I have been bad, I know. I have not blogged for over a month! I was so busy in September trying to get my family tree research done for my mum's 60th birthday. I loved doing it, it is so fascinating to find out what made you who you are and where you came from. I managed to trace my mum's paternal family right back to the 13th century, which was amazing. Its kind of weird because I grew up in a very small village called Cowfold in a county called West Sussex in the south of England and I always thought that my Grandparents came from South London, as that was where my mum grew up, but it turns out the my mother's paternal ancestors came from a small village in West Sussex a few miles from where I grew up. I managed to trace me mother's maternal ancestors back to the 17th century and found out that one of her great grandfathers was an Excise officer, who, as the story goes died by drowning at the age of 38 , I would love to find out more about that.

I am now researching my step-family history as part of a Christmas gift for my step-father and I am still really enjoying it. But, I am now able to fit in reading time again and now that the nights are drawing in and the weather is getting cold, I am getting back to my normal reading level. So I will be posting on here every morning as I have really missed my blogging!

I have almost given up on my 100+ reading challenge as I now that I am not going to make it, but there is always next year!

As I am doing loads of Christmas knitting and making jewelry for Christmas presents I have been listening to lots of Audio books and I am currently listening to Bleak House by Charles Dickens, and I am really enjoying it.

I am also reading The Evil Seed by Joanne Harris which is so far really good!

Ps I will be posting some pictures of my makes soon but my boyfriend took my camera batteries out of my camera and used them for his Xbox joypad! Grrrrrrrr!

A separate blog for my Books & Book Challenges!

I have decided to make a separate blog just for my books and my book challenges as I thought it would be good to separate my book posts from my craft posts. So my new book blog is called The Scruffy Bookshelf. This is where all my book challenges etc will now be. Hopefully, this will help motivate me to read more and watch TV less, as I am almost ashamed to admit I have become addicted to Big Brother 2009 this year, and I haven't been reading as much I normally would.
I hope that you all have a good weekend and that you are having better weather where you are, then we are here!

Lots of rain and a Celtic Cross Pendant.

It has been an awful day today, weather wise, so I was able to sit down and have a play with some wire and my Wire Jig. I have realised that I am a bit naughty as I have quite a bit of Jewelry making equipment that I have bought and never really used, my Wire Jig is one of them. I found the project for this Celtic cross pendant from Linda Jones Celtic Wire & Bead Jewelry book ( which is really good btw). As ever, I am being very critical of my work, and I really am not sure whether I like this or not. Andrew says that he likes it, but I am not sure. It is made from 1mm silver wire with Turquoise ( or Chinese Turquoise) beads. I have then strung it on a black cord.

I have been thinking about keeping a Celtic theme to my Jewelry, as I love Celtic Jewelry and I wear that more then any other type of Jewelry. Mind you, If I am right ( which I may not be) I believe that the eastern side of Scotland, especially Fife was once called Pictland, so maybe I should do some research on Pictish Jewelry ( if there is such a thing!)Thank you for looking!
Big Hugs,

3C Scroll Pendant.

I haven't been able to sit down and concentrate on anything crafty this week as my dog charlie has been unwell, thankfully she is 100% again and being a little B****r today! I have been spoiling her rotten all week and I think that I have made a rod for my own back! Now that I don't feel I have to watch her every move like a hawk I managed to sit down and make some Jewelry today, and Andrew decided that he wanted to help as he has been thinking about starting to make Jewelry too. the pendant design is from a Linda Jones book of Celtic wire & Bead Jewelry.I also took some pictures last night of Charlie, whilst she was trying to get me to play with her Tennis Ball ( I have had to put the Tennis Ball on my lap to get he to stand still long enough to take the pictures)!Thank you for looking and I hope that you all have had a brilliant weekend!

Tree of Life Pendants

I have been wanting to make this pendant for ages, but I didn't think I could do it, but today I thought that I would at least try, and this is what I came up with. I have used pink/light rose gem chips with silver plated wire, the pendant is on a light pink/salmon pink leather thong cord.This one was my first attempt, I don't know which one I prefer, This one is made with Turquoise gem chips on a sliver plated wire.

Todays Makes.

I made this necklace Thursday, it is kind of a work in progress as there is something about the pendent that is not quite right. I got the initial idea from a page in Make Jewelry magazine, but I have modified it quite a lot. I am not sure how it needs changing, but I know it does. That said, I do like it and I think that it has potential!


I made this pendant today, It is made from 1.2 mm sliver plated wire wrapped with a 28 gauge wire and Turquoise chips. I am quite pleased with this pendant, I was going to put it on a necklace of Turquoise gem chips and sliver spacer beads, but I thought I would do something different with this, so I put it onto some black cord. I got the idea for this pendent from a magazine, but I have changed it slightly

Thank you for looking! I hope that you are all having a great weekend!

2 Necklaces & a Bracelet.

I made this necklace a few days ago, but just as I was about to take a photo of it, my batteries ran out in my camera ( typical)! In this necklace I have used to same semi precious black chips as I used in the red heart necklace ( I still can't remember what they are called, but when they are held up to the light they have like an oil effect to them. I have also used some pink/rose chips, which I also don't know the name of! ( Note to self: make a note of what I am using) I also made a bracelet to match the necklace.The necklace below is a new technique that I have learnt called wire wrapping beads,

Thank you for looking!