I long for a lazy summers day

source

Morning, I just have enough time to pop in and say I would like to be this girl for a while.  I've got a busy week ahead of me trying to get ready for the show on Saturday.  There's jewellery to be made, display items to be collected, business cards and packaging to make (why did I decide I wanted to make everything).  I can't complain, I love it really.

What are your weeks plans?

Oh I almost forgot to announce the winner of my giveaway.  The lucky lady is Florence!  Thank you for your comment, i'll pop it in the post tomorrow.  I hope you like it.

Thank you to everyone who entered, it meant a lot to read all those lovely comments.  I will do another giveaway at some point so make sure you check back soon.

xxx

Katie Thompson

This is the amazing work of Katie Thompson who uses pieces of discarded junk and recreates a unique, recycled range of furniture, lighting and interior accessories.  Each piece is infused with its own previous character but given a new function. 

I am in love with her work and one day would love to own a piece.  What's your favourite? 

"An object is no longer being used for its original purpose in life! That purpose has expired and I have recreated a beautiful 'something else'"

Katie Thompson

Make sure you check out her website to see the rest of her wonderful creations.  Happy Friday and I hope you all have a brilliant weekend.  I will be anouncing the winner of my giveaway on Monday so if you still haven't entered you stil have time. xxx

Artist Spotlight at Simply Hue

Today I just want to say a big thank you to the lovely Vicki from Simply Hue for featuring me in her 'spotlight on artists' series.  You can find out a little bit about my background and inspirations over there so please do have a look.  I am truly grateful for her kind words and support.

You can also have a go at winning the above necklace from my shop.  All you have to do is visit Simply Hue here, have a read and leave a comment.  Vicki will contact the winner on Monday.  Good Luck! xxx

Bargain Hunting

Hello everyone, I spent yesterday searching for little display type knic-knacks at a few markets and carboot sales in London.  I was pretty unsuccessful overall but managed to get the above coaster set for 50p!  I may pull them out like drawers and drape/sit my jewellery on top, i'll have to see what it looks like.  I may not use them at all.

I was hoping to get a vintage hand held mirror but couldn't find one so I bought this on Etsy instead.  It's from Kats Vintage Finds and it's beautiful, just what I was after so I really hope it arrives in time.

Here are a couple of other mirrors I found on Etsy in case you are inspired to get one for yourself.

The Merchant of Kismet

Tigerluxe

I hope you are having a nice Monday anyway.  I plan to visit a few charity/antique shops over the next couple of weeks to thrift some more so if anyone has any suggestions it would be great to hear them.  Preferably in the London area!  Also if you know of any other online vintage shops (that ship to the UK) I'd love to see them too.

xxx

Free Giveaway!

I have a very busy day ahead of me today so not much time to blog I'm afraid.  Instead I thought I would host my first giveaway.  This Birds in Love necklace is one of my most popular items and it could be yours.  It will be beautifully packaged so will be a lovely treat for yourself or a friend.

All you need to do to win is leave me a comment on this post and I will pick someone at random when the giveaway ends on Friday 26th March.  I will message the lucky winner and arrange for delivery.

Please feel free to follow my blog as I will be hosting more giveaways and special offers in the future.

Maryy Maryy Quite Contrary

Calling out to the sewers amongst us, do you use Burda Style?  I always look to this site for inspiration and help with new sewing projects. My latest endeavour is to make a few peices for spring/summer.  I'm thinking some easy skirts and dresses that I can wear with tights until i'm brave enough to bare my legs.

The images displayed are from Burda Style member Maryy from Finland.  She is the first person I came across when I joined and I immediately fell in love with her style.

If you are a member or have projects on other sites please leave me a link to your page as i'd love to see your creations.

Treat Yourself

At long last I have finished my packaging design.  It's taken so long because I wanted to try and get my business cards made for me but I haven't been able to find a printers that can do what I want (problems with inkjet, lazer and thickness of cardstock).

Anyway, it is ever so slightly time consuming but completely worth it in my opinion.  I hope it makes recieving a package from me an extra special treat.  

First of all I use recycled kraft boxes and line the lid with an image of 1970s floral wallpaper (top image).  I then hook the item onto a card stamped with my logo and tie cream ribbon around it (i'm afraid the ribbon in the picture is white as i'm waiting for supplies).

