tigergirl - funky, unique, handcrafted jewelry and crafts

I'm back!! But not for long ...... I've got a new blog

2010-08-01T14:26:00.002+10:00

Yes, it's been a long time. So, what happened? I started working long hours ....... I took a few overseas trips .......... I went back to University ......... I finished my postgrad .......... back to working long hours (but, I've got money again!).

I don't know when/if I'll be updating this blog again. I really wanted one that was more general and without 'etsy' in the name, hence, with very little ado, I've started a new blog -> Tigergirl Adventures to blog about travelling, photography, sewing, crafting and whatever else I'm up to at the time.

See you there!

The latest Animated Advertisements I made ...

2008-02-28T08:55:00.003+10:00

Some more FREE animated GIFs

2008-02-26T13:18:00.004+10:00

a long, long time ago I put up some animated ads as PIF's in my tigergirlsupplies store on etsy. (They're for advertising your site/shop through Project Wonderful, blogs etc.) Well, I've just done another couple for Tiffany Teske - her images are just gorgeous. To get the animated effect you'll need to look down the right hand column (animations don't show in posts).

I might just put a few more PIF's up in my etsy supplies store.

Oh, I've opened a supplies store on Dawanda too now, same name - tigergirlSupplies, just a different link. I'll eventually be filling it up with rubber stamps - I have far too many left over from that little biz I used to have.

You can see a few more here. (That is going to be my new site when I get around to finishing the tweaking and getting some of my silversmithing up there)

More free shop / site promotion at Qassia

2008-02-22T08:49:00.004+10:00

Ok, so I've joined Qassia.

Seems to be a mix of technorati , blogcatalog, mybloglog etc. with a bit of blogging and squidoo in there. At the moment it's in beta, so you can only join with a referral from a current member.

The whole idea seems to be that you 'register' all of your web sites with them, then create and author content - this in turn gets you qassia dollars and links back to your sites on the web. So, register your etsy shop, your dawanda shop, your blog etc.

I read somewhere that these qassia dollars will eventually (when they go live, I presume) allow you to buy front page advertising. Anyhoo, I figure free promotion, is free promotion right? It only took a couple of minutes to sign up and be verified and I took one of my blogposts on antiqing brass to use as content, so all in all, just a few minutes work.

It'll be interesting to see how it goes but it can hardly do any harm.

If you're interested in signing up or finding out more (haven't read through all of it yet)->
sign up: http://allloujames.qassia.com
find out more: http://www.qassia.com

Oh, and a big thank you to those that let me know that the blog posts are indeed showing up.

Testing - why are the posts not showing??

2008-02-20T09:42:00.001+10:00

Yikes, is this one going to show?

Blog comments

2007-11-28T08:41:00.002+10:00

Q. how to send a message and if I do who reads it....................

A. I'm not too sure what you mean by 'message', I'm assuming it's comments.

Anyway, you'll probably want to know about comments too (these are the messages people can leave about your posts).

Setting up comments - all posts:

I think by default, all posts have comments enabled however .....
Sign in and view your blog. Choose Customize>Settings>Comments
Now you can see all your comments options.
I have chosen to show comments, let anyone make comments and all new posts have comments (ie. can be commented on)
I have my comments show in a popup window (just my personal preference, I don't like losing the pages I am on, I prefer new windows)
You might want to moderate comments - I do (when someone leaves a comment you'll get an email notification, you can view the comment and choose whether to publish it or reject it - stops any nasty comments someone might leave) - if you choose this option, be sure to enter an email address they can notify you at.
After you've made your changes be sure to click 'Save Settings' at the bottom of the page.
Setting up comments - specific posts:
When you are editing/creating a post there is a link "Post Options" under the big content box in the bottom left, click it.
Here you can enable/disable comments for this post only (sometimes you might notice that a particular post might not have comments enabled for some unknown reason - this is where you fix it).
This is also where you can change the date/time of a post so that posts appear in a different order on the page (they are ordered by date/time) - this comes in handy if you've previously written a post and saved it as a draft but didn't publish it, later when you publish it you can change the date/time so that it appears up the top as the most recent post.

Moderating comments:

You can either follow the link in the notification email you get OR
Sign in and view your blog, choose New Post > Moderate Comments - this will list all of the unmoderated comments (if any) and you can either choose to publish or reject individual comments

Leaving comments:

To leave a comment on your own blog (ie to answer someone's question) or another person's blog is the same (some blogs may differ slightly if they're not blogger blogs)
If comments are enabled, at the bottom of the post you will see something like this > Posted by tigergirl at 8:10 AM 0 comments

** I notice now that when I leave comments on other people's blogs I can elect to be notified by email if there are successive comments - this is a feature I haven't explored yet.

How to get a three column blog ....

2007-11-28T08:27:00.000+10:00

Well, as you can see, I've got more widgets on this blog than I can poke a stick at, so many that I had to make my blog a 3-column blog to fit them all in. Of course, then I had to figure out how to switch to a 3-column layout without starting all over again. For anyone that needs the same information (in my search, it seemed that I came across a lot of questions asking about this but not many answers), use this article at Random Bytes.

Who sees my blog?

2007-11-28T08:16:00.000+10:00

Q. Do others just see it or does one have to post a message for others to look in at it

A. Well, anyone can see it (although, I think I saw options to block certain users or only allow certain people to see it), but like anything on the web, it's a matter of finding it. The only way people will find it is if they do a search on something which happens to be mentioned in your blog, they're coming from one of the various blog networking schemes (myBlogLog, technorati, blogcatalog etc.) or you've posted the addy somewhere (eg. on one of the many blog threads in etsy).

Basically, each post will just be added to the page (if you look at mine, you'll see numerous posts - most have different dates, but some don't have dates because I did the post on the same day as another post) - until it reaches the maximum (this is set by default but you can change it), then the older posts are still acessible but are not displayed on the front page.

How to change the number of posts visible on the front page.

Sign in and view your blog
Click "Customize" in the top right hand corner - this will take you to a new page
Click the "Settings" tab up the top,
Click the "Formatting" link (3rd from the left) under the tabs
At the top of the page is "Show" with two boxes beside it. In the second box you can choose whether you want a certain number of posts shown on the main page or whether you want it to be shown by days (for people that only post once a day - this would end up being the same), the first box you enter the number of posts or days. Mine is currently set at 7 days worth.

How do you access the old posts?

You can either access them through the Posting>Edit Posts list page OR
You can scroll to the last post on your main page, there's a link there "Older Posts" OR
You can use the "Blog Archive" element on your main page (if you've added it to your template) - you can see mine in the righthand column of my blog.

How do you add a Blog Archive?
This is much like adding the etsy mini but easier

Go into Customize>Template>Page Elements
Click the "Add a Page Element" box in the side column
Choose "Blog Archive"
Move it to where you want it in the column, save everything

Editing your blog posts .................

2007-11-28T08:11:00.000+10:00

OK, sometimes after you've posted, you realise that things aren't they way you wanted them (happens to me all the time), so you need to edit your post.

There are two ways (after you've signed in and are viewing your blog):

1.

At the bottom of each post there is a little tiny pencil pic (next to "Posted by ..... Comments..."), click it,
this will open the Posting>Edit Posts page with the post showing in the box.
Make your changes
click the "PUBLISH POST" button in the bottom left and whallah! Your post has been edited.

Click the "New Post" link in the top right of your blog. Now you'll be on the Posting>Create page
Click the "Edit Posts" link (next to the "Create" title). This will open up a page with a list of all the posts you've made.
Beside each post there is a checkbox and two links ("Edit" & "View"), check the checkbox for the post you'd like to edit
Click the "Edit" link for the post you want to edit
Now you're on the Posting>Edit Posts page but the post you want to edit is showing, make your changes
click the "PUBLISH POST" button in the bottom left.

Creating new posts for your blog and adding pics ......

2007-11-28T08:04:00.000+10:00

Q. Maybe do a how to make some things.. if that is the sort of things people do other than chat and read.

A. This is exactly the type of stuff people like to read (features of other etsy sellers are also very popular).
In order to do this just create a new post -

after you've signed in to your blog and you're viewing it, you'll see "New Post" link up in the top right hand corner, click it
now you're on the new create posting page, fill in the title (something like "How to make a ...." or "Tutorial:........")
fill in the big box with the instructions - there are two tabs at the top "Compose" and "Edit HTML". You'll probably want to stick with "Compose", it pretty much shows you what will show on the page. For a more accurate view you can choose the "Preview" link in the top right of the box (NB. when you use this, the custom colours you've chosen won't show, don't worry, they will on the blog) - to get back to "Compose" you'll need to click the "Hide Preview" link (top right - it replaced the "Preview" link when you clicked it).
using the toolbar along the top of the box you can change the font/colour of your text, format the text, add lists, add links etc.
to add pictures click the little pic of mountains and sky under the "Edit HTML" link. Another smaller window will open, you've got the option of uploading a pic from your computer or using one that's already on the web somewhere. Choose how you want the picture to show (to the left, right or centred, small, med, large) and then click "UPLOAD IMAGE" the page will change and finally you'll see a "DONE" button, click it.

In my experience, pics are always added to the top of the page (even though you often don't want them there). You can click on a pic and drag it to where you want it in the post or you can edit the HTML and move the code for the pic. There is a 1024Mb limit of pics, so if you stick to fairly small ones, there shouldn't be a problem for a long while.
after you fill in the box with all the info, add some tags (I usually forget this part), these are just the key words from the post (kind of like tags in etsy for items)
now you can click "PUBLISH POST" (bottom left)
there will probably be a "View Blog" link at the top of the page now - you can go see your blog with the new post.

Now listing on EBAY!!!

