Winterwonderland

Brrrr...baby it's cold outside. Yesterday it was a whopping minus 69 F or minus 21 Celsius! Winter has definitively arrived here in the beautiful city of Sandefjord.
I am thinking about starting to decorate the house a bit. Since we won't be having a tree ( lack of space ) I am thinking about having tons of candles and other items I have collected from all over the world. I really have to contain myself when I'm out shopping now since I can not pass on any shop that offers christmas decorations. Said lack of space is a major issue. We will have to be on the lookout for a new place in the coming year.
Today I am baking gingerbread cookies. Brings me back to my childhood, growing up in the south of Germany. We always visited these lovely christmas markets that are very common in Germany. The smell of freshly baked gingerbread, roasting chestnuts and sugar glazed almonds really is magical.

The view into the yard from our porch this morning

This year I will be giving homemade presents to friends and family such as Linzertorte, different cookies,chocolates and jam. 

I will take some pictures of my finished products and post them sometime in the next few days along with some recipes.

Backyard view this morning

The Harbour in Sandefjord, taken yesterday.

On another topic: I am working on new items. Not sure if I will be able to post them before sunday since I have quite a workload that needs to be finished by friday.

The incredibly high silver prices really make me grinch. I really hope they will come down soon. However, I think this is a great time for me to challenge myself to come up with fun and innovative designs using my silver scraps. I have a couple of super cool earrings in the works. Can't wait to show them off.

Here's to wishing each one of you a very warm and cozy wednesday!

Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Sabine

Finally

Here I am again, back from the dark abyss of jewelry making. Naw, just kidding! I have been having so much fun with some custom orders that needed to go out so that Santa gets them in time to deliver them. That took quite a bit of time and work to get them out in time. 

I realize that I haven't been posting many new items in my Etsy shop lately, however, that is going to change soon, I promise!

I have also been spending a lot of time on new design ideas that I usually sketch out first to get a better idea of the overall look. When I first started silversmithing I just went about it without having any prior sketches ready. That didn't always pan out for me and in the long run cost me a lot of money to mess about with precious metals. Now I am way more organized.

I'm excited about my new designs. I am still waiting for some supplies to arrive before I can continue. There will be a lot of Cabochon work involved. I absolutely love setting my own bezels. There is something very satisfying about it. The end result when taking the piece out of the tumbler....the shine and purity of it...makes my heart skip a few beats. It might sound a bit nerdy or weird to some of you, but I can't put it into words how much pleasure I get from my job. I feel so blessed to be able to do this and hope that I can continue on this journey, to grow and never stop learning. That's the fun part for me.

Nuff said, I am also in a cookie-baking frenzy. Baking= another one of my passions. I used to be a pastry chef a few years ago and still love it, just not as a professional anymore. Too much stress and odd working hours.

I will be posting some pictures in the coming days of my cookies and such.

Today I made chocolate truffle cookies, one batch with hazelnuts and the other with nougat ( which is one of my favorite sweets)

If you want the recipe, let me know and I will post it!

Now I must put my tired eyes to rest and get some sleep. I am having to go for an early morning post office run to get some bling send off!

Hope everyone is doing great and is enjoying this fabulous season!

See ya tomorrow!

xxx

Sabine:-)