Christmas trip to Bruxelles

I have always wanted to see the Brussels Christmas market so last weekend Dave and I went to stay for a few days in Brussels. We got the Eurostar straight there from London which I always enjoy using as its more scenic and greener than flying. We stayed in The Dominican Hotel which is in the centre of everything going on and was a very friendly and beautiful hotel. The Chritmas market is set in Place Sainte Catherine and is busy but not packed where you can't move or see anything. There are 250 small chalets selling everything from retro tin toys, allsorts of different foods and drink, jewellery, clothing, handmade gifts. There is also a huge ferris wheel, a gorgeous quirky carousel which has a dinosaur, submarine, hotair balloon and a few other strange great things that all had moving parts for the children to play with and an outdoor ice skating rink which we went on.

These photos are of the beautiful childrens carousel.

We came back to the market the following day to go ice skating which was loads of fun, we enjoyed ourselves so much!

I hadn't skated for about 17 year but soon got the hang of it :)

Dave tring to keep upright!

There were loads of little streets just full of great shops that we came across when we got lost but if we hadn't got lost we wouldn't have found the Grand Place. Down one of these streets before we ended up at the Grand Place we came across the most beautiful shop I have ever seen called La Cure Gourmande which is a sucrecuitier, biscuitier and chocolatier and it had this gorgeous old fashioned style which I loved.

The whole shop was like this, just full of gorgeous coloured containers filled with goodies and tins with ribbons full of soft biscuits and I could have just bought everything!

The Grand Place is the huge central square surrounded by guildhalls and the city's townhall and is so grand! The square was full of people waiting for the Les Nuits Electrabel to start which is a light show to music on the townhall and was amazing. The atmosphere there was brilliant, we ended up going back again the second night when they had a DJ playing for the lights.

The Grand Place during the day.

The Townhall. If you look closely you can see bars on the windows, thes are the light bars which light up for the light show when it got dark. There were also images and patterns projected onto the building during the light show.

This is one of the light shows I recorded.

We had a great time there and will definitely be going back in the future!

Cold weather and furnace glass :o)

The cold weather has started and the clocks went back here a couple of weekends ago and its just not nice! The only thing that gets me through the winter is my pjs, dressing gown and soon to be electric blanket :o). As I sit typing this Im waiting for my husband to finish his work and come with me to the supermarket as Ive decided its essential I have an electric blanket.  Last night I just couldn't get to sleep as my face was numb from the cold! 

I know I haven't updated my blog recently but as promised I have added a couple more items to my shop, made using furnace glass which I love.  I think the colours in both sets of these sterling silver earrings are just beautiful, greens and purples are my most favorite colours.

Anyway Im off to get my electric blanket now and then a mug of hot chocolate before bed, and if the weather is turning cold and wintery where you are then make sure you all keep toastie warm!!

SALE SALE SALE!!

Im having my first sale in my Etsy shop this weekend starting today. Everything in the whole shop is 25% off from 23-25 October. More jewellery in store. Come and grab a bargin!!!
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7573289

Sterling Silver Furnace Bead Necklace

I have just completed my first sterling silver necklace for my Etsy store, made using my sterling silver components and chain I recently bought.  I have also just got a few packs of David Christensen furnace beads which I love so much and though they would go perfect in my store.  I also used yellow and an aquamarine 4mm swarvoski crystals with this necklace to bring out the rainbow colours of the furnace bead perfectly.  I am so pleased with this necklace and Im hoping its going to be a favorite with my cutomers.  I am going to be making a few different pairs of sterling silver earrings using my other funace beads which have different colour schemes and I will be adding them to my Etsy store and to my blog shortly, so keep a look out for them :)  http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=32879089

Insane cat!

I absolutely love cats and I have 3 very unique ones of my own. I saw this video the other day and thought it was so funny, so I just had to add it to my blog to bring a smile to everyones faces!

