Much awaited..

I am a busy bee at the moment, there are lots of new designs coming up for the shop, I have listed two that I am very excited about today.

The first is my Paired Lockets necklace. This is a follow on from my Two Lockets necklace which has been my most popular item. I wanted to try something new with these lovely teardrop lockets and matching them with sterling silver has really worked very well. I do like the combination of brass and silver, it feels very classic and elegant. I am hoping for this to be one of my signature pieces, like the Two Lockets necklace, I hope you like it too!


My second are named 'Scotch Bonnet Earrings'- they are as fiery as the name suggests, amongst some of the best beads I've found. I only have 2 of these beads so this design is a one off design, not to be repeated again. These earrings also feature long brass hooks which I have handformed myself, they are hammered for strength and the ends filed down for comfort. The beads are a good, true red, unfortunately my camera picked it up as orange, but they don't have any orange in them in the flesh.
These are show stoppers, perfect for a valentine who doesn't like pink!



xxx

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Free Shipping

Fairground Earrings

I am offering free shipping to all customers in my Etsy shop for the rest of January!

Dare I mention Valentines day? Find a gift for the one you love :)
All purchases come gift wrapped in a gift box tied with ribbon.

I will be listing a new locket necklace later on, very classic and simple - two brass teardrop lockets on a sterling silver chain. Pictures to come once the weather brightens up!


xx

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Much promised..

At last, the much promised crispy pork noodle recipe :)

During our visit to Jimmy's farm just after the New Year we popped into their butchers, they are famous for their rare breed Essex pigs. I've been hearing lots about cheaper cuts of meat such as oxtail, pork hock and pork belly (don't worry this isn't going to be a post about the 'credit crunch' or whatever else you would have heard it called recently) so we came back with some wonderful pork belly and also some 'Suffolk Farmhouse' sausages. The pork belly was a very reasonable £3 for 2 large slices, probably about 400g.

The pork noodle recipe is taken in part from Jamie Olivers cookbook, Jamie at Home, which was a much awaited Christmas present. We are planning on getting stuck in to some proper vegetable growing in the summer and it has some great tips.

This recipe requires wonderful long slow cooking of the pork belly in a spicy marinade, so the otherwise tough cut of meat tenderies and becomes melt in the mouth and very aromatic.

Ingredients
(serves 2)

2 slices of pork belly- remove some of the rind, debone and cut into chunks

For the marinade:
2 tbsp clear honey
4 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp cranberry sauce (leftover from Christmas, not very authentic but lovely!)
1 clove of garlic
small onion, roughly chopped
small piece of ginger, roughly chopped
1/2 fresh or 1 1/2 tsp dried chil
Juice of half a lime

For the noodles
Medium noodles (I get mine from the chinese supermarket, which are so much tastier than the supermarket ones, Sainsburys do stock a brand 'Clearspring' which is good too)
Coriander
Spring onion
Limes to serve

Whizz up the marinade ingredients in a food processor, pour over the pork, make sure it is thoroughly covered. If the mixture seems a little thick or dry, add a little bit of water. Put into a low oven (gas mark 3) for 1 hour and 30 mins.
When the pork is ready, heat up some sunflower or vegetable oil in a wok and cook the noodles.
Fry the pork and the marinade in the wok until the pork is crispy on the outside.
Then add the noodles, coriander and mix well.
Serve with spring onions on top and lime wedges on the side!


:)

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Freeze

Poor birdy, originally uploaded by lazygiraffe.

We've had a bit of a freeze this week, I don't want to call it a big freeze really because British weather is really quite tame compared to other countries. But its been very January like, plenty of ice, a bit of snow and today lots and lots of fog.

I've been watching the birds hopping about outside my office window looking quite chilly. I'm not much of a bird watcher but its been nice to see them going about their way. So far we've had the obligatory blackbirds, a robin, wrens and best of all, a woodpecker! I'm hoping I see it again on a day that I have a camera.

For now, here is a picture of the robin (I think) looking chilly.

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Being productive

I've been most productive over the last week or so, and there are new designs in my Etsy shop for your perusal (and hopefully purchasing too). Finding that my mind is still in winter time, hopefully I will be feeling a bit more spring like soon and able to also include some spring designs as well as winter ones.


Back to the daily grind today, feels like the week went very quickly last week. We had snow during the night, hoping to catch some pictures later before it all melts away.

(the photos are clickable thumbnails leading directly to the Etsy listing).



xx

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Festive Goings On

I am very much enjoying my long Christmas break this year, it is nice to have a whole week off after Christmas before returning to my day job. I had a great Christmas, ate too much and received some lovely presents - some of which were handmade too!


My other half bought me this great Dr Who mouse from The House of Mouse and a handprinted notebook from Pumpkin Sputnik. The mouse is sitting in my jewellery studio and the notebook will be useful for keeping notes and ideas all in one place, rather than on bits of paper everywhere.


I also treated myself to a pincushion from Lupin's shop, and I was her 1,500th customer to boot, I received some brilliant freebies from her! The doves are also going in my studio and the flowers pinned on bags and coats :) I love the map writing set too, I think I might include some of these in my orders!

Being as we have had some free time we've used it to spend a bit more time outdoors, we visited Knole Park in Kent on Boxing day, which is full of deer roaming about freely, they are quite tame too so you can get really close up!We also visited Jimmys Farm in Suffolk this week, which has a great nature trail which includes rare breed chickens, guinea pigs (randomly!), ferrets and a lovely woodland walk.
We also stopped at their farm shop to pick up some pork, farmed just in the next field. I'll be blogging a gorgeous crispy pork noodle recipe later.


Amongst all of this I have also managed to make and list one new item for the shop, these Angelhair earrings. I adore these beads, they really jumped out at me when I was bead shopping, they are so interesting and in limited supply. I am definitely going to keep a pair for myself too. In my Etsy shop and soon to be in my Folksy shop too.

I am working on new designs for 2009, including a new version of my popular Two Lockets necklace, this time with oxidized silver chain which matches perfectly with brass lockets. I am eagerly awaiting more silver chain in the post so I can make and list this design. I hope you like it.

I am now going to end this mammoth blog post by wishing you a Happy New Year!


xx

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Merry Christmas!

So its nearly here, I think I am prepared. The tree is up, presents are wrapped and I have a couple of my handmade presents to finish off. I've tried hard this year to either buy handmade gifts or make handmade gifts, I have some very special gifts that I made myself which I shall blog about once everyone has received them!

I have one more day left of my proper day job and then I am away for a few days for a relaxing family Christmas, I think it will be a well earned break. I am hoping for snow but I don't think we will be that lucky!

My Etsy and Folksy shops are now closed for the Christmas period, I've had a great festive season in both shops, thank you to everyone that shopped with me, I hope your loved ones enjoy their gifts.

Merry Christmas to all my customers, blog readers and fellow crafters!
I'll be blogging my Christmas crafty projects in the new year :)


xx

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