Happy Halloween and the Reculver babies

Happy Halloween!

And, because of the date, I thought I'd share a local ghost tale with you. Some of my Rose Bay pictures show the ancient Roman ruins at Reculver. Here – have another one!

There is a legend that at night, especially stormy ones, you can hear the pitiful cries of babies. Well. When they were investigating the site back in 1966, they discovered infant skeletons hidden the walls – apparently some kind of Roman sacrifice ritual.

You can read about it here.

Have a great evening, everyone!

Feeling jaded?

And now for something a little different – my new sari silk and jade necklace. 

I call it Jade Garden

The beautiful sari silk comes from India, where it is produced by women's co-operatives and sold through a fair trade supplier. The sari silk is hand-dyed and made from the offcuts of leftover sari silk fabric and is truly georgous.

I am increasingly trying to use fair trade and other ethical suppliers in my products, and some of the materials I use are:

Sari silk from India, leather cord, hemp and beads from Peru, Ceramic focals from Africa.

Also included in my necklace above are pretty yellow jade beads and jade heart pendant. If you like jade, you might be amazed by the massive size of the jade piece just found in Mynmar (Burma).

The stone is 4.3m (14ft) high and 5.8m (19ft) long, and is reportedly worth an estimated $170m (£140m). See the report here.

Christmas countdown:

68 days!

Resins and Reculver

You can tell that is now October, as everyone is abandoning their summer frocks and shorts for woollies and overcoats! Actually, I quite like this time of year – not too hot and generally, not too cold either. You can take a lovely walk in the crisp air and then return to a warm home, and that suits me just fine. Recently we took a walk along the seafront and it was really nice – even the sun was shining! The view below shows the Roman ruins at Reculver. 

Two of my new resin necklaces, available in my Etsy shop.

Only 74 days to Christmas...

October Already

October already! Really?? I don't know where the year is going to!

Talking of which, did you know it is only 78 days to Christmas?

I have been hard at work making things whenever I get a moment (or two!) and I promise I have some fabulous new items coming up. Today I've got some super earrings for you to look at, and includes some Halloween and Christmas items as well.

And I will leave you with this little poem from Robert Frost called October.

"O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
Tomorrow's wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
Tomorrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow.
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know.
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away."

Vegetable Ivory

95 days to Christmas! If you want to keep track of that deadline yourself, you can do so here. 

I've recently discovered the wonderful tagua nut. It comes from a palm tree that grows in the rainforests of South America – Ecuador, Peru, Colombia and Brazil. It contains a liquid that will eventually harden and looks like ivory. In fact, it is regarded as a viable alternative to elephant ivory, and is used by many artisans nowadays in their crafts and carvings – earning its nickname of 'vegetable ivory' – and helping to save our precious elephants. And because I love effalumps, I'll share this fabulous picture from Ravi Patel:

Take a look at my Tagua nut necklace – big, chunky, and wonderfully tactile - and now in my Etsy shop.

And what's been keeping me happy since my last post?

There's that lovely elephant picture, for a start!

We went to see the new Bridget Jones film and it was very enjoyable. The scene in the hospital had me in tears it was so funny!

Categories, Christmas and Captains

With my head full of new Christmas products, and knowing it is only 102 days to go, I decided to give my listing categories in my Etsy Shop a bit of an overhaul. I have less categories, but many are now divided into smaller sections. So, for example, instead of 28 items in my Steampunk section, I now have 21 items under Steampunk necklaces and 7 under Steampunk earrings, and I think this might make it simpler for my buyers (or browsers!) to find their way around.

Here is a picture of four of my current necklaces:

And things that have made me smile since my last post:

Spending a lovely day with my daughter indulging in a little (or a lot!) of retail therapy!

And hearing that John Barrowman could be returning to Dr Who as Captain Jack Harkness! Sadly, Torchwood was not as good as it could have been, but Captain Jack made it worth seeing. Sometimes, anyway...

Smiley necklace and smiley days

Here are four of my recent necklaces, already in place in my Etsy shop.

I'm still making my Christmas items and, BTW, did you realise it is only 104 days away? Just thought I'd cheer you all up with that one!

And, talking of cheering up, some things that made me smile since my last post:

My cat, who always runs up to be petted whenever I go in the garden to put the washing out.

Sunshine days!

Exciting packets of pretty beads dropping through my letterbox!

How about you? What's made you happy lately?