I knew I wouldn't be good at this

Posting regular blog posts that is!  I started off with such good intentions and then it all falls by the wayside!

Well it has been an interesting week up here.  The general auction was held at the cattle market (Mart) last week, and I came home with a lovely Arts & Crafts style lamp base along with the usual few boxes of rubbish!

We all kept our eyes peeled on the night skies on Thursday night hoping to see the Northern Lights, or the merry dancers as they are known in this part of the world.  There had been widely reported news of major solar storms increasing the chances of being able to see them.  This would have been a first for me, if only the pesky moon hadn't been brilliant and bright and lighting up the sky too much for the lights to be visible.  Friday night brought cloud wind and rain and so there was no hope to see them.  Ahhh well, another time...

On Sunday afternoon a herd of various sized and shaped horses wildly galloped past our house up the road having no respect for the highway code!  They appeared to have gotten loose from a nearby field so I raced into action to summon the local farmer to help round them up.  He was much cooler about the situation than me and I pictured him riding bareback waving a lasso above his head as he rounded them up and led them back to the safety of their paddock.  Instead he guided them slowly up the road in his 4 by 4.  A far less impressive sight but very well done none the less!

The snowdrops are now fully out in our garden and they are a very impressive sight.  Having only been in our house 6 months, we weren't sure what was growing and it seems that we have, at the very least masses of snowdrops, daffodils, rhubarb and gooseberry bushes.  It's nice to seem things growing again.  A sure sign that Spring is around the corner.


I've managed to pull my finger out this week and design a few other pieces of jewellery.  Here is a sneak preview which hopefully will be listed on Etsy and Folksy soon.  Hope you like them!

Hare necklace to accompany the Hare brooch

Paisley necklace to accompany Paisley brooch.  Matching earrings in the pipeline!

Stars petite earrings

Copper and sterling silver dot studs

I've also designed a longship necklace and earrings that I hope to be starting work on soon.

Well it's been a wet and windy couple of days up here on the island.  Progress with the pigsty has come to a standstill, although the main frame of it is up.  The weather has given me chance to catch up on a few orders and also make a few more earrings.

Latest designs posted into my Folksy and Etsy shops AlisonMooreDesigns

Just listed!

New handmade sterling silver earrings just listed for sale in my Folksy shop.

For those of you not familiar with Folksy, it's a UK based website full of shops selling hand crafted goodies.  I've recently met some very clever people on there.  Here are a few of the items available:

Wine barrel oak coat rack - the old oak barrel

Moroccan Hamam Soap by OakwoodSoaperie

Turquoise and Silver boho necklace - Tarmey Jewellery

Thank you card - Original Minnie

I love it when the post comes!

 Today started off cold, wet and windy and I really though that there would be nothing that could cheer the day up.   Then the Postie arrived.  Not only did some Moo business cards arrive, but my new customised ink stamp from my new friend Em at Skullandcrossbuns.  I bought this so I could stamp the little boxes that I send my jewellery in.

I love it!  I had 30 minutes of childish behaviour seeing what I could stamp.

 

You can visit skullandcrossbuns shop HERE!

Goosey goosey

There's a bit of a nip in the air but it's a beautiful day.  I've had a little drive out to Birsay this morning.  The view there of the Brough of Birsay, a small tidal island, is stunning and there's always lots of seals and other wildlife to see.

A very common sight in Orkney is the Greylag Goose.  Once a rare visitor to the islands, the geese have exploded in population to an estimated 68,000.  In fact as I write this I can see a large flock in a field in front of the house.  These geese have inspired my new necklace which I completed yesterday.  Take a peek at the picture below.  Just waiting for a new necklace to arrive and I will be listing it on Folksy and Etsy.  What do you think?

I really must finish my hare necklace.  I have a terrible habit of starting things and not finishing it...

Featured seller:
Beautiful handmade soaps made with home grown honey from SoapDragon.  Visit their shop on here Etsy.

New!

I've just finished this gorgeous Poison bottle label necklace complete with skull and cross bones.  You can find this in my shop HERE!