2007-11-11T08:43:00.001+10:00

Well, the unmounted rubber stamps weren't doing so well in my etsy supplies store, so I decided to put them on ebay - much better response so far.

So, if you were planning on getting any from my etsy supplies store, get in quick before they're all removed!

I've got a butterfly thing going on....

2007-10-13T18:06:00.000+10:00

yes, there they are, some new additions. I think there'll be a couple of changes happening before they go on sale but this is the beginning.

Butterfly necklaces - antique gold finish chain, czech glass beads, brass charms and assorted other bits and pieces.

Lots of felt and fabric jewelry on it's way too .........

How to give brass an antique finish - the tigergirl way

2007-10-11T22:29:00.001+10:00

So, I had a question asked of me - "do you stock antique brass wire, or know where I can get it", unfortunately, my answers were "No" and "No" - well, I wasn't quite that abrupt but same effect.

So this got me to thinking, in all of my metalsmithing, jewelry and craft books, surely I could find the answer, almost certainly "The Jeweler's Bench Reference" would have it. Well, of course not, it tells me how to turn it many colours ( green, dark green, sage green, black, yellow to red, dead black) with various chemicals that I don't exactly keep in the kitchen cupboard (last I checked there wasn't any caustic soda in there), but not just a plain old antique brass colour. Goodness knows, some of the charms I stock at tigergirlSupplies are a nice antique brass but that's just because they've been around for years and years - who wants to wait years for something to naturally get the antique patina?? I found a website that told me I had to use a proprietary product, hmmm, not that helpful.

Well, it was time for an experiment, you might want to print this out because it's very complicated and needs to be extremely precise.

Supplies:

1 Pour of bleach
1 Squirt of lemon juice (fresh juice can be used)
2 Empty yoghurt containers (fairly clean)
3 Brass charms

Method:
Take one yoghurt container and pour in some bleach.
Take the other yoghurt container and squirt some lemon juice into it.
Drop a brass charm in each yoghurt container.
Leave overnight in the laundry (another room might work just as well).

Next morning, take the charms out, rinse them, dry them and compare them to the 'control' charm.

Result:

Lemon juice - deadened some of the yellow and made it look a bit more like rose gold.
Bleach - made it go a really dark brown.
in the pics the lemon juice charm is on the left, control is in the centre and bleach is on the left

Addendum:

I believe that if I'd experimented with a combination of water and bleach I would probably have got the lighter brown - try it!

Tigergirl the Animator

2007-10-11T15:29:00.000+10:00

No, I haven't turned into some weirdo that belongs in a horror movie reanimating corpses and the like (I've seen enough movies and TV series to know that that is rarely a good idea) - it's an animated GIF.

I quickly made myself up an animated ad the other day (it's up in the top right hand corner) and decided to offer my services. Despite the fact that I offered them for FREE, only two people have taken me up on the offer.
Here's the one I've just done for KuddleBugzThreads - shame I didn't have more/larger pics but anyway - it gets the message across.

Ok, it seems that the animation won't show in posts - I'll put it down the bottom of the page so that KuddleBugz can get it.

Mulder the cockatiel

2007-10-09T07:59:00.000+10:00

Well, here he is, the new family member. It took me about 20 shots to finally get one where he had his head up because he's ravenous and eating like there's no tomorrow.

Mulder seems to have VERY flaky skin, where ever he sits, he leaves dandruff and when he shakes? Well, have you ever been in a blizzard? It's like that. After a bit of research it seems that he may be lacking in Vitamin A because he has only ever had a seed diet, no fresh fruit or greens. We've tried to give him fruit and vegetables but he won't touch it. This time I decided to grate up some apple, mix in a little honey and seed and then cover it in seeds - he wasn't fooled. For 24 hours he's barely touched it so now I've taken pity on him and given him seed - he's been eating non stop for half an hour.

The books say they're not fussy eaters because in the wild they don't have too many choices, let me tell you, this one is FUSSY! Apparently he doesn't read books.

I'm FINALLY back!!!

2007-10-04T09:55:00.000+10:00

Well, it's all been a bit of a whirlwind here the last couple of months.

Of course, there's been the endless renovating (the deck is nearly done - just need to have the lights and powerpoints done and some more furniture).

I've had some serious computer problems - that's a long story. I had to use oh's laptop which meant I practically had to beg for time on it - NOT something I relish.

I started up a new store - TigergirlSupplies to get rid of all of these supplies I've had boxed up for years (left over from an old business venture) and keep having to move from one abode to another, I simply refuse to have to move them again!! So, if you're in the market for unmounted rubber stamps, brass charms, chain, scrapbooking supplies, craft books etc. check this out. They're all going out at great prices! Of course, it's not all listed yet but boy is there a lot to go through.

We have a new edition to the family, his name is Mulder and he's a very needy cockatiel. They're supposed to be incredible gymnasts - we apparently got a dud, he's more uncoordinated than I am.

Add to all that, I've also got a job! Nope, not in IT (although if you could try to impress that on my boss I'd be grateful - he's forever trying to get me to rework the systems), I'm working in a 'lifestyle' store - it's fun so far, it helps that my bestfriend who I've barely seen for the last 15 years is my manager. She was also on holidays for the last couple of weeks which meant I was working quite a bit, also one of the other workers is about as reliable as a 20c watch and someone else quit, so their shifts needed covering.

So, now things are settling down again and I'm connected to the www, there will be more regular posts, pics and silly stories!!

Oh, thank you for all of the lovely comments while I've been away!!

My Creative Process (if you could call it that)

2007-07-24T21:14:00.000+10:00

Ok, I'm not the most articulate or eloquent of people but I am truly stumped when asked about my inspirations and my creative process. I just don't have a clue where my ideas come from 99% of the time!
Here's an example: I wanted to make a blue and black necklace (I don't know why! But that's what I had in my head).

1st try <- Hmmmmmmm, got one colour right.

2nd try -> Ok, still got the same colour correct and the second colour is closer.

3rd try <- Well, what can I say? I obviously got sidetracked.

4th try -> Eureka! Who knew it would be so tricky?!

So what does that say about my creative process? It's inefficient and there's a good chance that what I have in mind just won't happen for a while?

A Love Affair with Paint?

2007-07-23T11:45:00.000+10:00

I recently read an artist's profile where, when asked about her art and inspiration, she said she basically had "a love affair with paint". Well, I reckon that a weekend spent at our place at the moment would cure her of that love affair pretty damn quickly!

I've just spent ANOTHER weekend filling, painting, sanding, painting, drilling, painting, hammering, painting, painting, painting. I never want to see another paintbrush! In fact, since we've moved here, I haven't even unpacked my easel - I simply can't face it (ok, the fact that my studio is usually such a mess that fitting it in would be a little cramped is another reason, but still).

I am not having a love affair with paint, in fact, another weekend of this and I might seriously start rethinking my dislike of wallpaper. If it wasn't the fact that I can not seem to see any light at the end of the painting tunnel it probably wouldn't be so bad but the only light I seem to be able to see is highlighting something that still needs painting.

I did do a little silver hammering on various surfaces experimenting with textures between some painting. OH just watched in silence and when I took a break asked me if I felt 'better' now. He didn't realise that I was actually doing something creative (kind of) and thought I was just letting off steam (it was good for that too). As I started pulling things out of one of his toolboxes to use as a surface for hammering, he got it, when i got to his files .... "Honey, don't hammer on them! And don't even think about going near my squares!" ...... "Well, of course not, they're too thin! Shouldn't hurt this though" (as I pull something else out) ..... "No baby! I'll find you other things!" .......... What a killjoy! He wasn't swayed by cries of "You're stifling my creativity!" ......... Some people! Maybe I'm developing a love affair with hammering?

Personalised Stickers - new from Moo

2007-07-20T09:38:00.000+10:00

Ok, so a few of you liked the Moo mini cards, well, now they've got stickers. With free postage for July!

Oh, another thing, you can actually get a pack of 10 minicards through Bebo.

As for the minicards, yep, compared to my regular business cards, they're expensive. But where can you get business cards that can all be individualised? (If you know of a place - let me know!) I think this is the only place. Anyway, when I get some they aren't just going to be business cards, I figure some will be little love notes for OH that he can use as bookmarks, others can be (very) fancy tags for my new line of sterling silver jewellery (ah, I've let that cat out of the bag!). Actually, I've got lots of ideas for these, business cards will be probably be what they are used least for!

Do you think it's safe? Don't renovate like this!

2007-07-18T09:54:00.000+10:00

Well, there was lots of house renovations on the weekend - removal of an offending wall, more painting (will it never end?) and changing light fittings that just didn't 'fit' me.

I nearly made an extra big tigergirl shaped hole in the celing for the plasterer to fix when I was up in the attic balancing on beams in a space that was only two feet high trying to disengage the remnants of a wall from the beams but, I managed to keep my balance and leave the ceiling with no extra holes. You would think that with my propensity for clumsiness (which is no secret to anyone that knows me) it would probably be a bad idea for me to do these kinds of things wouldn't you? Yup! I guess the thing is, this is as edgy as my life gets these days (oh, so wild) and there's no way OH would even have a go with his dislike of heights. He always says (when I suggest doing these kinds of things) 'well, if you think it's safe....' Eg. OH says 'I don't know how we're going to paint those really high beams on the deck, I can't even reach them with a ladder' .............. 'How about I go up, shimmy out on the beam and hang over and paint them?' ................ 'well, if you think it's safe...' ........... 'Sure!' ........ what's not safe about me being perched in a piece of 3"x2", 15 metres off the ground and hanging over painting the edges and bottom of it? ........ hell, no, I don't think it's safe, but what the hey, I'll give it a go! Of course, it also means that he's highly unlikely to criticise the job I do because he knows full well I'd agree and ask him to come up and fix it - no, he's not going to criticise.

