Gerrof moy laand!

On Sunday we celebrated my daughter's birthday with a trip to Hatton Farm Village, the weather was still warm for the end of September...so guess who got to carry all the coats!!

Hatton is a great mix of farm animals, petting animals and things to do, there were even antique shops to keep Dad happy. We started with the guinea pigs, which were available to hold, then moved on to the llamas, pigs and sheep, then came the twisty slide, assault course and frisbee golf.

After that we panned for gold, finding tiny nuggets of 'gold' in the water. If you find ten pieces, you win a medal.

Then Daddy followed the map into the Maize maze and got everyone lost, it took two eight year olds to lead us back to civilisation.

There is lots to do to fill a great day, including fair rides, sheepdog trials, falconry and my own personal fave- the tractor ride. A tractor pulls a converted silage tank around the field, through the brook, down into the spinney and back again, with a recorded voice pointing out all the landmarks and introducing the scarecrows to the kids.

Check out the pic of me riding the white swans...

Fluffy Bunnies And Fluffy Girlies

Monday will be the eighth birthday of my youngest daughter. She's into anything cute and furry and absolutely loves bunnies, hamsters, kittens and puppies. Whenever you see her, she will have an armful of furry soft toys in tow, each with their own name, birthday and circle of friends.

Her nickname is fluffy.

You are beginning to see why the pendant I made for her is so 'her'. It's a little bunny cut-out with a red ruby eye. Cute as a button.

Just thought I'd show you the latest couple of things that I've made. I seem to always gravitate towards making rings, I love to look at them, I love to wear them but since having my kids, the skin on my fingers seems not to tolerate them for long. Boo Hoo.

The first ring is made from rhodochrosite and silver to match a bracelet. It measures 2.5cm across and will stop the traffic.

The second one is a square moonstone set onto a wide silver band. The band was stamped with a repeat random oval pattern and oxidised for emphasis.

First of all when I'd finished making the rhodochrosite ring I knew it was one that I was going to fall in love with...but now that I've made the moonstone one, I can't help but fall in love with that one too.

Maybe you're starting to see the reasoning behind not making rings in my size.

Are brooches in fashion at the moment? I have a strange fancy to make one. I say strange because brooches are one of the few items of jewellery that I've never worn...along with nose studs and lip saucers.

Showing off again!

How lucky am I?

All of a sudden I find my work in four Etsy treasuries at the same time, which beats my previous personal best by two.

You may think that my head is starting to swell from all the adulation, but it comes at a time when morale is at low ebb-when all the viewings in my shop are up by 23% but no sales.

There may be various reasons why no-one feels like buying at the moment, including the obvious one that my work stinks,

or maybe it's all happening since I stopped advertising with Google Adwords. It was a decision that I made after receiving six bills in the space of 24 hours. It spooked me.

Or my favourite excuse to myself is that it's the lull before the Christmas rush. Sounds feasible to me.

Is anyone else experiencing a seasonal lull?

Anyway , to change the subject back to something a little more heart warming (for me at least)

Take a look at these treasuries. I love the orange tones reminiscent of autumn leaves, pumpkins, sunsets and the new laptop I would have liked....

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=69014

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=83250

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=82928

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=69107

Pretties

I'm glad these pieces got finished yesterday when I felt ok. Today I've been struck down with the dreaded 'man-flu'. We all owe the men in our lives an immense apology for not understanding how dire it can be and for skimping on the sympathy.

So today I have my red cufflinks, a silver and gemstone wirewrapped bracelet and an 18ct opal and white sapphire pendant to put into my shop.

It has taken me a while to get back into the swing of full time jewellery making since the kids have gone back to school.

I have made a few things.....a couple of masters for casting, a pendant that needs to be hallmarked and a few beaded bracelets in the interim, but nothing that I can put in my shop

But today though I finished, polished and set a pair of cufflinks which I have listed. The blue and white enamel roundels which I showed you a few days ago were inspired by the sun and the moon and the way the light changes between day and night, and, judging by the sudden way they have disappeared into work wirh Mr Lemur today, I would call them a hit.

Fun in Coventry

Some of the best days happen unexpectedly, and as I'm not one of life's great planners, I'm always grateful of this. Today, the girls and I were thrown out of the house quite early to make more room for a viewer to see our house...we were making the house appear cluttered!

We walked into town with a pocket full of money (thanks darling) and headed for the shops..we had presents to buy.

Then lunch. we found a lovely little bistro alongside the ruins of the old cathedral where we took a table on the pavement and enjoyed the afternoon sunshine. The bells were ringing, the food was great, we could have been anywhere in Europe.

We gradually came to realise that it was 'Heritage Weekend' in Coventry and all the ancient historic buildings were open to the public. We visited the small cell in the Guildhall that once held Mary Queen of scots, we rung the bells of the old cathedral, learned all about Medieval music, saw the Titanic exhibition, visited the Wartime museum underneath the ruins of the old cathedral, did brass rubbing, claimed our fragment of roman pottery. When we climbed to the top of the belltower and viewed the city from high....it was almost like being in Ikea's cafe!!

I'd always managed to miss the open days before today, so I was really pleased when today came together so well. It was a small glimpse of the Coventry that existed before 15th November 1940 when Coventry was almost wiped out.

Incidentally, my family, tired of all the bombings around Birmingham during the war, decided to distance theirselves from the nightly bomb raids and stay with their relatives... you guessed it in Coventry, just before 'that' night. Not surprisingly, they went home ASAP.

This is the report from the BBC from the time

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/15/newsid_3522000/3522785.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/15/newsid_3522000/3522785.stm

Release the inner magpie

Take a look at some of the vignettes I made today. These are domed copper discs enamelled in some of my fave shades...the red is one of my new acquisitions and she's gorgeous, just enough pink to be this season's hot colour.

The blue is the colour of Chip Foose's super-cars. The black is a deep dark assortment of blues and blacks that shimmer with the light.

The other one represents the sun and the moon in white and blue pearlescents.

I will be making settings for them over the next few days.

Who charged the DS?

I seem to have had a real 'lost weekend' since some helpful soul charged the Nintendo DS then left it lying idly for me to find.

We have a pod which has 88-games-in-one and I have not played many of them. I just love '7 wonders of the world' which is the kind of game where you match up blocks of different colour for them to explode giving fire ball rewards which you can use for destroying other blocks.

Anyone who has played 'Bejeweled Blitz' on facebook will know exactly what I'm talking about. It's simple and highly addictive...and makes me feel as if I'm going cross eyed after too long.

I think I'm going to give the charger to my youngest daughter to put away, safe in the knowledge that I'll never find it again if I do...

Bring back that summer feeling.

Now that Autumn has made it's presence felt, I knew that I had to do something to restore that warm fuzzy feeling that we felt throughout the Summer . So, what lifts your sprits better than a spot of retail therapy....especially when you're getting a discount?

This weekend is my first 'Weekend Sale' with 10% off any purchase on my online shop

www.cheekylemur.etsy.com

All you need to do is put the word 'calogero' in the message to seller box at the checkout and I will either send you a revised invoice or refund the difference.

It's so easy to do.