... for the little one! She's learnt that:
If you've read my earlier post on my love for charm bracelets, you'd know that my mum and I both share this love for them ... and I mean LURVE!!! =D
So after seeing my most recent creation, i.e., the pearl and crystal charm bracelet, and lurving it just as I knew she would, I made her this at 11.50pm last night when the entire household, bar myself of course, was in lala land ...
My mum preferred coffee coloured Swarovski crystals (cos' it's more matchy-matchy with her wardrobe), as opposed to the aquamarine ones I used for the one in my store. So I used just that and alternated them with light brown crystals and peacock rice freshwater pearls. The result???
S-T-U-N-N-I-N-G !!!
I hope you like this, mee ... it'll look fab on you! ;o)
... to create more pieces for the store, but had no idea whatsoever what I was going to make. So after a good 5 minutes or so of staring at all the opened bead-filled containers and doing a bit of "hmm"ing around ... I came up with these 2 bracelets:
I love it when the creative muse strikes and it's fun to just go with the flow and allow my beads to 'call out' to me ... cos' I never know what I'll be coming up with!
Ok, so I was goofing around with her hair (which ultimately ended up with a pony tail too high on her head) last evening cos' we've got loads of hair clips etc which hardly ever get used. Initially, she seemed to be enjoying it and then she must've gotten real tired of it ... just check out the pics, note the change in emotions and you'll get what I mean ... it was a good laugh though! =D
We had a board game & strategy-filled Sunday of Snakes n Ladders, Ludo, Checkers and Chess ... the scoreboard as of now is:
That boy is seriously good at chess ... I'm extremely impressed! He's already taken out 3 pawns, 1 rook, 1 knight and 1 bishop!!!!!!!!!!! Argghghghghghghghghgh!!!!!!!!!! I, on the other humble hand, have got 1 each of his pawn, knight, rook and bishop ... and the game continues ...
The little one, kept checking in on us, gave up, and decided to do some 'reading' instead ... =)
The little one sure knows how to chill ... and *where* to chill-out for that matter! She's found her perfect little & comfy (although I'm not too sure about that!) place to sit when she wants to flip though a book, or scrutinise the pictures on the cover of her favourite Dora the Explorer dvd ... What was once a push-along building block thingamajig, has now been converted into her very own chair, complete with back rest and all ... lol!
... for my new patchwork pencil case to arrive, I decided to go stationery shopping! As I zoomed in and out of various stationery stores, I found my perfect pieces of stationery (bar the ruler) at Muji ... so simple, so zen, so cool ... and here are my finds for the day:
... a ball point pen, a tubular case of lead refills, an eraser and that SERIOUSLY COOL calculator! Now seriously folks, how fab is that mega slim calculator? It's so compact that it'll fit in my pencil case - no problemo, plus it's solar powered ... an added bonus! I've been so pencil case deprived, that these pieces of stationery really get me so excited! I know, I'm really weird like that. =)
It's great fun and highly enjoyable to customise a piece of jewelry for someone. So when my cousin, Nat, said she needed a necklace in red to match her dolly shoes, I jumped right at it and got my creative juices working overtime. She wanted a choker-like necklace, without any pendant/chandelier drops and interspersed with silver spacer beads. So in a nutshell, our project went from:
this -
to this -
and this -
then this -
and finally - TA-DAH!!!
I love the way the beads graduate in size and
those cool Tibetan silver spacer beads just simply
rock! We, great minds *ahem!*, thought of the same thing
and felt that a beady dangle at the back of the necklace would finish the piece off pretty nicely
and finish off nicely it did! I'm uber proud of this OOAK (one-of-a-kind) creation ... Thanks, Nat, for challenging my creativity! I sure did enjoy myself!
So inspired was I by Nat's Dolly Necklace, that I decided to make a turquoise and wooden choker, aptly named The Copacabana Choker for my store as it sure has a holiday-by-the-beach feel about it ... looks like I still haven't snapped out of my holiday mood, huh? *wink wink* =D
I need to extend my gratitude and thanks to a couple of wonderful people!
Firstly, to my dear sis, who thought of me and remembered how I love the colour combinat
ion of duck egg blue and brown and emailed me this for a new etsy store banner:
The next person I need to thank is a wonderful etsyer and friend, Thao, who used this beautiful floral pattern to create a refreshingly new and oh-so-sweet store banner for me :
And the last, but by no means least, friend I wish to thank is another SuperRockinMama, Jennifer, who customised this desperately needed pencil case for 
me in super duper record time while her twins napped (I don't even have a pencil case and all my pens and what-nots have found temporary housing in my son's case ... which ultimately means they get dirtied real easily due to all his colour pencils, crayons and marker pens doing their endless jig in that box ... and my missing pencils, oh my missing pencils! Wherever can you be?)
So to these three wonderful people here's a big ~
from me to you ... have a great day ahead!
