Add Some Colourful Enamel Discs To Your Jewellery!

Here's the first batch of enamelled discs I made a couple of days ago that are slowly being listed on Etsy. Doing 36 at once was fun - I normally do about 4 - 6 at a time when I make enamelled stuff for jewellery but once the counter enamelling was done the best part of adding the colour went well and was quite relaxing to be honest, very therapeutic! Here's a few photos of some of the discs.......

Having made the very important decision as to which colours to go for ( I have quite a few!) I had to decide on size and quantity. I went for packs of 6 small 11mm discs with one hanging hole and packs of 4 discs slightly bigger at 13mm with two holes for now. The 6 disc packs feature 3 colours from the same colour group and the 4 packs 2 colours. The colours aren't set in stone and can be mixed. 

The backs of the discs are counter enamelled in black which stabilizes the enamel and copper and prevents cracking and each disc is enamelled with two layers of opaque enamel on the front. I was glad to find I hadn't thrown away a pretty lavender shade I had in a Soyer enamel. It's a great colour but has a high firing temp which doesn't make it a good idea for torch enamelling but it works ok for simple discs.

I dug out a yellow I had too but seldom use but I think it goes well with the orange and red.

Shades of blue - robins' egg, seafoam (one of my favourite shades) and aqua. I think I have to say that the greens are my favourite - the pea, mint and lichen look so nice together.

That Feeling You're Being Watched.............

Ever get that feeling? I was totally engrossed in the very important things we online sellers have to do on our computers, humming along to the Arctic Monkeys on Xfm when I felt I was being watched and turned round to this......

This is Tuppence. Known as Tuppers, she sits on my work table (previously known as the dining room table) usually on top of anything that gets in her way and just stares at the back of my head using her strange cat powers to make me turn round and give her food. She's like a silent watcher, always there when I turn round and I'm sure her main reason for being is so she can appear out of nowhere to leap onto my knee everytime I sit down in the front room.

She is very much a lady, despises my other two (male) cats and I'm pleased to say she understands what the word "no" means unlike my other two male cats.....

If It's There I'll Sit On It

Meet Tuppence.

Also known as Tuppers.

Tuppence likes to perch.

It doesn't matter what it is - a pile of cushions, a suitcase on the bed, freshly ironed clothes or an empty plant pot in the backyard, Tuppence will sit on it.

She's 16, has a heart murmur and I love her to bits :D

Madam, Was Your Chicken Left Unattended?

The Scene :

The kitchen, Sunday evening just after CountryFile

The Victim :

Left-over barbeque-style chicken breast, cooked for Sunday dinner, covered with foil and secured on kitchen worktop

The Crime Scene :

The Suspect :

Name:

Eddie

Age:

 7

Distinguishing Features:

Rips in both ears

 Slight swagger when walking due to a back leg injury as a kitten

Known Aliases:

"monster"

"satan's cat"

"he's evil that cat"

"monkey"

"eddiekins"

Previous convictions :

1. The taking and carrying upstairs to the bedroom of a packet of fish taken out of the freezer to defrost for tea

2. The scoffing of a bowl of grated cheese left out on the kitchen worktop ready to go on top of the pasta for tea. Two incidents.

3. Due to a strange fruit fetish, helping himself to some sliced strawberries left in a bowl on the kitchen worktop

4. The purloining of small items from the bathroom, namely a sponge and a mini bottle of bubble bath, which were carried downstairs and abandoned in the hall

5. The ability to make small tins of Vaseline simply vanish to be found several months later under the bed. His current record for this is five.

Verdict :

Guilty.........very!



Caught In The Act

Charlie my cat that is with his strange rubber fetish.............

He likes to rub against the rubber mallet I use to whack bits of metal with whenever he gets the chance.

He also loves the smell of bleach.

Funny boy  : )

Folksy Friday - Cats!

This week's Folksy Friday is all about CATS!

Mel Croft Illustration

Quernus Crafts

The Sunroom

Jessica Woodhouse

Northfield Primitives

Millicent

Horrible Cats, Grasshoppers And Free Moo Cards

Aren't cats horrible sometimes?

Earlier today when I was engrossed on the computer ordering my 50 free Moo business cards, this horrible creature on the left, who goes by the name of Eddie ("do my eyes match this cushion?")  appeared in the dining room with a sparrow!

After 5 minutes of me running round the house after him shouting "Out, out!" he then ran back outside and proceeded to devour the poor sparrow. After much crunching all that was left was a pile of feathers and a claw. I was going to take a photo but thought that would be a bit unsavourary!

Click HERE for the 50 free Moo cards. When you get to the ordering page it says the offer has been extended to February 2010 but it still worked ok and I only had to pay £3.00 for postage!

Backyard Wildlife

I heard it yesterday but didn't see it, but today I heard it, saw it and photographed it! Yes it's a grasshopper with a missing back leg!

My other cat Charlie was very interested in it but as he treats insects as snacks I made sure he couldn't get to it. I also saw a bright green one earlier today which I'm assuming was a younger one.

I don't think I'll win any prizes for my spectacular wildlife photography though!

New Beads!

The beads I ordered from Lima Beads last Sunday arrived today ~ not bad going, less than a week from the States!

