Bespoke Hammered silver ring with copper balls

My handmade silver ring with copper balls for decoration. The top was set at a jaunty angle to give it a  quirky twist

summer flower bangle

I was looking round some jewellery stands and came across a pair of hair slides reduced to a £1.00. Total bargain, saw those and thought of my half price slave bangle and how good they would look combined,  flowers and bangles,  After cutting flowers carefully away from the hair pins, I superglued them to some leather strapping i wound round the bangles to make a base to create a perfect summer season bangle.

Melon face mask

Using quarter of a melon I made a face mask.  I put the melon through the juicer to extract the juices then cut 4 strips of gauze and put them in a small plastic dish,  I then poured the melon juice over the top and allowed it to soak the gauze for about 30 minutes, adding a few drops of water if too dry.  When well soaked, just lay back, perhaps in an aromatherapy or bubble bath or on the bed with a towel to protect the bedding, Apply the melon soaked gauze to the face and just relax for 10 - 20 minutes.  Rinse off afterwards with warm water.  Its a cheap, effective face mask using a product you may already have in the house.  An apple mask can be made the same way.

Honey and cuucumber facial toner

I adore honey and so did a search on the internet for ideas to use honey in a skincare recipe.  found several. This one I discovered on honey.com.  This one  I made up and am currently using - a cucumber and honey toner.  I took a cucumber and put it through a juicer to extract the juices, I  stirred in 2 teaspoons of honey, using a funnel I poured it into a salad oil bottle with a stopper which I bought especially to store the toner.  This needs to be kept in the fridge and keeps for up to a week. It needs to be shaken before use but leaves a nice feel to the skin.   I have found after adding one drop of benzoin to help preserve it mine has kept almost 2 weeks. Be aware benzoin can cause a reaction to some peoples skin. Labelling of bottle is essential, particularly if you share the fridge with others

'The Breakfast scrub' manufactured by soap & Glory - my personal review

I have tried out 'The Breakfast Scrub' by Soap & Glory and this is my own personal review. It is described as an oat, shea butter and sugar body smoother; the scent is described as maple and it is just so scrumptious and smells divine.  The feel is quite 'scratchy' but not unbearably so.  I really, really like it, made my skin feel super smooth and soft.  The sleeve of the packaging although  an odd  design for a luxury beauty product features kitchen equipment to reflect essentials that are found in kitchens giving an organic appearance to the product.

Tangerine tango - Pantones colour for 2012

Tangerine Tango, Pantone's colour for 2012.  Love, love it!!  Personally, I would wear it as an accessory not an all over colour.  This is a palette of the other colours for the coming spring/summer 2012 season and I am delighted to see the magenta pink included.  My all time favourite colour and shade of pink!!!

cupcaked bath bombs and fresh sage infused for customised shampoo

Walked into a Java store near me and saw this wonderful array of cupcake bath bombs.  Saw them, instantly drawn to them.  The awesome snowman cupcake was described as creme brulee and the pink cupcake with fruity flowers is strawberry,  both delicously scented and looks and smells good enough to eat!!  And according to a sales advisor customers have been known to take bites out of these scrummy looking cup cakes and put them back on the shelf.  Having the foresight and knowledge that they are in fact soap for the bath, not been tempted to eat them myself..  Can't wait till I am at the stage of my holistic skincare course so I can make my own.  Something i have made successfully though is...............and not visually exciting as these cupcakes is....................

A sage infused shampoo for normal to dry hair.  Using a sage infusion made using fresh sage leaves and mild baby shampoo as a base with one drop of benzoin as a preservative.  I have to wash my hair more often as to be expected with a mild shampoo but I love the fact I can choose which herbal infusion I add.  I keep it in the fridge to prolong shelf life, a minor snag is don't yet know  how long it will keep  till I am forced to make a fresh batch.  The wonderful thing  with making my own herbal shampoo is the fact I can choose which herb I want for each new batch I make,  Experimenting is so much fun!!!!  I would love to make comfrey or marshmallow herbal shampoo next.

Fabric to make folksy inspired hand sewn jewellery

I have chosen this fabric to make some  folksy jewellery with hand sewn hearts as the main focal point using this fabric.  An idea by Lisa Steed Davey in the february edition of 'Make Jewellery'. Saw the article and thought of the chintzy jacket featured on my Chloe mood board.

Polished stone for possible ring setting or wire wrapping

I found this stone in a local crystal shop and thought how nice to set this into a ring.  I was shown the DIY rock ring on Audrey Kitching's blog - Buzznet  featuring wire wrapping. This is  polished stone and would require a hole drilled through the stone horizontally.  Not sure if that is possible for this particular stone.  Love the 'soap bubble' effect within the stone itself.