My Dad was king of the "'she'll be right mate' crowd" and always sending me to do things that seemed just a tad risky or things that a lot of people just wouldn't expect a ten year old (or whatever age) to be able to do ('here you go, here's the rivet gun and the ladder - reckon you'll have the roof on by lunch?' .... 'Dad - how do I use this?' ..... 'It's a rivet gun, there's only one way to use it, you'll work it out, oh and here's a box of rivets' ok, so I did and I think the roof was all done by lunch, you know what they say, people like to fulfill expectations, low and high) ...... I guess I got it from him.

Whilst changing all of the light fittings we discovered where the geckos like to lay their eggs - in the little plastic bit that is attached to the ceiling to cover the electrical connection. Every time we removed one, eggs came streaming down. After careful checking, it seemed that all of the eggs were either already hatched or not viable - I wonder if they've found better places to nest?

Seems my jewellery will be published!

2007-07-16T15:24:00.000+10:00

Yup, I got a message (quite a while ago actually) asking if I would be interested in having my jewellery featured in a new book that is being published. Now, you might be thinking 'oooooh, how exciting!' - which it is - but at the time I thought 'Hmmmmm, I wonder if this is a scam?' After doing a bit of checking around, I discover that no, it's not a scam, it's for real! Now I'm excited!! It all went out quite a while ago but I thought I'd wait a bit before I 'announced' it just in case something went wrong (and plenty did!! It's my life after all!)

The book is tentatively titled "1000 Jewelry Details" and will be published by Rockport Publishers/Quarry Books. Now you're next question would probably be 'when?' and it's a very good question that I must admit I don't have an answer to (Who says I'm not on top of things?).

As I'm in Australia and the publisher is the States, the author decided that I didn't need to send my pieces for photography I could just send digital images (she says my photography is great ....... eek!). Well, although it sounds easier, I ended up wishing I'd just sent the pieces. We've been having a major drought here (seems like forever), well, wouldn't you know that when I need to take some good pics with OH's horrible little digital it decides to rain for a week - no sunshine for pics! Not only that but I need to make sure the pics are a certain dpi, size etc. and I'm no pro when it comes to these kinds of things. Of course they aren't the only stumbling blocks, my computer is running out of hard drive space, my burner decides it's not going to burn onto any of the 100000000 blank CD's or DVD's, so that requires a trip into OH's office to use his, then, when I go to get the pics printed (yep, our printer is out of commission too!) the shop tells me that they can't print .tif images, so I've got to blast home on the bike and convert them all to .jpgs then take them back to the shop where I have more problems - their software will only print out all the images on media, not selected ones! Keep in mind that I'm on a fairly tight deadline here to get this stuff to the other side of the world. Well, finally, it all got sent International Priority and arrived on time - thank goodness! Now my only worry is that they won't think the pics are good enough, although the author says that they seem fine (I still have my fingers and toes crossed). Unfortunately our camera didn't take pics big enough for full page pics, so I'll only have 1/4 page pics but better than a kick up the behind I reckon!

So, yep, you better snap them up before I'm a worldwide sensation!! ha ha ha

The pics in this post are the pieces she chose - I did send her better pics than this, don't worry, they're around here somewhere on a CD, somewhere in this mess ...........

Great alternative for business cards ....

2007-07-13T15:23:00.000+10:00

Ok, so I kept reading things like "Oh, I love Moo" and "I use Moo cards" or "I love it when I get a Moo card". Finally I just cracked and had to check out what the heck these Moo's or Moo cards were!

Turns out that Moo takes your digital images and prints out nice little notecards (10cm x 10cm 16 for US$24.99) with envelopes and a flap so that they stand up.

<--There's a screenshot of the site.

What I think everyone is raving about however is the Moo minicards with your digital image on the front (28mm x 70mm - 100 for US$19.99) and you can have whatever you want on the back - very personalised business cards (or contact cards for those family members that say they couldn't find your phone number)! As far as I understand it, each card can have a different pic, they can link to your Flickr, Bebo etc. account and it's only $4.99 for postage to anywhere in the world!

Yep, I'll definately have to put these on my 'must get' list.

7 Things You Didn't Know About Me......

2007-07-12T21:24:00.000+10:00

and you probably didn't really want to know them either but oh well.

Ages ago Jen from MellowBeing (she knits great wrist warmers that I'm eyeing off) tagged me for this meme - well, you may or may not have noticed but I've been MIA and am finally getting around to some long overdue chores (the vacuming and washing can wait right along with the dishes, I've got my priorities sorted!).

I've had my eyelashes permed 3 times - yep, permed!
I will never let OH put foils in my hair again (which reminds me - I've got to get to a hairdresser, even he can't stand to see the mess he made and keeps asking when I'm going to go and get it fixed, oh yes, the hair is glam at the moment, what with the foils mess, the remnants of green paint and now the fresh batch of cream paint)
I slept through an earthquake - apparently I was the only one in the country that did (an old boyfriend used to say that I didn't sleep, I just died for a few hours).
If I'm not working the next day, I'll get up completely refreshed anywhere between 2am and 5am - if I'm working that day, I've got trouble dragging myself out of bed by 9am - go figure! I actually managed to sleep through until 6am the other day - OH asked me why I didn't get out of bed in the middle of the night, he was perplexed and thought I might be sick.
I was in Bethlehem on Christmas Eve in 1995 (I think that was the year) - it was the first time it had been opened to tourists for eons. If you were there too, I was the one with the inch long platinum blonde hair with tinsel in it.
I have a very high pain threshold - Upside? I rarely take pain medication, even after operations and breaking bones. Downside? Sometimes I don't realise something is wrong until it's fairly advanced or gone really wrong.
When I was little my Mother thought I had something wrong with my eyesight because I was always bumping in to things and covered with bruises. She took me to a doctor to get it checked - his verdict? "There's nothing wrong with her eyesight, it's better than the majority of the population, she's just a really clumsy child" I'm still really clumsy and still bang my shoulder on walls when I'm walking through a doorway or around a corner - kind of scary, that I play with power tools!

So, now I've got to tag some unsuspecting souls .........

LoveDynamite - the treasury princess
AussiePatches
mommyandmeboutique
LazyTCrochet
BumpkinBears
Happy House Quilts
suchprettycolours

Your instructions (straight from Jen's blog):

1. List seven random facts/habits about yourself

2. Choose another seven bloggers to tag and list their names in your blog

3. Leave your seven tagged bloggers comments to notify them of their tagging and to direct them to your blog for tag instructions.

I've been MIA!!

2007-07-12T18:31:00.000+10:00

Yikes! Life has been just a tad complicated lately, today I'm finally catching up with some things that have been long overdue.

First, I've got to have some dinner and then I'll be back with a real post.

Oh, here you go, just in case you're wondering what I look like.

I swear, I don't only wear leather and live in bars ..... it just seems that way sometimes (actually, I was just reminiscing with an old friend about the days when we used to be out clubbing in Jerusalem and dancing on tables - ah, the heady days of youth)

I Have Green Hair

2007-06-27T05:48:00.000+10:00

Caulfield Green to be precise, it's a Heritage green (for the outside of old homes) - not just any old green for me, I'm all class! How did I manage to get this green hair? I can tell you, it's not because I've got blonde hair and I've been doing a lot of swimming. On the weekend we had to paint some of the bones of our new deck - because it would have been an enormously tricky task once the roof was on. Of course, I'm the one that isn't afraid of heights, so I got to do the high parts. Some of that entailed laying on the roof painting the undersides of the struts (whatever they're called) which are only about a foot above the roof. It's more than likely that even if I had just been watching I'd have still ended up with the green hair - I am a paint magnet! So, even after several washes I still have Caulfield Green streaks - very attractive! Time for a haircut methinks!

There's a pic of the deck on it's way up - I told the builders I was going to photoshop off their clothes, put it on the 'net and charge people for downloading but you can all see it for free (with their clothes on).

The window you can see is going to be replaced with a huge glass door - actually 3 windows will be replaced and what's left of that horrible stucco effect will be covered with weatherboard eventually. The builders call that stupid point part of the house the Opera House - it's caused us no end of problems, not to mention cutting out into our deck, hence the big doors we're putting in.

I'm such a dope - check out this post ->http://manta57.blogspot.com/2007/06/danger.html think we need one of those signs? I can just imagine OH's face if he saw that!

The Treasury Controversy ........

2007-06-25T11:27:00.000+10:00

Well, I'm still in shock! I actually scored a treasury! What with all the hoo haa about whether Buy and Replace treasuries are tacky or not and whether they should even be allowed, my devil side won out and I made a Buy and Replace treasury. (My devil side didn't completely win, I didn't include any of my own pieces). I've opened the treasury with items from other Etsy seller's that have included my pieces in their treasuries, hence the title 'BandR Thankyou'.

For those of you that might be reading this and thinking 'what the hell is a treasury?', this is straight from the Etsy site:"What is the Treasury? The Treasury is a member-curated gallery of short-lived lists of 12 hand-picked items each. Members can feature their favorite items, items selected on a theme, or just whoever they like. The Treasury is not intended for self-promotion, but instead to acknowledge and share the many cool things for sale on Etsy. Admin often chooses an exceptional Treasury list to promote to the the homepage hand-picked items. ..." Generally people really like their items to be featured in treasuries because it gives more exposure and just maybe it'll make the front page (*a hush falls across the crowd at the mere thought of making the FRONT PAGE*).

A 'Buy and Replace' treasury? Well, you buy something from one of the stores featured and you get to choose which item replaces it (either something of yours of something you think deserves more exposure) - most people I believe, choose one of their own pieces (of course their own pieces deserve more exposure!).

