I Has a Tree!

Well, amidst the general chaos that has been my life this week, I have managed to put up the tree. Flatmate managed to move his arse off the sofa for just long enough to get it out of the loft.

We first moved into this house at the end of November three years ago, and decided to throw a Christmas party on the first weekend in December, figuring it would give us motivation to build furniture and stuff.

So, we acquired a tree, but decided to make our party a "Bring a Bauble" party. So, all of our friends brought us a random bauble each to put on the tree and by the end of the party it was full. I love the fact that it's the most ludicrously mismatched tree ever :)

Now How Did That Happen...?

It has come to my attention that today is December 20th. DECEMBER 20TH!!!! How can December have possibly snuck up on me like that? Not even snuck, actually, but merrily legged it past me waving tinsel and blowing rasperries!

I have done nothing towards Christmas at all. Eek! I've been so busy this month with making shiny things and flat hunting that Christmas hasn't even really occurred to me. Although thanks to my mother, I have had mince pies and she even made me a Christmas cake :)

I am now going to put up the Christmas tree, then I will feel slightly better. Maybe I will make mince pies too...

Christmas Cupcakes

Wow, busy week!

London Rollergirls had their season opening bout on Saturday. We gave it a Christmassy theme, just because it was December. Sadly, my favourite team lost the game, but I did get to make some rather yummy Christmas themed cupcakes.

These were mince pie cupcakes with brandy butter icing. Sounds weird, totally works.

And a less alarming sounding lemon and blueberry flavour with sugarpaste snowflakes:

I love cake :)

Silver Essex Necklace

This has been one of my favourite projects! Silver “Essex” name necklace, custom designed with the triple sword logo from the Essex flag incorporated.

So, I think it turned out really well and I was really happy with it. It’s always difficult to let the shiny things go after spending so many hours with them, especially this one, but sadly I had to wave goodbye. Can I please move to Essex so I can make one for me...?

Anyway, here is the finished shiny thing:

And a detail shot of the tiny swords:

I messed around with some different setups for the photography this time, using blue/green acrylic stars as props. I like the effect, but I’m not sure whether it makes the picture look too busy...?

I also found a new and exciting icon in Lightroom, which seems to allow you to drag a gradient of different colour or exposure across the picture. I’m not really sure what I’m doing with it, or it’s proper purpose, but I’ve been playing with it anyway :)

Oh, and I also got another commission for a name necklace, which I was working on at the same time. This font was an absolute arse to cut out, but it ended up being really pretty, so I forgave it.

There are still unfinished shiny things on my workbench, so I'll try and get some pictures of them before they leave me for their new owners...

Tea at the Ritz!

Poor little neglected blog. I have been ludicrously busy over the past few weeks and have sadly not had time to write about stuff.

So, what have I been doing? Well, firstly I must tell you about the rather marvellous time the boy and I had at the Ritz a couple of Fridays ago. We had been given an afternoon tea there as a lovely Christmas gift from the boy’s mum and finally found a date to book it. Friday afternoons off work are always nice, but for this one I got to wear a posh frock, potter down to Green Park and enter another world.

The decor is amazing, completly my style with lots of gilt baroque swirly things (interior design terms not my strong point I’m afraid...), beautifully upholstered chairs and sofas and more chandeliers than you can shake a stick at. Check it out:

Now, on to the important bit... the cake obviously! I love cake. I may have mentioned this previously. Anyway, they give you this fab three tiered cake stand thingy, with adorable little sandwiches (crusts cut off, obvs) on the bottom and little confectionery works of art on the top. Oh, and there were cucumber sandwiches! I can now say I have eaten cucumber sandwiches at the Ritz :)

Then, to fill the middle layer, you are presented with warm scones and a pot of jam and fresh clotted cream. Now usually, I am a bit “meh, whatever” about scones, but these were a revelation! The ones I make you could break windows with, but these were all light and fluffy and marvellous.

So, all in all it was a super-fun Friday afternoon. We took a walk up Bond Street afterwards and looked at all the amazing sparkly things in the posh jewellers. I did want to take some pictures, but the giant black clad bodyguards with the earpieces didn’t look like they’d be overly impressed. So I didn’t. But, I did manage to get a picture of this little fellow as we passed a window, as he amused me:

What is it? Silver chicken/dragon hybrid? I have no idea what it’s for but it’s kind of cool in a disturbing kind of way.

Anyway, must dash (again) but with promises of new shiny things very soon.

Shiny Things! ...Work in Progress

As my boyfriend abandoned me this weekend for a lads day/night, then subsequent hangover, I actually got to be super-constructive! More lads nights please guys :) So, I spent pretty much all weekend making jewellery (save for a break to watch X-Factor, obvs...).

I had a lovely time with tiny saw blades and hitting things with hammers and didn’t want to come back to work this morning. I wish making jewellery was my real job...

Anyway, I thought I’d share a couple of pictures of my work in progress.

First, a very cool Essex name necklace in silver for one of my favourite Essex girls from LRG:

I was really excited to do this one, as I love the font she chose, and also, I really wanted to be able to work a triple sword logo charm from the Essex flag into it somehow.

I think it’s going to look awesome when it’s finished and will be a good portfolio piece for my (eventual) website if I can get some good shots of it. Sadly, my fabulous new camera is currently still at coveting stage, as renovating a bathroom and moving house is kind of expensive. Booooooo.

Anyway, my second project of the weekend was a name necklace commissioned as an Xmas pressie. I really like this font too, even though it was a bit of an arse to cut out, as it’s so fiddly. It’s looking good so far though, just needs a polish and chain added.

So, that's mainly what I've been doing. Design stuff is going pretty well too, just need some time to actually make it now...

Spooky Goings On...

Just for a change, I’ve had a mental busy week. Had a rather fab Halloween, which involved going to my lovely friend Amy’s wedding reception, then off to Torture Garden, which was pretty fun. Totally amazing decoration, including one room that had been turned into a massive forest in the middle of the club, complete with twinkling stars overhead, leaves underfoot and even a proper foresty smell. Awesome! I want to dress as a vampire every day please.

In jewellery news, I also started work on a couple of name necklaces, which are looking really good, and have done a ton of designs for new earrings. So much to do in the next few weeks though, eek!