Giveaway at Bugalugs Handmade

Jacqui at Bugalugs Handmade is having a giveaway when she reaches 200 facebook fans.  If you are not already following her, do yourself a favour and check out Bugalugs Handmade.  She makes gorgeous handmade items for your little one as well as patterns and fun stuff for you.

Check out what she is giving away this time!

or

With a little one on the way, I hope I win 😀

Check out the details of her giveaway on her blog

Visit her facebook page

Oogle the beautiful items in her madeit shop

New Fav T-shirt

A little while ago, I bought the most awesome T-shirt from Billy Mac Clothing on Madeit.  It has a beautiful picture of a Louis chair, and I LOVE it!

I usually do anything to avoid having my photo taken, but I made an exception this time… Billy Mac have lots of t-shirts for children, including onesies, short and long t-shirts, as well as a few for the adults.  She is a lovely person, and is also very supportive!  Do yourself a favour and check out her madeit shop!

Crazy Cats!

Last night I couldn’t find two of our cats (yes, we have three!)… I knew they were inside, because they had eaten, but after checking all their favourite hidey holes, I was stumped!  After enlisting my husband to help with the search, and a good 15min of looking everywhere in the house, hubby came and said I should quietly have a look in the laundry.  I couldn’t see what he was referring to, until…

You guessed it!  Not one, but both cats curled up in the laundry basket on top of the deep freeze.

How cute are they!

The orange cat came to us as a sick little 4 week old stray last easter, he was cowering under our car to keep out of the rain, and wasn’t well enough to even dry himself.  Our youngest at the time, Rasputin took to him immediately and has been looking after him ever since.

My mother-in-law aptly named him Opi, (Short for Orange Peel) due to his colouring.

It is just so beautiful to have animals around, who warm our hearts every day!

New Goodies

Well, I went a little crazy last week.  I decided it was time for some more supplies, and so did a little bit of ordering online and on Etsy.  This week has been a little bit like christmas, and I thought I would share my new goodies.  The first came from Windspirit.  10mm and 6mm Candy Jade round gemstone beads, Surgical Steel earwires, beautiful twisted copper wire, some oxidized copper wire and chain.

I was thrilled with them, and can’t wait to start using them!

The next came from SirenGems.  Stunning 4mm faceted Smokey Quartz Rondelles.  I was dying to buy more of their beautiful beads, however was trying to be restrained.  These are so lovely though, and the seller was the sweetest person!  The photo isn’t great, as I didn’t bother with my light tent… oopsie!

The next lot came from ArtTess.  Another lovely seller, who was so obliging, and helpful!  In this package came 3 pale Rose Quartz focal teardrops, 3 Rose Quartz focal teardrops, 3 Sparkling Quartz focal teardrops and 3 Smokey Quartz focal teardrops.  I also got a bag with 8 double drilled Amethyst beads, 8 double drilled Smokey Quartz beads. 8 double drilled Rose Quartz beads, and 2 double drilled Sparkling Quartz beads as a freebie – Yay!

I also bought a cool ring kit with the pieces and instructions – such a good idea if you like to learn new techniques!

Last but not least, I got some new tools!  Some Crimping Pliers, Nylon Jaw Pliers, a Bead Reamer and Stainless Steel Bench Block.

I have been too tired to use any of them yet, but can’t wait to get started on some projects I have in mind! 😀  Hubby and I went to our local craft market yesterday, and I had such a great time!  The sellers were all so nice, and I stopped to chat with almost every one of them (even though hubby tried steering me away from some :-p)  I already can’t wait to go again next month.

Don’t forget, I am offering 15% off everything in my madeit and facebook stores until mothers’ day if you mention MOTHER at checkout.

Making a Light Tent

We have had a very exciting weekend at our place!  I have been wanting to make a light tent/box for ages now, as I really struggle with taking good photos, and on Saturday I finally convinced hubby to go and buy the things I need to make it.  Yay!  So, yesterday we got busy and made it (well to be honest my husband did most of the cutting, as I am not well enough – but I did a great job ‘helping’). lol

I thought I would show how we went about it, for anyone else who would like to give it a go… the difference in picture quality is AMAZING!

First, we found a box that was a good size… luckily we are a bit slack on the tidying front these days, so the box from Mick’s steering wheel was still sitting in the study 😀

Then we measured about 2 inches from the sides, drew an outline on the box and then cut out the centre from all sides and the top.

