Watching children create

Another week has flown by and school holidays are coming to a close. I waved my hubby and son off at "O-dark-hundred" this morning as they took off for Perth and the Red Bull Air Races. They left 13 hours ago and in another hour they will have crossed the continent and arrived in Perth - which I find mind blowing in a small, two seater aircraft! They have phoned me at every stop - Broken Hill, Ceduna, Forest and Kalgoorlie. They will be gone for about 5 days so it's all girls in the house which the younger two are thrilled about. It also means that my guise as Farmer Piper has reappeared - I'm almost getting used to it!!!

In an effort to have some time with the girls yet still be productive, I let them loose on my bench today and let them create a piece each which I then made.

I am constantly surprised at what they come up with - their sense of colour is superb and they keep that while thinking outside the square. I watched with amazement as they went through boxes of stones looking, collecting and discarding. The results were combinations of 1) black lava, golden topaz and grass green peridot with a sprinkling of gold and 2) red bamboo coral, Peruvian amazonite and silver. They also chose the clasps and length and stood at my shoulder making sure everything was just 'right'. I remain impressed!

I'm a member and ambassador of the wonderful Australian group Connect2Mums. We had our inaugural conference last year and what a fun time we had - the ultimate in social networking! There was much laughter and lots of dancing at a nearby nightclub after hours that had fantastic duelling pianos. The 2010 conference is coming up at the end of July - Monique has blogged about it and put up a photo of the C2M leaders from last year's event which I've copied here

I'm third from the left - it's rare that anyone gets to photograph me but at least I'm all dressed up here ;)

If you want a dose of colour inspiration, check out Julie's site where she features lots of scrapbooking layouts. The colour combinations are just fantastic :)

Today's picture is of some golden-wheat coloured freshwater pearls in a funky stick shape. Eye catching and different, yet light and easy to wear.

Till next :)
Annette

The Patter of Rain on a Tin Roof

As I type this I hear the patter of rain in the background. Rain against a tin roof - there's nothing like it, especially when you really need it! Australia is such a big country - and while the central part of the eastern coast has been literally submerged in wet weather we have remained dry. Living on a farm makes you attuned to the weather and what it can do - and the lack of grass is having an effect, with the need for supplementary feeding. Changing the stock into new paddocks is more to give the cows a change of scenery than more feed! So, I am enjoying the raindrops for as long as they last and wish those affected on the coast could blow some more this way!!

Have you ever looked at where your web visitors come from - I've been watching my blog visitors lately and its amazing the way they find you, the most random searches - albeit for me it is something to do with either gemstones or jewellery. And the locations! There are some places I've never heard of (which I actually find rather embarrassing!). In the last week I've had lots of visitors from the UK, whereas my visitor list is usually dominated by US or Australian locations. I wonder why? Where do most of your visitors come from?

I must thank Anne of The Tall Poppy for a recent award - the Welcoming Blogger Award! She reckons I'm always popping up and welcoming newbies along and I must admit that I do like doing that - after all, you never know who you could meet!



Of course I've been doing the rounds of my arts/crafts online buddies and this week I must draw attention to two outstanding artists.

The first is Carol of The Blue Cat. Carol stumbled on my blog a few months ago, followed me over to Creative Bloggers and has been a stalwart supporter there. I love popping into her blog and seeing her gorgeous artwork - she has an affinity for our feline friends and imbues such personality into them that they are just adorable! She sells on various online marketplaces and they're certainly lucky to have such a talented artist on their books!

The other talented woman is Sayo - a fellow maker of jewellery and I just love her big silver rings with a lovely big fat natural crystal! It really appeals to the gemmologist in me I guess!!! Do check out her blog where you can see her great work - bet you buy a piece ;)

I would also like to urge any ladies downunder to join the marvellous Connect2mums network - I have already made some wonderful friends there and I'm sure I will find a lot more. It is so wonderful to have such a network for those of us down here in Australia as usually our only option for such camaraderie is based overseas. Of course, in true spirit of my above award I'm welcoming everyone aboard!

OK, I had better include a picture of something I've made recently. Ah yes, a torsade. I only make these occasionally as they are very time consuming - getting the colours just right and not just the combination, but the percentages of each colour. The last one I featured here on my blog sold the first time it was seen in real life, so I decided to make another. This one is a little more subdued in the colour, but very delectable! Made with freshwater pearls in sage, bronze-copper and cranberry, rich red garnet and some sparkling smoky quartz.

Till next :)

A foray into making rings

It's been a week of achievements and some moments I could have well done without! Well those bad moments were when I was suffering from a bad case of the flu - but I am almost better now and rather embarrassed at my lack of inner strength in the face of feeling unwell. And to think I tell my children to be 'brave'!