Lima Beads are currently running an Easter Egg Hunt on their site. They've hidden 100 eggs all over the place (and I mean all over the place!) The first 10 people that find all 100 are entered into a draw for a $250 Gift Certificate. The competition closes today (4 April).
However, there are bonuses along the way ~ 15% off your next order when you find 10 eggs, free beads when you find 25 eggs and more free beads when you find 50 eggs. I managed to find 52 eggs then realized I was becoming a bit obssessed so stopped there and made use of my 15% discount!

Here's what I ordered

10mm Mystic Blue Feldspath rounds

10mm Synthetic Aquamarine rounds (I think that means glass!)

The Mystic Blue Feldspath drop was a freebie!

10mm Red Coral Rounds

6mm Green Impression Jasper Rounds

3mm Red Coral Rounds ~ another freebie!

I also bought some Lepidolite coins ~ deep purple with sparkles but forgot to photograph them.

I'm going to start making some earrings with them later today I hope, some fairly simple designs to start with which I will post on here when they're done!

*Note to self ~ Do NOT leave steel shot from my tumbler on a teatowel to dry on the floor as Eddie my cat WILL think what a fantastic game is it to flick said teatowel and almost every single piece of shot as far as he possibly can. I knew it would happen but I still did it!

Louis Meets........

Say Hello to Louis, my very cute sock kitten from Folksy shop Pussy Galore!
Louis now has pride of place on my computer desk but before he settled there I introduced him to my furry trio - no, that's not a strange body part, I mean my cats ;D

"But darling, you're gorgeous! Now let me get back to sleep"

Charlie was pretty laid back at meeting Louis and quickly went back to sleep

"He's not having my dinner" said Tuppence

"Mine, all mine! Can I eat him now?"

Eddie has a rather robust character and I had to rescue Louis from a fate worse than death shortly after taking this photo. Put another way, if Eddie was human they'd have slapped an ASBO on him years ago

The perfect friends ~ generous, attentive and calm........ they don't move much though

Etsy? Etsy shop? Oh, I remember!

Yes, I do infact have an Etsy shop. Something that I have to remind myself of occasionally. I opened it in September and had a couple of sales. Then I discovered Folksy. And we all know what that means! I've now become totally obssessed with my Folksy shop, the forums, making jewellery for my (you've guessed it) Folksy shop, reading other Folksy sellers' blogs, doing Folksy picks, promoting my Folksy shop, doing interviews with Folksy sellers.............anything and everything  to do with the "F" word.

The time has come I feel that I have to return to the land of Etsy and MAKE AN EFFORT! I must admit I didn't have a blog when I started on Etsy and I wasn't on Facebook either so couldn't promote it that way. To be honest I didn't really promote it at all apart from in the Design Gallery on Lima Beads, where I got most of my sales (well, 4 out of a huge 5 sales!). Lima Beads is a great site by the way and you can post photos of your jewellery in their Design Gallery once you sign up. It's not a selling venue but some of my friends on there liked my stuff and kindly bought it from my Etsy shop :D
A lot of my items have now expired on Etsy so it really is time to have an early spring clean, make some new stuff and maybe take apart some of the jewellery I've put on there that, looking at it now, I wonder what I was thinking! It's not that bad, it's just not what I want on there anymore. That's the great thing about making jewellery ~ you can take it apart again!
Anyway, I'm now going to try and concentrate on jewellery for my Etsy shop for a while.............I'll keep you posted :D

I know there's a mouse here somewhere..........

Silly cat :D

How To Keep A Cat Amused At Christmas

All you need is a big box, some wrapping paper, bubble wrap and a cat called Eddie ............

This one's my favourite ~ how totally evil does he look?!

Ready For My Close~Up Daaaarling!

This is Tuppence bearing the scars on her nose from her frequent handbag fights with Eddie.

She really hates him............................

Cats And Wrapping

Yes, I've actually finished my Christmas shopping AND wrapped everything! I did the wrapping last night with one eye on Coronation Street whilst simultaneously eating a bar of Cadburys. I also managed it without the "help" of Eddie, one of my cats (he likes to rip up wrapping paper like a thing possessed)
My colour choices for the wrapping are a bit dubious this year, I'm not quite sure what I was thinking to be honest. It started out ok with some pretty turquoise paper with circle design, complete with purple (what!) gift tags which I thought were gold until I got to the till but then couldn't be bothered to go back and change, and finished off with gold bows. The bows are very pretty but don't stick so I had to use sellotape on them as well ~ take note Sainsburys!
But at least it's done!

Here's a picture of Eddie keeping a close watch on my jewellery making. Notice the wonderful "studio" I work from aka the diningroom table!

He looks quite sweet doesn't he? He isn't. I christened him Satan's Cat when he was a kitten because of the mass destruction he would cause to various items including my lovely 3ft Devil's Ivy plant which he chewed at the bottom. I couldn't work out why the plant started to die off at the top until I caught him at it one day. Squirting him with water every time I saw him do it didn't make any difference so things had to get serious. I sprayed the plant with water then shook pepper on to the stems. I wasn't sure if it was working until the day I heard a little cat sneeze from the livingroom.............. The plant went on to live and so did Eddie obviously. It didn't stop him trying to cr*p in another plant on the windowsill though.

More Cats

This one's Charlie hanging over the top of the kitchen cupboard

He's quite well~behaved really compared to Eddie.

And this is Tuppence ~

She's a very pretty cat but does have a habit of taking a break from looking beautiful to have a cup of tea and a fag occasionally.

Enough of cats and wrapping, I'm off to look at beautiful beads and other jewellery~type lovely stuff on the internet!