Sparkly Treasures

Tag - im it !

noreply@blogger.com (Nicky Ryan) — Mon, 11 May 2009 19:10:00 +0000

Was the lovely Kerry Boulter of KEBO Jewellery subtly trying to tell me it was about time I updated my blog when she tagged me ?. Maybe, but even if she wasn't its still its given me a reason to get my thumb out! Thanks Kerry.

Its an 8 Tag so here we go :

8 Things I am looking Forward too.....

1. Christmas - I love Christmas, enough said.
2. Being a stone lighter by Summer
3. Summer - and all the new clothes ill be able to wear (see No.2)
4. Building my new studio - its going to be mahoosive.
5. My little fella starting school in September
6. The new Terminator movie
7. Going to London and maybe meeting a friend for the first time.
8. My Birthday, this years the big 30 for me. Im trying to convince myself im okay with it !.

8 Things I Did Yesterday...

1. Cleaned my kitchen
2. Visited my mum
3. Went to Bingo in the first time in over a year - won £15 on a line !! Rock n Roll.
4. Took some old furniture to the tip.
5. Messed around with the back end of my website.
6. Made a new ring.
7. Finished a necklace for a bride to be.
8. Started on a new design.

8 Things I Wish I Could Do....

1. Deliver Babies
2. Cook
3. Spend more than half a day in the studio.
4. Drive a really fast car round a race track.
5. Go on holiday to exotic locations
6. Dance. Salsa and Street
7. Eat lots of cake and not put on any weight.
8. Have an attention span of more than 5 minutes.
8 Shows I Watch....

1. Lost
2. Fringe
3. Eleventh Hour
4. Skins
5. Inbetweeners
6. CSI
7. Hero's - mmm Sylar !
8. Battlestar Galactica - I know its finished now, but I'll just start watching it again from the beginning.

So those are my 8's. My turn to tag you. Here's the rules, just in case you want to follow them:

1. Mention the name of the person who tagged you.
2. Do the lists of 8.
3. Tag 8 bloggers of your choice.
4. Let them know that they have been tagged!

And heres who ive tagged.

Jo - Daisychain Jewellery
Laura - Beads By Laura
Amanda - Kitschy Coo
Beady Pool
Jelveh - Jelveh Designs
Mel - Kookie Designs
Ali - All About the Beads
Tina - Tinas Lampwork Beads

Phew panic over !

noreply@blogger.com (Nicky Ryan) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:12:00 +0000

Yay its back.

Many thanks to my hosting company who restored it in less than 45mins - now I must learn not to mess with things that maybe I don't understand. Ha !

Stupid Stupid Me

noreply@blogger.com (Nicky Ryan) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:56:00 +0000

You may notice if you visit my site that its not is usual lovely self. That's because I some how managed to overwrite my database. Hopefully a backup will be able to restore it and it will be back very soon. Failing that I'm going to sit in the corner and cry :(

New Lovelies at Last

noreply@blogger.com (Nicky Ryan) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 20:08:00 +0000

Sssshhh, listen. Can you hear that ? Silence. And its beautiful. The children went back to school this week and now there is no more bickering and moaning and things are slowly returning to normal.

Monday was my little fellas 4th birthday so it was a day full of presents, playing, party food and Ben 10 birthday cake. Tuesday was back to work but in the evening I managed to get the light tent out and take some new photos of my Wedding Collection and the pieces I made the other week.

So here we have Linen Pendant a tag style pendant with a rolled linen pattern. It has then been oxidized to bring out the texture.

Linen Disk Earrings again with the linen texture, two dinky disks sit together and swing from handcrafted ear wires.

And finally, an addition to the Armour Collection, a hammered pair of Hoopla earrings. I love the hammered texture as it just bounces the light in every direction.

All three of these new additions will be added to the website in the next day or so. One thing at a time eh ?!

Slightly Smaller Lazy Bum

noreply@blogger.com (Nicky Ryan) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 21:51:00 +0000

Its a classic case of the Funks that's kept me away for so long again. I think hurting my back was the start of it, as I just couldn't sit for long periods of time. I got to enjoy laying on the sofa and the lazy arse part of me indulged it for a little too long.

Then its the age old phenomenon of the more time you have the less you do. I got in a mood with myself for not doing anything but wouldn't do anything about it. I only have myself to blame. That and getting into the swing of thing with my new job - the one I told you about ages ago, I got it and (so far) I love it.

All is not lost though, as I do have a few pieces that I managed to get made which just need a little bit more love and for me to get my lazy butt in gear and take some pics and they will be up on the site.

