Meet Monday with Timeless Avenue and a GIVEAWAY

Please meet Ger from Dublin, Ireland and her Etsy shop Timeless Avenue



Bringing you inspired creations by the speculative, steampunk, fantasy, and all things vintage, Timeless Avenue creates one of a kind, single, original pieces that all are given individual quirky names.

Ger is also offering one of her creations as a giveaway...please see all of the details after the interview.

Now let's discover Timeless Avenue

What is the first creative memory you have?

I've always been creative and it has manifested itself in so many ways over the years, through my creative writing, my graphic design, and now my jewelry. I've always known I was creative and theres a certain buzz I get when I make something I'm especially proud of.

But it all started years ago when my mum said to me “ah sure, just write a little story,” when I was eight years old and bored. I hung out of her as she folded the ironing one Saturday morning when the eighties had just ended and Irelands then recession still bit at the ankles. I twisted in between her legs and bounded around the Hoover as she got on with the week’s housework. I was a nimble child, too young to know to help and pick up a duster and too youthful to think of what to do to pass the long Saturdays before school would eventually take the weekends away with homework, studying, exams and thoughts of prospects.



So, I wrote a short story about a talking telephone. It was an old rotary dial telephone in glorious pink. It sang Kylie Minogues I should be so lucky when it rang. I was after all, a true child of the eighties. I lay on the brown linoleum floor in our extended front hall, with a cushion under my elbow, my legs kicking the air behind me as I wrote with a red pen on a wad of old computer paper with the sides punched and corrugated. That story was the first of many. By the time I was twelve, they had ended up in a shoebox tied into mini scrolls with multicoloured ribbons keeping them in place. But it didn’t stop there.



What or whom began your creative journey on Etsy?

I was looking for a particular type of necklace which I couldn’t find in any of the shops, so randomly one day I decided to make it myself. I found myself scrolling through the thousands of suppliers items on Etsy and instantly fell in love with the idea of creating my own jewelry. I began this journey with just a few ideas, which has just exploded! I almost made it to 100 items and suddenly I was back down to 90 again because of sales.

It’s an amazing feeling to have someone else wear one of your creations and love it as much as you do.

How did you come up with your shop name?

I struggled with my shop name for quite a while. I wanted it to have importance and meaning, to stand out and be remembered by my customers. In the end I chose the title of a poem I wrote about 15 years ago. Timeless Avenue is a short poem about the future and about friendship and I felt it was quite apt as my shop name since I love nothing more than to pass on my work to friends as gifts.



Describe what creations you have in your shop

I make steampunk and vintage inspired jewelry and I’m learning something new and wonderful about my style and craft every day. I love nothing more than to order a batch of vintage watch movements and create beautiful intriguing jewelry with them, from necklaces to earrings and cuff links (which all sold out so quickly!)

It’s all a little bit kitsch and a whole lot of me!

Everything I make in my shop I make for myself. If I won’t wear it, I won’t make it. There’s definitely a little bit of me in every piece. The majority of my pieces are one of a kind because I like to make something different every time. And I especially love when someone asks me to change an element of a piece I’ve created because it’s what they’d prefer or like. Putting the personal element into my jewelry is what I’m all about. I want someone to wear a piece of my jewelry for their friends to say, “oh that is so you”! I want my customers to know that the piece they have bought was made especially for them.

What insprires you?

So many things!



Inspiration is incredible because it literally can come from anywhere. I could see a color and long to use it in a bracelet or necklace. I love looking at old movie posters, and love trying to incorporate the imagery I see. Anything dystopian, futuristic and steampunk is obviously a huge influence on me and I love the intricacies of the inner workings of machinary. Watch parts are a big element of steampunk jewelry. I spend ages just looking at them before I decide on how I’ll magic them into a beautiful piece of jewelry.

Essentially, I try to combine something hard with something soft and beautiful. So a rough metal watch piece matches perfectly with a sepia tone ballerina!

What do you listen to or watch while creating?

I’ve recently developed a Netflix addiction! I prop my iPad on the side of my craft table and watch series after series. So far I’ve watched, or rather listened to!, entire series’ of Heroes, 4400, Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and I’ve just started on Lost again from the very very beginning!

Making jewelry and watching tv has to be one of the most relaxing things I do!



Please share a favorite recipe

My favourite recipe is Chocolate Banana Bread. Its a tradition in our house to make atleast four loafs of banana bread every Christmas, and my husband is always asking me to make some more. Its simply beautiful, tastes great and the best thing, is that it is so quick and easy to make! My problem is that every time I make it I change the ingredients ever so slightly, and believe it or not my husband knows! He always knows when I've done something different. This epicurious recipe is one I've been sticking to for a while, and it passes his taste test.

Chocolate Banana Bread with Walnuts

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup walnuts, toasted, chopped
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour 9x5x2 1/2-inch metal loaf pan. Whisk first 4 ingredients in medium bowl to blend. Combine chocolate chips and walnuts in small bowl; add 1 tablespoon flour mixture and toss to coat.
Beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Gradually add sugar, beating until well blended. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Beat in mashed bananas, lemon juice and vanilla extract. Beat in flour mixture. Spoon 1/3 of batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle with half of nut mixture. Spoon 1/3 of batter over. Sprinkle with remaining nut mixture. Cover with remaining batter. Run knife through batter in zigzag pattern.
Bake bread until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 5 minutes. Turn out onto rack and cool.

Where else can we find you?

Facebook
Pinterest

Now let's see what one lucky winner will win!!!



Bird Cage Summer Bird Pendant Dangle Earrings vintage inspired with crystal beads - Birds of a Feather

*****SHIPPING INCLUDED FOR ALL ENTRANTS!!!

These dangle earrings are so light and comfortable to wear. They are simply adorable and eye catching. These bird cage earrings dangle at approximately 2 inches in length.

NOW TO ENTER...please remember you do not have to do all of the entries, but the more you do the more chances you have at winning.

a Rafflecopter giveaway