Beautiful Combinations....

 I thought I'd share some eye candy with you.  I love love love detail, colour, texture and maybe this can be seen in my work.  I've collected beads, pendants, charms and various findings to be able to create pieces of jewellery that I find pleasing.

The above necklace is a perfect example of this.  I've had the smooth round Kyanite beads for over a decade, the same is true of the fine silver turtle charm I've used as a pendant.  It was only more recently that I purchased the lampwork beads, which I feel match the Kyanite perfectly.

 These ancient looking lampwork beads were created with linear trails as inspired by the great civilizations of the past and were aged artifically using various techniques.  I've teamed them up with these fair trade Karen Hill Tribe fine silver sun print beads and I think the combination works well.

Here I've used Karen Hill Tribe fine silver bead caps (all the fine silver featured in this blog post is fair trade) and lovely Aquamarine beads, detail meets smooth and simple, I like the result =)

Just Add Some Sparkle....

I love colour!  In my possession I have a 18k white and yellow gold chain necklace, that I bought in Venezuela the last time I was there (which was too long ago) and I've made different gemstone pendants to fit onto it to suit my mood or what I am wearing.

Having the different pendants to choose from is wonderful, each one is different, with it's own style and energy, I can't stress enough how handy they are and how much I love them!  My favorite pendants are a beautiful Pink Sapphire heart cut briolette, a Oro Verde Quartz shield cut briolette (like the one shown in the picture below) and now a tiny dainty Lapis Lazuli onion cut briolette which I wire wrapped with goldfilled wire.

One by one I'll be adding these beauties to my etsy shop and resisting keeping them for myself ; )

It's starting to feel alot like Christmas...

It's that festive time of year again, time to break out the mince pies and mulled wine!  Every year I aim to get the Christmas tree up on the first of December, will I do it this year?  Fat chance I think as I haven't even checked to see if the fairy lights are working and the tree has been stuck in a box for almost a year (it's not a real tree).  Last year I was wonderfully organized when it came to gift buying, but this year Christmas has snuck up on me.  So above is a selection of lovely finds created by my Etsy British Emporia and Craft Britannia team mates and other talented Etsyians that have got me in that shopping mood =)

To visit this treasury and explore these lovely finds and shops click here!

Enjoy =)

It's starting to feel alot like winter....

 My gosh has it turned cold, true there's still some sunshine, but all I can say is thank goodness for coffee!  Although I'm not fond of the cold I think winter is a magical time of year with it's long nights, candle light, perfect for snuggling up under a blanket or duvet and reading/ listening to winter tales and stories.  I have a few favorites and the above treasury was inspired by them.  Karen and Richard of Grin Grimace and Squeak handcraft amazing masks, crowns and accessories and I love the above picture of Karen as the Snow Queen =)

To visit the above treasury click here to explore these lovely finds!

 

 These icy blue petite teardrop earrings are a fairly new addition to my etsy shop, they are so dinky =)

And I love these beads *drool*.  I'm in the process of listing this bracelet, just have to measure and price it, although very tempted to keep it!

These light blue opal Czech glass briolettes are dreamy (can you tell I'm a beadaholic).  Think I might use them with some goldfilled wire, they would look gorgeous =)

And now on Instagram...

I already tweet like a little bird on Twitter as @silverblossom8.  Blog here (must blog more often).  Have a page somewhere on Facebook and now I've started to use Instagram, which I'm finding quite fun and easy to use.  As I mainly sell my lovelies via my Etsy online shop it makes sense for me to use social media to let people know what I do, but it's also nice to share other things I find of interest and give people a little glimpse of my world (not including dirty dishes, I don't even want to see those).

So if your on Instagram you can find me here =) https://instagram.com/blossomingsilver/

Enjoy!

Something old......

 I thought I'd share these old pic's of mine, not sure if I have already on this blog, but every now and then I like to go back to drawing, it's something I've always done and well should really spend more time on it!

 I've used flash, photoshop, a photo, good old pencils and gouache paints.  In the above image, the ghostly lady was drawn and coloured in flash and the trees are originally hand drawn using coloured pencils and scanned. I put the two together in photoshop to get this effect. it was a long time ago.

 You may be able to tell from this drawing if you hadn't already guessed that I'm a fan of anime =)  Maybe I should point out that I use a mouse to draw in flash/ illustrator.  When I first started drawing on computers it was pixel by pixel =)

Ok this is just a pencil doddle of mine, I love fantasy art and fiction and you'll see it in my drawings.

Never really finished this, it's another doddle of sorts a kind of practicing piece, maybe I'll get round to practicing again in the future, would be nice.

And here's one of my tattoo designs, that after 16 ish years I had tattooed onto the back of my neck.  Did it hurt....No the guy that did it for me was really gentle, this is a same day picture =)

Crafty Hen Party....

 This was so much fun, family, friends, cup cakes, tea and crafting (we did also bring some wine ;) does it really get much better then that!

For those of you who have read my blog posts or tweets before, you'll know I can't sew, but hey we were making garter belts and I think I've found a new calling!  Ribbon, lace, lots of colours, patterns oh yes I can feel a trip to a haberdashery coming on.  Our tutor was super helpful and lovely and even I left with a lovely completed garter belt of my very own =)

If this sounds like your kind of thing then have a look at the Tea and Crafting website, I highly recommend the experience (much better then watching male, well you know, that's not my cup of tea)!

