The eye candy post

I started this blog with the purpose of showcasing my DIY, especially my jewellery. But looking back on my posts, I haven't been blogging much about it. It just how life turns out, I guess.

With the bead soup reveal day approaching, I've been spending more time on jewellery blogs and as a result, I've been focusing on my work more as well.

This post is a collage of my jewellery from my early pieces that are at least 3 years old to my current work.

I tried to put together photos that represent my standard body of work, the colours I like to work with and the techniques I employ most often.

Clearly, I use a lot of blues and purples, but some reds and earth tones as well.

I like to work with crystal and glass and semi precious stones. Turquoise is my absolute favourite :-)

The view from my beach towel

If you looked at the photo above of a forest and read the title, you might have gone huh? Beach in the forest? It seems a bit strange, but let me explain:
On Saturday Mr. C and me went for a dip in the Bohinj lake, a large and beautiful glacial lake surrounded by the Alps. The scenery was breath taking and the water incredibly clear.

 I've never bathed in a lake before and it was unusual to be surrounded with forest and mountains instead of the usual seaside scenery of scorching hot white rocks and seagulls and a horizon of never ending blue water.

The water temperature was at a steady 21,5 C, which is super high for a glacial lake and the air temperature was around 29 to 30 C. Warm but not unbearably hot.

We set camp far away from the public beach. We were fortunate to find a little nook under the trees that had a nice view of the waterside and enough room for all our stuff. It was incredible! Nothing but the sound of the waves and the leaves moving in the wind and the occasional boat that came rowing by.

 At the same time, we weren't more than 10 meters away from another larger beach and the main road.  The forest really muffled the sounds!

 Late in the afternoon, with everyone packing to leave, the permanent lake inhabitants slowly started coming out of their hiding places. Like these two young male ducks. I bet they were pleased to have the place to themselves at last.

And a couple of underwater pictures taken by Mr. C:

can you see all the little fish?

Friday night film selection: Lord of the rings

I suppose it's time for me to come out of the closet! Yep, no more hiding behind serious dramas and delightful comedies. I am a Lord of the rings fan (and a Trekkie too).  There is no explaining it but I am inexplicably drawn to these sort of blockbuster spectacles that have a lot of action sequences interspersed with more or less curious and mystical and unusual plots. But mostly I am drawn into the worlds the authors have created like J. K. Rowling with Harry Potter or in this case Tolkien with his Hobbits and Middle Earth saga.

I have seen all thee parts in the cinema as well as all the Harry Potter films and I never go to the cinema otherwise.  Mr C gave me the entire trilogy for my birthday and there's like 15 DVDs in this big box with the extended version of the film and all the extra features. Boy, we'd need an extra vacation to see it all ;-)

It's my guilty pleasure like romance novels for some people.
Happy weekend!

The BIG 30!

Guess what?! I'm not done celebrating because today is my birthday and it's a big one. Truth be told I don't feel old or anything but I won't be partying today either. Yeah, this 'old geeezer' is looking forward to a quiet evening at home ;-)

The black and white photos are the only ones of me in my early childhood taken by a professional photographer. Back in the 80's it was unusual to take professional photos for other reasons than official documents.

Wonderful Tuesday part deux

I wrote a post in July elaborating on my fondness for Tuesdays and how all good things happen on a Tuesday (or most at least). Well did that ever reaffirm itself last night.

Last night my friends threw a surprise party to celebrate my graduation. It was my first surprise party and boy did they outdid themselves! I was later told they've been planning it for weeks. Kudos to Mr. C who kept cool about it. I never suspected a thing.

But the biggest thanks goes to my cousin who made all the arrangements and hosted the party at her house. Thanks so much :-)

There were  hellium balloons (my favourite as I explained in this post) and an abundance of delicious food and a spectacular dessert, but most importantly it was an unforgettable evening of talking and laughing in the company of some amazing people.

Thanks everyone!

It's official!

Since yesterday (at about 11 a. m.) I am officially entitled to put a few fancy words next to my name when signing anything. Or to be absolutely clear: I graduated.
It's been exhausting and exciting and scary and tense. But now its all over and I can enjoy a few peaceful days of rest before I embark on the next big project: finding a job.

The necklace and earrings set is a gift form my parents. A very modern design in treated silver and coloured cubic zirconia. I selected the jewellery myself which might seem a bit unorthodox, but I prefer something I'll actually wear rather than something that sits in a box all the time.

My obsessions with...fabric

Fabric is my weakness. It would seem I am unable to go to a fabric store without walking out with a couple of meters of new fabric.

