More beach photos

Morning sky at Woodgate Beach


I can't believe another couple of weeks have passed - in a blur! The first week was just my fuzzy 'holiday head' where I was quite content just to kick back.... Then last week we went to Temora for the NSW Aerobatic Championships where I was contest secretary. This involved very long days, extremely hot weather, very little sleep and lots of brain power.... but I survived LOL. We got home yesterday and I'm still exhausted. I'll get back on track soon, promise!

In the meantime here are some more holiday pics (click on them to see them larger!) :)

Shells on the beach


Morning sun filtering through the trees along The Esplanade


Kangaroo on the beach


Till next :)
Annette

Spring jewels and farming life

Another week has rolled around - gosh they seem to go so fast! A combination of more time spent weeding and pruning in the rose garden, co-ordinating a large buy of gems for a group of fellow jewellery designers and keeping the good ship 'family' afloat has just swallowed up the time.

Oh and did I mention Facebook? I've been quite avidly trying to stay away from potential time-drains such Facebook and Twitter as I really spend more time than I have to spare on forums and checking out things online. But I succumbed to the temptation and joined Facebook this week. I still have very vague notions of how it all works, but I have worked out how to put up a personal page and a business page. I'm surprised at the number of friend requests I have had from people who I don't know! And for only being up and running a couple of days I'm surprised with the number of fans my business page has already attracted. BUT I can see time disappearing with continued use, so I'm trying to be sensible. So far. *ahem*

Two blogs that proved interesting reading this week for me were Silver Rose Blog which had an interesting bit on International Friendship Day. What a lovely idea- but I've never heard of it!!! So much for being 'international' ;). The other is Your Cheeky Monkey - Monique does some great work and I know my girls would adore these Tote Bags made out of rescued furnishing fabric!

Onto farming life, I had a request for a picture of the darling little calves that we have dotting our paddocks at the moment, so I have obliged:



They're actually quite difficult to get close to - a little skittish - so photographing them proved more of a challenge than say, the dog ;)



This is our working dog, Patch :) He's a very tall short-haired border collie, with, would you believe by his size - a pedigree? Maybe he had deerhound as one of his ancestors and he's a throwback?

Spring is only a couple of weeks away now so I've started loading the new spring-inspired stock onto my website. Lots of work ahead, but satisfying :) If I can find the time to do it of course!! The picture above is one piece that went up yesterday - a torsade of plump pink-peach freshwater pearls, sparkling rock crystal quartz and lovely big drops of faceted rose quartz. It would look great with a floaty dress in spring or summer or even as a bridal piece.

OK, best be off. That nose has lifted off the grindstone a tad too high and I'd better get it back in place ;) Till next!

Another view from my yard

I have a busy three weeks coming up with jewellery outings - the Coolah Rugby Club's ladies day this weekend, the Scone Grammar School Fete the day before Mother's Day and then perhaps the Tamworth Peel Street Markets mid-May. All of these events will be outdoors and with the grey days we've had over the last couple of days it makes me wonder if it will be too miserable/cold to go... but maybe not.

Using the power of positive thought, I'll imagine the sun will shine on those particular days and be absolutely gorgeous autumn days! And perhaps someone will take home the lovely long necklace I made last week of linked gemstones and sterling chain (pictured above)!

I found some great one liners for dealing with the ups and downs of life on the Modern Goddess Online blog. I love this one in particular

Accept that some days you’re the pigeon, and some days you’re the statue.

And isn't it the truth!

Something else that helps me deal with all life throws at me is art - perhaps from an escapist point of view. I love looking at talented artist's work and seeing what amazing paths their imagination has led them (and then me!). Mariam of Angelshair has some of the most adorable art pictures that are pure fantasy... or does she just see more than the rest of us? Do check out her store and her blog - they are well worth a visit and perhaps one of her artworks will speak to you! My favourite at the moment is Winter Magic - one of Mariam's sylph like fairies on the back of a polar bear!

A number of people couldn't believe the picture from last week, dotted with cows, was the view from my backyard - well, it was more my front yard actually, but yes, that is one of my views. Not bad eh!? Here is another, this one is more like my backyard - it is the tree with the children's cubbyhouse near the base:



Till next :)

Sparkle Week !

OK, this has made my day... did you know that this week (20-26 April 2009) is "Sparkle Week" in the Big Apple? Yep, this week there will be promotions and festivities at stores throughout New York City's five boroughs. Now, that's a celebration I'd enjoy!! I guess it's perfectly timed to aim at Mother's Day gifts -and why not - not many women would say no to a gift of jewellery.

I was recently reading on the Tall Poppy about the 'recession' and how our mindset could be making it worse. I have to agree - providing you've got a little bit of disposable income, then feel free to share it around by buying something you want!

For instance, in my wanderings around the web I found this superb home furnishings store Home Decorations. We have a breakfast bar and our stools are looking a little worse for wear these days. I could easily snavel up these leather and chrome barstools given the slightest provocation. I'm kind of glad the store isn't situated in Australia as otherwise I would be on there all the time formulating a hefty shopping list!

Not much jewellery has come forth with the school holidays, but it will - I can feel the creative "itch" starting! So I've included a picture of a piece currently onl layby - the sparkliest rock crystal quartz I have ever seen - very suitable for "sparkle week"!

I have managed to take some photos - but not of jewellery for a change! Instead I've been out in the garden and my neighbour's garden snapping away. She has a glorious and abundant garden (unlike mine!) so these are from her garden:





Then I tried some black and white pics in my yard - this is the view from our house (the black dots are cows, by the way!):



and this is our gorgeous moggy, 'Bumbleebee' :)



Love to hear what you think of my snaps!

New website and a cocktail ring

I did it. I'm live!!! My new website that is LOL. I almost hyperventilated when I turned it on, but I did it!!! I'd love to hear what you think - go to Annette Piper Dip. Gem. Handcrafted Jewellery and check it out. (Hopefully I haven't made too many mistakes on it!)

It has been a bit of scramble with taking new photographs or re-editing good older pics, writing descriptions and loading stock onto the site, along with doing shows, having the children on holidays and making orders and new stock. Yes, I feel a little in a whirl!

Now begins the slow process of building my rank up in the search engines and getting 'noticed' all over again. *sigh*. Maybe I should ask Designing Hilary for some tips - she recently had a wrist slap by google for being naughty for repeat content and as a result her page rank plummeted ... but I see it is making a return to the higher numbers. Good girl!

I have the Coolah Spring Gardens Festival this weekend and will be at the Pilca Butta homestead on both days if you happen to be wandering around the vicinity! I really must get organised for that. I note I have been tagged AND received an award too - I will post on those next time (never enough hours in the day!!!).

After MANY requests for rings, I took the plunge a few months ago and started with delicate little gem rings which have been really well received. Then the requests escalated to not just 'rings' but to 'cocktail rings'. OK. I took up the challenge and have a made a couple to see how they're received. One is pictured above and I just love the amethyst focal stone which is surrounded with more amethyst - light and dark for gleam, sparkle and interest, all put together with argentinium sterling silver. The rings are very comfortable and sit snugly along your finger yet still make quite a statement.

Till next!