Artemis and The Mermaid

Another busy day in the shop yesterday. I was asked at the start of the day if I could make five sterling silver and gemstone beaded stacking bracelets for collection at the end of the day. The customer chose moss agates, turquoise and fluorite. Same day service isn’t always possible but I did manage to complete them about five minutes before she returned at 4.45pm. Needless to say she was delighted as these are a gift and she’s catching a ferry this morning. The shop is open today 11am to 4pm but, with apologies, there will be no onsite jewellery making. Our pliers are always available for your use if it’s just a simple task of attaching a jump ring. Happy Sunday y’all.

Hello frens. Sorry for lack of posts recently… the shop has been so busy there hasn’t been time to do anything else. Must show you this utterly stunning beauty though. This one metre artwork has been painstakingly created by Sadie and it is amazing! Hand crocheted using a gorgeous yarn cake, the ingredients for this unique creation alone cost £50. It took A Very Long Time to make and the £225 price tag is a steal. My photos don’t do the piece justice. If it’s still in the shop when the window curtain goes up it’s going to look incredible!!! 💚🩵💙🖤

Huge order from the wholesaler arrived this morning. We’ve unpacked the new collectable glass figures which increase the variety we already have in stock. A beautiful orca on a stand, large penguin, large dolphin, large walrus, large bird (probably a dove), large dinosaur and a large teddy bear. New littlies include a dolphin and two new ones: a fox and a duckling. Soooo cute. These guys haven’t been priced but are likely to be 3.75 for the tiny ones and around 7.99 for the large ones. The orca will probably be pricier. ☺️

Following Scary Saturday, here is Spooky Sunday! Some fab makes and buys for fans of the unusual. Super cute, er, I mean “terrifying” crocheted Nosferatu, Frankenstein and Dracula. Handmade horror film sculpts by and some alternative sterling silver studs… just a tiny selection of the huge variety we have in the shop. Open today until 4pm. 🖤

This little SuperDoof celebrated his 13th birthday today. Beano is the perfect shop dog, chilled out, incredibly friendly and has even won over a few people who don’t really like dogs. He was five when I got him and he’s been delightful from day one. After a hard day meeting ‘n’ greeting in the shop we went for a walk along the front to Bonchurch. As always, as far as Beano was concerned, it was the best day ever.

Good Morning and Happy Saturday. Free Parking in Ventnor Town Council car parks today. Come on down!
You know us, we can’t resist anything handmade which is unique and of excellent quality. Check out these guys. Handmade from scratch by a super talented guy. He even makes all the clothes on his sewing machine. May we present a beautifully crafted marionette of Dr Jekyll’s alter ego Mr Hyde. With his moving eyes and jaw he is a unique heirloom creation worthy of his price tag of £149. Please also say hello to Punch, Judy and The Hangman - each a unique piece - which come in a few pennies under £100 each. Aren’t they wonderful?! We’re so proud the creator did extensive research into outlets on the island and chose Artemis and The Mermaid as the worthy recipients of his outstanding workmanship. That’s the way to do it. 😉

If you’re looking for super cute nautical themed 925 sterling silver charms and pendants, come and check us out. Just increased our collection to include shells, a starfish, seahorses, compasses, a dolphin and a sweet little mermaid. Ideal to add to a charm bracelet, attach to a sterling silver chain or make a pair of seasidey earrings. 🩶

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Sunny Sunday salutations. 😎 Please take a moment to admire Kathy’s lovely handmade sterling silver and amethyst chip necklace. 💙 Also if you are looking for a website provider for you sole trader or small business, with excellent customer service, then check out Kathy’s services at https://akpwebservices.co.uk/.

Can you tell what it is yet?! Why, it’s a hand crocheted Ventnor lizard in the making. How cute is he and his little friends? And check out the last photo for a non crocheted real live Ventnor lizard having a sunbathe in the fab warm weather. 😎 Little lizards, exclusive to are £11.50 each.

Unicorn Man and myself are away for a couple of days leaving the shop in the very capable hands of two of Beano’s favourite aunties… and Crazy Dave. 🥰 Shop open daily as usual except Wednesdays.

Summer holidays mean lots of making! Charm bracelets, beaded bracelets, sterling silver and crystal cubes with a piece of blue glass for Grace (she found the glass on the beach herself - what a lovely memento of a holiday!), tinkly charm keyrings and clip-on charm drops plus a ceramic starfish bracelet. The possibilities are endless. And inexpensive. 🩵💙🩵

Sisters Lucy and Millie chose some cute little charms to have made into necklaces. The same but different! Nice choices girls… seasidey themed of course. 😎

Some Monday Morning mirth for y’all. Not many in stock. Should I get some more?!

