Annette Piper's Page

Yet another busy week has passed (when are they NOT busy these days)! My back is stiff, my hands are sore...and no, jewellery isn't that hard a job most of the time :) The cause of all this discomfort is the rose garden - it has now been pruned, somewhat weeded, fertilised and mulched!

We have a formal rose garden at the front of the house that contains about 70 rose bushes, mostly hybrid teas and old fashioned roses, all scented. The smell in summer is quite divine (when I don't have hay fever that is lol). Divided into quadrants and with five rows - the outside is white, the second row in pink, the third and fourth rows are red and the centre was supposed to be red but we made a little mistake so its actually red AND white.

They put on a lovely show and I really am very naughty at taking care of them. They get pruned heavily in late winter (now), they may get a spray for aphids (should they arrive in plague proportions) and they get another light prune in summer. They get mulched every 3 years and weeded maybe 3-4 times a year.

I have lost a couple of bushes over the years and a friend who is an avid gardener and owns a nursery asked me how often I feed them. "Feed them?" I say. "Hmmm" she answers as she notes down her favourite fertiliser and instructions on how to give the poor suffering plants a little bit of tender loving care. So I left armed with instructions and a beautiful pair of leather rose pruning gloves. Yes, I know. The gloves weren't exactly a necessity, but my they're lovely. And I really haven't bought myself anything new in ages :)

So, a HUGE sense of achievement at having it done, but it couldn't have been done without a good friend's assistance (what a trooper, coming to face 70 odd roses!) and of course hubby who did the heavy work (aka shoveling!).

Whilst my hands survived relatively unscathed - thanks to the gorgeous gloves - I did take them off and replace with normal gardening gloves when I was clearing the mulch and doing some weeding. So they are looking a little worse for wear. I saw this wonderful looking Wild Citrus Grove body butter, hand balm and soap on one of my favourite online gift stores, Tonic Gifts. Perfect for a gardener's hands I would think!

Well, what else has been happening this past week? Ooooh, I was featured in the eSMArts blog last week - a whole article just on me :) And I got to write an article there this week on statement jewellery. Very much my thing!

Speaking of eSMArts, one of the wonderful eSMArts artists, Kari of Novel Approach Designs tagged me. But as I am SURE I can't think of another 6 things to tell you all, I am sure she will forgive me for not completely following through!

I also tidied up my bench. I was glad to see a recent post by Teresa of Inspired Designs had the same problem with her bench mysteriously filling up and becoming messy ;)

She has the most brilliant quote which I have now stuck to my desk:

"One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries." A. A. Milne.

Love it :D

My son received a new puppy - a little smooth coated border collie who is so happy and so intelligent. He has been dubbed "Patch" and it suits him perfectly.

The other HUGE piece of news is I found the MOST brilliant web designer who has built me a site!! Emma does limited edition and one of a kind e-commerce sites and has a real flair for what she does. She's super friendly too and I would highly recommend her if you are after a boutique e-commerce site but don't want to break the bank to do it! And please ask her if you have something in mind but can't see it there as she has other designs not up yet. I still have quite a bit of work to get stock in and refine it somewhat to how I want it to look, but it's very exciting. I hope you like it when all is revealed!

My goodness, I HAVE talked a lot today - look at the length of this post!!! A quick pic for today. A pretty, summery pair of freshwater pearl earrings to remind me of the gorgeous colours that will bloom in that freshly pruned rose garden in a few months time!

Have a great day!

The cold weather has continued and so last Saturday we had a bonfire. I know these are traditionally held in June, but we weren't that organised then! The kids had a wonderful time dancing around the fire - it was easy to see the primitive side of humans - the mesmerising heat and dancing flames, the joy at watching the flying sparks (and trying to catch them!).

First impressions are important, but not ALL. With the bonfire it was all about heat and light, but there is also danger. Of course, not everything that isn't first apparent is bad - sometimes what is hidden can be the best thing of all!

Take a look at this amazing quilt square posted on fellow Skwiggler Flory's blog. At first glance it is attractive, but then you find out how it was created and it just means so much more. It adds depth and layers that you can't quite 'see'. It was created as a round robin with many friends from all over the world completing a little before passing it on to the next. A little piece of friends and their creativity, as well as a long standing memory of a wonderful project.

I also read this story on The Modern Goddess recently. It certainly made me smile (if somewhat ruefully as I thought "ha!, that'll show him!"). Go on, read it - it's worthwhile!!

Here is a pic of a recent necklace. This is a pearl and gem torsade made with golden yellow and bronze coloured freshwater pearls, garnet and citrine.


I can promise nothing but good surprises with this necklace - it is even more goregeous in real life and feels divine on :)

Till next!