And just to back up a bit, maybe you're wondering 'what the hell is Etsy?'. Etsy is a site for selling handmade items - you'll find all kinds of fantastic, unique and downright clever items there, even things you didn't realise you just couldn't live without.

An honourable mention to dangerousmezzo too for including my Jules Verne Chaos Necklace in her 'beringed, bejeweled and bedizened' treasury - not only is she an opera singer but she's not bad when it comes to paint either! (Of course, she's awesome at choosing jewelry but I guess I'm biased).

And here's another call out for cercaTrova who put together this delicious treasury titled 'I Want That!', with my Surf and Sand Chaos necklace in it.

Update: the B & R treasury has sold 2 so far...

Perfume and Memories

2007-06-22T14:22:00.000+10:00

Perfume and scents are probably my strongest memory triggers - they can transport me directly to a specific time in my past (some, admittedly, I'd prefer to forget, but usually it's a good memory).

Over the years I've tended to change my signature scent when I change my significant other - until about 10 years ago, I didn't even realise that I did this, it was done subconciously.

The merest whiff of a former signature scent of mine or an old flame's and I'm immediately transported to a different time in my life. I mentioned this to someone at some stage and they told me that smell is the strongest of our senses to trigger memories. Now, I don't know that they personally had conducted scientific tests on this theory (in fact, I doubt it very much) but the topic recently came up again and I did a little searching on it.

According to the limited amount of research I've done, others agree:
"Scent is an automatic memory trigger - a direct link to the limbic system, the part of the brain where memories are stored. Because of this, a carefully chosen scent will remind you of your wedding day forever, much like a treasured photograph." http://www.jscheer.com/martha.html Hmmm, I don't even remember which perfume I was wearing when I got married - I'll live.

"Studies have shown that the sense of smell is the strongest of the five senses to trigger memory. Some say that seventy-five percent of the emotions we generate on a daily basis are affected by smell." http://www.initialmicrofresh.com/faq.php

"Your olfactory nerve goes straight to your brain, meaning what you smell can quickly trigger memories and emotions.
Margaret Self, of the Carolina Reiki Institute in Columbia, also dabbles in aromatherapy. She says we are imprinted with certain smells - maybe chocolate chip cookies baking bring an instant memory of a grandmother." http://www.azcentral.com/home/garden/articles/0928gardenscent0928.html I know that there is a certain scent that my Sister's and I recognise as 'Grandma's smell' - even now, after she's been dead for many years, if we open a box that has items from her, we can smell it (it's not bad, it just smells like she did when she was alive and reminds us of her).

"Smell is a very powerful memory trigger, and past associations often dictate how a person will respond to a given scent, he said." http://www.sff.net/people/lucy-snyder/journ.html#1 Yes, how often do you get a whiff of an ex-flame's cologne and find yourself assuming certain things about them? I know that I have an instant distrust of anyone that wears my ex-husband's cologne!!

"An odor can trigger memories from childhood that are pleasant or very unpleasant. And with the memory may come a gamete of emotions and physical effects. Pulse, blood pressure, and many other physical aspects of the body may be affected." http://pw1.netcom.com/~bcb56/overview.htm#Neuro

"The bond between a memory and an associated smell can be so strong that, when either the smell or the memory are presented, the other is recalled (Engen, 1991). Schab (1991) found that smell is as memorable as information formed from other senses." http://www.psychology.siu.edu/psyche/archives/vol1/hofland.html I wish I'd read this article when I was doing my last degree!

There is also a link between deja vu and smell, not too surprising really is it? Apparently, some researchers believe that a lot of deja vu experiences are triggered by scents.

The funny thing is, perfume and scents seem to have such a strong effect on me and yet, I don't seem to be effected by the traditional aromatherapy scents eg. lavender for relaxation, citrus for rejuvenation etc. - maybe I am and I just don't realise it??

Well, all this talk about perfume brings me to the fact that I just had some fantastic perfume samples sent to me by ahna of http://artcreated.com/. I could smell the package as OH walked through the door with it - divine! I was afraid that the perfumes had leaked but no, it was the soap sample (scented with her fragrance 'Haunted') that I could smell, the perfumes were intact! I never leave the house without perfume so for the last few days I've been wearing Haunted, Wild Rose and Allure and smelling absolutely delicious! My kind of scents, definately. I'll certainly be getting my hands on some more. If you like perfume and don't want to be wearing what everyone else is, you've got to check her out.

So, there you go - do you want to make sure you have a memory trigger for a certain holiday / event? Make sure you wear a perfume specifically for it! Did you realise that perfume had such a strong effect on us?

Blogs: communicating and visitor tracking

2007-06-21T15:50:00.000+10:00

Q. Do you communicate with just anyone, how do you know they have been in for a visit?

A. You won't be able to determine exactly who every visitor is but there are some tools that will help you find out who some of them are.

I've signed up for two free services http://www.blogcatalog.com/ and http://www.mybloglog.com/ each of these services provide widgets that you can put on your blog (you'll see them on mine in the right and left columns), the widgets show which of their other registered users have visited your blog and when. They are basically catalogues of blogs and/or sites. Often, I'll click on the avatars to see just who has visited and then I'll check out their blog, if they have one of these widgets too, other visitors to those blogs will see my avatar and might click it just to see who else visited the same blog and on it goes.....

I also signed up for another free service - the neocounter widget from http://www.neoworx.net/ - you'll see it in the right hand column of my blog, it lists all the visitors I've had and the countries they were from.

I have a free counter from http://www.webstat.net/ right at the bottom of my blog (the numbers) which tells me how many visitors I've had. I've also got a free google analytics account which tells me where my visitors have come from and a lot of other statistics.

What else? Oh, sign up at http://www.technorati.com/ and then you can be added to the etsy blog list (sign up here -> http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5083841 ) which everyone can use to import favourite blogs (the forum thread explains it better than I can). I use a widget from them (in the right hand column) that shows the most recent posts made by bloggers on my favourites list.

You can also sign up for the Etsy Sellers V2 blogring here http://etsysellerswhoblogv2.blogspot.com/
You add the widgets by copying the code they give you and adding it as an HTML/Javascript element to the page, much like the Etsy mini code.

So, other than other people leaving comments or also being signed up to MyBlogLog and blogCatalog, you won't know who has visited, however if you have a counter, you will know how many have visited.

I tend to reply to comments left on my blog and when I find other blogs with interesting posts, I'll often leave a comment. There are a couple of blogs that I check nearly daily (in the right hand column on my blog under "Interesting Reads" and "Do you want a laugh?").

We have a boat in our rumpus room..........

2007-06-21T09:27:00.000+10:00

Seriously. Ok, so the rumpus room has turned into a bit of a junk/brewing room whilst we're renovating and has an old kitchen, a gym set (wait, that's not meant to be junk is it? May as well be for all the use it gets though!), a vacume cleaner that has a missing wheel and OH's brewing kit (that's not junk either, just looks like it) - but a boat!!??

Well, it's one of those blow up canoes for two. He's been banging on about having a boat for ages and since we've done canoeing a whole TWO times thinks that it's something he'd like to 'get into'. As I could see it would go the way of the unused gym set I finally persuaded him not to put us in debt for eternity by buying a real boat - I thought I'd side stepped the issue quite well until he informed me that he'd bought this blow up canoe.

Of course, if a 20kg blow up canoe arrives in the mail, you've got to blow it up, so there it sits in our downstairs rumpus room dreaming of being on water. Not only is there the canoe but we also had to get the paddles and life jackets. He asked me 'Will I look silly wearing a life jacket on the lake?' .... 'No, of course not baby!' ........ later he was talking about the life jackets and I say 'I'm not going to be wearing it on the lake!' ......... 'Why not?' ........... 'Because I can swim and I don't want to look stupid' ............. 'But you said ....' ..... 'Well, you aren't a swimmer so flapping around drowning is going to look way more stupid than wearing a life jacket on a dead calm little lake'. Of course I'll have the life jacket there in case I need it ....

This whole situation reminds me of when he bought the tent and promptly tried to set it up in our dining room then decided that on our bed would be a better spot - ever arrive home to find a 3 man tent set up on your bed? That tent has been used ONCE! His plan was to use it more often now that we've got the canoe but there isn't a whole lot of room in that canoe but he has plans for strapping things on and around it *rolling my eyes* - I can see it now, we'll look like the Beverly Hillbillys who took to the water.

B&R Madness

2007-06-14T10:02:00.000+10:00

Well, CombustionGlassworks finally managed to get her first B&R Treasury. She wanted to see if she could compete with the two usual suspects that normally run successful B&R treasuries. I happen to think she has succeeded.

For those of you that don't know how it works, when you buy something (anything) from one of the stores that have an item showing, you choose the item to replace it (usually people choose one of their own).

If you're looking to buy something, it's a good chance to do that and get into a treasury.

Otherwise, just go in and see if there's something that you didn't realise you needed to buy - she's such a doll and it will make her day (mine as well if you buy the Shanghai Gold Chaos Necklace - or anything else from me, come to that!).

Pick up lines that make you want to run....

2007-06-13T16:12:00.000+10:00

I came across a site (last week I think) called 15 min. dating - the link is down in my left hand sidebar. There were some funny stories there. I don't think I have ANY funny dating stories. Maybe it's because I don't do the internet dating thing and have never been on a blind date.

However! I am female, so I've heard quite a few pick up lines - funny, lame, unbelievable and everything in between.