Artemis and The Mermaid is looking rather fabulous. Huge thank yous to Debbie for the beautiful handmade double-sided fabric bunting… very glad I bought a 5m expanding ladder!!! 😂

It’s always wonderful to sell one of my unique necklaces to someone in the shop (as opposed to online). “Out With The Old, In With The New” could not have matched this lovely customer’s outfit any better. 🤎 The central resin ammonite was cast from a North Yorkshire fossil I found on the beach and it was teamed with fossil coral, iron pyrites, moonstone, rhodochrosite, smoky quartz and sunstone for a one-off statement piece finished with sterling silver findings. 🧡

Hope you’re having a fabulous Saturday! We’ve got a brilliant new line in the shop, handmade here in Ventnor by the clever .bridger.108. Gorgeous (blank) greetings cards with a token gift attached. Perfect if you want to give a teeny gift without splashing out loads of money. These angel and/or Zodiac themed cards each have a small charm on a mobile phone loop which can, of course, be attached to anything, not just mobile phones! £4.95 for a beautiful handmade card and token gift… can’t say fairer than that. 🖤💜🩷

Sometimes it’s fun to use inexpensive mixed media rather than sterling silver and gemstones. Creativity can flow without a fear of wasting expensive materials. “She Dreams of The Sea” is a fun mixed media charm necklace featuring alloy charms, glass beads, recycled acrylic spikes and a little howlite starfish. One-off. £27.50. ⭐️

Woodn’t it be nice to showcase one of the planet’s best loved and sustainable resources? We have it all, from gorgeous boxes handmade from exotic woods (ideal for super special gifts) and home decor pieces to a wide range of jewellery made from reclaimed English oak and cherrywood to name but a few. 🌳

What a fabulous day. ❤️ Wonderful customers. New talented suppliers. Sunshine. Commissions. Healthy takings (best day ever actually). AND Leeson Road between Ventnor and Shanklin is reopening tomorrow after the devastating land slip last December. Very much looking forward to a day off mind. Back open on Thursday. ❤️

How wonderfully cute are these sweet little handmade beaded earrings and necklaces made by . I was pricing them up this morning before putting them out on display and a customer couldn’t resist the teeny octopuses. 🧡 All made with sterling silver findings and sold with a gift box. Octopus earrings £17.50. Penguin earrings £14.50. Penguin set £26.50. Mermaid earrings £23.50. Sea turtles £14.50. 🐙🐧🧜‍♀️🐢

Well done England getting to the final. That’s some achievement. 🇬🇧 But today we celebrate the Spanish flag because, after all, we’re still European. 🇪🇸 Here are some cheerful red and yellows to brighten up this somewhat grey day. ❤️💛

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Small selection of some of our ceramic beads that a customer had made into jewellery. The drops were made to slip onto hoops hence no hooks or studs. We have an ever increasing selection of cute ceramic beads, many of them ocean or ammonite related. ☺️

We’ve got some very sparkly bracelets in the shop. The “Sea Spirit” crystal cubes are back. These feature a piece of Ventnor seaglass, teeny weeny miyuki seed beads and are finished with sterling silver clasps and findings. £22.50 each. The lovely stretchy bracelets with various twinkly glass beads were also handmade in Ventnor and cost £8.50 each.

How impressed were we with 13 year old Kyah?! 😲 She bought a fun colour change yarn cake (only a fiver!) and turned up a couple of days later with a completed dragon scale wristlet. Kyah followed a YouTube tutorial to learn this. Not only that she is left handed so had to learn in reverse. Now that’s talent. You go grrrrrrl. 💛🤍🧡

Massive shout out to magazine for the wonderful article reminding everyone just how amazing Ventnor really is. Yes, we’ve been struggling somewhat with road closures leading to fewer visitors, and there are a few extra empty windows on the high street, but this beautifully produced article serves to remind us how fabulously quirky this town is… from independent shops to indulgent eateries plus a beautiful beach. Thanks so much Christian and the team for focusing on our special little town. Small but mighty. Keep Ventnor Weird! 🖤

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Talking of lovely customers say hello to Andrew and Zoe… and Peter. 😉 These guys remember visiting our tiny shop in Whitby and reckoned they’d even been served by the talented who made this fabulous sculpture of Mr Cushing. They were delighted to add this piece to their collection of weird and wonderful. 🖤

Good Morning and Happy Sunday. The shop is open until 4pm today. Come on down… like Shirley did last week. She travelled all the way from Perth in Australia to stay with a friend in Portsmouth. Shirley had been following us on social media so when her friend asked where she’d like to visit first, it was an easy choice. 🥰 “Artemis and The Mermaid!” she declared. 🥰 We were thrilled to see them both and particularly happy to put together a budget friendly pair of earrings with apatite beads to go with the gorgeous octopus pendant. Shirley also snapped up a crocheted octopus just finished that morning and an armful of other treasures. Thank you so much and safe journey home. 🥰

Not madly keen on having my mug on show but today is a special day. Celebrating an incoming Government and hoping many who have been suffering due to self-serving Tory policies will feel some relief in the not too distant future. Some cheery red stuff to make you smile. 🥰

You may know I have 6”, 12” and 18” strings of gemstone beads and glass beads including glass pearls. I can make them into bracelets and necklaces for you using either base metal or sterling silver findings and clasps. These lovely customers left with a mother of pearl bracelet, an agate necklace and a mother of pearl necklace. ☺️

The “mermaid window” has been refreshed to include some fab new makes from local artist and another local painter Isobel Evans. There’s also an assortment of other lovely handmade creations including a jacket, octopus, jewellery, crystal hanger and unique artworks. If you need some Monday making motivation check out our charms and beads. Happy Monday(s)!