What Price Beauty?

I'm sitting here the day after a HUGE shopping trip to Dubbo. We left yesterday before 8am and we got home last night at 9.30pm! The drive each way is close to 150km (so a 300km round trip) and it feels like I walked the whole way my feet are that sore. Why are they so sore? Well, it kind of comes down to what you wear to town. I'm in the country and going to town still entails an element of dressing up.

This means wearing a dress or skirt and heels or the route I usually take which is dressy jeans or trousers. Presentable but not towering high heels, a nice top, necklace and earrings completes the look.

Since I'm only average height and not as slim as I used to be, I don't want to encourage the chunky image, so I like to wear a low heel to give me extra height. I bought some fabulous dress boots (like riding boots but with a small block heel) last winter and these look great with my bootleg jeans and give me that much needed height. The fact that they are pretty comfortable too and I had done a day of walking around Mudgee in them before with good results helped this choice along. Of course I forgot in this equation that Mudgee is MUCH smaller.

On arrival we spent the first hour car bound as hubby found workshops and machinery supply shops. Then, the first main street stop, the girls and I went off to find a hairdresser (the girls in dire need of a new cut) and the boys went off to the barber. Naturally we parked near the barber. We only had 45 minutes before the orthodontist appointment, so off we rushed. Three blocks later we had found a hairdresser that could fit the girls in - but not till the afternoon. So we briskly walked back to the car, doing a spot of retail therapy on the way ;)

Back in the car and off to the orthodontist. Hubby left us there with the agreement to meet us back in the nearest shopping centre in about an hour and a half's time. The orthodontist took about 3/4 hour with the wonderful news that my son is due for braces. Right. Great. Do you know how MUCH braces cost!? I'm strongly encouraging any of my children to become orthodontists as a future lucrative career at this stage....

I digress.

The shopping centre was five blocks away. And I should mention that the blocks in Dubbo are NOT small. We made it back to the shopping centre with a few minutes to spare. A quick bite to eat, more retail therapy even if it was rather rushed and then we thankfully got driven near to the hairdresser (within a block) as hubby and son went off in another direction. A pleasant hour or so later (and a big thumbs up to the crew at Rave Hair Studio - thanks Sam and Mel!) we walked another three blocks to the appointed rendevous point. My feet were starting to feel rather uncomfortable but I did my best to ignore them.

Walking another 3 blocks, we completed the main street's retail offerings and had added to our shopping tally. Back to the car, to another shopping centre and another hour of trekking around. By this point I've sworn off ever taking children shopping again as its just "I want..." "Can I have .... " "Muuuuuummmmmmm". Replied by me with "have you got your money, no? well, you'll have to miss out today" "No" and "Yesssssss?????"

A final stop at the toy shop. I thought. I dutifully wandered around with each of the children in turn as the gazed longingly at the shelves and picked out their sibling's christmas gifts. Back to the car where I melted into the back of the seat blissed out with sitting down.

"I think we'll go to the park" says hubby. What? It's 5.30pm, no one's eaten, it's an hour and a half drive home and I'm fragged. But before I can say anything over the happy squealing in the back seat, we're at the park. I DID get to sit for 20 minutes and chatted to hubby who I'd hardly seen all day, then we ventured to the playground (another walk) on the far side of the rather large park. By this time my feet were burning. Not a good sign.

"Let's go and have some dinner" is the next gem from hubby's mouth. Well at least I'm in favour of this one. And grateful when we get a parking spot just across the road from the restaurant. A slight maze to actually get to our seat, through corridors, up steps and so on, but we all had a lovely meal. When I stand up after an hour off my feet - ouch. I get back to the car and we begin the journey home. I take off my shoes. Ahhh. Home. Put the shoes back on to get back to the house. Mega ouch. I'm limping into the house. Shoes kicked off immediately. I'm still limping. It really hurts to walk. The balls of my feet are soooo sore and I have an unbroken blister too. Kids to bed and me too.

And now, here I am the next day, still with sore feet, a busy day ahead and a show tomorrow in Tamworth (the annual Christmas fair) where I'll be on my feet all day.

I'm now strongly questioning the reason why I feel compelled to dress up to go to town. And for my children to have straight teeth. (Well, I guess I do understand the last one).

What's your solution to going to town? Do you dress up or dress down? What shoes do you wear? Are they comfortable to walk around in for a few kilometres or miles?