1. I've just finished work at 10pm and it was a bit stressful. On my way home there's a bar with a live band playing the kind of music I actually know the words to. I think it might be good to go in, have a beer and chill out while listening to the music. So, there I am, drinking my beer, singing along, happy in my own little world. Next thing I know, someone beside me has said something - it sounds like "Do you know you're the sexiest f*&%ing bitch in here?". The music was fairly loud and no one would really say that right? so I assume I've misheard. I turn to the person in question - he's still living in the Miami Vice era and dressing to suit. I say "Excuse me?". He repeats exactly what I thought I'd heard, word for word! I'm stunned! Could this ever really work for him? My question was answered a couple of weeks later when I saw him walking down the street in the same outfit with each arm around a girl that looked underage.

2. In a bar in Canada with a group of friends. I go to the bar for some drinks. A rather large guy comes up behind me and whispers in my ear "I'm a professional hockey player, I make over $1 000 000 a year - do you want to come back to my place and take a spa?" You'd think he might have at least told me which team he played for! (Not that I would have known.....)

3. In a different bar in Canada (I was living there ok? and not just in bars!). Standing, talking to a friend when I feel something on my behind that hurts! I turn around and a guy has just BITTEN it!! He ended up with a women's size 8 Doc Marten imprint on his chest. It really didn't help his case when he told me that he was an Aussie and it was an acceptable Aussie practice - I'm an Aussie you moron!!

4. On an empty bus on a deserted road in the middle of Turkey, middle of the night. The driver starts to slow down then turns to me "You, me, kiss?"

Oh, I'd like to say that's it but there are a lot more where they came from ....... just in case you're wondering, not one of these guys got lucky with me (it was so close though - yeah right .........)

How to add etsy mini to blogger

2007-06-13T12:05:00.000+10:00

Here are the instructions for adding etsy mini to blogger (v2 blogger with widgets)

Open your blog in one window
Sign in to your blog
Once you've signed in, view your blog
Now up the top in the right you should see a link 'Customize' - click it now you're on a page with the template - page elements page, you'll see the 'Add and Arrange Page Elements' title on it - leave this window open
Now open up another window with your etsy store in it and login to etsy
Go to 'Your Etsy'
Down the bottom on the left hand side you'll see a link 'Etsy Mini' - click it
Now you should be on the 'Build your own Etsy Mini' page.
Choose 'Items from my shop' and 'Thumbnail', to start with just choose 1 column and 4 rows (need to see what fits in the space available)
After you've made these choices a preview of what we are going to put on your blog will appear underneath (it always shows your featured items and then the most recently listed)
Scroll down on the 'Build your own Etsy Mini' page until you see 'Copy this code for the javascript version', copy all of the code inside the box under it (click inside the box under it then press the [ctrl] and [c] keys on your keyboard at the same time OR just highlight it, right click with the mouse and choose 'copy')
Now go back to your blog window - the one with the 'Add and Arrange Page Elements' title on it
There should be a few boxes on it - Probably one at the top nearly the full width with 'NAVBAR' on it, another one under that (probably 'Header') then under that there will be a big square ('Blog Posts') and one or more down the right hand side - click on the one in the top right ('Add a Page Element').
A new smaller window will have opened with lots of options. Scroll down until you see 'HTML/JavaScript' and click on the 'ADD TO BLOG' button under it.
Now you'll see 'Configure HTML/JavaScript'. You can leave the title blank if you want to (I do - I don't think it needs one).
Click inside the 'Content' box and paste the code that we copied from Etsy for Etsy Mini (press the [ctrl] and [v] keys on your keyboard at the same time OR just highlight it, right click with the mouse and choose 'paste')
Click the 'SAVE CHANGES' under the box.
Now that little window we were working in will close and your back to the 'Add and Arrange Page Elements' page. The element we just added always goes to the top, so it will now be the box in the upper right under the 'Add a Page Element' box - the new box will have 'HTML/JavaScript' on it.
If you don't want it at the top of the page you can drag it with the mouse down the page (it will only go as far as to be the last thing in that column though - all of the elements are grouped at the top of the page)
Make sure the orange 'SAVE' button has been pressed (top right of the page, over all the boxes) - it will often look faded, that's because blogger has automatically saved it for you.
Click 'View Blog' (at the top in the yellow box) - if you get a warning something along the lines of 'This page has not been saved, do you want to save it before navigating away' answer yes and make sure you click the orange 'SAVE' button.

ok, so now you should see your etsy mini showing in the right hand column of your blog.

You know what? No one is born knowing these things and we all learn in different ways (mine seems to be mostly from making my own mistakes)

Good luck!!

Red Black Jewels

2007-06-11T08:04:00.000+10:00

More beautiful jewelry from the JET team. GO JETS! - That's the title and tagline of this treasury chosen by jewelrycreations and featuring my Pachyderm Paradise Chaos necklace.

Washing Machine Wedding

2007-06-09T09:10:00.000+10:00

Lo and behold, when I opened the washing machine this morning to get out all those wet clothes and hang them, I discovered there had been a wedding in there - complete with confetti. I must remember to check the pockets - especially in dark loads! I could blame it on OH but I know he does check his pockets and I don't - whatever, I might blame it on him anyway.

You might think that after this post, he wouldn't notice that so many of the clothes are now covered in little bits of white mushed paper ....... but this is the same person that stated a couple of days ago "This tub is filthy" ..... "What are you talking about?"........ "There's a hair there!" (ok, it's not ideal but does one hair make a tub filthy?) After inspection of said filthy hair I inform him that unless someone has been coming in using our tub when I wasn't here, the hair is actually his (wrong colour for me) - the silence was deafening, I guess that means that the tub is no longer filthy .... and yes, I think he'll notice that his clothes are covered in confetti, but then again ....

As to what it could have been that caused the confetti mess? It is now beyond recognition. I hope it was something like Hank's email address (see this post) but somehow it's probably my luck that it was something relatively important that I'm going to be searching for.

Oh, update: I finally did figure out who Hank was. He was a lovely gentleman I met on a ride and dive weekend years ago. My guess is that as I didn't hear from him either, he didn't lose any sleep over me not contacting him.

Very Fine Etsyans

2007-06-08T14:37:00.000+10:00

The tagline on this lovely green treasury chosen by ialuna is "Nice shops, nice items, nice people!".

Now that's nice!!

And there are my nice little Green with Envy Earrings.

The Trickster Weather Pixie

2007-06-08T10:10:00.000+10:00

My weather pixie and I just aren't working out - she seems to like trying to trick me. At the moment she's telling me it's raining - weather pixie, that's a big fib, I'm right near a window and I can see it's not raining! Ok, I know that you're measurements aren't taken from my backyard but the airport is only a few km away so it's hard to believe that sometimes the temperature there is 5 degrees warmer than it is here .......... I should have known a pixie couldn't be relied upon. And another thing - don't you think you should at least put on a long sleeved top when it's 14 degrees? Maybe the cold is confusing you!

Local News:

We just had nearly two days of non-stop rain! Fantastic, unfortunately the weather man says that's it, for quite a while and now we're back to drought. All that rain has given us an extra week of water in the dam - not much really but better than a kick in the teeth.

The situation is so bad here that some rural towns have already run out of water, the government is offering massive rebates to householders for installing tanks and they're talking about closing down some of the power plants because they use so much water (I'm sure I heard recently that they've already closed at least one but I could be imagining it). A while back even the Queensland Tourism org. were apparently running an advertising campaign in other areas of Australia to warn potential visitors and wannabe Queenslanders of the seriousness of the drought situation - things are bad when the tourism board warns you off coming!

The pics above have nothing to do with rain (although it does rain nearly everyday on Moreton Island). I actually did a ridiculous pose for that pic on the left - clearly OH thought it was too ridiculous and waited until I walking off to snap me.

Olympics, Blimps and Glow bricks

2007-06-07T18:30:00.000+10:00

International News:

Ok, first, let me just say that London Olympics logo is hideous! Has anyone seen the email that does the rounds critiquing childrens artwork? Well, that logo belongs in it - with the scathing comments. So, everyone seems to hate it (well, the majority of people) but there's another twist to the story - today I heard on the radio (as I was driving back from getting a driving licence that is actually current and for the correct state) that the animated version which was shown on the TV sent at least one person into an epileptic fit! (You can read more about it here). They've decided not to show it again, yes, I know you're all saddened that you might have missed your big chance. I'm thinking that right about now would be a good time for that graphic design company to do a little restructuring and retrench a few people, surely after this dog's breakfast they won't be getting too much work (although, if there is a gay branch of the nazi party that logo might be put to good use).

All that money wasted ........ if you want to read about another gross throwaway of funds see this post written by another Aussie with a blog that might give you a good laugh ........ like a lot of pollies our Prime Minister, John Howard is pretty free and easy with other people's money.

Family news:

Oh, the blimps ........ a day or so ago I got an email with this link http://www.crazyaboutgadgets.com/results2.asp?keyword=blimp&search_category=all and the message "This is brilliant!. I'm getting Dad the glow brick for Father's day". So, I checked out the glow brick (I had to search for it, strangely, the link didn't go there - sorry for those that followed the link thinking they'd find one), ok it's kinda cool but I don't know if 'Dad' is going to think so. Later that night "Did you check that link?" .... "Yes" ..... "Aren't they cool?" ..... "Yes, the glow bricks are pretty cool"....... "No, the blimps, did you check them out?" ...... "Uh, no, you didn't say anything about them" ......... "But I sent the link" ....... ok, so we've got a smart house (see previous post) and I read between the lines even though there are only two. So then I had to listen to a few minutes of "They're so cool, you can even get ones that drop bombs .........". Yep, like there aren't enough bombs dropped in this house!

P.S. If you're interested in the Sun Lamp they have on that site, I saw a tutorial for one on craftster a while back.

