August 26, 2010

Breakfast in Venice


This is a beautiful Treasury made by http://www.scintillate.etsy.com/ It captures the mood of Venice perfectly. I was very happy to be a part of it with my Black Venice earrings.


Here's a sneak peak....


August 24, 2010

Flower Power


I love flowers in everything, fabrics, fashion, photographs ..... so why not jewellery!

August 17, 2010

Make an Aftershave for the Man in your life

Essential Oils are a must-have in my household for so many reasons. The best book on the uses of these great oils is by Dr. Valerie Ann Worwood, The Fragrant Pharmacy. She covers uses from dealing with skin problems/care, to sickness, to pet care, garden, sports injuries, household cleaning etc. They are super effective, so much cheaper and often times less harmful than off the shelf products. Essential oils are to be used as described in her book though, not more drops than she suggests because they are very concentrated. Most especially if using them for children (can be dangerous to use more oils than suggested). She has a great book dedicated to kids called Aromatherapy for the Healthy Child.

Here is an Aftershave Splash which you can adjust to your own olfactory tastes.
20ml Witchazel
60ml Rosewater
10ml cider of vinegar
10ml tincture of benzoin
Bay Ess Oil 6 drops
Lemon 6 drops
Lavender 2 drops
Rosemary 10 drops
Lime 3 drops

Add the essential oils to the benzoin and shake well for at least a minute. Then add the witch-hazel and shake again, then the rosewater and vinegar and shake again.

August 12, 2010

Introducing Madam Cachoo !!

First it was my sister sewing from Vintage patterns now it's my niece, Rebecca! She will soon be opening up her funky shoes, clothing and accessories shop with the fantastic name of Madam Cachoo. Her shop is in renovations at the moment but get a sneak peek here on her Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Madam-Cachoo/78779312542

August 04, 2010

New Idea for Home Parties


Do you do home parties to sell your craft? My sister hosted a party for me yesterday, asked all the primary school mums to come along, 8 confirmed 5 turned up. Not bad. I've done parties before where 20 people were invited and not one person turned up, the sound of crickets was deafening.

I've altered the way I set up a party now because as someone who doesn't actually like attending them (over Tupperware, Nutri-Metrics etc), I tried making it easier to attend. Making it open house between the hours of say 2pm to 4pm, so people can turn up within that time frame, more flexibility and they don't have to listen to a loooonnnng introduction spiel. Handing out business cards so that they can view my shop prior to coming.

Now though, I'm thinking up a new plan and that is to do a home party where the host doesn't have to go to the trouble of preparing nibblies and clearing a space for my jewellery. They still get the benefits you would if you held a party at your house but they can ask, for example, 10 friends to have a look at my website and let her know if they would be interested in buying. The hostess then would get 10% of every $100 sold plus an initial $20 worth of jewellery (on the proviso that there are at least a certain amount in sales reached). Does that make sense? Still mulling it over in my head.

August 01, 2010

MUSIC!

Who doesn't love music. As someone who's main passion is dance, they go hand in hand. I am often drawn towards music that I think would suit choreography so I like certain Soundtracks. The modern day classical composers. One of my favourite Composers is Hans Zimmer. He has such a broad range. He doesn't seem to get stuck in a rut. I love that. This soundtrack is from the fantastically fun new Sherlock Holmes movie with the gorgeous Robert Downey Jnr. It's called Discombobulate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zIzy3laQck

And here's another Composer well worth listening to, suggested by http://www.etsy.com/shop/brightcircle . It's James Newton Howard who did the score for movies like The Village, King Kong http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzHpN63nOns&feature=related I could easily listen to this while working on my jewellery.