Todays Booty from the Beach!

We all need a holiday every now and again, it becomes a bit more difficult though when you have a small retail business because if you are not open you are not taking any business but overheads still need paying! I am easily pleased though, a few days out here and there with a nice stop at a different coffee/tea shop and I am content. Today's trip in the sunshine had us heading to our favourite beach in County Durham to get more sea glass, interesting pebbles and pottery for making more "Beauty from the Beach" jewellery. I am really pleased with how it is selling so I need to take any opportunity I can to keep my "booty" full so my production doesn't slow down. I wonder how keen I will be to take to the beach in the middle of December in freezing cold windy conditions! Will have to see about that!

Todays "Booty from the Beach"

Pin It!

Just because my crafting this week includes "Pin its", giant pins I have decorated with pretty beads, that are perfect for fastening chunky knits or embellishing a scarf or they also pretty up the lapel of a jacket. I have also been using my seaglass mosaics in making pretty brooches that would jazz up a coat.
Just because I am thinking of chunky knits and coats doesn't mean to say that I am one of those people that are assuming that summer is now over and it is full steam ahead to winter woolies! I am just being prepared!

New String to my Bow!

New string to my bow! That is one of those funny old sayings that we use in conversation etc to make things sound more interesting than just actually saying things exactly as they are.
Literally with" a new string to my bow" you might expect that I am a string instrumentalist that has just repaired a vital piece of equipment but what I am really trying to say is that " I am doing something different or, I have gained a new skill" To "cut a long story short" or to "stop beating about the bush", I have opened an Etsy Shop to start selling my new Seaglass jewellery on the internet.     http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheSeaGlassShop

This has been dominating my time over the past couple of weeks, it is surprising how long it all actually takes.

•  Firstly you have to think of a name for your shop, one that will come up easily in peoples searches. 
• Then you have to sort out the design in order to make it colourful and tempting
•  next thing work out all the post and packing costs. 
• The hardest thing is coming up with descriptions for all the products, descriptions that are honest and true to what you are trying to sell but at the same time making it sound interesting. 
• Photography is the next step, or to flower things up again organise a "photo shoot", then do a bit of editing to make sure size is the required size but at the same time trying to make sure the product is captured to show it at its best.

We are nearly there, everything all has to be uploaded and checked and then published and promoted to hopefully achieve the end result of "sales!"

So my time has been well and trully all used up so blogging has "taken a bit of a back seat" as I have given all my concentration to Etsy. Hopefully Rothbury Daily will resume again soon.

   

Northumbrian Sea glass.

Over the years, when visiting many of our lovely Northumbrian beaches, my family and I have always picked up any pieces of  sea glass and interesting pebbles that we stumbled upon.

At one point I had a tumbling machine that I used to polished up many of the stones but I have not done anything with them other than display them on a glass dish, they are so tactile and interesting in their glossy smoothness but probably a bit too heavy for jewellery.

The sea glass however I could visualise with pearls and sparkly crystals dangling from sterling silver chain or  colourful complimentary ribbon. The frosted glass always looks fresh and delicate, it really is treasure from the sea.
My Initial attempts at Sea Glass jewellery making has been using the wire wrapping technique that I have been using to make other jewellery pieces recently.

Sea Glass with glass pearl and Swarovski crystals

Aqua sea glass with crystals and abalone shell

White sea glass that could be a sea angel






Sea Glass with Mother of Pearl

Music, Music, Music

Rothbury Music festival is this weekend coming up, it is usually a lovely lively weekend. The weather forecast is looking good so Rothbury is likely to be buzzing with musical talent from tiny tots to those that have performed for a few years.

With music in my mind I had a few days of music themed making, have a look.

Treble Clef bead and wire pendant

Treble clef wire and crystal earrings

Musical pin brooch

Wear a medal with pride

Note to self.......

Who doesn't like having a notebook to hand? They provide the means for a "to do list" or who knows where and when that "light bulb " moment will strike. If a trusty notebook wasn't at hand at that particular time to record it or sketch it the idea might just evaporate and disappear from your memory bank.

I have established the need for a notebook to be near at hand, now if that notebook was covered in pretty fabric I am sure that every time it was being put to use it would offer joy and inspiration to the user.

If the fabrics used were Liberty fabric or William Morris inspired fabric and each cover was removable and could be added to another notebook the same size when the notes had filled the original book. If each covered notebook was a one off  and unique there would never be any doubt as to who it belonged to.

Who wouldn't love to have one of these?

Dream a little Dream!

The other day when we were heading through Newcastle we had to stop at the traffic lights (surprise surprise, it is the city) anyway I noticed that a car in the lane next to us was a car driven by a young girl and I noticed that she had a dream catcher hanging from her rear view mirror. It looked nice. I thought I would make my own version, not necessarily for dangling in cars, they look bright and cheerful hanging anywhere.

Dream Catchers hanging up.

Dream Catchers packaged for a gift