Oh on a lighter note (get it, no ? you will in a second), about 10 weeks ago I started attending my local slimming class. As my little ones are nearly 10 and 4 I could no longer blame my excess weight on baby belly. My 30th birthday is looming this year and decided that I do not want to be "Fat and Thirty" it was time to do something about it. This week I weighed in 1st 6.5lbs lighter than when I started and im now half way to my goal weight. I'm so chuffed and this afternoon after going out any buying a few cheapy transition clothes I started emptying my wardrobe of everything that is too big for me. I now have a bin liner full of stuff the for the charity shop, and very little in my closet.

Big Grin !

Ouch !

noreply@blogger.com (Nicky Ryan) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 21:37:00 +0000

I tell you I'm not having a good time of it lately. Ive had some pretty heavy stuff happen to me last week. Not all that I can share because it involves other people but needless to say its effected my greatly.

What I can share with you is why this post is titled Ouch ouch ouch. It all started back on Wednesday when my little sis convinced me to have a go on her Wii Fit. You see I'm on a diet and so far have lost 13.5lbs and figured it would be a good idea to start getting some exercise in - cue Wii Fit. After just one session my thighs were screaming at me, and I don't blame them, I haven't done any proper exercise in years. You know what its like for the next day or so, your legs ache and i was walking like i had no knees lol.

Bleary eye'd Friday morning I got up and started to go down stairs. My legs decided they didn't actually want to, seized up and I fell. From the top right down to the bottom, and boy did it hurt. I sat there some what dazed, and assessed the damage. Apart from a sore bottom, grazed arms and a thumping head there didn't appear to be much wrong so I carried on about my day. As the day wore on my back/bum just kept feeling worse and worse, until it became difficult to sit down without shooting pains through my backside.

After some gentle nagging (you know who you are) I made my way up to the doctors and it turns out I've damaged my coccyx. Boo :(

The doctor gave me some strong painkillers and I was told to rest. I didn't realise exactly how strong they were and ended up feeling sick and very drunk. Needless to say as a mother, its difficult to be in that state with children around so yesterday I decided that I cant take them and I'm just going to have to grin and bare it.

I had great plans for this week, but I'm just going to have to play it by ear. It hurts to sit down so the studio days I had planned for are going to have to go on hold and I'm going to try and catch up on all the things I can do standing up.

Bummer - literally !

Kookie Designs Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Nicky Ryan) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 20:26:00 +0000

Mel Poxon of Kookie Designs was so inspired after winning my Giveaway the other week that she is running on her own Giveaway on her blog. Up for grabs is a super funky cluster necklace made with Lampwork beads by Mindy from Moogin Beads.

All you have to do is visit her website, take a look at all her funky jewellery, pick a favourite and then post back on her blog - easy peasy. So make sure you take a look and get yourself entered. Winner will be drawn on Friday 20th March. Good luck !

New Initial Pendants

noreply@blogger.com (Nicky Ryan) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 09:56:00 +0000

Ive wanted to try and do Initial pendants for ages, but it was more of a case of choosing a design that suited my style. Ages ago I did a cut out pendant for Laura, but the issue with that type was when it came to doing letters with holes like e,o and p. So I wanted a way of being able to do a full letter without stamping or etching it into the metal.

As I was falling asleep one night last week the idea of overlaying popped into my head and I was lucky that it was still there the next day. Cue getting out to the studio to give it a test drive.

I'm extremely pleased with how they turned out, and will be offering them on the website sometime next week.

Huzzah, texture at last !

noreply@blogger.com (Nicky Ryan) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 15:40:00 +0000

It had been a while since I used my rolling mill and Ive had it about a year now. You see I have tried to use it, lots, but for some reason it and I just don't seem to get along. Unless its used for flattening out wire or straightening out some sheet its just not been playing ball. Over the past few months I have tried, unsuccessfully to roll different textures on to silver, and me being the impatient so and so that I am have just walked away mumbling to myself that it was no good.

Well last week I figured it was time to try again. I must of got the settings just right as when I passed some scrap sheet through it with a bit of fabric it took really well. So I jumped at the chance and ran a bigger piece of silver though and then proceeded to make these lovely earrings.

Named Linen after the fact that its a fabric texture, they have been curved slightly to sit perfectly on the ear. They catch the light beautifully and if you look closely you can see the cross hatch pattern. I made two pairs, a dinkly little pair and a pair slightly larger, both can my found on the website and I reckon they would make a great gift for a special mum !.

