Tag Archives: Jewellery

July Wishlist | Shark Week

July Wishlist Shark Week

It’s Shark Week! TBH every week is shark week to me, cos I freaking’ love sharks, but it’s the time of year when everyone else gets excited about them as the Discovery Channel starts their annual Shark Week programming this Sunday. So this month’s wishlist has a distinctly toothy feeling in honour of the top of the food chain.

Clockwise from top left:

Great White Shark Embroidery Art from Art for Animals (£6.50 with 10% donated to animal charities)
I’m having a great love affair with embroidery art at the moment – my Instagram is loaded with great artists and I am in awe of the craft. I love this simple stitch which I think captures the softer side of the Great White (still wouldn’t cuddle ’em though!)

Shark Bag by The Rodnik Band (£79)
Absolutely love this novelty bag with a cheeky grin! It looks like the perfect bag for a night out, holding just the essential.

Ocean Cologne by The Library of Fragrance (£15)
Well what else would a sharkie smell like?

Hammerhead Shark Necklace by Honoloulou’s (£21 with £3 donated to Sharks4Kids)
I adore these handmade (in Bristol) necklaces, available in multiple shark silhouettes and a range of patterns and colours. The charity supported by Honoloulou’s works with kids in Florida to educate them about sharks and all the great things they do for our planet to foster the next generate of shark advocates and help protect them in the future. Great cause!

July Wishlist Shark Week

Suede Fringed Shark Tooth Backpack from River Island (£45)
If the Rodnik bag is a bit OTT, this RI offering is far more subtle and hits the fringing trend for the summer. I do love a good backpack too.

Shark vs Mermaid Swimsuit by BlackMilk (£45 depending on AUD exchange rate)
I’ve wanted this swimsuit for ages and ages, I’ve seen countless knockoffs but I’ve no doubt that the genuine BlackMilk one will be worth the wait and the dollars. It’s two of my top films in one glorious mash up! (Sorry Ariel).

Shark Print Vest by Illustrated People at Topshop (£25)
I know that sharks aren’t mindless eating machines like this vest might suggest, but you gotta respect that gob! Pure summer cas’.

Shark Attack Platform Heels from Sour Puss (£32 depending on USD exchange rate)
Yeah… don’t think I’d be able to walk in these but I’d look fierce as f*ck and that’s all we really want from Shark Week.

If you love sharks as much as me tell me why in the comments and let me know about any cool discoveries!

Bristol | Outlaw Artisan Craft Show

Bristol | Outlaw Artisan Craft Show Bristol | Outlaw Artisan Craft Show Bristol | Outlaw Artisan Craft Show

A few weekends ago I sacrificed my beloved Saturday lie-in for an early train to Bristol for the first Outlaw Artisan Craft Show in the city.  Based in the Passenger Shed, it was a weekend of  craft sellers, demonstrations and workshops. I booked myself a couple of workshops, making sure I also had plenty of time for my favourite activity – shopping! The entry fee was £6 and the first couple of 100 people who arrived were given a copy of a recent Mollie Makes or Homemaker magazine.

Bristol | Outlaw Artisan Craft ShowMy first workshop of the day was bookbinding with Tim from Camel Winter Books. All the workshops were paid and this one was £15 which included making two notebooks to take away with you. We were told a bit about the basics of bookbinding, for example, how to tell the grain of the paper (crucial for folding purposes), the best tools for the job, and some simple techniques. It was lovely to hear from someone who was so obviously passionate about their craft and to hear that it doesn’t necessarily have to be an expensive activity. My results were mixed, the pages are not exactly neat but they’re bot definitely passable!

Bristol | Outlaw Artisan Craft Show

The Demo Theatre had a line-up of makers who demonstrated their crafts with little how-tos for any one who was thinking about giving it a try, or was just interested in the process. Demonstrations included ink rolling, making a terrarium and making a non-sew tutu for the little ones.

