Your daily dose of pretty: Balloon brooch

I love brooches. I do think I should wear them more often, but I never remember to put one on even though I have some really cute brooches. Despite this, I think I might need to add one of these balloon brooches to my collection, so that I can then forget to wear it:

Each brooch is hand cut from paper covered wood and covered with a layer of varnish. The rope is made from white leather cord. There are four colours available - pink, blue, mint and yellow:

The balloon brooch is £11 from Folksy seller Lucie Ellen.

Music Robot Necklace

How cute is this wee dude?

Admittedly cute in a "I'm going to murder you in your sleep" kind of way, with those googly eyes and that wide grin. But hey, he's on sale for NZ$10, so even if he does murder you in your sleep you've still got yourself a bargain.

The Music Robot Necklace is available from New Zealand store Finesse Boutique.

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: Claire Gent Painted Cherry Blossom Cuff

I still have a few discoveries from the Very Vintage Day Out to show you, but I spotted this cuff on Pinterest and fell in love with it so of course I had to share:

I don't actually wear cuffs because I have short arms, and wide cuffs make them look even shorter. A bit like this:



The Painted Cherry Blossom Cuff is £25.00 from Claire Gent on Folksy.

Your daily dose of pretty: Skully Necklace by Miss Sparrow

I think I missed the Miss Sparrow stall at the Very Vintage Day Out. Or possibly it was one of the ones I had a quick glance at en route to something else. And it's probably a good thing because if I'd seen this necklace it would have been mine. And Eccentric English Boyfriend might not have been quite so reasonable about how much money I spent!:

At first glance this appears to be simply a lovely glass bead necklace. But look a little closer. Skulls! I dare you to wear this to the next afternoon tea with your elderly aunts!

The Skully necklace is NZ$90.00 from Miss Sparrow.

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: Duck Family Necklace from Love Hearts and Crosses

So this is on sale at Love Hearts and Crosses, and it's adorable:

Where we live in West Auckland we have ducks that just wander the streets (and come into our houses begging for food). In Spring and Summer I love watching the wee ducklings because they are just little fluffy balls of adorableness. When they're tiny it's almost as if they're attached to their mum by a piece of elastic - they'll get a certain distance away from her an then suddenly PING they're back in their wee line again. Ducklings are awesome!

Here's a very grainy photo of my boy when he was little with a motherless duckling that we rescued. 

The Duck Family Necklace is on sale for £7.20 from Love Hearts and Crosses.

Your daily dose of pretty: Blackboard Pendant Necklace by Artisan Jouel

This blackboard pendant necklace is an awesome idea.

I would use it like  real-life Twitter, and update my status on it throughout the day: "The lady beside me is wearing a hideous jumper." "Lady in the hideous jumper just read my necklace and she looks grumpy." "Running away from angry lady in hideous jumper."

The blackboard pendant necklace is NZ$35.00 from Artisan Jouel on felt.co.nz.

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: Crayon Rings by OhMyLuckyStar on Etsy

You know what's even better than pretty jewellery? Pretty jewellery that you can draw pictures with!

Yes folks, that really is jewellery made from crayons. How awesome is that?

Crayon rings from OhMyLuckyStar on Etsy come in sizes from kids to adults and would make perfect Christmas gifts if you're after something a little different. The 8 pack pictured above is US$40.00.

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: Starry Starry Night Pendant from Kaelin Design

Did you know there is a type of stone called "Druzy"? I'm not making this up, it's an actual thing. Here's a description of how it is formed from the Kaelin Designs website:

"Druzy stones [...] are the result of a stone cooling more quickly on the outside than the inside when it is formed from its near molten state. Nearly every stone that exists has the potential to have a small section of "druse", or "druzy" in its matrix. Many druzy stones are naturally colored due to the inherent qualities of the stone [...]. Occasionally, however, the stone in question, while having excellent druzy crystal structure, lacks the beautiful colors that appeal to many people. In this case, a stone artisan will take the cabochon and a piece of metal such as titanium, gold, or platinum and vaporize the metal which will permanently deposit itself onto the surface of the stone. When using a metal like titanium, the stone artist can control the resulting coloration by the type and amperage of electrical current he uses to vaporize the metal. Some of the variations possible in titanium include blue, purple, gold, green, and every combination in between."

All of which makes for something quite pretty:

Can you imagine the conversation? "What's that stone?" "It's a Druzy." "Yes it is, but what type of stone is it?" Hours of entertainment.

The Starry Starry Night Pendant is US$85.00 from Kaelin Designs.

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: Victorian Framed Rose Hips Necklace from Fable and Fury

When I was little I thought rosehips and roses were two different plants. Mind you I also thought toadstools were actual toads' stools, so my gardening knowledge was hardly to be relied upon.

Now that I'm older and slightly more knowledgeable about gardening (only slightly, my dead plants outnumber the ones that have managed to stay alive), I appreciate rosehips because they're pretty. As is this necklace:

The Victorian Frame Rose Hips and Leaves silhouette necklace is made from silver satin stainless steel and is US$26.00 from FableAndFury on Etsy. It's also available in black or red stainless steel.

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!

Your daily dose of pretty: Blue & orange twist drop necklace by (SF)2: glass + metal design on Supermarket

Apologies for being away for the last few days, my pretties. Eccentric English Boyfriend has been stricken with a kidney stone in the last few weeks, and on Wednesday he had an operation to have it removed. Much better out than in, obviously, but I'm a bit bummed that they used a laser to break up the stone because how awesome would it have been if he'd had it removed intact so that I could wear it in a glass vial on a chain around my neck? Don'tcha think? No?

Ok, moving along quickly because on second thoughts kidney stone pendants might never catch on ... here's a pendant made from glass that is lovely and not creepy (also, I'm so unappreciated in my own lifetime):

I love that it looks like a teeny lightbulb.

The blue & orange twist drop necklace is US$25.00 from (SF)2: glass + metal design on Supermarket, although it's currently out of stock.