i adore this shop

I haven't blogged about another shop for a while as i felt after the coriandr express i would get me blog back to being mine. But when i came across this shop i instantly fell in love with it and purchased a dragon similar to the one below. The shop is on folksy and is called Feyth, the link in case you want to have a nosy (which i highly recommend you do) is http://www.folksy.com/shops/feythcrafts

I also love this schnoobug, hes adorable

And my favourite has to be this little fellow 'the elfling'.

She has lots of other stuff in her shop i can see me just having to go back there soon.

i love lampwork

I made these the other day before i went on my shopping frenzy, the first is made using georgous grey lampwork beads with a hint of blue. I strung them with grey glass beads and grey seed beads. It fastens with a sterling silver hook and i like it.


Next is lilac frit lampwork beads strung with purple glass beads and silver plated spacers. It fastens with a silver plated hook.


I try to make both sterling silver and silver plated jewellery with my lampwork beads as i know some people only buy sterling silver whereas others prefer the silver plated which is cheaper in price. So i try to appeal to both markets.

gemstones

I made another of these necklaces last week. This is the 3rd variation of turquoise and tiger i have made. I love how well they go together. It's probably one of my favourite necklaces.

I made another 3 necklaces using gemstones when i made this one but i haven't got round to taking photos yet.

Good news is that i have booked my first craft fair for the year on the 4th april at cefn, north wales and some more good news is i have had my first order for a shop i will be supplying. The shop is going to open on the 1st march and is going to be called Calladoodles. It is going to be based on the high street, carshalton in surrey.

fantasy

I love all things to do with fantasy and magic, my favourite film growing up was labryinth starring david bowie and now i carn't tear myself away from charmed. I also love anything to do with angels and fairies so every now and again i make a fantasy piece. This is my latest one, it's carnelian chips with a pewter dragon charm. I love it and am thinking about ordering another dragon charm to make one for myself.

Today i am really tired, i can't seem to get to sleep at night then i'm up with my daughter 3 - 4 times through the night and then a early morning for the school run. My hubby has just gone up to scotland for work so i might be able to sleep easier having the bed to myself and no one snoring lol.

valentines

I know it seems like christmas was only yesterday but the next big event is valentines. The high street shops already have there easter eggs out never mine hearts and flowers.

So i thought i'd show you my contribution for this year. It's red glass beads with silver plated spacers and tibetan silver hearts and toggle and can be found on my website www.lej-jewellery.co.uk :-).

Well i am sorry to say that i have fell off the wagon. Remember i said i wasn't buying anymore beads until i have used what i already have and although i have made loads with my bead stash i went on a bit of a shopping frenzy and spent £40 on lampwork beads ooops! The thing is i don't have many little beads to add with the lampwork beads so i'll have to go and buy some of them, well thats my excuse and i'm sticking to it!

poker face

I thought i would show you some poker themed items i have made. Poker is pretty big at the moment with both male and female so i made this bookmark.

And these earrings.

I've been out today to get some storage boxes to keep all my bits in because my craft room was our en suite but we changed it because i needed a crafty space. Now were moving we have decided to change it back to try and sell the house quicker. I'm going to miss my little craft room but i definetly haven't missed having a 3rd bathroom to clean and i'm not looking forwards to it :-(. Speaking of cleaning i have just spent the last hour hunched over the toy box trying to sort that out because with christmas just been we have a tonne of toys. So i now have half a binbag to go the tip and a binbag full to go to the charity shop. The kids rooms are next but i think i'll leave it till tomorrow or i'll still be there all hours in the morning.

green and amber

I really love this colour combination, I think it goes together really well. I have made a few sets like this including one with pressed amber and green potato pearls (pictures coming soon). The green shell discs are some i bought last week, i know i said i weren't going to buy any more till i used what i already had but i needed some stringing wire and saw these in the same shop so i had to get them :-p. Also in my defence i have made about 30 pieces over the last week all from my stock so i'm doing well.

Well school is back open today and thankfully it has been raining all morning (never thought i'd say that lol). The council had been out and cleared half of the road (don't know why they only done one side?) My husband has taken my son to school on his way to work so it has saved me a journey.

urgh! snow

Ok yesterday was the first day my son was back in school since they broke up for christmas. The school is at the bottom of a very icy hill so it's been shut as teachers and parents who drive there (ie. me) can't get to it.

So they decided even though the hill was still 2" thick with ice they would open the school 10am till 3pm. I decided not to drive and walk.... i should of stayed in bed! It took me half an hour of slipping and sliding, getting the pram stuck but having fits of giggles to get to the school. It was snowing again and i was beginning to resemble a snowman. I dropped my son inside the school and left for my trek home, my daughter instantly started screaming because she wanted her brother and kept this up all the way home. Slipping and getting stuck isn't as funny when you don't have a 8 year old to giggle with and a screaming 2 year old, so after another half hour i got home. Had a cup of tea and had a little winge on facebook about my ordeal only to be told by one of the other mums that if the snow keeps up we have to pick them up at 1 o clock. urgh!

So i called the school at 12.30 and yes they were closing at 1pm so i thought i'm not doing that again and i drove my car to my dads (who lives at the top of that very icy hill) and walked 5 mins to the school hmmm why didn't i think of that this morning? So they have shut the school again until the coucil are willing to clear it ha! good luck! the council have gritted NO roads round here.

So anyway enough of my moaning lol. Pictured is a necklace i made the other day. I wasn't sure about these beads after i had bought them but i thought i'd try and make something since i'm using up what i have before buying more. I quite like it, you don't often see gold and silver together and i think it looks different.

childrens jewellery

I like making childrens jewellery and it is always popular at craft fairs. So i have pictured my 4 latest pieces to show you. First is this frog bracelet, i still like to make novelty items even with kids stuff.

