Featured Item. Red Swirl Earrings

Welcome to the featured item for this week from my folksy.com shop. Each week I show you a item from my Fashion Magpie Jewellery shop and tell you a little about it.
This week it is the turn of the Red Swirl Earrings.

 

These earrings where made with a Tibetan silver charm I chose because of its Celtic inspired swirls. Originally the centre was blank so I added a small red diamante to each side in the middle to give the charm a bit of interest. Below this I added a clear crystal teardrop. The earrings hang from nickel free ear hook. I'm always careful with my silver products to make sure they are nickel free as I know from my own allergy to nickel what a pain it is to find beautiful silver coloured earrings that are nickel free. I'm told they add the nickel to make the silver shine although I can't say whether or not that is true, it's just what I was told.

 

All my items come to you in a little silver organza gift bag.

 

I have these earrings for sale for £6.00 with £1.95 postage and packaging for UK (I can post outside UK too)

 

You can find Fashion Magpie Jewellery at the below links

Website www.folksy.com/shops/fashionmagpiejewellery

Facebook www.facebook.com/fashionmagpiejewellery

Pinterest http://uk.pinterest.com/fmjewellery/

 

 

Throwback Thursday. Jackie Kennedy's 3 Strand Pearl Necklace.

RJackie Kennedy Onassis was the style icon of the last century. The former first lady set trends and everyone wanted to be like her including the rich and famous. So when in 2010 her signature 3 strand pearl necklace came up for sale with a other pieces, buyers jumped at the opportunity to own the necklace.
It was at Bonham's first new and innovative Pioneers of Popular Culture sale at the inaugural Vintage at Goodwood Festival.
The pearls which not many people realise are actually faux pearls, are glass and hand painted; a technic perfected by Czechoslovakia.
The necklace has 3 strands and has channelling. This is something which Coco Chanel, one of Jackie's favourite designers, developed. It is a term used for the spacing in between the strands so that they lay comfortably on the neck with out clumping up together.

The necklace smashed through it's estimate and made a brilliant £30,000 mainly due to it's iconic association with Jackie Kennedy Onassis.
The sale also saw Jackie's pair of simulated pearl and diamond ear clips, which fetched £15,600 and a simulated pearl necklace, which made £6,000. As well as some of her Jaguar cars.
To the delight of the organisers the sale was a massive success and they have since grown with each year since.

She was born Jacqueline Lee Bouvier in 1929.
In May 1952 she was introduced by a friend to the man who would later become her husband and president of America, John F Kennedy.
In 1953 they married in Saint Mary's Church, Newport, Rhode Island. 700 guest attended the wedding with 1200 by the time they got to the reception. Her wedding dress is now housed in the Kennedy Library.

The couple endured heartache after miscarrying their first pregnancy and then having a stillborn baby with their second. They endured though and went on to have two children, Caroline in 1957 and John Jr in 1960. Unfortunately their next child was premature and sadly died two days after birth.
In 1960, John F Kennedy became president just managing to beating his opponent Richard Nixon. He had many successes as president but as everyone knows it was on the 21st November that a bullet hit the president in Dallas while he rode his motorcade with his wife, Jackie by his side. He was rushed to hospital but nothing could be done and he died from the shots.

When he was put in the casket she removed her wedding ring and placed it with him, saying 'now I have nothing.' She accompanied the casket to Air Force one and was there when Johnson was sworn in.

After the funeral, Jackie devoted her life to the memory of John F Kennedy helping to set up the Kennedy library and other memorials to her husband.

Tradegy was to strike her family again in 1968 when her husbands brother Robert Kennedy was assassinated. This frightened Jackie, she was worried someone was picking off the Kennedy family and that her children or herself could be next so fled seeking sanctuary in Greece. It was here that she met her second Aristotle Onassis.

On 20th October 1968 she married Onassis on his private island called Skorpios in the Ionian Sea. By doing this she lost her right to protection from the secret service and franking privilege.

