Just something I whipped up

With Christmas and then everything that took place after, I never got a chance to post about these designs

This one is a fave, the little copper ring hooks on to the heart to act as the clasp. It has little balls hanging on the bottom that jingle very lightly as you walk

And this has gone to Denmark with a dear friend who came back to Australia for a visit and got caught up in the floods. She still had a great time and got to see Australia like not many do - sandbagging and desperately trying to save houses.

More tiny little balls that jingle when you walk, this time in ring form. It’s so simple yet so much fun to play with.

And this is so delightful and vintage{esque}

I’ll admit that it took a little while to make and solder all those teeny tiny bits together (without melting other bits). But I really live how it turned out!

Anyone who has any thoughts on these designs, please share, they are very welcome!

 

When you can’t just sit

Even when I watch TV I need something to be working on. Since I was away from my metal working over Christmas, I took my sketch book to do some designs. These first few are hair combs, the type one could use for a wedding or ball.

And then I did a lot of pendants. The last one is my fave and the one I will be working on first, when my supplies arrive!

Look out! Run for the Hills!

The town I live in is right on the Loddon river, or Loddon lake should I say…

In all the time I’ve lived here, I have never seen the water so high that it touches the bottom of the bridges! We are apparently on high flood alert as of last night and it’s looking like there will be water over the bridges soon! Eeep!

That red line is where the bank of the river usually is!

I don’t think our house is really in danger, we are at the higher end of town so there will need to be a lot of flooding before it gets to us :)

***

I also wanted to say thank you to everyone who commented on my market disappointment post. You guys seem to understand markets a lot more than me! It definitely was the wrong audience I think. So I’ll research some of your awesome suggestions and see if I can find one that suits my craft!

Thanks again everyone who made me feel less of a failure!

:)

Disappointment

I didn’t sell one single piece of jewellery at the market. Sad face :(

A few people came and had a good look and some took cards, but no buyers unfortunately.

 

I did sell a couple of headbands though, which was nice.

I’m not quite sure why people didn’t buy. Perhaps the price was too much (though I don’t know how cheap people think sterling silver should be!). Or maybe people just weren’t looking for that sort of thing.

I dunno.

I’m not going again anyway, it was absolutely stinking hot and the site I had wasn’t big enough to set up my shade tent. Actually I couldn’t have swung a cat in that tiny box! :)

Yesterday, deflated, I sent all the jewellery I had down to Melbourne with a friend, she’s hawking it to all her friends for me :) She was amazed that none sold at the market and declared that she could sell it in the blink of an eye!

I’m pretty sure she’ll be a much better saleswoman than I am. I’m happy to make things but selling them makes me squirm with embarrassment! What I love is making and just giving away… but that doesn’t allow for more buying of silver and my darling Hubby may kick up a fuss :)

I need to get up some guts and bravado and ‘represent’!

Anyone else out there a *maker* and not a *seller*?

 

Lucky I've got a Mum like you....

I've been looking at these lamps for ages now, trying to urge myself to just buy one for my silver work. I dreamed of a day when I could stop squinting at my work!

And now, thanks to my awesome Mother Dearest, I will squint no more!



Yesterday she won in a prize draw and out of all of the things she could have picked, she brought this home for me! It's even better than the one I was going to buy!

I love my Mum. She gave up a prize for herself for something she knew I'd love!

Mum's do anything for their kids and she proves it doesn't stop when they get older! Well that's ok, how could I deny these two?!

A gift for my Bestie :)

Yesterday was my best friend's birthday. She's a huge support for me at the moment and is always up for a chat about anything. It also helps that we like the same things- op shopping, garage sales and clearing sales to name a few! And we are both hugely proud of how well our families get along. Our Hubbies enjoy a beer or 3 together and instantly start planning their next fishing trip, and her 2 kids are both only 2 months young than my 2. We're very close and I would almost consider her a sister now days :)
So I took her out for coffee and cake yesterday. We usually don't buy gifts for each other, just the kids... unless we make them. So this year I made her a sterling silver filigree ring:









She really loved it! And she is tough to please, being a qualified jeweller! :)

Her birthday is actually the day after her eldest daughter's who turned 3 on Monday. I just had to show you the cake for her party!



How cool is that?!

Whoops!

Somehow Christmas and family overtook me and coupled with very limited internet access, I missed announcing the winners of 2 jewelery pieces!

Wednesday's winner: Casey!

Christmas Day's winner: Sally!

Congrats to all those who won and thanks everyone for entering!
If the winners could get back to me with their addresses I can send them out!

Christmas was glorious and happy and exhausting. Aus got everything his little mind could ever hope for and he loves it all. Especially the red 'Cars' scooter Santa brought him ;P Noah didn't get quite so much as I was at a loss for what to get a 6 month old. He did get a get toy that plays songs at bed time and a book about Noah's Ark among the many pressies. He was quite content to chew the wrapping paper though. :) Sadly I have no photos because in the traditional mad rush of Christmas, someone.... alright me, forgot to charge the camera batteries! I did steal my Dad and Sister's cameras for a while so I'll be hunting those photos down soon!

2 days after Christmas we set off up to Batemans Bay to visit Jem's family. It turned out to be 10 hours from home until we got there, over mountains and boring stretches. The kids were absolutely fabulous. I couldn't believe how good they were but we all were completely stuffed when we arrived. A trip to the beach with Aus while Noah was with his Grandparents had him looking for crabs, building sand castles and jumping in the waves.



We had a great time up there but only stayed a few days. The long haul back was more than we could face so we stayed a night somewhere along the way and felt much better for it the next day :) We got back New Years Eve and proceeded to party like it was 1999 all over again. Me a little too much so and was put to bed before midnight to snore through the beginning of a new year... I know, I'm not proud. I'm a pathetic drinker, that's why I don't usually do it!

We've been living at the lake since a week before Christmas and only just moved back in to town this week, so most of my time has been trying to wash clothes and put away the mountains of stuff I can't remember ever taking out there in the first place! How does that happen?!

But I have managed to find time to send a few giveaway winnings off:



And most of all, keep working on the silversmithing! I'm really loving it, these are a couple of practice projects:


A Moonstone ring


An Opal pendant.

I've got so many ideas swirling in my head I just cant wait to get into it!!

Hope your Christmas and New Year was fab!

Some other creations...

Thanks to everyone entering the giveaway, tomorrow night is the first prize draw so remember to check back to see if you won!

I thought I'd show you another 2 pieces I've made. I'm enjoying some delicate work with wire at the moment and trying to solder it together before it shrivels up from the heat!

This one was for my SIL for her birthday:



And this one I made for myself:



I really love mine, even though it took about 4 hours!

My next project will be a filigree ring, it might need to be after Christmas though. We're fully booked up until at least 2nd Jan. It's going to be a good 2 weeks!