Almost Friday...

and I still have lots to do for next week.

Everything will change for both Summer and I next Wednesday when she starts at Kindy. I'm still anxious about it. But we both really need this. 

It's finally not very hot!! YIPPEE!!

It's so lovely to be able to go and work at my bench and not have to have a fan on, so I can work in comfort. I have finally gotten to work at my new bench this week. It did look lovely and clean .... then this:

But then I cleaned it up again lol.

I finally got around to making my MIL's ruby ring:

It's a gift for her. Hope she likes it.

I made a new pair of earrings:

And I've finished a couple of small PMC3 charms to go into my shop tomorrow. I got a fresh batch of PMC to make owls etc. And I've started working on a piece with one of those boulder opals I blogged about a while back. 

I took Summer and a friend and her boy to the Australia Zoo last week. It kinda ended in disaster. I won't write about it........ personally I'd rather forget all about it. I did get some good photo's of Summer enjoying her time there, which was pretty much the point of the trip there.

I've got sheets to sew for Summers kindy bed. This is the fabric I chose:

And last but least, we have the owners coming for an inspection on the 24th, even though we just had a routine inspection like 2 weeks ago. I'm pretty frustrated about it as I have enough on my plate right now. But there isn't much I can do about it. I am going to ask if we can do a few things here and if they will fork out for a screen door on the garage where I work....you get tired of flies/wasps/mosquitoes etc in your house and flying at you whilst you work. I hope they agree to it. It will make such a difference.

Spaghetti sauce is simmering away on the stove, it's almost 6pm and my hubby isn't home yet. That's about all the news I have for now. I love this weather!

Em ♥

Show Holiday.

It's the annual show this month and today is one of the show days that the city gets as a holiday, the other is on Wednesday. So I thought today would be a nice relaxing day to do a blog post :)

Below is around 50% of my cab collection...



And of course I am still buying more..as you do. Though it's evident to me since putting these cabs in this lovely box, that I really should start using some of these up...they're quite lovely.

Saturday afternoon, the hubby and I took a trip to the local hardware store and I came home with a lovely new hammer - cross peen.

And below is some PMC3 that I have been playing with. I want to add some more into my pieces, it's just fun to work with.
My head is filled with ideas at the moment...but I just can't seem to rustle up the energy to get to the bench. I have a few pieces that are halfway done too and it wouldn't take much to get them finished. I might attempt it this afternoon. In fact I should probably pull myself away from the computer and go in there now whilst Summer has lunch....

:)

Woohoo! It's Friday :)

It's an absolutely gorgeous day again today. I adore Winter time for days like this. If it were to stay like this forever I would be so content.

But if you know me, then you already know this and know it well haha.

It's almost 11am and I've finished all my housework, I have washing in the machine and my daughter is making an awful racket out in the lounge room and it's driving me CRAZZZZY!!!!!!!!!

:s

Below is what's on my bench today:


The ring at the back is my first custom order, it's almost finished.

I finally got my parcel of Turquiose cabochons. I am never going to get things posted with USPS Priority again if I can help it. It took almost 2 weeks more to get it and the tracking they do is DREADful. So I am going to get things sent with Express like I was going to initially. It costs more, obviously, but it's peace of mind and reassuring. I love the stones :) I got some Kingman, #8, Crow Spring and Pilot Mt. And I think I am going to get some more lol. You all know the disease that seeps in when you buy stones hahaaha.

Below is a pair of mismatched earrings that my mother generously gave to me. They are natural Emerald and Rubies set in sterling from India. I have already popped them out of their settings and am realising I will probably need to teach myself a pronged setting for them. They're gorgeous :)


And below is a little glass/wooden case that I purchased at a furniture shop last weekend, whilst browsing for a bed for Summer.
It needs dusting out and I am thinking of putting in some felt on the bottoms of each square.....if I ever get round to it!


I ordered myself some new packs of PMC3 yesterday, which I probably wont' get until Monday now, but I am looking forward to making some new embellishments with it for my jewellery. Hubby told me to get some as he thinks it's a nice touch to make the little decorations by hand as well :)

On a completely random note, my birdie is having a yawning attack out in his aviary and it looks so funny (that's if birds yawn?) lol he's still going....
We bought him and his little girlfriend a new cage this week and we put it together last night. I was afraid he wouldn't take to his new surroundings considering he's had the other one for his whole life with us....like 10 years now. It's his bed cage. He comes in every single night and he sleeps in it till morning, when I put him back outside in his aviary...spoilt much? His girlfriend is a bright yellow budgie - he is an Indian Ringneck Lutino (bright yellow). Strange friendship I know, but it works so well. They're just like a little married couple :) Anyway, they were a bit bewildered in the new cage at first, but by the time morning came, they were loving it!

