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.