaging says its level of difficulty is medium. Well, I'm breezing through it. And while it's taking a little longer to make the finished length than the spiral rope took, it's taking shape nicely. There's a lot to like about this stitch. Apart from being quite easy, I really like the angled pattern the stitch creates - the movement and direction that makes your eye move up and down the pattern. And because there is so little backstitching, it's really flexible as you can see in the photo. Don't you love the little picot edge? As I'm working on this, I'm beginning to wonder if it might ......

I'm quite a big fan of donut components: you can wire wrap them, dangle things from them, even slide things through them. That hole in the middle gives you so much opportunity to think outside the square and come up with some unique ways of putting your jewellery designs together. So I thought I'd share with you a few of the ways I like to use them. Use the donut as part of a toggle clasp and show it off as part of the design. Connect them together with fancy jump rings Use them to frame another bead Slide a long lariat through the donut Treat them as large holed beads and thread them on a thick stringing material Dangle them as charms Wire wrap them, or wrap a coil of wire around them and then dangle beads from the coil. Yep, that hole in the middle really makes them very versatile. I hope I've inspired you to look through that hole and see some new possibilities. Pin For Later! 'Til next time..... If you can't get enough of My Tutorials and you want even more ......