Betwixt...

Is the name of my new necklace and also a bit how I am feeling at the moment - in between!

It is a couple of weeks until my holiday, and the busy period at work is over as is the busy period of the We Make craft fair - so I am a little bit in limbo, waiting to go away.

I have listed on of my personal favourites today, this lovely gemstone necklace made with rose quartz, moss agate and czech glass on sterling silver chain. I love how these colours go together and easy it is to wear.

A week to go..

Well actually less..

Its a week until the We Make craft fair in London, which I will be exhibiting at!
Its my first craft fair so I am hoping it will be a success, mostly I am looking forward to meeting my customers, as so far I mostly sell my jewellery online.
I've been busily crafting away all weekend, and I have even turned my hand to some paper craft by making my own earring cards, which are a bit arduous but the results are lovely.

I am so happy with the amount of materials I have at the moment, I love having lots of beads and findings to work with it, although sometimes my best creations come out of trying to make something out of a few things that I have left over.

I am also keeping my shop alive too, even though I'm gearing up for the fair, I have recently added new items including almost edible strawberry and creamy butterscotch coloured necklace and earrings - delish!

Favourites...

I've also been meaning to do a little blog about my Etsy favourites.
I do have quite a lot of them, its hard not to with all the lovely stuff on there at the moment, but I've just taken a snapsnot of the first page of them. Which seems to be very representative of things going on at the moment and things that are appearing in my shop.

Generally speaking - tea, brass, blackbirds (nest in our garden), beautiful tapered melon beads (I found them in wood!) and all things floral (in my garden again).

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade lazygiraffe.etsy.com

Bakey cakeyness

I always tend to blog about things much later after they happened.

So today I am blogging about my newest baking discovery, homemade oreos.

I am blogging just after eating the last one, so I am sure this post will make me want to go home and make some more (I have all the ingredients too).

• Recipe can be found here and here.

I love these, they are the best and naughtiest cookies I have ever made. Do not eat these if you are on a diet – unless you are intending to break it – I suppose at least then you will be breaking it properly with a proper bakey cake calorific chocolate sugar hit.

I recommend these with a glass of milk (obviously) or alternatively a really strong cup of coffee.

Talking of sugar, I have recently added a gorgeous necklace to my shop, named Coconut Ice.

Its made with sugary sweet looking pink chalcedony and a little bit of rose quartz. It is hung from sterling silver chain. I may have to actually make some coconut ice now, for photography purposes of course - my American customers on Etsy don't know what coconut ice is you see!

Bold as brass

I've been meaning to start working with brass for a while now, and I finally got my big order of beautiful brass findings last week!

I've added some lovely things to my shop with brass earwires, chain and little hammered discs, I love how each piece of brass is slightly different in the way that it is antiqued so that each piece looks a little bit different. I even experimented with antiquing it quickly, with a small amount of vinegar - its amazing how quickly it will antique to a lovely burnished vintage style look.

I am also going to be listing a gorgeous brass necklace in the next week or so (pending arrival of more beautiful brass chain) which is a round circle of brass with little freshwater pearls wired around the edge. This has also made me think about starting a bridal collection, or just a few bridal pieces, using lovely pearls and sterling silver.

I am also gearing up for the We Make craft fair which is on the 22nd June at Dragon Hall, Covent Garden, London. So I have lots of things made already, which I have squirelled away for the fair. Although I am also dying to list them a bit too!