My Creative Space - Clearing the Decks for PMC

PMC - Precious Metal Clay - is a craft that I have found only recently...well less than 12 months anyway.  Yesterday I cleared the workbench to make room for tools, mats, ring mandrels and most importantly tightly sealed PMC packets.  Here are some of the works in progress and I should have the finished products to show off sometime this week.

Worthy of Note...

I found A Collection a Day 2010 this week...and was so happy I did!  This experiment by Lisa Congdon aims to photograph a collection of items each day for the entirety of 2010.  Here are some of the wonderful collections.

Vintage Ephemera

Vintage Tins

Pink Birdhouses

Plastic Seashells

See more at A Collection a Day, 2010

New Woodland Pretties

Here are a few new things to add to the Earlybird shop.  I'm in love with the woodland theme and all things murky green, brown and vibrant grassy green.  Enjoy!

                                                                Fern Green Earrings

                                                        Woodland Button Necklace

                                                          Wild Deer Necklace

Rain no more!!

In my little corner of the world it has not ceased to rain for the past 2 weeks. Well, perhaps it has stopped momentarily in order to gather up steam for the next down pour but more often than not, if I look out the window I have met with grey skies, green green grass and puddles.  But today, gloriously, blue skies broke through the clouds and we have sunshine.  So here's a few handmade lovelies I picked to celebrate...

Yellow & Aqua Summer Aline dress by TeenyBunny

Kara Yellow Citrine Headband by ChloeandMaddie

Lemonade Earrings by Earlybird Creations (that's me!)

Fresh from the Earlybird Oven

Here are some new items, added to my Etsy and Madeit shop. The temperature has dropped considerably in the last few weeks around here, so I've tried to "feel" the warmth with some bright new colours.

Sunshine Necklace on Etsy

Droplet Earrings on Madeit

Ocean Swim Necklace on Etsy

Turning a New Leaf

Recently I've been experimenting with new designs and materials and have really enjoyed the process!  Here are some new things for April, featured in my Etsy shop.

Pink Fusion Earrings

 Aquatic Earrings

 Cloudy Sky Necklace

Seahorse Dream Necklace

Leaf Litter Earrings

Sale Time!

With the lovely oncoming cooler weather and the prospect of a lovely little Easter holiday, I have decided to throw a big sale into the mix.  I am having 25% off my entire Earlybird shop in order to make way for beautiful new items after Easter.

Only from 1st until the 4th of March!!!  Hurry Toot Sweet!

My New Earlybird Model

Well, I am so chuffed at the moment because suddenly my stepdaughter, who, when she was 4 demanded that her hair be shaved off completely and for 6 months after was mistaken for a little boy, has willingly decided to become my model for Earlybird!  Here are some beautiful pics of her making my resin jewellery look flipping marvellous...

 

And here is a little pic of both Maddy and Jake when they were tiny tots....gorgeous mischievous and cuddly.

SALE SALE SALE!!!

I decided that it was time for a nice big long sale, so for the month of November, I'm offering Free Worldwide Shipping on everything in my Etsy shop. Please stop by and have a browse!

Summer come back!!

My new necklace on Etsy is made whilst I was longing for a bit of balmy weather. Here in Australia it is fair to say that winter has been around for long enough. So I hope you enjoy my ode to summer....and if you are experiencing a bit of heat and sunshine...think of me in my ugg boots and trackie-dacks. Toodles!

To Market We Will Go!

On Sunday the inaugural Port Macquarie Artist Market took place beside the Maritime Museum and what a lovely day was spent by all! The weather threatened us greatly in the beginning (just to play with our emotions probably) and it rained and thundered for about an hour and a half. Here is a picture of the forboding sky...


but at about 9am as if by magic, the clouds parted and the sun showed it's face...rather a lot as my husband now has sun burn on his nose. There were lots of beautiful handmade goods on display and as I get to know my fellow stallholders I would really like to feature some of them in the coming months.

If you are anywhere near Port Macquarie, or are considering visiting for a wee holiday, make sure you visit us at the Maritime Museum on the first Sunday of every month (I love the fact that it's so easy to remember the date). Here is a couple of pics of my wares on the day.

January 09....Happy New Year!

Woohoooo! The beginning of 2009 started with a somewhat floppy feeling for me. My modem decided to die a horrible but considerably instantaneous death on New Years Eve morning and I spent 4 hours (the time that I had allocated for chatting with Etsy peeps, drinking sparkling white and indulging in soft cheeses) on the phone to my service provider trying to figure out why the little green light wasn't flashing anymore. The news wasn't good and it turns out that a new modem will take a week to get to me. One. Week. That's an eternity to me! Hubby isn't feeling the pinch too much. The only reason he uses the WWW is to play poker on Facebook.

Anyway, on the brighter side, my parents have decided to give up their computer for a little while (as long as I bake some cookies for them). My plans for throwing a January 09 Etsy sale have not changed and today I have started my free shipping sale! This really is an excellent sale, considering I am in Aussie-land and this would normally contribute to the shipping costs. So if you've had your eye on an Early Bird necklace / earrings/ keyring now is an excellent time to purchase!

In other news I found this fantastic blog dedicated to Australian Indigenous art! The above artwork is taken from this blog. Please check it out, it is visually spectacular and contains some really interesting info about the world of Aboriginal art. Go to Aboriginal Art Blog.

Anyway peeps, enjoy your first week of 2009!

Marmalade? Or Apricots?

After listing my newest necklace in my Etsy shop a conversation with my One a Day Challengettes ensued about the unpopularity of marmalade in the US (yes we only talk about REALLY important things). The more we talked about the naming of my necklace (Marmalade versus Apricots) the more I went looking for other gorgeous creations on Etsy to satisfy my marmalade craving. Here are a couple I found...

Curlysue's beautiful Firefly necklace


This gorgeous mixed media collage by Books On Tape



This is possibly the most serious and contraversial blog topic you will ever have the pleasure of reading, I hope you enjoyed this visual feast!

New Purchase!!! Had to share!

I just bought these gorgeous fibre beads from the fabulous Etsy shop - Ebrown2503 . I seriously can't wait for their arrival in my letterbox because I have a wonderful plan developing in my mind involving their gorgeous textures, large smooth resin beads (how unusual of me!) and some silver painted ceramic beads that I've been holding on to. Stay tuned!!

Venturing into Blog Land

I thought it was about time I got my act together and joined the many bloggers out there. Although the first thought that enters my head is that I'm going to have nothing interesting to blog about, I know this is just ridiculous and that my life is filled to the brim with strange and wonderful happenings waiting to be shared with the rest of the world (wait...this is MY life we're talking about isn't it? Not Amy Winehouse or Harry Potter's?).

My blog will be a mixture of personal happenings and also the celebration of all things handmade, with appearances of my favourite artists and crafters from Etsy.com and Madeit.com.au.

To start my blog adventure I may as well tell you about a fabulous event that I was able to be a part of last weekend (18th-19th of Oct). The Akoostik Festival was a wonderful event held in one of my favourite towns, Wingham, in the Manning Valley, NSW, Aust. Lots of great music, lots of great markets and delicious vegetarian food...or so I was told...you see, I didn't actually get to experience the whole Akoostik festival because of a work-related seminar I had to attend, so my dear husband and dear friend (who could also sell ice to the eskimos) stepped in for me and attended. They took some photos too, which was much appreciated.