Our Amazing Self Cleaning Mirrors

2007-06-05T14:35:00.000+10:00

An interesting tid bit I picked up during our bathroom renovation - OH was staring at the mirror "These mirrors are amazing" he says. Ok, we've got really big mirrors in the bathrooms and toilet (no, not in front of the toilet, over the handbasin in the toilet!), but I don't think they're that amazing. I just keep doing what I'm doing ..... but apparently he's waiting for a response because he's looking at me expectantly. "It's amazing that they're always clean" he says. At this point, I'm wondering what the punchline is, so I'm waiting for him to continue but he keeps looking at me expectantly. Finally he says "Well, we never clean them do we? They just stay clean." OMG!! What a ning nong! "No baby, WE don't clean them, I do" ........ his response "oh....". I wonder if he thinks our dinner cooks itself, the clothes wash themselves and the dishes wash themselves too? Gee, we really do have a 'smart house' - who knew??

More creations & more treasuries ..........

2007-06-05T14:01:00.000+10:00

Well, yesterday I made a few more creations with some new bits and bobs I'd picked up the day before - I can never wait to use them!
I just love the look of those copper swirls (top right and bottom left), reminds me of paisley which is a pattern that I've always loved.
On the far left is the Carnelian Carnival Necklace using carnelians that were a prize from BoxC - she had a little quiz running and surprise, surprise, I won!! Not too long later a little packet of semi-precious gems arrives in my letter box - nice!

Meanwhile, I am valiantly trying to live up to the moniker "Treasury Queen", given to me by LoveDynamite.

This time, I'm thanking michellep74 for including my Pachyderm Paradise Chaos Necklace in the Black Celebration etsy treasury - a very classy black and white treasury - and lunalove for including my Blue Bayou Earrings in the Naked Ears etsy treasury - you guessed it, it's all about earrings, some great earrings in this one.

7 weird things about me: Meme

2007-06-04T14:43:00.000+10:00

Ok, I've been tagged twice, once by WonderWoman at Disjointed Intelligence and once by Daibe Beads.

So, I've been trying to think up another 7 things ......... here goes.

I met Billy Conelly once (actually, to be more accurate he was a customer at a restaraunt where I worked in Edinburgh - he ordered a coffee, but it counts right?) - he was very quiet and unassuming, not really what you'd expect.
I wear my Mother's wedding ring on my thumb. (She put on weight and it wouldn't fit her anymore, so my Grandmother offered to enlarge it for her by banging it repeatedly on a ring mandrel - Mum wasn't keen on the beaten look whereas I thought it was cool, somehow I ended up with it).
One of my ex boyfriends lived in a castle (truly!! - he didn't even know how many rooms there were).
This weekend I discovered that I really like kayaking - last time I did it, it seemed much more tiring.
I love heights.
I fractured my skull when I was three by falling from the second story, headfirst on to cement (a fibro window shade broke my fall - and got broken) - that explains a few things!
My nose has been broken three times - luckily it's never needed to be straightened.

Now, who to tag???

For those who have been tagged: the object of this game is to get to know each other a little. List 7 weird things about yourself and tag 7 others (yeah, ok, I'm still coming up with the others - anyone want to volounteer?). Don't forget to list them and leave a comment on their blogs to let them know they've been tagged.

A Dead Albatross & Treasuries

2007-06-04T13:46:00.000+10:00

Finally, the painting of the bathroom, toilet & laundry is finished!!!! I don't think I'm going to go through that again. We didn't like the tiles the previous owners had had on the walls, so I had the bright idea of painting them with that special tile paint. Ugh - I'm still slapping myself over that decision. OH thought it was great, he'd seen a bathroom where the owners had used it and said it looked great.

First I had to fix up all the holes where grout had come out. While I was doing that, I noticed that the kings of bodge had used silicone in some spots instead of grout. Now while I can understand that they may have thought that was a good idea, surely they realised that smearing all over the tiles this way and that wasn't???

So, back to the hardware store to get some silicone dissolver. Of course, removing that also removed some of the grout I'd put in, so that job had to be done again and of course it didn't work quite as well as I would have like either, so there was still a lot of scraping to do.

Next job - clean all the tiles with the special cleaner for pre-priming and remove ALL cleanser residue - do you know how hard that is??

On to the primer - now everything is a streaky dirty cream colour (ugh). Of course, try not to get any on the floors or walls, as for me, well, I always end up covered in paint, there's no way around that.

Next job - First coat of tile paint. By now I really couldn't care about the floors in the bathroom & toilet (we'll be replacing them anyway). This paint is thick, so it takes forever. So now it's all white and streaky - oh great!

Next job - Sand the first coat of paint. This paint is glossy, looks just like a gloss tile when it dries, so every tiny little bump shows up. Then remove all that dust.

Finally - The final layer of tile paint. Ok, so now it's less streaky.

End result?? It looks much better when it's dry and it's not streaky anymore, it's got a great high gloss but I can still see the marks from the bristles in the brush (OH assures me that you can't - he needs his eyes checked!). Would I do it again? Only in a very small area.

Finally that albatross around my neck has been killed (or set free, whichever makes you feel better).

And now - my Jules Verne Chaos necklace has made it's way into two treasuries!! The 'Stunning and Sexy' treasury, thanks to justinesoriginals and the 'Treasury ONLY Deals' thanks to mahalo. Mahalo's treasury only includes items where the seller is offering a special deal for items in their store if you mention the treasury when you purchase (it doesn't necessarily need to be the items featured).

Midnight Mauve, Widgets, Weather & Treasuries

2007-05-31T12:14:00.000+10:00

Just a quickie before I get myself off to the post office and back to the bathroom reno (oh boy, that is an albatross around my neck!!).

I've gone crazy on the widgets again. Now I've got the weather girl and the recent comments widgets happening. You can see them in the left column. The weather girl changes clothes depending on the weather - of course! For any of you that want to busy up their blog like crazy you can get them from here http://weatherpixie.com and blogger-templates.blogspot.

More good news - my Midnight Mauve Chaos necklace on lov.li sold yesterday (that's one of the things I'll be sending today).

I am in another treasury thanks to neogami my Apricot Geisha Triptych necklace is in the Pretty In Paper treasury.

Oh, and I mustn't forget lessthanthreedesigns published an interview from me on her blog - it's in the Wednesday, May 30, 2007 post. She features a lot of etsy sellers, so if you're interested in finding out some weird and wonderful things (like what we eat for brekky), have a look!

Next: some funny blogs, I'll catch up on the meme's I was tagged for and show you some cool gadgets ......

Once In A Blue Moon, Overnight Success and the Art of Craft

2007-05-30T10:07:00.000+10:00

Thanks to cercaTrova, I'm in the Once in a Blue Moon treasury here. Now, when i discovered I was in this treasury I was sure it would be my Once in a Blue Moon chaos necklace but no, it's the apricot geisha - I'm just happy to be there.

So far this day is shaping up to be pretty good, I must say. When I logged on this morning two of my bamboo tube necklaces (which I think I'll call bamboo triptychs and diptychs from now on) had sold - the Blue Waterfall and the Floral. The Blue Waterfall was featured in a the Down the Tubes treasury, so I wonder if that was what sold it (that treasury made it to the front page - hoorah!!!, so I'm just one step away from taking over the world! ha ha ha). Better make some more of them, quick smart.

If only the bathroom renovations would magically be done - without my intervention!

Ooh, I've got some advertising too see it here at Art of Craft.

There's been some interest in the tutorial I wrote out for a couple of etsians to get their etsy mini's working on their blogs - I might just have to do some posts so that people can come here and look instead of me having to send multiple emails.

The Pachyderm and the Domestik Goddess Go Down the Tubes

2007-05-29T13:33:00.000+10:00

A big thankyou to Domestika for featuring my Pachyderm Paradise chaos necklace in this post on her blog Domestik Goddess. This necklace has repro. vintage flowers, a large silver foiled glass bead and a hematite elephant hiding in the foliage all on an antique silver chain. If you, like me, aspire to be a Domestik Goddess, you'd better get over to her blog quick smart for some tips!

Thank you to scarfitup too, for featuring my Asian Waterfall Tube necklace in the Treasury, Down the Tubes.

Dolphin feeding frenzy

2007-05-29T08:10:00.000+10:00

You may have noticed that I rarely update on the weekends - that's because it's family time (and house reno. time). This weekend it was re-doing the tiles in a bathroom, toilet and laundry (not finished yet, hopefully it will be by next weekend) and dolphin feeding on Moreton Island.

The trip to Moreton and the dolphin feeding were a surprise b'day present for OH. He didn't know where we were going (until I pulled into the 'Tangalooma Departures' car park) or what we were doing (until the ticket officer asked if we were also doing the dolphin feeding). I'd given him a random list of things we'd need to take: swimsuit ("but it's kind of cold to go swimming isn't it?" "Trust me, you'll need it"); clothes for cold weather ("clothes for cold weather AND a swimsuit?" "Yes, you need both"); a tent ("um honey, I need to work the next day" "I know, but we need the tent") etc. etc. Of course we didn't need a tent, I just thought I'd throw in a few red herrings, at the last minute I told him we might just get away without the tent.

It was a gorgeous day and we loved it so much there that within half an hour of being there we'd decided to go back - we'll be camping though, $9 vs $200+ per night and you still have all the resort facilities, we'll spend the saved money on jetskis, an eco cruise and safaris. They've also got a lot of free guided walks - we took one with a Marine Biologist up to the wrecks. I really want to do the bush tucker walk when we get back.

The dolphin feeding was an amazing experience (a whole lot better than the bathroom reno.), it's quite incredible that they're so gentle, how they don't manage to nip you're fingers when they're taking the fish from you, I just don't know. I was feeding Tinkerbell, she was 20 years old, OH had Freddie, he was 45 and a bit like a doddery old man, he was very slow at getting the fish. That water was COLD but it didn't take long to forget about it.