Next is this pretty fair bracelet.

Then this pastel hearts bracelet. I really like these beads there so cute.

And last this cute butterfly bracelet.

Making childrens jewellery is also a great way of using up your odd beads which you may only have 3-4 of as they always look great with a load of seed beads added in between.

skulls

I have a bit of a obsession with skull jewellery at the minute. I have a few child pieces listed on my website and last night i made this piece. It is a memory bracelet and features black glass beads with tibetan silver skull beads.

I have nearly used all my skull beads but i just love them and can see me nipping back to buy some more.

I also found some sugar skull beads but they are 90p each which is going to put the price of a bracelet with 4 of them on at a bit too much so i'm still deciding what to do.

The snow is starting to melt now, the kids are still not back at school and my hubby has just ventured up to scotland for work. so things are slowly returning to normal, i'm also going to go out in my car today for the first time in a week.

I'm getting back into my jewellery making too, i sat last night watching hustle and made about 15 pieces, go me!

too early

Urgh! well me darling daughter decided to get me up at 6.30am this morning. Not that i would usually mind but i stayed up last night to watch the first episode of heroes. I'm so glad it's back on now there will be something decent to watch on tv. But it didn't finish till 11.35pm so by the time i settled down in to the land of nod it was late.

Pictured are some earrings i made with a circle of memory wire i had left over, I have tried to make a bracelet with one ring of memory wire but it doesn't look right so i cut it in half and thought i'd give earrings a go. I think they have turned out pretty good.

I did venture out yesterday, my husband drove me to asda to do some shopping. where going to try and go out again today. The snow isn't to bad now, the problem is the snow has now been squashed into 3" of ice. The main roads have a single track through them which isn't slippy it's just the side roads.

more snow on its way

I am not really looking forwards to it as i haven't been out since monday. I don't want to drive my car in it and the footpaths round here are about 2" thick with ice. I feel like i am slowly going crazy! i'm going to brave it today and at least go out for a walk, get some fresh air. I really hope there is some let up soon it's so sad to hear about all the people dying on the news from ice and snow related incidents.

On a lighter note pictured is a necklace i made before christmas i have a few of these maroon glass pearls and i used some gold plated filagree leaves which i had in the bottom of one of my bead boxes.

I hope things start to pick up again now christmas has gone. I have just been on one of my shops and i noticed there were 522 pages of jewellery, each page has 12 items on and i think it's just to much competition especially with people not buying. Fingers crossed for this year x.

black hearts

I know we have only just had christmas but now us crafters have to start thinking about the next big date which is .... valentines day.

I made this bracelet and earrings set the other day it features black glass heart with tibetan silver spacers. The earrings are silver plated and both are available from my website. www.lej-jewellery.co.uk .

The kids still haven't gone back to school after there christmas break due to the snow. Not that i mind to be honest i have had a few issues with the school and i was rather my son was here where i know he was getting the right support and was being looked after. He was quite funny this morning, he told me he was going to get up and have his breakfast but then he was going back to bed to hibinate lol. not that i can blame him really i feel like doing the same.

ouch

Well i say ouch because my car is due in for a service and mot today, i had to buy four new tyres last weeks which cost me £180. When i asked the lady how much for a service and mot the reply was £200 hmmm but i also need and clip for my seat.

The thing is i have a 2 door car so im always pulling the seat forwards to let the kids in and out and our drive is so narrow that you have to park as far over as possible so you can open the drivers side door (the passenger either has to get out the car before i drive on or climb over the handbrake.) So anyhow it's always my seat that gets moved and the clip is broke so i can no longer move my seat. Which is a bit of a pain because everyone now has to get out of the car at the end of the drive.

So i asked how much one of those was going to be .... £90 OMG. I think i'm going to cry £470 in the last 2 weeks on my car. blub blub!

I can't moan to much as there my first tyres in 3 years, my hubby goes through them every 3 months. good job his is a company car!

So anyway enough of my moan pictured is a kiddies necklace i made the other day. It features some lampwork dog beads i bought at a craft fair last year (as mentioned in a previous post i'm trying to use up all my beads before buying more). I hope you like it :-).

seaside and the snow

Well not together but here is a bracelet i made callad by the sea. It is a memorey wire bracelet so wraps around the wrist rather than fastens. It features blue and green glass beads with tibetan silver seashells and a starfish and seahorse charm.

Next is a picture i took yesterday after we had had 6" of snowfall overnight.

The kids had a great time playing in it, neddless to say we had to come in and have some toast and a cuppa tea to warm us up. Well the kids had juice but after building that i needed a cuppa.

brrrr!

How cold is it outside -8 the weather woman said on the news before brrrrrr! i have just got back from shopping and the sun has melted abit of the frost but the roads are still very slippy, i'm just glad to be home.

I still haven't got to finish my bag although i only have the strap to sew and attach so nearly there. In the mean time this is another bracelet i made before christmas. It is amethyst beads with flourite glass chips and a pewter peacock charm. I really like it.

nutty for knitting

I love making charm bracelets which are unusual which no one else would have made or ones with a novelty to them so i came up with this. It is called i love knitting and features tibetan silver hearts and balls of wool with black glass beads. It is silver plated and can be made in any colour.

I made it before christmas and have listed it on my website with a few other bits.

Today i'm going to try and finish of a bag i started. I got half way through making it when the kids decided to start ww3 in my living room so had to sort them out and never got back to it.

I haven't crafted much over christmas, it seems to have flown by so fast and i have been trying to keep the kids busy. After i have done the bag i'm planning to make a summer dress for my daughter (yes i know it's winter but by the time i get it right it will be summer lol) i went to abakhan fabrics yesterday and got some georgous fabric in the sale for 50p a metre bargain!