pearl custom bridal order

A friend contacted me recently to make some bracelets and necklaces for her bridesmaids, she liked the design of the Classic Pearl teardrop necklace but wanted circles instead. I used glass pearls in a lovely ivory white and a central circle to form the focal on the necklaces and bracelets.

I really enjoyed making these and also delivering them in person - I do like seeing peoples faces when they get their jewellery - a lovely feeling.

Both designs are now available in my shops, Etsy, Folksy and Dawanda.

I will be listing new pearl colours after my holiday too. Yay!

on holiday!

I'm going to be away on holiday for a week, I am so looking forward to a rest and a chance to enjoy the (hopefully) good weather.

We will be off tomorrow to Somerset, visiting Stonehenge (after the Glastonbury hippies have made their pilgrimage), little villages, to the beach, cafes and pubs. Yay!

My Etsy, Folksy and Dawanda shops will be open whilst I'm away but I won't be shipping from the 24th June. Any orders made whilst I'm on holiday will be shipped on the 5th July.

Due to the wonder that is my iPhone I will be responding regularly to messages and emails, so please feel free to contact me whilst I'm away :)

And come back to the blog soon for pictures, lots of pictures!

Iced Coffee in 5 Minutes

So it is summertime in England and it is hot, in June. Not raining. Hot. And meant to be hotter. I am wearing my questionable looking linen trousers to keep cool.


The office is like an oven and I had an odd desire to do gardening after work, so I collapsed on the sofa afterwards feeling hot and tired. I needed coffee in order to get energised for making jewellery and my (also) an oven of a studio.

I love my coffee machine, I'm not a fan of instant coffee (snob , yes) and it makes really great capuccinos (I have a Dualit by the way). And it is perfect if you want iced coffee too!

For this recipe you need a blender too. You can use double strength instant coffee but brewed coffee (try a cafetiere) is better. I am definitely going to experiment with syrups - caramel or hazlenut would be fabulous.

Iced Coffee - makes 2 big  glasses

1.5 cups or 12oz of crushed ice (bash up cubes or buy crushed ice!)
2 shots of espresso (half a tea cup full)
3/4 cup or 6 fl.oz of semi skimmed milk
2 tablespoons of sugar or 1 tbsp of flavoured syrup

Make your coffee and then stir the sugar in to dissolve it.
Add all the ingredients to a blender and blend for about 30 seconds.
Pour into big tall glasses and feel colder!

wordless wednesday

Elderflower Fritters

Happily I located an elder next to my office the other day, off the road and with lots and lots of flower heads to pick. So I made fritters!

The finished fritters were lovely, not the most attractive I hasten to add, but crispy and doughnut soft in the middle. I sprinkled them with sugar and served with some softly whipped cream. The flowery scent is gorgeous here, not to overpowering and it is so lovely eating basically free food!

I think I need to make my batter a bit lighter next time, for some reason it was very thick.

Head over to Colour It Green's blog for a fabulous recipe and a better picture of finished fritters - she is an elderflower connoisseur!

tilly

I did a lot of things this weekend but unfortunately it ended sadly, our little cat Tilly died on Sunday morning from kidney failure. We knew she wasn't going to be around for a long time but it did come suddenly, hopefully she wasn't in pain for too long.

It has only been a day but the house does feel very different, she mainly spent her days sleeping in her favourite spots or lying out on the patio, it is strange to not see her curled up in her favourite places anymore.

I've tweeted about it and even put it on Facebook, I felt that was enough but I couldn't really blog about normal things either so I thought I'd mention it on here too.

We still have our other cat Jess who seems a bit forlorn without her, they got to accept each other slowly but were never cuddly to each other, but I think Jess might miss the company.

For now we have a nice holiday to look forward to in Somerset, staying on a farm with chickens, goats, llamas and horses. Will be nice and relaxing to go away after this sad weekend.

Friday Folksy Finds

My Folksy shop is being updated at the moment so I thought I'd join in with the Folksy Finds for Friday Fun!

L-R

Iris Necklace by I Can't Remember My Grandmas Name
Raspberry Bubbles Bracelet by AMI Designs
Small Bee Hotel by Wudwerx
Secret Language of Eggs by Champignons


Stop by today and buy something from these lovely UK Sellers :)

summery jewellery and a promise!

I have mainly been making lots and lots of jewellery lately so my blog and foodie activities have been minimal..

I have lots of new jewellery in the shop and my bridal line is expanding by  the week.

Promise I'll be back with something foodie for your tastebuds soon!

The lovely butterfly necklaces are made with porcelain butterflies from Karen at Hodge Podge Arts - she has been so helpful creating these for me, they look beautiful worn, I have kept a purple one for myself!

Wedding Collection on Etsy

milestones

I have reached 400 sales in my Etsy shop this week - hooray!

It feels like it has taken a long time to get here but I also cannot believe I've sent that many pieces of jewellery out to my lovely customers.

