Z for Accessorize necklaces

Ever since I spotted the Z for Accessorize range in the Accessorize shop in the summer I've been a fan.  I love delicate jewellery and everything in this range is just that, super delicate with some sparkle.  I really wanted to buy something but it's really hard to choose when there are so many lovely pieces and the jewellery is slightly pricey, so buying a few different pieces wasn't an option.  Luckily quite a few lovely things were in the post Christmas sale so I managed to get two beautiful necklaces!

The blue stones really sparkle and look lovely against the gold plated chain.  I got a long necklace and a shorter layered necklace which basically has the same stones on it as the long one plus a crystal and gold circle on a chain.  Both the necklaces have a little Z gold tag on the end which is a nice touch.  The shorter chain actually wasn't in the sale but the store I went to had put it in the sale section with a half price sticker on it by mistake!  Lucky for me they said they had to honour the fact it said half price on it even though when they rang it through the till it had come up full price.

I really love both these necklaces.  The long one is really good for prettying up a plain outfit or jumper and the short one looks great with any kind of V-neck or open necked blouse.  I couldn't find the long one on the Accessorize website but the shorter one still is,.  Obviously it is full price as it was meant to still be in the current range!
I was even inspired to buy myself some gold chain and dark blue beads to try to make my own delicate jewellery so look out for that in a future post!

Pretty Silver Necklace from TK Maxx

Ok so maybe I'm late to the party here but a couple of weeks ago I popped in to TK Maxx for the first time in a while and came across it's jewellery counter.  I've never seen a jewellery counter in TK Maxx before so I was very intrigued and had a good nosy around the whole counter and all the stands on it.  I've been having a bit of a jewellery fetish this summer so browsing through all the pretty necklaces on display was very likely to result in a purchase.  It took a while but eventually I settled on this beautiful 'Love' necklace.  I have no idea what the brand of it is as there was nothing on the label but it is real silver and I thought it was a bargain for £15 reduced from £24.

You did have to have a good rummage through the stuff on sale, some of the bits and pieces had the odd stone missing etc. but I would definitely go there again if I was on the hunt for some new jewellery at a reduced price.
I'm pretty obsessed with delicate jewellery right now with tiny details on it.  Everything in Oliver Bonas's jewellery range for example!  I have a couple more new pieces to show you in future posts, including the necklace my husband bought me as a wedding present!
Till next time

Twirlybirdie :)

Cozy dinners and a temporary engagement ring

Hello!

How are you?  My Sunday show is done and now I'm trying to relax and wind down which I often find difficult to do after the high energy and stress of a show.  Something that really helps is when my fiance cooks me something yummy for dinner.  Lucky me!
Last weekend he cooked vegetarian shepherd's pie which I love.  It's a recipe we've been using for a while and I think it's the red wine in it that makes it so appealing!

Sometimes we get given red wine as a gift after a performance which is great.  We don't drink wine a lot though so this is a delicious way to use it up!

Since I got engaged I really wanted to wear a ring on my engagement finger but until I get my ring re-sized I needed a replacement.  I had spied this pretty rose gold and cubic zircona ring a while ago but was trying to find something a bit cheaper.  In the end I couldn't find anything nice enough so I decided to just go for it as I can always wear it on my other hand once I get my real ring done.

I'm really pleased with it, and now I also know my real ring size as none of the rings I already owned would fit on that finger!
I feel a bit more relaxed now.  I hope you've had a nice relaxing weekend.  I'm off to the chiropractor tomorrow so I've got my finger's crossed that helps the neck trouble I've been having.
Till next time!

Twirlybirdie :)

My Latest Earring Creations

Hello!

I hope you are having a nice day.  I've been a bit under the weather but I think I'm over the worst of it now, though I still feel like I need to take it easy.  I have some big news to write about but I'll post about that at the beginning of next week!

A few days ago I got out my jewellery making tools and made use of a few pretty beads I had lying around.  One of my favourite pieces of jewellery to make are earrings because it is relatively quick and easy to do.

These simple jet black Swarovski crystal drops are so easy to wear with a simple black leotard for work.

