Farmer Piper on Duty!

I've been MIA here I realise. But life, which was already chaotic (see last week's post!) has been raised to a whole new level this week with my responsibilities increased to 'farmer' status by my husband's absence overseas.

This week has included checking troughs, fences and moving stock - with the help of the younger man of the house of course :) I also had to do the farm bookwork which I hadn't done for the last 5 months (ooops). And, I almost forgot, my first time doing my new P&C (school) responsibity of working in the local saleyard canteen! I even got up at 6.30am to bake some fresh blueberry muffins to take along. Yep, a bit keen I admit LOL.

So, it has been a busy, busy week!

Needless to say there hasn't been much happening in the jewellery department. I did help a lovely gentleman find an aquamarine necklace for his wife's birthday and took on some remodelling jobs, but that was about it. I did, however, receive some gorgeous gems from a supplier I only deal with occasionally. I am thrilled with my selection and look forward to the beautiful new pieces that I can feel will spring from these wonderful gemstones.

Summer is almost at an end here with autumn due to start on Monday. The last week has been much cooler in the mornings and some days were a pleasant, mild temperature all day. Quite different to a couple of weeks ago when we were still in the high 30s/low 40s.

I love autumn - the crisp feeling to the air and the cooler days mean you can enjoy the sunshine without feeling like you are going to shrivel up! And cool, almost cold nights mean we can use our duvets again. Time to snuggle up with a good book - reading is a challenge when even sitting there means you break out in a sweat.

I looked out at dusk this evening and saw the bright moon in the still blue sky, with a little high cloud. I grabbed the camera quickly so I could share the sight with you. Isn't it lovely.



It will be busy again this coming week as I play farmer again, then hopefully I can get back on track - I can feel my bench calling me.

Today's pic is of a stylish pair of earrings - a bit longer than I normally make but perfect for a special dinner with your hair worn up? A large oval white freshwater pearl linked by chain to a bright apple-green chrysoprase pebble, more chain and then to stud fittings.

Till next :)

Rainy days and school holidays

My life this week has been a whirlwind of visitors and cooking, children darting everywhere you turn and a laundry mound that is rapidly becoming Mt. Washmore!

Our school term ended last Friday with a talent show at which two of my children participated. My son, who has been playing the piano for six months got up in the very first spot. He was embarrassed - at 11 remember how you got embarrassed about everything? The realisation that he rushed a bit and made a few small mistakes made him (after it was all over of course) want to do it again - but better this time! We had to explain that life is a lot like that - full of occasions where we wish we could do it over again differently! You've just got to give it your best shot when you have the chance.

One of the twins also played a couple of short pieces on the piano and considering she's only been playing for less than three months, was very brave to get up there in front of the whole school and associated parents!

Since then, the weather has been, whilst not bitterly cold, definitely wintry and drizzly. The washing hung on the line for four days as it just never cleared long enough to dry it. Children on holidays + mud = more dirty clothes, so the piles of laundry have been steadily rising.

We've been inundated with visitors which is fairly unusual. One of the things about living out in the middle of nowhere, is that most people don't visit very often at all. It's just too far out of their way to pop in. Things must have changed, or maybe they're bored with the wet weather too, and we've had people in and out every day this week.

This has also meant mounds of cooking. Over the past few years I've managed to reduce the amount of time in the kitchen (outside of mealtimes) to only cooking a batch of biscuits every so often to keep the children and husband happy. Well this week I've done deserts, roasts, some of my 'special' meals, biscuits, cookies, scones, pancakes..... And just to add to it, hubby brought in a huge bag of grapefruit to make into marmalade.... *sigh*.... so 17 jars later....

Needless to say, there's not been much time for surfing around the web and checking out other blogs and sites. Although I did get time to see the gorgeous work of Gretchen of Chichiboulie. Gretchen lives in the north of France with her family and does some gorgeous design and illustration work. To look at her art makes you feel young and fancy-free (like a child on school holidays perhaps!?) Do have a look at Gretchen's Boulie Blog - it's beautiful!

So the upshot of the past week is that I'm basically feeling over-domesticated. I'm ready to hide my head in the sand to get five minutes peace and my bench is looking very neglected - even though new stones have arrived that are just screaming out to be made into something. Perhaps next week will be quieter?



The picture for today is a necklace I managed to make BEFORE the school holidays - I love the slightly eclectic and rich combination of oranges, yellows with a touch of green and red. Made with carnelian, sardonyx, agate, sunstone, citrine, garnet, prehnite, calcite and freshwater pearls in green, bronze and russet.

Full of impact, life and colour it's perfect for taking my mind off the semi-feral children that come with a term break. Do you agree? :D

Till next!
Cheers
Annette

2009 autumn / fall colours

Woohoo this is my 100th post *party*! Who would have thought a post or so a week would have brought me to such a lofty level :)

I was excited to see Pantone has released it fall/autumn 2009 colour report - I love to sort out what gems will match the colours. The favoured tints are

American Beauty a deep red with blue undertones - garnet;
Purple Heart - deep royal purple - amethyst;
Honey Yellow - a creamy tan which - jaspers, particularly the creamy brown version of mookaite;
Iron - a grey with slightly brown undertones - smoky quartz;
Burnt Sienna - a mix of orange/pink/tan - fossil coral;
Rapture Rose - a deep dusky pink - rhodonite;
Warm Olive - chartreuse - olive jade;
Majolica Blue - a dark navy - dumorterite;
and the other two colours, Nomad a greyish beige and Creme Brulee a soft warm cream, will be great neutrals to wear any stone with!

