Christmas Loveliness...

It's nearly Christmas but there's still time to do some online shopping so here are some lovely finds from the British Emporia Team and other talented Etsyians.   I went for a ethnic spice theme for the above treasury, I love the combination of cinnamon, cloves, star anise, nut meg, ginger and citrus. 

To visit the above treasury click here!

 And you can't have Christmas without including some Robins =)

To visit the above treasury click here!

What does a Jewellery Maker Wear...

 Well I've swapped my petite earrings for these lovelies recently.  Since Autumn I've felt the need for lovely purples and reds in my wardrobe.  I made these earrings a few years ago and have found myself wearing them daily.  Their a nice weight, not too heavy and a good length, not getting caught up in my scarf.  As these are real rubies and there are quite few of them, I used lever back ear wires to make sure they stay put in my ears.  Wire wrapped with sterling silver wire, I added tiny orissa garnets and Swarovski crystals to complete these earrings.

 And here are my most worn bracelets at the moment.  One bracelet is simply made of faceted black onyx rondelle beads and sterling silver.  The second is made of a combination of rose quartz, red jade, amethyst, rhodonite, fluorite, a onyx butterfly, fair trade Karen Hill Tribe black silver beads and sterling silver wire.  I love the combination on the two bracelets and the combining colours, they help ward off the cold =)

Lampwork Beautiful...

Lots of lampwork bead eye candy for today's post!  I finally managed to take photos whilst there was some sunshine.  You might of read my earlier post on Autumn/ fall, it has a picture of a beautiful collection of leaves I photoed near my children's primary school.  Well here is the bracelet inspired by the colours of those leaves.  

This bracelet is also Autumnal inspired.

These earrings have warm cognac coloured lampwork beads.

I then moved onto these ivory creamy caramel smoky beige lampwork beads.  These were handcrafted by lampwork bead artisan Sue Doran and no two beads are alike.

 As you can see I've made these asymmetrical earrings from complementing beads which I think work beautifully together.

Thank you for stopping by =)

Packaging....

 Well it's been something I've been working on, like my Etsy shop, so I thought I'd take some photo's to share =) Note to self need to buy sharper scissors to snip those little threads on the organza gift bags/pouches!

This is the free gift I added in the package, who doesn't like a prezzie =)

My matching sticker and business card.  You likey?  The designs are by moi =)

 And finally the box sealed with love & cute kawaii washi tape, ready to be posted.

Christmas Magnets....

These little cuties arrived on Saturday.  10 designs to grace the fridge and very handy for keeping those school letters, photo's and drawings in place!  I had fun drawing these designs and found little clear lidded tins made here in the UK to put them in as gift set, just need to work out how to add Pay Pal buttons to my blog now =)

Tis the season to be jolly...

It's December already and it's time to put the Christmas tree up and start decorating the house.  Maybe you enjoy this time of year differently, everyone has their own way to spend the festive season, so I'll wish you light, warmth and happiness =)

Here are some lovely Etsy picks I've selected for your viewing pleasure, so do have a look at these lovely shops!

I had a busy weekend, but it was lovely to take part in the Crouch End Barboot in Little Paris and to Ashmount Primary School Winter Fair, I even got to help with the decorating of Santa's Grotto =)

To visit the treasury click here!

Enjoy =)

Winter is coming......

 It's getting darker earlier and there's a cold chill in the wind.  Judging by the amount of berries on the tree's it's going to be a harsh winter.  But rather then focus on the heating bills, Winter is a time of magical beauty.  So here I've put together a collection of icy blue polar bear beautiful finds for your viewing pleasure.  Snow, ice and polar bears, you can't more magical then that really =)

 To visit the above treasury click here!

Here are a pair of icy blue petite teardrop earring that I made, they are delicate and the colour is beautiful =)

Autumn Fall.......

It's still Autumn so I thought I'd share these lovely finds with you.  A collection of handmade,  vintage and art/ photography lovelies in Autumn/ Fall Shades and themes. 

We've had some beautiful sunshine (maybe to make up for the lack of it at the end of the Summer holidays) which has been wonderful!  True it's a bit windy at times, with down pours, but lets focus on the Autumn sunshine and beauty before we have to put on big coats and as my layers of clothing as possible!  Here's a pic I took of a mini pile of gorgeous colourful leafs we found next to my children's school =)

To visit the above treasury click here!

Getting the colour right......

 Well I've been busy making, photographing, re-sizing and listing my latest lovelies and as I take my photo's in natural light it can take several attempts at getting it right.  With our lovely ever so temperamental British weather one second the lighting is just right and the next too dull.....

 I'm happy to report that these photo's are true to colour, so they've made it into my shop.  As for the others, well lets hope there's some sunshine tomorrow!

Gorgeous Reds....

 I love red, can you tell?  It's been my favorite colour for over 20 years, although I now also have other favorite colours/ shades, the rich reds have a special je ne sais quoi for me.  It's just such a gorgeous colour!

 So here are some gorgeous red earrings that I've just added to my shop for your viewing pleasure.  I set my self the goal of having 200 listings in my shop by Christmas, so I'll be busy playing, I mean busy working with my beads, taking photo's and writing the listings (go and have a read of the listings they can take ages to write).