Bristol | Outlaw Artisan Craft Show Bristol | Outlaw Artisan Craft Show

The Make and Take Theatre was halfway between the workshops and the demo theatre and free to attend. Your table had all the supplies you needed to make along with the crafter on stage. I went to the wool pom-pom with Thimbleson. Apparently all you need to do to make a delightful little pom-pom is wrap wool round a fork, tie it off, and cut. Easy! Well, my first one was a total fail, it fell apart immediately! Luckily, I was sat next to a very nice lady who helped me to get the hang of it. Thank you nice lady!

Bristol | Outlaw Artisan Craft Show

There was a few options for food including Vietnamese street food, but I couldn’t resist the call of the epic looking pastries and cakes at The Cornish Hen stand. I had the best sausage roll, a chorizo scotch egg and an enormous slab of chocolate while I had a flick through my Mollie Makes magazine and listened to the musical entertainment.

Bristol | Outlaw Artisan Craft Show Bristol | Outlaw Artisan Craft Show Bristol | Outlaw Artisan Craft Show

My last activity of the day was the Screen Printing workshop with The Art Troupe. This was £10 and although I have done screen printing before, it’s been over 10 years, and I was interested to see how it could do done on a small scale at home. The answer – an embroidery hoop for your screen – duh! I thought this was so clever and will be giving it a go at home for sure (once we get a bigger place). I didn’t have a plan for my images so I ended up making a fairly basic stegosaurus and an orca design. I have to say I really like the orca though!

Bristol | Outlaw Artisan Craft Show

Of course, I had to buy myself a few goodies. From Ladybird Likes, I bought a dino bracelet and a set of motivational cards, stickers and badge – I need a helluva lotta motivation at the moment! I bought a cute/creepy cat x-ray necklace from Buku Forest Studios and a dinosaur brooch and a lucky dip set of cards from Hannah Stevens.

Bristol | Outlaw Artisan Craft Show

And my favourite item/splurge of the day was this cheetah necklace from Sstutter. The detail is just incredible – it has geometric etching on it, it’s just so beautiful and unique. Deffo found a new favourite shop!

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All in all, I had a fantastic day at Outlaw. I really enjoyed the workshops and the friendly atmosphere. The next one is in August in Falmouth, so if you’re in that area, definitely check it out. I have my fingers and toes crossed that they’ll be back in Bristol before too long.

 

 

 

 

Black Heart Creatives Jewellery Making Workshop

Black Heart Creatives Jewellery Making Workshop

Recently I’ve been amassing quite a collection of laser cut and acrylic jewellery, something about it is really appealing to me at the moment. So when I saw that Charlotte from Black Heart Creatives was running a jewellery making workshop in Bristol of course I snapped up a ticket. With an ‘Under the Sea’ theme, the event promised the chance to make two pieces of totally unique, statement jewellery.

Black Heart Creatives Jewellery Making Workshop 20150409_191446

Our base for the night was The Crazy Fox in the centre of Bristol, a really nice coffee bar which hosts a range of events from art exhibitions to live music. Once refreshments had been bought, our first task was to make a charm bracelet. On our work trays we were given a selection of sea themed charms – shells, seahorses and fishes plus plenty of jump rings a lobster clasp and a length of chain. We were able to measure the chains to fit and then Charlotte showed us the proper way to open and close jump rings – actually a bit of an art!

Black Heart Creatives Jewellery Making Workshop

I decided to go for the fully loaded look and used all my charms! They are really nicely detailed with etching or hole details as on the starfish and I liked the range of colours and materials – especially that transparent yellow conch shell. I decided to put the two seahorses kissing in the middle and built a kind of symmetrical design around it.

