Competition Friday

Well, here is my little competition for you. You can either post your answers here in the comments section or send me an email. The winner will receive something.........

Speaking on the phone with my sister a few weeks ago, we were talking about designs of my jewelry and she suggested that I did some Christmas items. We discussed this a bit as I feel that people only wear Christmas jewelry for such a short period of time, that they don't want to spend alot of money on it so just get something cheap........ There isn't really a market for "special" jewelry just for Christmas so it isn't something I have been inclined to do.....

But the discussion sparked my interest and I wondered if I could come up with some Christmas jewelry that you could wear year round. There is a Christmas something to it - but also, a general something......

So here is the competition. I have created a Christmas necklace which I have named and your job is to guess the name. Yes, it doesn't overtly look Christmassy but what is the little secret/surprise??? You know how much I love secrets and surprises and little jokes.........

Let me know your guesses!! No other hints - unless it's too tricky..... And yes, if English isn't your first language, you may be at a disadvantage and it may be a little obtuse for you. Here's the necklace:
What a giveaway!!!
Oh - it's just too easy!!! Heh, heh!
Send your answers!
( PS My sister Mary, Angie, and Marly, and not eligible to participate as they know the answer! Don't want you three giving any hints either!!!)

Quentin Quail and family

Finally I got a photo of Quentin and his new family. Not a great photo as I didn't have my camera - but at least its a few glimpses. Q is very protective - we often see him in the garden - standing on something to give himself a little height to see what is going on - like here on our bench by the pond - and then down below him is Queenie and the babes. Anything gets close to them, and you hear a few squeaks and all the babes run together.

Well this morning, we looked out of the door near our bedroom and all the quails were on the wall....all except Junior that is! As you can see from the photo - there is Quentin and Queenie...and lots of tiny little babies...but Junior is down on the ground.... Junior looked up at all his family as they looked down on him - but he was stuck down there, as he can't yet fly - so he didn't know what to do. Poor little Junior. Now it gets a bit scary - read at your own risk! Queenie took the babes to the back and out of the way so no one else fell off and Junior suddenly ran to the left onto the grass. Gosh - he runs so fast - especially considering his legs are sooooooo tiny. Anyhow, he ran...and Quentin followed him - but still on top of the wall. Then Junior ran back to the right....and then back the other way again.....and so it continued for a while, back and forth. Quentin kept an eye on him and you could hear little squeaks.......but everyone was up on the wall, except Junior.

Junior was getting quite distraught by this stage, so eventually, Quentin jumped down to be with him. "Yeah" for Quentin! At this point, Queenie reappeared with Junior's brothers and sisters and now they all ran along the length of the wall to where it joins the ground. The little guys then all had to jump a short distance to reach the ground and then Quentin lead them up this leaf undergrowth area back to the higher ground. If you look carefully - you can see a few little babes in the undergrowth picture!
Luckily the adventure was now over - all babes were reunited together with Daddy Quentin and Mummy Queenie.

And the question that you are about to ask is .....how many babes are there? Looked like 13 in total!!!

So now we have to come up with 13 new Q names for all these Quentin and Queenie babes.

A few minutes later, Quentin was back in his protective mode - this time sitting on top of one of our solar lamps - keeping an eye on who was around his family.

I know - it's not really a post about jewelry - but Quentin did inspire my original Quentin necklace - see July 2nd post and here too. Send you name ideas in the comments section!

Riding along in my automobile....

So I'm looking to get a new car. I've had mine about 5 years...it's out of warranty, and it seems that lots of little things go wrong with it. To be honest, it's probably not lots of little things, but one thing that didn't get resolved for ages......and meant the engine light kept coming on...which was always worrying..... I have now got it mended - but the service I've had is just awful! I've found someone local who was nice and easy to get on with - but they couldn't find what was wrong with it. When I finally found someone who could repair it, they were rude and patronizing and ...just a horrid experience. So...moving on....... Try something new.