She enjoyed 7 years with Aristotle before in January 1973 the couple received the news that Alexander Onassis, the son of Aristotle, had been killed in a plane crash.

Aristotle's health deteriorated after this and he died in 1975 from respiratory failure.

Greece don't let non Greeks inherit after a certain amount so she had to fight to get her inheritance. She eventually won $26 million from Christina Onassis , Aristotle's daughter.

Jackie decided the next part of her life should be about her and she set about becoming a book editor and worked to preserve and protect America's cultural heritage.

In 1994 she was diagnosed with non Hodgkin's lymphoma and died in the May of that year.

Her children Caroline and John jr inherited her estate worth $43.7 million.

Folksy Friday. It's nearly time for fireworks!!

Happy Halloween everyone hope you liked my folksy finds last week for Halloween if you didn't see them then you can read here. This week I turn my attention to one of my favourite nights of the year, Bonfire night.
Remember, remember the 5th November.
I'm going to be going to the Hexham bonfire, one of my favourites in the area. I just love how if you stand at the bottom of the field, while your waiting every so often someone will shine a torch over the crowds standing on the hill (no doubt looking for lost relatives) it's then that you discover out of the dark just how many people go to this bonfire.  Also even though I'm nearly 28 now I still like to have those glow sticks you can bend into a necklace. It's childish but I don't care, bonfire night is about having a bit of fun in the gloomy months of winter!
My finds this week are inspired by the fireworks themselves and I've tried to find pieces that burst with colour.

My first find was a brooch that had a burst pattern on it like when the fireworks have gone off and are just starting to fade and tumble down to earth again. It's called Handmade brooch acrylic and resin spark and its by Couture Silver and Silk who make some beautiful pieces of silver jewellery.

This next piece is by Spindlework Patchwork and Quilting and is a wall-hanging called wall-hanging Fireworks. It has a quilted purple sky and bursts with colourful fireworks of sequins and fine thread.

 

Next up is a case fro use with a iPad 2, iPad air and Galaxy tab called Fireworks.  The colours in this item just pop boldly from the black cotton. This item is by a shop called Belle Borsetta who have some equally funky and cool looking bags and purses.

 The next item is something different for Folksy Friday, a dress. This handmade dress looks to me like when you get to the finally of the fireworks display and there is so much happening, thee banging and whirling and swirling everyway for the last hooray.  

The dress is called Handmade Woman's Vintage Style dress. It is a empire style bodice with a midi length skirt and comes in size 10.

The piece is by Dreaming of Avonlea who have many other vintage inspired dresses in their shop.

 

 

The last item, isn't technically any sort of a firework but these necklace with there starburst dried flowers in resin still have the resemblance of a firework. There called Flower firework and are by a shop called Phoenixxxcharms.
Please note if you want to buy any of these and click the link to go over to them at the blue flower has been sold.

That's your lot for the fireworks addition of Folksy Friday, If you would like to buy any of the items featured please click on the coloured links to take you over to Folksy.

If you want to share this post with friends and family you can use the social media links below.

Stay safe on your bonfire night and enjoy yourself

Thursday Throwback. The curse of the Delhi Sapphire

It's Halloween tomorrow so keeping with the spookiness of the day this Thursday throwback is about the Delhi Sapphire which is reputed to be cursed.
The Sapphire which is purple began it's life in the Temple of Indra in India. Sapphires are believed in crystal healing to hold properties for healing rheumatism and mental illness.

The sapphire was looted from the temple during the Indian Mutinies of 1857, it's believed the curse was placed on the gem after this. It was a Colonel W. Ferris from the Bengal Cavalryman who was responsible for the theft and became the first victim of the curse.
Ferris brought it home to England with him and soon after his family started with health problems and financial troubles. The family blamed the sapphire for their misfortune and said it was responsible for a series of failed investments which left them close to ruin. A friend of the family unexpectedly committed suicide whilst in procession of the sapphire.
Next came the author Edward Heron Allen to own the purple sapphire, being a man of science and reason he dismissed the curse on the pretty sapphire but would soon question his judgement. He tried to sell the sapphire on twice but both times the buyers met with bad luck and returned the sapphire to him.