 These clear plastics beads are super sparkly in real life.  I made them to wear as the Snow Queen in the Nutcracker because the beads remind me of icicles.

I love the deep green colour of these multi-faceted glass beads.  They also sparkle really prettily in the light!  They are a little heavy for the ball and post findings though so next time I'd probably make them using an ear wire instead.

I made black, green and clear earrings and then I made earrings that were black, green and clear!  Simple and chic.

These pretty fluttery babies are Swarovski Crystal Butterfly beads in a lilac colour.  Simple and pretty.  I put these on sterling silver ear wires.

These ones I actually made a while ago but they're really pretty so I wanted to photograph them.  These are London Blue Topaz jewels that my boyfriend bought me as a present.  I wire wrapped them in sterling silver and added them to sterling silver ear posts.  These are so pretty but I don't get enough wear out of them as they're too heavy for work.  I need more evenings out!

My new favourites!  These are swarovski crystals that I've wired wrapped in tarnish resistant wire and put on sterling silver ear wires.  These crystals are really big and sparkly!  I can't wait to wear them out.  I'd seen earrings made with these crystals in the shop and they were pretty expensive so I thought I'd just pick up the same beads on-line and make them myself.  These beads are from www.jillybeads.co.uk where I've bought a few things from before.

Oh yeah just look at that sparkle!

Last photo is taken by candle light.  Sorry I've posted so many pictures but I'm really in love with these.  I'm thinking of making more using different crystals of this size and maybe making gifts with them!
Do you like to make jewellery?  I definitely feel inspired to make more now.
I hope you enjoyed this post!  I would love for you to follow me on bloglovin', the link is in the right hand side bar.

Till next time :)

Twirlybirdie

Summer is here!

Hi there!

I know I've been badly slacking with my blog.  Sometimes I get a bit nervous about putting too much of myself out there on--line.  I was talking to my Dad recently about on-line social media and his biggest concern was that it might be available to potential future employers and put them off hiring you.  In the current climate however, I think there's a lot to be said for being able to demonstrate to an employer just how clued up you are on social media.  It's a massive part of advertising for businesses right now that shows no sign of slowing down.  So as long as you're not making yourself come across as a massively unreliable party animal/ drunk/ slacker I think social media usage can make you useful to future employers!

Since I posted last I have been up to a few things.  I moved to a new apartment with  more space than where I was previously.  It's a bit further out of town though which has forced me to explore the bus networks where I live.  I'm impressed with how easy it is to purchase a bus ticket on-line and hope it leads to me exploring more of the area.

I've recently flown home for the summer break so everything feels a bit up in the air.  In a weeks time I'm off on holiday to Greece which I've been looking forward to for ages!  Unfortunately my boyfriend has made off to his family's house with my camera which means that now that I have some spare time for blogging I can't take any decent pictures!

In the meantime here's a picture of some pretty earrings I was given as a birthday present that I took earlier.  They are really pretty and I love wearing them whenever I have some blue in my outfit to match them with.

I should say that I noticed I had some more people following my blog which has spurred me on to get blogging again so thank you!

hope you're enjoying the start of summer!

Spring Blues

Spring has finally arrived here, a couple of months late!

I have been a rubbish blogger since about mid February, but the extremely cold weather and heavy work schedule took their toll on my creativity, I'm back now to try again to get this thing up and moving!

I went for my first walk with my new camera where I could actually hold my camera in my hands without my fingers freezing off!  These pretty bluebells caught my eye, I'm surprised at how fast things are blooming now that they have the chance.

I went shopping for my birthday last month and ended up splurging on three pretty rings for myself.  Rings are my new jewellery obsession.  Here are some pictures of a couple of them.

My boyfriend picked this one out.  So then I made him buy it for me haha!

This next one is also going with my spring blue theme!

I have a third ring which I'll post a picture of soon!  These are all sterling silver rings so were not very expensive but I love them anyway.

hope you're having a lovely start to Spring :)

xxxx

Monday Things - What I wore

My Sunday Things was starting to develop itself in to a regular feature and then I never managed to get it up yesterday!  So this week I'm going to do Monday Things.  My usual weekend is Sunday to Monday so that's why Monday's as good a day as Sunday for me to capture a few things to blog about!

