Experimenting

I am thinking of changing the backgrounds on my Etsy shop pics for my jewellery by adding a bit of colour and brightening them up.  I have been experimenting with the backgrounds today, not sure if I will change them yet though I am undecided!

Pens that write on polymer clay...

....and don't smudge! do any exist? The only ones I have found to work so far are the Eberhard Faber Decoro Lackmarker.  Sometimes I need a pen when I am doing a certain design on my cake toppers and also for when I write the couples names on the base of the topper but finding one that works is hard!  If anybody out there can point me in the right direction of preferably a fine black pen but a pack of colours would be good too, I would be most grateful! :)

New Year New Moleskine

I love the Moleskine, I was a bit late getting my diary for this year as it has only just arrived and I love the weekly notebook, plenty of room for writing and it has a nifty yearly planner at the front where I write all of my cake topper orders.  Makes life much easier when I can see what I need to make at a glance! I aso have a sketchbook and I want to get the watercolour book next, well in fact I want to collect them all! The cheapest place to get them I think has got to be Amazon.

Here is a group on flickr dedicated to all things Moleskine.  Some awesome Moleskine art.

Full of cold

I am full of cold (boo) so I haven't been in my clay room at all this last week or so, I was feeling extra motivated too! :S
I haven't made a piece of jewellery for a couple of weeks now as I have had to cake my cake toppers made for this month and next, its been nice to work on something different.

So as I haven't got anything new to show here is Bella all cute and cuddly on my lap :)

Some of my Faves

Here is another selection of my favourite things on Etsy right now, click on the pic above to see it large and go check out these sellers shops, awesome!

1, 2010 weekly planner by lillyjanestationerry
2, Victorian gingerbread dollhouse by Victoriandollhouse
3, Red landscape ring by QuercusSilver
4, Sugar and spice by Happiknits
5, Frosted raspberry earrings by JooJooLand
6, Starlight beads by Feyglass
7, Chained heart by Revonav
8, Don't steal my pickanick basket by Johnnyvintage

Click on the pic above to see it large and go check out these sellers shops, awesome!

Finished toppers

Just a quick post tonight to show the finished toppers I posted about last night.  This one was finished today and its on it its way, now onto the next! :)

Cake Toppers

My week has ended busier than I thought it would!  I have had a lot of cake topper queries this week so I have been sorting those out and sending invoices and making the dates on my calender etc.  Here is a work in progress pic that I am currently making.  This set will be finished by tomorrow ready for postage on Monday and then its onto the next!

Hopefully more orders will still come in and I will be kept busy.  I have also bought a new blow torch today to use with my silver solder paste so I will be trying that out on some new post earrings, cant wait to see the end result of those either.  I will get some pics up as soon as I have finished those.

Have a great weekend :)

More Hearts

I have been making quite a few heart pieces for my shop and the latest addition is a little pink one.  Even though its Valentines day next and they are pretty appropriate for the occasion, I love hearts anyway! :)

Rat Love

Had to put these pics up here, soooo cute! Meet Bo up my boyfriends sleeve :)

 

Rats!

Today I got 2 new baby rats they are so cute! the photo shows there awesome rat mansion :)  It has a hammock and everything although they are yet to try it out.
I think they are still a bit nervous but hoefully they will calm down soon.  At least they have a big enough play pen to keep them occupied while I am working. 
I used to have a rat when I was younger called chewey, she was the cutest little thing.  Rats are lovely pets and very misunderstood :)

 Oh they are 2 girls and they are called Bella & Bo, sweet!

Storage Solutions

I must admit I am not the erm tidiest of people!  I am always on the lookout for good storage solutions and ideas. 

There was a thread in the Etsy forums with someone asking about storage for jewellery and lately I have been thinking of where I could store my finished pieces and to keep them out of my way.  So I thought it would be a really cool idea to use a cork pin board.  I bought a pretty large one and it is hung up next to my work bench.  Now I can see all of my finished earrings and necklaces in one place without them being strewn across my bench, sorted. :)

I'm in the Storque!

 A nice surprise to wake up to this morning, I wondered why I had lots of new shop hearts and a sale :)

My guitar pick necklace was chosen for the main photo on this weeks voter post, I am chuffed!
You can see the article here

For anyone that doesn't know, The Storque is Etsy's blog :)

My Fave Breakfast....

...or lunch or dinner!  I loooove poached eggs on toast with lots of black pepper, cant beat it.  I could eat this for any meal in the day.  This time I added mushrooms and bacon, a bit lardy but tastes oh so good :)

I have new books!

