Phew, here's my Etsy site at last!

Gosh, I haven't posted for a while but I'm trying to get back in the swing of it. Christmas is over and things are well and truly back to normal. I always find January and February the worst months of the year as it's so cold and grey and Spring seems miles away yet. I can't wait for the first signs to appear, I love seeing the new buds on the trees and the daffodils popping out, sigggghhhh!
Anyway, I've been keeping myself busy in the long winter evenings (and my lunch hours at work!) by working on my jewellery and getting my site on Etsy up and running. I've only posted two things so far but I'm steadily adding and making more, so excited about it. Great to see the things I've spent time on actually up for sale..

www.etsy.com/shop/jillypeajewellery

Craft Fair - The Verdict

It's been a couple of weeks since my first craft show and I've been meaning to post something about how it all went. The verdict is that I think it was pretty good for my first attempt, I sold about 15 things which I'm chuffed to bits with! Not the fact that I made some money (which of course was nice!) but the fact that people actually liked my stuff enough to buy it. My little girl tiara and headbands went down really well and I did a roaring trade in converting earrings to clip on's for a steady stream of 8 year olds. Also sold loads of little bracelets and had a ton of interest in the button charm bracelets.
Basically though it was loads of fun, knackering but really rewarding, I felt like a real little craftswoman, sat at my table making stuff whilst people watched.
I'll post a piccie of the table, this was at the end of the day so not that much on there. I think I made a stuff up with the colour of the cloth, which was pretty and festive but took away from the jewellery a bit too much. Still, not bad for my first one! Let me know if any comments on how I could improve it for the next one (oh yes, there will be more next year!)

The first thing I made...

I first got hooked on jewellery making when I visited my friend Mel in the states this summer. She took me to a beading shop for the afternoon and I was instantly fascinated. I've always loved tiny fiddly sparkly things and have a real thing for collecting bits of pretty stuff and hoarding them in baskets and trinket boxes (it drove my mum mad for years!) so when I walked in this shop and saw row upon row of glittering beads, crystals and charms I was completely mesmerised. I took ages choosing what I wanted and just rifling through all the baskets and boxes and then we just spent a great couple of hours chatting and beading and playing around with stuff. It's such a great thing to be able to do, to spend time with a really good friend doing something fun and creative! The girls in the shop helped me to add the clasps and the earring hooks and finish everything off. I was SO pleased with the end result and the fact I MADE IT MYSELF that I couldn't stop looking at it. When I got back to England I was so pleased to find a shop near me that sold all the stuff to get me started creating my own pieces but it struck me that nowhere seemed to offer the same chilled out and relaxed atmosphere of the shop in the states where a steady stream of women just seemed to pop in with their friends and sit down to make something together. I would love to start something like that over here, a little crafty space where you can spend some time away from the hurly burly of life and just spend some time using your hands to create something beautiful!
Anyway, here are the two things that got me started, I still think they are great (even if the earrings do look a little bit like tiny UFO's)

Button Jewellery

A charm bracelet using some of the random buttons I have. This basically involves making some wrapped loops on each button and attaching to the bracelet with jump rings. It also has a pretty flower clasp at the back which you can't see here. Pretty time consuming but worth it I think. Matching necklace in progress!

How to Make Commercial Jewellery

A really good article on what a Jewellery buyer is looking for in your designs. Some great hints and tips on pricing which is always tricky to work out.

How to Make Commercial Jewellery

The New Boring?

Read this article in The Guardian the other day which really grated on me, apparently our new interest in crafts makes us 'the new boring'. I couldn't agree less with his point that lost crafts were lost for a reason. Complete and utter tosh! It takes me back to when a relative of mine said she didn't see the point in anyone doing a degree in the arts because it was of no use to anyone. I couldn't understand how anyone could think like that and 25 years later I still can't. Art is one of the most important and fundamental things in life and I just couldn't imagine a world without it. I once entered a competition for one of those neon signs by Tracey Emin that said in huge letters "I need art like I need God". I wish i'd won it...

http://m.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/nov/17/downton-abbey-kirstie-new-boring?cat=culture&type=article

Buttons!

Does anyone have any good ideas what I can do with a stack of buttons I have? I made a memory wire bracelet with some which looks fab. I've also followed a couple of tutorials on youtube but just don't seem to be able to get threaded bracelets to sit right. Is it the threading cord you use?, i've tried really thin elastic, wire and a wider elastic but none seem right! I need to get this right, I refuse to beaten by a load of old buttons...