In honour of 'dressing up to go to town' here's a pic of a nice little black onyx and 12ct gold fill necklace....it goes well with heels ;)

It's creeping up on me.... Christmas!

Arrrghhh! Christmas is starting. I can feel it. It's there in the FIRST christmas card of the year (it's always by my ultra-organised friend Lynda) that arrived today; in the holiday music and people in Santa hats I saw in on TV yesterday; in the email that my sister in law sent me giving me this year's Christmas draw ; in Monique's post with her rum balls recipe ; in the fact that my jeans are getting tight (and that's just after two recent functions that weren't even Christmas related... can you imagine what another month will do - eeek!); in the weather - it's finally heating up, although with all the rain its just kind of steamy; and last but not least in the children asking when they can write to Santa..... (not much gets past them LOL).

I think I've just been too busy to even contemplate it. (Having a show every week is wearing me out - this weekend it's a private party at nearby Leadville. There's going to be shoes (I love shoes!) and me with jewels. Plus some champers to sip on the day. What more could any woman ask for?? )

The Christmas cards that I was so pro-active in getting TWO MONTHS ago, haven't been touched and absolutely no presents have been purchased (actually they haven't even been thought about yet!)

So, how are you going on the Christmas front? Are you being bombarded already with Christmas images and music or is something more subtle reminding you it's getting closer? Alternately, are you blissfully unaware and determined to stay that way a bit longer?

OK, what photo for today? I think I might go a bit glamorous with these stunning AAA grade rock crystal quartz earrings - soooo sparkly and perfect for Christmas parties!

OK, off to ignore all the Christmas things, well at least for another few days ;)

Till next
Annette :)

Spring jewellery, shopping and entertaining!

Can you believe it’s spring! We’ve had a couple of beautiful warm days when the when the jumper came off, leaving me in a short sleeved shirt and all the doors in the house were open with a lovely warm breeze flowing through. Bliss. Then the next day it turned Cold (with a capital ‘C’!) and then the rain started. Again. Now as I’m married to a farmer, I can’t complain about the rain at all – but it’s staggering how much we’ve had this year in comparison to the last decade! I’ve even slid sideways down my dirt road to the front gate. Please imagine a look of intense concentration as this was happening LOL. Luckily it dries out fast so we're back to cool but sunny weather and driving down the track is just fine!

I’ve been incredibly busy on the jewellery front thus my absence from the blogging world. I’ve finished the spring-summer collection and have been loading it onto the website, so if anyone was checking in on the site, there’s been lots of new things to look at every day. I’m close to finishing now, just in time for my first spring outing at Quirindi Show this weekend on 11 and 12 September. The following week is Merriwa Show on 17-18 September – so a very busy fortnight in store.

Apart from jewellery I’ve also been a ‘gardening fairy’! I was the recipient of this gardening goodness recently having three wonderful girls come and help me prune roses, weed and plant white agapanthus at the front of the house (which has been kept very bare due to the lack of my gardening talent).

Last week it was time to return the favour – three of us attacked one of the other girl’s gardens, digging up and planting a huge circle of agapanthus (purple this time!), pruning lavender and chopping down and removing the debris from four large (15 foot high) shrubs. We did have her husband’s help with the chopping down part though! It’s amazing how much work you can get done in a few hours with a few of you. Another stint as a garden fairy in a couple of week’s time – the rush is on now spring is here.

We had the pleasure of a wonderful lunch with friends on the weekend. It's been so long since we entertained, I had forgotten what a great time we have getting together. I'm almost considering hosting a Christmas or New Years party, but well, we'll see about that when it all gets a bit closer.

I've also enjoyed the pleasure of quite a bit of online shopping in the past week. With both a beach holiday and wedding to attend in the near future and a lack of suitable clothes available in town (I looked!), I took the plunge and must say I'm happy with my purchases. I can see why people love to buy from me too - the buzz when the mailman delivers and then finally trying the goodies on that you were trying to picture and measure if they'd be right is immensely satisfying!!! And all without going to town. It's times like that when it hits home how the WWW has changed our lifestyle.

Today's pic is from the new Under the Sea range, with soothing colours reminiscent of the seashore or with corals and pearls from a mermaid's treasure box! This necklace is made with faceted aqua amazonite and lots of sterling silver - perfect to make a summer statement!