Black Heart Creatives Jewellery Making Workshop

Next up was a slightly more complex design – a fully customisable mermaid tail necklace. Charlotte brought along two designs to choose from, a three part opaque green with etching on the fins, or an older design which had four parts. Both were lovely but as soon as I saw the turquoise mirror acrylic, I knew the choice for me! This time we had a few mini charms and a selection of rhinestones. My tail was already pretty blingy with the mirror look so I added just a few embellishments. The trickiest part of the workshop was injecting the acrylic glue under charm (I almost glued my necklace to the plastic tray), but we all got there in the end!

I loved the workshop and I’m so pleased with my makes. I gave the bracelet to a friend as part of a mermaid themed birthday present and she seemed pretty impressed with my handiwork too. The workshop had a lovely, laid back atmosphere and it was really fun to see everyone’s different interpretation of the materials and the final results.

Black Heart Creatives also do events in London so make sure you give them a little follow to hear of when their next one is. I’ll definitely be along to another one!

Lucky Dip Club | Birds of Paradise

Lucky Dip Cub March Birds of Paradise

This month’s Lucky Dip Club was a riot of exotic birdies and colour. This subscription service continues to go from strength to strength, now with monthly guest contributors and the introduction of a charm club. A club within a club, I love it! It’s £15 a month and goes on sale at 7am on the 1st of each month.

Lucky Dip Cub March Birds of Paradise

The guest contributor for March was Hollie Harris who designed super cute 70s style bird hair slides. I’ve seen people on Instagram rocking these in purple, blue, red, brunette, blonde hair and they all look fab!

Lucky Dip Cub March Birds of Paradise

Yey! Stationery! I love this summery to-do list. I like the very eighties design too.

Lucky Dip Cub March Birds of Paradise Lucky Dip Cub March Birds of Paradise Lucky Dip Cub March Birds of Paradise

The charm of the month is a classy silver swan. It came on a necklace chain with the bracelet separate so that you could wear it while you build up the charm collection. I thought this was a really sweet gesture and didn’t expect a necklace too.

We also received a personalised Pink Flamingo Motel keyring. I saw @littlestlass on Instagram had turned hers into a necklace and I just had to copy!

Lucky Dip Cub March Birds of Paradise Lucky Dip Cub March Birds of Paradise

Lastly we got to get our paper craft on with an origami set. I made the flying bird from the instructions supplied plus a swan and a rather dumpy looking penguin. So much fun!

The next box is themed around April showers with the theme of “Raining Cats and Dogs” and features the amazing Gemma Correll. Cannot wait for it!

Lucky Dip Club | Love Hearts and Lipstick

Lucky Dip Club February Lovehearts and Lipstick

I do love Lucky Dip Club days. As you most likely already know the score with them now I’ll just skip straight to the contents.

As February is the month of love (Valentine’s Day being slap bang in the middle and all), the theme was “Love Hearts and Lipstick”. The collaboration was with LaLaLand so featured a personalised pencil from PopCult Pencils. It also included a glittery pout badge, washi tape with sweet slogans, a love letter necklace and a patch DIY kit.

Lucky Dip Club February Lovehearts and Lipstick

The necklace is so dainty and pretty!

Lucky Dip Club February Lovehearts and Lipstick

I made some nautical themed patches with the DIY kit. Not perfect but I like them. I’m enjoying doing some basic sewing so I might try and get some more practice in and learn a few more techniques.

‘Til next month, S.W.A.L.K!

Lucky Dip Club | Lucky Diner

Lucky Dip Club Lucky Dine

Diner days were happy days in last month’s Lucky Dip Club. If you’re not familiar, Lucky Dip Club is a monthly subscription service priced at £15 per month. It includes a jewellery piece, a DIY kit and a personalised item as well as a selection from homewares, stationery and other fun items. It’s always wonderfully presented and a joy to open. Every month has a new theme so let’s have a look at what was in the Lucky Diner box:

Lucky Dip Club Lucky Dine

The star of the box was the donut, a gorgeous gold necklace. This is a new material for Lucky Dip Club and a really lovely addition. A classy donut, right?