More blogging tools ..... myLot

2007-05-25T11:13:00.000+10:00

Ok, I've signed up for myLot - yet another blog networking scheme. I don't know too much about it as yet but I figured, what the heck? So far, from what I gather you get to enter a whole lot of information about yourself which determines which links are shown to you on your profile page.

They currently have a contest running where you can win $1000 (or was it more?) for making a cool creative video - I won't be entering, but some of you creative types might.

myLot User Profile

What's in your pockets: meme

2007-05-25T10:03:00.000+10:00

So, I've been tagged again (a while back), this time by Sandra Eileen - she wants to know what's in my pockets. As she seemed interested in what's in my bike jacket pockets, I've gone downstairs and hauled one up into my studio - here goes:

a tyre pressure guage (I got a lot of questions from security at Parliament house about this - it's in an inside pocket and forgotten about it before I went through the metal detector)
CASH! $49.20 to be exact (forgotten about - inside pocket again) - better leave that there, it's for when I forget my wallet.
expired fuel vouchers - they can go
expired NRMA card - that can go, I don't even live in NSW anymore
a flyer for the Sydney Motorcycle Toy Run for 2004?? (ok, I did it but I think that can go now)
a piece of paper with Hank's email address (who is Hank?? I think it's probably safe to toss that)
a bank withdrawal receipt - from two years ago (GO)
hair bands - free flowing long hair and wind = lots of knots
hanging from the zipper of the inside pocket is my resuci face shield (just in case I need to give someone mouth-to-mouth - I used to ride a lot in big groups, need I say more?)
the key to my bike - don't get too far without that one - it can stay

OK, so that was what's in there currently. Everything but the key was in the inside pocket, clearly I need to clean out that inside pocket more regularly.

And if I was just about to jump on the bike now, what would I add?

more money
credit card/s
mobile (just in case I get stuck somewhere)
house keys (hopefully I'd remember, I've forgotten on too many occasions)
licence
lipbalm (all that wind is hell on the lips)

This reminds me, I should put some of those disposeable shield wipes in (I've used the ones that were in there) and I've still got to put my badge for motorbike first aid somewhere..........

Straight from Sandra's blog - here's the lowdown on this meme:

The Rules - which as we all know are meant to be broken or at the very least, modified slightly just like that game "telephone".

Empty your pockets - and if you don't have any pockets on at the moment, what do you have your things stashed in, whatever it is, empty it.
List each item in your pockets, cupholder, that little spot in the corner of your passenger seat where everything accumulates, the bottom of your back pack, book bag whatever.
Tell us why those things are there.
Pick three people to tag for this memeList their blogs in your blog, complete with their linksGo to their blogs and post a comment informing them they have been tagged and to visit your blog for the instructions for the meme.

If you have a better way to list the instructions have at it, particulary, a response to those who say they don't have any pockets.

I tag: Random Magus

Lane Designs

Sarah Knits

Featured!!

2007-05-25T07:17:00.000+10:00

The fabulous Funky Couture Jewelry featured me in her blog (this post).

Now I know there are lots of crafty people out there that love the blogs that feature other crafty people, so those of you that do, get over to her blog, it's updated every day and she really is a great writer. She features artisans from all disciplines and has some fantastic finds.

And for anyone that would like to be featured by her - she's taking submissions!

Coming up next, finally I'll post the "What's in your pockets" meme.

New Earrings

2007-05-25T07:14:00.000+10:00

why do people ask...

2007-05-23T18:05:00.000+10:00

....if I ride a motorbike?

I can't count the number of times I've been somewhere holding my helmet, dressed in bike gear, carrying a bike bag and been asked this question. At first I would think that I couldn't have heard them correctly (like I do with song lyrics), so responded with a "Sorry, what was that?", only to have the question repeated, my response was to look at them quizzically (could they have really said that?).

So maybe they think my sense of style runs to helmet hair, boots that look like orthapaedic shoes, sweating to death in leathers, big ugly handbags and always having protection for my noggin in hand? OK, they might have thought I was a pillion passenger but I've even been asked this question as I was either getting off or on my bike!

Is it possible some people go around dressed like this and pop on and off random bikes they see? Actually, maybe some bike thieves do exactly that, now that I think of it.

So, now I just smile, say "You bet" and think to myself 'what are they on?' or 'what did they think I was on? - obviously not a bike'. It still perplexes me.

On the upside, I do get a kick out of the 90yr+ ladies with walking sticks that ask and then think it's so great, regret never having done it and want to ask me all kinds of questions about it - they're the ones that people would think might be a little afraid or intimidated, just goes to show how looks can be decieving.

Who likes to find treasure??

2007-05-22T17:20:00.000+10:00

Thanks to angelstuff my Pink Puncture Chaos Necklace has made it into another JET treasury. You can view the treasury here.

More Chaos

2007-05-22T17:00:00.001+10:00

Some more chaos creations and the start of a 'past eras' line.

Adventures or Inconveniences?

2007-05-22T11:05:00.000+10:00

“An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered.”- G. K. Chesterton

How true this is. Sort of like making lemonade out of lemons. I have had some amazing experiences over the years simply because something did not go to plan.

Let's see ......... there was the time a bus from Belize dropped me off at the border of Mexico on a bridge which was in the middle of nowhere (it was supposed to take me into a town over the border). Thankfully there were two other backpackers on the bus that got stranded as well, I don't even remember how we finally got to the town but the three of us ended up travelling together for over a week and stayed in touch for years - I even visited one of them in Germany years later.

There was the time my exhusband and I were flying from Canada to Peru (there are many catastrophies attached to that story!), the plane was delayed for so long that we landed in Lima at 2.30am and to boot, they'd lost our luggage (after holding us up for about 2 hours looking for it). Let me tell you, at that hour, there aren't many cabs at Lima airport and there are even less hotels open! I did a ring around of places to stay with my very rusty Spanish and finally managed to get one (dingy does not even come close!), the room was permanently dark and I had to turn the light off to have a shower otherwise I wouldn't have been able to bear it. So we'd just come from a freezing Canadian winter to sweltering Lima and we had no luggage, as you can imagine, after a couple of hours kip, shopping was high on the agenda. We just needed something cheap and cool to get us through the day because of course the luggage was arriving that afternoon.

Two days later and many phonecalls and trips to the airport (one of those trips involved someone taking us to a hangar, unlocking a padlock on a chain at the door and just about pushing us in - the hangar was absolutely full of luggage and things I don't even know how to describe covered in dust at least an inch thick - he thought we might find our backpacks in there!) I decide to call it quits and move on. We bought a few more things (film, unisex t-shirts and underwear), stuffed them into our daypacks and off we went. When we got up to Puno on Lake Titicaca, it was cold so we bought alpaca sweaters (we already had warm clothes we'd worn on the trip from Canada).

Upshot? We could have been angry about the whole luggage fiasco for the rest of our trip and let it cast a shadow over the whole adventure but instead, we were the lightest travellers around, just a daypack each. It made our trip so much more enjoyable and easy to have so little to have to lug around and worry about. Not to mention we got to check out that weird hangar and what it contained (the guy just left us there - we actually had to walk back to the terminal across the tarmac watching out for planes).

Oh, we got our luggage back the night before we flew back to Canada so we dumped our entire wardrobe (minus the sweaters but including shoes) in the hotel we were at (we never wanted to see those clothes again!).

Wonder Woman has a very eloquent post on this (that's where I got the idea and the quote) on her blog. I've seen so many people let one small thing ruin their day (or often, longer), I think the old maxim "Acid also eats away at the container it's in" needs to be remembered.

blogger comments problem ...

2007-05-21T19:52:00.001+10:00

For some unknown reason, some posts cannot be commented on. Anyone have any idea why?

Desperately needed - publicist with writing flair.

2007-05-21T08:23:00.000+10:00

Beading Gem has featured one of my necklaces on her blog - the bamboo floral tube necklace. What an honour! She has a much better way with words than I do (no surprise to me), I'm not very good when it comes to descriptions for my pieces and seem to just state the bare facts. Maybe I need to hire a publicist?

Another incredible building

2007-05-20T04:46:00.000+10:00

So, I thought the buildings of Dubai were amazing (previous post). Well, here's one that might just top them - if it gets built. It's the Twirling Tower from architect David Fisher. Each floor will rotate independently, not only changing the view but also the shape of the building. There seems to be some debate as to if they can be built, whether they will be built and if so where (Chicago and Dubai seem to be popular choices), among other things. With wind turbines between the floors each one of these towers will produce enough energy to power another 5 or 10 (depending what you read) similar towers. There's even a youTube vid if you do a little searching on the web.

Widgets, secret passion and a cat for sale.

2007-05-20T03:37:00.000+10:00

Well, I've been finding interesting widgets all over the place, so many that I had to make my blog a 3-column blog to fit them all in. Of course, then I had to figure out how to switch to a 3-column layout without starting all over again. For anyone that needs the same information (in my search, it seemed that I came across a lot of questions asking about this but not many answers), use this article at Random Bytes.

Now, of course the blog looks messy and busy. I dare say that soon enough I'll get over it and go for a much cleaner, streamlined look because it's starting to bug me too.

This necklace is Secret Passion by Sandra Eileen, the second I saw this necklace, I loved it (sorry about the nudity folks :-D).

For a bit of a laugh check out this post by tofu baby, it'll give you a giggle.

It's a Wonderful Life: Meme

2007-05-18T09:11:00.000+10:00

I've been tagged by Random-Magus to list 10 things that make my life wonderful.

Well, like Random, I think wonderful is a big word, so I'll go with things that brighten up my life.

