I don't know where January has gone to but to be honest I'm glad it's nearly over. It's such a grim month don't you think? Practically every day has been grey and cold - I just want to see some blue skies again. I've felt really uninspired creatively which I think must be down to the weather.

I've had a couple of lovely reviews on other blogs which really cheered me up though. Thanks so much to the lovely Katherine of Flutterbies Jewellery for showing my Dragonfly Earrings. Big thanks also to Slava who kindly featured some of my jewellery and lampwork beads on her Craftdom Blog.

Have you been watching Celebrity Big Brother? I'm so glad that Alex Reid won - he has changed a lot of people's opinion of him. I must admit that I, like lots of others had preconceived ideas of him due to all the media hype but he proved himself to be a really decent guy. Far too good for the likes of Miss Price in my opinion!

So what have I been up to in the jewellery department? Well I've been setting up a new shop on Folksy which will be the home of my altered art style charm bracelets and earrings. I didn't think they really sat well with my Rose and Raven range which is more vintage inspired so I thought it was best to keep them seperate. The new shop is called the Raven's Den which you can find here. Although there's not much in there at the moment I'm hoping to fill it up over the next couple of weeks.

I've listed a few new things in my Folksy shop - some birdie pieces including these earrings inspired by the American poet Emily Dickinson.Well have a good weekend everyone and I'll let you know when the new shop has been stocked up!

Another one bites the dust!

Another year comes and goes - far too quickly for my liking. It must be true that saying that time goes quicker as you get older. I just want to grab hold of it and slow it down. Wouldn't it be great if you could do that? We could make all those special days last longer - the family get togethers, birthdays & days out.

So now it's the time for new year goals. I don't like resolutions - I prefer to think of them as things I want to achieve - it seems more positive that way.

I want, no I NEED to be healthier both in terms of food and exercise. I want to make some time for arty things like collage and painting. I want to be more organised and keep my Etsy and Folksy shops regularly stocked up with new items.

Talking of new items I added a few necklaces to my stores. I love this Calla Lily - the shape is fantastic and the matt white gold plated finish is so elegant.

These postcard charms are adorable - perfect for a gift for a loved one, perhaps Valentine's Day or just to treat yourself.

And how cute are these little silver birdies? An adorable bird outside her birdcage - perhaps making a bid for freedom?

Happy New Year to you all and I hope it brings you peace, love, good health and happiness.

Folksy Friday

I love browsing through Folksy - there is such a diversity of handmade crafts and unique items. I thought why not have a little section on my blog to share some of the wonderful things I've found. So here are a couple of my favourites this week.

I love these adorable paintings and prints from Sascalia - this Three Little Owls print of an original painting is one of my favourites. More gorgeous artwork can be found in her Folksy shop - http://www.folksy.com/shops/sascalia


Next is SoapyChica - her handmade soaps look divine. I particularly like this set of 4 bars - they all sound scrummy especially the coffee one. More soapy loveliness can be found in her Folksy shop - http://www.folksy.com/shops/SoapyChica

Revamped blog

I've decided to have a revamp of my blog design. I wanted something a bit softer and more feminine so I found this fab site with free backgrounds and all sorts of other goodies - check out Shabby Blogs. So I've gone for the pink look for now although me being me, I may well decide it's time for another change in the not too distant future! For now though I'm happy with the look - what do you think?

I've had a bit of a change in my shops on Folksy and Etsy too. I redesigned my banner going for a pale blue damask which I think reflects more the direction I'm taking with my jewellery at the moment. I've also redone some of my pictures using soft coloured backgrounds instead of white. The trouble with me is that I can never decide on something and stick to it, so next time you look everything may have changed again!!

I've added some new jewellery pieces to the collection over the last few days - mainly necklaces and earrings.

I'm loving lockets at the moment - I think they're so feminine and romantic. This necklace has a vintage blue rose porcelain cabochon with a gorgeous blue rose.

Vintage beads

I love using vintage components in my jewellery - they really make a piece extra special and unique. I made this bracelet at the weekend and incorporated some vintage brass charms, vintage faux pearls and lucite moonglow beads. I had this sweet little heart pendant/locket that I found at a collectables fair and it went perfectly with the colours.

I am flattered to have been featured in 4 Etsy Treasuries recently and one of them made the front page - how cool is that?

Update on furbaby!

My precious little cat is doing so well at the moment. The medications have kicked in and he is eating well and is much more energetic and playful. Getting him to take 3 tablets a day can be a bit of a trial sometimes but we've found some fish that he loves so I hide the tablets in that.

I was taking some pictures yesterday and he decided that he wanted to be in them too! How cute is he?!

I put some more of my jewellery on Etsy. I really like how this Tarot Cat Charm Bracelet turned out - I wanted to make it quite celestial and mystical so I added little clusters of hematite stars.

My poorly cat

Yesterday we found out that our darling 6 year old tabby cat has got advanced heart disease. Those of you that have pets will probably be able to imagine how I feel knowing that he won't be around for too much longer. He and his brother are the most adorable, sweet natured cats and it will break my heart when I lose either of them.

But I have to try and stay positive and enjoy the time we have with him. He's started on medications which I hope will slow down the progression of the disease and make him feel more comfortable.

As I was trying to keep myself busy yesterday while he was at the vets I made some earrings up. I used little silvertone frames which I had decoupaged images into and filled with epoxy resin. I think I have settled on resin now as my first choice when making these picture charms. I have wasted far too much time and money on other glazes which although they look nice and shiny they aren't durable at all.

I used images from an Italian tarot card deck featuring cats. I have a couple of bracelets using these too which I made a couple of months ago and haven't got round to photographing yet. These ones are The High Priestess and The Moon.

I also did some with pretty images of hummingbirds and another pair with an image of Van Gogh's Starry Night painting. All these earrings have sterling silver earwires and will be available on Etsy and Folksy.

Also yesterday I came across a website where a member had featured one of my bracelets as a recommendation. The site is called This Next - you can check it out here http://www.thisnext.com/item/D82BE9A4/CE41126F/Peacock-Charm-Bracelet-at#comment-thread-CE41126F.