Christmas Day 2007

Wishing you a very happy Christmas and New Year, I am taking a short break over the Christmas period from today and I will mail out orders which come in over this period on my return on the 3rd January 2008.

These are the things I Love....

The Smell of Rain on Grass, First Spring Flowers, When a Plane Door Opens and the Heat Hits You, Opening a New Jar of Coffee, Singing in My Car (it doesn't mind), Singing to my Horse (he doesn't object), Gentleness, Merlin My Horse, Cleo My Cat, Roses, Dancing, Pretty Clothes, Working for Myself, Spring, Being Quiet, Picnics, My Friends, Cutting Open A Lemon, Telling Someone 'I Made It' When They Admire Jewellery I Am Wearing, Being Curled Up In Bed When There Is A Storm Outside, Bonfires, History Books, Homemade Marmalade, Forgiveness, Watching People, Taking Baths, Listening to My Cat Purr, Going Shopping with My Mum, Reading, Imagining, The Way Merlin Calls To Me When I Arrive At The Stables, Kittens, Travelling, Coming Home, Being In Love, Vanilla Ice Cream, Matching Underwear, Poetry, Having My Hair Washed, Fitting Into Smaller Jeans, Acting on Impulse, Walking In The Rain, Staying Up All Night, Bluebells, Black, The Peak District, Thinking, England, Trees, Belonging, Aquamarines, Daydreaming, Music, Freesias, Creating, Grooming my Horse, Driving, Breakfast At Tiffanys, Kindness, Warmth, Laughter, Thermal Underwear on a Winters Day, Homemade Soup, Being Taken For Lunch, Dry White Wine, Talking For Hours About Nothing In Particular, New Boots, Being Able To Make My Own Choices, Surprises, Giving Away A Smile When Someone Needs It, Black and White Horses and Black and White Cats, People Who Like To Share, Giving, Magic, Lavender, Homemade Fruit Salad, Laughing At A Good Joke, My Godchildren, Lattes, Red, Autumn, Long Sandy Beaches, Chandeliers, White, Good Company, Being Older And Wiser, Wandering, Sleeping, Toast, Starting A New Book.

Christmas Jewellery Freebie 2007

How time flies; its that time of year again where we all go into warp drive panic; I think 'bah, humbug', I am going to ignore Christmas this year (I am usually the worlds most conscientious gift-purchaser-giver in the world) but I was sucked into the whole thing when I went shopping today, only to find that the world, his wife and their dog were out fighting over tinsel already - maybe I will just pull the bed covers over my head for the next month or so...

My last entry mentioned I was hoping to be allowed to have but I am keeping quiet about exactly what right now because I don't want to be pinned down oe a new drug for my Rheumatoid Arthritis - I have been told I might be able to have it in the first few months of next year - I need to stabilise on another drug first and then if that is OK I go to the new drug - I know of people who have had wonderful results with this so I am thinking positively.

Creative Block....

"One must accept that one has uncreative moments. The more honestly one can accept that, the quicker these moments will pass": Etty Hillesum

Lead Crystal Jewellery and Children

Today I put new Vintage items, Necklace, Earrings and Bracelets onto the site - the complimentary necklace offer for purchases over £50 has been popular.

I've got some new sections lined up which should come online soon - even if for a while they are going to be empty spaces whilst I work on stock - I've started work on one the children's jewellery section - well, ok, when I say children I think the jewellery is going to appeal to girls rather than the other variety of children, and its been great fun making some cute pieces.

Autumn

Its been amazing seeing the change of season and weather - I am particularly in love with a huge tree that fascinates me at the stableyard around this time of year - the leaves change from green to gold and then to deepest red down to russet, then they drop off....and every year I promise myself I will take photographs to mark this miracle, and once again, I have not.

