I’ve been temping again for the past month (with another month on my contract) in order to get some dollars ready for xmas and new years and all the fun things that happen without me when I’m not getting much money in. And as always the reality of being cooped up in a cubicle sent my brains into over drive and all I wanted to do was make all the things, and photograph all the things, and write all the things.

But I can’t do it all so I just made a few of the things:

Ampersand necklaces in Quicksand, Baskerville, and Futura fonts

Creep

Bunting in pink white and blue

Black bone bead necklace

Faux 3 finger rings
There’s only one finger hole and the bar sits above your digits, way more comfortable and allows heaps more movement than a true 3 finger ring.

Futura ampersand brooch

Heart rings and mini heart brooches

More things soon

I’ve got a few more new designs that need to be photographed and listed so look out for another update in a week or two. Expect bows and anchors and bone beads in more colours and ceramic hearts.

Xmas Shipping

Unfortunately my super dooper laser machine friend is moving cities in a couple of weeks so the laser cutter will be out of action for a while. I can still get things made but there will be a 2-3 week turn around instead of a week (max) turn around. This means custom xmas orders for pretty much everywhere need to be in by mid November! Not long! How is xmas so soon!?
You have a bit longer for jewellery in stock. Those orders don’t need to be in till the end of November if you need them to arrive by xmas.

Ozzies have till the around the 20th of November for custom orders and till December 9th for jewels in stock.

Kiwis have till the start of December for custom orders and till the 19th of December for everything else.

If you’re buying gifts I can send them direct to the recipient with a note! And even if you’re buying for yourself your jewels will be packaged with tissue and ribbon and love.

Since Asia I’ve finally had some motivation to give the jewellery business much needed attention. The brain elves have decided to get off their asses, of only for a quick walk around the block.

I’ve been experimenting with new designs and techniques, filling laser etching with colour and using multiple layers of acrylic. I’ve been cross stitching as well (but still haven’t found an appropriate pendant frame to make cross stitched jewellery, boo).

Here is what’s new in the shop (click the photos to see them on Etsy)

All the old faves are still there – unicorns, narwhals, cupcakes, and plenty of custom designs.

I like to think of myself as down to earth, low maintenance, easily pleased. I’d rather eat a sausage in bread by the beach than a $60 steak meal in a fancy restaurant, and apart from my over abundance of t shirts the majority of my wardrobe is op shopped or clothing swapped.

My real problem is just having too. much. stuff! You may remember me talking about wanting to pare down my belongings last year, right around the time I thought I would be moving to Canada in the one one. We’re not moving overseas any more but we did move house and left a lot of things in the tip on the way. How do I still have trouble walking around my room due to all the junk then?

Now that my 3 month back pack around Asia is only a couple of months away I’m thinking about the need to pare down again. Soon everything I own needs to go back in to boxes and I need to carefully select a very small amount of things to take in my backpack. Solid shampoo and medication is a given, but what about clothing? How will this seemingly low maintenance girl deal without her double wardrobe full of clothes or her dresser full of underwear and tights?

For practice and experiment I’m taking Ginger’s advice and participating in the Six Items or Less challenge. I’m only planning for a week at the moment (or I might freak out), but I’ll keep going as long as I can.

The basics I’m wearing are boring, comfortable, and things I wear often already. A plain black t shirt, a straight plaid skirt, a black button down dress. Things that can surely be jazzed up with accessories. Or not.

Three days down and I’m feeling uninspired by my clothes, but finally making use of my huge box of costume jewellery.

How would you handle a month of the same few pieces of clothing?

I used to hate yellow. But I’ve been appreciating its vibrance more and more the past few months.

An email from Sarah at LuShae Jewelry at the start of November offered me jewellery for a review (good, bad or ugly, I wouldn’t have it any other way). Who I am to say no to free jewels!

My first pick was sold out. Sad face. So I went with my second, the Canary Princess.

Shipping was super quick taking only a couple of days to get to me. Unfortunately the rings don’t come in half sizes, I’m about a 6.5, but the 7 still fits nicely. The sparkle is worth any slipping around my finger.

At the moment LuShae has free shipping anywhere in the world and a lot of their jewellery is discounted.

Get on it!

I got a couple of questions in my formspring (ask me something anonymously if you like) I thought I’d answer them in a post because it makes me look like I’m actually doing something for the blog when actually I’m just talking about myself.

