New Summer Jewellery
30 June 2023
Hello! It's been a long time since I was last here, I have been swimming in the sea and making jewellery...that's about it.
A few years ago, when I was in the midst of divorce and selling our home and ultimately leaving my job, I wrote a post about how I was going to start my own small business and hoped to buy my own home, with a jewellery studio and go swimming and have a simple (and peaceful) life for me and the children. Well a few years down the line I can confirm that it is now the reality!
Sometimes it is a little too peaceful! but I can live with that ; )
It has been so warm here, we've been feeling very lucky indeed, so I've astounded myself by actually being quite productive in making a few new items for the shop, whilst also spending a lot of time at the beach.
During the making of Only Through Shadows, I have really enjoyed looking at symbolism and folklore in history. A lot of which revolves around nature and how that relates to our human lives, proof that the importance of our natural world has had in the evolution of our varied civilisations around the globe, and which continues today.
The newest items I have been working on have been an example of that, here's lots of pictures! (click on the photos to see them in the shop)...
Project: Kitchen 2
26 February 2023
This week I have finally been ticking a few jobs off my never ending to-do list. It is not the most exciting thing in the world, to write about, but I was finding myself scouring the Internet for this kind of subject so I'm thinking that someone out there might find this useful?
If you've been following my diy flat redecorating, then you'll know that I have already painted everything in my kitchen when I moved in, (you can read about that here if you like)
I didn't do anything about the vinyl flooring before as I ran out of money : (
It's not so offensive (if you like beige) and it's quite new (except I ripped a hole in it when I moved the washing machine), but it's a bit...meh.
I found these on amazon - Floor Pops (I'm not paid for this btw) they are Lino floor tiles with self adhesive backing. Sort of liked how bright they are considering I'm not a fan of patterned walls and floors generally speaking as I'm a bit boring like that. My Flat is Edwardian so I though these looked in keeping with the windows and doors.
After much hoovering and scrubbing, you can lay them on existing flooring. Great for renters I think! They cost me about £100 but I way over ordered and have 30% left over, that's cheaper than a rug.
You just basically peel off the back and stick em down! Cutting the curved fiddly bits was much easier using strong scissors (I found this out at the end) rather than a Stanley knife. Also, I found that a few didn't stick down perfectly as my floor has wonky old floorboards underneath, so I will have to go round with a strong glue for those ones later.
Overall I'm pretty happy with it, much easier and cheaper than ordering a roll of vinyl, and more practical than having exposed floor boards (which I would love but I am an upstairs neighbour).
It took me five hours and I did have strangely aching thigh muscles the next day, I think anyone could do this job.
Much brighter I think! The above photo shows the bathroom next door which has a similar grey vinyl flooring. I painted it with a white floor paint for laminate (you can read about that here if its useful)
That was nearly two years ago now and it still looks the same. I didn't paint the kitchen floor just because it gets a lot more wear from furniture legs.
I like it!
The End.
New: Only Through Shadows
21 February 2023
A quick update, a few new items added to the shop this month.
Can't believe it is already nearly march, I'm only just getting in the swing of the new year!
Take a look at my jewellery if you have time...
XMAS 2022
28 December 2022
A yuletide post! The weather is pretty wet and grim outside right now, although we can't complain when the US and Canada is under a ton of snow. A little bit of snow would be nice though!
We have had a delightful xmas. Baking and eating basically. I have been run off my feet this month so now I'm being extremely lazy, and maybe I have eaten too much.
The dog loves to sleep in the kitchen when we are cooking or eating, as little bits come accidentally raining down and happen across her wide open mouth. Just by accident of course (look at that face!). She is particularly fond of vegetable scraps and tiny bits of cheese.
I love P's biscuits especially that fox.
We just had four of us + dog for xmas dinner (we have a big family dinner beforehand) which is perfect.
I'm still recovering from all the pastry I have consumed.
Very happy with my poached pears with caramel sauce I made, tasted really good!
Otter was very happy with her new toys too, although I may have to remove the squeakers as they are driving me nuts!
I hope you've all had a great xmas and are ready for 2023 with full bellies and a cupboard full of booze ; )
It will be just me and the hound as the kids will be away, which is sort of good in a way as I am planning to gut their room to fit in their new toys.
After that I'll be back at the jewellery bench with some new designs I'm excited about. I have been sourcing some new stones which I had planned to add before xmas but in the end I was too busy. I'll be doing some wax carving too for a new collection.
I will post some pictures here when they are ready!
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful, healthy and prosperous 2023 xxx
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