Hey fellow musicians

A very quick post today to show off a veritable slew of hair pins (is there a correct collective noun for hair pins???) I've been creating for a special customer.  One of my cousins is a music teacher and regularly commissions music-themed pieces to give to her students as little prizes and gifts for the end of the teaching year or when they reach particular milestones.  As a musician myself, I LOOOOOVVE this idea and think it's so sweet of her to do this with her students.

How many of my lovely readers are musicians too?  Or do you have absolutely no musical skill but have friends who are ridiculously talented?

DIY geode slice necklace

Many people wonder how a molecular biologist got into creating and selling jewellery, but it's really not that much of a leap when you know that I've always been fond of gemstones, rocks, beads and jewellery (yes, I was one of those kids with the ever-growing rock and mineral collection that no one was allowed to touch).

In honour of my lifelong fascination with such things, today I'm sharing a DIY for an on trend necklace design featuring a funky blue agate slice.  This necklace is the perfect way to show off your favourite geode slice and only requires basic to intermediate jewellery-making skills.

Supplies

- one large geode slice (I used a top-drilled 85x25 mm blue agate slice)

- 10 x 4mm Czech firepolish round beads in crystal AB

- 12 x 3x6mm Czech firepolish flat rondelle beads

- 22 x silver-plated eyepins

- 5cm 18-20 gauge silver-plated beading wire

- 2-3mm width silver-plated chain

- 10mm jump ring

- 4mm jump ring

- lobster claw clasp

- jewellery pliers

Method

1. If you have a geode slice with a bail already attached, skip ahead to step 2.  If you're using a top-drilled geode like I did, make a necklace bail for the geode with the beading wire.  Thread the wire through the hole and pull both ends to the top of the geode, ensuring that one end is much shorter than the other, reaching only 3-4 mm above the geode slice.

2. Bend the longer end of wire at a 90 degree angle roughly at the height that the shorter end of wire reaches on the longer end.

3. Using the longer end of wire, create a loop with your round-nosed pliers so that it sits at the tip of the shorter end of wire.

4. Wrap the loose, longer end of wire around itself and the shorter end, completely covering the wire till you reach the top of the geode slice.  Snip off any excess wire and flatten down the end with the flat-nosed pliers.

5. Place a rondelle bead on one of the eyepins.  Snip off excess pin, leaving 6mm of pin to create a second loop/eye.  Create a string of beads by alternating rondelle beads and round beads until you have a string of 11 beads.  Repeat with the remaining beads to create a second string of beads.

6. Attach both strings of beads to the loop at the top of the geode slice.  If you know exactly how long you want your necklace to be, measure the bead strings and then cut the appropriate length of chains you require to make a full length necklace.  If you're not sure how long you want your necklace to be, hold the half-completed necklace against yourself and have a look in a mirror while you adjust the necklace up and down till you're happy with where the geode sits.

7. Cut two chain lengths from the main length of jewellery chain (mine were approximately 12 cm long).  Attach one chain to the free end of each bead string.

9. Test the necklace length on yourself again.  If you're not happy with the length, now is the time to adjust your chain lengths.  If you're happy with your necklace length, attach the 10mm jump ring to one chain end, and the attach the lobster clasp to the other chain end with the 4mm jump ring.

10. Now put your necklace on, admire yourself in the mirror, and be prepared to say, "I made it myself!" every time someone compliments you on your gorgeous statement piece!!!

Feel free to share your photos with me when you've made a gorgeous geode necklace for yourself!

Please do not use any photos or share any parts of this tutorial unless you have permission from me.

Skippy the Bush Kangaroo

If you grew up in Australia in the late 1960s and early 1970s, it is almost impossible not to know Australia's iconic kangaroo, Skippy, who featured in her own special show.  Even for those born in later generations or who lived in other countries, Skippy became a well known figure care of TV re-runs and revivals and international screenings of the original TV series.

While Skippy picture books are relatively rare, they do exist!  And I am so excited to have found several different Skippy books which have now been turned into fun buntings for a new generation of Skippy fans!!!  These photos show just one of the available buntings in Domum Vindemia, with two more to come.  These books are quite rare, so I recommend that fans grab buntings while you can as once they sell out, chances are they will not be re-stocked.

Bienvenue a Paris!

While the Two Cheeky Monkeys family has been watched ridiculous amounts of Le Tour de France, and I have been ACHING to visit that beautiful country for many years now, currently the closest I'm getting to Paris (or anywhere else in France) is to be working on vintage French-inspired creations for Domum Vindemia.

I found these darling collage prints a while back and have been so excited about turning them into wine glass charms and stitch markers for the store, and here is a sneak peek of some of the new creations!  Along with the French-inspired pieces, there will also be some Alice in Wonerland-inspired ones too.

I've only created wine glass charm sets so far, but hopefully there will be other creations coming soon.  Which ones do you love best, and what other Domum Vindemia pretties would you like to see sporting some French or Alice inspiration?

There's a million things I haven't done

But creating Hamilton-inspired pieces isn't one of them!  Okay, I know that's not how the lyrics go, but I couldn't resist the segue from the post title!!!  This week I've had some fun creating bespoke Hamilton-inspired bag hangers for a special customer.

These aren't the first Hamilton pieces I've created, and they hopefully won't be the last.  I've definitely had a lot of fun creating each one and have loved seeing how my usual creations look when I alter them to suit a customer's special requirements!

Are you a Hamilton fan?  And if you are, what other Hamilton-inspired pieces would you like to see?

Ultimate no knead bread recipe

If you're a long time reader of this blog you'll notice that I post about bread a fair bit.  And that is because, no matter what anyone says about cutting down carbs in your diet, the Cheeky Monkeys family are all huge fans of bread!

Now we do try to be circumspect with our bread intake, making sure to only eat bread made with whole grains or lower GI breads, and I am always on the lookout for bread recipes I can easily whip up on a busy day.  

Which is what got me on the trail of THE ULTIMATE no knead bread recipe.  One which can be altered (including made with whole wheat or other whole grains), forgotten about, put through the ridiculous variables of Melbourne's weather (yes, we get four seasons in one day sometimes) and yet still turn out beautifully every time.  

And today, I'm sharing with you the one no knead recipe I've found which ticks all my boxes!!!  This recipe from Simply So Good turns out beautifully EVERY TIME, no matter what we've put it through.  It tastes great, the bread always turns out nice and airy, never dense and heavy, and you can alter it to your heart's content.  Do you have a favourite no fail bread recipe?

The Avengers Have Come To Domum Vindemia!

Hands up if, like me, you grew up on superhero comics and TV shows!  My dad was a big fan of comics as a young boy, and he was the one who introduced me to comics and superheroes, whilst my mum introduced me to the 1960s Batman TV series.  (I mean, who could resist those on screen "BAMs" and "KAPOWs"???)

As an adult, I am still a fan of superheroes, and Mr Monkeys and I have been avidly keeping up to date with each of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films being produced.  Which got me thinking that I have a serious dearth of superhero buntings in Domum Vindemia, something which I am hoping to rectify soon.

As a start to this journey of adding superhero buntings to Domum Vindemia, I have added an Avengers bunting which features the main characters of Captain America, the Hulk and Iron Man.  I am hoping to soon add Spiderman, Wonder Woman and Captain America buntings to the store, though this will depend on availability and popularity of each character's stories.

So if you're a superhero fan, which one would you or your little one love to see in a bunting?