Etsy featured seller – RandomQuirks

If you're looking for jewellery items to put a smile on a friend's face, then look no further than RandomQuirks shop at Etsy! You'll find an array of cute earrings and necklaces made using itty bitty Barbie shoes and accessories. Barbie, if you're looking for those pink high heels, I think you should check out this shop!

Cheerful bright colours and a sense of fun bring these quirky pieces to life and are just perfect for rock chick, the true girly girl, or those who like to reminisce (that'll be me!)

Here are my faves from Random's shop:

Giveaway coming up!

I just can't believe how the time flies!

The giveaway takes place on Monday. The winner will be randomly picked at 21:00 GMT and notified within the hour. If you haven't already entered please click here.

Good luck!

Yay! I made it onto the front page!

I'm feeling just a little bit chuffed as one of my favourite pieces made it onto the front page of Etsy late Friday! When I popped into my shop today I found that Aunt Bess's pendant (centre, top row) had in fact sold… ahhh, the power of the front page!

Thanks to lizzywatson for including me in her treasury and also bloominglilly for letting me know I was there.

Please help me…

…out of my coat!

It's cold but not so cold I need wear my coat in the house, but that's just how I'm dressed at the moment.

Why? You may ask! I went out this morning to my Wednesday morning pilates class as usual and when I returned to my warm and cosy home I discovered that the zipper on my down jacket had stuck. Fabric had become entwined in the mechanism and it simply wouldn't glide.

In my frustration I yanked hard at the zipper-pull and to my dismay it moved but an inch and no further. "This is a cinch!" I thought, "I'll simply slide myself out from the coat and deal with stuck-fast zipper when I'm out!" But oh no, too optimistic was I, because the zipper had, in fact, jammed at the slimmest part of the jacket and there was no way that I could wriggle the jacket over my hips. Please note, at this point I had already dislocated both shoulders to get my arms free of the sleeves!

At this moment the doorbell rang. So with my jacket securely around my waist I ventured to the front door and presented my dilemma to the postie. What an interesting sight we must have made as he also tried tugging at my stubborn zipper! I guess in time I shall find out what the neighbours were thinking!

Needless to say I am jolly warm as I write this blog. I have turned down the central heating, not so much to save energy, but to stop myself from passing out!

Here are some useful suggestions for a broken zipper:



This is an entirely handsewn necklace by Alice Pleasance. Check out more of her necklaces and cute polymer clay creations here



These are real, repurposed zipper pulls, so they're a bit heavier than normal earrings. Not recommended if your ears are very sensitive to weight. They'll dangle just over 3 inches from your ears, or about 8cm.



There are lots more fun and funky items in tangerined's shop!

And if I can't get myself free I shall just have to unpick the zip and make one of these:

My first giveaway!

If you would like to take part in this giveaway all you need do is pop into my shop and have a browse through my items for sale. Pick and tell me your favourite piece in the comments section to this post.

That's all there is to it! The winner will be chosen randomly on Monday 8th December and will receive this pretty Swarovski Scattergram necklace made by yours truly!

PS I don't mind where you're from!

Call it a wrap!

For a while now I have really admired the work of those who artistically wrap silver wire around pendant focals with such style and grace. It looks so simple, I thought… until I gave it a go and realised that you have to have a plan before you wrap… you need to understand the bead you are wrapping… you need to know what you're aiming for!

Here are my first attempts using silver (I used copper wire for the previous 63 until I'd 'mastered' the art!)






































And my model, Robyn, shows us just how lovely these pieces look on!

snuggle up and see what I made!

A couple of weeks ago I sought the help of the Etsians in finding me some beautifully handmade neck warmers. So inspired was I, that I rummaged through mother's craft box for knitting needles and popped to the haberdasher for some suitable yarn! I'm reasonably please with my effort, but have a look at what the real experts make before I show off!



Don't you just love the colours in this knit by artish? I'm especially fond of the loose and erratic stitch which declares to me that this had to be made by hand. Check out artish's shop for even more fabulous knits!



























Now this is something else! Simple and stylish and versatile. A very clever and wearable piece by olivebrown. If it's the last thing you do today, pop into her shop and check out her beautifully themed knits!



























