back in london ...

Hi everyone! I'm back from my hols in Europe which we toured around with my sister-in-law, brother-in-law and godson. Here are some pics for you to enjoy ...

Windmills at Zaanse Scaans, Netherlands

A MUST pic on and in a clog in Amsterdam ...

Josh getting a first-hand taste of history at Anne Frank's House, this was her bedroom whilst in hiding ...

Breakfast at McDonalds ... Gaby was excited over the animals in their glass display cabinet.

At the Arc du Triomphe ...

Another view of the Champs Elysee leading up to the Arc du Triomphe ...

Dinner at a French restaurant

This was probably the cause of the food poisoning I had ... :(

The beautiful Eiffel Tower ...

A family pic ...

View from the top of the Eiffel Tower ...

... and it was freezing up there!

The Eiffel Tower - Simply spectacular near or far

I wolfed down hazelnut spread French crepes like crazy!

The Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris

The Lourve Museum, Paris

A family shot outside the Lourve

I can only imagine what the people standing below must've been thinking ... :D

My sister-in-law and I outside a quaint French store
...

Our 2nd time at Le Mont St Michel ... still as breathtaking!

I'm now recovering from my bout of food poisoning but will definitely be back with more goodies for my store ... stay tuned ... :)

coming back down ...

... to earth. That's me after enjoying my past few days of being on Sale 100-land. Many thanks to all those who took advantage of my 4 day sale ... my shop is looking bare once again and it's time to create more goodies!

Many thanks to all who left me well-wishes in my previous blog post! I shall endeavour to fill my store with more beautiful and unique creations and make it to that next milestone pronto! :)

Store update:
These are now available...more unique self-designed focal beads!

Sakura Matsuri Necklace (Cherry Blossom Festival in Japanese)

Sleek

And here's my latest pair of earrings ... I love how they dangle and bob around just under the earlobes!

Wooden Berries

More goodies will be listed over the next few days before I depart for my holidays ... we'll be off to Amsterdam and France for over a week!!! :D

The Big 1*0*0*

My little store of Indulgence and I have reached a milestone ... we've reached 100 sales!

In retrospect, it's funny remembering that I took SO long to take the plunge and set up my Etsy store simply because I was scared of failure and of the unknown. I registered on Etsy in August '06 and was only a buyer then and all that while, something at the back of my mind was telling me to turn my love for jewellery into something BIG - something I would be proud of. Then in March '07, I decided that it was time - it was time to unleash my creative side and Etsy allowed me to perfect the whole Stay-At-Home-Mum thing AND achieve something so satisfying whilst doing that. It wasn't long before I 'found my feet' and decided on the style of jewellery I'd adopt. Much to my sheer delight, I received so much positive feedback and this only served as a big time confidence booster. It fuelled my need to create more and when I needed more of a challenge, I started bead designing. I now design a couple of my own beads so they're unique only to me. How very exciting!

Here I am now, 8 months later, feeling so chuffed that it was THE right decision I made and I'm eternally grateful to Etsy and to my family members who had so much faith in me and cheered me on every step of the way ... thanks for all the unwavering support and encouragement! Thanks also to all the inspirational friends I've made through Etsy, it's been an honour to be amongst such lovely and highly talented artists! A gazillion thanks to all my customers too - Where would I be without you? :) You've given me nothing but inspiration and delight in doing what I love and I hope this shows in my jewellery pieces. :)

So, to commemorate this wonderful achievement, I'm having a S*A*L*E from Sunday 11th November till Wednesday, 14th November. I'm offering a 20% discount on everything in store (except for the 1 sale item). Just mention '100 sale' in your message to seller upon checkout, and I'll send you a revised invoice.

Yay for the big 100!!! Now, to work towards that big 2*0*0!!! ;)

kawaii & vintage love

*Note*
kawaii - The Japanese word for cute. Pronounced ‘ka-why-ee’.

In one of my earlier posts, I was going on about how crazy I am with apple inspired items at the mo' ... add to that now, my latest obsession with vintage beads - flowers and leaves in particular. So you'll understand that these came about very naturally:

Kawaii Apple Earrings

Mocha Apple Earrings

Single Blossom Necklace

I just can't get over how pretty they are ... the textures, colours and intricate detailing are what make them stand out from normal beads and stones. And trust me when I say, "The possibilities are endless!"

Viva la kawaii! Viva la vintage!! Viva la handmade!!!

stocking up

My store was starting to look rather bare ... so I went into turbo mode and created these items to start filling it up again ... think of it like a giant X'mas stocking, full of great handmade goodies! I'll be adding items to my store later in the day, so be sure to look out for them! :D

keeping it simple

My latest custom order required the use of pearls. She wanted a necklace and earrings set and she told me to keep it VERY SIMPLE. I can do simple. But I didn't want it to look too plain either. So I gave it an edge by combining sterling silver findings with antique bronze filigree bead caps. And by placing the bead caps UNDER the pearls rather than over them, a whole new look was achieved. Simple yet different and definitely pretty - all in the same breath.



And her reaction?
"They are gorgeous! I couldn't have imagined a more perfect outcome. You must have an intuition about these things! :)"

2nd time lucky!

Yippppeeee! My Autumn necklace was featured on etsy's front page yet again! And this time, thanks to juliapearl's treasury, not only did it bring loads of traffic to my store, it also landed me loads of sales and custom order enquiries! It made my entire week, yessireee ...

... and I'm still enjoying my 15mins of fame. :D