UlvDesign - Nature inspired handcrafted jewellery

Time to update bookmarks!

2010-01-11T21:49:00.003+01:00

I've switched over to using Wordpress for my blog, and now have a slightly different blog address. So please update your bookmarks to: http://www.ulvdesign.com/blog.php/

I noticed that I still get visitors on the old address, and of course I should have thought about putting this post up a long time ago. Sorry! But now you've got the correct address.. :)

Weekend!

2009-11-21T17:43:00.003+01:00

I just finished a bracelet I'm sending off to Sweden, just need to take some pictures of it first... And speaking of pictures, I'm adding more and more photos of sold items to the Gallery part of the website - it's nice for me to have everything in one place, and it can be handy for customers as it shows a wide range of jewellery :)

Other things happening this weekend:

- The Wordpress saga continues. I'm looking into how to switch over...
- Sister-in-law's birthday. We went there today, which was nice.
- Working on a different bracelet - now half finished.
- Home work! Very important!
- Filing away some paper work. I used to put things off all the time but lately I've gotten really good at getting things done on time... :)

Blue skies

2009-11-20T10:56:00.001+01:00

If you take a look at my Flickr account, you'll find a set of photos of the sky taken at the end of this summer. The intention was to keep taking pictures every day - but then we went to Sweden to visit my family, and it just didn't happen. And when we came home, I didn't pick it up again.

A mosaic of all the pictures in the above mentioned Flickr set...

I still go back and look at those photos sometimes, because whenever I feel that the weather is grey grey grey, I'm reminded that almost half the time we DO have beautiful weather. My mood is easily affected by the weather, so this kind of reminder works for me!

The weather yesterday afternoon.

If you feel that everything is dull and grey, take a look at the sky. Keep doing that for a week or so - if you're anything like me, you won't get annoyed by the clouds, but actually look at them and enjoy.

Headpins!

2009-11-19T15:40:00.003+01:00

I got an order delivered home yesterday, lots and lots of silver wire. Mostly sterling silver, but also some fine silver to make head pins from. I had never tried fine silver before, always making my head pins from sterling. Not that easy.

So after a whole day at school yesterday, I just had to try out the fine silver... And wow!! It works SO much better!

Blogger or Wordpress?

2009-11-16T20:10:00.003+01:00

I'm so much in the mood for switching over to Wordpress when it comes to blogging. Nothing bad about Blogger, which is what I'm using now, but I feel more at home with Wordpress...

Today I've been working (new job, I think I mentioned it :) ) and cooking. Now it's time for some homework, I'm studying for a theory exam on Wednesday... Can't do a lot when it comes to making jewellery at the moment - the 'outside' of my right hand goes numb after just a couple of minutes. Which actually means I should stop typing, because it happens when I type as well ;)

Weekend again!

2009-11-14T11:33:00.002+01:00

I notice it's almost a week since the last time I wrote something... The week hasn't been too busy, but I've been sick on and off since last weekend. Still not feeling that great today, so I'm hoping that it'll be over soon!

I've got earrings to make, homework to make, and I need to study for an exam on Wednesday... Tonight we were supposed to go to a tapas restaurant with friends, but I think I'll have to pass. Next time!

Wishing everyone a lovely weekend!

Jewellery fair

2009-11-08T17:54:00.003+01:00

Today we went to a jewellery fair in Amsterdam together with some friends. It was something I had to do for school, and I felt it was quite a nice little field trip... I had heard from some people at school that they weren't really up for it, so hopefully they also liked it when they actually got there.

It was nice to see other people's booths, and all the different techniques that people use in their jewellery.

I wish I would have been able to give some sort of impression of what it looked like (it was housed in a really cool looking old building), but unfortunately we were not allowed to take any photos in there.

Bookmarks

2009-11-06T10:21:00.000+01:00

Two of my latest added bookmarks...

Happytape for pretty tape you can use for almost everything, from gift wrapping to scrapbooking, and everything in between.

Furoshiki.com for nice gift wrapping ideas, can also be used for other purposes... Love the fact that you can do so much just with a piece of fabric!

I also really love origami. That's how I make the gift boxes I use! Would be fun to learn more about this, but I have no idea when I'd have time for that...

Snow?

2009-11-05T08:14:00.002+01:00

Well no snow here, yet. (If it would have been snowing here now, it would have been really early for the season!) I still can't help but wanting it to be winter now. Snowy, cold, with dark evenings, candles lit, and extra blankets. Of course, at one point you're fed up with it, and start looking forward to spring. But right now - Bring it on!

Right now!

2009-11-04T20:29:00.003+01:00

Things are moving in the right direction... I got a new job that I started at this week, and I bought my wedding dress when my mum was here! Of course there will be no pictures, at least not until after the wedding day...

It's funny though. When I tried on the first dress I really felt like I was playing dress-up, but after a while I was really enjoying the experience of trying on all these beautiful dresses!

Anyway. Just a few lines to give an update on what's going on right now!
I've got a busy end of the week coming up, so I'm not sure if there will be anything done for UlvDesign in the next few days. Maybe, maybe not.

New!

2009-11-02T10:06:00.003+01:00

This post will be a bit image heavy.... Wanted to post the pictures of a couple of new pieces of jewellery. These ones are all currently in Sweden, but similar pieces can be made upon request...

Prehnite, peridot and sterling silver

Sterling silver

Smokey quartz and sterling silver

Sterling silver, goldfill and vermeil

Sterling silver and carnelian

Amazonite and goldfill (will hang from goldfill ear wires)

Goldfill, vermeil and a nice green stone I believe to be jasper, but can't remember which type.

Sunday!

2009-11-01T11:48:00.003+01:00

Sunday morning. I'm just home from having dropped off my mum at the airport... It's never nice to part, but she's coming back for Christmas, so we'll see each other soon again :) Looking at the list of things I wanted to do this week, I've managed to get some things done, and other things are still waiting for me to get around to them...

~~Test the new tools I bought. Need to make some time for that!~~
~~Upload some new pictures to Flickr and list some new jewellery.~~
Continue on my knitting a little.
Go to school on Wednesday.
See my mum Wednesday evening - Sunday morning!

I can also add a few things that I have gotten done...

Made several new pairs of earrings, that are now on their way to Sweden together with my mum.
Found birthday presents for one of my sisters.
Bought new paper for my origami boxes.

A post about blogging...

2009-10-27T11:11:00.004+01:00

Is there anyone else who feels that the space your blogging in, the actual look of your blog, is important for how you feel about blogging?

I've been tweaking the look of UlvDesign.com to make it more "me", little by little, over the past couple of months. There are still a few changes that I'm looking at, but I'm pretty happy about the way it looks and feels right now!

Only one thing - I would actually prefer to use Wordpress instead of Blogger, but I couldn't get it to work. Maybe time to give it another go in a little while...

Plans for the upcoming week

2009-10-25T14:56:00.004+01:00

Test the new tools I bought. Need to make some time for that!
Upload some new pictures to Flickr and list some new jewellery.
Continue on my knitting a little.
Go to school on Wednesday.
See my mum Wednesday evening - Sunday morning!

This is the knitting I'm working on right now... Nothing too complicated, but I like it!

I'm totally in love with these socks though.... I think I may need to learn this sometime soon. My grandma was always knitting socks, so doesn't it make sense if I continue on that?

Busy week!

2009-10-22T22:40:00.004+02:00

Whoa. Almost an entire week has gone by, just like that! The week has been a bit more busy than normal, so I guess that's why...

I've been taking care of some things that needed to be done for myself, for my shops, for the baby and for the wedding... Tomorrow I'll be putting a few extra hours into homework. I didn't have any school this week, so it will be nice to go there next week and see what we're going to be working on next!