It's said he even tried throwing the sapphire into the Regent's Canal and thought that he was finally rid of the purple sapphire and it's curse. That was until there was a knock at his door 3 months later, a dredger had found the gem in the canal and tried to sell it to a jeweller, the jeweller had recognised it and duly returned it to Mr Heron Allen.
It was in 1904, after the birth of his daughter he came up with a new way of ridding himself of the Delhi purple sapphire. He sealed the gem inside 7 boxes with a note inside and had protective charms placed on it and sent it to his banker with instructions to lock it away until he had died. Upon his death the gem was then to go to the Natural History Museum in London. No one was to open it until he had been dead three years and under circumstance must his daughter ever inherit the gem or even touch it in anyway.
Three years passed by and the box was eventually opened and the note inside was read.
It read:

Whoever shall open it,

shall first read out this warning, and then do as he pleases with the jewel.

My advice to him or her is to cast it into the sea.

 

In 2004 the museum sent the gem with John Whittaker an employee at the Natural History Museum, to an event for first annual symposium of Edward Heron Allen's society. Mr Whittaker said after that he and his wife had been trapped in there car by a furious storm with dramatic lightening, he claimed it was a horrific experience.

Unfortunately for John Whittaker he was again charge with transporting the gem a second time, this time he fell ill being violently sick with an stomach bug.

Personally I wouldn't have taken the gem a third time but Mr Whittaker was tasked for a third time with the Delhi purple sapphire. this time he fell in pain and eventually passed a Kidney stone.

Not surprising the gem was never transported again and remains in the Natural History Museum, London on show in their Vault collection of Precious gemstones.

 

Happy Halloween everyone! If you enjoyed this post and want to share it you can do so by using the social media links below.

Featured Item. The dragonfly bracelet.

I've been doing a lot of promoting lately with this blog but it has been becoming more and more obvious to me that I am neglecting to show you Fashion Magpie Jewellery which this blog is named after, so to remedy this I have decided to start a weekly feature where I show you one item from my shop and tell you a little bit about the item.
For my first post I've chosen to go with my favourite piece in my shop at the moment, my dragonfly bracelet.

 

I made this bracelet at the beginning of October 2014 by trapping a 8mm dichroic glass cabochon under a Vintaj lily leaf donut, which I bent the lilies just slightly to better show the cabochon. I then wrapped a star shaped filigree around from the back to hold it in place.

 

 

Using a hole punch I made holes for the intricately designed Trinity brass dragonflies to hold onto with jump rings. Next I individually added the golden orangey coloured beads, then added some chain to the end and finished with hoop and T bar fastening.
At the request of the customer I can change the length of the chain to suit their wrist size. At the moment the bracelet measures 9 inches long.

All my items I have for sale I sell in an organza gift bag.

I have the dragonfly bracelet for sale at £10.00 with £1.95 postage and packaging to the UK (other countries can be posted to)

Another way to buy is to visit me this sat, 25th October 2014 at Bellingham town hall between 10-4
 

Folksy Friday. Happy Halloween

It's not long till the 31st October so I've searched Folksy for some suitably scary and frightful finds for Halloween!
Hope you enjoy my finds and don't forget to keep sharing through your favourite social media sites to help our fellow folksy friends out.

My first item is a tea light holder. The bats look great in the flicking light of the candle in this item named Bats for Halloween! Glass Tea Light Holder. I think this item would be great if you just wanted to cuddle up and read your favourite horror novel by candle light. If Bats aren't your thing Bex by Design have some other lovely designs you can chose from.

The second item tonight is perfect if your hosting a spooky party for Halloween. These Halloween Wine Glass Charms are sure to have your guests talking. Bojanglies have lots of other Halloween ghouls and ghost to chose from too.