I am a bit of a hoarder when it comes to most things especially books and especially crafty books.  I have lots and lots to do with jewellery making and polymer clay. One day I hope to have a big library room to store them all in on big tall book cases. :)

This Christmas I received another four to add to my collection!

Jewellery- Fundamentals of metalsmithing by Tim McCreight.  I am currently teaching myself some metalsmithing techniques such as soldering so I love this kind of reference books.


Polymer Clay- Colour inspirations by Lindly Haunani & Maggie Maggio.  I work with polymer clay a lot with both my cake toppers and my jewellery and this books has lots of exercises to help you get comfortable with colour mixing and combination's etc.


Dolls' House- Shops, Cafes & Restaurants.  I love miniatures and lately I have been geting quite interested in Dolls' Houses so this was a welcomed present.

The Polymer Clay Cookbook by Jessica & Susan Partain.  I love miniature food and for dolls' houses and this is something I want to try and make at some point.  Jessica & Susan have an Etsy Shop
called Inedible Jewelry which features some amazing pieces, I own the bacon and egg post earrings, love it!

These should keep me busy for a while.  Speaking of books, today I downloaded my first Audio book "The Road" by Cormack McCarthy.  Even though I have a lot of books I don't have that much time to read them as I always feel I should be working on new designs instead so now I get the best of both worlds.  Working while "reading" :)

2009 Recap

I thought it would be a cool idea to have a look back at 2009, a little recap if you like of what was happening in my world! :)

January
I had just opened my current shop on Etsy so I was busy getting stocked up and working on my photo's (always something to improve on there!) I also made a resolution to blog more, I think I stuck to it :)

February
In February I started to move away from polymer clay and work with silver clay.  I ordered my kiln which arrived the day I went on holiday ( I nearly didnt want to go but stay at home and play with the kiln!)  I went to visit my mum in France, very cold but a lovely break away from it all.

March
I returned from my holiday and got busy with my kiln, yeah!  I also took part in Earth Hour turning all of the lights out for 1 hour.  I am a bit scared of the dark so I was sitting in the pitch black on my own with a couple of candles, good times!
It was also the month I discovered the awesome Shay Aaron and sadly Jade Goody died from her battle against cervical cancer.

April
I left all my pals at Lloyds TSB and moved back up to Northampton from Southend on Sea.  We used to move a lot with my boyfriends job as a pub manager.

May
In May I gave my thoughts on Precious Metal Clay while beavering away on new designs.  I was also cut off from the internet for a while when my boyfriend reclined the sofa on my laptop power cord.  Expensive they are too!

June
I went to York for the first time and loved it! we had lunch in the most haunted pub in Europe (apparently) I took a few photos but didn't capture anything :(  I have a slight obsession with ghosts and love all the t.v programs about them.  It was also the month of the very shocking death of Michael Jackson.  I have been fan since I was child so this was tough, MJ was a legend. RIP
I also had my first go with bronze clay and I joined the Etsy Metal Clay team.  The best thing I could have done, I love my team mates they are an amazing source of inspiration and knowledge.  Go EMC!

July
I had a nasty bout of flu, eugh, I think I was ill for about 2 weeks, not good!  It was also my sisters graduation, Dani graduated with first class honours so celebrations all round.  I also re-designed my cake topper website.

August
In August someone crashed their car into our pub below our bedroom window, that was one hell of a wake up call at 7am!
I also went to visit my mum again in France this time we took my boyfriends son James and this time it was also lovely and hot!
I also participated in my first charm swap with the EMC team.

September
I was really busy with the wedding season making cake toppers.  It was also the month my boyfriend got laid off work and we decided to up sticks and move to France! (as you do) A big decision but a
very good one.  Road trip!

October
September and October was not very good for me creative wise as all my studio was packed up in boxes still.  I think I went without creating for about a month, serious withdrawals there!

November
We moved into our own apartment, yay! This meant I was able to get my clay out again.  I bought a new desk from Ikea and got cracking.
I was also on the front page of Etsy, in the gift guides, featured twice on craft gawker, had 3 sales, bought a mannequin head and I got an ad on Regretsy!

December
Last but not least, in December I made new pieces, discovered some new favourite Etsy sellers and got some awesome Christmas Presents.

I am now set up for the New year and looking forward to what 2010 brings :)

Happy 2010

Wow that came round fast, I cant believe it has been 10 years already since millennium eve!
I think 2009 was a pretty good year for me but I am hoping 2010 will be even better. I want my Etsy shop to keep growing, I want to expand my line and work on some wholesale figures. So much to do so little time!

I have been thinking about New Years resolutions they always seem to be the same for me, eat less, exercise more blah de blah. Maybe I will stick to those this year and and achieve some new ones along the way :)

P.s Some new hearts for Valentines Day.