If you were looking for something wispy and wild to adorn your neck, this could be the item for you! You can see that luxe has shown this neck warmer against a denim jacket… it works so well!






















I can tell by the picture of Urbanknit's neckwarmer that this is a super soft item to snuggle into. I love the flattering colour and the chunky style… I'd be comfy in this all day long!






















"An incredibly plush and slouchy cowl, hand-knit with organic cotton yarn in warm shades of brown sugar and dusty rose…" Great colours and individual style at Magic Lantern.


























With a tad more glamour that would see you from dawn until dusk, check out this lavish scarf by the funkyfelter

Are you ready to see what I made?

Well here it is! Kindly modeled by my daughter Robyn (yes, I will pay your modeling fee darling!)

And if you are in London…

Thanks Karen!

Carnaby Shopping 20% discount

Passing this on from Karen, a great opportunity if you fancy a shopping spree in London's renowned Carnaby Street – enjoy!

Find your brand here

Am really enjoying this site and don't mind the daily emails telling me what's up for grabs! There are always great discounts on the brands we love and can't help but click thru to see what bargains there are to be had!

Check it out here!

Card clips

Somehow at this time of the year I'm filled with equal measures of excitement and trepidation… these month roll by at a pace I find difficult to accept. In preparation for the festive season I called upon the Etsians to find me some beautiful handmade greetings cards – something to whet the appetite – anyone who knows me personally will know how I love handmade cards… I've even tried doing it myself, but, hey ho, that's best left to these guys in my opinion!

Here's such a simple design by bluecricket, but the choice of colour elevates it to a new level - so clever!



Appleblossom has made some lovely pastel-coloured greetings cards



From SmallBlueThing this absolutely gorgeous card: the words have been printed onto card, cut into a heart shape and stitched onto brown parcel paper with red, wonky stitching. Punched heart shapes decorate the outside, with wooden button detail. The layering in this card really adds to it's "craftiness" and the colours remind me of things Scandanavian!



Finally, some friendly penguins from Steppie. I love the rustic quality of the board Steppie has chosen and the simple stamped design…



More on cards coming soon!

Men's skincare (you can borrow!)

Up in town today to take part in something top secret, which actually didn't happen, gave me a little shopping time to myself. I was drawn (by heavenly fragrances) into L'Occitane in St Christopher's place; I confess, with no real desire to purchase anything!

I was pleased to discover their men's range… maybe I just wouldn't have noticed if I'd had selfish desires. It's a surprisingly extensive and comprehensive range and I found myself thinking this will do for me too!

So we got treated to Olive daily shampoo – I wish HTML offered scratch'n'sniff – such a delicious smell of clean and healthy… think I'll just leave the cap off and use it as an air freshener too!

Check out their website:

Lolley's quest for perfect brows – chapter 3 (The final installment)

The brows had returned! Hoorah! But essentially I was back to square one.

Some weeks later I took my youngest up to Covent Garden, a trip to the London Transport Museum, a stroll around the market stalls and a very important visit to the Bead Store, now situated in Neal's Yard. Having parted with a small fortune, we began heading back to the Tube when Georgina spotted the Benefit Store and begged to go in to have a look around.

No sooner were we through the door, we were pounced on by a beauty half my age and twice Georgina's! She showed us some lovely products and offered a mini make-over. G was ecstatic, an 11-year-old's dream to be made up in-store!

A little posie tint here and there and Georgina was a very satisfied customer, but now it was my turn – how would the benefit-beauty cope with my aging skin? I sat in her chair with great trepidation and waited while she scanned my face… but, uh oh! What's this? Her eyes were locked onto my brows! Oh no! I'd completely forgotten about my terrible-but-just-about-there eyebrows! "I think there's another issue we need to address first, madam" says Miss Benefit, and out came the wax strips! What was I to do, pinned down in a chair, in a thronging Benefit Store? I quickly weighed up the odds: a well-known company in the heart of London – surely Miss Benefit was professional and had the Benefit reputation to live up to… surely I was in good hands this time. I closed my eyes and held my breath…

A short and not-so-uncomfortable time passed and a mirror was passed to me. With half closed eyes I peered at my reflection – WOWEE! New and fabulous eyebrows! The overall effect on my face was superb, I looked younger and felt so much more confident.

