Your daily dose of pretty: Daleks for Valentines

Happy Valentines everybody. Eccentric English Boyfriend and I don't actually do the whole Valentines Day thing, but if we did this is what I'd ask for:

Dalek earrings? Oh yes please! £39.99 from Harlequin Goldsmiths, who have a whole range of Doctor Who jewellery to deck yourself out in. Also, check out their version of the Add To Cart button:

My kind of people!

Your daily dose of pretty: Have a Ball earrings

I've been knitting since I was about eight years old. Although it took a bit of a back seat when I started my family 17 years ago I've recently found myself with renewed passion for woolcraft, so much so that a few months ago I also taught myself to crochet. From right handed instructions. I'm left handed, you know. Smug much? Hell yes!

Anyway, these earrings are a cute and subtle way to express your love for knitting:

The Have a Ball earrings are available from MimiJewels on Etsy for NZ$8.58 / US$7.00.

Your daily dose of pretty: Sugar Skull Flower Earrings by Paisley Phoenix Designs

Eight months have gone by since I last blogged here. Or anywhere for that matter. So let's just put that behind us and start 2013 as we mean to go on: with pretty things.

These adorable (and yes, slightly creepy in a most delicious way) Sugar Skull earrings are available in several colour combinations from Paisley Phoenix Designs on Felt for NZ$18. I'm particularly partial to this striking pink and turquoise combination.

Your daily dose of pretty: Le Petite Fleur Earrings from Whimsy Fix

Whimsy Fix is another retailer we spotted at the Very Vintage Day Out yesterday. Well, in truth we didn't just spot them, we bought from them. Which obviously comes as no surprise.

These are not earrings we bought from them. But they are very cute and I want them:

According to the listing these are "10x14mm Pearlised Vintage Bead decorated with a Vintage BlueRose & nestled inside an Antique Bronze Lace setting - fixed with a dangle earring". They're also pretty.

The Le Petite Fleur Vintage Earrings are NZ$17.00 from Whimsy Fix.

Your daily dose of pretty: 100s & 1000s earrings by Saskian

I love 100s & 1000s. So much so that as far as I'm concerned icecream only has value as a delivery mechanism for 100s & 1000s. I never thought of doing this with them though:

Yes, that really is a pair of earrings made with real 100s & 1000s cast in resin. AWESOME!

The 100s & 1000s earrings are NZ$25.00 from Saskian's Store on felt.co.nz.

Your daily dose of pretty: Sour Cherry Vintage Tea Cup Earrings

Aren't these earrings the cutest wee things?:

I love how cartoony they look. The Tea Cup Earrings are £4.95 from Sour Cherry on Amazon, who also sell this necklace:

Which I have to have. Seriously. Because it's awesome. (Warning Necklace is £6.95 from Sour Cherry on Amazon. Buy it for me. You know you want to.)

Your daily dose of pretty: Black & White Roses Earrings from Rubi's Art N'More on Etsy

I love the monochromatic drama of these handmade rose earrings:

Measuring approximately 3/4", the Black & White Rose Earrings are US$10.00 from Rubi's Art N'More on Etsy.

Your daily dose of pretty: Vintage Telephone earrings from Art Divine

I'm old enough to remember having a dial telephone as a child. These new-fangled push button whatsits didn't come in until I was a teenager, and they were almost as exciting as video players.

Our dial telephone was a particularly nasty shade of pond scum green. I would have much preferred a red one.

I'll settle for the earrings though. Because I'm good like that. The Vintage Telephone earrings by New Zealand designer Art Divine are NZ$38.50 on toggle.co.nz.

