spotted in peppermint!

Spotted in the current issue of Peppermint Magazine? My sweet vintage glass bunnies! Thank you Peppermint!

Cheers!

It's time for a GIVE-AWAY! Yay! The crowd goes wild! I am giving away a pair of 'Shimmer' earrings to thank all my fans, followers and friends, for being so supportive of wing by sea. Seriously if it wasn't for all of you, it would not have been half the fun.

These are the earrings you could win! Sterling silver earwires, with a dangling sterling silver ball, beneath which shimmying strands of sterling silver chain sway. I hope you love them, I think they would be perfect for celebrating in!

How to enter:

Well it's super simple!

All you need to do to enter is visit either of my shops and come back here and let me know your favorite piece of jewellery! I'd love to know what you all love ;)

wing by sea on Etsy - http://www.etsy.com/shop/wingbysea

wing by sea on MadeIt - http://www.madeit.com.au/wingbysea

For a second entry, tweet my giveaway - include @wingbysea in your tweet, and come back here and let me know you did!

The winner will be chosen by a random number generator on Saturday the 25th, entries close at 9pm (Sydney, Australia time!). Please ensure to leave some way to contact you, or check back here Saturday the 25th to see who won!

Thank you and good luck!

This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.

Giveaway time!

You'll have to be quick, but today there is a great giveaway of a $30 voucher for my Etsy shop! Just visit Calico & Co, a gorgeous blog full of lots of inspiration, created by the lovely Amanda Fuller. I'm helping celebrate their first birthday!
 So whether it's something for yourself, or great timing to choose a present for your mother, sister, cousin or friend, scoot over there right now and enter!

image source

spring it on!

It's Wednesday! And the first day of Spring, down here in the southern hemisphere anyway. Browsing my favourites for something lovely to share today, these three caught my eye. The soft reddish pink and sky blue colour combination are classic, and perfect for spring. I can see this print being added to my collection, it would be a lovely addition to some of our own beach pool and sea urchin photos. The blue wire magazine rack is just adorable, and would get all my magazines off the dining room table, for a while at least! And as the weather warms up, time for bangles again! Enjoy!

Surf Lounge (4 x 4 print) by pugly pixel

Blue Magazine Rack from Fishbone Deco

 

Turquoise cuff by the shag bag

sweet sets

Sometimes I just want a simple little earring, just a cute little drop, preferably in sterling silver so it won't irritate my ears. After a recent custom order of exactly the same sort of thing I got to thinking perhaps I'm not the only one! I also love matching sets - so I had the idea of listing sweet little sets of earrings, I think they are fun, I hope you think so too! The first set is available now in my Etsy shop.

my creative space

This was my creative space last night - finishing up the ninth pair of earrings out of ten for a special custom order. I'm sadly abusing my cutting mat, but it saves the dining room table!

stretchy!

I was admiring some of my semi-precious beads recently and was inspired to do something simple, with silver accents, to feature the lovely colours and finishes. I have also been thinking a great deal about bracelet fastenings, there never seems to be one easy and popular solution to the difficulty of putting on your own bracelet. This lovely bundle of stretchy bracelets were the result of my meanderings. There's something quite lovely about holding a handful of gorgeous stones!

weird light

Check out what the light was doing yesterday afternoon when I was taking shots of some new earrings. It was getting late in the afternoon and the sun was creeping over the piece of timber I use for my background, and it was giving foggy effects to the shots. Really weird! But kind of pretty I thought?

 

don't forget...

What do you forget? Do you write yourself little notes? I love post it notes, I'm forever opening my handbag to find a little flurry of them with all sorts of things written on them. This week I wanted to remember to make a pair of earrings I thought up while I was at work one day. This is my terrible little sketch...


... which resulted in these earrings. As soon as I drew it I knew it was wrong, but that was okay because as long as I had the note I knew what to do. I'm calling them Comet.

wishlist wednesday

I noticed these colours crop up recently in my favourites - a lovely grassy green and amber orange tones, and I think there is something so appealing about them! They seem optimistic, but with a sense of humour. More jewellery loveliness for my wishlist today, yes I am addicted thank you very much. Chelsea Hotel earrings by Leaves of Glass, Facet resin bangle in Amber by Milkwood Design, and a cute collection of vintage lucite clip ons from Mean Old Bags.

an adorable treasury!

Thanks to the amazing Julie Blanchette my little thingomatic shop on Etsy is in an adorable treasury! The idea behind the range of jewellery I'm stocking in thingomatic is something cute, something you can wear everyday, and something inexpensive! A treat you don't need to feel guilty about, or an ideal little gift.

what have i been doing?

These are some of the pieces I worked on in the last few days. Starting at the top left and working clockwise:

a) currently unnamed, cute little dangles using brass findings and vintage glass and metal beads.

b) Nero d'oro - black gold, seemed a fitting name for these sultry looking earrings using a vintage gold plated charm, vermail wavy discs, oxidised sterling and my own handmade hooks. I only had four of these charms, so I've made two pairs of the earrings.

c) Sun comes up - intensely yellow faceted citrine with handmade brass rings (from another etsy member) and brass findings. Very cheerful and simple!

d) currently unnamed swing earrings, another of my swing earrings, I love this style, and decided to use these tiny gorgeous turquoise coloured czech glass cubes this time.

Naming products can be either very easy, or dreadfully difficult! Most names pop into existence as soon as I see the finished piece, or the first time I see a photo of the piece. They can be bits of a song, common turns of phrase, or a word that just seems to sum up the first impression I get. For those few that don't just pop into being, well, it takes time. However I am feeling particularly foggy today, so any suggestions for the two unnamed pairsof earrings would be great! Do you name your creative endeavours? How do you do it?

why i love photoshop

I love photoshop.

I must admit for most photos I do very little, just tweak the levels and crop them to size. But every now and again, some serious background work needs doing to turn a useless shot with potential into something I'm really quite happy with.

Here is a recent example. The timber slat I use as my background for most of my photos is just too small, especially for necklaces and other long or bulky items. But I love the colour of it, and the way the light hits it. I will need to find a new piece I know, but until then, I love photoshop!

The 'before' shot...

...and the 'after' shot!

a quick front page!

This treasury with my deep water earrings shot to the front page of Etsy today before I had the chance to have a look! Thank you Julie!