Is spring finally here?!

Yesterday I worked on a Longship brooch for one of my Etsy customers.  I love this copper and silver pieces as it is really simple but very striking.  I'm hoping that this will be a popular items at craft fairs here on Orkney.
I thought I'd show you a few of the stages I go through to make it.

I draw a template on cardboard and attached this to a sheet of copper

Using a fret saw and a thin blade, I saw around the template

Once pierced out, I file down any rough edges

Then cut out the sails stripes from silver

Next job is to solder the all of the silver embellishments to the copper.  I place all of the metal into an acid bath for a few minutes to get rid of any dirt and grease.  Then I apply flux and solder and heat the entire piece until the solder melts and flows.

The brooch then has the clasp and brooch pin attached and then it is polished

Ta-da!

I hope that you like it Sarah!

On the way back from the daily dog walk on the beach, I noticed these beautiful pure white snowdrops had appeared at the front of the house.  This, along with me spotting a couple of hares boxing last week, surely must mean that Spring is finally on its way! :)

DON'T FORGET

VALENTINES DAY next Monday!

Why not celebrate with a beautiful 15% DISCOUNT on all items for sale in my Etsy shop to run until midnight on 14th February GMT. 

Just give the code BEMYVALENTINE when checking out to receive the discount.

To buy from my Etsy shop you will need to create a user account.   I accept PayPal as the method of payment.  If you don’t have a PayPal account, you can make purchases through PayPal using a credit card without having an account.  See my shop policies for more information.

Click HERE to go directly to the shop!

New stamps :D

New stamps arrived on Saturday, all the way from USA.  Couldn't wait to have a play!

I've also got an apple and a wee blue bird to play with :D

And look at this cute little man that I bought at the weekend from the lovely Michelle at stupidcats on etsy.

Busy weekend

Well it has been a very busy weekend with orders.  I think all of the lovely gift wrapping and packaging that I've put together takes as long to do as making the jewellery!  Not that I'm moaning, I love wrapping pressies!

I started on making another hare yesterday.

 

I'm trying to make a necklace version of my brooch.  As you can see it's been drafted on the back of an envelope!  All I can say is that it is work in progress!

Windy!

Well, what a night! The wind was howling around the house and the hail and sleet was hammering the windows. The local papers website says that gusts of up to 122mph were recorded on the island... that's fast wind! I was very glad to go outside this morning and find the roof still intact. Others weren't so lucky.

It looks like this half built house on the east Mainland suffered!

I went down to the new recycling yard come charity shop in Stromness today. It's fantastic seeing people bringing in items that are too good to landfill! The site is run by the charity Orkney Zero Waste and the site Steptoze Yard  is full of bits and bobs - great for rummaging around!

I came away with a window, an old aluminium soup flask and this lovely mustard jar full of brass and steel nuts.

Think I might have a go making some earrings from these next week.

Oh, and don't forget Valentines Day is coming up.  Make your own card, or buy a handmade one!

Imyndas Etsy Shop 

Beautiful handmade items

Pigs

We have a ordered a couple of piglets to be delivered in March, so that we can raise them and have pork in Autumn.  I'm supposed to outside now building them a pigsty, but have you seen the weather?!  30mph wind gusting up to 70mph.  I think I'll leave it till another day...

The pigs we are getting are from Garry and Inga at Newfields Rare Breeds Farm.  We went to see them in October and they have a wonderful set up there in Orphir.  And lots of adorable piggies! The pork they produce is so much tastier than you get from supermarkets.

The pigs have plenty of space to roam around in and they spend most of their lives outside.  They have an AMAZING view over Scapa bay!  Many supermarket pork is from farms that intensively rear pigs indoors and most pigs never see sunlight or get chance to do normal pig things like rooting in the ground for food.  We're looking forward to bringing up our own bacon as I know we will give them a very happy albeit short little life.

Hmmm... I feel a piggie necklace coming on!

Just look at this lovely handmade cushion I found.  I want!

by HELKATDESIGN on Folksy