All Merlin seems to be interested in is eating the leaves - you would be amazed at the stuff horses eat - mine enjoys fruit smoothies, pears, oranges, mangoes, raspberries, cranberries, strawberries and liquorice alongside the usual carrots and apples - I did find out once that he does not enjoy cheese after he spat out a sandwich he had stolen from me, and he really is not too keen on bananas. I would like to say before I get a deluge of people writing to me, I don't feed him the stuff above all the time - though right now he is quite partial to the blackberries at perfect ripeness from the hedgerows we pass every day as I take him to the field... My hands are stained red and black from helping him out with picking them...

Fighting With....

I have been busy in the background, doing things for the site and designing new jewellery, both on comission and for the site which should be updated soon.

I've been having a fight with my Rheumatoid Arthritis in the past weeks, and am hopeful that I will be prescribed new medication soon which may improve things. Of course my RA has an effect on my work output, though I try and appreciate the good things in life rather than concentrating on the difficult ones.

Tiara Commissions

I've been working on some tiara commissions.

Zara Tiara with goldtone wirework, Swarovski crystal, glass pearls, freshwater pearls, seed beads.

I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world. - Albert Einstein

Site Work

An expansion to the site with the Gallery - I am trying to learn how to run the the website-- I despair of ever getting to grips with the technical stuff - have had a number of hours tonight with Mark showing me how to add a page and then how that all has to link in with all the other pages....and then all the things that can (and did) go wrong....aaaarghhh; however, being given that insight made me appreciate all the hard work that goes into the site....I think I will stick to making jewellery!

You were placed on this earth to create, not to compete. Robert Anthony

Spending time with Merlin

I have been bursting with ideas, annoyed I've been unable to achieve much due to my arthritis - I felt I might be heading for a rough patch after my trip away and, despite a steroid injection, I am having another flare up.

I've had various commissions including tiaras and wedding jewellery, and made some new pieces using copper and warm, soft, colourful combinations of glass, gems and pearls - I did a whole slew of new items in this lovely metal and then started to play with crochet and some fluffy fibres.

At times like this it is important to keep doing something, so I have spent time with Merlin, am in the process cleaning my studio (which really needs it), making plans to send out an e-mail to everyone on the

Adventures

Today returned from a week away with my best friend -- we went to London (yes, right smack in the middle of the heightened security alerts!), we stayed close to the London Museum and had a chance to do pretty much a complete exploration of all the different exhibitions there --- I was very interested in the jewellery that was on display, some wonderful exhibits and I bought a museum book that discusses the history of jewellery over the course of 7000 years - I think I might have taken root for the next 7000 years in front of the jewellery cases had I been allowed to.
We had hoped to find time to go over to Greenwich but that will have to wait for another visit perhaps, but we spent time in Covent Garden, where my friend bought a hand-painted jacket and t-shirt for her daughter and we did lots of window shopping. I visited just about every bead and fabric shop in London found the odd interesting thing that I got straight to work with. My beads and wire travelled with me and any moment I had spare was spent crocheting with sterling or doing bead and wirework....which meant that I was able to come home with a fair amount of work ready to be completed with clasps and other findings.

A Holiday in France

Just got back from a very brief holiday in the south of France during which time I did lots of new work (a holiday never being a holiday unless I take my beads with me) --- mostly working on sterling silver crocheted bracelets, cuffs, earrings and necklaces which once finished will be coming onto the site - I did some work on the site, updating its look and giving it a small makeover - I plan a larger makeover later which may (or may not) include a change of business name to be more specific to handmade jewellery and more new sections, but my next target will be extending the

Love is Like....