Overall this is a palette I am very happy with - it's sophisticated and not too dark. Do you like the sound of these colours?

One thing I've just realised is that Theresa from TiLT Creations (she makes scrumptious bags) pinged me for TWO memes last week, not just one ... so I had better do the other one I failed to do! This one is a 6x6 tag - where I go to the sixth picture in the sixth folder of my pictures and show you what it is. I've had this computer going quite a while, so this is quite some time ago for me! Here it is:



Altogether now... "aaaaawwwwwwwww". Aren't they cute!? These are my children - five years ago! Langdon is now about to turn 11 and Celia and Meredith are now eight. My oh my, how time flies. They're particularly clean and rather groomed so I imagine the photo was taken before we went out somewhere - going out then was an occasion in itself with three in tow!!!

Now I need to tag six others. Hmmm, let me see -

Debi from Who Says 8 is Enough
Chriss from Petit
Ickle Kids
Corinne from Daydream Art Studios
Christina of Really, Christina?
Elaine from Commotion from the Ocean of Life
I'll be checking to see what pics you come up with ladies!

The pic I've selected for today is from my new winter collection and incidentally it is almost the same colour as Pantone's Burnt Sienna! It is fossil coral - creamy, delicately patterned ovals, set off with a magnificent disc in a burnt orange-tan, the whole highlighted with a touch of gold. I've named the piece Thalassa which means 'from the sea'.

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....

Autumn, the Great Art Grid and a quiz for every day

The cooler weather is here and I can see my loungeroom being re-arranged very soon so that we can access the fireplace! (We have a 'summer' set up where the lounges face outwards to look at the view and a 'winter' set up where we turn away from the cold and face the fire. Does anybody else do this?)

I have been busy making things for Ironfest which is rapidly creeping up on me. I have received some new stones lately too which are proving to reveal themselves as very one of a kind pieces of jewellery :). I have included one of them above - it is grossular garnet and is a beautiful deep green with sections of the cut stone falling away into crevices where the skin of the crystal shows through. A very 'honest' piece in its rather natural state, it looks like it has just been found on the bottom of the ocean where some goddess or nymph happened to drop it. Matched with some beautiful, glowing, olive green freshwater pearls, it is truly a bold, statement necklace.

Lots of things have happened in the last few days - I have taken on a new 'bonus partner' Dream Candles. The idea behind this is to provide little gifts and items for each other's customers, so I am looking forward to receiving Michelle's little packages soon. I have also joined the iCraft community and set up a little shop there to make me a little more accessible to those on the other side of the world! It is a similar idea to Etsy with lots of very talented artisans already populating its pages.

I must tell you about a great idea that Corinne from Day Dream Art Studios has going. She is currently creating a "Great Art Grid" of small pics of fellow artists/artisans work and her aim is to get to 100 - she is well on her way to her goal. The grid is very beautiful to look at and should you be an artist or artisan, why not participate!?

Of course, even though I have been pretty busy, I always manage to find some time to 'surf' around my favourite blogs. I noticed a post on the Tall Poppy blog that asked what sort of goddess you were with a link to a site to find out for yourself. Well, what a treasure trove that link turned out to be... it looks like there are hundreds of quizzes there on all sorts of topics. One of my favourites was Are you right or left brained? (I'm 40% left (organised) and 60% right (creative) which explains a lot about my workspace!!!) There are so many fun ones to do, I bet you can spend quite a bit of time there trying them out. Have fun!

Spiralling out of control vs. achieving

Do you ever feel like your life is spiralling out of control? I am a bit of a 'control freak', so it doesn't take much for me to feel like this LOL. But I certainly feel like it at the moment!



There are so many demands on our time - especially if we are mothers and trying to meet all the commitments in our communities, in our families, in our hobby/business and so on.



Take this week for example. Outside of the home/studio I had a family function, took the children to a birthday party and two after school activities, attended a school function and my town's street fair as a stallholder. This meant that I was out 6 out of the 7 days! For the scant few hours that I was home, I was doing things that a mother and wife does around the house, and squeezed in some work on my jewellery in preparation for the fair. I am just starting the next week and find myself surrounded by a messy studio with boxes and stock everywhere (I've just started to unpack it all from the fair last night), mountains of laundry and a list a mile long of things I have to do!! I am also looking after the farm whilst my husband is away, but what the heck, just add a few more lines to the To Do list.



However, although I feel rather overwhelmed I really have had an extremely satisfying week as well! I got to see family I haven't seen in months, I watched the children enjoy a birthday party with their friends and improve at their dancing classes and even saw them perform, caught up with other parents at the school function and had a brilliant day at the street fair (once the wind died down LOL).



Its important to be able to look at the positive side of things and see what you have achieved rather than seeing the downfall in everthing. I read a post on the Etched in Memories blog and although is about achieving success, it does point to the positive aspect of it all and I can see comparisons to our daily lives.



After all that I need something pretty to look at....






I sold this lovely necklace last night to our Mayor's wife. Although we are going into summer here and this piece is almost autumnal, the colours looked lovely on her and I am sure she will enjoy it. It is made of pearls in tones of gold, green, cranberry and creamy apricot, plus BC Jade, citrine and garnet.