The Menthol One

I finally got round to making that shimmy bracelet I mentioned. The bracelet has spacers made in CiM Sea Foam, Effetre Copper Green 219 and Effetre Light Turquoise 232. There are also a few faceted Czech glass beads in a pretty aquamarine colour.

All the findings are silver plated and nickel compliant. I'd love to be able to make these in sterling silver but have you seen the price of it lately? Also, I'd have to get them hallmarked because of the amount of silver they'd contain and can I be arsed with all that? No. So yes, consider these shimmy bracelets costume jewellery, not for everyday wear, and not to be worn while washing up, showering, wild swimming or doing thirty lengths in the local pool.

The bracelet makes a soft glassy rattle as it moves which is always nice.

If you fancy giving this 'Menthol' shimmy bracelet a home, it's available in my shop.

It's properly autumning out there now, isn't it? My favourite local cherry tree has got its full Autumn '25 look going on.

The neighbour's front garden tree is in full leaf drop mode and every now and again the wind gathers the leaves in a heap in front of our porch. I say porch because that's technically what it is but you can only fit one person in it at a time so it's a very tiny porch. Porchette? Sounds very Hyacinth Bucket, that. But yes, the leaves gather and when they do I take advantage of it and go and pick them up before the wind changes and blows them all over the show. This morning I was out there at 6:45 in my pyjamas, Harry Potter dressing gown (looks like Hogwarts house robes complete with large sleeves and pointy hood) and my garden Crocs (just terrible) picking up leaves with a flattened Amazon box and a Pizza Hut box (I couldn't be bothered to venture into the garage to find the actual leaf scraper things we own) and obviously, even though I'd chosen an early hour to do this task, three neighbours walked by and said good morning. None of them flinched at my get-up, though. Ah well.

Talking of Harry Potter, I've just spent my Audible credit on their new full cast recording of The Philosopher's Stone and so far it's really good. I'm looking forward to hearing Hugh Laurie's Dumbledore.

I'm away to give Nigel his thyroid medicine now. His most recent blood test came back yesterday and there's been no change and it's "perfectly controlled" so that's excellent news. His hyperthyroidism will get worse as he gets older but right now it's stable so I'm happy with that.

That little snaggletooth!

I was less happy about Nigel getting into yet another fight the other week because he's now getting over an abscess from a cat bite which happened in the altercation. This isn't our first abscess rodeo and they're never pleasant to deal with. The picture above shows him pre-abscess burst but the front of his neck is now totally shaved; the vet buzzed his fur away around the abscess site so we can clean it easily, and she also had to shave the other side to take his blood for his thyroid test. His mortal enemy, who I call Ann Widdecombe on account of the black markings on his white head that make him look like he's sporting a Widdecombe bob, was strutting around our back garden this morning so shortly before my leaf gathering in my wizard robes I was out there shooing him away while hissing "Piss off, Ann Widdecombe!" in an attempt to stop Nigel growling, hitting the back door with his paw and doing that 'no-no-no'-miaowing that cats do when they're angry, so yeah, I'm pretty sure the neighbours definitely think of me as 'The Mental One' or something similar.

Have a good day!

'Acorn & Oak Leaf' Necklaces

I'm fully aware that I'm neglecting this blog.

Since I made a page for my beads on Facebook I've found it so much quicker and easier to use that for updates. However, I know that not everybody uses Facebook so I must make more of an effort to update here more often.

So what have I been up to?

Making acorns and oak leaves, mostly. These aren't strictly beads; they're headpins. The oak leaves are hand-shaped and the acorns are finished off with a little brass bead cap.

These necklaces are available in a variety of autumnal shades and if you fancy you can mix and match acorns and leaves.

Each Acorn & Oak Leaf necklace costs £18.00 and they're available to order right here.

Going back to Facebook ... if you do have a Facebook account then you might be interested to know that I am giving one of these necklaces away over there. This one, in fact:

Please visit my Facebook page for all the giveaway details.

Have a fab Friday!

Autumnalness

I adore the colours about the place at this time of year; rich reds, vibrant yellows and oranges and glorious coppers and bronzes. I made these enamelled beads and turned them into a bracelet as I liked the idea of wrapping all those beautiful autumn colours around your wrist.

And I also made this super-cute pumpkin pendant. It'll add a splash of autumnal loveliness or a touch of Halloweenery to your day.

 

Both of these pieces are available over on my Freshly Baked Beads page right now.

Mum's Tree

Hello! I hope you had a good weekend? Mine was great. Chris and I went to see 'Stardust' on Sunday. I've seen it twice now and I think it's fab. Totally recommend it.

On the way home from Cambridge yesterday I stopped in London to meet one of my customers for coffee. Kanina's been buying my beads for ages now - we've had many an email conversation and she's also a fellow Star Wars geekette! So Kanina and I met up and had a good old natter. At one point were were interrupted by a total stranger who stopped to tell me what lovely hair I've got, which was an odd thing but nice of him all the same. (That's never happened to me in my life. To me my hair is just a curly moppy mess!) Anyway, Kanina and I whiled away two hours talking about all things beads, jewellery and Lego Star Wars which was fab. If you get a spare few minutes do make sure you take a look at Kanina's lovely website. She's got some gorgeous jewellery on there. I'm in love with the 'Tropical Fruits' bracelet. Yum!

When I arrived home yesterday I was surprised at the amount of leaves that had fallen off the trees over the weekend - the driveway is covered in them. Not all the trees are losing their leaves yet, though. I wandered down the road and took a photo of 'Mum's Tree' this morning and its leaves are only just starting to turn that yellowy colour. This huge, ancient oak was Mum's favourite tree and she always said that if they ever cut it down she'd move (our house is just behind it in this photograph) and she used to get all irate if she ever heard the council out and about doing general hedgerow maintenance with their chainsaws and strimmers. She'd make one of us go and see what they were doing and to check that they weren't touching 'her tree'. The oak's got a preservation order on it but Mum never quite trusted the council men with their chainsaws!