So I recently test drove a mini cooper s. It was fun. I liked the drive. Very different from my current car. I was half thinking about the convertible, but I don't like the design. With the roof up, there is such a big expanse of "black" in the back and visibility looks bad through the back window. With the roof down, the roof has nowhere to go? It just hangs out in a mess. So I'm thinking the hardtop. Maybe in a few years they will improve the design of the convertible...

But then you get all these choices! Build your own mini!!! Great idea - but I'm just not used to choosing the design of the dash and trim......never mind what mats I want in it and what about stripes on the front and roof color......It's a great idea - if I ever make up my mind.......And as long as I can stop my husband always going on about the "old" mini he used to drive back in England......Hmmmmmm.

Anyhow - after test driving the mini - I made this little car necklace. I know it doesn't look like a mini - more like a VW bug...but it was meant as a "generic" car - a cute and playful design. That's what I'm looking for in my car.....
My latest thoughts for my mini were to get a yellow one with a white top...and maybe get a large flower decal to go on the door.....but then with the flower, my husband might not want to drive it!!!!

What I'd really like however, is a lime green one.....but it's not a color they can do and it seems a bit silly to get a new car and then respray it. But, as my nephews know - lime green is my favorite color! How cool to drive around in a lime green mini....... Maybe I'll just have to settle with adding some lime green to a car necklace!!!

Anyone out there got good mini stories and ideas for me??

Hair barrettes

It's always been one of my gripes in life how, if I'm going out for an evening, or just somewhere nice, I put on my nice jewelry, then go to clip something in my hair - and the clip is always so basic! It's either plastic or a base metal....and I've adorned my body with precious metal - and cheap looking plastic goes in my hair!

So finally I got around to using some of my silver clay to make some hair "jewelry". Barrettes came to mind and so I've tried a few different designs - the "flowers in my hair" one, pictured above; a more everyday one, like the "village" below; and the "love birds" below - but since starting on these, I have ideas for more elaborate ones with dangly bits as well.

Just making them pretty and with some movement too.... I haven't made any of these more elaborate ones yet.... - but that is what is in my mind! It's a great shape - just a rectangle to work with - you can add what you want for a design and I do attach them to a base metal clip - as it is a secure means of staying in the hair (- and is not visible!). Functional, but now jewelry for the hair!

So, of course, what happens? I went to my hairdressers this week...was a little fed up with my hair and hanging flat - so she cut it! So now I can't wear hair accessories in it any more!!!!


Well I guess we don't always design for ourselves...I mean, I make cufflinks occasionally!!!

Picnic time!

Happy 4th July! Maybe today is picnic day.....the sun is shining, there are 4th of July parades in the US today.....so pack up that picnic basket and find a nice place in the sun to eat lunch...maybe take a bottle of champagne and have an easy day.

I love picnics! Especially since we've moved to California where you can just trust the weather! How many picnics did we have in England where it was freezing cold or drizzly or just miserable. My dad often jokes that all picnics with my sister mean that the weather will be bad! But we would try - sitting there shivering and pretend to be enjoying our outdoor meal!

But maybe you need to choose your location carefully. Because if you go down to the woods today........


you maybe have to watch out for the teddy bears' picnic! Teddy bear earrings and a little teddy bear on a picnic blanket with a slice of cake, cup and bowl of fruit!! I made this set for my friend Janet. The teddy bears' picnic story has always been one of her favorites and she shared it with her daughters and son and now shares it with her grandchildren. The grandchildren's bedroom in her house is decorated around the teddy bears' picnic theme with a gorgeous mural painted on the walls. It looks just wonderful and now she gets to wear her teddy bears' picnic too.

The other picnic basket is hollow formed in fine silver and supplied on an interchangeable charm necklace, so when picnic time is over, you can take it off and add another charm or pendant instead. This is available for sale here.

Anyhow - hope you have a good 4th July - and find time for a picnic.