 

Next up is something you'll need if your going out for Halloween, you need to keep that black lip stick somewhere. Why not keep it in a Halloween Fabric Cosmetic Bag by Cheeky Leopard? I love how fun this bag looks with its pumpkins, scaredy cats and ghosts with a poker dot lining.

Halloween originally started as a way to keep evil spirits who would rise on the 31st October from entering your home. With this wreath on your door I'm sure you'll keep though evil spirits from your door. The wreath is called Monster Halloween Wreath and is made of organza ribbon by Stitchables.

 

Have you ever wanted a wedding on Halloween? It would certainly be different! Maybe you could use this Halloween Inspired Bead Boquet for your bride by Button Bloomz

 

My last item from folksy on my Halloween inspired weird and spooky list is this adorable Pumpkins by Midnightjewels19. These Halloween glow in the dark earrings are brilliantly if your taking the kids out trick or treating. They look great, they glow in the dark and there fun.

 

 

Hope you have fun this 31st October and stay safe.

 

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Folksy Friday. The 5 best photography pictures on folksy.

As well as enjoying making jewellery I also have other passions I enjoy. I love landscape photography and living in the heart of Hadrian's wall country is perfect for this hobby. I have loved photography all my life and even at one point left my job to pursue a career and train up properly but it has never got past being a hobby for me.
I have a Lumix G2 I brought a few years ago, I love this camera and especially love the touch focus and the screen which you can pull out and spin round.

My favourite place to go take photos is Allen Banks just out side Barden Mill in Northumberland. It is a wood on the Ridley Hall estate which is particularly beautiful at this time of year when the leaves are changing as you can see from the picture above. Unfortunately the Victorian 'wobbly' bridge over the river was destroyed last winter and it's not due to open again for a while. To read more about the 150 year old wobbly bridge read here.

My Folksy Friday this week is the beautiful photography pictures I like on folksy that i've found and they've took my breath away or made me say wow!
My first picture I chose is Old Fruit Market, Glasgow. The photographer, Stuart Brown Photography, describes this picture as 'old world charm' something I think this picture has buckets of. I love the crisp colours and the old signs of the fruit market. This picture make me want to travel to Glasgow just to find this place which I think is the mark of a very good picture.

 

My second picture is of Ashness bridge in the Lake District. I love the contrast of the rocks in the stream with the oranges of the field and trees behind. It reminds me of a bridge as you're going out of Kielder Village north toward Scotland there is a moor with a little bridge simpler in style to this one. I like stone bridges, they have so much more character then there modern equivalents.

This photo is by OCONNART

 This is the type of picture I love to do myself. Getting right up close to something like in this picture, rain/dew drops. This photographer is one I've featured on folksy Friday before (read here)  there called FizzStudio. This picture is beautiful and so serene, it looks like the calm after a storm when it's rained hard then the moon peaks out from the clouds and catches on the drops, or it could just be my imagination but I still love this picture called Amber Moon. 

A flashback to my childhood now with this picture of a Chinese Lantern plant shell. I love these plants, they remind me of going to wait of my mam finishing work. She worked for a group called helping hands who looked after old people in their homes. At one of the houses, the house of an old man called Mr Goodfellow, he grew these plants in his front garden.
This picture captures beautifully how skeletal the orange goes on the lantern part of the plant. I chose this picture because of my memories and because I think my mam would like it. (xmas present idea?!) The work is by the brilliantly named Stories Under Stones Claire Simpson.

My last find is a picture of Sycamore Gap on Hadrians wall. When I saw this picture I immediately knew it had to be added to this list. My partner and I went walking up here last spring with our dog. To though who don't know, this is the tree from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves the 1991 film with Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman, read here to find out more about the trees involvement. 

When ever I went for a drive up here with my parents when I was little, my brother and I would look out for Robin Hoods tree.

This version of the picture is by Becky Whittaker Photography, she doesn't have many pictures on folksy but this one has been spotted by me and made the list of my beautiful photography pictures on Folksy Friday.

 

If you would like to buy any of these pictures just click on their coloured links and you will be taken over to there picture.

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