Yesterday was really productive. I enjoyed a full day in the Studio, something that I haven't had in a long time. Even if its a bitter sweet situation where I should actually of been at work it was nice to really get my teeth into some new ideas that I had over the weekend. Ill get some photos of them done tonight and show you tomorrow.

More Champagne ??

noreply@blogger.com (Nicky Ryan) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 16:32:00 +0000

After working on this pendant, it flooded my brain with lots of other ideas on how to implement the bubbles design. So here we have earrings - and a ring !

Im really pleased with how the ring turned out, its been a long time since I made any and I think im going to have to start making more. All of the Chamagne range will be on the website as Limited Edition items.

Lend an Ear Anyone ?

noreply@blogger.com (Nicky Ryan) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 11:08:00 +0000

Ive been a bit quiet, this and last week can only be described (politely) as Interesting. Here's a little "Previously in the House Of Sparkly Treasures" to bring you up to speed.

I live in an old Victorian house that dates approx 110 years old. It has lovely high ceilings and big rooms and big windows. Unfortunately most of the original fixtures have been removed and we have a downstairs bathroom, but its not the end of the world. We've already spent a lot of money on doing the house up over the years, as you can appreciate when something is as old as my house it can take more than a lick of paint to fix it up.

Well I decided that now we have an Ikea just down the road that it was the livingrooms turn to have a bit of a face lift. I knew about the bad plaster and slightly damp patch in the corner of the room but had worked that into the equation and arranged for a plaster to come and give me a quote. After 2 plasterers didn't even bother turning up (whats that all about) a local builder finally arrived. Long story short after 4 different builders have given me their professional opinion and it looks like its not just a case of doing a little re plastering oh no, it couldn't be that easy.

The fact the plaster has blown is because we have damp, but not just a little bit of damp, Ive got full on water ingress coming in just above the damp course. Because of the age of the house, and the fact that it was around in the WW2 bombings, it basically makes the slate damp course pointless. This has in turn rotted most of the floor joists (always wondered why the floor bounced, now I know). To remedy all this we going to have to remove all the plaster from the walls, have it specially treated and re plastered, oh and the floor and joists have to be completely replaced ! So Ive been stamping my feet and having a proper tantrum as all I want to do is decorate.

That on top of lots of other pointless tiny little things has made for a really naff few weeks. But last Friday I received a lovely bunch of flowers from my mate Laura, specifically to make me smile - and it worked.

Then this Monday the cat took ill so hubby had to take him to the vets. We were told it was touch and go, but after some medication and good care we got him back yesterday and a lovely bill for £275, I think we really should have insurance for them.

And to top it all off yesterday the the company I do part time work for told me that there is no more work. Gutted.

But.......there might be a little light on the horizon as I'm waiting for a phone call about a new job already. In the meantime I'm going to put the spare time to good use and get some lovely jewellery made.

Apologies for the long winded moany post, I do try not to do it very often. I will be back a bit later with some pretties that I managed to make amidst all the chaos.

We Have A Winner !

noreply@blogger.com (Nicky Ryan) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 18:54:00 +0000

And that winner is..............................................

Mel said :-

" I have 2 favs, is that greedy? I LOVE Ashen bracelet and adore the Silver Victorian necklace. They are all stunning!"

Congrats Mel, I will be contacting you shortly and get your necklace in the post to you.

Thank you to everyone who entered, and welcome to the new followers. I really appreciate your comments and its really interesting to see what everyone likes. No doubt I will be doing another Giveaway in the future so keep your eyes peeled.

Champagne

noreply@blogger.com (Nicky Ryan) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 11:13:00 +0000

Over the last week I was able to get out to the studio despite it being the school holidays. What evolved was this lovely new pendant. Named Champagne, its represents floating bubbles.

I'm really happy with how it turned out and how have loads of idea on how to implement this new design into other pieces of jewellery. It should keep me busy over the next week or so.

And don't forget, I'm running a giveaway to win one of my Hoopla Pendants and you only have two more days to enter !

Time for a Giveaway - Now Closed

noreply@blogger.com (Nicky Ryan) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:02:00 +0000

I thought that it was about time that I had a giveaway for all my lovely blog readers. It ties in nicely with the launch of the new website and is a great way of being able to say thank you.

The lovely pendant above is from the new Hoopla range. A series of hollow disks with various textures (this one is Ashen) and then slightly domed.

So all you have to do to win is take a look at the new website and let me know what your favourite item is by posting in the comments section (remember to leave your name). I will then draw a name on Friday evening and let you know who won.

New Website

noreply@blogger.com (Nicky Ryan) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 11:54:00 +0000

If you've checked out Sparkly Treasures in the last few hours or so you may of noticed some slight changes !

