Shaken, not stirred

At the weekend we went to see Skyfall at the cinema. We were not disappointed at all, it was Bond at it's very best. I always smile when I see James Bond served his Martini...shaken not stirred and it does feature in this latest film. I mentioned in my last post that I had some more stories to tell about my recent trip to Harrods. When I was in Harrods there was a window display announcing that the wine department was having a special "Bond" themed celebration.

We decided to pay a visit to the Wine Department and find out more.

The wine department is in the basement of the store and as we descended the escalator this advert for Vodka Martini greeted us. They were showcasing 5 special Vodkas at this event as well as the Bollinger Champagne.

At £150 a bottle I did pass this offer by!

The 5 special Vodka displays were terrific featuring huge cocktail glasses and very realistic giant ice cubes made out of acrylic.

Even the lime slices were made of acrylic, they were so realistic.

Each display had a  free recipe leaflet for different Vodka based drinks and the one for the Vodka Martini used this Russian Vodka on the right here.
What was fun was that they were also selling little miniatures of each of the vodkas so I picked up a recipe and the ingredients in miniature to have a play with at home.

Here they are, they are really a fun size.

So on Sunday armed with my cocktail shaker (aka my Hb) he make me my very own Vodka Martini..........................

Shaken, not stirred...of course. Served in my fab cocktail glass my daughter bought me some years ago,  with an Olive, just like James Bond.

 Now at this point I would love to tell you how delicious it was....hmmmm....well honestly.....it was very bitter. I prefer drinking red Martini with lemonade.  Now what was good fate for my Hb was that he loved it and happily polished it off.
I went back to a nice warming glass of sherry instead....much better in my opinion. It was a chilly evening so it was more appropriate too I think.

Now the dark nights are setting in so early this past week and it is getting dark nearer 4pm. I really dislike this but of course Christmas is coming (in 42 days)....so my card challenge needs to be something warm and cheerful to brighten up our long nights, just like my glass of sherry. Here is today's creation.

These 2 little bunnies are keeping snug and
warm in their Christmas stocking. This stamp has become another favourite of my Lili of the Valley stamps.
I coloured it with Promarkers and Prismacolor pencils.I really like the deep red and golds. I used papers from my stash and a pine branch die cut. I hand punched some snowflakes and holly leaves. The round sentiment is Magnolia and the tag is LOTV. I added some bling with glamour dust and some gems and finished off with a rich satin red and gold ribbon.

This is for sale in my Etsy shop here

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

Totally Papercrafts Cute and Girlie #142
Ribbon Girl Sparkle
Whimsy Card Challenge Traditional Christmas Colours #53
Visible Image Sparkle I would like take the opportunity here to say a thank you here to Helen of Visible Image for sending me 2 fab stamps I won in their recent Face Book Draw,they are brilliant and I will enjoy having a play with them soon.
Allsorts Challenge Blog Young at heart #180
Crafty Catz anything goes #158
2 Sisters Use your favourite Christmas stamp #117
Joanna Sheen cold and frosty
Christmas card weekly challenge #50
Holly Jolly Inspired by a carol my carol is "We Wish you a Merry Christmas"
Craft Room Challenge Punches and dies
Forever Friends Fortnightly Challenge Use ribbon/twine #49

I am actually off to do some Christmas shopping on Thursday, I am  meeting up with my best buddy. We will have lunch after she finishes work (she is taking a half day off). We will spend the afternoon trying to get some of our present list bought but of course we need to stop for afternoon tea too at some point ;0)
If you get a chance do try to see Bond on the Big Screen, it's a great movie. There are also some good films coming up soon including The Hobbit and Les Miserables...I shall add them to my wish list.

Have a great week and thanks for stopping by,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Happy New Year of Silversmithing Part 2

After the interest shown in my recent mixed metal earrings post I thought I would share another of my creations that I finished at the end of last term at my Silversmithing class. Do you remember the Peas in the Pod I made for my darling daughter for her birthday in March? This has become one of her favourite pieces of jewellery, she was so thrilled with it.