Okay, I think Summer and I are going to go and get some lunch as a treat and sit at our new fave spot at the duck pond to eat it as it's such a nice day in the Sun. Have a wonderful weekend everyone! :)

Em

Finding Findings.....

So I have been searching the net on and off for some of the sterling silver filigree findings I see in so many other jewelers work. And I would like to incorporate them into my own work, to give me some more choice and variety. But I cannot for the life of me find the damned things!!!

It's really frustrating me. I have googled my butt off and have only found maybe one or two of them. If anyone out there feels generous, can you please share with me where you buy yours from?? Puleeeeaase??!!


Anyways, today's weather is really annoying me. It's that gloomy overcast drizzly weather. I did manage to get my floors cleaned, but it took about 40 minutes for them to dry, so Summer and I were confined to the lounge room whilst we waited.

Now I am sitting with a nice mug of hot tea and a shortbread biscuit. It's school holidays over here now for the next 2 weeks, which I am not looking forward to, for several reasons which I won't bore you with.

I haven't been making a whole lot lately, only small stuff, cuz it's quick and simple and I can make it affordable. I am waiting on a parcel of Turquoise cabs, not that I needed them of course.....I just wanted them!

Below is what I have made recently. Of course if you follow me on my FB page, you will have already seen these pieces.

I find resin loads of fun to play with. I hope to incorporate some with some of my PMC, or at least try to anyway.

K, well, I hope everyone is having fun and has their creating mojo with them. I don't at the moment...again....but I hope that will change soon :)

Time for a post me thinks...

First off I just want to say a big thank you to those of you who read my blog and give me encouragement and some very uplifting comments, you know who you are and it means a lot to me!

I haven't really been keeping up with my blogging. We all go through it.

So I figured now is as good a time as any to try and get back into it. It's such a nice day today, warm (but not too warm) and nice n breezy. I have just been to the store to buy some things and of course I came back with much more than I intended on...I hate that! Right now I am cooking dinner (it's almost lunchtime). I have gotten into the habit of trying to get dinner made early, so when it comes to the evening, I don't have so much to do, just dishes etc. I am cooking Shepards/cottage Pie. Yum. One of the hubby's faves and mine too.

I got some supplies today, some much needed wire and some brass and copper sheet. I also got a new bit of PMC3 and some new resin. I sold my heart necklace that had a PMC flower in it and it's been sent off to a customer in the USA. I was so happy!! I did on the weekend stumble across some Degradable Bubble Packing stuff at the hardware store, so I bought myself a big roll of it.

Below are some pictures of my latest work. I decided not to keep the black patina on the 3rd necklace after all.

Well that's all for now I guess. We have some new neighbours that moved in this weekend and the lady knocked on my door this morning (I had noticed her wandering up and down the road this morning) and she intro'd herself and then asked if I had seen her cat. It's a 5 month old Siamese and it's been missing since this morning. So I have to keep a look out for it...though being that there is bush across from our houses, the kitty may not come back....

Hope everyone is having a lovely day like I am :)

Been A While....

It feels like longer than 2 weeks ago since I last blogged. I haven't really been in the mood lately. This past week I am kinda flat. I won't write about it...but any stay at home mum (of a 2yr old) would totally understand why.

During the day I don't get much of a chance at the bench...and at night, I just am too exhausted to bother, though I have so many things I want to make. But this last week I have gotten a chance to finally make some earrings (which can be seen on my FB fan page). They at least don't take too much of my time and can be done in parts during the day, whilst being mum.

Below are some bangles I made a couple of weeks ago (I made 8 in total) for myself. I added some PMC3 initial charms to 4 of them. I love wearing them. They make a nice jingle, jangle sound and the charms make a soft tinkly sound too. They aren't finished off perfectly, but I don't really care, sometimes I have to have instant gratification!


Below are a pair of my earrings I have made this past week using Turquoise.