This is what has been keeping me busy for the last few months (yes months, its taken me a while lol) and at last its finished and ready to be shown to the world. The old website was completely built by myself and as a result didn't have a lot of functionality, the new one is now all singing and dancing and hopefully a lot more user friendly. So go check it out and let me know what you think.

Also, Id like to add my thanks Hannah & Jo for all their help with setting the site up - without you it might of been another couple of months before it came to life.

The things they say !

noreply@blogger.com (Nicky Ryan) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 12:28:00 +0000

On our walk home from pre-school this lunchtime......

Me : Pick your feet up sweetie

Ollie : Sorry mum. I'm very tired, I had SUCH a hard day at school today !!

Oh to be 3 again.

Up and coming newness

noreply@blogger.com (Nicky Ryan) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 14:26:00 +0000

I know, I went awol again. See what happens when I post nearly everyday ? I just over do it lol.

Although its not been all play I can assure you. Ive been working behind the scenes on something really important and its taken me longer that I would of liked, but hey, life sometimes gets in the way, and these things have to be just right.

Wont be long I promise.

A Day in the Life of ....

noreply@blogger.com (Nicky Ryan) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 08:16:00 +0000

Moi !

Just in case you didn't know enough about me already you can head over to Indie Quarter and find out some more !

So, how did it go ?

noreply@blogger.com (Nicky Ryan) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 13:14:00 +0000

I had planned on blogging about this as soon as I got back from it on Sunday night, but as you'll see things became a little bit eventful.

Sunday went extremely well, I arrived in good time and set up my stand. As I mentioned it was my intention to have dry run through the stand as I was doing it a different way to what I normally do but unfortunately I didn't get round to doing it so ended up playing around with it once I got there. With 2 hours to set up I wasn't too worried about it and managed to pull off what I think was quite a nice display.

With people already queuing up, doors opened at 11am and it was every stall holder for themselves lol. I'd promised myself that I would make a real effort to drag myself out of my shy shell and chat to people as at these type of events are not about making sales on the day, but getting people to remember you.

Straight away I received compliments on my display and jewellery, which was extremely encouraging, this made it very easy to slip into conversation and explain to people what I do, and what surprised me was the amount of people who didnt realise that it was completely handcrafted.

I became more confident throughout the day, and had lots of really good conversations with brides to be. They had lots of fun trying on different pieces and discussing ideas and all things wedding based.

The organisers said it was the best show yet, with around 750 people coming through the door, obviously they were not all brides but it now explains how I ran out of my lovely flyer's and had to start handing out my business cards instead - note for next time - get more flyer's !.

4pm came round extremely quickly and I was soon packed up and heading home by half past (how come it takes 2 hours to set up but only 30mins to get it all away?). I was looking forward to getting home and having some dinner, putting my feet up and blogging. How wrong could I of been.

I came home to a screaming 3 year old, turned out he had fallen and banged his wrist. He was in such a lot of pain and would hardly let you touch it. Quick call to my sister (remember shes a nurse) who popped round, took a look and said that we should take him down to casualty.

So off we trotted, much to the disappointment of the little one who was insisting that we stay at home, got booked in and then proceeded "the wait". You know the one, where your in a room full of injury inflicted people, you scout around trying to work out who looks worse off. The wait just to see the triage nurse was over half an hour. When we got to see her she wasn't convinced that it wasn't broken and that he would probably need an xray.

Now normally at this point you get given a card and told to go down to the xray department, have an xray, then come back to the waiting room until the doctor gets round to see you, BUT as the little one is under 5 he needs to be assessed by a doctor first. That means waiting, and watching all the bigger ones, who have already had their xrays go in before you.

After 3 hours we were eventually called in and to cut what is even longer story short, were sent for an xray (he was so good, as we told him all about how it was a special camera that took pictures of your bones) and he hadn't broken his wrist, thank goodness.

Got home about 10 after stopping off at the golden arches as none of us had any dinner (yeah that's another thing, vending machines in A&E, why are they full of rubbish, the healthiest thing i could get was a packed of Mini Cheddars!!!) and after getting him to bed i got to put my feet up at last.

Phew, and if that wasn't enough, I had work the next day and then it was up to Oxford in the evening to see Laura. I havent stopped!

How Cool ??

noreply@blogger.com (Nicky Ryan) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 21:18:00 +0000

Had to show you these, they just just so cool. We have a new Ikea opening next month which will basically make Southampton come to a stand still. But with these maybe I could put off going for a while ! hmmm

Fridays Child is....

noreply@blogger.com (Nicky Ryan) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 20:43:00 +0000

.....Soo tired, and slightly off course !!