Wedding planning

2009-10-18T22:04:00.001+02:00

We've started planning our wedding, even if just ever so slightly - looking for locations is #1 right now... There are so many details to look into, and so many of them are totally lovely! Being someone who loves decorations and design AND is very picky with details, I know I could become one of those horrible bridezillas. But...I want a nice and cozy wedding, where the people are the most important.

I hope my mum and sisters will be making the cake, and I've been talking briefly with one of my oldest friends about the flowers, as she's a florist.

Here's what it comes down to: I don't need an over-the-top expensive wedding gown, and I don't need the men to wear ties. I don't want a huge diamond ring, but I do want something one of a kind.
What I'd really love is a nice relaxed wedding with friends and family, where everyone feels comfortable and happy!

Taking a break while out looking for wedding locations in Sweden.
Rhubarb-cream tea and a "chocolate ball".

For inspiration, here are a couple of links!

http://www.weddingchannel.com/
http://josevillablog.com/
http://www.etsy.com/storque/search/tags/handmade-weddings/

Please feel free to share other links!

Happy Weekend!

2009-10-18T12:31:00.002+02:00

Today is tax declaration day for me. After that's done, I think we're going to go out for a walk - the weather is great!

I got some new tools and materials home yesterday, so hopefully I'll get some time to play around with that as well... Friday I picked up a scarf I started knitting somewhere last year, as I felt I needed to balance myself a little. Need to think about other things than jewellery every once in a while, and for that, knitting is perfect. And I still get to do something with my hands :)

Hope everyone's having a lovely weekend!

New pendant

2009-10-16T18:46:00.002+02:00

I noticed I had forgot to post a little something about this pendant - the first in either of my shops with a bezel set stone :) It's something I've been working hard on learning, and I think it's going pretty good now! Of course with more practice, things will go faster and easier, and that's only positive.

Sterling silver and faceted prehnite. The setting is open in the back to let the light flow through nicely...

It's cold!

2009-10-15T19:59:00.003+02:00

It's really autumn now - cold both outdoors and indoors! While I really quite like it, I just happened to take a look at the photos we took in August in Sweden. Summer.

That was then, now is now. I've got an extra pair of socks on and I've got a nice big cup of apple-vanilla tea waiting for me...

Cooking and baking and home work...

2009-10-13T18:42:00.002+02:00

Well, no baking yet - I wish - but I've been trying a new recipe (really fast and simple!) for a side dish (squash and thinly sliced almonds) and I've been doing home work. I STILL want to get around to trying out one of the recipes in my new baking book...

Tomorrow is school day for me. I'm working on something that I'll give to my son when he's older - his initials turned into a key chain pendant. Or whatever you call those things... :) I've also got a pendant (silver and prehnite) for my Etsy shop finished, but today's been busy and tomorrow I'll be gone the entire day so I'll have to wait until Thursday with photographing and listing it.

It's a nice one though, and I'm proud of the way it turned out!

This is kind of a funny post as it's a mish mash of everything. But I wanted to round things off with showing you the beautiful sunset we're having here tonight...

If there's time I'll update tomorrow evening...Otherwise it will be on Thursday, with pictures of the new pendant! Ciao!

Weekend!

2009-10-10T17:57:00.003+02:00

Wanted to share a somewhat fuzzy picture of my very brave cat... He's a bit afraid of heights, meaning he settles for sitting like this looking down into the neighbours garden, instead of jumping into the tree to climb down... :)

I hope everyone's enjoying their weekend. Today we've been at a gem & mineral fair - got some nice stones and bumped into a fellow goldsmithing student. Tonight we're going to a party, and tomorrow we're going to look at all the sporty people running the marathon here in Eindhoven!

Sharing some of my favourites!

2009-10-09T21:54:00.004+02:00

I thought maybe it would be a nice thing to share some of my favourite links, I think it gives a good idea what type of person one is by looking at the type of websites they like to browse. So here goes...

Websites:

www.etsy.com
I can spend hours searching for things here...

www.ikea.com
I'm Swedish, am I not?

www.realsimple.com
Anything that makes my life more organized, thus giving me more time for the things I really want to spend time on, is good!

www.alltommat.se
Food!

www.care2.com
Click-to-donate - always good!

www.treehugger.com
Lots and lots of useful and inspiring information here.

www.xe.com/ucc
Helps me figure out exactly how much I'm about to spend on something new I found on Etsy...

www.googlemaps.com
I know it's supposed to be maps.google.com, it's just easier the other way. I love maps, and I love that people add photos of places. It's a good tool when planning holidays!

www.flickr.com
Online photo albums. I'm not that good at uploading new photos on a regular basis, but I intend to get better at it... People share really great photos here. Especially like the 365 day self portraits!

Blogs:

www.my-photo-blog.com
Beautiful, beautiful nature photography. When I was little I had a cd-rom with photos from all the national parks in Northern America - these guys actually visit these places and many others as well, taking unbelievably beautiful photos.

josevillablog.com
Wedding photography - absolutely beautiful! Planning my own wedding, this is a great resource for ideas and for really figuring out what I want and how I want it. Very inspiring!

www.prinsessansdagbok.com
A Swedish mother of 2, living life in Oslo, Norway. She has such a positive attitude towards life, it's a pick-me-up everytime I visit her blog.

These are just a few of my favourites...There are many more websites and blogs I like visiting/reading :)

School day

2009-10-07T21:33:00.004+02:00

After less than 5 hours of sleep last night I had to get up this morning to go to school. I was able to catch some sleep (okay, more like 1 hour) on the train, and I don't think I was snoring or making funny faces... It's been a long day (from 5:30 AM to 7:30 PM) and now I'm relaxing.

Tomorrow I'll see if I can get a photo up of the soldering exercise we did today. It was something really simple, but I don't really mind. Starting from the beginning again isn't bad, I'm sure there are things I can pick up!

Update: Here's the photo... Silly thing I made... It's not really supposed to be anything specific, it's just for practice purposes - soldering a lot of different things of different thicknesses together. Not as easy as it looks like, and I learned something from it as well. Ha!

Rings with patina

2009-10-05T20:48:00.004+02:00

Hope everyone's been enjoying their beginning of the week. As I don't have a day job at the moment*, I tend to have a problem remembering which day is which, but I know today was Monday!

I've had a reasonably relaxed day today - I've been cleaning up a bit, and taken two orders to the post office. I've started wearing a ring I made sometime before my son was born, as I really want to test the quality of the patina before I even start thinking about selling similar kind of rings... (My fingers got a bit swollen towards the end of my pregnancy, so I couldn't go through with the testing at that point.) So from now on I'll be wearing this ring every day, and I'll be noting what it looks like after 1, 2 and 3 months. Hopefully it still looks just as good as right now! Not sure exactly how long a test period should be, but most people I know change the rings they're wearing every few days or weeks, so around 100 days of every-day testing should give me a good impression of the quality! :)

Tomorrow should be filled with job applications, new jewellery, baby laughter and hopefully a chance to test out a new recipe or two. I'll report back tomorrow with the results :)

*The company I worked for went bankrupt and I'm currently looking for something new...

New bracelet

2009-10-04T16:54:00.002+02:00

The one in the first image is for the shop, the petal one has been sold and is being shipped out!

I think I'll need to get some new photos taken of the first bracelet, they don't quite do it justice. I like simple and clean photos, but preferably with some green in them. Ginkgo leaves are my favourite, but it's not like I have a ginkgo tree growing in my back yard. I don't even have a back yard.....

2 years ago...

2009-10-04T11:11:00.006+02:00

These photos are almost 2 years old - they're from our Iceland holiday in 2007. I'd LOVE to go back there and do the same thing over again. Only more, this time. Horse back riding, whale safari, aurora borealis... We rented a small car for 2 weeks and drove around the entire island. If you're looking for nature and a bit of adventure - go there!

Next time I hope we'll go to Japan. Where would you like to go?

