Carnivals, duchesses and plans for 2009

Someone on the messageboards at Folksy was discussing inspiration and people's plans for 2009, which reminded me that a couple of weeks ago I promised to post some pictures from the notebooks which I keep pictures in I like and which I think might give me ideas for new pieces of jewellery. So here's a sneak peek...

Because a lot of my jewellery is made from vintage brooches, earrings, keys etc, what I make depends very much on what catches my eye when I'm rummaging through car boots, flea markets and eBay. As you can probably see from the notebooks and my previous posts, I love the idea of old carnivals, so I couldn't resist buying these multi-coloured cloisonne earrings:

They reminded me of the merry-go-rounds in Victorian fairs, or of candy canes. I was also lucky enough to stumble on these gorgeous Coro enamel earrings:

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet, but hopefully it will be very special. I also found this tiny sparkling bow brooch,. It needs a good clean, but I intend to team it with a vintage-style clasp and some bright pink chain to make a really cute, unusual choker:

I'm currently waiting for some brass swallows to wing their way over to me from New York, but in the meantime I'm planning what I'm going to do with this little lot:

Hmm... Any ideas?

Comments

Opinions needed

I have a beautiful, really delicate vintage filigree brooch in the shape of a butterfly. The trouble is, I can't decide whether to make it into a necklace or a bracelet. What do you guys think? (Sorry about the blurry photo - that's what happend when I only have my phone, not the proper camera):

Explosion in a jewellery box

It took me ages to find a pretty way to store the jewellery for my Folksy shop . I didn't want it to get muddled up with my own jewellery, but at the same time I didn't just want to stick it all in a box. I also wanted something that I could take with me to craft shows. At first I used a French shabby-chic style mini jewellery mannequin, but it soon got full! Then I found a gorgeous bird-themed jewellery stand. Unfortunately I've been so busy making lovely new items recently that tha's got a bit stuffed too! Oh dear... (Sorry about the picture quality, I had to take them on my mobile) I think it's probably time to buy another jewellery stand. I want one that will complement my existing ones but not exactly the same. Any suggestions will be happily welcomed. And how do you all store your stock? Is it tucked away under a bed or proudly on display to make the most of any visitors?

Win a bracelet!

It's competition time! Would you like to win a one of a kind bracelet made from a vintage brooch, chunky amazonite nuggets, rock crystal, pretty pink Peruvian opal and Swarovski crystals? One that fastens with a cute heart-shaped toggle clasp? I thought so! Just to whet your appetite a bit more, here's a couple of pictures: Because it's nearly Valentine's Day I thought I'd have a bit of a soppy theme. So, to win all you have to do is follow me on Twitter here (if you're not already a follower, if you are you can get retweeting right away) and RT any of my tweets that mention the words "Valentine's", "love", "romance" or "romantic". For each RT you will be entered into the draw (no more than one an hour, though!). For two bonus entries, just blog about Made With Love or this competition. The competition runs until midnight on February 9th and I will be announcing the winner then via this blog. Good luck!

Made With Love by Kat

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