The Lake District

I mentioned in my last post that I havent had much time at the moment for updating my blog.  Well last weekend my husband and I went for a long weekend 4 night stay at The Lake District, so I thought I would do a quick post to share our adventures.  We both really enjoy staying at the lakes, its so peaceful and beautiful.  We usually stay at a hotel called The Swan Hotel in Newby Bridge which is set along a river that leads into the south of Windermere lake which means there is quite a drive to go to visit most of the lakes but its such a gorgeous hotel we think its worth it.  The first whole day we had there we planned to have a hike upto Easdale Tarn which is roughly an hour and a half to two hours walk to get up to the Tarn.  The walk starts off in Grasmere (the home and burial place of William Wordsworth), over a little stone bridge and up into the hills past a waterfall called Sour Milk Gill then higher still, which was a bit tiring on my legs but worth it when I saw the beautiful tarn surrounded by wilderness.  I first saw Easdale Tarn in a book about the British Isles a few years ago and I just had to see it for myself.

Us just before it got steep :)

Sour Milk Gill

Easdale Tarn

This picture of me was taken high up on a hill to get the whole tarn in the picture as it was quite large.

The second day we planned to do a mountain walk upto Cat Bells.  I read that this is an easy/family walk but it was still tiring and I had to stop a few times to catch my breath.  We parked in Keswick and took the boat over Derwent Water to Hawes End, the start of the Cat Bells walk.  We only had about 4 hours to do it in and get back to the pier in time for the last boat pickup of the day to take us back to Keswick so we didnt have much time for resting.  Once we were up there and reached the peak the view was so beautiful!  We stopped at the top to sit down and eat our lunch along with all the other climbers, took some more photos and headed down the other side for our trek back.  We made it back to Hawes End pier with half an hour to spare :)

The boat ride over to Hawes End.

The Cat Bells summit is the peak on the left.  The walk started on the far right up and along the ridge to the peak on the left, then over the top to the far left of the photo then walking halfway down to the bottom and across to the far right back to the pier.

Almost there. (thats not us in the photo by the way).  You can see the path we came back on in the far left of the photo.

Yey, we made our first ever mountain! 451 metres above sea level.  Very windy and sunny!

The beautiful views of Derwent Water.

In the very distance you can just about make out Bassenthwaite Lake.

Custom orders

I have been quite busy lately so I havent updated my blog for a while.

Just over a week ago I had a customer convo me in my Esty shop asking me if I could restring some jewellery for her that was done in macrame as she liked the macrame jewellery I made and sold in my shop. I agreed to do it for her so she sent me her items. She wanted her 2 turquoise bead bracelets restrung in the same way they were originally strung with the same colour threads. The second piece was a packet of small pearls she sent and wanted them made into a bracelet the same way the turquoise bracelets were made. And the last piece was a black thread necklace with silver beads she wanted changing onto brown silk thread that she supplied. I was very pleased with the outcome as I didnt have a clue what she was going to be sending me because she didnt have a camera so she couldnt take any photos of what I would be working on, I was just going to try my best to do what she was asking as I wanted to help her. I finally finished them yesterday and sent her photos of them and she was over the moon!
I have done custom orders in the past where someone will ask if I can make something that I already sell but in a different colour.  I think maybe I might start offering restringing option too.

Turquoise bracelets

Pearl bracelet

Brown necklace

Things to come..

I recieved my sterling silver goodies the other day and couldnt wait to start some new items for my shop.  A simlar pair of these earrings in silver plated wires sold about a week ago which were one of my favorite pieces so I have recreated them with sterling silver earwires. I loved making these! Getting the composition right with the colours and beads took a while because I didnt want to just copy the ones I sold but I got there in the end and I love them :)

Sterling silver

I was in the Etsy forums the other day and noticed someone had put on a question "do you go for sterling silver or silver plated?". I was curios to know everyones choice as my jewellery is silver plated. I use silver plated because its cheaper to buy so keeps my selling costs down and I have never had any problems wearing silver plated jewellery. So in the forum about 97% of people were saying they prefer sterling silver and dont mind paying the extra cost of it. After this insite I had a think and decided to buy a few items of sterling silver to see how well it sells. I went online and placed a sterling silver order for 3 different wires, ear hooks, jump rings, chain and some bolt rings so I can start offering a sterling silver option. Im quite excited to recieve my order and will keep you updated on my sterling silver items as I make them.

Finally new pieces in my shop!

These are my recent pieces, Lobster pink shell earrings. I really love the colours of the lobster pink and the lime crystals, they go so well.

With this necklace I had the idea that I wanted to make a colourful necklace that was fun and made for everyday. I love using pony beads as the colours of them are gorgeous so I used a mix of large and small ones. I was careful to not make the colours clash but to keep them in harmony with each other and I think it worked.

