Gift Certificates

I often get asked for gift certificates or vouchers while I am on the circuit doing my parties and moving my website meant we could actually make this possible - we have two ways of being able to do this - 1) By email - basically you send money to someone via the internet - the money goes into their basket to spend as and when they want OR 2) By post, this involves a card and paper certificate as above but once the recipiant goes through checkout they redeem the certificates value against jewellery - all good fun !!


SO now when thinking of friends and family you don't have to worry about choosing the wrong piece - a Gift Certificate saves the day!! Of course I couldn't leave you all without showing you at least one piece of jewellery ;)

Mistake turned to a new design

This pair of earrings was born out of a mistake. I made some hoop earrings, but didn't make the top part even between the two, so I cut it up and remodelled it so that it became a mini-hoop, which I like maybe even better than the original. I'll keep this pair as a 'prototype' and do more with different stone, see how they turn out.

Ice Themed

Ok the chill in the air has finally got me inspired - these beautiful crystal quartz nuggets are like ice cubes - hence the name - maybe watching the cruise ship sink in the Antartic inspired me really - mind you cruising in the freezing cold doesn't appeal to me AT ALL!! But then you all know I love blue - blue skies and blue seas lol
Now my husband would love to go somewhere cold - with snow thats a must but Elli and I aren't so sure. Elli says aged 5 "I want to wear my bikini" MUmmy says aged £& (haha) "Well I could wear lots of clothes!!" but my preference is warmth definately!!

After Thanksgiving

I have the post-Thanksgiving case of nerves I always get at this time every year. With Thanksgiving over, Christmas is breathing hard at my heels, and from now until Christmas Day actually comes, I feel as though I'll be playing catch-up. At least this year, I'm being a bit more disciplined about the situation. Of course, to make things even harder, we're usually out of the country every Christmas although it looks as though this year we may be in Washington - away from home, but not that long aching plane ride away from home.
I've been working mostly on custom orders lately and am finishing a wedding that will go out tomorrow. Lots of amethyst! Then, I have several other custom orders to get made (most for Christmas, so I'm doing okay there), but I've either sketched them out or know what I'm doing and where I'm going with them.
I've been working with different elements. The lampwork earrings above with lapis and carnelian (found in our Holiday Gift Ideas section match a fantastic bracelet on my Handcrafted Bracelets page.
The bracelet is made with freshwater pearls and Swarovski's newest crystals in a wonderful grey opal colour that I love. The silver freshwater pearls are perfect! The bracelet will be on our Swarovski Bracelets page.

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Blue is the colour!

Usually I get inspired by blue when the seasons change into spring and summer - thats when the sea changes from grey to blue but for some reason I still want to create blue and when I saw these fabulous beads by Clare Scott I just had to have them!! Maybe its wishful thinking or maybe not but I still am swayed by blue!!

I also added, apart from the usual silver, some swarovski crystals in blue and pink - which hopefully you can see pulls the colours out! Lastly a pendant with silk ...

I also love looking for unusual pieces to use in my jewellery and while browsing I found Chinook Jewellery , Melissa the lovely lady who is Chinook Jewellery also creates fabulous cermaic pendants - definately my style ,from botanical to seashore!! This is my first purchase - they are truly beautiful!!

MY silver as promised!!

Well everything is out of my tumbler and all photographed - now my skills are still quite basic but I love soldering - can you tell?? Now I have made a commission piece - the lady in question (*waves as I know she reads here occassionally) wanted a hammered ring necklace which went from large to small - with the small rings passing through the large at the end. What do you think then??
I'm really pleased with the effect so I hope the lady in question is too!!


A few of my other silver pieces for you to look at below!!

Funky Chunky!

Oh the inspiration is piling out of me at the moment - mainly silver - I've been making in my garage again today - luckily it wasn't as cold today - yesterday my fingers lost all feeling and I had to come in to warm them up - the tumbler was going some too and this morning lots of shiny pieces were pulled out - I promise to photograph them all tomorrow!!

This piece was inspired by , not only the name Beverley Hicklin the Glass artist gave them "Sea scape" but the colours - then I found a poem by Emily Dickinson I knew it was a good name. This piece is chunky - there is no escaping it but including the handmade chain she truly is a fab piece (yes I sometimes even say it :) )

There is a bracelet (Not yet photographed which I will add here when done) with simple handmade chain with just a simple bead.

Enjoy

Green herringbone set

Since I've sold the other set to my dear colleague, I used the green cats-eyes beads I bought today to make another set. Strange how the same, yet so different the two sets look, due to the color. I am not sure which I like best, I think I like both.

Today we spent the day with hubby outside, I went to the local gemshop and spent a fortune there, then we went to the new Ikea (which didn't impress us much), and then we went to eat souvlaki. We got home after 3.30. It was a nice day, it's so seldom that we get to spend some quality time during weekends together, I really enjoyed this outing.


And since I was working on herringbone, here is one I made for myself. Well, unless someone is begging me to sell it *grins*. I only need to add another clasp on it, most probably I will make one tomorrow as the small clasp I put on it takes all my energy on trying to close the darn bracelet. I am not even sure why I actually purchased these tiny little things. Bleah,waste of money and silver.

Will there be snow?

I always laugh this time of year at the so called weather predictions - it always seems to depend on what channel you watch or what newspaper you read! This morning we are told it will be mild - with average or higher rain fall, yet yesterday a friend read we were in for a cold winter with snow!! Predictions of the weather in my honest opinion never work - I mean look at our summer....
This bracelet to me has the colours of our winter in it - the cool blues with the russet colours of shrubs, Beverley Hicklin to me captures colours fantastically. With Karen Hill Tribe Silver and fw pearsl with a little touch of faceted amazonite - I've hopefully captured the beauty of these artisan beads.
I played with solder again yesterday so hopefully I'll have pics later :D

My first sale on Etsy!

Woohoo, I've just sold my first pair of earrings on Etsy! I'm so excited! I woke up this morning, checked out my mail and there was my first order and paid too!
It was from one of the promotional games I was playing, but was not the cheapest items, like they usually buy, so it did give me a boost of confidence.
So just had to brag about it a bit :)

The Secret Garden

I love the story of the Secret Garden - its one of those feel good stories with twists and turns - but then I did read a LOT as a child ( still do ) and its just another memory - of course I watched the adaptation too! There artisan glass beads by Isabelle Anderson seemed magical with a hidden depth - almost like there was more inside if only you could get in!!

I will be addding charms when they arrive (I hate waiting for my silver I'm so impatient) I've mixed black onyx and amethyst too and some gorgeous hammered disc beads - but take note of the pretty clasp!
I'm adding link to the secret garden page on Wiki for you to have a nose at for anyone not knowing the story! HERE

Enjoy

© Gemheaven 2007

She's back!

Yes my muse is back and I'm creating again woohoo!! I felt like my arm had been left somewhere - and to create with hardly any pressure is such a good feeling (Yes I still have commissions to do !)

This necklace with a load of Karen Hill Tribe with Caroline Hannon's beads as focals is named after the Goddess of healing and fertility.- I love the silver beads!

The bracelet, in one of my favourite styles is again Carolines beads with lots of sterling silver jump rings - she's named after Coventina, goddess who personified a holy spring (that was reputed to have healing powers). I seem to be inspired by Goddess at the moment - last time it was Celtics lol - I wonder why!!
© Gemheaven 2007