I've been listing and selling on etsy since January 2008, and it has taken a while to get noticed but I think I am reaching milestone numbers a bit quicker, I made 300 sales at the beginning of this year.

Looking forward to 500, 600 and beyond!

Yay!

x

PS - do you like my new blog layout? I do! :)

Off to spend some time in the rain..

One of the benefits/downfalls of my job is that I get to get out of the office every now and again, one of these is a farm show I attend once a year for my company. It can be good if the weather is nice and everyone is cheerful, but this year it is likely to be rainy and awful! My wellies are ready to go!

Because of this I'll be away from my jewellers bench for a few days.
Any orders made in any of my shops between 8th - 11th June will be shipping on Monday 14th June.


Thank you for your patience, hopefully I won't get too rained one, wish me luck!

Delicately different

Something new in my Etsy shop this week, and a little different...

Rose Garden Earrings

I had a little bit too much fun making silver teardrops a couple of weeks ago and I had a lovely box full of differing sizes in this delicate shape. I was looking at them and struck upon the idea of making asymmetrical earrings, they are perfect for this!

I put the teardrops with some beautiful sparkly mystic quartz briolettes, and then added some vintage millefiori beads. I have a whole mixture of the beads and they are all slightly different, so were also begging to go into this design.

I am really pleased with the soft colours and the quirky design.

I hope you like them too!

A Quick Recipe - Cheats Lasagne

I love spaghetti bolognese, I love mac and cheese and I like lasagne even better. This recipe is great because it is quick to put together, involves less effort than lasagne and is a tiny bit healthier than macaroni and cheese.

This is a fairly simple idea but I liked how it came together with things I had in my freezer and store cupboard already, and it tasted great! I picked a few of the new herbs we've planted in the garden - some oregano and purple basil went in.

Serves 2 greedy people!

250g macaroni pasta
1 tin of plum tomatoes, blended
250g mince lamb or beef
2 shallots or half an onion
1 clove of garlic
pinch of chili flakes
1 tbsp tomato puree
herbs and spices to your liking (I used fresh oregano, purple basil & nutmeg, cumin and paprika)
cheddar cheese - grated - enough to cover the top of your pasta for baking.

Finely dice the onion and fry in a saucepan with olive oil for a few minutes, stirring often. Add the mince and break up and brown. Add in the garlic. Add in your herbs, spices and season. Then add in your tomato puree and blended tomatoes. Bring to the boil then simmer for 1/2 hour  - 1 hour til the mince is tender and tomatoes cooked down.

Preheat your oven to a medium high heat.
Cook your macaroni for half the time as indicated on the pack.
Once done mix your bolognese sauce in and then put into a large casserole or lasagne dish. Cover with cheddar cheese and bake in the oven for 30-45 minutes until the pasta is done and the cheese is bubbling. You can grill it for a few minutes at the end to get the cheese really browned.

Dig in and don't forget to go back for seconds! ;)

UK Handmade Summer Issue + Rhubarb Jam!

I've been writing for UK Handmade again, you can find my article on How to Make Rhubarb Jam in the latest issue, page 86!

Am nearly through the three jars I made, it is lovely stuff. I very much enjoyed the cream tea I made up for the pictures. Yum!

a new hobby - knitting

So I've started knitting!

Being a left hander I never really learnt properly but on a recent trip to the Lake District with some arty and crafty friends I decided that I'd ask the lovely moocowhandknits to teach me to knit!

She originally taught me how to knit left handed, being a right hander herself this was quite an achievement, afterwards I practised on some wool and thin needles to get the hang of it. Then I had a lot more help from my mother in law and now I can knit right handed. I can also cast on and off (although I may have forgotten the cast off bit slightly).

I've started a yummy wide purple scarf in wendy mode yarn which has merino in it, so soft! I'm still a bit slow but I reckon I'll have it finished by the time the colder weather comes.

Am starting to develop something of an addiction to yarn and finding myself drooling over it on Etsy and in shops - I think I want to try some really chunky yarn and knit up something big and soft. I have my eye on this lovely hand spun, hand dyed yarn from Colour It Green on Etsy at the moment too:

Handspun Wool

I think everyone is getting scarves for Christmas this year! ;)

work in progress - copper stacking rings

I've been impatiently wanting to add stacking rings to my shop for such a long time, this process is a bit of a learning curve for me as I've not worked with thick wire before.

I've already made a silver ring but I thought I'd experiment with copper which is softer to work and also a bit cheaper!

These three rings are made from 1.6mm copper, two smooth, one hammered finish. I'm not all there with the solder joins yet, they aren't as smooth as I like. But I like the finish and the thickness of the wire.

I'm wearing these with the silver ring I bought, they stack well as a four, or a three, or a two!

Am continuing to work on these, watch this space! Hopefully I'll be back working with the silver soon too.