Today I wore my Mango jumper that I bought last week.  I can never stop wearing new things over and over when I first get them!  I decided to wear it with my white pleated Monki skirt instead of jeans to change  it up.  

I'm also wearing thermal tights as it's the only way I can get away with a floaty skirt in the below zero temperatures!

I painted my nails dark blue a couple of days ago so.  Probably sub-consciously influenced by my new jumper!

I used China Glaze which also has a lovely rich pigment like the Sally Hansen polishes do.  The formula is a slightly runnier consistency than the Hansen ones but is still really nice to apply.  My application process still needs practise though!

I wore a cute ring from Accessorize which I think contrasted nicely with all the dark blue.

I put my hair in a plat across the top of my head.....

....and added a splash of bright pink lipstick!  It's Art Deco Perfect Colour lipstick in Pink Thistle number 36.  It's a really good pink that's bright but not too bright for day.  It has a nice rich pigment and creamy consistency.

I also wore some lovely earrings I made for myself in dark blue topaz and Sterling silver.  My boyfriend bought me the gorgeous blue topaz drops for a present and I wrapped them in sterling silver wire.  If you're interested in something similar take a look at my shop here.

Then it was time to go out for coffee!

We went to one of our favourite coffee shops here called Werner.

I hope you enjoyed this post about my Monday and that you had a great start to your week!

xoxo

Mango clothing day

Hi there!  Well I said I would post a picture of the new jumper I bought from Mango in better light but it's been a grey couple of days so a not so bright indoor one will have to do.  It's a dark blue with black jewels which sparkle in the light and look really pretty.  I wore them with my lilac Topshop jeans.

I also wore my Mum's ring.  It's a pearl ring from a pearl she got out of an oyster she picked at an oyster farm she went to with my Dad.  It's sterling silver dipped in gold with two red gems on either side.  She got it when she was 21 so it's very precious to me.  I teamed it with some bronze and pearl bird earrings I made myself.

There you have it!  I would probably have worn the jumper with my khaki leggings but as it was -10 degrees outside I thought jeans would be a more sensible choice.

I love my Mum's ring.  It's so lovely to have something nice passed down to you to wear.  I love that it has it's own story about her going to the oyster farm to pick out the pearl.

If you like the earrings you can find some similar jewellery in my Twirlybirdie shop.  Check it out here! .

I hope you had a lovely day!

Sunday Things

I had an early start today for a Sunday.  Well, I was up at 9.30 am.  After a phone call to my Mum I decided to paint my nails.  I fancied a shiny mossy green colour.  It's called Kiwi and it's by Misslyn.  I haven't painted my nails in ages as I've been performing a lot recently and I was definitely out of practise.  Urgh!  Not the perfectly painted nails I'd been imagining.  I like this unusual earthy colour though.

When I got dressed I decided I was in a dotty mood.  I wore this grey and yellow dotty top by H&M and some old Gap 1969 jeans that I've worn to death over a year or more and definitely need replacing!

I also wore some grey pearl earrings to match my top.  They are so simple and yet slightly unusual because of the grey colour.  I'd really like to make some of these using freshwater pearls and sterling silver.  These ones are from Accessorize.  They came in a set of three colours and have been so useful as I can wear them with almost anything.

After that I went off to the shops where I ended up going in to the sale at Mango.  Big Mistake!  Two new pairs of shoes and a jumper later I was back at home.

Both these shoes were really good deals.  The khaki ankle boots have a good tread so will hopefully last me a while.  The black high heels should go with pretty much anything and were so elegant and classy looking when I tried them on in the shop!  Any excuse for a new pair of shoes.  You can still buy them on-line here for the suede ankle boots, and here for the suede slip on pumps.

It gets dark here so early it's hard to take pictures in natural lighting.  I'll try and take a picture of my new jumper during the day sometime soon.  If it wasn't Winter I'd love to try taking some outfit photos outside with my new camera.

I hope you had a lovely Sunday.  Until next time!