I bought some avocados last week to make a healthy smoothie, like the one I saw in a magazine. I blended all the ingredients together, then sat down to drink it, it tasted better than I thought and I was looking forward to drinking the next one. Well that thought was short lived, I started to feel queasy and ill. It got to the point that I had to lie down and take some medication. After a couple of hours I started to feel better, don't get me wrong, I've eaten avocados before, these ones had ripened perfectly, but for some reason I felt so poorly, after drinking this smoothie, on that day.

I now had to decide what to do with the remaining three avocados. I hate wasting food, so I was not going to throw them away. I got onto the internet and had a look to see what else you can do with an avocado. Then I thought. what about a hair or beauty treatment? I do like using natural products and I was in luck. After browsing various websites, I decided to try and make a avocado and honey facemask, as I'd not done a facemask for goodness knows how long. Also there was recipe for a avocado, honey and olive oil hair mask.

First I made the hair mask, using the following ingredients:

 One ripe avocado

 2 tablespoons of honey

 2 tablespoons of olive oil

Everything was placed in a bowl and mashed and mixed up with a fork, till it was a smooth consistency. I applied it to my washed hair, it did feel strange, a little voice in my head was saying 'what are you doing, your putting food on your hair'. Once I smeared it all over from root to tip, I covered my head with a plastic cap, it had to stay on for 30 minutes.

Now for the facemask, I used:

 1/2 a ripe avocado

 1 tablespoon of honey

I mixed it all together and smoothed it on to my face, this needed to stay on for 15 minutes, my face soon started to feel tight and sticky.  After I rinsed it all off, I noticed how soft and smooth my skin felt.

After 30 minutes, I washed out the hair mask mixture, must say it took a while to do this, but afterwards, wow, my hair had never felt softer and shiner, I was stunned. I'd done other hair treatments before, but never had such a result like this one. The ingredients totally rehydrated my hair, it was amazing.

I will continue to use these ingredients on my hair and face, the results speak for itself. All the ingredients are natural, with no harsh chemicals and are inexpensive. Avocados contain nearly 20 vitamins and minerals, including potassium and is rich in vitamin A, E and D.

Honey is gentle on the skin, a good choice if you have sensitive skin. It is also a natural humectant, which means it attracts and retains moisture. Both these ingredients are good for nourishing and moisturizing dry skin and hair.

Olive oil adds moisture to your scalp if you have a dry scalp, it also softens dry frizzy hair and helps to promote hair growth. I'm already use olive oil in my hair and I've noticed how it's improved the condition of my hair.

Right, I'm off to see what else I can conjure up in my kitchen.

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At the beginning of each week, I usually start thinking about what I want to write about in my blog. Usually I'll be jotting down notes and drafting sections of it, then by Wednesday it's generally coming together, then on Thursday, I'll do any needed amendments, then if I'm happy, I'll publish it.

Well last week, I must say was a struggle for me, it's like I had 'bloggers block' or writer's block, or whatever you want to call it.  Nothing I did would give me any clues as to what I wanted to write about.

I've only been blogging for nearly a year now and initially I found it hard work to sit down write about a subject. Now it's easier, I try to blog once a week and I do enjoy it, my problem is that sometimes I 'overthink' things and I should really just relax about blogging and try not to stress out about it, if it's late, it's late, it's not as if  I'm giving in homework, is it?

 At the end of last week, I was staring at my laptop trying to conjure something to blog about, so I thought, leave it and come back to it later on. I went off to look at my supplies to see if I needed to order any stock and I came across some lamp work beads that I'd bought back in 2011. I bought them because I thought  they were beautiful and unique and I've always admired jewellery makers who made lamp work beads, the designs are amazing. I did not have a project in mind for them, so I just put them away. I put them on the table and I played around with them and came up with a bracelet, that with simple, using bronze filigree beads, which complimented the green and gold colours, of the beads.

Here is the bracelet, just look at the detail on the beads.

I still had enough beads, also to make a pair of earrings

So if your struggling for something to blog about, leave it and go off and do something else, an idea will come to you, when your not expecting it.  I ended up making some new jewellery, when I was not expecting to. Also if your blog is a few days late, nevermind, not everything always goes to plan, just take it's it comes, not worth stressing about .

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Thought I'd do a short and sweet blog today and show you all the bird's nest necklace that I have made. I love wire work jewellery and I'd seen several of these necklaces around. I had some left over hot pink coloured 8 mm glass pearl beads, in my spare bead stash, then I picked out some 0.6mm silver plated wire. Threaded on the beads, then twisted the wire around the beads in a circular motion, I continued to do this, until I was happy with the fullness of the wrapping.

The end of the wire was tucked into the back, 2 jump rings were attached to the top of the wrapped wire, then a silver plated 18 inch chain was added and there you have it, my first bird's nest necklace.

Here is a close up of the wrapped beads.

Now I'm not sure whether to pop it into one of my shops, or keep it for myself, what do you think?

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