Spring and Fall

Well winter must be coming to an end - we have had some beautiful days recently, very reminiscent of spring. So, in an effort to keep up that feeling I thought I would do a quick rundown of spring fashions. Oh, and since half my readership is on the other side of the world where thoughts are turning to autumn (fall), I've done a quick onceover on fall colours too!

I am also getting ready for our annual holiday! We are heading north to warm sunshine and the beach - so I've been a bit disorganised on the home AND work front. But I'm always up for a bit of surfing and on my travels around my favourite sites found some personalised prints on My New Shiny Shoes - a particularly suitable idea for children with unusual names (ahem, like mine!) And then I was reading Daydream Art Studios blog and saw the wonderful collection of freebies Corinne had from other artists to give away at her local art & craft show. Now that is certainly sharing the love :)

Now onto the fashion colours/update:

Spring 2008 for those of us 'downunder'-
*What you will see lots of - shirt dresses, thin belts, head scarves, pencil skirts, high (but naturally high) waists, feminine dresses.
*Fabrics/Colours - silk, jersey, chiffon, a touch of metallics, black and white, white, prints
*Dresses - Feminine, floral and abstract prints (and pair them with delicate shoes), white white white sundresses, ballerina-chic.
*Overall impression - elegant and classy, think quality not quantity.

Fall 2008 colours for those 'up top'-
*Colours: rich, vibrant. Cool hues with bright undertones. Blue and purple tones are a firm favourite, followed by warm reds, oranges and yellows.

The jewellery item I've selected for today is a brand new one of a kind necklace from my new spring collection - in fact, you're the first to see it! Lemon citrine and 12ct gold fill - the lemon citrine has been cut into the most beautiful abstract shapes and are lightly faceted and incredibly clear. I think it would look very elegant with either the spring or fall fashions! Scrumptious. :)

Due to my above mentioned holidays I will be away in the sun, sand and surf so won't be posting till mid-September. BUT I am taking a LOT of jewellery projects with me (yes, woe is my long-suffering family) so I promise to come back laden with new pretties to look at!

Till next....

Roses, gardening and lots of other things too!

Yet another busy week has passed (when are they NOT busy these days)! My back is stiff, my hands are sore...and no, jewellery isn't that hard a job most of the time :) The cause of all this discomfort is the rose garden - it has now been pruned, somewhat weeded, fertilised and mulched!

We have a formal rose garden at the front of the house that contains about 70 rose bushes, mostly hybrid teas and old fashioned roses, all scented. The smell in summer is quite divine (when I don't have hay fever that is lol). Divided into quadrants and with five rows - the outside is white, the second row in pink, the third and fourth rows are red and the centre was supposed to be red but we made a little mistake so its actually red AND white.

They put on a lovely show and I really am very naughty at taking care of them. They get pruned heavily in late winter (now), they may get a spray for aphids (should they arrive in plague proportions) and they get another light prune in summer. They get mulched every 3 years and weeded maybe 3-4 times a year.

I have lost a couple of bushes over the years and a friend who is an avid gardener and owns a nursery asked me how often I feed them. "Feed them?" I say. "Hmmm" she answers as she notes down her favourite fertiliser and instructions on how to give the poor suffering plants a little bit of tender loving care. So I left armed with instructions and a beautiful pair of leather rose pruning gloves. Yes, I know. The gloves weren't exactly a necessity, but my they're lovely. And I really haven't bought myself anything new in ages :)

So, a HUGE sense of achievement at having it done, but it couldn't have been done without a good friend's assistance (what a trooper, coming to face 70 odd roses!) and of course hubby who did the heavy work (aka shoveling!).

Whilst my hands survived relatively unscathed - thanks to the gorgeous gloves - I did take them off and replace with normal gardening gloves when I was clearing the mulch and doing some weeding. So they are looking a little worse for wear. I saw this wonderful looking Wild Citrus Grove body butter, hand balm and soap on one of my favourite online gift stores, Tonic Gifts. Perfect for a gardener's hands I would think!

Well, what else has been happening this past week? Ooooh, I was featured in the eSMArts blog last week - a whole article just on me :) And I got to write an article there this week on statement jewellery. Very much my thing!

Speaking of eSMArts, one of the wonderful eSMArts artists, Kari of Novel Approach Designs tagged me. But as I am SURE I can't think of another 6 things to tell you all, I am sure she will forgive me for not completely following through!

I also tidied up my bench. I was glad to see a recent post by Teresa of Inspired Designs had the same problem with her bench mysteriously filling up and becoming messy ;)

She has the most brilliant quote which I have now stuck to my desk:

"One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries." A. A. Milne.

Love it :D

My son received a new puppy - a little smooth coated border collie who is so happy and so intelligent. He has been dubbed "Patch" and it suits him perfectly.

The other HUGE piece of news is I found the MOST brilliant web designer who has built me a site!! Emma does limited edition and one of a kind e-commerce sites and has a real flair for what she does. She's super friendly too and I would highly recommend her if you are after a boutique e-commerce site but don't want to break the bank to do it! And please ask her if you have something in mind but can't see it there as she has other designs not up yet. I still have quite a bit of work to get stock in and refine it somewhat to how I want it to look, but it's very exciting. I hope you like it when all is revealed!

