babies are more trouble than you thought… hah.

I was motivated to work on hairbands this week! Mainly because a certain little girl managed to break my 20 odd year old hairband to pieces. No more plastic pieces for her!

So, because I can, I got to work on a couple of new ones. On metal frames. Pretty happy with the results.

Except the model wasn’t quite cooperative. *sigh* cue memory on first line of the post. More proper shots of the hairband when I can get a better model or at least this one in a GOOD mood.

Today, I had this irritating bee in my bonnet that just refused to leave. So I finally got to work to edit the shop banner. I totally love the new font but apparently, not everyone does. And I must admit, it’s not easy to read. Definitely not the best thing you’d want in a banner.

So I swallowed up my sadness and clicked ‘delete’. Sigh. But the banner has been changed from an old pair of gorgeous carnelian earrings (that have long since sold) to that of the dreamy rose rose gold vermeil. Ahhh… bliss. It has been a long time coming really. You really don’t know how many emails  / convos I field with regards to the earrings (can you remake them / are they still available…).

Hop on over to the shop to sneak a peek at which of the remaining two was finally chosen.

More work… Editing images to be ‘web ready’. A couple of new items listed.

A peek into my stash (part thereof).

And my very pink packing station. (just FYI, I DO have a pair of pink scissors!)

Upcoming… I hope to list this amazing something blue piece later. It’s been sitting here for the longest time. Totally drool-able in reality.

So… I’d see you again next week. Over and out.

Till the next update, have fun. The weekend’s here. Woot.

Spent the weekend tinkering around with Swarovski crystals. Some experimental and some for a custom order. All I can say, boy, do the folks behind Swarovski really know what they are doing! A lot of dazzle for something still friendly on the pocket. Shimmer, shine, dazzle your way through dreary days.

My current hot faves are these simple studs. Simple, elegant pieces that are great for everyday wear. They are pocket-friendly and great as stocking stuffers, best friends’ gifts and / or wedding entourages. These round studs are currently available in the above colours but are customisable in just about every shade imaginable. Great fun!

Aren’t these the sweetest stars? *swoons*

Now available in store.

Easter is coming ~ Multiplication, the Bunny Hop Way

Uncovered some treasures in my stash, namely these awesome cuteness-to-goodness wooden bunny charms and could not help aww-ing at them. They made a good template for this quick and easy garland.

Did this for the fun of it, and for a craft session with the kids. If your kids are younger, maybe choose a basic repeating shape. It doesn’t have to be bunnies, perhaps eggs? Whatever works. I’ve a short ‘how to’ below but really, you don’t need it right? It’s a kindergarten craft!

Simple painless fun. Unless you cut yourself. Then, all bets are off.

Gather your materials. Paper, scissors, pencil. If you can draw freehand, go ahead. Otherwise find a template. If you like, fold it accordion style before you begin drawing. It helps you know just how much space you got to work with, and where you should have ‘joining’ parts.

As you trace your design or draw it freehand, make sure that there are parts of the design that touch the edges. If you have a sharp craft knife, use it. It makes cutting so much easier. Especially for the tight corners, the cuts turn out so much more crisp.

** I washed the paper over with a pale pink watercolour. Hence the pink shade. This craft, simple (to do and to find materials) works well in almost any situation. Print the child’s name on the individual pages, have the party’s theme, make a mini cake bunting (ok, you really need precision cutting… oh silhouette!)… you get the hint.

To be frank, the shop has had quite a fair bit of new items that have not had their day here on the blog. But I’d just stick to highlighting the REALLY really new items.

Above necklace is a beautiful rose pink hued glass pendant. It looks like rose quartz, but it isn’t. So you get more mileage out of your dollar.

 Joanna’s Treasure is a gorgeous work of nature. Our only druzy pendant available set in silver, it has a delicate inner rim of crystals. I personally select each druzy pendant and this was the best in silver rimming that I could find. I have one more set in gold (brownish-black hues) left. The other two having been sold. So, seriously, grab it while it is still in stock!

