Photography and magnesite

Christmas is over for another year, in fact another year is almost over - only hours to go until 2009 shows its face!

Our christmas was very family oriented and the children had a wonderful time, as they always do. Did you receive anything you just LOVE? I did! I received an autographed copy of the wonderful book A Grain of Sand by Dr Gary Greenberg. I've mentioned it on my blog before as a wonderful look into something so mundane yet so startingly beautiful that you will never look at sand the same way, ever again! Not just a gorgeous coffee table book, there is wonderful information on both Dr. Greenberg's microphotography and on sand itself.

I was contacted by a fellow who saw my admiration of macrophotography and sent me a link to his photos on flickr. He has taken some wonderful shots of stones that would make great wall art.

Bright blue-greens are always popular in summer and I found a great strand of treated magnesite (pictured above made into a necklace) that gives that wonderful aegean green colour. I haven't dealt with magnesite before and was interested to learn more about it. It is commonly found in a massive form (more rarely as crystals) in white/grey/yellow-brown. Fairly soft at 3.5-4 it has been used for sculpture for thousands of years. (A small Mesopetamian lioness sculpture made of magnesite c. 3000-2800 BC was sold by Sothebys in 2007 for over US$57 million!)

Metaphysically it is said to bring deep peace to meditation. It promotes a positive attitude, stimulates ideas yet has a calming effect on emotions. Said to detoxify the body it acts as a muscle relaxant, treats bone and teeth disorders, speeds up fat metabolism and helps deal with fevers and chills. Sounds like I should save a piece for the medicine cabinet! ;)

My family (and I imagine half of Australia) are off to a New Years Eve celebration tonight. If you have such a gathering to attend I hope you have a wonderful time and I look forward to catching up with you in 2009 ;)

Happy New Year!

A Christmas state of mind

We're having unseasonally cool weather down here ... in fact, last Saturday I was in Orange and it SNOWED! I've never actually seen snow falling from the sky and was amazed at how soft it was. And boy, was it was COLD. Of course, I wasn't expecting that sort of weather - summer does officially start in less than a week after all - but it was still bitterly cold.

Sunday was still very chilly and we weakened and lit the fire! Ahhh, snuggly warm again. Yesterday we were in t-shirts and then this morning dawned cool and rainy so we're back into sweaters. Whatever is going on with the weather it's decidedly strange!

I must say though, Christmas is easier to think about when it is cool. I find this quite bizarre, as I have never experienced anything but Christmas in summertime. Maybe all those movies and stories of Christmas in the northern hemisphere have addled my brain? Whatever the cause, I find myself thinking more and more of Christmas and definitely starting to feel a little jolly!

We have had a 'pretend' tree for the few years so the children can enjoy the Christmas spirit for as long as possible. This year they are going to be almost 8,8 and 11 so we've decided to go back to the family's traditional way of doing things - which is to get a live tree a day or two before Christmas.

The excitement of going looking for a tree and then the decorating will whet their appetites about Christmas to a crescendo I reckon!! How about some of these gorgeous handmade glass decorations to go on it from Daydream Art Studios?

In the light of all this festive thinking, I have even been considering Christmas gifts. We have a system in our family where draw a name out the bag and buy for just that one person. They usually co-operate and tell us what they want which means everyone gets something they really desire.

The children are exempt from this however and get pressies from everyone. I think I may have found something for my little neice - this great art apron/smock from Poss Bloss. It is made with PVC that has handpainted with flowers and has full sleeves so it will keep her clothes (and sleeves) nice and clean. I love the pretty flower pattern too - the colours are very much her as well.

As usual, I have been busy on the jewellery front as well - I have caught up on all my orders and made the last of the new stock before my open day in Coolah this week. Today's picture is one of the new pieces.

A myriad of stones are featured in this statement necklace - amethyst, citrine, rock crystal quartz, mookaite, aventurine, banded agate, pyrite, fluorite, blue lace agate, chalk turquoise, rose quartz, lava, Russian rhyolite and moss agate. The whole is brought together by the absolutely luscious natural lavender toned freshwater pearls and little drops of almost pure silver. See more pics of it here.

Have a great day!

Look out here's 2008!

How was your Christmas? Ours was the usual routine, but the children do make it a special time! They were to bed early on Christmas Eve as they couldn't wait for Santa to come, and as expected, he came sometime through the night as their Santa bags had lots of pressies in them the next morning :)

Then there was usual ripping and tearing of paper frenzy before going to my in-laws mid morning... for more ripping and tearing before lunch! The kids played happily with their gifts all afternoon and in fact the whole time since (although I will not be surprised when the "I'm bored" statement is eventually uttered!).

My girls (the twins) are still on a high, as their birthday is just around the corner - on New Years Day. This of course means a huge bonanza for them at this time of the year, although the rest of the year is a little light in the present department!

It is really hard having children with a birthday on a public holiday so close to Christmas (I feel totally sorry for those who have their birthdays actually on Christmas Day!). You want to do something for them that is special, but in our case, everyone is tired after the festivities of New Years Eve and most of their little friends are involved with family things or away on holidays.

Last year we had a pre-party for them the week before school broke up and that seemed to work well. But you still have to do something for their actual birthday too.

We always have a cake (two actually) and have in the past had a New Years Day brunch or lunch with friends and relatives that happen to be around. This year, we are going out for New Years Eve and the children will be staying with Grandma. So we are proposing a BBQ style lunch at our house with the cake afterwards. (This gives us time to sleep in a little and get everything prepared ;) ). I've been looking at what I can cook and found this scrumptious looking recipe on the My Day Off blog. Perfect for a hot summer day when everyone is a little tired!

I've included a picture of a beautifully bright coin pearl bracelet that would be perfect for New Year's celebrations. The colours in the photo are quite true to life and set off beautifully by the silver.

Coin pearl earrings and a busy family week

Another busy week - lots of enquiries, orders to finish and things to do with my family. To add to the mayhem, it was the end of year dance concert and I spent two days sewing costumes and a day at rehearsals/concert. My girls looked like very pretty little ballerinas and my son looked suitably funky for his hip hop performance.

Two of the children received medals for their work during the year which I was so chuffed about, but number three missed out and my heart nearly broke when I saw her disappointment. As soon as people started to disperse there was an outpouring of tears, but wasn't she brave to hold it all in during the proceedings! She recovered remarkably well (and quickly) thankfully. Although it is a hard lesson to learn (especially when you are six and a twin), it was one she coped very well with. She still wants to dance so her desire hasn't been dimmed by her disappointment.

Are you getting ready for Christmas? It is now December and thoughts are flying around in my head about gifts (although I haven't managed to 'catch' any of those thoughts yet!). Although I don't often look at jewellery sites (I wonder why LOL), I saw this one and what a great idea! They take a digital image and 'photo engrave' it onto a flat pendant of silver or gold. What a great idea for a long lasting memory!

Today's pic is of a simple yet stunning pair of earrings. Palest natural pink freshwater 'coin' pearls with gorgeous lustre are linked together onto 12ct gold fill studs for a fresh, elegant look. These would look particularly stunning on a brunette (mmmm, maybe I need to make ME a pair ;D ! )