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!

A Handmade Tradition

There are not many traditions that my family and I follow at Christmas. Apart from eating too much, spending too much and being incredibly grateful for having such a wonderful bunch of odd balls to call my family there is one other special thing that my step daughter Maddy and I do a few weeks before Christmas. We go out and peruse the shelves of Spotlight for bits and pieces to make Christmas decorations with. Generally we come out with ribbon, cardboard, glitter and paint. Well this weekend we upheld that tradition and got creative!

Here are our efforts. For a slightly morbid touch to our creative time, we watched Edward Scissorhands whilst we worked...Maddy's choice. We still have a bit more to do, but it will have to wait until next weekend!

These are all of Maddy's creations...I mainly mixed paint and complimented her work. Note the gorgeous little photo of her and Loui as a puppy....awww adorable!

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!!

For the Love of Colour

I think it is pretty obvious that I am a huge fan of colour. Oscar Wilde said "Mere color, unspoiled by meaning, and unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways."

I love this quote and have decided to feature a couple of items that speak to my soul in a thousand different ways.

Heaven's Dawn II is by one of my favourite Etsy artists, Natasha Wescoat. Her use of colour just knocks me over.

My good friend Celeste from Crickets Creations knows a lot about the use of colour. Her creations are always so special and they most definitely speak to my soul...especially when it's cold, :0) This Cotton Candy scarf is a perfect example of her love of colour.

And finally one of my own creations. My new necklace, Punjab is an example of how I perceive and work with colour. Check it out at my Etsy shop: Early Bird Creations.

Early Christmas Find

Yep I know, Christmas isn't for a while...but I've been finding such wonderful handmade Chirstmassy things online lately that it's hard not to get excited. Here are a couple of items that I think are just fantastic!
I found these gorgeous stuffed calaveras ornaments in BadSkirt's shop on Madeit.com.au

This funky felted wreath is from Maddyandme. This really is a fantastic example of recycling and upcycling!

Please Ma'am...Can I have some more?

These gorgeous ceramic buttons are from one of my favourite Etsy artist, Ginny at GinPins. I bought them today for a second time after I used the first lot in a garden-inspired necklace that was quickly snapped up by a customer at a local festival I was exhibiting at.

I loved this necklace so much that I pleaded with Ginny to make me some more buttons, which she agreed to (because that's just the type of lovely person she is). Now, with my buttons placed in a bubble mailer and making their journey from California to my humble abode I'm torn between recreating the same gorgeous necklace or trying out something even more wonderful....I'll let you know what I decide when they arrive! Yay!

A New Month

Typically I love November. Not only is it my birthday month (27th day) but also my wedding anniversary (same day as b'day!). I generally find that November always brings me good fortune of some sort of other. As it is the start of a new month I thought I would make a killer necklace! It's a LONG one. Possibly the longest in my Etsy shop at the moment. I wanted something that would wrap twice around the neck (so versatile!). So here it is...