Mosaic Earrings!

It's quite exciting over here in Trouble HQ because I've got a new line of mosaic jewellery now available - mosaic earrings! These are still in the very new stages - I've only made 5 pairs so far and I'm now waiting on more backings to arrive before I can make some more. But thought I should share them with you.

None of them are yet in my Etsy shop but feel free to drop me a line here if you are interested in any of them. They will be £22 + postage.

Pendant and Earring set - £42 + postage

What do you think? I'm excited - almost excited enough to re-pierce my ears so that I can make myself a pair!!

Reading a Little...March 2013

I haven't done a book review for months, possibly even a year! It's definitely time I found my reading mojo again. I think I say this every time I remember to do a book review post, don't I? Hmmm... 

Anyway, here are some of my recent reads that I thought I'd share with you.

Before I Go To Sleep - S. J. Watson

 This was a fabulous book that I really enjoyed. It really got me thinking about memory, things that we hold dear and how terrifying it would be waking up every morning, not knowing who or where you were, who that person next to you is or any of the details of your life.

Christine is an amnesiac. Every day she wakes up and has to be told who she is and details of her life. Slowly she starts to piece things together but there are flashes of memory that don't make sense to her. You start feeling immense sympathy for a character who repeats herself regularly and spends most of her time wracked with emotions she isn't sure belong to her memories. Can she trust herself or what those around her are telling her? 

I thought this was a brilliant book - very well written and it absolutely sucked me in from the first few pages. It isn't massively long and is a fairly quick read, but it is intense reading. You have a sense of foreboding in places, followed by relief when things you feared are proven not to be true by other characters. In a way you start to live the roller-coaster turmoil of emotions that Christine goes through every day. It may not have been quite as punchy as it could have been, but I would rate it 4 out of 5 stars. Definitely recommended. 

The Snow Child - Eowyn Ivey
I've been recommending this book left, right and centre since I read it a few weeks ago. It's loosely reminiscent of the tales of Snegurochka, a figure of Russian fairytales. Sneg is snow in Russian, and Snegurochka is the daughter of the snow. In the fairytales she invariably ends up melting so with that in mind I read this with a sense of foreboding from the beginning. This isn't a re-working of the same old story though and while I wasn't that impressed to start with, I became more and more involved with the characters and the story.

In the early twentieth century Jack and Mabel move out to the Alaskan wilderness. Partly to prove something, partly because they are both wracked with unspoken emotion about the loss of their stillborn child. Now beyond the years of childbearing, they try to build a new life for themselves. But Alaska in 1918 is not an easy place to live and they find it hard trying to keep going. Until they start to see Faina, a young girl who seems to truly be a little snow child. She can't sit too close to the fire and disappears back into the woods every evening. Both Jack and Mabel have different ideas about Faina, but her sudden appearance helps the couple greatly and gives them a purpose. 

This beautiful story is written against a harsh, but vivid, landscape, with some beautiful description and a gentle plot line that allows you to really get to know the characters and come to feel strongly for each of them. A lovely read that I really enjoyed. 

The Forgotten Garden - Kate Morton
I really enjoyed this - the story goes back and forth between different times and different generations but essentially it is an unravelling of a mystery to do with an abandoned child. While I wasn't surprised by any of the events in the book, I did enjoy the style with which is was written, the pace and the language. I can't really write much without spoilers so I'll keep this one short and sweet. I liked it and would be interested in other works by Kate Morton.

FREE UK SHIPPING!

IT'S MARCH 2013! And because spring is in the air, and I wouldn't want anyone to feel I had forgotten them, I am doing a promotion over in my Etsy store. On any order over £15 you can receive free UK shipping for the whole of the month of March.

What's more, I'm not the only one offering this! There are a lot of UK based sellers who are also offering free UK shipping for March. All you need to do is type in code FREEMARCH13 when you get to the checkout page and the free shipping will be added to your order. That is pretty great if you are looking for a Mother's Day gift, a St Patrick's day something, a birthday present or a lovely treat for yourself. Why not head over to Etsy and see what there is to see?

I'm offering Free UK shipping on orders over £15

Here are some other lovely things that I have seen on Etsy from people who are also offering free UK shipping for March. Click on any of the names below the photos to be sent to the shop.

I love LizzesBeautifulArt's cats! 

DamsonTreePottery makes such gorgeous designs! 

Who wouldn't be in love with a VW campervan or indeed any of Graces Favours designs? 

I've kept this post to a green theme because spring is in the air (I actually sat outside in the garden today!) but there are of course plenty of other goodies available. Here's a link to find some more lovely pieces on Etsy that are offering free UK shipping throughout March:

FREEMARCH13 UK shipping shop participants

I hope you all have a lovely time browsing and ... happy shopping!

Mosaic Mania!

Despite the ankle surgery and spending most of my time presently lying on my bed I have managed to get up for a few things...

I've had a few custom orders in the past few days - one from a lady who ordered a pendant from me and as soon as it arrived ordered another one! That's got to be a compliment and a half, right? I can't show a picture of it yet as she ordered it as a present but her feedback was lovely:

"I am thrilled to bits with the necklace, it is simply beautful. Could you possibly make another one as quickly?"

So I've spent a fair amount of time in the garage over the past week making some mosaics pendants. What do you think of my new designs?

Of course I haven't just restricted myself to pendants... I've made a few new rings and a pair of cufflinks as well:

And the good news is that the physical bricks and mortar shop up in Highgate has sold a few of my pendants too so I'm going to have to restock there as well! Here are two of the pendants I'll be sending up to them later on this week (the others aren't quite finished yet...)

I've also been having requests from all sorts of people in the past few weeks about making mosaic earrings. I have to say I've been a bit dubious about them as part of me thinks they'd just be too heavy. But I've been convinced to give them a go. I haven't actually made them up into earrings as yet (I'm going to need to go into a craft shop to buy the fittings in order to do that first) but there are designs for 2 pairs ready to put together properly and see what they're like...

So it's all go on the mosaic front! So much so in fact that I need to put in some orders for new stock! Hmm... best get on with that. I have ambitions of moving onto bigger and better places this year and I'm going to need a fair amount of stock ready by August at this rate. Off I go to check out my suppliers...!