And the winner is...

Kitsch Kitty! Congratulations Lucy - I'll email you for your address and get the earrings posted off to you asap. B's at his childminders today, so I used a random number thingy on the web to 'pick out of the hat' for me.

I'll be back later with some photos!

Wednesday already?!

What do you mean it's Wednesday already?! This week is going far too quickly, but then most weeks seem to be like that at the moment! Mind you, it's far better to busy than quiet when you're self employed. I've spent part of Ben's preschool session this afternoon having a coffee and a chat with T's brother who dropped in while he was working in the area (he lives north of Birmingham so it was an unexpected pleasant surprise) and the rest improving my indoor photos, so I'll have some goodies for you to look at tomorrow.

In the meantime, though, I thought I'd remind you that you've still got a couple of hours until the competition I posted last week finishes. Click here for more details. You don't need a blog to be able to leave a comment, just make sure that you leave me a way of contacting you if you win!

The right tool for the job

I finally had the chance to read the September newsletter from the Art Jewelry Magazine this afternoon - well, better late than never! I found a link to this great list of the tools needed for different types of jewellery making, from wirework to enamelling to metal clay. It's got photos of all the different tools too, which is great for when you've been told the name of a tool but have no idea what it looks like. It's also been useful in helping me identify a couple of tools that I'd inherited!

My boys are back!

My boys came home yesterday afternoon! T phoned me when they were about 30 minutes away and so I was sitting in the bay window waiting for them to arrive. I managed to get lots of work done while they were gone and they had a lovely time with our friends in Wales and with Grandma and Grandad (they called in on the journey), but 5 nights is far far far too long. Heavens, what on earth am I going to be like when he leaves home?!

I did take a bit of a break from working while they were away and took the opportunity to do some stencilling in B's new bedroom too - something I'd been wanting to do since I first painted it. I've stencilled cars, trains, bicycles, tractors, boats and aeroplanes around his room and he had great fun trying to find them all. They're not quite as neat as I'd have liked (horrible bumpy woodchip wallpaper) but he likes them, that's the main thing. Ummm - I really must improve my indoor photos! Outside in sunshine ones are good, but my indoor ones look too harsh or washed out and my very simple camera won't let me change any settings. Maybe I should drop a few hints for Christmas?! Anyway, the cars do look a lot better in real life, honest!




And they brought me back a present too - a hot pot for heating my pickle! I asked T's mum if she'd be able to look out for one for me at the car boot sales she goes to, and she got one really quickly. Pickle is essential when you're soldering sterling silver as it's the only real way to get rid of the fire scale that appears after the silver is heated. Pickle works alot faster if it's warm and so far I've been using a tealight food warmer to do the job. This will be far more efficient, and look, I've been able to use it already!

Post number 101 - competition time!

I've realised this morning the post yesterday was my 100th! Who would have thought that I could talk that much? Well, apart from T and the friends I spend ages on the phone with?

Well, I can't let this go unmarked. I logged on to the computer to tell you that the random number generator picked Gill Utting (I've emailed you, Gill, to get your address) to win last month's earrings (if you can't remember what they looked like, not that I really expect you to, look here) and to show you a picture of the earrings for this month's prize draw, but I think I will have to have two competitions now...

Competition number one - October's newsletter prize draw. If you would like a chance of winning these lovelies (oxidised sterling silver, pale green freshwater pearls, garnet and moonstone) then all you have to do is sign up to my monthly newsletter by clicking on the link to the left - the big brown one that says 'newsletter' on it.

Competition number two - to celebrate my 100 blog posts (and the fact that someone actually reads them!), leave me a comment to tell me what you're celebrating - it could be a special occasion, it could be that fact that it's not raining right now where you are (it's been sunny here today too - yippee!!). I will get either the random number generator or B to pick a winner for the earrings below. You have until midnight next Wednesday 15th October! Both competitions are open to those of you from abroad.

P.S. The second earrings are a preview of the new ideas/experiments that I've mentioned - more coming as soon as I've taken more photos!

Tornado warning

One of the blogs I catch up with regularly is Jillian's The Life and Times of The Plume. I love the enthusiastic way she has with words, and it seems as if tackles everything in her life with the same energy and enthusiasm! Anyway, she described herself today as a tornado, twisting and turning from one direction to another, trying to decide which project to do first. That's exactly what I've been like the last couple of days. I've been so determined to be as productive as possible while T and B have been away that this morning I really didn't know whether I was coming or going! I have sawing wire for bangles, cutting discs and then doming then with my two latest toys tools for several different projects, cutting tube for even more projects, soldering etc etc etc. Put it this way, with the amount of work I've done in the shed today, I haven't needed to put the heater on at all, and it's been a miserable damp day here weather wise! The problem is, though, that if I don't give myself an evening off tonight I'll be worn out by the time my boys come home tomorrow!


So, I'm going to leave you with a picture of some of the work I've been doing over the last few days - lots of lovely shiny silver necklaces, bracelets, pendants and earrings, but they're not finished yet - I'll explain more tomorrow!



Umm...I guess I have had a busy long weekend. Oh look - if you look closely you can see upside down mini mes reflected in the cupped discs! I think that may be the closest you're going to get of a self-portrait!

I'm back!!

Okay, so I haven't actually been anywhere, but I haven't been posting either - sorry! This week has been another busy one, partly due to making jewellery, partly due to teaching jewellery, and of course, family stuff! So..

T had the day off on Monday so I went into town with a friend in the afternoon to try and find an outfit I could wear to a family wedding at the end of the month and also to the bigger craft shows I've got before Christmas. I had set my heart on a brown dress, something that had been in all the shops last year, but obviously not this year! I did, however, see lots of navy cardigans - something I had been looking for last year. Ummm....I don't do too well at clothes shopping. If I have no money to spend I see lots of things I like, if I have some spending money it's a different matter!

Tuesday morning was spent pottering about the house and then hammering etc in the shed while B was at preschool. I've been busy getting more items ready for hallmarking in time for the Sophie's Appeal fashion show in a couple of weeks time.

Wednesday turned into a sofa day with B as he had a slight temperature and was wanting lots of cuddles. I was pretty certain it was just his last teeth coming through and he was fine by bed time which was just as well as because.....

Thursday was spent teaching silversmithing while B was at his childminder's. I'm really enjoying this tuition. It's very different from teaching a class or small group as the whole day is tailored to whatever the student wants to learn. In this case Helen wanted to learn techniques she could use with her lovely dichroic glass pendants. I also had my weekly jewellery class at Spice Art Studios in the evening. All but one of the students on the course are new to jewellery making this time.

So, all in a fairly normal week - until Thursday evening. Since then I've been home alone, and it's a very strange feeling! We had been planning a trip to see friends in Wales, but as the time had been getting closer I had been getting more stressed about having 5 days (we were planning Thursday evening to Tuesday evening) without being able to do any work so close to the shows I've got coming up. So, T suggested that he take B and I stay here, get some work done and maybe have a bit of a break. B has stayed at my parents a couple of times, but I've never been apart from him for more than one night before, and it's very strange! I've got so much work to do that during the day I deliberately haven't given myself any time to miss them, but the evenings are very stange. It's not as bad as I thought it would be as, afterall, B is with his Dad. I did get a bit of a lump in my throat, though, when I read him a bedtime story over the phone tonight.

I've got lots of work done, some of which won't be finished until it gets back from hallmarking so I can't show you that yet. I'm planning to take photos of some of the rest of it tomorrow though, so it may be worth checking back then!