Almost The End Of Another Year.

And I have really let my blog slide. And my Etsy shop for that matter. Sure, I've the perfect reason (little Miss 1.5yr old) but I would have liked to have achieved a little bit more in 2014.

Before the year is out though, I am endeavouring to get one new technique under my belt. I have been gathering the materials needed over the past week and hubby has gifted me for our Wedding Anniversary (today!) - a new Drill Press, which was a part of the 'materials' needed wanted to make this technique go well. I hope.

I really really am excited to try this 'new to me' technique. The more I can do, the more I want to do and I'm hoping with the excitement of this new technique and using a new tool, it will bring me some much needed motivation to pursue all the ideas in my head.

It has been really hot here lately - more humidity than anything else. Summer only arrived here today and I'm not looking forward to another 3 months of heat. Though the past 3 days have been quite alright heat wise. My husband noticed this particular street whilst at work and we took a little drive out to see it as a family and I got a heap of pictures of it:

Yes, it looks this bright and vibrant in real life!
It's such a nice drive through this particular street as these Jacarandas all hang over the road and the green and coral red are spectacular together.

These trees are planted everywhere in this suburb, but this was the best street we could find.

They make an absolute mess when in flower, but who cares when they give the most fabulous shade and colour!

I'm currently working on a custom order, it's actually the 3rd time making this particular piece - using PMC. I finally got to my bench to make the pendant and fire it last night, as it was not too hot and I could use the torch.

Next year I am hoping to invest in a Little Smith torch set up with the oxy/acetylene set up. I want to do pinning and the only way I can see this happening, is if I add this torch to my workshop. Though I am kind of scared to have a 'proper' gas set up if I'm completely honest. Having bottles of gas around makes me a bit uncomfortable, especially with children in the house.

Can you believe I have been doing smithing now for 5 YEARS?!!! Yes! Damn that has gone fast! And I have been blogging here for that entire time too.

There is probably much more I could blog about, but I'm going to leave it here, hopefully I will be able to post again soon.

Take care
Em ♥

Poppy ♥

My little girl Poppy arrived on the 27th of May.

I was induced again and it was a strange experience this time around. I experienced contractions for most of that day between 2-5 minutes apart for most of that time and eventually had an Epidural - which in the end didn't work - so I may as well not have had one! (I remember hearing another lady in agony in another birthing suite and saying to my husband that she sounded like the cookie monster and how I hope I never sound like that! In the end I sounded just as bad lol) I was in 'labour' for about 7 and a half hours, but Poppy came into the world in about 3-4 pushes.

I had both my mother and my husband as my support team this time. With my first it was just my husband. It was great to have them both there, especially considering how it all went down this time around. So now Poppy is 3 weeks old and sleep deprivation is starting to catch up to me. My hubs has been a great help again (just as he was with our first). I really have myself a great man!

Summer has taken to Poppy as though she's always been here and loves her greatly and loves to help out. I feel sorry for her having to go to school (when she just wants to stay home with us), but I'm grateful that she goes. I don't think I could handle them both just yet. Although, school holidays are next week :(

So all is well here right now. I love my little family and feel content. I am almost finished my collection:

But I am finding it hard to sit at the bench right now as I'm so tired and there are always so many other things that need my attention, not including Poppy! Hopefully will have it all finished and listed by this weekend :)

Em ♥

Broken.

My daughter broke her arm. 

Her right arm.

On Tuesday. 

The day I was having such a terrible time at the bench and thinking of giving up. 

Well it ended much worse than I could have possibly imagined. 

Just 5 minutes before it happened, I had asked her to come back inside as it was getting late and going to be dinner soon. As usual, she refused, saying she wanted to stay out and keep playing. So I walked away. Then I came back to my bench to try and keep on keeping on, when I heard the painful cries. 

I got up wondering if the dog had tried to get her, because she tends to annoy him (he's only a couple of pounds in weight). Or I thought maybe a bug had landed on her again. 

Then I saw.

As she walked across the patio towards me.

Her floppy arm.

Oh. My. Goodness.

I almost totally freaked out. 

I haven't ever seen anything broken before. But I was certain that her arm was indeed broken. 

I swept her up and yelled out to my husband to get the keys we're going to the hospital. 

And the rest goes as you would expect it to.

We got her seen to almost straight away in the emergency room. 

You could see it was very painful, but she was acting so bravely and hardly crying at all.

All in all we were there only a few hours. 

The Doctors and Nurses were fabulous! They treated her with such care and patience and warmth it was probably what made it go so smoothly.

A week later and Summer is totally back to her normal, noisy, cheeky self.

Tomorrow morning, I take her to get her proper cast on. The one she has on now is only a half cast (the cast part is underneath the arm) and it is bandaged on.

No idea why they didn't cast it up straight away, but there is obviously a reason for it.

She gets to pick a colour for the new one, which I'm sure she will find fun.

And she will be wearing it for the first few weeks of Prep - which starts in 1 weeks time! So she will get plenty of attention I'm sure :)

In other news, I'm still feeling down and out with my smithing skills.

I haven't let it keep me from the bench - as sometimes I feel that does the opposite for me. I have just kept on keeping on. 

This is a piece I finished this morning:

Labradorite Pendant - Cascades

I was cleaning up the LOS off a piece today (that I struggled with last week) and as I was doing it, a jump ring came away :( 

I was pretty frustrated to say the least. So I went back and soldered it on. Thank goodness I hadn't yet set the stone, or who knows what I would have been able to do with it.

Now I have to LOS it again and hopefully it turns out well the second time.

I've also made a 3 stone ring and a very large pendant, but need to LOS those yet.

On Friday afternoon, Summer and I made some cookies.

Sadly they weren't all that great, they were too light in texture. And I wasn't a fan of the taste to be honest. But sometimes it's fun to try and make things you haven't before. However, I won't be making these again ....

Sugar Cookies with M&M's

Okay, I should probably sign off here, so I can make Summer some lunch.

We've a busy week ahead of us before she starts school.

I am looking forward to it and I think she is too.

Take care 

Em ♥

Buh Bye 2012

Well it's the last day of 2012.

It's nice starting a fresh new year.
Some big changes ahead, but

I am looking forward to it!

I don't do resolutions. 

Instead I do goals.

Most of them I don't reach. But there are always a couple that I do and that's enough for me. It's good to always have something to work towards.

It's still hot here :(

But despite that, I have been attempting to get to my bench and get those pieces (from my last post) finished. I have spent most of today working on them and some new pieces too. Though to be honest, I am falling short on creativity. I totally have a brain block. I'm hoping that finishing those pieces will help boost me again. Or I'm going to have to buy a new tool or something lol.

We took Summer to a little local beach one evening last week and there were lots of these Blue Jelly Fish scattered along the shore line and on the sand. No idea why. 

Certainly made for some interesting exploring for her :)

Well I'm making some macaroni and cheese for our lunch, with some cucumber and coleslaw on the side. Yum! I am not sure if I am going to be staying up to see the new year in or not, as I tend to be in bed earlier these days. Thank you all for joining me in 2012 whilst I blogged. Thank you for your support and comments!  And thank you to all my awesome customers who have made it possible for me to continue doing this!

Em ♥