The last few days have not been great weather wise, so we have been stuck in the house every day, till today. I got the house cleaning done and then Summer and I took a drive down to the beach and spent an hour watching the tide come in. We got to see some weird looking clear blob, Jelly Fish type things in the water, I always keep an eye out for any special shells that might end up on the sand, but no luck so far :(

I am going to try and get dinner cooked now, so I don't have to do it tonight.... Oh and I go and collect all my Jewellery from the Cube shop tomorrow....quite disappointed that I didn't sell much. But I gave it a shot. I am going to relist it all on Etsy and possibly in a few months time (when I have enough stock) try the local arts n crafts markets. Everything is worth a shot!

K well gonna go buy some onions and bread now....buh bye :)

A Whistle in My Nose.

well that's what it sounds like when I sniff. And yet again, it would seem like I am getting sick again with allergies, in fact it always seems like that now.

Right now I am just sitting playing on the internet, soon I should have my groceries delivered and will have to put them away. I have some laundry on and then I really should be cleaning the floors, but it will all depend on how I am feeling by then.

My hubby and I spent the weekend in 2 specific areas, looking at houses. Summer spent that time with her grandies. We think we have pretty much decided on where we would like to move to, provided a place that fits our needs is available. We are both ready and excited for a change. So until I have moved, I doubt I will be listing much at Etsy :(

I hardly get any time at the bench. I would like to start making earrings, as I haven't really made many and earrings can be made easily and faster than large pendants/necklaces & rings.
Plus since they are made easily, they can be more affordable.

So though I have my jewllery now in the cube store in Town, I do intend on filling up my Etsy store. Just right now, I can't manage the time to include much being spent at the bench :(

Anyway, here are some pictures of my latest stash of stones:

There are lots of Peachblow Jasper and several Labradorites too.

I did manage to pick up some other stones I haven't worked with yet. I can't wait to get into it all again one day soon! In the meantime I have been trying to take Summer out more, to nice places, since the weather has become nice and comfortable.

This is a picture of Summer at the duck pond last week.

That slice of bread was kinda meant for the duckies, but she wanted to chew on it instead :P

I have made a new chunky PMC3 piece and I fired it last night. I need to solder some jump rings to it, then I can tumble it for a few hours. I'll take pictures when it's all done.

Well that's all for now folks. My bird is making an awful noise outside and it's driving me crazy!!!

Have a great day :)

Hello you :)

Well it has been a busy time since I last posted.

If you've dropped by my FB Fan Page, you will have seen what I have been up too lately. It's not much, but I don't get much time anymore.

I made a very chunky finger print charm (more like a pendant really) out of my new pack of PMC3 and it turned out fabulously! I am really reallllly pleased with it and wear it every day. I had read that you cannot torch fire over a certain size, so I was very apprehensive when I went to fire my piece. But I proved that theory wrong as my piece is really large and it fired just fine.

It took me about 4 tries to get the fingerprint impression into the clay, Summer wanted to bend her finger when I wanted her to keep her finger straight, so it was hard going. But in the end it all worked out well and I got it okay. It wasn't a perfect impression, but I didn't wanna push my luck!

Here it is anyways:

It weighs a hefty 25gms and I rolled it at 10 cards in thickness, I like weighty pieces and this is definitely that! I put a purple CZ in and scratched out Summer's name into the clay once it was fully dried. I am really loving the whole clay thing, shame it's so expensive :(

My latest news is I am now selling my jewellery in a shop in town. It's called In.cube8r. It's a regular shop, but only for people who make their own things. You rent a glass cube, under a 3 month contract and you don't have to pay commission. I am going to give it a go for the 3 month contract and see where that takes me. I will have to remove everything from Etsy and make new stuff for it, as all my other work is now in the cube shop.

In other news, we are still searching for the right location to move to. We tried today to check out a new area that we haven't ventured out to before, but Summer wasn't going to let us do it peacefully, she was extremely grumpy and making it hard to enjoy the experience, so we hope to go out on the weekend (and have Summer babysat by grandies) and check out the area properly so we can make an informed decision. The thing that worries me most with moving, is moving to somewhere I end up regretting. That would really suck.

Okay well that is all for now. It's getting colder here this week, I can't wait till it's Winter for real.

I Need slippers......stat!