Here's the little one in action ... all ready to take over part of the household chores and give mummy a little break!
I got up slightly before 6am today and was in a mega up-and-go mood ... so instead of idling around or having a lie-in, I decided to make a couple of necklaces for my store, well just 2 really, but they're new stuff just the same. And here they are:
I'm so into circles now (as you probably know since my charm bracelet of 'coins'), so that's been my main source of inspiration behind the creation of these two pieces. I like the fact that both necklaces can be worn either as a choker or a long necklace ... that's the fab thing about using leather thongs! Plus, pink & brown and beige & brown rock!!!
My to-do list for the weekend:
1. Get more beads from the bead shop - check.
2. Josh to get a hair-cut - check.
3. Bring kiddos to the park - check.
4. Go to Tate Modern for a go on the 2nd,
3rd and 5th floor test slides & grab a cuppa
while we're at it - check.
5. Exhaust ourselves silly from enjoyment - check.
Maybe it's the cuteness of it, maybe it's the way it jingle-jangles on your wrist, maybe it's how every charm and bracelet tells a special story unique to its wearer, maybe it's how you can opt to put together a real heffalump of a bracelet or a dainty, feather light one or maybe it's all of the above! Whatever the reason, I LOVE charm bracelets (it must be hereditary cos' my mum has a penchant for them as well ... lol) =)
My current faves are a Tiffany one which my dear hubby bought as a birthday gift 2 years ago and the other is my 'Around the World' charm bracelet which features iconic charms from all the countries I've visited. You'll see charms from the UK, Australia, Italy, Rome, Singapore {how more patriotic can one get? =D}, France, Thailand, Spain, USA (San Frans!), New Zealand and Holland ... and as you've probably guessed, this one is special to me. Each charm unlocks a floodgate of wonderful memories ... it's my perfect tool for reminiscing!
I was in the mood for a new charm bracelet and have always wanted a coin-themed charm bracelet. So I improvised a little and chose coin-like beads such as tiger ebony wood, pewter Baoule discs and Tibetan silver flower power ones ... and viola! A new charm bracelet was born at approximately 5.25pm last evening! And the unique story behind this one? I guess it tells of my love for patterns, symmetry and geometry, be it circles, squares, lines or swirls!
... to stay indoors today. The sun was out and there was a light northerly wind blowing - in other words, PARK TIME! The kiddos had a whale of a time at the playground in Hyde Park and it was wonderful seeing them making new friends, faces all aglow - smiles, grins, giggles, laughter ... bliss.
My supply of wooden beads arrived today, and once again, I was not disappointed! These petal- like ones are my current fave now, aren't they just so pretty?
So because I was trying to jolt myself out of my jetlag, I flung myself head-on and in full throttle into jewelry making world this afternoon, albeit rather groggily, forcing myself not to dose off while the little one napped ... and came up with these three pieces. I'm real proud of the teardrop shaped hooped ones, made out of turquoise heishi beads and tiger ebony wooden petal beads, they look fab on and oh so perfect for the summer!
So here you go ... a collage of pics featuring some highlights of our trip! Apart from doing those touristy things at Vegas, San Frans and LA, we got to hang out with Spiderman, Doc George from Back to the Future, the Blues Brothers, Shrek and ol' Dracula himself ... then we took a walk (well, a tram ride, really) along Wisteria Lane, home to the Desperate Housewives, said hi to King Kong, paid a visit to psycho Norman Bates at his Bates Motel, got blown away during the War of the Worlds and almost got eaten by Jaws ... could you ask for more???
Hi everyone! I'm back and it's taken me so long just to start blogging again cos' I've been and still am jetlagged ... I've never been jetlagged before and I'm telling you, it ain't nice. I feel almost like the walking dead.
BUT apart from that, I had LOADS ... TONS ... GAZILLIONS of FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Vegas and San Frans just took my breath away! We also drove past the Hoover Dam to the Grand Canyon, and it was worth the whole 10 hour drive to and from Vegas! It was like stepping into a picture postcard ... and luck was definitely on my side as it SNOWED at the Grand Canyon! Not just your itsy bitsy, forget-about-it flakey bits of snow, but huge mega-chunky ones were pelting down!!!!!!!! Woo-hoooo!
I did do a little shopping, got myself stuff from Victoria Secrets (pardon me, but I'm living in London, the Vic Secrets deprived capital of the world ... haha), and these pictured below ...
I just HAD to get that CSI t-shirt! Love it! It's so cool in a cheesy way ... =) Got that gorgeous crochet top from Banana Republic and a nice handmade copper bracelet from an Indian Reservation at the Grand Canyon. I also puchased a couple of magnets, which I like to call maggies, to add to my ever increasing collection of magnets from around the world. Here's how my window pane of maggies looks like now: 
Ok, I know I promised pics ... let me sieve through my pile of pics and I'll post them shortly. Good stuff everyone, good stuff ...
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