a little contradictory

i'm not a fan of entering shops early november, only to feel bombarded with tinsel, giant ceiling baubles and red shop banners with the words FESTIVE SEASON boldly placed between white snowflakes. humbug? maybe, but early november? come on!

on ..... the other......hand...... i HAVE made some christmas decorations and put them in my shop just so i can give them plenty of coverage. so you see, i'm as bad the shops in the high street! BUT in my defense, i'm not dressed in a home made tinsel hat with reindeer antlers and christmas tree earrings ;) lol

although, if these dont sell soon, i might just be embarrassing my kids with these sparkly decorations hanging from each ear come turkey time:)

while your there............ what do you think of these?

the wall hanging has been popular, but the fridge magnet was inspired by a pendant I'd made several years ago and thought t'would look pretty holding up the many hospital appointments and school notices fighting for space on the poor old fridge. (a calender is not enough in this house ;)

dilemma



we'd planned to go the lullingstone for a leisurely walk in the woods. armed with wellies, raincoats and umbrellas we met our friends in the car park and while the children squealed with excitement we began up the hill, heading for the trees.

it was muddy, wet and cold but this just added to the fun as our wellies squelched following the path through the wood. we had a lovely time, and being in the countryside strengthened my longing to move out of london.............. 

my children and i absolutely love cornwall, and were fortunate enough to spend most of our summer there this year. we love the sea, beaches, views, calmness and pace of life as well as almost everywhere we drove there were fields, hills, coastline surrounding self sufficient villages; some so pretty they'd be photographed for postcards. 

here in london we have noise, buildings, traffic.............. one hour to drive 2 miles back from maddys  dance class specifically for special needs. 20 minutes to drive 1 mile saturday mornings to charlton training ground for their Upbeats group coaching children with down's. neither drive is pretty. suppressing grey buildings, crowds of mostly miserable people, trudging from shop to car, going about their business not noticing anyone else for fear of having to acknowledge them or worst still, smile :o

so thats my dilemma. do i go for it and move somewhere we love, for the scenery, fresh air, a more remote, slower, friendlier way of life, or do i stay in london with what we know, our friends, the near by groups designed for disabled children/adults, the opportunities for children, teenagers, single mums even!  i stress this is my view of london, and fully appreciate its different for others; and while there are some facilities and groups for teenagers and disabled children in cornwall, because of its population  theyre a lot fewer and more widespread. another factor is i'd be moving the 3 of us on my own - no partner for support. i spose the question is, do i see it as an adventure to go for as you only live once, or a just an idyllic dream that could potentially reduce my childrens opportunities in life? the funny thing is, i know what i'd say to others who have this question................!

the other day i met a soldier. i've never met a soldier before, and I'm so glad i did. it was my cousins party and i got chatting to a man laughing with the kids singing karaoke. we later got talking outside where it was cooler and less crowded and i asked the usual question 'what do you do?'

i felt an overwhelming concern for this man, and i wont deny, intrigue.  concern for him, imagining the things, terrible, horrific things he must have seen and endured whilst 'just doing his job' as he put it. understandably theres aspects of his profession he never talks about, even to his wife.

like i said, i'm so glad i met this man. not only did he seem a loving husband and father (lovely wife too!), but it brought it home to me the harsh reality, an imagined snippet of what soldiers must face. it is quite sad that often its hard to begin to comprehend what an individual persons life involves, until you meet someone in that position; although i'm always aware of this fact, having occasionally faced ignorance, even ridicule being a mother of a child with a disability. quite often, its not until you meet someone, talk to them, that you gain some understanding about that person and their life.  i'm forever the pacifist, but also very grateful to all the men and woman who have fought and carrying on fighting, so we, and our children have freedom.

what a clever puss!

a fellow folksier sent her beautiful handmade tutu to a photographer for a photo shoot.  initially i believe, for a little girl to wear, but this is the result and i think you'll agree its just stunning!  you can follow this clever lady who inspired the photographer with her gorgeous creation here http://eccentricella.blogspot.com/    be sure to look out for even more imaginative shots of her lovely stuff!

just as i went to upload some new designs

i discovered my little minx had been using my camera!!

quite funny really. NOW i know what to get her this christmas ;)

ring the changes

yeah, yeah, rings again.................. but i cant put the triblet down! latest design is quite Bohemian and bold (just what i love) and is very very shiny ;) copious amounts of polishing involved after hand forging, to get that beautiful silvery glisten. it wasnt so bad, as i managed to see a bit of 'green wing' on channel 4 catch up. pretty mad cap............. love it!