To complete my new improved look I took a beauty lesson from Miss Benefit, who showed me how to make-up properly and make the most of my eyes. You can find out more about Benefit beauty lessons here.

I am now completely resolved to heading to Benefit, and can whole-heartedly recommend them for brow shaping. Brows form a very important and expressive part of the face and misshaped or, worse still, missing brows are unflattering and, in some instances, aging.

THE END!

Lolley's quest for perfect brows – chapter 2

So I'm sitting in my car on the driveway and wondering how to get into my own home without hubby seeing my new zero-brow look, how I'll get through the next weeks without him noticing; when all of a sudden there's a tap on the side window. I almost leapt out of my skin, (which would have served a useful purpose just then) and was even more alarmed to see our "local fashion guru" (every local community has one!) signaling to me to get out of the car. I quickly scanned her face for that look of sheer horror but, fortunately, my fringe had fallen sufficiently to cover the crime scene! 

"Fashion guru" was in need of an egg, thus forcing me to go inside, scuttle to the kitchen, grab desired egg and shoo her from the premises as quickly as possible!

Luckily, the rest of my family were contentedly stationed in front of the TV screen and my progress to the bathroom for a closer inspection was unhindered. Once securely behind a locked door, I took out my brow pencil and began implementing my natural artistic ability thinking: "will I be able to wear this stuff overnight without it rubbing off on the pillow slip?"

Tiptoeing from the bathroom, my next port of call was Google – in search of an answer to my dilemma. Interestingly, I found that I was far from alone. There are simply hundred of gals who have been through something quite similar and, more interestingly, plenty of advice too! For instance, have a look at this:

Unbelievably, you can buy false eyebrows! I really had no idea that this type of product existed, but, hey, why not? However, I certainly couldn't see myself wearing these – imagine if you put them on wonky… or, worse still, one fell off mid business meeting!

No, there had to be a better solution and I was bound to find it if I kept trawling the Net.

After many hours it dawned on me that, in fact there is no immediate remedy for over tweezed brows, except for the passage of time. But what if the hair follicles had been damaged… what if my brows simply didn't grow back. Was I just gonna have to be patient? 

What I needed to do was give my brows a little encouragement:

Applying an oil (I chose Bio Oil) to the brow area smoothes and conditions the hairs that remain. It also probably assists somewhat with circulation since you are effectively massaging the the skin, and hopefully this might stimulate hair re-growth. 

I also took a course of vitamins and minerals – I felt I needed to give my body the best chance! Although I was a little concerned about things going the other way!

After a few weeks of playing "dodge the husband" and blow-drying my hair forward to obscure as much of my face as possible, I found that my brows were beginning to reappear. They were terribly messy and thin at first but there were definitely promising signs of recovery.

But what was this I could see? Something was very different about the new hair! Was I going blonde? Taking a mirror outside to shed more light on the subject…

OMG my brows are going GREY…

To be continued in the final part!

Lolley's quest for perfect brows

Having read Blooming lily's post yesterday on knocking off a few years… I reminded myself it's time for me to go and get my eyebrows shaped. I've found that eyebrow maintenance happens to be the one thing I can do to make myself look years younger in an instant and feel so much more confident! But it can also be a very traumatic process…

CHAPTER 1

As a teen I had the most ghastly brows you ever did. Firstly, they were not symmetrical, in fact they were not even similar! My mother had an unsuccessful attempt at shaping them, and then I followed up with severe plucking, resulting in brows that looked like a couple of hairy hockey sticks. NOT pretty!

During my 20s and 30s the brows were ignored – a long fringe helping to disguise the fact that they virtually met in the middle! 

More recently I began to pay them more attention and decided to recruit the help of my beauty therapist. A quick inspection and then out came the hot wax: "yes" she agreed "they are in a bit of a state, to put it mildly". I lay on her couch feeling that sense of nervousness and excitement at what was in store, imagining myself with brows like Halle Berry…

"There, all done" my trusted therapist showed me the wax strips. They looked like pieces of sellotape that had been attached to a wool carpet for a few weeks! 

