I've been thinking.....

....and buying....

Even though I have a ton of stuff I have been buying more stuff....

I am a very lucky girl (by the way don't argue with me about teh girl bit even though I'm far too old to warrant it).  One of my belly dance students is a lovely lovely lady who happens to work in a place that means she can bring me a bag of unloved jewellery and bits and bobs.  I love to get a bag from her on a Sunday afternoon - I get it home, leave it tantalising me till the children are in bed and then I pour a glass of wine and very slowly get each item out. It's like Christmas when she does this for me....  

About 50% of what you can see above is from her and the picture above is about 0.0005% of what I have stashed.....

So what have I done recently?  Bought more!  OMG.  I've sold stuff recently and so I decided to splash out on new tools and new things to add to my stash so that I can play with more creative avenues.  I shall add these new creative avenues to some of the other things that have appealed to me recently because as we all know, when you have no free time why not pursue myriad avenues.... (hoho).

One of the things I bought recently was a tutorial (ok, three tutorials) from the hugely talented Fanciful Devices (OMG I am her blog stalker extraordinaire at the moment) and in accordance with her generous instructions I am posting photos of my version of her gypsy tribal bangle stacks.  If she reads this I have to assure her that I still need to age the bangles properly (I will, I will I promise!) but the main point is I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.  Finding the right wire was a pain in the arse but that's another story.

Here you go:

Yes, I know the photos are bright and shiny and as soon as I can I will be putting into practice the lessons given by Sparrow Salvage (someone else I'm blog stalking, not just for her photography tips but her equally awesome and inspiring jewellery).  I plan to be better at everything I do and at the moment I am consumed with reading/drinking in the blogs by these two artisans in particular in order to ensure this happens.  (I won't blame them at all if I turn out to be crap.....).

Although I should not forget to mention Tribalis and Stregata - ohhh how I covet their style and artistry....

So, here's a little peek at what I've been up to in my creative corner of the kitchen...

(yup, that's it just there..)

Some of what you see here has already been taken apart and re-worked a little and you can be sure I'll keep you posted once I'm happier with what's going on.

I should also add that I now have creative constipation because I'm worried about copying other people (see above) too much.  However, I have a weekend without the children coming up so I shall try and make the most of it.  Don't hold your breath though.....