About three months ago things have become so drastic, that I was forced to impose a fabric shopping ban.

Because at the rate I was going I would have hit the three digit count of meters of fabric and the realization was surprisingly sobering.

Since the ban came in effect, I've been having almost no difficulties at all going into a fabric shop and not be overcome by the desire to buy everything in sight.

There have of course been some minor binges, I bought a few meters of printed cotton in Ikea in June but other than that my fabric stash is dwindling due to the fact that I sew on a regular basis and when it's down to 20 or so meters I'll be reconsidering the ban and not a moment sooner.

The bead soup is here!

The bead soup arrived yesterday and I was super excited! My first thought after opening the package was: peacock.

peacock left to walk around freely in Ljubljana Zoo

Some of you might have noticed the bead soup button on the side bar of my blog and perhaps wondered what the heck is a bead soup blog party. Well a bead soup blog party is a blogging event hosted by the sweet and wonderful Lori Anderson. The idea behind it is to get a bunch of jewellery designers to get together and swap beads and then we all make something with the beads we received and post it on our blog on a certain date.

coordinating beads, a selection of glass, crystal, pearls and ceramic beads

The intention of a bead swap is to try new things and work with beads we wouldn't normally purchase ourselves. It promotes creativity and encourages us to experiment and expand our jewellery skills. Click here if you're interested to read more on the bead soup party.

the clasp and some findings in antique gold and copper

My beading partner is Eleanor Snare. She's a blogger, a jewellery designer and a writer. A true renaissance woman :-) She mixes bead weaving with semi precious stones to create some truly unique pieces. I really liked the colours she usually works with, lots of bright blues and greens and pinks.

clasp detail

Eleanor sent me findings in antique gold and copper colour tones. It's something I rarely work with, I prefer silver tones, so this will definitely be a new experience. The clasp reminds me of Greek columns.

two focals, a ceramic bead and tubular bead covered in bead weaving

She also sent me two focals, a large ceramic bead and a tubular focal she made herself. Incredible, isn't it?

love at first sight

I have no idea how I'm going to use it. It is quite large. But I was instantly reminded of Joan Holloway from Mad men and the pendant she frequently wears.

source

source

Rites of passage

 Growing Old is Mandatory - Growing Up Is Optional.

Chilli Davis

There are many milestones on the road form childhood to adulthood. Tiny markers that signal the passage of time.Some are exhilarating, like the time I got my driver's licence and the incredible feeling of freedom that came along; some are uncomfortable, like getting my period a good couple of years earlier than my peers and some are down right scary, like shopping for my first grown up suit.

I have no idea why, but the just the thought of needing a proper suit had me terrified, it still does. I have purchased cocktail dresses and stilettos, even coats without blinking. Actually attending a classical high school that put priority in languages and literature meant I was constantly surrounded with young wannabe poets. Which of course meant a long black coat was de rigeur.
Yet to this day, I don't own a single pair of black dress pants and only one pair of black pumps. It would seem obvious to anyone but me that I do suffer from the Peter Pan complex. Anything remotely grown up or strict has me running for the hills.
Initially I set out to buy a suit in navy. I dislike black and I look terrible in gray or beige. After spending an entire day looking for a navy suit in vain I finally gave up and bought this black suit. And felt very smug about it for it has ruffles.
Life is too short to spend it doing things that scare you or make you uncomfortable.

Abundance

For the past few weeks I've been in a vegetarian's heaven. I returned home on Sunday after a brief visit at my mum's with three large bags of veggie goodies. Cucumbers, zucchinis, tomatoes and even cauliflower and broccoli. And that's not all, Mr. C's dad has a garden as well so we receive bags of veggies on a weekly basis from him as well.

cherry tomatoes from mr. C's dad

Sunday was a blur of cooking and baking because some of the veggies were ripe and ready to use. Unlike store bought vegetables these aren't treated with anti fungus and yeast and whatnot so the average shelf life is 3 to 5 days. Which means I've pretty much been living on salads this past month.

winter provision, even some porcini mushrooms in the right corner

My mum is also keen on making preserves: jams, pesto, relish and veggie spreads. This will all come in handy in the long winter months when fresh vegetable is scarce. So I baked and cooked and baked some more. I made raspberry pie with raspberries from our garden and some homemade double cream from a neighbour (I use the term double with great reservations, since it's made out of fresh milk so the amount of fat is probably like a gazillion %)

And then I made  burek, the ultimate Balkan comfort food. Usually made with minced meat or cheese. I made mine with some organic free range eggs, some homemade cottage cheese (from the same neighbour that made the cream) and the surprise ingredient: grated zucchini!