Feeling Crafty- Handmade Cards, Gifts and Jewellery

As a gift for my friend's adorable baby I made this little name plaque, to go with the awesome NY Yankees romper I got her in the states. There's loads of cool handcrafted gift ideas on sites like Etsy so why not give it a go, it might even be good enough to actually give as a present (unlike last year's decorated xmas candles that now gather dust on my loft!)

For the M- I punctured holes through thick textured card, threaded through pink ribbon and added a sequin.
A- I did a similar thing with pink beads threaded onto sparkly thread to form an 'A'.
C- I cut the motif from my Christening ribbon (sentimental!) into a 'C' shape.
I- Sparkly sequins threaded together to form a line were finished off with a heart sequin.
E- I cut pink tissue paper into the right shape and stuck on a duck shaped button.
Et Voila!

Also check out these cute handmade cards I made for friends and family this winter in moments of pure and unadulterated crafting bliss...

Mother Bear's card, pamper voucher and handmade leaf earrings (well, I bought the components and put them together!) 

Granda loves living in the Lake District almost as much as he loved my card :)

Metallics, sheer ribbon and buttons add texture to my fancy floral creations

Snazzy card I made for my last day at work.

I'm also partial to a bit of jewellery-making as you may have gathered in previous posts, but here are some of the friendship bracelets I made at camp, and a few necklaces made by my own two manicure-starved hands:

L-R: This tiny bottle and dried flower were a gift from a very creative CouchSurfing host I had the pleasure of meeting in West Philadelphia, which I added to a shoelace. Resourceful!

The swirly black pendant is a Fimo creation made at Camp in New York, as were the galaxy-inspired beads beside it, all threaded onto leather.
The hamsa hand (symbolising protection) and the monochrome amulet were made using copper enameling which I'll go into a little more detail on below, and the wooden cross was a rainy day project in Byron Bay on the east coast of Australia.

The back of the hamsa hand above shows the 'before' finish to these pieces of copper, but they look far more interesting with a little coloured enamel, especially in the ombre style I carefully created above. At camp we sprinkled the sanded copper shaped with coloured powdered enamel (more on that HERE- thanks again eHow!), VERY CAREFULLY carried to the oven and baked. I prefer the one on the suede cord but the beaded one has an ethnic charm I also quite like!

These heart earrings were also made using the copper enameling technique, I just stuck some earring posts to the back to make them functional!

Next I think I'd like to make these cool framed heart-shaped maps of places I love, or this Robert Indiana style 'Love' button creation (ha- love button) from Not On The High Street as I DO love buttons!

Treasured Jewellery; Old and Made-New

I am so full of love for my favourite vintage almost-shiny things that I MUST share their stories with you. 

I emphasise 'stories' because that's what I love about old things; they have their own past, present and future often NOT akin to "manufactured in Asia, distributed to UK, sold in Workington Topshop last week"- though yesterday I did buy this adorable ring-bracelet (ringlet? racelet?! Sounds like an Ann Summers product) in Toppers after watching Great Expectations at the cinema with Pops. It made me happier than the film at least!

Below is a charm bracelet I've been working on and I love it so much I don't actually want to wear it in case I lose it! The chain itself was my Mum's from her 18th Birthday and I added to it some charms from my Great Aunty Margaret's charm bracelet, which mostly consisted of Canadian maple leaves due to her family in Ontario.

I have bought charms in New Zealand, Australia, Tokyo, England and both coasts of the US so far, and am always on the lookout for new ones to add!

Personal favourites so far include the acorn that opens to reveal a squirrel, the mini bible containing tiny printed pages and the statue of liberty- though the gramophone handle actually turns which is just DARLING too!

While in San Fran I dragged my friend to Treasure Island Flea Market to hunt for some treasure of our own and boy did I find some!

The pendant on the left is actually a clip-on earring that I've clipped to the central pearl on an old necklace, and the stone at the top is just threaded onto a gold chain so I have to make sure it doesn't flip over while I'm wearing it. Must fix that... Actually while I was in the Town Hall Antiques shop in Woburn Sands, Milton Keynes last week I got this matching brooch too (oh and if you're in the area, The Black Horse is delicious!).

The tiny cuckoo clock and the key I got in a 'thrift store' in upstate NY where I worked at camp. The woman who owned it was such a darling she gave me a discount on all the things I was buying including this sparkle-tastic embellished cape-top...

The feather earrings I made by just attaching the feathers I got at the flea market to earring hooks using little metal hoops like you find on the ends of necklaces, and I intend to give a pair to my Mum as a gift this Xmas.

I also made these cute-as-a-button earrings by super gluing some of my Gran's beloved button collection to flat-fronted earring backs I had in my old craft box (who am I kidding- one of the many craft boxes that litter my loft!) and gave two pairs of them to my lovely friends for their Birthdays last week. 

I have made loads of button earrings in the past, including the three heart-shaped pairs below I made at camp. The closest ones are actually copper shapes that I sanded and dusted with enamel then baked to set- gotta love Camp's Arts and Crafts department! The middle Cath Kidston buttons and the floral ones were sent to me in Birthday parcels from adoring friends whilst I was in the US- thanks guys! 

If you don't have any earring backs like I've used above you can use old earrings as long as they are flat-ish, I've used flowers and smileys before but the ones below were stuck to old heart studs. 

Back to Aunty Margaret's hand-me-down heirlooms now, just to show you my new favourite old rings...

...And some of my favourite vintage necklaces. This tiny locket was my Mum's from when she was a Bridesmaid and contains photos of her parents (my grandparents), and the larger one contains photos of my Grandad and his Mum <3

These final three tarnished treasures were my Grandma's- the bottom one being a gift my Grandad bought her for their wedding anniversary- they were married 56 years and had the kind of love that just doesn't seem to exist anymore. Watch this space for the love story of their lives that I must get round to writing one of these days... I am sure it would be better than the stories behind the items in my jewellery box!

Steal Kate Middleton's style

Check out my second Blog post on Kate Middleton and her engagement style for the FuroreStyle blog.

Not gonna lie, I'm a little jealous of the soon-to-be Princess's glowing face, svelte figure, Issa London dress and of course that priceless sapphire and diamond ring that belonged to the late Princess Diana.

Maybe one day I'll find my own handsome Prince to lavish me with precious gems and who looks as good as Wills in a suit...

New post on Furorestyle blog...

As some of you may know I work part-time for the wonderful PR company Furore PR in Birmingham. I have now been entrusted with managing all of Furore PR's online activity; their Facebook, blog, twitter and the like.

Today I wrote my First blog post on Furorestyle about Danii Minogue's wonderful choice of Fei Liu Jewellery on Sunday's X Factor.

Fei Liu is one of Furore PR's clients and his jewellery is just stunning. Some of his collections have won awards and received huge critical acclaim because they are just beautifully classic and yet entirely unique.

Check out some of his amazing pieces on his website http://www.feiliu.co.uk/.