Next, we measured a piece of card for the backdrop (I used a matt card so it doesn’t reflect too much) and we may use the rest to line the inside of the frame – although our box was already white on the inside, so I think we’re right…  I have just placed it inside the box, as I would like the option of changing backdrops, but you could tape it if you wish.

Then I have draped some material over the sides and top to diffuse the light.  I will cut this to size at some point, but I haven’t taped it yet until I know how I want it set up.  From playing around with lighting I have noticed that some of my items prefer both layers of material and some prefer only one or even none, so I will keep it as versatile as possible.  Then I placed the lights around it on each side.

We couldn’t find any daylight globes, but have used cool white which are working ok for now.  I just need to adjust the white balance on my camera.

We have a very simple compact camera, it is 5 megapixel and has no super macro, so it still can’t take really fine photos, but check out the difference.  This is best photo I could take of my woodlands necklace originally:

And this is the one I took last night in the light tent.  I have not done any touch-ups, and will keep playing with the lighting, but it is so much better!

There are still some settings I have to change, but I am really happy with the results!  Now I have a lot of photo taking to do! 😀

I have read a lot of forum posts about making a lightbox, but we mainly used a blog from Digital Photography School as our guide.

I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend!

Mothers Day Giveaway

Kid Independant are having a giveaway in celebration of mothers day.  As it says on their blog:

This Mother’s Day we think that you deserve an extra special treat… so in honour of another year’s worth of giggles and tantrums, early mornings and late nights, hysterical laughter and exhausted tears, bad hair days and all day pyjamas… we bring you our Mother’s Day goodie bag promotion!

Click here for more details!

While we’re talking about mothers day, don’t forget that I am offering 15% off everything in my shop (excluding shipping) for everyone who mentions the word MOTHER at checkout.  This will be valid up until mothers day.

I have been working on some pretty exciting stuff the last few days, and can’t wait to share it with you!

Playing

I have been really enjoying playing around with the wirework lately.  I love the effects that can be made by twisting and swirling it in different ways.   This pendant I made a few weeks ago… I was just sitting there playing around.  Hubby asked me what I was making and I replied “I don’t know yet!”  They’re the most fun! 😀

I made it using pure copper wire and a Citrine teardrop briolette.

Also using copper, I made this cute rosette ring.  I love the effect of the copper twisted around itself!!

Apart from that, it has been a big week!  I went to my first art class at the local art shop on Monday.  It was great fun, and I really enjoyed the exercises we did.  I think it will help me a lot! 😀

Tulips

I was reading Stevie’s blog Garden Therapy,  and have been blown away by the photos of tulips from the tulip festival and some other beautiful flowers from her garden.  I have seen many photos of tulips before, and have had plenty a bunch in my kitchen – but it never struck me quite as much as these did.  I promptly spoke to Hubby, and we are thinking about working out how to put some in our garden.

As I have been so unwell lately, our garden has been neglected.  I would say it was never really a garden to start with, as the previous owners just covered every surface with tan bark – I think there are a total of 3 trees and a few bushes in our whole place.  We would really like to build a garden, however time and energy have been an issue, as has our lack of design prowess.

Anywho… we decided we will just find some nice spots and put some tulips in anyway – I guess it has to start somewhere hey!  Wish us luck! 😀

Fairy Filigree Bracelet

A fairy came to me in a dream last night.  She took me for a flight through the forest, and we sat in a tree for a chat.  The stars were beautiful, the air was fresh, and I told her I wished I could stay there forever.  She smiled at me and we sat for a while longer before flying home.  When I woke up, I found this bracelet next to my bed, with a note which said “A bit of the forest for you – forever!”

I made this bracelet using a gorgeous Vintaj Natural Brass Filigree Diamond, and wrapped a Freshwater pearl in a beautiful dusty pink colour onto the middle.  The hook and chain are also Vintaj, with more pearls spaced through the bracelet.

I love the look this ended up with 😀

Truth…

I just wanted to share a quote with you, which I found today… It made me think, and resonated with me…

“Sometime, somewhere you need to take something to be the truth. But if you cling to it too strongly, then even when the truth comes in person and knocks on your door, you will not open it.”

BUDDHA