My son also dropped my camera *eeek*. I loved that camera and it took such lovely shots (after taking me two years to work out how). But I bought a new camera and since it is the same brand it's not so different to use *big sigh of relief*.

Feeling well again has also brought a buoyancy to my outlook, helped along by some great fellow bloggers at the Mom Bloggers Club. What a great group of upbeat, fun women! So you can add them to my list of networking sites from my last post!

Overall I feel very lucky to have fallen in with a such a variety of women in my endeavours to network effectively. I can learn something new, be inspired or just laugh along with them. I was reading the very inspirational Pink Heels blog today and came across this wonderful picture

now take a good close look... doesn't it just makes you giggle? I wonder what men think of it? It MUST have been designed by a woman :D

As far as achievement goes - well I finally made the foray into making some simple little rings. Clients have been asking me for well over a year to make some rings but I haven't had the time to practice and despaired of ever being good enough to confidently sell them. I did briefly entertain the thought of making traditionally styled rings but I eventually decided on a more 'fun' type of ring - something casual yet refined, sturdy but not heavy and a bit different to the average type you find. The one's I have made so far are all made with Argentinium sterling silver and pearls/gemstones. I have shown them to a couple of clients this week with great feedback, so will have to spend some more time making some in a variety of sizes. Do you like the couple you can see here (below and at the top of the page)?



Show Reminder: Charity event at Dunedoo - chicken and champagne lunch in support of the World Youth Day - St. Michaels School Hall, Dunedoo, this Sunday 15th June. I'll be there with my jewels, along with local exhibitors of shoes and clothing.

Till next - have a great day!

Sites to sell and network in

It's been a bit of a whirlwind couple of weeks down here on the farm :) My daughter broke her arm a few weeks ago and after numerous trips to the Base Hospital (140km away) the cast is now off. Yay! My inlaws have been away so husband has been doing lots of extra running around looking after their property and it seems the children have had extra curricular activities all the time!

But not one to rest on my laurels, I finally did what I have been meaning to do for almost two years and that is open an Etsy store. Yes, you heard me - TWO years. Three days off it in fact. That's pretty awful isn't it. I was spurred into doing it by a great little networking group that has now officially become an Etsy street team called eSMArts. Cool, eh. Check out my *new* Etsy store here.

AND I joined an Australian Etsy-like site called Made It and have a few items listed there too. And of course I've been on the Canadian version - icraft - for a couple of months now.

I'm sure you remember me mentioning Posh Mama, that great social networking site for mums and Everything Skwiggle for the creator in all of us. Well, I've found a couple of more - Divapreneur and Indie Inspire Co.! I'm also a dedicated member of a couple Aussie networking sites too - the WAHM network at the BlogWhammy group. I have met the loveliest people through these sites, found the most interesting blogs and made quite a few customers too! One blog that I was checking out today was EP Designs. I'm not really into shabby chic but Elena does it with style!

Golly. It's a wonder I have any time to create at all!

But I do :)

Above is a pair of simple yet stunning earrings. Beautiful flat nuggets of aquamarine hang from sterling silver earhooks. Simplicity at its best.

Have a great day!

Mums children and social networking

*** I have decided to introduce FREE WORLDWIDE SHIPPING on my jewellery. I get so many lovely comments from people overseas and the freight cost really holds them back - so as of NOW, its free shipping to anywhere in the world! :)***

I have been reading through some of the posts on the blog, The Tall Poppy. Anne is funny, entertaining and thoughtful and I particularly love her slightly irreverant sense of humour. I particularly like the following post - The Hazards of Having Children - it really made me smile, even though my children are a bit bigger than the ones targeted in the story.

Speaking of children mine are rapidly wearing me out/down. How am I going to cope when it gets closer to Christmas?? How are yours treating you?

A great source of support is the social network called Posh Mama. This great site is aimed at women all over the world, mostly mothers, who like to look good and keep up to date and not be relegated to the just 'mum' status! Its very supportive, interactive and I have met some really interesting women through it! Lots of different forums to join on all sorts of topics that there is easily a few there you could join in on, and Posh Mama herself (the site's owner) keeps you up to date with all things "posh" and "mama" oriented! You get your own page on the site to share with the world and can even link your blog there (this one is linked to my page!). The community is growing everyday - check it out!

Keeping this Posh Mama mindset, I've selected a piece for today's pic that is very classy and will not lose that timeless appeal. This necklace would look stunning worn with a white shirt, a little black dress or a dress in any of the cream-taupe-brown tones. My supplier described the stones as "Opal Quartz" - I am unsure of the rock that is attached to the quartz, but it is absolutely delicious. The browns/creams/golds are set off by the rock crystal quartz all with an extremely high polish, and I have matched it simply (as it didn't need much enhancement) with small nuggets of pyrite in between. A sterling clasp finishes the piece off.

Have a great day! :)