My goodness, I HAVE talked a lot today - look at the length of this post!!! A quick pic for today. A pretty, summery pair of freshwater pearl earrings to remind me of the gorgeous colours that will bloom in that freshly pruned rose garden in a few months time!

Have a great day!

First impressions and more

The cold weather has continued and so last Saturday we had a bonfire. I know these are traditionally held in June, but we weren't that organised then! The kids had a wonderful time dancing around the fire - it was easy to see the primitive side of humans - the mesmerising heat and dancing flames, the joy at watching the flying sparks (and trying to catch them!).

First impressions are important, but not ALL. With the bonfire it was all about heat and light, but there is also danger. Of course, not everything that isn't first apparent is bad - sometimes what is hidden can be the best thing of all!

Take a look at this amazing quilt square posted on fellow Skwiggler Flory's blog. At first glance it is attractive, but then you find out how it was created and it just means so much more. It adds depth and layers that you can't quite 'see'. It was created as a round robin with many friends from all over the world completing a little before passing it on to the next. A little piece of friends and their creativity, as well as a long standing memory of a wonderful project.

I also read this story on The Modern Goddess recently. It certainly made me smile (if somewhat ruefully as I thought "ha!, that'll show him!"). Go on, read it - it's worthwhile!!

Here is a pic of a recent necklace. This is a pearl and gem torsade made with golden yellow and bronze coloured freshwater pearls, garnet and citrine.


I can promise nothing but good surprises with this necklace - it is even more goregeous in real life and feels divine on :)

Till next!

Cold days, learning something new and tagged again!

We've had a pretty cold snap up here on the Great Dividing Range over the last week - the fire has been roaring away trying to keep the chill at bay, and those earmuffs that everybody laughed at when I bought them last year are perfect - even hubby is looking slightly envious! Well, he DOES have to work outside most of the time, but he wears a nice wool beanie so it's not as if I'm letting him freeze!

With the cold weather, the huddling near the fire and more grey days than normal, I got a bit of a shock when I realised that my first spring show will be on 13-14 September! Thats just over a month away!! I've really got to dedicate some time to creating. Now that's going to be hard as looking at my calendar every weekend is busy until NOVEMBER! Ahem. Yes. Going to have to be very productive during the week I think. :)

I'm pleased to see that Blog Whammy has re-opened after a change of management. We have more bloggers on board and it will be great to revisit some of my old favourites soon.

Don't you love to learn something new? It's great for keeping your mind fresh. I have a friend who firmly believes this and is currently working on expanding her vocabularly by adding a new word at least every week and seeing how many times she can use her new word in a day. Last time we spoke the word was "adjectival". I think she had started using it as a swear word LOL.

I'm getting to learn lots of new things regularly as I am currently writing a Q&A column on Skwiggazine. Obviously I don't know everything and have to research the answers, so I learn a lot in the process. Missy has done a great job with the recent makeover from Everything Swkiggle to Skwiggazine and it is attracting lots of great artisans.

I've also found another networking site (yes, I know, time, time, time) but early indications show there are a great group of women to be found on Business Women Unite.

Do you like today's picture? Isn't the garnet glorious! The picture is very accurate and the stones really are that luscious red. Although each stone is quite diminutive, there's quite a lot in total when you consider the contents of a three strand bracelet! The garnets have a brilliant shine and the bracelet feels quite delicious on. Here is a pic of the whole bracelet - I've used a sterling tube clasp for a clean, crisp, finish.



I can't believe - I've been tagged AGAIN. Not once, but twice in one day! Geesh, at this rate, I'm not going to have any secrets ;) My taggers were: Lois at A Beaded Affair and Tina at Links and Loops.

This time I am supposed to list six of random things about me and then tag six other people. Well here we go on the 'random':

1. I love chocolate (who doesn't?)
2. I'm 5ft 5 1/2 inches tall - that extra half an inch makes ALL the difference.
3. I love reading Austen and Bronte novels again, and again, and again...
4. I have lost count at how many times I have watched Pride & Prejudice, in all its different versions. Colin Firth/Jennifer Ehle is my favourite one though.
5. I really dislike gardening and my rose garden often shows the effects of this dislike.
6. I spend time reading blogs when I really should be working.

Here are the rules:

1. link the person(s) who tagged you
2. Mention the rules on your blog
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.

OK, guys, consider yourselves TAGGED:

1. Mom Squad
2. Stone Soup
3. Stay Classy
4. Minna's Favourites
5. The Creative Junkie
6. Fractured Toy

Have a great day!

Sunrise

I experienced this beautiful sunrise yesterday morning. The colours that mother nature gives us...not just amazing gemstones, not just gorgeous plants and wildlife, but sunrises like these.

I had a great time on my recent visit to Quirindi. I met some lovely ladies who ventured out on a cold day to come and see what was on offer. I was glad to hear it was a very successful day for the town. I have also been invited to attend the Quirindi Show in September which I am hoping to do.

It has been a quiet week on the jewellery front as my son was home all week while the rest of his class was on excursion. This meant 'home schooling'. And I now have a HUGE appreciation of how difficult this must be for those mothers that choose to do this full time. Whilst I enjoyed him being home and got great satisfaction out of his progress in certain, basic areas that the school system seems to ignore, I got basically nothing else done!

So, no jewellery pics from me this week - the sunrise is more than beautiful enough to admire!

Till next :)