If you have not seen this piece in detail  have a little read here Well I did promise in that post that I would show you the design process behind making the lovely organic pod. As well as making her the peas in the pod I made myself some silver earrings using the same process of fold forming. It is a fun process involving lots of hammering and lots of annealing and it all starts with 2 rectangles of silver sheet. The same process was used for the pod and the earrings with just a difference which part of the form is hammered.

Each piece starts off life as plain flat 8mm silver sheet. For the earrings I cut 2 smaller rectangles.

I marked the middle of each of these with red marker.

I then placed each sheet into a vice at the level of the marked line

and carefully tapped each piece to fold over using a hide mallet. Once I had a bend in the metal I took it out and continued to tap it flat. Next I cut these flat pieces into a more oval shape using a saw, as shown below.

  Then I started gently tapping just the outside edge of the silver with a flat head hammer, which slowly thins the edge.

As the silver work hardens very quickly when hammering I had to keep annealing (heating to a rosy red using a blow torch) to keep the metal soft and workable.

By just working on the outside edge the metal starts to curve as it thins. Once I was happy with the size I needed to open up the folded metal again. (When I made the pea pod for my daughter's earrings I had to hammer along the folded edge to create a cup rather than a splayed piece).

This was very fiddly indeed!

I had to use a steel ruler to start this off and then got in with my pliers and slowly pulled the piece open. Again I had to keep annealing the piece to keep it workable.

Finally after lots of gentle pulling my earring began to emerge....

I teased...and teased until they were the shape I was happy with.

I made the leaves more shapely by using a good old permanent marker to curve them over.

Next I needed to make some ear wires so that I could put them through my ears. I wanted them as hanging earrings rather than studs.

I soldered a silver wire to the back to the "leaf" and then bent the wire carefully into shape to form the ear wires.

So are you ready for a Ta Dah moment..

well here they are...and as usual they are just so hard to photograph...this time I used the rim of a cup as even my trusty garlic bulb didn't work as a prop.

I hope you get an idea of them, in real life they are fun and very apt for this time of the year....my silver autumn leaves ;0)

 Now I don't "do" Halloween or autumn type cards so my card challenge today will follow another thread instead. I decided it would be in honour of the upcoming Bond movie which is on general release from next week. I am a huge fan of the James Bond Films and have seen nearly every single one at the cinema. The first one was came out 50 years ago so no, I didn't see the very original ones..I'm not that old ;0) I really think that Daniel Craig is up with Sean Connery as the very best Bond. The latest film is Skyfall and is filmed in London, my favourite city in the world. I watched the coverage on TV of the premier earlier this week and loved seeing the stars on the red carpet. We will be off to see it as soon as it is in our local cinema.

 So what would you associate with James Bond ............................................well of course a

" Martini.................................................shaken not stirred"

Meet Martini Nikki, a fab stamp by my great blogging buddy Kerry from Ladybug Crafts Ink. Yes she is sipping her Martini looking nearly as cool as Daniel Craig.
I coloured her with Promarkers and highlighted her with my Prismacolor pencils. My papers are Nitwits. I added some fun embellies including a Tibetan purse charm from my bag charms stash. The cocktail shaker and glass are buttons. The sentiment is Lili of the Valley.
I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

Ladybug Crafts Ink I need a "P" This is fun challenge where you need to include as many "Ps" as possible. The "P"s in my card are; Promarkers, Prismacolor pencils, Poodle pooch, purse, pink, paper, patchwork pattern on the paper (LOL I think that just that is 3 Ps!!), punched photo corner (and around the sentiment) Phew....that was a few !
Emerald Faeries Challenge Anything Goes
Passion for Promarkers Pets #172
Papercrafting Journey Ribbon or twine
Stamping for the Weekend anything goes



I have just finished making a rather interesting silver chain at my class this week and I promise I will not leave it so long to write up a post for it and share it with you. It is half term next week and after half term we are "knitting" in all sorts of ways with silver wire...that should be fun.

It looks like our cold snap will arrive by tomorrow. We are off to see our daughter and son in law tomorrow and hope to go walking in the New Forest. The colours there are this time of year are stunning. We will need to wrap up warm.  We will no doubt find somewhere to enjoy afternoon tea (and cake of course). Have a lovely  weekend and thanks as always for all your kind visits to Jane's Journal. It's always lovely to see you here.

Keep warm,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x