Thursday 30 April 2009

I had a PMC day...

I thought it was time to take the plunge and play with the PMC that I've had sitting here for ages!

I had a great time and can't wait to get the bits fired that I made, for now here is a pic of my pre-fired PMC creations.


I was surprised at how easily I got back into it, as I hadn't touched any PMC since the course I did in January I was really pleased with the outcome! Just hope they look as good when they're fired and tumbled.

Monday 27 April 2009

NEW Website...

WOW, that was a busy weekend!

I was getting really frustrated with my website because the photos were taking forever to load and it was generally so slow it was off-putting. If I was feeling this way about it I dread to think what my potential customers were thinking, I can only wonder whether this is why I've had a drop in sales lately.

Anyway, I decided to treat myself (and my customers) to a new website and I've spent the whole weekend getting it up and ready.

The new site should now be much quicker to load, easier to navigate and generally much more pleasant to use.

Take a peek, and see for yourself www.enchantedhandmadejewellery.com

Enjoy...

Sunday 19 April 2009

I've had a Pendant Day...

I've had a great time sorting through my artisan lampwork stash and wiring some of them into pendants using sterling silver wire, spacers, swarovski and some beautiful Karen Hill Tribe fine silver.
Here's what I've created with some of the beautiful orphan lampwork beads that I'm fortunate enough to own.



I had a fantastic email today from an Etsy member saying that she had included me in her treasury...I feel really proud that someone has found my work worthy enough to include in an Etsy treasury. To have a peek for yourself click the link Etsy Treasury

Wednesday 15 April 2009

Gorgeous beads arrived this morning...

I bought these beautiful sets of beads from my friend Debbie Dew and they arrived this morning.

I just had to share them with you, I think they are stunning.

Debbie is a lampwork artist as well as a jewellery designer and produces some fantastic beads and jewellery from her home studio in Wales.

To see more of Debbie's work visit her website SilverArtz

Monday 13 April 2009

Spring is in the Air...

It's been really bright and sunshiney here for the last few days and i'm happy to say it bought me a little bit of inspiration back.


I've been busy making handbag charms which seemed to sell really well at my last sale and have always been really popular on my website.

I've also made a couple of affordable charm bracelets in bright and cheery colours just in time for the spring that has just about sprung.

I love spring, don't you just love to see the daffodils and spring flowers in full bloom?

It's great to see the trees getting their new buds and the birds hunting for their nest making materials...

I also enjoy all the chocolate that the easter bunny brings ;o)

You can find all of my new spring creations at the Enchanted website or in my Misi shop


I also have to tell you I was a runner up in the Misi Easter Egg Hunt last week...

I was chuffed to bits to see that one of my prizes was a custom made bunny by Rennegurumi which I have had on my Misi wish list for ages now.

If you think she's as cute as I do you can buy your own Rennegurumi bunny or other gorgeously cute character by Irina at her Misi shop Rennegurumi


I also won one of these beautiful bunny pendants by Zoe Woods Collage Jewellery, another talented artist who sells her creations on Misi. To see Zoe's full range of gorgeous pendants, brooches and jewellery visit her Misi shop Zoe Woods Collage Jewellery

Thursday 9 April 2009

Shocked...

I had a phone call this moning from the advertising and marketing dept. for Marie Claire, In Style and Look magazines.

I was shocked at the prices they are asking for just 1 advert in 1 magazine...£550+VAT for a 1/8 of a page advert, as you can imagine I had to say no! Think I'll stick to Free advertising for now lol

Saturday 4 April 2009

Ladies Pamper Evening in aid of SANDS...

I'm taking my stand to Hinckley tonight for a charity Ladies Pamper Evening. I have to admit that I've never been to one of these events before, so I'm not really sure what to expect.

The evening has been organised as a charity event in aid of SANDS - the Still Birth and Neonatal Death Society, in my opinion a fantastic charity organisation which lends support to anyone affected by the death of a baby and promotes research into reducing the loss of babies lives.

How can You help?
Are you a 'knitter'? Could you help SANDS with their Precious Memory Box campaign. Follow this link to find out more http://www.uk-sands.org/no_cache/News/Newspage/article/94/22.html

Friday 3 April 2009

Arggghhhhhhhhhh...

I had a disaster this week...

I've been having trouble with my laptop for a few months now and after too many phone calls to and from Microsoft to try and sort out the corrupt files that had somehow found their way into my system it was finally decided that I would need to do a factory reset!! Yes, a full system restore!!

Not to worry! I was prepared, and backed up all my important files and documents onto discs (or so I thought)

I did the system restore...finally got my laptop up and running again and was ready to load the backed up files on to my computer.

All fine and dandy?...NO!!

Documents - Fine
Files - Fine
Family photos - Fine
Jewellery photos - VANISHED!!!!

OH MY GOD!! 5 whole years worth of photographs of my work gone...the disc that I'd saved my Enchanted photos to was completely blank!!

Now what??

Well luckily, I had a previous back up disc which has some older work on it. Thank god for Flickr, Facebook and Photobucket where I had uploaded some of my more recent work...

...but unfortunately a whole lot of photos have been lost.

The moral of this story: Always make sure your back up discs work before doing a system restore on your computer