Little Kisses...

Little baby Harley is nicknamed 'Little Kisses' because one of his favourite things is to come to me, purring, and put his head right underneath my face....and of course, you just have to cover his lovely little head with kisses....mmmmm.....little kisses. 

My latest find - a rare antique tiara...

 
Just imagine the life this piece has seen.  The balls it has been to, the champagne, the laughter, the happiness; the generations of women who have worn it - mothers, sisters, daughters and grandchildren - brides, belles and friends.  

This is a true vintage rarity, so rare I've never handled one before.   Late Victorian to Edwardian, it's a high quality 'half' tiara' typical of the period - fixed on by loops and a cord or ribbon tie which is surprisingly comfortable to wear (trust me, I've couldn't resist....); I suspect the cord which is currently on the tiara is not original but I can't swear to that, so I plan to change it with hand-dyed silk ribbons.

All the faceted glass 'paste' stones are silver backed to give a beautiful though tasteful glitter, each one is claw set; the frame is most likely brass with a sterling silver overlay, some of which has come away over time in line with its age - which to me, was one of the most touching things about it as it shows it has been worn and loved.

This type of piece fell out of favour and fashion and many were destroyed, lost, their history forgotten; it is sad to think in over 20 years of collecting, this is the only one I have ever handled, they are that rare.  

Even more lovely, it still has its original blue velveteen box - the inside is specially shaped to keep it protected, and the two together are incredibly precious.    I have of course acquired it for my TiaraOnline website in the hope at some point that a bride will want to create another memory whilst wearing this piece.  In the meantime, I'm happy to have it with me, however briefly.  

Merlin

To many, the words love, hope, and dreams are synonymous with horses....

Beautiful Merlin, Summer 2011...

New Work...

Turquoise and Gold-Fill...

Green Amethyst and Gold-Fill, Gold Plated Birdies and Sterling Silver Posts

Peridot, Mother of Pearl and Fire Opal

Zircon and Gold-Fill...

Beautiful Rock Crystal and Gold-Fill

Freshwater Pearls, Zircon, Rock Crystal and Sterling Silver...

Turquoise, Sterling Silver and Garnet...

Chalcedony, Vermeil and Gold-Fill...

Topaz and Gold Fill...

Fighting With...

I cannot belive such a long time has gone by since my last post, especially as I began the year practically blogging every day!!  Sometimes there's loads to report on, and other times not so much, though this quiet period in my blog has mostly been caused by health issues - my Rheumatoid Arthritis has raised its ugly head once more and I just haven't had the energy to blog recently, and hey, who wants to hear about this bone hurting more than that one?  I sure don't and I'm pretty sure you don't either.  I've just been doing quite a lot of burrowing into my pillows and bed, reading and not a lot else, though I did manage to sneak off to my favourite health spa, Ragdale Hall last week for some much needed TLC.   It was lovely as always and I felt a lot better mentally if not physically for having had a bit of pampering.

I had thought I'd get away with sneaking off without anyone noticing, only to be updated by Mark that I had an avalanche of orders stacking up...this made me feel really guilty for being away, but he managed it and I want to thank everyone who was willing to wait a few days whilst I was away.  Usually I put a big message at the front of the site, and to be honest I forgot.  Apologies.  In any case, the avalanche is dealt with now, and I'm clear of outstanding orders so my conscience is salved.

I've been doing loads of cooking in the past several weeks, I suddenly got the bug for it and its nice to do other creative stuff, and I do think of cooking as creative.   I made the most AMAZING chocolate cake for Father's Day and had Mum and Dad over for dinner - alas I forgot to take any photos, so you'll have to take my word for it, but I love to cook....eventually we plan to knock a wall out to the side of the kitchen and make a much larger one but that's all in the pipeline under 'Manyana' because I have a horror of home construction projects as its a strong childhood memory that my parents must have been the original property developers; we moved a lot, and every house we lived in, my Dad was always knocking down walls, building extensions and putting new roofs on....its not at all that it was awful, its just anytime I think of all that dust and mess I start gibbering.

Well, we've adopted ANOTHER new pussycat; we had a bit of a tragedy as you know when lovely Blue died a while back and we adopted Harley who is lovely and cute but he immediately bonded to me rather than to Mark; so Mark was on the look-out for another cat and we've adopted Bailey, previously 'Ghost' who needed rehoming as the little boy to whom he belonged was allergic to him in a major way - Bailey is a Tiffanie cat (no, we'd never heard of the breed either) and as you can see from the pics, he is beyond beautiful.  Apparently Mark is a cat snob, because all the other three are mogs - the three have all bonded to me of course, and Mark is working on Bailey to get him to bond to him.  Bailey isn't actually living with us as yet because it turned out he had some sort of cat virus which we didn't fancy giving to our other cats so at present he is at Mark's Mum's on quarantine until we get the all-clear which shouldn't be too long away now.

The one thing I do know about my cats and Merlin my horse is they all instinctively sense when I am not well and do their own thing to try and look after me.   Harley likes to lie right against me and purr very very hard into me; it does make me feel better, because that sort of unconditional love is very very special.

So, its four cats now, and that is absolutely the limit - its a nice number and certainly the three we have in the house now make it feel full, like a home, as there's always something going on, and they bring warmth and happiness to the house.

I have been doing some new work and although I can't make promises as to when it will go on the site, where it does there will be lots of new pieces to look at - I've also got lots of fresh vintage stuff as well, but of course the progress of all that is health dependent.


I hope you'll forgive the total silence, and hopefully I can make up for it soon.


Love, Stephanie x