Come on Safari at Gossamer Dreams

Gossamer Dreams is on safari this month with the theme "Out of Africa". With gorgeous photos supplied by Margo at The Climbing Tree we were all inspired to go wild and find our favourite African animals, prints, fabrics and ideas to come up with some gorgeous OOAK items for the October stocking.

I love the diversity of African jewellery....it can be bright and colourful, neutral tones like the savannah, layered, long, short, anything seems to go.

I decided to go with a bit of everything for this stocking, a touch of bright colour combined with some animal print beads, add a touch of wood, African opals and wah lah you have African style jewellery sitting on the work bench.

This is the second last stocking for the year before our big one in November so make sure your drop in and you might just see some wild animals (no not the regulars or guests) and have a wonderful time exploring "Out of Africa".

Leopard anyone?

Another sneak peek of more traditional African style jewellery

I did promise some colour....this has colour!

Learn a little bit about African roses.....

NEW WEBSITE! .....nearly there yay!

Ok I'm excited. 

I've finally managed to get some pieces up on my new website.Cherish Jewellery Designs  

It is still a massive work in progress and I'm slowing getting through all the html stuff but it is coming along. I have some brand new pieces up with hopefully more to come.

I have managed to add in some lovely new resin designs, some very rich looking pearls and a few little gemstone numbers but I still need to put up some wooden items and my Petite Cherish range for the younger Cherish fan. 

I still have to change all the little buttons that are preset on Congo Cart but that means creating lots of new little buttons myself.....something that will have to wait. 

I would love for you to check it out and give me some feedback. I know there is still lots to do but as I'm doing all the work by myself in that so called spare time it's a little tricky. 
 

Cheers

Liz 
xo

Hide and Seek anyone?

In September you will be able to play hide and seek on my website to find the

logo somewhere in my website. It's a little bit of fun if you can find all the logos on all the sites.
I think you have to find quite a few....around 150 but if you can be the first to do so you can win a whole bunch of prizes.....and it costs you nothing but your endless time searching wonderful WAHM sites looking at cool stuff and to be honest we do that a lot already!

The hunt doesn't officially start until September 1st but you will be able to see a list of prizes at www.clothnappyhunt.com very shortly.

Hopefully I will also have a few more items up on my new website with my new logo!

'till next time
Liz
x

New adventure begins

I have always wanted to have my own website from even before I had my madeit store. I have been tossing around the idea for quite a while but I have finally taken the plunge. I have heard that having your own site is good for business...people can see how dedicated, professional and passionate about what you do so I have started building a Congo Cart store. Of course in order to make this store scream "Cherish Jewellery Designs" I need to vamp it up in my colours with my logo and rearrange things to how I want them to be. So off I went to learn myself some html through some great online tutorials (there is nothing you can't learn online) so I could create what I need for my store. It is slow going but I'm getting somewhere...at least I know how to upload photos etc all I need now is a little bit of finesse and plenty of time. Hopefully something beautiful will begin and I'll be off and running.

Winter is here! Brrrr!

It's finally getting the chilly feel in the early mornings and nights here in Central Queensland and with the start of winter we have a wonderful Gossamer Dreams stocking. 'Boots and Beanies' and anything wintery was the theme for the June stocking and what fun it was!

With winter as the theme I thought of all the things that I love and the first thing was hot chocolate. I love having hot chocolate (and not just in winter) and so I couldn't pass up on my "Malteser" beads, as my hubby calls them! Of course I had to add 'marshmallows' to the design to get this simple looking necklace!

Then after throwing some other ideas around I knew I wanted to use leather and suede (the boots part of the theme) so I came up with two cute little bracelets that couldn't be more different.

Beautiful soft Greek leather with sterling silver beads and freshwater pearls and a pair of cowboy boots. A feminine yet rustic adjustable bracelet.

And this bright little number! Gorgeous hot pink suede wrap around bracelet or a lovely long necklace.

 

 Of course you can't have a winter theme without snow and I instantly thought of my big hole freshwater pearls. Lovely little snowballs in their own right! 

My last two designs were complete opposites! One was all about warmth and the other design was all about icicles and the cold part of winter.

