Afternoon tea

I made this treasury for Clare of Clare Bears. Poor thing has been working overseas for weeks and keeps being delayed with more work when she just wants to come home and see her hubby and have a decent cup of tea! The good news is that to keep herself occupied, Clare has learnt how to knit socks and will be knitting a pair for me, yay! Thanks Clare xx Hope you liked your treasury...

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=68472

Featured:
sloeginfizz , groundwork , britishcreamtea , marmaladyallsorts , craftpudding , mysunshinevintage , creamrose , dejagallery , marmalady , lilley , mrsebastian , ursastudio

Reserves:
michelemaule , monjojo , jaditekate , catherineholman

Unfortunately, I can't show off Clare's beautiful handmade bears as her shop is temporarily closed while she is overseas but when she gets back, Clare Bears will be my August featured seller on my chatter blog...

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A Cow commission

I have bought several Birthday cards from Cow Island and been really impressed with all of them - lovely quality, very funny, and beautifully drawn! I am a big fan of the herd and I follow their blog regularly, so I love that I can pass on these delightful illustrations to friends and family to enjoy too. I recently commissioned a special card for my Dad for Fathers' Day [today!] and after discussing with The Great Pencil himself some character detail about Dad, this was the result:

I could not have been happier, and have been fidgeting the days away until I could give it to Dad. Well, I can now report that he absolutely loved it!!! He kept putting it down and then picking it up again and spotting something else and grinning! That is another skill of The Great Pencil - the creator and artist behind these Cow Island cards - there is so much packed into each image that you never get bored of looking at them as there is always some new detail that you missed. So *thank you* Cow Island - and to anyone needing a card to mark a special occasion, I say: you really must consider a Cow commission!! I will definitely do this again :)

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Showing off a little

Mum and I both got our hair cut yesterday! I actually had about a foot in length cut off mine last November - it was just too much to manage. I do miss the length sometimes but I don't miss the hassle! Yesterday I had it all layered through the ends, while Mum had hers straightened and trimmed... this was how we turned out:

["cheeeeese!"]

I had promised some friends evidence photos of their items and since it was a good hair day, I managed to get those done too. Below is my gorgeous orange handmade hair clip from Jane of lovealittle on Etsy. I have featured Jane's lovely fiber art on my chatter blog in the past and love her work; she very sweetly sent me this lovely clip as a thank you when I hearted her store and she met her personal 'hearts' target! The little woven copper star earrings were an indulgence of mine from boojewels on Etsy. They are so light and easy to wear that I find myself reaching to put them on all the time! Boo also makes a pretty silver version of these...


I don't get out much, so it took me a little while to figure out how to wear my pretty flower :)

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Indulgence and indecision

As I explained to a friend recently, I don't really revel in my Birthdays anymore. I don't like friends and family to make a big deal out of them, and prefer for them to slip by quietly (says she, announcing her imminent Birthday on her blog, hah!). What I do allow is a bit of self-indulgent retail therapy. Usually I would await the Boden Summer sale and scoop up a few items of clothing at reduced prices. However since Etsy took over my life, my June retail therapy has moved to handmade treasures.

I don't let astrology inform my life but I am quite fascinated by the character traits that the star signs identify. My Birthday falls on day one of 'cancer' and cancerians are described as home-loving, tenacious, animal-loving, influenced by the moon and often overtaken by emotion (that's a nice way of saying we are moody!!). Well, I can tick every one of those boxes, including the 'often prone to indecision' box! What, you haven't noticed how many times I've revamped my blogs?!

In terms of making decisions, I will collect lots of options initially and then am really very good at whittling them down... to two. Then I stall. Whatever it is, there are always two, and I can rarely choose between them easily. My Birthday wish list is a perfect illustration of this dilemma: do I go for earrings, or a necklace? And naturally, I have narrowed the choice down to two pairs of earrings and two necklaces - aaargh!!! These are they...

From top left and clockwise:

1. Boo Jewels - asymmetric teardrop earrings - http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=24737011 - I love these! They remind me of chicken wishbones that i used to wish on and snap with my parents when i was little :) soz to all my vegetarian readers!
2. Quercus Silver - coral colour block earrings - http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=26039199 - i absolutely adore the colour of these and the fact that you can see tiny little spots of pink in the resin mix.
3. Snapdragon Beads - ruthless rouge necklet - http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=26378256 - the name makes me laugh because Alice - the 'Snap' behind Snapdragon Beads - is such a softy! I love all of her colour combinations and this piece - and its matching earrings - are no exception.
4. Silver Sun 925 - peach moon necklace - http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=20636766 - moonstone is one of my birthstones and although I do love the white, I seem very drawn to the peach! Gil also uses this stone in a super pretty flower design necklace which I actually prefer but it wasn't available to show you today.

Please, please, help me choose!!

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Making new for old

While I try to increase inventory for my website and the miss maisy shop on Etsy, I am using my Dawanda shop to list old stock at reduced prices - with a few one-of-a-kind sample pieces thrown in for good measure. These jade necklaces and bracelets somehow never got earrings to match - so I decided to make some to complete the set for when I list them on Dawanda in the next few days...

The necklaces feature gorgeous aqua/turquoise and lush green 12mm size jade rounds that I hand-knotted onto colour co-ordinating cord. They each have silver toned decorative hook and eye clasps. The bracelets have the same 12mm beads threaded onto a sturdy stretch cord, with a silver toned butterfly charm to accent. They fit best on a 7-7.5 inch wrist. The new earrings have 12mm and 8mm sized beads, and all findings and the lever back ear wires are 925 silver. Although these are from my old stock, the colours are still so fresh and pretty for Summer!

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