sound like a telly addict, which couldnt be further from the truth - because i have to work around my little 'erberts, i'm often working late into the night and subsequently miss anything worth watching. last night was a bit different, some distant neighbours decided to to brighten the sky early........... and on a monday night, at half past eight. although my youngest is pretty deaf, any loud noise can be quite frightening and even painful. well i wasnt impressed, and ok, maybe i was being a bit humbug-esque, as i've been up several nights with her now, and we're both very tired to say the least, so i did a 'fish wife' impression, went out into the road and shouted 'ITS MONDAY NIGHT, SHUT UP!' i know, very big, very clever, but while part of me was a little ashamed, another part was a little pleased ;)

bring on the weekend....................... BRING ON THE FIREWORKS!

rings and things

well actually, its just rings but then, whats in a title?? today i have listed some of my rings on folksy and facebook (no easy task for a technophobe ;) and want to shout about them here too as i'm really pleased with them (and the pics arent too bad thanks to my newest investment!)

i'd wanted a ring triblet for ages, but they're quite pricey, so was only selling rings to people at my jewellery partys as they could be tried on there and then, or i offered my special piece of equipment for sizing an order - string! but i wanted to put some rings in my folksy shop, so i decided a 'speculate to accumilate' policy was the answer. a week after ordering, i was told the item was out of stock, but the company would send me my other bits. hey ho i thought, and just looked forward to my silver clay arriving. well this was weeks ago, and i've used all the silver clay (designs coming soon to folksy and fb!) and had almost forgotton about it until the doorbell rang. the postman handed me a cardboard tube and boy was it weighty! at first i was puzzled, and to be honest, sceptical lol giving the poor postmen a quizzical look. (only now do i wonder if he thought i was pretending not to know the contents of this LONG TUBE parcel which could easily have come from an adult website!) of course, that excitement you get when your long awaited materials arrive at the door is so thrilling and this parcel was no exception. stuff the housework, stuff the phone calls, stuff the washing..................... i was off to create!

love love love half term!

ok, so it has a lot to do with the fact theres no rush in the mornings, AND theres not the 'groundhog day' element to the week........... but i really do love the freedom for me and my kids that the school holidays bring. although i've still had work to do with my jewellery, me and the girls have had 'time together' which we usually manage to make memorable (mostly from having dilemmas or disasters, but hey, they're still memories and we always have a laugh about them;) having said that, today was disaster free as i took my youngest swimming at our local pool. shes been going with her new school this half term, so it was brilliant to see for myself the progress shes made. and WOW has she made progress! it would seem that since i finally cracked it with her earlier in the year and she took her first solo strokes, her confidence has grown immensely; shes blossomed into a real water baby.................................. special olympics here we come! now i need to work on her irregular sleeping pattern and combat the tiredness so i can take her after school during term time. but shes swimming. shes confident, and shes happy :) :)

my chalk and cheese.......... being albino, chalk is particularly apt for my littlest. as for cheese, well shes is just the best big sister a little girl could ever have xx

to say its been a while...............

............. is a slight understatement. but my new year resolution (ooops, is it october already?) is to keep writing photographing and talking with you lovely people ;)

most of my time is taken with with work (urbanfairy) and family, and unfortunately the blogging side of work has taken a back seat (in the mini bus of everyday life). but me and the kids DID have a fabulous summer in cornwall, with late night fires on the beach and adventurous walks discovering new and beautiful places.

fantastic fun and amazing memories. much love and thanks to our friends who live in a stunning part of the country ;)

i also took my children to the cornbury music festival in oxford. cornburys a brilliant family festival we've camped at for tw0 years running now and intend on going every year possible, wherever we end up living! heres our 'festival feet' on monday morning. boy oh boy were we ready for a bath!

this is my youngest who has downs syndrome. she loves music, and is most definitely an out and out festival chick lol

but now i have to knuckle down and get back to creating new designs. some of my latest ones i've added to my folksy page http://folksy.com/shops/urbanfairy but heres a few i'm saving for customer visits this week :-

left is a simple pair of little earrings with amozonite stone rondells, and right are twists of sterling silver with pale jade. i love these colours, their so pretty, and thats coming from a tomboy!