Sparkly rings with psychedelic finishes are a great addition to your wardrobe. Throw them on for weekend fun. They spruce up your outfit with a pop of colour and are so much fun. They are set on adjustable ring bases and are great for all ages. Have a favourite colour? Let me know. I’d see if I can hunt them down.

Do drop on by the shop

Imagine you got something in your Paypal cart. You click through and you should see this screen. If you have a Paypal account log in and proceed. (You don’t really need this tutorial do you?) If you don’t have a Paypal account, you can choose to create one or to pay with a credit card WITHOUT starting an account.

Select ‘Don’t have a PayPal account?’ ~ You should get to this page. Be sure to select ‘Singapore’ (or whatever country your credit card is from). Input your data correctly. Double check. As you do not have an account, the vendor and yourself, will be relying on whatever information you enter, and have no way of verifying.

Proceed to the next page and you should get this :-

You should be presented with this page. Check details again and PAY NOW. You should receive an email confirming your order/purchase. Do not delete as it contains about all the data you need should there be any dispute with the merchant.

If you have a Paypal account already and are having issues with sending/withdrawing funds, chances are you’d need to verify your account. And / or verify your credit cards. If you are verifying your cards, log in to your Paypal account.

You should see this screen. Hover over PROFILE, select add/edit credit cards. If you haven’t added any credit cards, add one. Follow the details onscreen. If you want to verify the card, select it and confirm verification request. You should see the following screens.

Wait for your credit card statement. If you have online access to your statements, you can get the code within the day or two. Meantime, log out go do your stuff and return back to Paypal with the code.

When you do have the code, it’s simple step of logging in, selecting add/edit cards.You’d see this :-

Enter your Paypal code and you should be set. Paypal will then reverse the charges and refund the payment. The transaction details can be seen on your homepage/account overview. Screenshot as seen in Pic 4 above.

** Verifying your account would allow you to remove your limit on sending/receiving funds. However, you might have individual limits imposed on your credit cards for security purposes. Confirming your credit card removes this second level of limitation.

Hope this helps.

Come visit!

** our RSS feed remains the same! Our shop is still redirected to Etsy so that we can concentrate on what matters. Crafting new pieces!

One year ago, the devastating tsunami hit Japan. One year on, they are still hard at work recovering. Thank you all who supported our donation efforts in aid of the tsunami victims.

Click through to see, Japan Tsunami, Then and Now.

It’s an overcast weather kind of Valentine’s. Terrible for photoshoot so I’d just leave it as that. A sneak peek into the latest offering we have been meaning to share. A dainty, teeny tiny heart strung on a delicate rope chain. Perfect for layering, suitable for personalisation, great for everyday wear. A barely there kind of piece that you don’t want to remove.

Anyhow, enough of jewelry. Since I can’t offer it today, I’ve ruffled hearts to share instead. Those on my twitter and instagram (sparklethots) feed would have seen the ruffled hearts from last week. I finally got the elusive last piece to complete the project. A shadowbox styled photoframe. I got this as a nesting set of 4 at Typo (Singapore seems to only have the turquoise and brown wood versions). Anyone know where else to get these sort of frames, tell me.

A pretty easy craft, you’d need approximately 1 hour to complete. Less if you work fast and don’t try to multi-task (*sheepish*).

You’d need :-

1. cloth remmants
2. heart shaped template
3. scissors
4. needle and thread (doesn’t matter what colour, cannot be seen)
5. shadowbox frame

What to do :-

1. cut out your heart base, doesn’t need to be perfect
2. cut the cloth remmants into approximately 2cm squares (again doesn’t need to be accurate)
3. pinch the square at the middle, and sew it onto the heart (I like to start at the centre tip)
4. sew as many or as few as you like, the more you sew the denser the heart
5. occasionally pause to ‘ruffle’ the sewn squares to see how it is coming along
6. trim the heart to shape (if it goes ‘off’)
7. fit it into the shadowbox

Re the shadowbox… while the stock picture of the Eiffel tower is pretty and all, it just doesn’t go with the heart. I lined the frame with some pretty scrapbook paper instead. Scarilege maybe but so much nicer!

Some tips to note :-

Keep an inch around the heart and frame. It works much better this way. Any fabric can be used, I used tee-shirt scraps.