Pick-me-up pretty things

So yesterday in walking to work I managed to trip and fall down some sneakily slippery steps, bruising both my knees and my dignity. And today I got all the way to work before admitting that yes, the sniffles and temperature and aches I've had since last night might just be a sign that I was getting sick, and at the urging of my coworkers I headed home for rest and recovery (they were looking out for me, yes, because they are lovely, but also I suspect they didn't want me coughing all over them). Clearly this is Not My Week.


Now I'm at home, curled up on the couch with copious amounts of hot lemon-honey and a pair of giant fluffy socks purloined from my flatmate's sock drawer (seriously, fluffy men's socks, there is nothing better for keeping my feet warm). But when episodes of Buffy ceased to have their comforting appeal, what could be better than looking at pretty sparkly things online?


I'm totally in love with the look of rough crystal jewellery at the moment, which is a bit weird for me as I've never been much of a crystal fan - it's always struck me as a bit hippy-dippy gypsy-fair stuff. But recently at my local sewing store, the shop assistant was wearing a long pendant with a rough chunk of amethyst hung as a pendant on the end, and it looked SO COOL. I was totally converted. Rough crystal, combined with a very simple draped or tailored outfit in monochrome colours, could look totally fantastic. Sadly, I asked her where she got it, and apparently it wasn't sold as a necklace, but just a keyring which she bought in Nelson (a wee town across the Cook Strait) and whacked on a long chain, meaning that I couldn't just jump on the awesomeness bandwagon and go buy myself one. TO THE INTERNET!


At the totally-out-of-my-price-range level is this amazing citrine ring, which has a delightful chunkiness. By the same jeweller is this amethyst tip ring as well as this fantastic cluster ring (pictured above). LOVE. Sadly, what I don't love is the US-NZD exchange rate, which would firmly put all of these into the saving-my-pennies-and-eating-toast-for-dinner basket (wait, I eat toast for dinner anyway. Uh, the "eating toast for dinner because I have to" basket, then).


Luckily, Etsy has some more wallet-friendly and totally awesome things, such as this silver wire-wrapped amethyst pendant and a very similar citrine option. This flat silver-backed pendant is a beautiful option if you like the flatter sparkly cluster look rather than a shard of crystal, and I'm personally in love with almost everything over at Sadie Designs. Check out her beautiful dipped crystal pendants! The length is awesome too, perfect for wearing over a plain black t-shirt or lovely dress (I might have just bought a draped black shirt-dress which I'm dying to pair with some rough coloured crystal, can you tell?) Rings seem slightly more expensive but this citrine cluster looks like it'd bring sunshine to the cloudiest winter's day, and this amethyst chunk is both totally affordable AND a serious knuckle duster. It's not quite as rough-hewn as the others, but I utterly adore this gold-dipped rose quartz ring - it's some serious bling and a fantastic statement piece. I think there'll definitely soon be more crystal in my jewellery box!