Christmas wishes

Oh my ... I can't believe its been almost three weeks since I posted here! It is rather indicative of my life of late though!

Things have been go, go, go, with many commitments for the children - an end of year dance concert and rehearsals, the end of year presentation at school, my son finishing primary school and being enrolled at the local high school - and it culminates this week with a piano recital that somehow I am organising as well!

Naturally things have been busy on the jewellery front (many panicked husbands have been calling me!) with orders left, right and centre. My Coolah show went extremely well and thankfully while hot, it wasn't 45 degrees C plus like my last outing!

I have my final show for the year this Sunday in Tamworth at the monthly Peel Street Handmade Market. I'll be there with the talented Kasia Tatar, a lady who has a great future in jewellery in front of her (I carry a few of her lovely items on my site). As she doesn't have her own site, I will have to tell her all about Ethikl - a new Australian artisan marketplace that I read about on Your Cheeky Monkey.

It's hard to believe that Christmas is barely a week away now! I certainly haven't had time to do any great treks to town for Christmas shopping, so thank goodness for online shopping ... providing they all arrive in time of course! If you're located Stateside and you're still looking for little somethings to add to your gifts, do check out the Vintage Soap Shoppe on Etsy. Angela makes the most delicious looking old-world soaps that I'm sure anyone would appreciate.

Of course, for Christmas around here I think we'd all love about 6 inches of rain - that would make us all feel better and the cows would certainly appreciate the grass! We seem to have slipped straight back into drought, which is both worrying and depressing. Any rain we have had over the last couple of months has been immediately followed by a few days of hot winds and the ground just dries up instantly. Australia - the wide, brown land indeed!

Well, since I can't make it rain and nothing I do seems to entice it, I will just ignore it as much as I can and look at my pretty gems and pearls. The torsade photographed above has lashings of pink pearls, lavender pearls, rock crystal quartz, amethyst and apatite. Far better than looking at dry, brown paddocks!

As I probably won't post again before Christmas, I wish you all the very best of the festive season and hope that Santa brings a special gift, just for you! (Just like he has for this Aussie stockman!)



Cheers
Annette :)

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!

Coolah open day

My open day(s) in Coolah went really well - the weather was fairly uncomfortable - it was boiling hot on the Thursday with storms in the afternoon and Friday was pleasant to start with, then hot and humid then storms with HAIL! But, many turned out despite the weather and I had a great time all in all.

I was in town on Thursday this week and some people asked if I was open again that day...

Anyway, here is a pic of my 'shopfront' for the two days - looks pretty doesn't it!



I'm in wind down mode at the moment - I even went Christmas shopping today. Mind you I have bought quite a bit on line, with more to go. And I had better get organised as it is only three weeks to Christmas - eek!

I have to spruce up the house this week and get it ready for the decorations :) Oh yes, I'm getting very much in the 'mood'. Mind you this is regardless of the heat we are currently experiencing. It was high 30s today (celsius) - and what was it - two weeks ago we were huddling around the fire!

I really have to do my Christmas cards soon too. I've already received an indecent number of them. Really, some people are SO organised! If you're running late (like me!) do check out Macaroni & Glue - Kelly has some beaut cards - very different from the run of the mill cards you get at this time of the year. She is also running specials for another week, so hop along and grab a unique bargain!

I haven't had time to load new stock onto the site - but the ring above will be one of them put up soon. Made with peridot (one of my all time favourite stones) and 12ct goldfill. Do you like it?

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 ! )

I've been SHOPPING :)

Ahhh, shopping, don't you LOVE it. The highs of finding something new, hearing that little angel on your shoulder going "goodie goodie" and then the expectaction of waiting for the items to arrive (since I only ever seem to shop online, the whole shopping experience is somewhat extended!). Then when the goodies DO arrive, the anticipation has built and you rip open the box to see the treasure inside! Ahhhh, bliss.

OK, well, maybe I'm a shopaholic? But I KNOW there are many of you out there that are the same. Nod your head .... that's right ;)

So, what have YOU been shopping for? I've been shopping for stones and pearls - I told you I needed more last week! I've revisited some of my favourite suppliers and even found a new one that I am sure will keep me salivating for years.

