Eyeliner

Today I had make up classes all day. In the morning we have been discussing different shapes of eyes, lips, eyebrows,... and ways to adjust them with make up.

In the afternoon we were taught how to applie eyeliner. Since this wasn't very difficult, just something to practise a lot we were given some time to express ourselves creatively. We could do whatever we wanted but we could only use black eyeliner. I just loved this assignment. I have curls near my eye and on my cheek now and everybody on the train was watching me, it was really funny. Then it was my turn and the girl I could practise on had this great idea: puzzles. So I made half of her face and neck into a large puzzle with all kinds of pieces going over her ears, nose and eyes. There are a few pictures but I don't have them yet.

I also registered myself on twitter but I still need to get to know it. Here is my profile: http://twitter.com/dellejuwelen Hope to meet you there soon!

Don't you hate batteries?

I sure hate batteries right now! I had a week of from school and thought about working on my business. I guess I don't have to say that I didn't get a lot done because I have just been browsing the internet? I first had a day of working as a nail technician with two new clients. That's always exiting but they are nice people. Then I had two days doing nothing. Other day working. On Tuesday I went to a market nearby with the dog and practiced a bit for school. On wednesday I went to IKEA the whole day. And the rest of the week... I can't realy remember what I done.

But yesterday I brought out my note pad again and started making a to do list. That's already 2 pages long and contains stuff like: listing new items on etsy, blogging (doing that now ;) ), making thank you notes, order new supplies,... But the first thing on my list what to photograph my new jewerly and retake pictures of my old. So even thought it is very rainy weather (as it always is in Belgium I guess) I started taking them, wanting 5 pictures from every necklace to show everything off. And you can probably guess it, after just a few pictures my batteries where empty. Don't you hate batteries? I sure do.

Buying and helping at the same time

With october being breast cancer month, a lot of shops on etsy donate a portion of their sales to charity. I'm willing to donate myself but I would like an item I have use for, not something that I buy just to donate and will maybe even throw away. So I went on etsy search and this is what I found.

10% of this gorgeous pendant will be donated to kiva.org, an organisation that helps with micro-loans. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_10&listing_id=15985386

I just had to show you this one. I can't stand people hurting or neglecting animals. Just look at those eyes and say again that they don't have feelings. 100% of this sale will go to AWBAR - an animal rescue organisation. You can read their story here, it is so cruel that someone would do that. http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5832788

I bought a button from them. Not a lot but I hope this will help them a bit, the smallest things help.

50% of this beautiful soap will go to breast cancer research. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_17&listing_id=16121909

There are so much more listings on etsy that will give you a nice item and great karma. If you are having a good live, be lucky, be thankful and help people or animals who don't.

Give-Away Results!

The winner for the give-away for oktober is Monky! Congratulations! Your charm is on it's way to you and I hope it will arrive soon.

Birthstone Earrings!

After a hint someone gave me on my blog give-away a few posts down, I decided to make birthstone earrings too! Thank you very much for the inspiration!

As the charms, these earrings are made with sterling silver, big freshwater pearls (11-12 mm) and swarovski crystals in a colour of the month or the colour of your choice.

These are the birthstone colours:

January - Siam or Garnet

February - Amethyst

March - Aquamarine

April - Crystal

May- Emerald

June - Pearl or Light Amethyst

July - Siam

August - Peridot

September - Sapphire

October - Rose or Light Rose or Green Turmaline

November - Topaz

December - Blue Zircon, Turquoise, Light Sapphire

These are the colours in swarovski crystal, of course there will be people using other colours but these are commonly found.

For now I only made earrings for the next 4 months, simply because I ran out of earring hooks and I want to use these.

Here is a picture:

They cost 12 dollars each, it's a low price but I decided this because I love it when people give my jewelry as gifts.

A million blogs!

I was checking a topic in the Etsy forums about blogs. I got onto http://monacodesigns.blogspot.com that way and kept reading. It is such an entertaining blog. She talks about her jewelry, her live, adds funny and true quotes and a lot of humour.

I also noticed something that was called the ‘million blog list’ and went to check it out. It seems that more than 70 million blogs exist and someone thought it would be funny to see how long it would take until 1 million of those blogs signed up for a list. I think it is a great idea too.

First rule is that you can’t have an NSFW blog, I have no clue what that is so they insured mine would be fine then. Then you just add yourself to the bottom of the list. You can read the rules here: http://www.millionbloglist.com/Add_Your_Blog and on the bottom is a link where you can add your blog.

That was very easy and now I’m on their list, I’m number 2237! Guess they still have a long way to go. But if you have your own blog, add it there and let’s see how long until they get 1 million! Oh by the way they started april 2008

Apple Crumble

I had a craft fair on saturday where it was really cold and now I'm sick. I'm sitting at home and I just want to eat something sweet. So I thought I could share one of my favourite recipes with you. It's apple crumble and it's great. The first time I ate it was in Disneyland where we got it during a diner show. When I got home I wanted to make one like that immediateley.

I got this recipe from the La cucina website and it goes like this:
- 450 grams of apples in slices or cubes whichever you prefer
- 50 grams of brown sugar
- some cinnamon
- 200 grams of non-salted butter
- 150 grams of regular sugar
- 300 grams of sifted flower

I'm sorry that I only know the measurements in grams, what do you use? Please let me know and if I can find it I will add those measurements too.

1. Preheat the oven at 180° C.
2. Mix the flower with the regular (white) sugar and butter until you got a crumble like dough.
3. Arrange the apple slices or cubes in something you can put in the oven (I'm sorry don't know the english word). Put some connamon over it according to your own taste and some brown sugar.
4. Cover the apples with the dough.
5. Put it in the oven for about 40-45 min.

As you see this is really easy to make. It even taste better with a bit of vanilla ice cream that is slightly melting on top.