Warm wooden beads combined with some of my favourite red coral and red resin beads. I wanted to create something to reflect the cosy fireplace with warm timber and fire tendrils flickering out from all places. I love this necklace even though I don't wear too much chunky myself it has a real comfortable feel too it.

These earrings though are so cool and refreshing with the cobolt blue resin and Swarvoski pearls and crystals dangling within. A bit funky but a perfect colour for the trend this season.

I've had so much fun with this theme. A bit of a challenge to piece together the ideas and make them into jewellery items but I love how I can push an idea and find all sorts of beads to make it happen.

Thanks to the Gossamer Dreams team again for having me as a guest and letting my creativity have a wonderfully inspired avenue.

Don't forget to check out the Gossamer Dreams page every month on the 15th to see a wonderful collaboration of some amazingly talented WAHM's!

www.gossamerdreams.com.au

100 likers on Facebook....can I make it?

Well the day might finally arrive and I might actually reach the 100 likers mark on fb. I only have 3 more to go how exciting. I will finally be able to giveaway the little sterling silver heart earrings that have been wanting a home since September last year. To have the chance to win these little cuties, please leave a comment about your favourite item on my madeit store and why under this post. At the moment only about 8 people have entered so your chances for success are way better than lotto! lol

Sterling silver earrings - they could be yours! Just leave a comment below about which item on my madeit store is your favourite and why!

www.madeit.com.au/CherishDesigns 

First Facebook Competition!

Oh what a glorious day! I spent most of last night getting my first facebook competition setup. I think it went quite well. All you have to do to enter is to click on my ENTER TO WIN app on my Cherish Designs page and fill out the details. I have a $50 Gift Voucher to give away and you can use it on anything on my madeit store. I'm always adding to my store so there are lots of things to choose from or if you prefer I'm happy to make a custom order - you can just let me know what you might like and we can go from there. The voucher will be valid for 12months. Now I'm off to do some more creating and to sort out when I'm going to hold my Australia's Biggest Morning Tea Jewellery Party. Good luck and don't forget to pass it onto your friends!
https://www.facebook.com/CherishDesigns/app_190322544333196

New stock finally arriving. Phew!

 Having the internet down at home for nearly two weeks has definitely put everyone in my house into a spin. I couldn't put any items up on madeit or my fb page, Em wasn't able to research her science assignment or Skype and DH couldn't put a bet on the footy!! Oh my! Well everything seems to be back on track again, so I got to and listed over 20 items all in one day. Lots of bright resin colours and some more classic black and white, turquoise and sterling silver. Now I just have to figure out how to do a legal giveaway/competition on fb before Mother's Day. 

New Facebook Online Store!

Exotic mix stretch bracelet

 I have added yet another string to my bow and created a facebook online store through the Payvment app. I know I really shouldn't add something else to update (as we all know how great I am at updating my blog) but as I figured that I'm already on facebook and I upload photos of new items that I've created it seemed like a logical step. I have only added a couple of items up so far but I'm hoping while my DH is away on camp with a bunch of Year 6 kids I can manage to add in a few more.

Sterling Silver Heart Earring Giveaway

I would love to finally giveaway these little beauties!

 I have been trying hard to increase my likers on facebook and I'm getting there I know but when I reach 100 likers (which atm is about 20 away) I'll give these little sterling silver heart earrings away to one lucky person. Completely free. I'll even throw in free regular postage. They will come in a cute little box tied up in ribbon to give as a present or you can just keep them for yourself. All you have to do to go in the chance to win is to make a comment on my blog about your favourite item on my madeit store. www.madeit.com.au/CherishDesigns 
I will then randomly pick out a winner from whoever has left a comment.

And at the moment I only have about 8 people out of my 80 likers who have entered so your chances are pretty good at winning. Good luck!

New and Organised!

I know that I'm terrible at updating my blog, but I have made a decision to be more organised and find time to post at least once a fortnight. I thought I'd start this post with showing my new beading abode, well it's not really new, just updated. I went from having a table covered in containers of beads with UFO's all over to a lovely new cabinet to put all my beads in one place and a table that can just have a little bit on it. I even went through all my containers, resorted beads and labelled everything too lol .I know super OCD right? It feels great though to be able to put my hands on any bead because I know exactly what's in the container. So tell me what you think? I think there's still more space for more containers and hopefully more beads......but even if it was full I'd still think that.