In between two continental plates...

The ground was so hot that the water was boiling. I've seen boiling mud as well!

Happy Thursday!

2009-10-01T21:12:00.003+02:00

I finally got my driver's license! This is something I've been putting off for so long, but I'm glad I finally made it. (I've always been living in places where a driver's license hasn't really been necessary, but now with a baby I can see it has it's advantages. And it also comes in handy when my dear boyfriend doesn't want to come along to IKEA....)

That was my Thursday, more or less. Spent the morning being nervous and the afternoon being happy. I've also been working on some things for the shop and some orders. Tomorrow - more job hunting, more new jewellery (I hope), and more time to sketch new ideas for UlvDesign.com.

New pendant and earrings

2009-09-30T11:26:00.002+02:00

Two new pieces!

Prehnite and sterling silver pendant

Hessonite garnet and sterling silver earrings

I really need to get a new ruler that shows both centimeters and inches. I was cutting paper with a knife (for boxes) and accidentally cut the ruler as well, so it doesn't look very nice anymore. (I use it to show the size of the jewellery in the listings...)

No school today

2009-09-30T10:15:00.002+02:00

Today is normally school-day for me, but with the baby having a middle ear infection (he's actually much better already), I decided to stay at home. Didn't want to leave him in day care for the entire day. Especially not since we're only just about to begin soldering in school, and I do know how to do that...

I will post a couple of new things in a little bit... stay tuned!!

Birthday

2009-09-28T09:57:00.004+02:00

So today is my birthday. I already celebrated it last Saturday, and a bit when we were in Sweden in August, so I'm quite happy with the amount of celebrating. Also, our baby has quite the cold so I'm more focused on taking care of him than anything else...

I just wanted to remind everyone of my birthday special, that goes on until Sunday 4 October. Buy something in any of my shops, and get a free matching surprise! That's my gift to you!

Hoping everyone has a great start of the week!

New!

2009-09-27T19:40:00.003+02:00

I've just finished a couple of sets of dangles that can be added to the hoops I've got for sale in my shop, or maybe an old pair of favourite hoops...

2 pairs in labradorite and 1 pair in imperial jasper, so far! (Hoops pictured are not included, but can be purchased separately. The dangles are actually meant as add-ons to the hoops... :) )

A birthday gift - from me to you

2009-09-27T10:41:00.003+02:00

Tomorrow is my birthday, and I've been celebrating that this weekend. But to continue the fun for a little while longer, I'm going to add a little something to each purchase being made from today 27 September to next week Sunday, 4 October!

What you get will be a surprise, but it will match your purchase... No need for special codes or anything, but make sure to make the order within this time frame. The offer is of course valid here on UlvDesign, on Etsy and on Artfire.

:)

Petal bracelet

2009-09-26T19:45:00.000+02:00

I'm seriously very happy that this bracelet is finished! I love the weight of it, and how nicely it moves over the skin. It's been one of these projects where I came up with the design in the blink of an eye, but the actual making of the bracelet has been taking quite some time. But here it is!

The bracelet is entirely hand made by me, including the links and the clasp.

Happy Saturday!

Another Friday post...

2009-09-25T23:14:00.003+02:00

I can't believe how fast the weeks go past!! Maybe it's because I'm still home with the baby that I don't have a real week rhythm, but yeah, seriously - time flies!

Today has been spent working on jewellery, and I just finished some extras for the hoops I'm selling. I thought it would be nice to be able to dress them up a bit extra, but not necessarily having to buy them that way. So I've made little hoop decorations (can't really decide on what to call them yet) that easily can be slipped onto a pair of hoops to give them a bit extra sparkle and glam.

The first pair is with faceted labradorite drop shaped briolette beads. Labradorite is a grey stone with flashes of aqua, blue, green, gold and purple. Depending on the angle you look at the stone, it will either look grey, or with the colour flash. Quite nice!

Sorry about the horrible picture quality, but it's late here and using the flash totally kills the picture. I'll make new ones tomorrow that show what they look like a bit better :)

Thursday!

2009-09-24T22:31:00.003+02:00

Thursday!
Originally uploaded by UlvDesign

Thursday is behind us, or almost...

I've spent a couple of hours in the city today. Had a meeting with my work coach as I need to find a new job after the company I worked for went bankrupt.
So I got home, did the cleaning up and organizing that I wanted done before the weekend, and then sat down to re-write my CV and my application letter. All of it in Dutch of course, which at times can be a challenge as I speak way more English and Swedish than Dutch... I AM trying to improve on the amount of Dutch I speak, and going 1 day a week to school definitely helps! So basically it's just good that I had to write this in Dutch as well.

Tomorrow I'll be doing home work (sawing, filing and polishing) and trying to finish the two bracelets I've put off for way too long.

Today's highlights: The bagel and soy latte I had for lunch, baby laughter, finally having new gas for my burner (Or flame thrower, as my dear boyfriend calls it :) )

Mid week already!

2009-09-23T05:35:00.000+02:00

The weekend is over, and Monday and Tuesday just flew by. Early Wednesday morning right now, trying to wake up with a cup of tea before I've got to catch the train to Amsterdam... Waking up at 5 is a bit early!

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm in the middle of sorting a whole lot of things out, in the hoping that it will give me a little more time and peace to do what I want. It's kind of like autumn cleaning! It would be great to feel that I have time for everything necessary, plus some extra time for things I would like to do in addition to that... I got a new cook book and a photo book for my birthday, and I'd love to get started with both of them, but I haven't really felt like I've had time for it yet. So I'm cleaning up among my 'Must-Dos'.

What are your plans for autumn? Anything you're preparing for?

Hoops!

2009-09-18T15:57:00.004+02:00

This is the pair I mentioned that I was working on this morning:

Oh and I believe this is post #102! I didn't think I'd reach a 100 this fast, but of course, with regular posting things move along a bit quicker... :) To celebrate this, you will get 10% off on any purchase in either one of my shops, here at UlvDesign.com, my Etsy shop or my ArtFire shop, just send me a note with #102 in it, and I'll send you a revised invoice through PayPal (or if you've been quick and paid already, I'll refund the difference). The offer is valid until Sunday evening, 20 September.

Happy Friday everyone!

Autumn = cold season?

2009-09-18T08:54:00.003+02:00

Roughly half way through September, and I've already got a cold. I'm not used to being sick anymore, so I'm feeling a bit knocked out... Hopefully it will let go SOON!

However, I'm working on yet another pair of wire wrapped hoops that should be done in just a little bit. After that it's time for some homework!
We have beautiful September weather, and as our little boy is spending half a day in daycare today, I'm going to take a nice walk there to pick him up.

Almost weekend - I hope everyone's had a nice week!

More wire wrapped hoops...

2009-09-17T14:49:00.004+02:00

Goldfilled hoops wrapped with a silver vine pattern

Oxidized silver hoops wrapped with a silver vine pattern

New earrings

2009-09-15T20:21:00.004+02:00

I've started on a collection of wire wrapped hoops for this autumn, they're available as silver hoop with goldfilled wire as detailing, goldfilled hoop with silver as detailing, and oxidized silver hoop with silver detailing. So far, that is! You can find them both on Etsy and on ArtFire.

This pair is available right now on Etsy, and the other ones will be added on Thursday! Still need to fill up my ArtFire shop, so you can expect to find new jewellery there as well :)

(This is the same pair of earrings as shown a few posts ago. The idea of making hoops that are simple to wear but with some extra attention to detail inspired several other versions...)

Update

2009-09-12T15:16:00.003+02:00

I figured I'd make a small update of my holiday plans and what actually got done...

