Tuesday, April 30, 2013

foliage & autumn rain...


A rainy beginning to week 2 of my photo project - something of a contrast to week 1. Which is not surprising really, as we are entering the last month of autumn - chill mornings, bright blue-skyed or cool, rainy days, thick socks, long sleeves & cardigans. 

And a touch of autumn colour - not something we get a lot of around here, but the fruit trees, sacred bamboo & crepe myrtles are putting on a bit of a show.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

tea & biscuits...


I have probably mentioned these biscuits before (& not just here) - I bake them fairly often. They are easy, tasty, (reasonably) healthy & keep well. You can find the recipe over on the shop blog.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

a plethora of pendants...


The finished pendants from this batch of silver (like the earrings.)

I seem to go through stages - either I want to patina everything, or I want to keep it all shiny silver...as you can see, I'm not in a patina phase at the moment.


Tuesday, April 16, 2013

recently...


...we had a busy beginning to the month, with the Wirrabara producers market (we'll be there again this coming Sunday), Mum's birthday & the Folk Fair...

...still enjoying the autumn weather - still waiting for rain too...

...tapped into my inner geek (nerd?) for a Dr Who inspired teleidoscope photo...


...finished & photographed the earrings from my last batch of silver (pendant post soon). Also made up a collective noun while I was at it...

...finished the polymer jewellery I was working on...

...baked & photographed a batch of anzac-inspired-gluten-free-fruit-&-grain biscuits (more commonly know around here as 'Dad's biscuits') for a up-coming blog post...



...also planning to bake some scones this morning...

...& just because I can, some morning sun

Sunday, April 14, 2013

lovely links...


Still getting used to when the light is good, now that daylight savings has ended - I'll be starting week two of my project soon. I am vaguely dissatisfied with the title for these posts (although it is accurate), but I'm yet to come up with anything else, so I'll just get on with the good stuff...


Lots of gorgeous recipes making me hungry - from skillet baked choc chip cookies, to chewy granola bars, to fancy grilled cheese. Not forgetting carrot cake with honey cream cheese icing or berry curd (with scones!)

Big congrats to Katrina & Chris (plus, how cute is the video they made to announce their news?)

Hopefully I'll find the time to try shrinking myself (only photographically of course)


The Lake District  looks beautiful (but cold!).

I'm enjoying the beginning of Autumn with it's cool mornings & mild days, but it's nice to see pretty spring flowers (also here) + a mint bicycle.

It was Mum's birthday at the beginning of the month - I think she liked her presents  :)

Friday, April 12, 2013

a dangle of earrings...


I'm not sure if 'dangle' is the correct collective noun for earrings (is there even such a thing?), but I was trying to think of a slightly interesting title for this post & it seems to fit.

Anyhow, here are a few photos of the completed earrings from my last batch of fine silver.


Monday, April 8, 2013

a bunch of brooches...


...are the results of my recent experimenting with polymer clay. I'm quite pleased with the results.

My original idea was for the buff coloured ones, with green or autumnal leaves (I really like the cream/buff colour I got in my second batch). The dark ones were really only came about because the purple clay is new & I wanted to play with it.


I used a mixture of leaves from the garden - salvia, jacaranda, geranium, mint & tree-that-I-don't-know-the name-of (it has these seed pods). I pretty happy with most of them, though I probably won't use the mint again.


Once they were baked, I painted them - green or orange/yellow (autumnal) for the cream, as I said. For the black & purple ones I used metallic paint. It's a bit hard to capture properly in the photos, but I used a combination of silver, copper, pale & rich gold. And a couple of coats of varnish to protect the paint.


If they look vaguely familiar it's probably 'cos I've shown bits of them before - only here, here, here & here though.