Someone sent me an email the other day saying there was only 51 days left to Christmas! EEEK. Its even less than that now! I really will have to think about gifts soon. I've just had to have a look at my favourite gift store, Tonic Gifts, and found the Action Hero's Handbook - now I know my son would love it as he has always aspired to be Indiana Jones and I can see my hubby sneaking the odd peek too ;) Michelle from Tonic Gifts also has a great article on her blog about christmas shopping which is well worth a look before we plunge headlong into the fray!

The pic for today is a necklace of huge amazonite balls (they really are big!) separated by white freshwater pearls. The toggle closure, although you can't see it in the pic, is also made of amazonite - how cool is that! I call this my "Wilma" necklace - as in the Flintstones ;) . The amazonite is a beautiful aqua blue colour and really quite magnificent, especially in such a size! Meaning "from the Amazon", this sodium feldspar has been used for ornamentation for thousands of years, with articles of amazonite being found in treasure hoards from ancient Egypt. Metaphysically it is considered a soothing stone, calming thoughts and the nervous system and protecting against electromagnetic pollution.

Confetti coloured pearls and some great Aussie shopping sites

I just realised that its father's day next weekend - eeek. And that I haven't got my father anything, so I'll be late, AGAIN. *insert much guilt icon here ;) * In desperation I hit the 'net trying to find something for him. He's not the easiest person to buy for - he is elderly now and can hardly see or get around. He used to love reading but is now confined to hearing-books and he pretty much needs round the clock care. Not easy, huh?

So, in my desperate search I found some brilliant sites after floudering around for a few hours....and most of them came from the wonderful shopping blog http://www.mynewshinyshoes.com/ . I saw this site in its infancy when, in fact, I was featured on it. But haven't looked at it closely since. Well, what a great surprise when I looked further! Amongst the huge amount of sites there, one really appealed to me.... http://www.tesora.com.au/ - the best gadgets/novelty items/gifts for someone who is quirky/has it all/is difficult to buy for. Things like a LED lit compact mirror, leather bound notebooks, wind up racing grannies and fighting grandpas, air powered water rockets, and even a tool kit in PINK! Needless to say, my dad is getting those wind up racing grannies- he'll get a giggle out of them! The other great site I found via mynewshinyshoes was http://www.urbanbaby.com.au/ . Obviously a babywear store but I fell in love with a beaut little bib with animals all over it that is really cute and unusual - and perfect for a new baby gift that I need to buy. I am also keeping in mind the riverstones that can be engraved with whatever you like. There are some in the picture saying 'hope', 'love', 'peace', 'trust', 'truth' and so on which really struck a chord with my mellow side. And finally there was http://www.redballoondays.com.au/ - for something really unusual - like a ride in an ex-military jet! Cool!!!

Anyway, on to the piece for today! (A good match for the necklace the "flavour of summer" just the right, isn't it.....) Now pearls are a perennial favourite with almost everyone. I love their sheen and glow and the flattering light they cast onto your face. Perfection in the production of freshwater pearls from China and the resulting increase in such production, means that pearls are a lot more affordable and to make them even more appealing, they are treated into the most amazing variety of colours. The pearls are treated by either irradiation, dyed or bleached. Most freshwater pearls are treated in someway - the white ones are bleached, the coloured are dyed or irradiated, the natural coloured ones are soft peachy-lilac-apricot tones which are gorgeous too. The treatment is permanent and I wash all my pearls just in case, although from memory only one strand has ever had excess colour come from it.

The difference between freshwater pearls and 'cultured' pearls is that freshwater pearls, as the name implies, come from mussels that grow in freshwater and cultured come from oysters in salt water. The process of culturing however is much the same. Note that the treatment of coloured pearls does not apply to 'cultured' or naturally occurring saltwater pearls eg. black pearls do happen naturally.

The pair of earrings pictured above won't last long. They haven't been seen by anyone yet, so I can enjoy looking at them for a week or so before their first outing! I have made these by selecting a variety of bright, confetti colours in a variety of shapes and sizes. The bottom pearls are top drilled, so hang like briolette drops, and then each pearl above that has been wrapped securely with sterling silver to a delicate sterling silver chain. They will swing deliciously when worn and are such girly-girl colours that many people will be disappointed that they can't also have a pair! They take a surprising amount of time to make actually, so I'm glad I didn't decide to make more than one pair!!