I then place the box, along with a business and thankyou card into a canvas bag made from vintage curtain fabric.

Pull the drawstring and voila, popped into a jiffy bag and a pretty package is on it's way to you.

I hope you like it, I really wanted to present my jewellery in a luxurious and special way that reflected my work and wasn't too wasteful.  You can re-use everything except the thankyou card as it will have my 'not so great' handwriting on it.   

If you would like to see more images, close-ups and descriptions you can visit my flickr page and any feedback or comments will be most welcome.

how do you display your jewellery?

The other day I told you about an event coming up where I will be selling my jewellery.  It's called Tik Tac Toe and will be at Carnivale in Whitechapel, East London on 3rd April.  It's my first ever stall so it would be great to have some friendly faces come by. 

This will be the first event that will hopefully continue on a monthly basis and will be a whole day into evening thing with an acoustic band in the afternoon along with market stalls, cakes, tea, food, board games etc and then a headline act in the evening along with happy hour, and Djs.  The stalls will be open from 2-6pm.

As it's my first time, I have been collecting inspiration from other displays.  I'd like to go with something a bit vintagey looking with natural fabrics and woods to compliment my jewels.  I love Anthropologie's visual design so will be making a visit this week, I'm hoping they might let me take some photos to share with you too.

Here are a few images that will hopefully show my thought process.

     Rust

Emma Cassi

Source unknown (sorry, big blogger no-no)  If anyone can let me know where this came from I will change it.

I also really love this stall.  It would be amazing to have a space like that and make it into a mini room complete with lamps and pictures framed on the wall.  It's so effective.

Spring Attire

 my first attempt

Isn't polyvore slightly addictive? I admit i'm no way near as good at putting 'sets' together as some people but I was reasonably pleased with my first attempts.  As I sit here listening to the [500] Days of Summer soundtrack (I saw the film a couple of nights ago), I can see bits of blue sky and sunshine emerging through the clouds.  Now we just need the warmth to go with it and I can wear outfits like these.  Come on Spring, you're nearly there!! 

Weekend Stroll

 

Untitled

Only the first two are by me (you might be able to tell).  The last one is from EvaDonohoe who has about a million sets to her name.  

Must go now, I have been invited to sell my jewellery at an event in East London (details to follow soon) so I need to go and be organised.xxx

Love in Vain

I came across these images from Fault Magazine on Fleur Avenue a while ago.  I love the vintage styling and the soft photography used to create the Love in Vain theme for this shoot.

Inspirational Words of Wisdom

I'm sure we all need a few motivational words from time to time ( I know I do).  I'd like to put some up in my studio space to see every day.  What do you think of these?

  Volume Twenty Five the secret to becoming who you wish to be

Volume Twenty Five Remember Happiness

Sunny Champagne Put hour heart into it

The Love Shop EXPLORE DREAM DISCOVER

Orange Beautiful Get On With It Already

I'm spending the day making up orders, sewing canvas bags as part of my new packaging and hopefully experimenting with new jewellery designs.  Hope you all have a wonderful day.xx

Style Watching

Being nosey at other peoples style is a favourite pastime.  Living in London is amazing for that but I am increasingly spending more time on sites like LOOKBOOK.nu and polyvore.  There are so many people with such creative style, I find it really inspiring.

 

                         

This is Mattie who I found via LOOKBOOK.nu.  She also posts photos to flickr.  Do you love her style too? 

                              

 

 

   

    

Rosie Music's beautiful illustrations.

 

  

I found it difficult to get into my work yesterday, my head just wasn't working properly so I did a bit of window shopping on etsy.  I do need some new illustrations to put on my bedroom wall and I came across these beautiful prints from the lovely shop Rosie Music.  My favourite has to be Sunday Morning, what could be better than a lazy morning full of coffee, kittens and the boyfriend (not necessarily in that order).

New Jewellery Packaging Ideas

 

I have recently been working on some new packaging and business card ideas and thought you might like a sneaky peek.  It's not yet properly finished but I'm not far off, hopefully by the end of next week I can post full photographs of it all.