Gemstones

I love gemstones and at the moment I am getting quite a collection. The colours and textures are just amazing. My favourite changes every day depending on my mood. I have always loved amethyst but at the moment my favoutire purple would have to be sugilite. One of my closest friends loves rubies, so I bought some to make her a pair of earrings and maybe a bracelet to match a lovely necklace she had but the colour was just a little too pink. I also bought some garnets and this matched her ruby necklace beautifully. I am not sure how I will use them yet but they will probably be wire wrapped and added to a chain as they are only 4mm faceted. I think that gemstones are so versatile, they can be earthy or colourful or even sparkling. They can be mixed with glass, wood, metal, crystal or acrylic and they always look gorgeous. There is such a variety of shapes and sizes as well as cuts it is incredible. I love setting cabochons into simple silver settings but unfortunately I haven't really had much time for that lately. The majority of the gemstones in my collection are beads and I have tried to buy ones which are natural, rather than dyed or man made. Sometimes though I have not been able to resist some of the amazing colours of dyes sea sediment jasper and even some agates. I am so looking forward to making lots of new jewellery during the next couple of months, while I am on long service leave. Hope I don't bombard you all with too many photos of my new creations. I can't wait to get started but will have to wait until I get home from my holiday. Stay safe, happy and keep smiling Lee-Anne :)

Rest!

The last couple of months have been so hectic, between my full time teaching position, the many markets I have been going to with my jewellery and my family life with teenage boys, and organising a very successful fundraising market, life had become rather out of control! It is now time to take back that control with some much needed rest and relaxation. I knew that I was feeling very stressed and exhausted but until I got quite sick I hadn't realised just how bad I was (probably extremely difficult to live with). A week and a half ago I came down with a rather violent gastro bug (curtesy of my gorgeous children at school). After a couple of hours with the bug in full swing I passed out hitting my head quite hard, it was the middle of the night and my hubby woke me. I didn't think much of it so I just went back to bed. My hubby starts work at 5 in the morning and as he is unable to get someone to cover his shift at that hour went to work intending to get home as quickly as he could. I was still feeling very unwell and decided I needed help to get my boys up an off to school. I am so lucky as my Mum lives very close to me. I rang her and she came over to help. Just before 8 I again passed out this time not only hitting my head again but also cutting it quite badly. Now I was scared to move around in case I collapsed again so my mum rang the ambulance. The ambulance took me to the hospital where I was put on a drip to rehydrate me and I had a CT scan to check for any fractures, there were none. I had 6 stitches in the cut above my eye and I was put on an ECG machine to monitor my heart. The ECG results were unusual so I was admitted to the hospital. Through all of this I just thought the gastro bug was the cause of the problem. After a night in hospital, with monitoring, I was feeling much better, the bug was gone and I just had a nasty headache and a black eye. As I was about to be released the doctor who had been taking care of me told me tat my collapses were actually due to a heart condition, Tako Tsubo. I had never heard of it so I googled it when I got home. It is a type of cardiomyopathy brought on by stress! Well that really scared me! I was told that there was no lasting damage and that it would probably never happen again, phew! But the stress in my life will still be there, how much can I change? How do I reduce the stress from many things that are beyond my control? Lucky for me I have an amazing family who are incredibly supportive and wonderful friends. I am now on long service leave from my job, organised almost 12 months ago, it is funny how that sort of thing works out. I am writing this post from a hotel room where my husband and I are staying, without children, to simply rest. The moral here, hmmm, remember to take care of yourself! No matter how busy you are prioritise and ensure there is enough 'down' time and me time to keep yourself healthy. Stay happy, healthy and strong until next time Lee-Anne :)

Whoops!

So much for me trying to post regularly :(

I have been very busy since Easter.  Between working at school with my lovely class of 27 children and spending time running around with my 14 year old and teaching my 17 year old to drive, there is not much time left.  However, I am now one of the organisers of a local monthly market, which I love doing but it is quite time consuming particularly in the week before the market and I am in the process of finalising all the stall holders for a fundraiser market which is being help this Saturday and then I need to find time to make my jewellery.  Okay so I am a little bit on the time poor side but I do love every minute of it. 

I hope that next week I will be able to post about how well the market this weekend went, but at the moment I am still a little worried about the whole experience.  I have wonderful stall holders making donations of their lovely products for lucky door prizes and a silent auction that will be running during the market.  There will be a lovely lady doing face painting for half of the market time.  The BBQ will run throughout the 4 hours and there will be soft drinks available as well as a coffee and cupcake van.  The variety of stall holders is fantastic from jewellery, cards, scrapbooking materials, ceramics, mosaics, painted glass, resin work, soaps, candles, beauty products, stained glass, to some second hand books donated by a shop in the local community.  It should be an awesome day but having never organised something like this before I still worry!

Guess only time will tell...

I will let you all know on Monday how it all went

Have a great week :)

Beautiful...

A stunning day in Hobart today so I took my son to work and then went for a walk on The Domain. Here are some of the pictures I took during my walk

Mount Wellington

Looking towards the Derwent River and the Eastern Shore

Mount Wellington across North Hobart

Walking track

Domain sport fields

Looking toward Glenorchy

Some Healing Properties of Moonstone and Aventurine

I love using gemstones in my jewellery designs.  The stones are lovely to look at and feel beautiful against my skin.  I think the added element for the use of gemstones is the healing and strengthening properties they contain.

My latest pieces are made almost entirely of Green Aventurine and Moonstone, with some Czech glass bugle beads to add balance.

*Moonstone

• Soothes stress and anxiety
• balances emotions
• calms the emotions
• cures headaches

*Aventurine

• heals the heart by releasing emotional stress
• allows reuniting of the healthy heart and soul
• heals emotion pain, fear, negativity and imbalance
• Calm a troubled spirit and brings about inner peace

* from Healing Jewelry: using gemstones for health & well-being Mickey Baskett 2007

Necklaces

I have been loving making necklaces lately.  I have been playing with my Sizzix Big Kick embossing machine and loving it.  It is so much fun to add a piece of plain metal to a folder turn a handle and see what comes out.  I have made lots of different designs and then been adding these pendants to necklaces using lots of techniques.

The combinations of metal, glass and gemstones I have particularly enjoyed working with.  have a look at some of the photos Keri http://www.facebook.com/KeriPennicottPhotography has taken of my necklaces.

Embossed bird, Indian foil glass beads, moonstone and carnelian

Stichtite in Serpentine and Amethyst

Embossed leaf, cream howlite and black crystals

Amethyst and Stichtite in serpentine chips

Flourite

Chrysocolla gemstones

Andreas Needs a Miracle

A family from the school I work at has had a very difficult year.  Their youngest son was born with an irreparable heart condition.  I am currently working on organising a Mother's Day Market as a fundraiser for the family, to assist them during this very stressful time.  They have many trips to Melbourne which leaves the family split.  A hard thing for any family to manage.  It is amazing how well they are all coping.

I am hoping that this market will go a little towards easing their burden and show them how much love and support the local community has for them. For more information on the market or to donate please email me.

To find out more about Andreas and his family have a look at his facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Andreas-needs-a-miracle/285106744877956

Until next time

Stay safe and be happy
Lee-Anne :)