If there still are blueberries ~~and chanterelles~~ in the forest, I want to go out and pick some. Unfortunately people have been sharing pictures of how much they've already picked, so I'm afraid that the season may have passed when we get there. There will be new opportunities next year!
Blueberries found, picked, and eaten. No time for chanterelles, and from what I heard from my sister, there were hardly any left anyway...
I want to look for yarn and knitting needles.
Yes to both of these. Got some cheap(ish) acrylic yarn to practice with before I buy the nice stuff, and my grandma's old knitting needles. Love using her old needles instead of getting new ones.
I'm looking at making a photo album for the baby. One of my sisters is really into scrap booking (and good at it!), so I'd like to see if she'd be willing to help me start on a very simple looking album.
Got an album, paper and scissors plus some things for embellishments for my birthday. Yay!
I want to go climbing.
Yes! In this post are some pictures of the climbing center.
I want to see how much an Ergo Baby Carrier would cost to buy in Sweden, and if it's really as good as you hear it is.
They were sold out when I got to the shop, but the prices seem pretty good. And I guess the demand means they're quite popular too...!
I want to go to the grocery store. Definitely need to buy remoulade!! We had that (together with fresh onions, dried onions, mustard and ketchup) on hot dogs when we were in Iceland, and that was sooo good. But they don't sell that type of sauce here. :(
Brought some remoulade, lactose free creme fraiche and halloumi cheese. Lovely!

In addition to this, we've been looking at Bronze age rock carvings in Tanumshede, taken the ferry out into the Gothenburg archipelago, visited an old relative, been to Huskvarna to see friends and been to Gothenburg several times. We've also been hunting for wedding locations, and gotten an exclusive guided tour of Torpa Stenhus, where Gustav Vasa, the first Swedish king, came to get his third wife...

School

2009-09-10T20:54:00.006+02:00

First day in school is done! I quickly looked through the book of assignments for the coming year, and I noticed that I've already completed several of them before... However, I don't mind doing them again as I'm sure I'll learn from it :) The more practice you get, the more secure you get and the better results you get...

I'm in what seems to be a really nice group of people. We'll be doing some long days (8:50 AM to 5:30 PM plus 3 hours in the train each Wednesday), and from what I could tell, everyone is really enthusiastic about it. So it's all good!

Student life

2009-09-08T15:09:00.001+02:00

Tomorrow, Wednesday, is the first day of school for me. The first day of a 4 year program to become a goldsmith!

I'll be spending every Wednesday in Amsterdam, and I'll be doing about 8-12 hours of 'home work' each week. Since I haven't done much studying at university (except half a year of Mandarin and a year of archaeology) I can't say I know first handed what typical 'student life' is like, but I'm sure this will be quite a different experience considering I have a baby, don't live in a student house and will need to work a couple of days a week to pay the bills. I'm really quite settled... Still, I've wanted this for so long that I'm sure it will be great!

I could write a really long post about this, but I'll cut to the chase... I've known since I was 15 that this is what I wanted to do, but things haven't worked out – until now.

Wedding blogging...

2009-09-08T10:49:00.003+02:00

The two weeks we spent in Sweden weren't really enough to make a final decision on the location we want for our wedding, but we have found some really good alternatives! There's a lot to look to when planning a wedding, and the thing is, we're really just at the beginning! I'm really excited though.

Take a look at Jose Villa's blog. He's such a talented photographer, and even though we won't be able to have him at our wedding (he he) I hope we'll be able to find someone with a similar style. I can spend a lot of time browsing through the photos on his blog. And looking at the photos, I can't help but feeling very inspired also when it comes to the decorations...

New!

2009-09-07T21:52:00.003+02:00

We came home yesterday afternoon, and yesterday evening (after cleaning up and doing laundry etc...) I finished this pair of earrings. I started on them when we were in Sweden (here's the original post) but couldn't finish them then and there. It seems I missed my hammers...

Sterling silver and 14 K goldfilled.

Climbing the walls

2009-09-05T13:39:00.000+02:00

Yes really. Not as in 'I have too much energy and can't channel it', but climbing the walls as in indoor wall climbing! I tried this with my little sister (who's really good at it) last year, and even though I'd normally say I'm afraid of heights, I did amazingly well considering, and had so much fun.

So much fun, in fact, that I'd like to start doing this at home in the Netherlands also. Taking advantage of being in Sweden at the moment, I went climbing with my sister again. Need to find some people that will join in at home...

The second picture gives a pretty good view of what the climbing center looks like. Love that an old military building like this has gotten a new purpose.

New design ideas

2009-09-04T17:02:00.001+02:00

I love it when a new design pops into my head, I start creating and get the result wanted right away. Because believe me, that's not always the case. Sometimes it just doesn't work out as you want it to, or you change your mind. I know it's good to have a plan (especially when using expensive materials) but sometimes it's just fun to follow through on that one idea that you can't get out of your head...

I started on a new design the other day, but couldn't finish it as I haven't brought the necessary tools. But we're back home in NL in a few days, and then I can finish it off, together with some other things that are very, very near completion...!

Learning to knit

2009-09-04T11:28:00.000+02:00

Day 13 of our trip to Sweden, visiting my family! One thing I haven't really been able to find where we live in the Netherlands, is a shop with yarn and other knitting supplies. I'm sure there are shops around, but I just haven't found them...
So being here, I've been buying some yarn, then picked up my grandma's old knitting needles and got instructions from my mum on how to use them.

(She wanted to teach me some more stuff, such as making patterns with dots in other colours, but you need to start somewhere. Baby steps.)

I already knew the really simple stuff, and I started on two different lace patterns last spring, but my mission right now is to learn how to make arm warmers, socks, mittens, or maybe a hat.

Patience...

2009-09-02T12:15:00.003+02:00

...is needed when trying to upload pictures to the blog from my dad's computer. It simply doesn't want to cooperate! So there's a risk I'll have to wait until I'm back home before I can upload posts with photos again. I'm going to try it again on a different computer a bit later on - if if won't work then either, you can expect quite a few posts when we return to the Netherlands!

Hope everyone's enjoying the last bit of summer. September is here, and I'm looking forward to what autumn will bring!

Sweden!

2009-08-24T21:21:00.005+02:00

We are in Sweden now! The plane trip (which was the first one with our baby) went perfect; baby didn't cry, the sky was beautiful and we landed 15 minutes early. We've got some plans for the next couple of days - I'll update later on with some pictures. See it as a small guide of things you can do if visiting "my" part of Sweden ;)

Bracelets

2009-08-21T20:14:00.004+02:00

They're not quite finished yet, but here's a sneak peak... The petal one should be done tomorrow. I'm not sure exactly when I'll be done with the other one, as I haven't been able to decide on the type of clasp I'm going to use...

Just a few days left...

2009-08-21T11:27:00.004+02:00

...And then we're off to Sweden!! You can really tell that we'll be gone for two weeks, simply by taking a look in our fridge. I was feeling a bit hungry, but already had breakfast and it isn't time for lunch just yet. So guess what I had to snack on? Olives. And a glass of coke. (We're trying to empty the fridge as much as possible so food won't go bad while we're gone...)

Today I really want to finish two bracelets, but I think I'll be happy if I get one of them done. Starting projects and then taking them to near completion seems to be one of my specialties....(I've got necklaces, pendants and bracelets, all in different stages of completion.) But on the other hand, as soon as I've finished these projects, I'll have a lot of new jewellery to show you!

I'm going to continue working now - hopefully with some results to show you this evening...!

Oh my, the weather...

2009-08-20T09:41:00.003+02:00

This is too weird.... The temperature keeps on going up and down, up and down. Today we'll get 37°C, and tomorrow 23°C. That's a difference of 14°! In Fahrenheit, today we'll have 98.6°F, and tomorrow 73.4°F...

Screenshot of the weather forecast - yr.no.

I think the ideal temperature for me is around 25°C (77°F). Add a slight breeze to that, and it's perfect!

New!

