I'm in love........(blush)

oh dear, I've just been told of by E for saying how I had nothing to write today but she said, 'of course you have, you're in love!' So I stand corrected and hence the above statement.

G and I have been dating for 9 months now and whilst I have told him I love him a million times I'm really feeling it at the moment. I'd love to say that I'm all skittish, and dewey eyed but what I mean is that we are very happy together, and I feel really part of a two-some.

We have also shared some stuff over the past week or so, things from the past and information about each other that we've held back from revealing because we were scared to say, that it might frighten the other off.

So G, I love you and I don't care who knows it.

Poppyfields Design

Well I've finally managed to get it all done! That's right, my online jewellery sales shop is up and running. The address is http://www.poppyfieldsdesign.etsy.com/

I know I was going to be called something different but wouldn't you know that when I went to register the name, it was gone! How annoying.

It's amazing how long these things take to do. Once I had made the decision I had to frantically start making things and if the creative juices aren't flowing, there's not alot you can do about it.

Even when you make the pieces, the next challenge is to photograph them. Luckily E found an great online tool which does amazing things to decidely average photos. It's at http://www.picnik.com/ You can lighten, darken, improve the colouring, put your name on......on and the list goes on.

Pricing is tricky. You want to sell, but you also want to get something for your time in making and your ability to be able to make, but not rip anyone off. My idea is that I'm only making things that I like, so if no-one buys, then at least I'll be left with jewellery I'm happy to wear.

The final challenge is putting them all up online. Goodness, how many different ways can you say 'this is a lovely bracelet'?

So have a look, please, and I'd love some feedback on my designs.

Happy friday, G is playing cricket all weekend so I have the weekend free to do all sorts of jobs. Mosaic tiling in my cloakroom...looking forward to it! :0)

I do like to be beside the seaside!

I'm just back to work after a weeks break with my neices. Oh my goodness, I'm absolutely shattered and need another week off to recover! Not having any kiddies I never realised exactly how hard work it is, and I take my hat off to all the mums out there especially if they're working as well. It's really made me appreciate what a special job they do. It's just so full on!

My two neices, T 10 & K 7 live in Exeter and their school breaks up early for the holidays so that's why they were with me, and of course they wanted to visit their auntie who lives at the seaside.

There weren't many ground rules except they couldn't come and wake me up before 8.30am. I am so glad I said that as they both wake up as bright as buttons and it's non stop til the time they go to bed. I must admit to being quite strict, but that's how I was brought up so I hope they had a lovely time.

We managed to get to the beach even though the weather wasn't brilliant. We also went to the small Natural History Museum with its butterfly house, along with the park, and the tea rooms attached to the 9 hole pitch and putt. They serve the yummiest cakes, which are absolutely massive!G took the day off and took us to Monkey World. It's not a zoo but a rescue centre where apes and monkeys from around the world get sent when they are rescued from illegal homes. We saw so many beautiful monkeys & orangutans which was amazing. But my favourite had to be seeing the Lemurs. Just soooooo cute and we were all singing 'I like to move it, move it' from Madagascar. The keeper must be really fed up with that one!

Ta Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!

It's done and I'm wearing it!!!!

They're here, they're here!!

Hooray, I'm so excited!!

Sorry to disappoint you if you thought it was a minor celeb or aliens from Mars but finally my petite jump rings have arrived from Texas. The reason I'm so excited is that I really struggled to get the size that I wanted so I could make the elusive byzantine bracelet I've been desperate to create. So difficult to get, I had to get a custom order from a lovely couple called Ralph & Karen, who also gave me some fab advice too. I love you guys.

So, what's so special about this byzantine bracelet, I hear you ask. Well, to some, not much really but for me it the relisation of a beading dream. I saw one of these bracelets on Etsy and just fell in love with it! I couldn't work out how they had managed to get the rings to twist and turn. I found the an online tutorial and with some very inferior rings I tried to do it. I tried, and I tried, and I tried until one day I threw it across the room. I couldn't work out why I couldn't do it.

But now I know why I couldn't. Essentially, the technique I was doing was correct but the rings were the wrong guage size. In lay mans term, the wire wasn't thick enough to hold the shape.

In some ways, I'm a bit disappointed in how easy I'm finding it to construct. I expected it to be much fiddlier (is that a proper word?) So after getting this done I'm going to do another one, but this time in silver, as a special gift for me for hanging on in there.

Can't wait til E is back to work tomorrow so I can show (off) her all the things I've made whilst she's been away, like the Breaking Waves bracelet (above). I made a beautiful set called Delicate Darkness which was baby tourmaline rondelles with black ceramic beads but I managed to fall in love with it so had to keep it myself. G told me off, saying that wasn't the way to get things made. I also custom made and sold a pair of orange Tropical Trumpets to Melissa who works across the hall from me!

Hey ho, off we go for some more jump ring jinks!

Dragonfly Jewellery Designs

A while ago I said I was opening up an Etsy shop to sell some of my jewellery. So I've been beavering away, looking at my beads and seeing what I can come up with. I'm not opening the shop until I have at least 20 items and I'm now half way through.

So here is a sneak preview of some of the things I will be selling. These aren't the final photos, as I can see that they need to be set up better and with better lighting. But hey, it's all a learning curve!

How to get ideas?

I've been a busy bee this week, frantically trying to make things to put on my new Etsy shop. But it's really difficult to suddenly come up with ideas on demand. Quite often ideas come to me whilst relaxing in the bath or sitting in the garden, just generally daydreaming about beads....like you do! So far I have made 6 items to sell. That doesn't sound very much but I am trying to make things that I like, that I would be happy to wear, which also includes making sure the findings look good and fit well; jump rings that are closed properly and things generally look of a good quality. All too often I see hand made jewellery which looks un-professional and cheap. Handmade can be quirky and is the main reason people buy it but that doesn't mean you have to skimp on quality of finishing. My biggest nightmare scenario is that people will look at my items to sell and will say, 'oooh, look at those rubbishy jump rings' or words to that effect. Ok, so I'm not going to hear it but it will speak volumes if nothing sells.

I've also tried to get my head around photographing my items. I'm sure there's a tutorial somewhere on Etsy but looking at other sellers I've noticed that items in bright natural daylight look better than just rested on a laminate desk. I've been taking some photos of my existing jewellery to form a gallery so that I can look back and be proud of what I've done but also use it as a catalogue for ideas for the future. The pictures featured today are some things I made back in the beginning of my beading journey, and it's amazing to see how far I've come. I'm so much better at it now but I guess that just comes from practice. So be kind, and ignore the dust!If this all fails, I can at least say I had some fun making some jewellery and I can wear all my additional pieces. Hmmm, how about wearing all my chain maille items and doing my best Mr T impression? Fool!