If you go down to the woods today...

... you probably won't find me! Not this week at least. You're more likely to find me shopping! Being a  teacher I tend to think of Autumn as the beginning of the year, and so it often feels like the time to start fresh. When I was younger that meant shiny school shoes and a snazzy new pencil case, (it still means both of those things actually!) but this year I'm thinking of re-vamping bits of the house as well, for a new start! I want to do up my bedroom, but of course there are a few things in there I'll always keep...

These are all parts of my room that I love. I probably have too many treasures really, and I realise this every time I move house, though it never stops me gathering pretty bits and bobs!

I really like this forest fairytale part of my room, though I know if it grows and takes up any more of the place it'll look way to cartoony and girly! Since dressing up as Snow White last year I've daydreamed about living in a cottage in the woods. I probably won't add any more woodland touches to my current house, but if I move to the forest here are a few things I'd definitely take with me!

(Incidentally, the Snow White and Rose Red print by meluseena was actually commissioned especially for lucky me! My sister Ruth knew I loved Lisa Falzon/meluseena's work and had it designed for me for my 30th birthday. How sweet! x)

Featured items:
Snow White and Rose Red Print by meluseena
Tiny Gnome Village by MoontsyandFloontsy
Poison Apple Button Bracelet by magpieandbutton
Tiny Ivy Leaf Necklace by SilkstoneDesigns
Little Red Riding Hood Print by elsita
Forest Mushrooms Silk Lined Clutch Bag by Bagnoir
White Tree Silhouette Pillow Cover by Modernality
Woodland Acorn Necklace by designbirdie

So... who wants to move in with me? ;)

Etsy front page treasury

Featured on the front page of Etsy :) I found this screenshot at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28488923@N05/ which is great, as I didn't know there was a Front Page photo pool, or any archive for front page treasuries at all. Good to know, eh? :)

Front Page Feature!

I checked my Etsy page this morning as usual and noticed I have far more hearts than I had yesterday! So I visited craftopolis.com to see if maybe one of my items had been featured in a treasury. I was so surprised to see that TWO items were in treasuries - this Honey Button Ring and also a little button bracelet of mine called Cloudy Skies. So, I thought YAY!

Then I realised the treasury that the ring had been featured in had been selected to go on Etsy's FRONT PAGE this morning! Woohoo! It's all very exciting. Thanks to DigitalPerfection for featuring my ring in her pretty pretty treasury, "Kiss Me Honey Honey".

Happy Halloween!

I can't wait for Halloween this Saturday. This year we'll have our sixth annual costume party!

We've been gathering decorations and making our costumes for weeks now, and the invitations have all been sent out. Every year, people make more and more effort with costumes, so this year is going to be fantastic! Alot of people will make their outfits, or cobble together bought and found bits and pieces to come up with something great. Or creepy. Or hilarious. Or downright terrifying!

We also usually have a themed cocktail or punch, and this year the drink of the night will HAVE to be Tru:Blood! Ruth and I have been researching the right bottles to use and I'm going to print out the label templates I found here. Yay! We're making a mixture of raspberry vodka, grape juice, cherryade and red food colouring. Mmmm. I'll post pictures when we have it made and bottled.

Now, back to the costumes! I'm Snow White this year, and my costume is just about finished. My mom and Ruth pretty much made the dress for me, and I've sourced and made all my accessories. (The perfect black wig; red hairbow; blue princess shoes; a lil bluebird to perch on my finger; and of course a flawless red apple)

I have to figure out the best way to create the doe eyes, innocent face though! I think the makeup is really important fo bring the elements of a costume together! This is the look I'll practice tonight - I think it could work really well :)

The last thing I need to do is make some cute apple themed jewellery for myself. I'd love to find a red enamel apple charm that I could use in either earrings or a pendant. If not, I do have some juicy little red beads that will look sweet put with a little silver bow, or maybe some blue crystals to match in with the colours of the dress. I was also thinking of making a little detail for the fronts of my shoes, either beaded or just a fabric bow. Pretty pretty pretty!

New camera

I'm loving my new camera - taking tons of pictures of new jewellery coming soon to my etsy shop :)

It's a Fuji Finepix Z30, and the macro setting is brilliant! I spent ages in the shop choosing the right camera for the job of photographing my jewellery. Look how close I could get to these earrings without blurring or losing detail! >

I'm pretty impressed as my old camera would never have been able to handle this.