'Love is like a fragile flower....if you want it to thrive and live, you must be gentle and kind to it, nurture it, love it and protect it.' (My Mum)

Something Special

I have been busy with a commission - a bracelet was requested for a little girl of three and a half who loves pink - I decided on making something with her name - I made the piece below with sterling and swarovski, making the bracelet with a safety chain so it would stay put on her wrist - technically it was quite difficult making the letters, strengthening them and making them work - but I think in the end this piece worked and I finished it with a heart charm and more swarovski crystal; as

Crocheting Jewellery with Sterling Wire

I have had a bit of a slow period creatively, perhaps because I am spending time and effort thinking about the Swarovski Crystal 2007 competition - I know what I want to make and have been drawing, colouring, making swatches with colours....anyway, nothing done is ever wasted - I started making this piece only to have realised I had in fact wire crocheted a cuff, which was not at all what I started out to make - an interesting thing about working with wire, and in this case with sterling, is that it seems to curve gently all of its own accord - this means the cuff will curl round the wrist

Crocheted Jewellery

The bracelet I gave to my friend Sharron - copper wire with Swarovski crystals, freshwater pearls and American-artist-made glass bead as the closure.
Been working on photos for the site for new jewellery - hopefully should have the site updated next week, subject to the technical department doing their bit....there will be some new crocheted pieces too - I have been wearing crocheted jewellery in copper, Swarovski and freshwater pearls - it seems to have a gorgeous fluidity and strength and feels so gorgeous against the skin that I cannot wait to start working with sterling.

Hectic!

A hectic couple of weeks whizzed by - Mark went to France with his Mum for a week whilst the business went haywire work-wise, then I got my own back and left him to it, though I did get an afternoon whilst he was away to drive up to the National Trust property Dunham Massey near Altrincham in Cheshire and enjoy the beautiful gardens - I was very lucky to see the bluebells in full bloom alongside other plants, the place was at its most beautiful as it always is at this time of year, but I was very taken with the bluebells which were breathtaking.

Then visited London and then Birmingham via the Lake District....yes, you can imagine that was quite hectic can't you...whilst Mark was away went to the Lakes with my Mum and Dad for a day over the weekend and had a wonderful day - as always it was so beautiful up there - went to the usual haunts, Ambleside, Windermere, Grasmere (Gingerbread Shop obligatory), climbed up the Bouderstone (ok, I didn't but I enjoyed watching other people do it) and had a scrumptions cream tea in a gorgeous little village called Grange before walking downstream and watching the world go by - a truly perfect, happy day.

New Jewellery

I have been ordering new beads and componets, books and tools and working on designing new kits for Beadaddict - however I have had time to design new pieces - bracelets and earrings mostly, involving new design kits for Beadaddict - I could not stop making these, and now I have a great pile of them in various colours - I seem to be attracted to blues, greens and bright things and have suddenly taken it into my head that I need to know how to crochet as I feel I could make some nice jewellery using crochet and beads - I am struggling a bit, but am sure trial and error should rectify this.

In the past couple of weeks we had a visit from Swarovski crystal (we are Swarovski crystal retailers for beads on the other site, Beadaddict) and we had the new area Manager and the UK Manager here for tea and biscuits and a lovely afternoon of looking at their new colours and shapes...they also took a look at my jewellery.Above: Latest Kit Designs for BeadAddict - once I started making these, I wanted to make them in all sorts of colours....

Washing the Horse

"Show me the horse, and I will show you the man"...(or woman!)

Had a fun day washing my horse, Merlin - here are some photos, taken by my Dad.

Showers and soap are only good if your Mummy is with you to give extra kisses...

Not his favourite thing, but he smells sooo good afterwards.

SLC Designs Studio

Finally got on with editing some studio photos - this is where I work....

Atlanta, America

Just returned from Atlanta in the USA - a couple of weeks attending bead shows, looking around bead shops and meeting bead people (so just your average sort of trip away then). The weather was generally awful though I did get sunburnt one day....the rest of the time it was chilly....and one night it even snowed!! (I so wished I had taken my thermal underwear....) I am hoping to return to the States later on in the year to attend another bead show and take some more classes - just seeing other people's work and the way that the other students interpret the same instructions is fascinating - I used to do some teaching and enjoyed it as a way of keeping in touch with other people, but I have not done that for a while.

Whilst away I took a jewellery making class to learn a new technique which involved a piece of wooden dowelling - I will be making some pieces using this wonderful new 'tool' in due course, went driving in the wilds somewhere or another (got hopelessly lost for a while), visited a