This is me. In a nutshell. {My new Emarlie Jewellery necklace}

I have a new favourite thing. (And yes, this is where my mother sighs, turns to my dad and says 'She's so materialistic'.)

Honestly though, I'm sure if it was hers, or yours, or anyone's; it would be a favourite.

I was so fortunate to receive a beautiful In a Nutshell sterling silver necklace from Emily of lovely (and local) online handmade jewellery store, Emarlie Jewellery.

I was planning on having it at least a month before I posted about it to be sure that I absolutely adored it, but I seriously couldn't wait any longer.

My faves. My favourite husband and my favourite puppy. 

This isn't just a personalised necklace, this is a personalised necklace with SIX sides. Like a nut. For someone who is fond of geometry and symmetry, this is just perfect!

To be honest, I didn't know how much I was going to wear it, since I'm a statement jewellery kinda gal (or as my mother calls it, costume jewellery), but here's the thing... I'm bordering on obsessed.

I know that personalised necklaces have been around for a while, and I've always liked them just fine on other people, but I never got one for myself. Maybe they all seemed a bit 'mumsy' to me. I mean, I don't have kids, and my husband isn't going to get his name engraved on something and give it to me, he'd think that was just weird. (And I don't like the idea of guys doing it for girls to 'claim' them, or show some kinda ownership. Not my dealio, Joe.)

But this is going to become a staple for me. You know how I know? Because I've had it since the 6th of March, and I've worn it every. day. since the 6th of March. A new record for me, I'm sure.

 Literally every single day. 

Every day that I've worn it at my retail job (more on that and why I'm back in retail a little bit in another post, I'm sure), I've received compliments, and I've given out Emily's details so often that I think I need to get her to order at extra set of Emarlie business cards for me!

So, let's get to know Emily and her lovely and quite distinctive personalised jewellery brand, Emarlie.

What do you do? What do you make? I love to make things with my hands. I hand stamp jewellery, make polymer clay necklaces, crochet, and like to do a bit of woodwork. I just have to be doing something with my hands all the time.

Why and how did you make your first product? I came across a piece of hand-stamped jewellery a few years before I started. It wasn't until we moved back to Queensland and I was at home with my two boys, before I started making them. I made two heart charms with my boy's names on it and their birthstones. I still have them hanging up in my office so I can see how far I've come.

How do you manage your time so well? I'm not so good at time management. I never have been. I find I work better under pressure for some reason, I don't know why. When you work from home with young children, sometimes housework comes last.

How did you distinguish yourself from your competitors? There are a lot of people that hand-stamp jewellery, so distinguishing yourself from them can be a little tricky at times. I have exclusive designs, use high quality precious metals; sterling silver, 9ct gold and rose gold, I am a little OCD when it comes to stamping itself; I try my best to stamp it as perfect as humanly possible. It's a very competitive market to be in.

If you could have given yourself a piece of knowledge or advice when you started what would that be? Emarlie is still currently only an online business, I would have suggested to try every possible way to get your product out there; markets, parties at people's houses, dropping flyers in letter boxes, and approaching businesses to stock your products. I still need to listen to that advice myself haha.

How do you conquer any moments of doubt that threaten to stop your great ideas? What pushes you through? My drive and determination to be successful and be always be bettering myself is what pushes me and motivates me to draw up new designs, make new beads, photograph the pieces differently. I have this motivation board with little quotes and positive sayings which I drew up when I started Emarlie (formerly Forevermore Hand Stamped Jewellery). I look at that when I doubt myself and see how far I've come.

Righto, time for some fun stuff.
What is your 'uniform'? What do you wear more often than anything else? Haha I don't have a uniform as such, just whatever clothes I choose to wear for the day. However, I have to wear a necklace everyday. I feel naked if I don't. I usually try and compliment my outfit with my necklace, and lucky for me I have a large collection to choose from haha.

What is your favourite thing to wear to make you happy? My necklaces! At the moment I'm wearing my polymer clay necklaces, I just love the colours in them, and I love colour so they make me happy.