This is my blue shell necklace. Blue oval shell hoops with glass and wooden beads, threaded onto purple hemp with a silver clasp. I really love the way this has turned out. Id had these blue shell hoops for quite a while but no ideas came to me with what to make with them that I liked until the other day when I made this. Its exactly what my jewellery is about, a boho ethnic feel.

Whats new?

So I made a start on Monday but still haven't made too much progress with the polymer clay beads, even with the help of my cat Jasper!

I have been quite busy this week so I haven't had time to make any new pieces of jewellery or any crafing at all until tonight. I have made two necklaces and a set of earrings which Im very pleased with and will show you on here when I have done the photos of them for my Etsy shop.

Making beads with polymer clay

Its bank holiday Monday here today so I'm spending the day at home crafting. This is just a quick post to show you the gorgeous colours of polymer clay I'm going to be using to make beads. I'm using Fimo in metallic gold, plum, leaf green, light turquoise, sunflower and purple violet (which is really just a strong pink). I chose this palette with colours of India in mind which I absolutely love and cant wait to get started.

Tasty home baking

My Chocolate and Raspberry Pavlova.

Basically I made 2 meringues and sandwiched them together with freshly whipped double cream, raspberry coulis, fresh raspberries and chocolate sauce. The top was finished using fresh raspberries, and drizzled with raspberry coulis and chocolate sauce. Delicious!

Lemon Meringue Pie.

This was my second attempt at making lemon meringue pie. The first time I made it was straight forward enough, everything was going great until it came out of the oven. I didn't realise that I would have to leave it for quite a few hours before cutting into it. So Dave and I had been waiting for the oven timer to go off so we could start eating it. I left it to cool for about 10 mins and just couldn't wait any longer, I needed to try it. I placed it on the chopping board and cut into it and the lemon filling came oozing out in liquid! Quickly we both got a spoon and we ended up eating the whole thing between us as I was unable to save it. Needless to say we both felt a bit sick afterwards but it was very tasty which led me to have another go. This time I left it overnight and it was perfect!

Cupcakes with Strawberry flavor icing and Sprinkles :)

My 3 triple troublets!

Fudge. Hes a semi long haired cat. Hes Jasper's brother and he is 3 years old. His favorite hobbies are watching the birds, anything to do with water, sleeping, having lots of cuddles and sitting in boxes (even boxes he cant fit in!). He goes by various names, Fudge, Fudgy Fudge cake, The Fudgester and Fudge Muffin.

This is Jasper. Hes Fudges brother and is 3 years old. Hes a semi long haired too. His hobbies are sleeping, eating absolutly anything off the floor, eating, having lots of kisses and strokes and watching flies. He also goes by various names, Jasper, Jaspy, Jaspy Jasp and Jassy.

This is Milly (the boss of the 3 as you can tell by the photo). She has no relation to Jasper or Fudge. She is a tabby and is 6 years old. Her hobbies are being as irratic as possible, sleeping, having lots of strokes, eating prawns and telling the brothers off! She goes by the names of Milly, Milster, Lil Mil, Lilly Milly and Lilly Milster.

First post :)

This is my first post of my new blog. I have recently set up making my own jewellery to sell and will be updating regularly with my new creations.

A bit about myself: I have been married for 10 years to my husband Dave whom I met when I was 15 and I'm a stay at home wife which I love and feel really fortunate to be. We have 3 house cats, Milly, Jasper and Fudge which are the most lovely little things but get up to all sorts of trouble :). I love different crafts and always have something on the go, whether it be knitting, cross-stitch, making something for the house with my sewing machine, making beads or little things with polymer clay, card making, glass painting or anything else that I can turn my hand to. I absolutely love craft shops, I could and I do spend too much time in them just looking at all the colourful pretty things! gorgeous fabrics! rubber stamps! paints! card toppers! beads! beautiful wool! and all of those coloured and metallic sewing threads, the way they are presented all in order of colour just makes you want them all doesn't it! I'm one of those people that if I want something new either clothing etc or something for the house I can never find that specific thing I have in mind anywhere in the shops so I spend hours and hours searching the net for that perfect thing! That's one of the benefits of crafting is that I can make it myself if I want it. I also love baking and cooking, it tastes loads nicer than shop bought and it is really satisfying to see the final result as with all my crafting hobbies. Well that's it for now, hope you visit again soon!