Here are the 10 things that brighten up my life:

My OH

Creating things

People complimenting my creations (= validation), having people buy my creations (= more validation)

My motorbike

Chatting with ex-colleagues about inane things and ridiculous scenarios (eg. our boss, really is an alien, for instance bla, bla, bla ... - actually, that was a bad example, I think that one was completely justified), just like we used to at work (incredibly stupid and childish but funny)

Rain (when we get it - we've got a major drought going on)

Reading a great book

Fresh, crisp white good quality sheets on the bed (seriously - I'm fanatical about it)

Orange things - not a colour I have any clothes in but my eye is always drawn towards it

Housework - vacuming, ironing, mopping etc. (ha!! of course not - bet you did a double take on that one!)

I'd better give another one, considering I was cheating with the last one:

10. Getting into the blog thing ("kid with a new toy" syndrome)

So, who am I going to tag?

Visions of Oz

Disjointed Intelligence

Images of Oregon

Blog Blond

Sixth And Elm

And there's a shot of said bike.

Dubai's incredible buildings

2007-05-17T06:43:00.000+10:00

Yesterday I signed up for BlogCatalog and MyBlogLog in order to put the Recent Readers widgets on my blog - I thought it would be interesting to see who had visited my blog.

One of the readers was Random-Magus, the name intrigued me, so I checked out the blog. Apart from the fact that she seems to have some similarities to me (no, not the fact that she lives in Dubai), it's a great blog. This post about Dubai is probably the most interesting non-craft post I've ever read. I thought the Dancing Towers were amazing, until I saw the pic of the Dubai Towers - you must check it out.

Dancing Towers (don't forget to check out the uber amazing Dubai Towers)

another Treasury!

2007-05-16T17:33:00.000+10:00

Thanks to jewelryCreations I'm in another treasury here. She has put together a really nice JET treasury full of pink things - check it out, there are two things on there that I really adore (have to save up though). She chose my Pink Puncture Chaos necklace for the treasury.

Emery Pincushions - what a great idea!

2007-05-16T09:02:00.000+10:00

A fair while ago I saw these emery pincushions on Etsy by dottyral- I'd never even heard of them before (yeah, I know, where have I been?) - what a great idea. They sharpen your pins every time you jab them into the pincushion. Well, now it seems that she's selling the emery by itself so that you can make your own pincushions. So, now I've got a dilemma, buy the emery and make my own or go the lazy route and buy a pincushion already made ....... hmmmmm, I also have to take into consideration that I've been meaning to get my machine out to make a few things for ages and it just hasn't happened but then again if I made my own, I could choose my own fabric - what's a girl to do?

I wish someone would come up with a pincushion that didn't make your pins go rusty where they're in contact with the fabric after they've been sitting in it for months and months on end (maybe someone already has? - let me know if that's the case, or maybe the answer is to use them more often ... ).

More chaos creations!

2007-05-16T05:54:00.000+10:00

Mother's Day, Green Tea & Pink Puncture

2007-05-14T18:00:00.000+10:00

Well, I'm not a Mother but I managed to convince OH that I deserve presents on Mother's Day anyway (I told him I'd consider giving him credit towards when we do have children - yeah, right), so I ended up with a gorgeous bunch of day lillies. Quite the coup, I thought. My Mother has to wait until I visit her for her present - I still don't know what it will be, I guess my company doesn't count?

Here are some new creations:

Green Tea

Pink Puncture

I keep meaning to get my sewing machine out - there are so many ideas that need to be realised - but I really need to clean up my studio a bit before that happens. Every time I start cleaning up, I'm caught by another idea that'll be quicker to make happen and the mess gets even worse ugh!

Porcelain Cats & Treasuries

2007-05-09T15:27:00.000+10:00

Wow! What a nice day, not only was I chosen for
my first treasury but someone bought the porcelain cat earrings too!

Yesterday my business cards from Vistaprint arrived - oh, I'm getting so pro! They look pretty good, better than I was expecting, certainly.

Oh, and I've become a member of JET (Jewelry on Etsy Team) - there's a link to the top 100 handmade site at the bottom of the page and a link to the blog in the righthand column.

Great day, now I just have to do the grocery shopping, take back a DVD, bring in the washing, water the garden, make dinner, research a career move and come up with a solution for world peace - easy!

Tagged!

2007-05-08T09:21:00.000+10:00

So, I've been tagged by SylviaV. I didn't even really know what it was...

Here are the rules:

Start with 7 random facts/habits about yourself
People who are tagged have to write their 7 things on their blog
Then choose another 7 people to get tagged and list their names
Don't forget to leave them a comment to tell them they have been tagged and to read your blog

I rarely watch television. Our television can go weeks without being turned on (and that's generally to watch the news) - we don't even have one in the upstairs living area.
I have seven nieces and nephews - six of them are under six years old.
I spent six years travelling all over the world.
I learnt some Spanish in Central America but didn't really use it much again until I was in Israel??
We keep buckets in our shower to catch water to use on the garden - the drought, you know.
I was born with really red hair - it went blonde in my late teens.
I've got a degree in Computer Science.

And this is who I've tagged:

What has happened to Eumundi Market??

2007-04-26T15:49:00.000+10:00

So, yesterday was a public holiday - ANZAC day - well, my other half (OH), decided that he wanted to 'get out'. Off to the Sunshine Coast hinterland we go..

Eumundi was our first stop. The Eumundi markets still bill themselves as "Australia's Premier Craft Market" and state "Goods sold within the market must be principally made, manufactured or produced by the Stallholder. The Stallholder must produce sufficient evidence to satisfy the Market Manager of these matters and his/her decision shall be final." Of course there is a disclaimer on the next line - "Exceptions may be approved by the Market Manager, in his sole discretion....". Well, all I can say is that after having a bit of a look there, the Market Manager has been mighty busy approving exceptions!

Are there any 'handmade' markets left in QLD??

Market scouting

2007-04-22T20:52:00.000+10:00

Well, I didn't do a market today, instead I grabbed my Sister and Niece and we went to Caboolture to check the market there. Another stall holder had told me about it last week, she usually does it - you have to be there at 3AM!!!!! to get a stall - oh, how fab (yup, I'm rolling my eyes and choking on my glass of wine).

We got there just as people were starting to pack up, ah well. I approached on jewellery stall just to check out what they had. I was wearing the black & silver chaos necklace from my previous post. The lady at the stall loved it "That necklace you're wearing is stunning - where did you get it?". Well, I'm a bit shy about that kind of thing, so I thanked her and told her I'd made it. My Sister isn't shy about that sort of thing at all - she launched into a full on spiel about the stuff I do and started pumping the woman on info about the market. The woman was so nice and really helpful but she said that generally, all people buy is beads, she maybe sells one piece of jewellery a day. ha ha - she thought it would be good if I had a stall there though, so that she could buy from me. Doesn't sound promising though. Was a great market though for fruit and veg - so cheap. I got a fantastic orange hat for $6 too (I'd forgotten to take one and it was hot!)

Then off to Bribie Island we went because I'd heard about a shop there that does consignment. Well, we found the shop but everything was sooooo cheap. A 40cm knitted doll, fully kitted out in traditional Scottish regalia, complete with bagpipes (all knitted) for $30??? I think it was called the Community Arts Centre. They had a market that was finishing there too. Again, the Sister goes straight up to a jewellery stall and starts pumping. When I arrived the women were all over the necklace too, so I guess it actually is nice and it's not just people being polite. They had the same story - sell beads but no jewellery. They told me Riverside markets were for me (something I've heard before from other stall holders) because when they look at my stuff they think "Brisbane" then decided I looked "Eumundi" (and I thought I looked like Lou!). One lady said "Bribie isn't ready for you" - wow, who knew I was so scary! ha ha They were really helpful and friendly though.

So Sis has decided that I can't possibly sell the black and silver one because she sooo needs to borrow it all the time - well, her Birthday is coming up...

It was actually a great day, always nice when people like the stuff you make. Oh, and to top it off, when I checked etsy this morning, two of my listings had sold!! Woo hoo! Ok, they were only supplies that I've got way too many of but still...

Oh, here's something I threw together the other day to wear to the shops.

The Chinese Smiling Cats

2007-04-21T16:21:00.000+10:00

How could I resist when I saw these porcelain beads? They were going to go in one of my chaos necklaces but when I saw them today, I had to do something. So here we go, some earrings.

There's a ladybug ring setting as I type too (like the one in the red and black chaos necklace below) - today was a day of cute things for me I guess, after the last two days of setting up blogs, myspace, not to mention registering here there and everywhere. How do people keep up with it all? I'm starting to wonder if all of the other stuff is really worth it.

do, do, do ....

2007-04-20T12:53:00.000+10:00

ok, so yesterday I did manage to get this new pendant design finished and listed on Etsy. I also purchased a custom made banner for my store from simmy - isn't it great? I've whacked it at the top of this blog too - looks a bit better than what was there, that's for sure. She's fabulous to deal with - I can highly recommend her.

I've spent this morning trying to get my myspace page half decent - urgh, that's a nightmare! At least I got the etsy mini working both here and there though (well, I hope it is).

Oh, lots more bookmarks too, but I still need to make a bucket more for tomorrow - they usually sell really well. (But it's always the ones that I like least that sell first - go figure!)

Another day of trying to get organised ....

2007-04-19T10:38:00.000+10:00

Well, I managed to get a fair bit done yesterday, despite the fact that it took me ages to work out a new attachment for the bamboo pendants, anyway, I'm pleased with it. I like the way it ties the black in the image and the cord together.

At last, I managed to get some good (well, much better) shots of my floral chaos necklaces too. I was starting to think I'd have to settle for selling them 'in person' because the previous shots were just so awful.

These look so much better - much closer to how they look in real life.

Well, I've got a list as long as my arm of what I have to do today, so I'd better get started I suppose.