Spring organisation - and some butterflies!

Spring has finally sprung over here in the UK! We're actually having beautiful weather for the time of year, probably nature's way of making up for all the rain we've had over the last year, and even better the forecast says that the weather is due to continue over the Bank Holiday weekend this weekend (we get Monday off for May Day) - although my apologies in advance to our UK readers if I have now jinxed the weather and your planned BBQ gets rained off!

handmade copper beeheart round headpins by KristiBowmanDesign

Spring has also brought out the bulbs in the gardens and the park we walk through on the way to my eldest son's school, and the trees are now suddenly coated in beautiful greens. I even saw a couple of early butterflies in our garden this morning, much to our kittens excitement, and some bees busy pollinating the flowers too - don't worry, they didn't catch them!

bronze patinaed butterfly focal by TheaToo

Spring always makes me look afresh at everything in my life. Everything always looks so much better in the sunshine with the birds singing, and I get renewed energy to organise and generally make my life (and my family's life!) brighter and run smoother. One of the changes that I have made this week to make my Daisychain Extra etsy shop run more efficiently is to change it from a "made-to-order" shop to one where everything listed is ready to ship out. It means that when you put an order in you can be certain that everything will be posted out to you within 2 working days, often that same day, and it also means that I can make batches of designs rather than one or two of a design at a time to fill and order - far more efficient! It has already allowed me the time to create some new clasps that I have had sketched out for a couple of months, and I will have regular shop updates every 10 days or so with new stock and new designs.

oxidised copper butterfly hook clasp by DaisychainExtra

So, I'd like to know what changes Spring makes in your life - do the changes you see around you in nature give you new energy and new inspiration for your jewellery making? Have you made changes in the way you work as I have? And while you're thinking about that I hope that you will enjoy the butterflies and bees I've found in the AJE team members shops!

rainbow stained glass faceted polymer clay beads by TreeWingStudio - these remind me of butterfly wings!