Lucky Dip Club Lucky Dine

This is a magnet and is to be used for sticking takeaway menus to your fridge. I love this idea so much. Unfortunately my fridge is behind a cupboard door so not magnetised but I’m keeping a hold of this for when I do have a nicer fridge.

Lucky Dip Club Lucky Dine

Super cute paper straws. I love a cutesy accessory in my drink so I’m happy with these. Love the colour combination too.

Lucky Dip Club Lucky Dine

The DIY this month is a paper craft where you make your own burger buddy. It’s essentially 3 little boxes that look like a cheery burger.

Lucky Dip Club Lucky Dine

How awesome is this ice cream sundae tea towel? I’m always up for a homeware piece and this will jazz up the boring task of drying the dishes. But it might force me to eat ice cream as soon as I’m finished…

Lucky Dip Club Lucky Dine

For October we got a wee extra for Halloween in the form of a black cat button. I know that there is two schools of thought when it comes to black cats but I fall on the side of them being lucky so fingers crossed this will bring me some good luck! The menu card was also really cool this month with a roller skating waitress.

Lucky Dip Club Lucky Dine

This was another good month. Sadly, I think I’m going to have to dip out of Lucky Dip Club soon as I need to cut back on my spending. Maybe just a couple more…

Lucky Dip Club | Magic Forest

Lucky Dip Club September Magic Forest

Welcome to another Lucky Dip Club unboxing. I hope you’re still enjoying seeing the boxes as much as I enjoy receiving them. The theme for September was ‘Magic Forest’ featuring woodland creatures and the phrase ‘Make Magic!’

The box arrived at the end of September and instantly made me feel festive for the upcoming Halloween season with the orange themed wrapping and owl motifs – hey, owls are spooky OK?!

Lucky Dip Club September Magic Forest

The first item I noticed was this really cute bird art card. I love birds, and especially the swallows in the middle there, take me to a place with swallows or swifts swooping and diving and I’ll be happy for hours. I’m going to pop this up on my picture shelf to make my bedroom that little bit more autumnal.

Lucky Dip Club September Magic Forest

This is a little mini to-do list note pad. I quite like that it’s so small as it keeps your to-do list succinct and manageable and I’m all for that – my one at work is usually two sides of A4. Sad face indeed!

Lucky Dip Club September Magic Forest

A customised initial wooden owl badge. I love his little googly eye and the fact that he’s waving at you. Also love the colour combo. He’ll be going on my winter coat.

Lucky Dip Club September Magic Forest

Eee! This is a wooden jewellery hook. The ribbon is from the packaging that it was beautifully wrapped in but forgot to take a snap of. I love the little fawn – he looks so sad though! I’m going to hang this guy on the side of my beauty cabinet and hang a few necklaces on him. I’m guilty of not wearing jewellery because I can’t see it as it’s tucked away in a drawer so this is great for me.

Lucky Dip Club September Magic Forest

The DIY kit this month is a super sweet fox sleep mask. Sadly, my demanding kitten has ensure that I definitely don’t have time to make this just now, but I will share it when I do get round to it. I have seen a few completed masks by other subscribers on Instagram (#luckydipclub) and it looks really cute and seems as though the clear instructions make it easy to make and achieve the desired result.

Lucky Dip Club September Magic Forest

This is the menu card but I had to share it as it’s a bit adorable. Leona also includes a little competition with every box, so this month was certain jigsaw pieces would win and extra prize. I think this is a really nice touch, and not something you see in other subscription boxes. I think it also shows that Lucky Dip Club is all about the customers and spreading a little joy.

Lucky Dip Club September Magic Forest

Lucky Dip Club boxes go on sale at 7am on the first of every month and the theme for October is ‘Lucky Diner’ – burgers, milkshakes and donuts – yum!. They sell out within a few hours so if you’d like to join the club, make sure you act fast. There will also be a Lucky Dip Cat Club box next month in partnership with Hello Harriet! I can’t wait for this one.