2009-08-19T20:01:00.004+02:00

So I mentioned wanting to work with copper the other day? Here's the first pair of earrings I've made so far. Very simple, as usual, dapped copper rounds with handmade silver ear wires. I really like the colour of copper, that pretty peachy-orange colour looks great against basically any skin tone.

I've spent most of today with my soon to be in-laws. It was way too warm to stay at home, so we went walking in the shade and had some ice cream. Baby is 5 months old today, time is going so fast!!

Monday = Lots of work . Silly Accident . Cuddles with baby . Laughs .

2009-08-18T11:43:00.003+02:00

Yesterday I got off to a good start. I was working on finish a necklace (still some work left to do on that one), and I made a pair of copper earrings. (Seriously, this is typically me. I still have older projects going that should be finished before I start on new ones...)

My baby was a happy little boy (as most days), playing by himself quite a bit, eating, napping and being entertained by me. During his nap time I decided to solder some links that I'm going to use for another necklace, but then I managed to cut myself in the palm of my hand when cutting tiny little pieces of solder. So unfortunately I had to give it a break... Still can't believe I did something that clumsy. I guess there's a first time for everything...

Anyhow, at the end of the day, I had still been productive and I also got a package sent out.

Oh yes, and I've added more sky pictures to my Flickr set!

More metal to the people!

2009-08-16T08:43:00.003+02:00

Sunday means saying goodbye to my friend that's been visiting. It also means getting back to work!

I'm seriously considering making pieces in copper and brass. Love the colours of those metals. I'm much for letting metal oxidize naturally, so I won't be sealing the metal with waxes or anything. If a shiny finish is desired after the metal starts oxidizing, all that's necessary is a quick polish up.

I'm going to try to round up the projects I'm currently working on, before I start on new ones though...

But right now, I'm going to go make myself a cup of coffee. Will try out my new milk frother and coffee glasses!

Did some shopping...

2009-08-15T21:38:00.004+02:00

...for new coffee glasses, to match the new milk frother. I thought they were a bargain, but at home my partner told me that the price was per glass, not per 2. Ouch. They were still cheaper than the ones I first laid my eyes on. Basically, I've got the budget version of these:

Coffee!

2009-08-14T16:55:00.004+02:00

Yesterday in the city I finally bought a milk frother, meaning I can make really fancy coffee at home from now on :)

I also finished one of the pendants. Needless to say, the photo is a close up...

Feels like weekend

2009-08-13T11:13:00.002+02:00

I've got a friend visiting for a couple of days, so it feels like the weekend started early! I'm not sure how much I'll actually get done in the next couple of days, so if I don't have any new jewellery to list - happy weekend, a little bit in advance!

Holiday plans

2009-08-12T10:37:00.005+02:00

I got a lot done yesterday, and I also got two pendants with stones almost done. Still working on those a bit today... I'm glad I kicked myself into practicing this technique a bit more, because how else would I learn and eventually graduate to using the really beautiful stones??

On August 23rd we're going to Sweden, staying there for two weeks. It's good to have some sort of plan for such a visit, because otherwise you'll end up having had a nice time, and only having done half of the things you wanted to do...!

These are a few of the things on my wish list for those two weeks:

If there still are blueberries and chanterelles in the forest, I want to go out and pick some. Unfortunately people have been sharing pictures of how much they've already picked, so I'm afraid that the season may have passed when we get there. There will be new opportunities next year!
I want to look for yarn and knitting needles.
I'm looking at making a photo album for the baby. One of my sisters is really into scrap booking (and good at it!), so I'd like to see if she'd be willing to help me start on a very simple looking album.
I want to go climbing.
I want to see how much an Ergo Baby Carrier would cost to buy in Sweden, and if it's really as good as you hear it is.
I want to go to the grocery store. Definitely need to buy remoulade!! We had that (together with fresh onions, dried onions, mustard and ketchup) on hot dogs when we were in Iceland, and that was sooo good. But they don't sell that type of sauce here. :(

Tuesday full of chores

2009-08-11T12:43:00.001+02:00

Up early, went job hunting (actually went to a rather pointless information meeting, but did some actual job hunting afterwards), made an important phone call, been fixing things here at home - and - I'm no way near done. Luckily for me, it's grey and rainy outdoors, so I don't regret spending the day fixing stuff at home!

Just hoping there will be time for other things (that I actually enjoy doing) as well. Therefore, good bye computer - hello everything else!

My favourite type of stones

2009-08-11T09:34:00.004+02:00

Labradorite
Prehnite
Tourmaline
Ruby

So beautiful. At times I need to tell myself to stop doing the type of jewellery I already know, and practice more on the things I want to learn! Get going with practicing bezel setting - now! Then I feel that I can justify buying more of these gorgeous stones. There's a really nice mineral and gem show coming up in the Hague in December, and I should have had enough practice by then. I hope...

Ps. The pictures in the links above maybe aren't the best, so if you're interested, look them up on Google and choose "Images" when searching...

Funny things about Swedish people - Part 2

2009-08-10T13:06:00.002+02:00

Jeez, I really didn't intend to wait this long with the follow up of part 1. Continuing on the "facts" about Swedish people... You can find the other post here.

10 random things that are typically Swedish:

You know you are from Sweden when you associate 3 pm on Christmas Eve with Donald Duck, and vice versa.
You are attending a New Year's Party that suddenly takes a break when it is time to watch “Dinner for One” (Grevinnan och Betjänten).
You don't consider a congregation of trees being a "real" forest unless it takes at least 20 minutes to drive through it.
You think that everyone is allowed to walk in any field or forest. And when people abroad tell you it's private land, you don't understand and say "But, what about Allemansrätten?"
You find it normal to have the headlights of the car on at the brightest and sunniest of days.
You would happily catch the tube to the suburbs at 3am or walk alone through a park at night, but you'd NEVER ride in a car without your seat belt on. (Hey! OF COURSE you need to wear your seat belt!)
Your non Swedish friends take the piss out of you speaking Swedish on the phone because every second word you say is "bra". (means "good")
You get guilty conscience from throwing things in the dustbin that could have been recycled.
You think that it's ridiculous to build houses from bricks. Wood is the real deal! (Here in the Netherlands it's the other way around, by the way...)
When, while entering a supermarket in another country, find that you can buy alcohol…and you get the same look in your eyes like a child on Christmas. (This actually happened when my sister and her boyfriend came to the Netherlands the first time to visit us...)

Wedding treasury on Etsy

2009-08-09T15:54:00.004+02:00

Found a lot of pretty items on Etsy! Click the picture to view it in full size...

Oh and I know I hadn't mentioned this until now - but I'm getting married! The proposal: A pink rose quartz elephant he imported especially from Hong Kong (before we even were a couple we joked about marriage, and I told him I'd want a pink elephant if he'd propose...)

Clouds

2009-08-08T09:20:00.002+02:00

When I was younger I had yet to be bitten by the photography bug. Nowadays, I'm always the one holding the camera! I take photos when we're out on holidays, and I snap away every week to have pictures of my little family. I take photos of all my jewellery for UlvDesign, and I try to get the camera out for photos of the sky every day.

I like the idea of a diary, just not the ordinary kind (If I had to write the common type of diary, I'd keep it up for a little while, then forget about it). A blog of course works as a type of journal, and in addition to that I post pictures to my Flickr page. I've got a set with cloud pictures on Flickr that I update regularly, which lets me remember the amount of beautiful weather we really have... If you're in the mood for something else than jewellery, then take a look!

I think it will be really cool to look back at these pictures in a couple of months. I generally try to take one picture a day, but of course there are and will continue to be a few exceptions to that rule...

Happy weekend!