How do you make your acrylic jewellery? Like, with what? I made a much crappier, but similar kind of thing in high school, and it needed an epic machine..
We use a laser cutter, it is pretty epic! Vector line drawings are created or imported into CorelDraw and this is what instructs the laser. The computer and laser cutter are hooked up and the acrylic is placed in the laser cutter under the path of the laser. The easiest way to explain it is that you print your design and the laser cuts in the appropriate places.

You’re left with a clean edge and occasional residue from the melted plastic which we clean off with a solvent.

What’s on the top of your Christmas list?
Honestly: An engagement ring
If money was no object: DSLR camera or an all expenses paid trip to Germany
Non stuff: That my Grandad makes it through Christmas and the New Year in relative good health and when he does eventually go that he’s not in pain and has not been immobile and full of tubes
From my realistic list: It’s so hard to choose from my lists (1 and 2) – but I guess flask, booklight, clothes, watch, and books. I love everything I am gifted though!

It’s a very exciting day in the Cupcake Factory as one year ago cupcakesandmace.com was born.
“But posts in your archive go back to March 2008″ I hear you cry. And yes, you are right. When this blogging thing started for me I went through a few names before I decided I wanted to take blogging a more seriously and register a domain.

Life has changed a lot since then. I’m self employed now, blogging, thinking up pretties, and interacting with customers on a daily basis. I really appreciate everyone who has joined me along the way. Thanks to you I have no plans to give this thing up.

To say thank you and to celebrate this milestone I’m giving you the present! We’ve started designing necklace squares with helvetica text. I have no idea what to call them collectively, so feel free to help me out.

The Rules

All you have to do is comment and let me know what you’d like your square to say if you win. It can say anything at all. Easy as.

The winner will be picked by a random name draw, but if we really like your idea there might be a prize heading your way too.

And as per usual if you’d like extra entries post a link from your blog to the comp or tweet about it.

You have a week. I’ll draw the winner next weekend on the 3rd of October. And then it’ll be your turn to send me the presents as it’s my birthday on the 9th of October. :D

We’ve been busy in the Cupcake Factory this month, adding a lot of new things to the store in an effort to give you something to look at for more than one minute! We’re going to continue adding new stock and designs until we reach at least 100 products so there is plenty more to come.

These are new products added over the last couple of weeks. Each picture will take you to the Etsy page for more photos and information. (And everything is less than $18 :D)

Well, not so much a postcard as an adorable letter and gift.

Back in February (my how time flies!) the lovely simi of [the now disappeared] Postcards from Simitopia ran a tag giving five people the chance to receive a gift made by her. I was one of the lucky ones and I received my specially made gift yesterday wrapped in black tissue and a sparkly ribbon, with a letter addressed to the Cupcake Factory, a special Simitopia stamp on the front and the Simitopia deer on the seal. So cool!

simi is a crafty little lady and it really shows in the beautiful brooch she made me in my two favourite colours, pink and black.

Thanks simi! You’re great. :]

Last weekend while out shopping with Chickie Little and our significant others we came across a wonderful place. A place full of trinkets, organised just enough that you can find what you’re looking for, a place where the price is right. An emporium so full of wonder it exclaims that there is something for everyone inside. We all scoffed and bet that The Boy wouldn’t find anything, but we were wrong (he bought some wheels)!

This magical place is Pete’s Emporium, in Porirua, about 20 minutes north of Wellington City.

It’s a little known fact that emporiums are one of my favourite places in the world. A favourite shopping destination second only to supermarkets (food emporiums if you will). I can shop for hours, sorting through the junk and inspecting the treasures, deciding how many of each brightly coloured button I’ll choose.

I ended up getting a few brightly coloured treasures for my jewellery making, including some pink and blue bunches of grapes. After much wrestling I managed to turn one pair of each colour into earrings. Get them in pink or blue in the shop now. :] The hooks are sterling silver so your ears stay pretty.

It’s often the case, when a hobby turns into a job, that you love it a little bit less. That your friends are no longer gifted your experiments. And that you only allow yourself to keep the work that doesn’t turn out perfect.
I find myself wearing all the jewellery that doesn’t cut properly and has scratches.

Sometimes we’ve got to remind ourselves that it’s no fun to work like that! There is a reason you count yourself lucky to be your own boss. It’s because you love what you do, and you love it so much you probably started off doing it for free.

On that note I started making myself a charm bracelet. Not just from the left overs that didn’t fit anywhere else, but from the charms I actually liked. The ones that mean something to me, or look pretty, or make me laugh.

The Jack in the Box is my favourite. My Mum gave it to me, it really closes up and then pops out on a spring when you unhook the lid!