Sweeties

Anyone who knows me knows that I love sweets and anything sweet, which is probably why I like beads and jewellery making, as so many beads look a lot like sweets!

These new cherry red beads were no exception, they are so glossy and such a striking shade of red, they look just like bubblegum. I couldn’t wait to use them and I found some lovely frosty green flat discs to make them into a lovely bracelet – not a classic colour to match with red but when I put them together with some sterling silver the combination was so summery, the green lifts the red so nicely.

I can see this bracelet looking just lovely with a floaty summer dress (or if all else fails weather wise, this would look lovely with a nice black jumper too!).

Spuds..

So we’ve had our first crop of potatoes! I love proper homegrown potatoes, apart from tasting about a hundred times better than anything you can buy in the shops, they are so very easy to grow, we’ve never failed at potatoes (same can’t be said for other things we have grown before). We got 4lbs from our plants this year, so that will last us quite a long time. Check back for more progress, our salads are coming along nicely as is the tomato plant –which seems to be yielding one very huge tomato rather than lots of them.

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!