More plans

2009-08-07T18:20:00.004+02:00

This time, plans for the rest of the year... I'll probably need to come back and update this list as time goes by, but these are the current plans:

Find a new day job, as the company I worked for is bankrupt...
Work hard on adding more jewellery to the shops, especially more bracelets and necklaces!
I haven't quite decided on if I should keep offering rings in my shops, as different countries have different systems for the sizing. I'd LOVE to sell rings, so I think I'll need to research exactly how to go about it a little further and then get started on making more rings!
Go to school every week, to learn every little bit about goldsmithing there is to learn!
Be the best mum I can be. Meaning - work efficiently, to be able to spend a lot of time with my baby.

I think I'll need to do a bit of juggling to be able to divide my time properly on the things on this list. I think it all will come down to organization and will power... (Needless to say, time with my baby won't be sacrificed... :))

Design plans

2009-08-06T15:56:00.006+02:00

Having a plan is important when you run a business, even a small one. You need to know what you're spending your money and your time on. Some of the things you need to keep an eye on aren't very exciting, such as which supplier really is the cheapest, or how you go about tax declarations.

Other things, such as making an overview of your designs, definitely is! I'm personally not one for planning a whole lot of things in life, but I've noticed that laying out a plan for my designs works really well. It keeps me from drifting off in too many different directions at once...! I keep a sketchpad close by, and that's where I'll draw new designs, or write down keywords.

I'm currently very much inspired by leaves and flower petals. The shapes are so appealing!

I'm also getting more and more interested in using different types of textures. I'm just about to start planning my designs for autumn/winter, and I'm really excited about it!

New earrings

2009-08-05T21:35:00.003+02:00

Again, some new earrings with more colour...

Sunstone and silver leaves

Faceted prehnite and silver

Faceted amethyst and silver

These will all be available at UlvDesign.etsy.com within the next couple of days, just need to find the time to list them!

5 years!

2009-08-03T09:15:00.004+02:00

Today is a special day to me and my partner, it's our 5 year anniversary! So today his mum is baby sitting our little boy, and we're going away for a couple of hours just to spend some time together! This year we're going to a spa, so maybe next year we'll do something a bit more active and adventurous!

Oh and by the way - am I the only one that's kind of looking forward to autumn? I know that it's probably nuts, considering that we've had a nice summer and seem to be getting a few more weeks of that, but every now and then my thoughts drift off towards knits, cozy evenings with lit candles, nice hot cups of tea (okay, actually I just finished a cup, but anyway...)

Have a great start of the week!

New earrings

2009-08-02T17:26:00.004+02:00

Here's a peek of two new pairs of earrings that will be listed in my Etsy shop soon... I was in the mood for some more colour!

Update: The earrings are now listed in my Etsy shop! If you click the pictures, a new window will open and show you the listing directly.

There are too many things I want...

2009-08-01T09:28:00.004+02:00

...Things I want to learn, and things I want to have.

I love things that are handcrafted, and where good materials have been used. When I'm a rich girl (haha, we'll see about that one) I'm going to buy my clothes, bags, ceramics and soaps from independent designers. At the moment it's soap that I'm looking into. Would be nice to buy something which is made from natural ingredients, won't dry out my skin and hasn't been animal tested.

These ones from DressGreen look yummy:

And what's good about soap is that it never gets THAT expensive anyway. Well if you empty someone's shop, then okay, but not if you buy a bar or two.

I think that the project for this autumn (next to continuing to work on adding more jewellery to my shops and go to school) will be knitting. Again. I keep on coming back to that, so I think I need to learn it properly so that I really can enjoy making things..!

Happy weekend everyone!

New earrings

2009-07-30T22:11:00.003+02:00

Here's a pair of earrings that I've meant to blog for over a week now but haven't gotten around to... They're a bit more festive than most jewellery in my shop, and so I wanted to give them a proper introduction! The tiny white pearls contrasts nicely with the large brushed silver links. These earrings would look great as bridal jewellery or for any other occasion when you want to dress up a bit.

I'm thinking about making these with juicy orange carnelians or smokey quartz as well as it will give them a completely different look!

For sale in my Etsy shop!

Simplified check out!

2009-07-30T14:14:00.008+02:00

I promised you a little while back that there would be new jewellery in the shops to choose from, and it's on its' way! My back is getting better, so I hope to be able to make up for the lost time in the next few days...! However, I have still been able to do some things that are shop related.

UlvDesign.com:

The check out procedure has been simplified. You can now choose if you want to make an account first (which lets you save all your details for future purchases) or if you just want to buy the item without making an account.
Dutch customers can now pay with iDEAL!
(I'm planning on adding some other payment options as well, it's on my to-do list.)

UlvDesign.etsy.com:

Better photos of the jewellery being sold there. Take a look!

That's all for now! I'll probably check back later with an update.

PS. Take a look at my "Dutch skies" photos over at Flickr. I got the idea of documenting the weather for a while, so there are a lot pictures of blue skies and some clouds... It's always nice to keep as a reminder for when the weather is bad.

Just another day...

2009-07-28T21:55:00.011+02:00

I had such plans for this week! However, I haven't been getting much done since Sunday. I have no idea what happened, but my back is killing me! Maybe I've been sleeping in a bad position, or stretched something when playing with my baby. I'm not that fit after all... I've been taking pain killers but they're not really helping, so if it's no better by tomorrow I'm going to call the doctor.

So what have I been up to?

I've been reading up on photography
Started making a light box (but might end up buying one instead)
Taken my baby boy to the doctor for his 4 month check up
Had dinner in the city with my boys
Picked some ginkgo leaves
Started dreaming (again) about going to Japan. I really want to go there, but I'm thinking that the nicest would be to wait a few years so that my son will be old enough to remember some of it when he grows up.

Time to wrap up and go to bed. Hoping that tomorrow there will be no back pain and lots of time for all the things I've been putting off!

New week!

2009-07-27T09:25:00.005+02:00

I hope everyone's had a great weekend! We went barbecuing with friends on Saturday, and even though the weather looked like this at noon:

it turned into this later on in the afternoon:

We had loads of fun, the weather and the company was great. Something to turn into an annual happening maybe...

Right now I'm job hunting, and after that I'm going to see if I can order some of the material I forgot with my last order.... duh!

Sneak peak

2009-07-24T12:35:00.004+02:00

These are a couple of different projects, all in different stages of completion. This is typically me - I start sooo many projects at the same time! Just wanted to give you an impression of a few new things to come...

It's been raining here quite a lot the past couple of days, and I'm beginning to feel like autumn is coming. NOT correct, we've still got some days left in July and the whole of August to go! But it has made me start thinking about colours and designs for autumn. This is the weather here right now:

Dutch skies

Sore hands...!

2009-07-22T22:13:00.006+02:00

I've been working on bracelets today, and WOW my hands are sore! It's been a lot of sawing, bending, filing and sanding today. I probably shouldn't be typing this but let my hands rest, but I wanted to at least write a few lines today.

I can't guarantee that I'll keep up my every other day posting, but it looks pretty promising at the moment! On the other hand, I'm happy if I'm able to post 2 or 3 times a week... Right now I'm cutting down on time spent online, and increasing the time spent on making jewellery. So if everything goes my way, there will be much more to choose from quite soon in both my shops.

Now - done typing and working for today. I'm going to grab some tea. As soon as the bracelets are finished you'll see them here...