Your daily dose of pretty: Copper Daisy Flower Earrings from Cinnamon Jewellery

Thanks to 12 Year Old Son (who spends more time watching videos on YouTube about his favourite video games than he spends actually playing the damn games), we've reached our internet cap for the month. Which means we're now reduced to dinosaur age dial-up speeds*. Pictures of pretty things take a very long time to load for me right now. Loading a picture goes something like this:

"Oooh, that thumbnail of a pretty [insert name of pretty thing here] looks lovely, I think I'll click on it to make it bigger." Click. Wait. Wait some more. Look at watch. Wait. Decide to make coffee. Realise we're out of coffee beans. Go to supermarket to get more coffee beans. Return. Grind coffee in ridiculously expensive coffee grinder that Eccentric English Boyfriend bought because he's a total coffee snob. Make coffee in coffee machine that cost considerably less than the ridiculously expensive coffee grinder that Eccentric English Boyfriend bought because he's a total coffee snob. While coffee is brewing check screen. Notice a sliver of picture has loaded. Get excited about apparent progress. Nothing further happens. Get annoyed at self for premature excitement. Drink coffee. Wait. Decide to change cat litter. Regain consciousness. Check watch. Considerable time has passed. Make mental note to change cats' diet. Check screen. Picture has loaded. And here it is:

Aren't they gorgeous? Totally worth the wait. The Copper Daisy Flower Earrings are £15.00 from Cinnamon Jewellery on Folksy.

And now I'm going to click "Publish" and make lunch while this post uploads. I'll probably have time to grow my own vegetables for the salad.


* Yes I realise they didn't have dial-up in the dinosaur age. I'm pretty certain they still had faster internet than what we currently have though.

Your daily dose of pretty: Dark Jade Asian Style Floral Earrings by theshagbag on Etsy

I love the gorgeous embossed floral design on these earrings:

US$9.95 from theshagbag (oh how I would love to know the origins of that shop name!) on Etsy, where you can find a range of earrings and cuffs in different colours with Asian and floral inspired designs. I'll have one of each please!

Buy pretty, help Queensland

The relationship between New Zealand and Australia is a bit like the relationship between siblings: we call each other names, make jokes at each other's expense, and steal each other's toys (it's ok Australia, you can keep Russell Crowe); but when one of us is in trouble the other is immediately there to help. And goodness knows after the flooding in Queensland the Aussies could do with all the help we can spare.

One way you can do your bit is by heading over to Etsy and purchasing an item from AusDisasterRelief, a collective of Etsy sellers who have donated items from their own shops for sale. The proceeds from the sales will be donated to The Queensland Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal.

I've got my eye on these earrings:

this bracelet:

and these earrings:

Note: while the majority of sellers donating to AusDisasterRelief ship internationally not all do, so it pays to check before making your purchase.

Your daily dose of pretty: Mink Schmink Mint Turquoise Resin Earrings

The colours in these earrings ...

 ... remind me of the colours in this picture of an Antarctic ice cave (from one of my favourite blogs, The Big Picture):

Except the earrings can be worn year-round with no danger of melting, or attacks by marauding penguins*.

The Mint Turquoise Resin Earrings are AU$15.00 from Australian site Mink Schmink, who ship internationally.

* I don't think penguins actually maraud. They're probably too busy keeping warm.

And because I love you all, and if you're anything like me right about now you're probably feeling a mite stressed about how it's nearly Christmas and there's still a whole lot of Christmas shopping to do, here's a little Christmas giggle for you from the always brilliant Simon's Cat.

Your daily dose of pretty: Caribbean Blue Cloisonne Earrings on Etsy

According to Wikipedia, cloisonne is "an ancient technique for decorating metalwork objects, in recent centuries using vitreous enamel, and in older periods also inlays of cut gemstones, glass, and other materials".

I love cloisonne, despite the fact that I have no idea how to pronounce it. I used to have a couple of pieces of cloisonne jewellery, and when people would ask about them I'd reply: "yes it's c... it's cl... it's clwah... it's pretty isn't it?".

The bright colours in these cloisonne earrings are beautiful:

The Caribbean Blue Cloisonne Earrings are US$16.00 from Mindielee on Etsy.

Your daily dose of pretty: Dangle Ghost Porcelain Earrings on Etsy

Halloween is only a couple of weeks away, which means that Halloween themed items are showing up all over the place, and children are planning their scariest possible outfit.

The least scary outfit ever - especially when worn by a small child - has to be the white-sheet-with-eyeholes ghost. It's just too gosh-darned cute to be scary. And the more they wave their little arms around and make "woooooooooooooooooo" noises the cuter they are.