Coffee Art...

 A thing of beauty is a treasure to behold and these lattes were not only beautiful to behold but smelled and tasted wonderful!  Alas as beautiful as they were I couldn't resist drinking them, so I captured their essence in photo form to share with you (aren't I generous ;)

 The lovely creative peeps @VagabondN4 are responsible for these creations, like sewing (which I'm pants at), I can't do this with coffee, so every cup or glass as in this case, is like a little creative inspiration and the 2 shots of yummy caffeine are also very helpful in keeping the creative juices flowing ;)

Feeling blue...

Yes I know it's been a long time since I've made a treasury to share my lovely etsy finds with you.  The truth is life happens and well mojo is affected, but then it starts to come back in trickles and then starts to flow.  So I hope you'll enjoy taking the time to explore these beautiful finds and the talented people behind them!  

To visit this treasury click here!

Enjoy & share the love =) xx

Golden Summer....

 Gorgeously vibrant and golden!  I've added these lovelies to my collection of teardrop earrings and the wonderful thing is that as the wire and ear wires used are 14k goldfilled they are kind to sensitive ears, without the huge price tag =)

 So what is gold filled? The answer is that gold-filled is an actual layer of gold that has been pressure bonded to another suitable metal alloy and wears like solid gold. There is no flaking, rubbing off or changing of colour and your skin will only come into contact with the pure gold. This is what makes it more affordable, whilst still providing all the qualities of solid gold.

Whilst I love silver, I love the warmth of gold and there is something luxurious about it.  Find these lovelies here in the teardrop section of my etsy shop =)

Spring is here with free chocolate mini eggs.....

Or it should be!  It's cold, grey, windy and raining (early April showers maybe?) but have no fear I have mini chocolate eggs to included in all my orders till the end of April (chocolate is known to be a cure all, feel good yummy source of goodness ;)  Share them, eat them all yourself or give them as a mini gift to someone else if you like!

To visit my Etsy shop click here!

Seaside Hues....

Hello my lovelies, it's almost March already and in the UK we'll be celebrating Mother's Day.  So I've decided to create this treasury of beautiful finds with seaside themed gifts.  Hopefully I'll get the chance to visit the seaside soon and look for some seaglass!  But until then I'll have to content myself with making some sea themed jewellery.

To  visit the above treasury click here!

 

I've been making lots of teardrop earrings in new colours (they are lovely) that would fit into this colour scheme, as well as in various shades of teal.  Now I need to make a to do list and do a little creative planning for the year ahead =)

Healthy thoughts....

 

It's that time of year again, the shops are full of things to buy as gifts for other people (even before the Christmas trees were packed away), but maybe before diving into all of that it's time to take a little time for yourself to re-energize and get healthy (well healthier every little bit helps).  Health is wealth!  So what healthy things am I doing you might wonder.  Well I'm trying to get stronger, not like a body builder, I'm hyper-mobile so getting stronger for me hopefully will mean less pain and injuries.  I have a rowing machine which I'm using and am learning the art of sit ups.  But dancing is also good exercise and you can do it in the comfort of your home!  Drinking more water!  Not too much caffeine ( I NEED MY COFFEE).  Eating healthy, I already am quiet good, but I've been trying to cut down on wheat and use more spelt flour in my baking.  In the cupboard I have some nuts, walnuts at the moment, to snack on and dark chocolate chip oat biscuits (40% less sugar and yummy), so I'm less tempted by the triple chocolate biscuits!  I also bought myself a comfy pair of bright pink and black trainers, one day I'll run in them so that counts ;)

Well to inspire healthy thoughts and share some lovely finds I made the above treasury.  I love red! 

To visit the treasury click here!

Enjoy!

Teardrops in every colour....

 Well not quite but I'm trying!  I love these briolettes and now have over 30 different colours/ sizes to play with.  They are great for everyday wear and are also popular as bridesmaid jewellery.  I like wire wrapping them with sterling silver wire, the end result is worth the extra time it takes =)

The matte aqua blue and matte teal green colours that I've just added to the collection, have a great sea glass look that I love. 

These are another new favorite.  These opal light teal green beauties are both translucent and semi opaque, as I've tried to show with this photo.  No two earrings are exactly the same, which I like =)

To see all the full collection as it grows click here!

Enjoy!

Happy New Year & hello Marsala.....

 

Happy New Year!  2014 seemed to zoom by and here we are with a brand new shiny 2015, so lets make it a good one!  I've already been buying more lovely beads and supplies so watch this blog for lots of eye candy.  

This years pantone colour is Marsala and what a yummy colour it is.  I've had a search on Etsy and found these beauties to wear or for the home.  Very tempted to purchase some of these lovelies!  As I've said before I love red and can see this tone working well through out the seasons with other colours.

Maybe not quite Marsala, but these garnets are beautiful and I love the twisted spiral briolettes cut, it's one of my favorite.  

To visit the above treasury click here!

Enjoy & have a happy, healthy 2015 =)