Jewellery Display

Here is my hand made jewellery organiser. It sits on a chest of drawers in my bedroom and you can see it's nearly full up! Every so often I have a little sort out and cut them up and recycle the ear wires and beads to make brand new creations. I bought this unit on Ebay (one of my favourite places) as my bits and bobs ended up everywhere and I'm not exactly the tidiest of people as it is.

Looking at the organiser I can only see one pair that I didn't make, can you guess which pair that is? Bet you're wrong, haha! I use glass, semi precious stones, pearls, swarovski crystals but never plastic. There's just something nasty about plastic, maybe it's my 'inner snob' fighting its way out. There's no weight to it, hmmm, I'm not explaining this very well am I?!

Anyway, all of these earrings are very easy to make and the nice thing is that once you've got the basic skills you can easily create some new earrings or necklace to match the outfit you're wearing. AND no-one will have anything the same as you, it'll be totally unique!

I don't sell my jewellery but I do make for friends and family, and I donate completed sets to my favourite charity, Make a Wish and they are used as prizes at their charity Balls.

By the Sea

After yesterdays very rainy day it was lovely this morning and wake up to some sun. G has been in Rome for the European Cup Final and had texted me to tell me about the lovely weather there. But since ManU lost 2-0 to Barcelona, there have been no texts. I can only assume he's gone into mourning. He's flying back this afternoon, wearing black no doubt.

Anyway, after a little visit this morning from Charlie.....

I left for work this morning and decided to drive along the seafront. If I'm feeling a bit blue or down in the dumps it always manages to lift me. This isn't the place for explanations but it's fair to say I've felt better and am in need of a massive injection of....well, I don't know what, but I do know that seeing the sea makes me feel 100% better.

The beach was empty except for a couple taking a stroll, and there wasn't even any joggers which is a rarity. I took a couple of deep breaths as well as a few photos and I felt a little better.

I really love living by the sea. Last year was my first full summer here and the weather was so poor I didn't really get the chance to fully experience all that Southsea has to offer. But I am confident of a summer of sunshine and I'll try and ensure I have plenty of photos of local events. There's a big D Day event on the common on the 6th June with swing bands, marching bands and lots more. I'll be there!

Beads are better than SEX!!!

Or maybe I'm just not doing it right?!?!

Here are just some of my beads, ready and waiting for me to have some inspiration and make them into something lovely.

Inspiration is a funny thing. You can sometimes look at the beads you have and a million and one ideas suddenly come to mind. Other times you can ponder, pair some up and nothing happens.

I guess, just like sex, if you're not in the mood,

well, it's not going to be great is it.

Looking in the box I can see some beautiful colbalt blue, hand made glass beads which are begging to be used. And I know I have some tiny blue sapphire briolettes which call out to me every time I open the box, along with some citrines and rubies. Obviously low grade, I'm not a millionaire or anything!!!

This poor little box was the first jewellery making box and now it's broken, and all sorts of odd bits and bobs get thrown in. But I spy some gems in there too! I can see some cherry quartz, red coral and dyed red jade. And at the top there are some lapis lazuli screaming 'get me out of here now!'

Back to Work Blues

It's been such a lovely weekend, only partically clouded by a bit of bad news which I won't go into and now it's back to the office and back to do some work. At least it's raining, and in my funny topsy turny logic that's ok because I don't feel I'm missing out on any sunshine.

G & I bought a BBQ, (our first joint purchase :-) ) and G then spent a very long time putting it together. He was quite calm initially but began to lose his cool towards the end. I sat & watched and daren't say a word. We ended up with a slightly wobbly BBQ with a few screws left over (why does that always happen?) and a promise never, ever ever to buy cheapo flat packed goods ever again!

My garden is now beginning to come on. When I bought my house just over 18 months ago there was just grass and a small patio so I've had to dig out some beds for plants & start stocking the garden. This year I'm also growing some tomatoes and strawberries. Not enough to worry the providers of Wimbledon, but hopefully enough for a small bowl with some cream.

I'm a bit shy.......ah, not really!

Well hello! I'm new to this place, want to show me around? Tell me where all the good places are to hang out? Where and who to avoid?

So this is the first post which I'm hoping is going to be the hardest and the rest will just flow from the virtual 'pen'. I'm not quite sure what to say so how about I tell you a bit about me, and if you're still reading at the end then that's gotta be a bonus!

My name is Lara and I live in Southsea, a hop and a skip to the pebble-y beach. I live in a little house which is called Poppyfields with Charlie my beautiful and very timid cat. I have a lovely boyfriend called G and it's all going well (just don't tell him I said that otherwise he'll think I want to get married!)

I run my own business which is great and employ my friend Elisa, which is great. I work on the basis that I won't ask her to do anything I wouldn't do and in return I get someone who gives 100% and doesn't take advantage of our friends status.

Elisa & I share a passion for crafts, specifically jewellery making. And I hope to be able to share with you some of my creations and maybe offer you some tips and hints for getting started along with anything else that I manage to create. I'm currently attending an evening class in metal/silver smithing, and am soon to graduate from the intermediate level. So every Tuesday evening I get to take my frustration out with a hammer on a very scared piece of metal! (Be afraid, very afraid!) I hope to get some pictures up soon of some of the things I've made and show you just how easy it is!

So apologies for this loooooooooooong rambling, keep with me, this could be fun!!