So trusting was I that I bounced off the couch and dived straight for my purse and handed over the payment. It wasn't until I was at her front door that it occurred to me that I should check in the mirror – afterall, I may be a little pink around the area and a dash of foundation might not go amiss. 

Oh horror! Where were my model brows… where were my BROWS! All but the thinnest line of hair remained above my eyes! 

The shock was such that words escaped me, all I could manage was a mere squeak. I grabbed my coat and dashed for the car…

to be continued…

Etsy Treasury

Today I got featured in two treasuries on Etsy! Thank you so much to elleabelle and also uniquelynancy

You can see their handiwork here and here!

I got tagged!

Today I discover that the inspirational blooming lily has tagged me! 

Join in too, like this:

RULES

• Link to your tagger and list the rules
  
• List 7 random facts about yourself
  
• Tag 7 people and make sure you check back and see what they say!
  
• If your tagged, play along and pass it on!

Here are my random facts:

1. I run 9 miles every week
   
2. my passion is working on my allotment growing veg – I enjoy being in the fresh air and communicating with the plants!
   
3. I have 6 hens, 3 rabbits, 2 daughters, but only one husband!
4. I was late to the sport, but I just love to ski
   
5. I wish I could play the piano – I took lessons for a while but I'm hopeless!
   
6. In my spare time I have to be making something, jewellery, cards, knitting – if I don't I nibble my fingers to the bone!
   
7. As a kid I lost my stick insect; as an adult I lost my daughter's stick insect!

Now you have a go:

Dorothy

Wende

Wendiwinn

Heather Haymart

from chaos comes beauty

Capitolagirl

Craft therapy

How to make your silver black – oxidized silver

Just today I was asked how I made my silver work black. So here's a mini tutorial! 

The most professional way is to use Liver of Sulphur – a chemical  you can buy from a jewellery supplier or from ebay – is a mixture of potassium sulphide and potassium thiosulphate. It's not a particularly pleasant smelling compound as you can well imagine, and my advice is that you use it in a well-ventilated room. The following steps can be followed for both copper and silver:

1. Take a small pea-sized amount of the compound and break it up in a glass bowl which is large enough to hold the piece you want to oxidize. If you are planning to oxidize wire, then I recommend that you coil the wire around and secure it so that it doesn't suddenly spring open mid-process!
2. Next, add hot water. Break up the crystals with a plastic implement until they are completely dissolved.
3. Place your metal into the solution and leave it there until you reach the colour you want! The Sterling silver for my earrings (pictured) was left in the solution for about 15 mins.
4. Carefully remove your item from the solution – I recommend using plastic tweezers for this operation – and rinse off the excess.
5. I generally find that the metal now has quite a dull lustre; but the use of a polishing cloth and some elbow grease brings back the patina in no time! 
   

Here are some tips:

• Keeping the solution warm will speed up the process
  
• You can create an antique effect by polishing the raised surfaces of pieces almost back to their original shine, while indentation will remain blackened. This is best created using a tumbler.
  
• Oxidize you components and findings before you make/assemble pieces. It's just much easier!
  

No Liver of Sulphur? Here is a quick-fix:

It didn't take me very long to work out that your normal household bleach has a very similar effect on copper and silver! Again, work in a well-ventilated space:

1. Pour a small quantity of household bleach into a plastic or glass container.
   
2. Add your metal and wait for as long as it takes to reach the desired effect.
   
3. Remove the metal from the bleach using plastic tweezers and rinse thoroughly.
   

These little beauties were created with the bleach-method oxidized Sterling silver

Safety tip: The above processes use potentially harmful substances. Please wear gloves and goggles!

belt up and buckle down!

I was pretty bowled over when I saw that Christmas decorations were doing their job at the local supermarket by the end of September… credit crunch or not, Christmas is coming and I'm gonna have to get a grip on those purse strings!

For me, the hardest part of the buying is for the men in my life: dad, two brothers and hubby (thank goodness I have daughters!) So I thought I'd start right there (get the tricky ones sorted) and with careful use of the search criteria at Etsy.com I was able to find some rather interesting handmade items.

In particular, this solid-looking belt buckle at Metalogical. Not only is this beautifully hand crafted from 1/4" steel it also functions as a bottle opener! Chris, the creator says: "They are a lot of fun. I use mine everyday around 5:00!"