Today I was supposed to have a run through of my display, except I spent all day running around doing silly little things that shouldn't of taken as long as they did. Remember I needed some printer paper ? Well would you believe that i went to 4 big shops and all of the had "just run out" someone obviously has a fetish for paper and decided to beat me to every shop and buy it all. Luckily I was able to borrow some from a friend and get all my printing done. Hubby's just finished folding them all into booklets (thanks hun xx)

I also made up my crystal and pearl sample stands this afternoon, it was a bit of a pain but so worth it in the end. As you can see they've turned out pretty cool, i know they will look great on my stall.

Talking of stalls, I have this vision in my head that I cant seem to shift about how its going to look. I want to make it look like a dressing table with a big mirror and a jewellery box and other dressing table stuff and then position the jewellery around the table. I really wish id been able to give it a go today, as if it doesn't work ill end up resorting to my normal stand which isn't very wedding like.

I also have to pack all my kit up and tidy up this bomb of a house. I'm sad to say i haven't lifted a finger round the house this week and its starting to stress me out. I know it will get done next week when its all over with, but I find it so difficult to work in a mess.

Well I havent finished yet, so I had better get to. Hope you have a great weekend.

Thursday - Just

noreply@blogger.com (Nicky Ryan) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 23:46:00 +0000

Woah, nearly missed this one, I ended falling asleep this evening as I had a splitting headache, luckily the snooze and watching an episode of CSI has sorted it, but now its late and I really should be heading for bed.

I took much pleasure in ticking all of today's tasks of my list, Yay! All that needs doing is to buy some, higher than tesco value, printer paper (great for kids, not for paperwork) and 2 A4 frames so that I can mount the Swarovski crystal & pearl samples I have.

I even managed to squeeze in a hair appointment today, I've gone from having past shoulder length to a layered jawline bob with fringe. I also had my highlights done so I'm feeling all flouncy and bouncy with my new hair !

Right, im off to bed....... roll on tomorrow.

Wednesday - Kinda Done

noreply@blogger.com (Nicky Ryan) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 16:00:00 +0000

So today I had to take photos and price and label everything up. I'm halfway there having taken about a gazillion photos but I'm yet to do the pricing. Ill have to do that this evening now as the kids are home from school and have already started fighting over the remote control (I cant wait for the warm weather to get here).

I managed to nab back the cuff links from my dad so I could take a couple of photos for my records and to show you. My Dad is a big Star Trek fan, which in turn was passed down to me. I remember when I was a child having a bath and getting out just in time to watch the Original Series (re runs obviously) and loving it. Even hubby is a massive fan and were all really looking forward to the new film coming out this year, which is made even better by the fact that Zachary Quinto is playing Mr Spock.

So, what do you think ?

Tuesday - Done

noreply@blogger.com (Nicky Ryan) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 23:35:00 +0000

What my dining room currently looks like, although what you cant see the mass of mess to the left hand side.
Things are starting to come together.

The countdown begins......

noreply@blogger.com (Nicky Ryan) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 23:30:00 +0000

This is the week that I turn will turn into a complete mess getting ready for the Bridal exhibition on Sunday. I always find it funny that I stress out about it so much as I've know about it as far back as October, but as it was so far in the distance and life got in the way its been pushed further and further back until I am now here contemplating building a time or cloning machine to help me get things sorted.

So today, during the midst of a power cut I gathered all the jumblings in my head and started to put them on to paper to create a Day by Day To Do list for this week- and looking at it now I feel better already.

So, here's what I have to do :

Tuesday -

Finish off final pieces of jewellery, I have a few necklaces that need clasps and a few pendants that need polishing and tumbling.

Wednesday -

Photograph Jewellery (this is one i always forget to do in the run up to a show and I will always sell the things i haven't taken pictures of) Start pricing up the new pieces and give them appropriate names and numbers.

Thursday -

Type up and print out order forms, t&c stuff, make up Crystal and Pearl charts for colour matching jewellery.

Friday -

Run thought display as it will be different to my normal one, this will give me time to pick up any last minute props or last minute "ohh i know what will look good" changes.

Pick up leaflets from the printers.

Pack up - I'm working the bread and butter job on Saturday so need to be ready before hand.

So, unless Ive missed out anything blaring obvious I think that's everything, it actually feels quite nice to have my week mapped out for me. Maybe its something I need to do more regularly.

Ill try and update during the week and keep you updated with my progress ha !

The picture above is the front of my new leaflet that ill be handing out on Sunday.