Something new for myself

2009-07-20T18:17:00.006+02:00

As I've mentioned earlier, I'm working on learning bezel setting. When I feel that I really master the technique I'll start offering pieces with stones in my shops, but until then, I'm the one getting some new jewellery :)

Funny things about Swedish people - Part 1

2009-07-18T09:03:00.007+02:00

Let me first of all point out that I am Swedish, so I'm allowed to! With that I'm not saying that everything goes for each and every one of us, but a lot of things are quite typical for us... My partner actually found this list on Facebook, and I decided to take some of the points that are particularly Swedish and put them on here. Just for fun ;)

Eating habits:

You insist on sitting outside to have lunch/coffee/beer wrapped in a blanket (or two!) although it's only ten-something degrees outside and barely sunny, since it’s finally time for "uteservering".
You go on a date in Sweden and the guy only pays for his own coffee.
After eating at a café/restaurant, you think it's completely normal to tidy your table, collect all your stuff onto a tray and carry it over a trolley so that the staff doesn't have to do it.
You don't even think twice about bringing hot coffee to the beach.
You love “Kalles Kaviar” and get offended when Non-Swedes claim it is “only cod roe, not caviar”.
You insist that Swedish chocolate is the best in the world, despite what the Belgians and the Swiss might say.
You get cranky if you don't get to eat "havregrynsgröt" every morning. (Oatmeal)
You try over and over again to explain to a Non-Swede what a "semla" is.
You consider baking a social activity.
At cafés, you find it completely normal walking all the way to the counter to order and then carrying it yourself to the table rather than being waited on.
You give a false (local name) when you order a table at a restaurant abroad, since giving your Swedish surname is way too complicated. (Haven't done this so far, but I'definitely consider it, as my surname is almost impossible to spell and pronounce for people who aren't from Sweden)

Pretty things for a creative work space

2009-07-15T10:33:00.006+02:00

I've been wanting to do something about my work space here at home. It definitely needs some sprucing up! I'll need a better lamp, and I should start pinning my sketches to the wall. I often sketch ideas down, but then I come with a new idea, turn the page and continue. Lots of ideas are forgotten just because I keep having new ones. So that's a priority! Look through the sketchbooks, and pick some ideas out.

I've also been looking for some small artwork that will make my space more inviting....

Choisis la joie

One year of smiles

Albert Einstein Eye Chart Quote

Exotic Wood Desk Planter

Right now I have to get going with some stuff. The baby is asleep, so I'm going to use that moment to work on something that's had to wait several days...

Weekend with mum!

2009-07-12T18:00:00.007+02:00

Since we had our baby in March we've had my family here quite often, and it's been so nice to see everyone like this!! (They live in Sweden, and I in the Netherlands) The past couple of days we had my mum over, and we've just been catching up on talking, cuddling with the baby, and doing some shopping. Hopefully we'll take a trip to Sweden in August.

There hasn't been any new jewellery made this weekend, but this week there will be more new stuff... We've been talking about different designs and ideas, so I'm ready to get some new things done.

Working on settings + new ideas

2009-07-08T13:00:00.006+02:00

I've got a couple of new projects that I've started on, with bezel set stones. It's something relatively new for me (even though I know I've mentioned it on here a couple of times), and haven't had too much practice yet. I'm however convinced that I can do it! (Have to stay positive!)

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm having trouble finding enough time for everything. When it comes to new designs and such, my mind is overflowing and I have no idea as to when I'll be able to realize even half of them..... BUT, I'm going to do my very best to get a few of them done. It's so satisfying when I've been able to finish a design that's been on my mind for days, sometimes even weeks!

I've also been taking new pictures of a couple of bracelets. Photography is fun, and sometimes when I'm taking pictures of new pieces I'll also bring out some of the older ones as well and get some new shots of them. Et Voilà!

So sweet

2009-07-07T09:43:00.004+02:00

I live in a city which doesn't have that many nice parks close by, but I've got one that's on walking distance from home. The other day I took the stroller there, and we were just walking around for a bit. On our way home we walked over a bridge. I stopped briefly to look down at the water and the waterlilies growing, and I saw something so cute! Two little moorhens (I had to look this up, hehe) were swimming towards their parents and siblings, and decided to take a shortcut over the waterlilies. Swimming, running over the leaves, swimming some more.

I wish I had taken my camera with me.

Todays activities: Laundry & earrings. Yes, I know I should be adding some bracelets and necklaces to the shops also, but I'm in the mood for earrings, so earrings it is...

Time management

2009-07-06T10:23:00.006+02:00

I'm one of those persons that keep wanting to learn new things. I want to continue developing in jewellery making, but I also want to learn more languages and learn other crafts too! I'm not sure where I'm supposed to get the time to do all this. I think this is why I like organizing things, as I hope that once stuff is well organized I'll have to spend less time on the necessary but boring things, and more on what's fun.

How do you get the time to do the things you want to do?
What would you want to learn (or spend more time doing) if you had all the time you wanted?

Something nice

2009-07-05T11:40:00.002+02:00

I found something NICE that I wanted to share.... Take a look here!

New lotus petal earrings

2009-07-03T16:24:00.005+02:00

I've started on a new series of earrings, and listed some in my Etsy shop today. My plan is to also make necklaces and bracelets, hopefully I'll have some ready in the near future (next week or the week after that, I hope).

The weather has been so hot here today that we've spent the whole day indoors. At least I got a lot of work done! Below: the pictures of the new earrings...

Small

Medium

Large

New jewellery

2009-07-01T13:42:00.006+02:00

After sending quite some jewellery to Sweden it was looking really empty in my Etsy shop. I have gotten started with some new designs, so you can expect to see quite a lot of new jewellery there in the next couple of days and weeks! I've already put some new stuff on there, so take a look..!

For the rest... I'm trying to catch up on putting photos online and keeping up with the blog(s). I have two blogs, one that's more private with baby pictures and such, and one for UlvDesign. I have had several over the years, there's just something really nice about putting your thoughts down like this. Right now I'm just trying to stick to these two plus Flickr, although it can be difficult to find the time to sit down and write. Wish me luck on that one ;)

Back from vacation!

2009-06-24T15:39:00.004+02:00

We've been on a nice relaxed vacation in Idar-Oberstein, Germany. Before we went, I was kind of curious how it would be to go on vacation with a baby. It went just fine! I think going by car was a good choice, as we could decide for ourselves when and where to stop etc. These pictures are taken a bit further away, where we had a stop to look at Drachenburg castle.

I love trees! This one was standing in the castle garden (it was more like a park, but I guess it was part of the garden).

"Be yourself, everyone else is already taken"

2009-06-11T13:50:00.008+02:00

About being yourself and following your own path...

I came across the quote above by Oscar Wilde earlier today. It made me smile, because it's so true! I wanted to write something about it, but then I forgot about it.
After ending up on a blog a couple of minutes ago, it struck me that a lot of people could use reading this quote. Nothing wrong with the blog I ended up on, but there was nothing original about it! The person writing it seemed to be very influenced by some popular Swedish blogs. Same type of photos, same type of interests. Same way of writing.

There are a couple of blogs that I really enjoy reading, and that I keep on coming back to. One is written by a new mum (she had her baby in January, I in March), one by a vegan jeweler. They both manage to keep my interest, by being original and not copying what other people are doing.

I'm glad that I stumbled upon this quote, and then onto that blog. It made me even more determined to blog about the things I like, when I feel like it!

I'm sure that it's very easy to become influenced by other people. It happens to everyone, and this is something I'm going to try to remember when (if) I start on a 4 year goldsmith education in September. The teachers have their own style, and, even if they don't mean to, influence their students. This is the only negative thing I can come up with, when it comes to going to school to learn a craft. But I'm going to go there, learn the techniques and then use them my own way.

Right now I'm learning bezel setting, by myself, here at home!

Leaving tomorrow for a weeks vacation. Idar-Oberstein, here we come! I'll tell you all about it when I come home...

Challenge yourself!

2009-06-07T14:57:00.005+02:00

If there's one thing I'm happy with, it's that I'm beginning to challenge my fears. I used to be afraid of heights, but I've gone wall climbing (after having a horrible near landing when flying to Sweden the day before). I've never enjoyed being with my head under water, but I've gone snorkeling when on vacation and last Tuesday I went diving. I'm trying to stand up for myself if I believe in something. It's all making me feel quite good, and I notice that the things I used to be afraid of actually can be a lot of fun!