These earrings are a perfect example of the cuteness of this look:

See? No amount of arm waving and "wooooooo"-ing is going to stop me from wanting to tickle these wee dudes' tummies!

The Dangle Ghost Porcelain Earrings are US$12.00 from HolidayDesigns on Etsy.

Your daily dose of pretty: Pre Columbian Figure Earrings on Etsy

I love the wee figures on these earrings:

Typically for me (because seriously if there was a gold medal for over-active imaginations I'd win it) I'm convinced these are totally Mystical Pre Columbian Figures who would exact some sort of Mystical Pre Columbian Hoodoo on anybody who wears these earrings.

I don't know exactly what Mystical Pre Columbian Hoodoo is, but I'm pretty sure it's painful and / or messy.

If you don't have as overactive an imagination as I, or you're brave (or stupid) enough to incur the wrath of Mystical Pre Columbian Hoodoo Exacting Figures, these are available from PutumayoDesign on Etsy.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Your daily dose of pretty: Tweety Bird Earrings by Little Shop Of

These little dudes look like they're just testing out their wings for the first time:

Flit ... flit ... crash ... flit ... flit ... fly!

The Tweety Bird Earrings are AU$12.95 from Australian site Little Shop Of, who ship internationally.

Your daily dose of pretty: Green earrings for the Green Party

Prettiness makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Like - as the saying goes - I swallowed a kitten. Prettiness and helping a good cause makes me feel extra warm and fuzzy inside, like I swallowed a whole herd of kittens. Which is not only grammatically incorrect but bound to cause some serious digestive problems.

These Green Leaf earrings (made by talented Kiwi Kim of Cupcakes and Mace whose cupcakes rings I've previously featured) are not only gorgeous, their purchase also supports New Zealand's Green Party:

NZ$16.00 from the Green Party website, I'm thinking these would make great gifts for my overseas family.

Your daily dose of pretty: Debutante earrings by This Charming Girl

Look! More pretties with bows on!

How could I not love them, with their little baskets and little bows? The only thing that could make these cuter would be to put a little bunny in the basket. Aaaaannnd, this is why I'm not a jewellery designer.

The Debutante earrings are £8.00 from This Charming Girl.

Your daily dose of pretty: Glass leaf earrings by Artisan Jouel

My pretties, in just a few days time it will be my first bloggiversary. Yes on April 6th last year I did my first ever Pretty Clever post. I'm planning a wee competition to mark this occasion, so keep your eyes peeled - first I have to choose the prizes.

One of the things I have found most interesting over this last year has been watching the progress of some of the smaller companies I have featured. One of my favourites has been Artisan Jouel, whose piggy earrings I discovered on Etsy (and bought) back in June, and who I have subsequently posted about (and, yes, bought from) a few times. Well Artisan Jouel recently launched their own website, where you'll find lovely jewellery like these earrings:

The Dark Blue Silverfoil Glass Leaf earrings are US$12.60 / NZ$17.75 from Artisan Jouel. And I haven't bought them! Very restrained of me, yes? Ok, no, because I'd actually already bought a lampwork necklace. And also a gorgeous ring from the Amazing Finds section:

Which doesn't count because it's an "It Sucks That I Can't Have Chocolate" Easter present from The Eccentric English Boyfriend. (Lovely, isn't he? And mine, all mine!)

Many items on the site are reduced in price for the next few weeks in celebration of the website's launch.

Your daily dose of pretty: Heliotrope Bling Rings by Whimsy Beading

Technically this isn't Sunday's Daily Pretty because here in New Zealand it's already 12.44am Monday. However since in most of the rest of world it's still Sunday let's just pretend I've jumped a couple of timezones, shall we?

Normally the use of the word 'bling' to describe an item of jewellery is a bit of a turn-off for me, because it carries with it visions of over-embellished hip-hop performers and their under-dressed girlfriends. These Bling Rings earrings are so pretty though, they're my type of bling:

The Heliotrope Bling Rings earrings are US$20.00 from Whimsy Beading on Etsy.