I've been to England to Visit to the Queen

Today I was fortunate enough to visit the lovely shop of http://lovethatjewellery.etsy.com/ who welcomes you to her etsy shop with these words.

"Welcome to the world of The Queens's Royal Rocks! Here you will find glamorous glitz, pearls from the sea, stones from the earth and vintage pieces from times gone by. Mix all these up and you have found what I am all about.I hope that you will find something that your adore but if not then it would be my absolute pleasure to create something for you. Nothing is too much trouble, I scour the many antique fairs we have here in Kent and try to find beautiful unusual components to make each piece of jewellery unique to YOU! You will never find another lke it in the whole wide world, that's worth having don't you think?Please do contact me, I am a very friendly person, and love to chat, so what are you waiting for? xxx"

Here some items that are truly fit for a queen.

Do you Raku?

I have been a big fan of raku pottery for many years. I own a few vases and pots that look lovely in my home. Imagine my delight when I found a beautiful set of handmade Raku beads at the last gem show I attended. The results of that purchase are shown here. These are going to be hard for me to give up. I just love the way these pieces look, but alas that is what happens when you love your craft. I will sell them this season, but maybe next time I'll make an extra piece just for me.

Antiquing with Liver of Sulfur

I am so glad I decided to antique this piece. Thanks to my readers who voted yay. i put this piece into liver of sulpher. Copper looks so wonderful when it's bright and shiny,but we all know it doesn't stay that way. This piece has such a wonderful rich look now, due to all the buffing with steel wool and finally taking a tumble in my tumbler. It has made such a difference. Would love to know what you think!

A Girl Just Can't Have Enough...

Earrings of course! These are a few of my favorites which can all be found in my etsy shop at http://elektrajewelry.com/ .

Gardeners Beware!

I don't know about you, but one of my favorite summer delights is delicious home grown tomatoes. After experiencing some difficulties with garden pests such as groundhogs and deer, I decided to grow a patio tomato on my deck this summer. I was so proud of my beautiful plant. Lush and green,with many flowers it was one of the healthiest plants I'd ever seen. I babied this plant, fertilized it, watered it, and yes even talked to it.

I am sure you can guess where this is going. To make a long story short, I went away to the Berkshires for 4 days leaving my beautiful tomato laden plant at home. The last thing I did was tie it to the stakes because it had so many tomatoes on it, I did not want it to fall over and break.

When I returned from my trip the plant was devastated as you can see in the photos. Hideous creatures, tomato hornworms, attacked and devoured this plant in 2 days. I know it was done in a day or two because my son checked on the plants and told me that overnight all the leaves and most of the tomatoes were gone! Apparently these creatures are very hard to see until the enter the stage where they eat everything at a sickening rate just before they emerge as giant moths.

They will also attack potato , pepper and eggplant. Take a look at your plants today and make sure there are no caterpillars crawling around or you too may have a shocking discovery.

Take a look at this site for further info.http://www.tammysrecipes.com/tomato_hornworms

To Antique or not to Antique- That is the Question?

I am having a really hard time deciding whether or not to antique my latest piece of jewelry. I love the way the copper and silver look right now, but with time the copper will tarnish and will not have the same vintage look as some of my other pieces unless I decide to "antique" the necklace in liver of sulpher. I would love some feedback before I do anything. So please give me your opinions.

A Work in Progress

I have been working on new wire projects with a vengence since my Wild Wire Woman's Retreat and I am proud to present my lastest new necklace which is still unfinished. Stay tuned for the next installment. I will be asking for feedback and would love to have your input.