Thank you to Emily for putting such care into my beautiful necklace; I'm proud to wear it (did I mention every. single. day)!

How do you feel about personalised jewellery? Do you already wear something personalised?


I'm linking up with Kimba Likes Wardrobe Wednesday, there’s a great giveaway to enter this week, so head over.

If you enjoyed this, you may like to read my story of dressing a Home and Away actress and a fabulous super-blogger. And bossing them both around a little.

Autumn (on my desktop at least)

One thing I always struggle with at this time of the year is the season change, or lack thereof.

Living in sunny Queensland means that whilst it's a bit of a year-round paradise, there is no noticeable transition to Autumn. We don't have many deciduous trees , and there isn't really a chill in the air until, oh mid-June!

Sometimes I channel Fall by baking and throwing a little more cinnamon around with abandon, but it's still a little too warm to even do that. And decorating with pumpkins is a definite no.

I thought maybe a new Autumn wallpaper for my phone or desktop could be the way to go, so I checked out the lovely work of illustrator Lisa Rupp. She's shared an autumn design right here, and you can find her full set of wallpaper freebies here. They're such sweet florals in pretty color palettes, there's at least one for every season.

Do you have obvious seasons where you live? Do you love it or not?

Too long between drinks

Hands-up who's a drinker out there? Yup, pretty much all of you (well, I hope - I can't imagine I've got much of a teetotaler audience).

I love a drink. And unfortunately, as I get older, 'a drink' is pretty much as much as I can handle.

I went out for a long overdue girl's night with my bestie on the weekend, and lo and behold, got completely off-chops, rotten, smashed. I blame the combination of not enough food that day, and a couple of poor beverage choices. (To be honest, there weren't that many good choices.)

This girl. She really truly makes me laugh, and she makes a hangover worth it. Unless you're a mother though, don't read her latest blog post. Ugh.

The night started with a gross combination of lazily-made and slightly bitter espresso martini for Trainee Mama, sickly-sweet lychee martini for me, then a terrible bottle of vinegar masquerading as an over-priced Sav Blanc. I should've known that bartenders weren't going to be my friend when my first drink of the night arrived without the fresh lychee garnishes that the Hen's party at the table next to us received. How rude.

'Scuse the gigantor forehead. These snaps were taken after martinis and bad wine. I'm surprised they're even in focus.

I wore Witchery high-neck dress, coral Samantha Wills earrings (my faves, from Trainee Mama), and good old sturdy Target wedges. You'll have to trust me on the description, because neither of us remembered to snap an outfit photo.

I'll spare you the finer details, but we actually had a blast. We were on a bit of a hunt for a decent guitarist (didn't find one), a good atmosphere for peoplewatching, and a dancefloor. We finally got our groove on at the Surf Club (yes, it's divorcee central, but no dirty old men hit on us) and danced for 40 mins before heading home. Party animals we are not.

Waking up on Sunday morning, I felt horrendous and also slightly surprised that I even woke up at all. I couldn't stomach a cup of tea, and had to pull up after just one Gingernut biscuit. I love tea and I love Gingernuts (by the packet). I put a biscuit in my mouth, gagged, and threw it out*. The tea likewise sat on the kitchen counter until the milk curdled and I poured it down the sink.

It was pretty much downhill from there. Sleep, bathroom, sleep, bathroom, and so it goes.

I spent this morning, puffy-faced and sweaty, hiding behind a detoxing green juice. Dear liver, forgive me.

Peta managed to look a little more glamorous than me doing the same thing this morning!

I now remember exactly why I don't go out often, and when I do, I offer to be designated driver. 

Anyone else get a little wild this weekend? Perhaps the #foxinheels attendees felt the way I did yesterday morning?!

*In case you were wondering, I did manage to stomach three Gingernuts by 8pm. Thank the biscuit gods.

I had SUCH good intentions of getting a cute outfit post out of this night out, but because we're neither committed style bloggers nor photographers, we both completely forget. Nevertheless, I'm linking up with Kimba Likes Wardrobe Wednesday, so you can see what everyone else wore this weekend!