Twilight Inspiration - Can you sparkle in the sun?

I was approached by a friend to make her a bracelet/cuff like the one Bella wears in Twilight. It's very pretty - simple and charming - and I can see why it's so popular.

However, unfortunately, what I made could only be said to be loosely inspired by this bracelet. It's gothic, to say the least. It is far from simple, but still charming, I think ;) The stone is labradorite - everyone's favourite - and everything else is sterling silver.

As this one isn't really her cup of tea, I'll have another go at a simpler version when I get some more of the correct gauge wire, and try to sit the stone inside the front of the cuff, rather than on top.

Gorgeous red orbs

Made this one a couple of days ago, but only now have I got around to photographing it and listing it on Etsy.

It's such a beautiful stone, with red orbs which is not common for ocean jasper.

Ooo, oo, almost forgot, it's been a while since I was featured in a treasury but my little ocean jasper fishy is out and about at the moment.

He's in good company, don't you think?

New style pendant

Well, the tax is done (bleck!!!) and as soon as I could shove all the receipts into a folder and hide it at the back of the filing cabinet, I bought my first tutorial from Jewelry lessons. I'd been salivating over Earrings by Erins gorgeous style for a while, and I thought I'd try her way of wrapping cabs. This is her beautiful pendant, click the picture to follow the link.

So, me being me, I read through the tutorial, got the basics, and like a bull at a gate, off I went. Well, it wasn't as much of a disaster as it probably should have been (I did follow the basics, after all ;) and here's what I came up with.

For starters, symmetry and I aren't really great mates so I chose an asymmetrical style. The amethyst cab I used was muuuuuch smaller than the one she had pictured so the designs over the face probably look a bit heavy, but I'm happy with it.

Here's the back - as pretty (if not prettier) than the front!

I also got her gorgeous earring tutorial, so I'll keep you posted when I try those.

Taxtime aargh!

Well, I've put it off and put it off and it's almost the end of October and I want to KEEP PUTTING IT OFF!

In fact, I've put it off and made these earrings, and photographed them and listed them on Etsy all in one day (something I never do). I normally drag the process out for about a week. But procrastinating tax can do that to a person.

How I hate tax time - I'm sure everybody hates it. This is what my inbox currently looks like

and I've got to go through it and make some sense of order. And stop my 8 month old from eating the receipts. She has this thing about receipts.

But order shall prevail. And hopefully I shall wrench some of my hard-earned cash back off of the tax man. We shall see.

Swirly Sculpted Earrings

I had a pink lampwork version of these on sale at The Handmade Expo and they sold before the market even started. I left them up on display and they generated HEAPS of interest, so I'm doing a selection of earrings in the same style. I need coin-shaped beads for these, and I don't have many so I'm definitely on the lookout.

These ones are American art glass, a beautiful blue and red.

Hey Big Spender!

I went to the Craft and Stitches Show this week, and I was all set to buy a heap of semiprecious beads to feed my new fancy of making complete necklaces out of my pendants. But I found nothing that I wanted, I was so disappointed, so I came home and spent an absolute fortune over the net. I just hope I can hide the credit card bill before my husband finds out.

But I couldn't resist these -

I just have no idea what to I'm going to do with them! Just look at them lots to begin with, I guess.

But aren't they absolutely delicious?

Gorgeous gorgeous malachite chrysocolla

Well, I've got to go off and do some more score study on the Coronation Mass before this afternoon (which is also making me miss the latest Brisstyle catchup - booo!)

but before I do that I want to show you my latest pendant.

and matching earrings

Problem solved!

I'd been trying and trying to find a safe and cheap way to post my earrings that also kept the whole package slim enough to stay under the 20mm mark for the lowest postage price.

And lo and behold I've done it!

I used to make origami boxes for

my pendants, with reinforced sides for the mail.. Well, this is the mini version!

And I don't even need to make a lid, because the padded post bag protects the rest! Fantastic!