 I'm forever adding new colours/ shades to the glass teardrop earring range, they are great, but in the coming months I'll be adding more Artisan lampwork beads and gem stone jewellery as well.

 These crimson lampwork beauties reminded me a bit of glace cherries, I loved cheery loaf cake as a child, it was my job to cut the glace cherries into quaters.  The Silver beads I've used for these earrings are Karen Hill Tribe and fair trade =)

Well time to get back to the wire wrapping, so until next time keep well =)

It's Autumn.....

It's already Autumn, the fact that there are conkers (horse chestnuts) all over the pavements makes it official!  I'm kind of sad that we never made it to the seaside this year, but it looks like summer is done for another year, so maybe if we do get a chance to visit a beach it will be for some fossil hunting rather then swimming.  I've been a bit ill, so energy has been low, in part maybe due to doing the books for last tax year (not fun), but now it's done (yeah) I'm trying to rekindle my treasury mojo.

I picked Damson Tree's Sunflower earrings as my inspiration with late Summer early Autumn in mind.  Honey and bees came to mind and then the beautiful colours of Autumn leaves in reds, rusts and other beautiful shades.  Because there are still beautiful flowers in full bloom, I added this gorgeous floral silk pillow cushion that has been made from a vintage kimono by Lynn Watt (She's the lovely lady I asked to make me some special draw string gift bags for some of my higher end jewellery).

These orange lovelies are perfect for Autumn.  I've still to decide what new additions my wardrobe will be needing for this Autumn/ Winter, but maybe I'll add some orange in as it's the colour of joy and clementines =)

To visit the above treasury click here!

Keeping it Simple with Linen Thread....

 Yay I took some picture's, granted the sunshine was kind of missing, but let's focus on the positive!

 I made these simple necklaces for the school summer fair using the lovely waxed Irish linen thread and other materials including freshwater pearls, Czech glass beads and shell beads.

 Unfortunately I didn't take picture's before selling some of these lovelies as I do like to have a visual record of everything I make.

They look lovely worn individually or combined =)

The Sun is out again......

So before I try and take some photo's and maybe go out into the garden, I thought I'd share another treasury (yup I've been getting back into the habit of making them).  My aim was to create a relaxed garden/ home, with a little walk to the local shops theme.  Maybe this is because I like going out for a walk later on in the day when it's not so hot and getting a coffee =)  I love everything here!  The rolling pin is wonderful and I think it would make a great gift for someone special I know and the espresso cups are too cute.

To visit this treasury click here!

Think I might try and take better picture's of these earrings.  The are a lovely antique pale lustered green =)

Looking for a Rainbow....

It's been hot 24 - 7 until the rain came today with thunder and lightning.  And in between the rain showers if the sun comes out maybe you would of seen a rainbow.  There's always something magical about seeing a rainbow and my children love spotting them. But today I went looking for rainbows on Etsy, created by my talented team mates and other Etsyians and here are some of the lovely finds I found =)

To visit this treasury click here!

I've also been adding some new colours to the collection of teardrop briolette earrings available in my etsy shop, with more to come, but still have lots of pictures to take!  Hopefully now the kids are on holiday I'll have more time and some sunshine to take the pictures!

And now available from my Etsy shop is this lovely set of 8 pairs of earrings =)

For details click here!

Finding the Ocean.....

I love the Sea and find the Oceans fascinating, so no wonder many of my treasuries are themed after them.  As always I love looking for finds in aquatic colours and tried to capture a little of the movement as well.  The beautiful teal skirt in the top row looks to me as if its floating with the beautiful fish =)

To view this treasury click here!

Enjoy!

Summer Blues.....

 Hello again!  It's Summer time again and here in London we've been enjoying some lovely sunshine with the odd rainy cloudy day.  So it's time to enjoy the weather, get some vitamin D (but be careful in the sun), eat lots of summer fruit and spend lots of time out side =)

Here are some lovely blue finds for your viewing pleasure. 

To visit this treasury click here!

Beads Glorious Beads......

Well I haven't been able to resist buying beads, so here's some eye candy for the jewellery / bead/ aholic's out there =) 

 

I try to always have a wide colour selection of beads to work with, which is easier to do with the glass beads compared to the semi precious stone's, as in having a selection in a certain cut/ style/ size of bead in the same price range, which is not always possible with gemstones as the price can vary a lot more and some stones are more delicate then others or not found often in larger sizes.

I'll admit that when I bought these beads I was thinking of WoW (World of Warcraft) which is a game where you collect all types of materials to make things as well as fighting dragons,  the smaller beads look to me as if they were made of little pieces of molten lava=)

I love this colour, it's gorgeous!

These beads make me think of blended ice coffee =)

Midnight Rockpool.....

This beautiful lampwork bead by Maya Honey is the focal point for this necklace.  I chose to use gold-filled wire, fine chain and beads for this necklace.  The beautifully faceted tear drops are inky blue Iolite which is also known as Water Sapphire.  Labradorite faceted rondelles also grace this necklace with their shimmering beauty.

The colours in this lampwork bead are gorgeous and the shapes very organic.  These little studs complement the necklace.