On a completely different note, here's a small update since last time...I spent a couple of lovely days with my oldest sister, who went back home this morning. She took some jewellery with her to Sweden, and we'll see if they find new homes there. I think that's a really cool part about selling jewellery online (and international) - things you've made with your own bare hands can end up on the other side of the globe!

But to get back to the main subject; I really want to encourage you to challenge yourselves. Good things will come! :)

Fun at De Efteling!

2009-06-01T23:13:00.004+02:00

My partner's parents babysat for us last Saturday, and off we went to De Efteling, which is a theme park pretty close by (40 minutes or so by car). The weather was great and we had a lot of fun. Here are a couple of pictures... I didn't take any pictures of the roller coasters, but believe me, they have a couple of those also! I love the fairytale looking houses they built for this part of the park:

(That's me in the lower right-hand corner)

In other news; Getting ready for our next visit - my big sister! Trying to get some jewellery done before then. Also going for something fun (I hope) tomorrow evening. I'll tell you more about it later....

Rain.

2009-05-28T17:30:00.005+02:00

So instead of going out for a walk, we've been staying in the entire day. It's been raining on and off the whole day. Hopefully tomorrow will be better!

My sister forgot the cookie recipes, but - she brought a muffin recipe which would be fun to try out. A couple of days ago when my other sister was here, we made scones. It was the first time my partner had that, and he wasn't very impressed. Strange guy...

The package (silver and tools) didn't arrive yesterday, but today! It's really like Christmas when you receive packages like this one. :)

Oh and we went to get a new water boiler, yay! So much easier when you're in the mood for tea. I feel so spoiled...complaining about having to boil water on the stove, haha. Oh well.

Phew!

2009-05-27T11:33:00.003+02:00

Lots of things happening around here lately. I've been working hard on some things for UlvDesign, plus I've had family visiting (more to come!), going to the dentist (wisdom tooth...) and just hanging out with my little family. The weather has been pretty nice, but the other night it was stormy! Thunder and flashes every other second and hail the size of golf balls. Almost the size of golf balls, at least...

Plans for today and the very near future...

In the very, very near future, I hope to receive a package of materials and tools I ordered a couple of days ago. I actually expected it to be here yesterday, so I HOPE that they'll drop it off today.

Little sister and her fiance are coming here today. She's bringing cookie recipes and a new skirt for me. The skirt has pockets. I imagine that will come in handy nowadays! Don't know yet what we'll be up to in the next few days, but I know for sure that it will be great to see them :)

NEED to buy a new water boiler. The old one doesn't work anymore, so whenever this tea addict wants a nice hot cup of tea, I need to boil the water on the stove. Not very handy, but it works.

After little sister has gone home, we've got 2 days to ourselves, and then big sister arrives! Same thing there, it will be great to see her but I haven't got a clue as to what we'll be doing.

Shortly after she has left, we're going on a 1 week vacation to Idar-Oberstein in Germany. Anyone who's interested in jewellery and gems should look up some more information about this place!

That's it for today. More things in the shops to choose from soon!

XO
Julia

The urge to learn

2009-05-20T12:58:00.010+02:00

Making jewellery with stones is something I've been wanting to do for a long time (I'm talking about jewellery with (bezel) set stones, not beaded jewellery), but for some reason, I had convinced myself that it would be really difficult. Last autumn I was determined to learn, but then my metal smith teacher had an accident and wasn't able to teach. I did manage to make a ring, a pendant and a pair of earrings (finished the earrings 2 days ago at home), and realized that it's no way near as complicated as I thought. So - I'm going to get some thin silver sheet and a tool that I'm still missing, and start practicing. Hopefully I'll be able to really start making this type of jewellery soon!

(The ring mentioned above...)

Although, it's probably going to take a couple of weeks before I can get started.

My son had his first vaccination yesterday, so I'm taking care of him today. Poor baby, he was in such a good mood up until he got the injections! Yesterday evening he had a bit of a fever and was very tired. Today he's doing better but he's still not quite his old self. They said that the side effects could last up to 24 hours without it being anything wrong, so I'm waiting it out. Soon again he'll be the happy baby he normally is!
Friday my little sister and her boyfriend are coming to visit, and after that I'm going to have a lot of family over for the next couple of weeks, plus we're going on vacation. BUT I hope to get around to it soon!

Origami = fun!

2009-05-15T21:54:00.005+02:00

For a while I've been trying to figure out what type of packaging I wanted for my jewellery. I've been looking at different websites to see if I could buy ready made boxes, and I've previously been making little jewellery boxes myself.

Two problems.

1. If I want to buy ready made boxes, I'd basically have to order them from the US, if I want some different types to choose from. This would become very expensive, and it feels silly to have boxes shipped halfway across the globe, just for me to send them back out again.

2. The method I used for making boxes myself wasn't very efficient. A lot of cutting, folding and gluing, which was all very time consuming. I was also having a trouble getting the boxes equal in size, so this wasn't a good option either.

The other day I was doing some research, and realized that origami would be an option - I tried out a simple style, and the result is some really cute boxes! Only one problem... I can see this becoming quite addictive, and I'm not really sure I need another thing taking up my time at the moment!

Here they are:

Wishing everyone a great weekend!

Gardens and blog posts

2009-05-08T22:50:00.008+02:00

Sometimes I really wish our house* had a garden. I really like plants and flowers, and would love to be able to sit outdoors in the summer, without having to go off to a park (parks are nice, but sometimes you just want to open the door to the garden and step outside...). After our son was born, it became even more appealing...

My partner on the other hand doesn't really like the idea of plants. I think he pictures himself having to mow the lawn early in the morning!

Now, okay, this wasn't very shop related - but for me to write a blog, I need to be able to write about things that come into my mind... So as you've seen from previous posts, there will be a mix of personal and shop related subjects!

*I refer to it as a house, even though it technically isn't. We have an apartment. We've got 2 floors and an attic, but we also have downstairs neighbours. Unfortunately they are the lucky ones, they've got the garden.

Some news

2009-05-05T08:30:00.007+02:00

It's already May! Time flies when you have a baby...!

I have been working on some new items that will be added to my Etsy shop, take a look here!

Oh and I think I may have to realize I'm not able to update this blog quite as regularly as I would like to. At the moment, I'm either spending time with my son, doing household chores or making new jewellery/updating my shops... :)

My first front page!

2009-04-08T22:16:00.003+02:00

I was checking my Google Analytics account this evening, and saw that I had had a lot of traffic to my Etsy account on April 3rd. Checked it out, and it turned out that I had a set of rings featured on the front page! This is the first time for me, so of course I'm quite excited about it... It may happen to some people all the time, but I'm sure the first time was special to them as well!

Spring!

2009-04-05T10:32:00.005+02:00

I've been longing for spring for a long time, and now it's here! Magnolia trees, crocuses and daffodils in bloom. The cherry and apple trees are next, I think. More day light and being able to walk around outdoors without a jacket :) This is the best part of the year.

Oh and as you probably noticed, I've put my 365 day photo project on hold. I'm taking loads of baby pictures (almost every day), but they're nothing I'm going to fill this blog with ;)

Adjustments

2009-04-01T20:41:00.007+02:00

Life before our baby boy was born was very, very easy! So uncomplicated... If I had some time over, I could spend it on anything I wanted. I could blog or read other peoples blogs whenever I wanted, make jewellery whenever I wanted, go to the grocery store whenever needed.

Life changes when having a baby. You change your priorities. Life is different, and better!

When it comes to jewellery: I've got several note pads laying around where I sketch design ideas and write down thoughts and ideas that come into my head throughout the day. My fingers are starting to itch to get some work done. I'm currently working on some changes here on the website, and on more designs that will be added to both UlvDesign.com and UlvDesign.etsy.com.