Over the last few nights it's seemed to cool down a lot. Finally. Though during the day time it's still kinda warm....for me anyways. Right now my feet are cold and as we have tiled flooring under the computer desk, it makes for colder feet :(

Today my little sweetie pie turned 2. I've merely blinked and those 2 years have passed. And today I made my big fingerprint pmc thingy of her finger, it's a really big heart with a cz and I might try and inscribe her name on it if I'm game...I possibly have made it too big, but I am going to go ahead and try and make it work anyway, only this time I will take more care to finish it off and then will tumble it when it's done.

I tumbled the other pmc charms I made and they turned out lots better, so I am not scared off trying more pmc...for now.

I also got some Art Clay Copper to play with. It's really hard to find time to do anything now though. Summer is more and more demanding of my time and it means I cannot go to the bench and create. Though I did get a little over an hour out there yesterday afternoon and I have almost finished 1 piece and got to finish off another that was laying round on the bench for a while.

I have some exciting news in regards my jewellery, but I won't share it just yet. I will wait till Wednesday to share :P

I have found a house to look at....I called to get a viewing and they said maybe next week sometime, so I hope that happens and I can either go for it or move on. I have to start getting a hold of moving boxes too. I am going to throw a lot out and give a lot away to charity shops. We have accumulated way too much stuff and we don't need to take it all with us. I am so excited to move...I get itchy 'need something new' feet every few years.

Anyway it's that time of night when I need to make myself a hot cuppa or rather a thermo full of tea (I likes it verrrry hot).

Take care guys :)

Stupid PMC3.....

well only kinda.....see, I'm having a problemo with the charms I made..already :(

You saw in my last post how they turned out?? I was pretty pleased with the result.

Well this is how they look now.....


yeah....not so pretty anymore... :(

sob

big (typical) sigh

I have no idea what's gone wrong/what I have done wrong. I allowed charms to dry overnight. Fired them with my torch for 2 mins once they got the 'glow' and then allowed them to air dry. Then polished them up using super fine steel wool. So on paper, it would seem as though I have followed everything correctly. I have posted in a forum for some help, so hopefully I can get some answers soon.

And I already have a new lot of pmc stuff ordered and I am kinda worried that I will ruin it...spesh since I want to make a fingerprint charm of my daughter on Friday her birthday. I have also ordered some ArtClay Copper to try out as I have read you can torch fire that too. I have tried to get some info about pmc classes in my area, but can't seem to get any replies, which is disappointing to say the least.

But I am considering doing a longer silver smithing course .... maybe.... it's a lotta moolah and can't really be splashing the cash just now.....(she says after she has just spent on pmc)!!

Oh well....I know it will get sorted eventually...it's just got me a bit deflated now. I really want to make some normal silver jewelry too, but just seem to have lost my mojo. I think the whole house hunting really has me consumed right now, knowing there is so much to be done etc.

Hope everyone is having a more productive week than I.

:)

PMC3 What Fun!

I have used pretty much all the PMC3 that I bought last week, about 3 packs of 7gms. And I plan on purchasing more next week, as my daughter turns 2 on Friday, so I hope to make a fingerprint impression charm for myself. Then one day I can pass it on to her. I adore keepsake stuff.

I have hardly touched any other form of silver though :( But again, I do have more cabochons coming :)

Today we spent most of the day driving around different suburbs to look at houses to lease. Still in the same situation (haven't decided where we'd like to go) it's still, nice house, crap area. Or not a good enough house for the money, but great area. Or they have a dog next door that won't stop barking and so on and so forth. We don't have all that long till our lease comes up for renewal here, but I am desperate for a change, I want to meet new people and have a fresh start and I can't wait till we have a good backyard for Summer to play in. Time will tell.

I still want to make jewellery, but right now it's hard to find the time. I guess that's why I love PMC so much. I am an instant gratification kinda person, when I want to make something, I want to be able to make it as soon as possible. And PMC doesn't take a whole lot of time for small projects and it's easy to use and finish up nicely, unlike regular silver, which takes a whole lot more work/effort/time. I definitely would like to incorporate PMC and sterling/cabochons together as I think you could make some very original, unusual pieces.

Anywho, here are some charms I made for myself on Friday using all of my pmc up. They're kinda rough, but it was fun and I learned new things.

Well that's all I have to share for the weekend. I have to have that cuppa now to wind down after a long day of driving here and there.

:)