Made With Love by Kat

OH mid-December, time of Christmas shopping panic when, inevitably, you feel bad about “only” giving your mum that carefully-sourced vintage cape with original embellishments still intact and decide you need to add some novelty socks and a cellophane “gift box” of soaps you know, in your heart of hearts, will remain on the bathroom windowsill until March 2015, at which point it will be regifted to a distant cousin who was unexpectedly in the area on their birthday. I’m not, as it happens, going to give you tips on how to avoid last-minute shopping disasters right now (well, maybe one: do try not to get drunk if you can help it). Instead I’m going to address a more cumbersome problem – the shopping bag. Don’t get me wrong, there can be nothing more fabulous than tripping down a frost city centre street, arms bedecked with rope and paper beauties from Harvey Nicks, Selfridges and Boodles… but let’s face it, most of us are not a Delevigne and our bags are more likely to be plastic h...

Christmas is just 12 days away now and thoughts are turning to the turkey. But for those of you with some shopping still to do, most of my jewellery items are sent out first class as large letters , which means the last posting day is Thursday, December 20th . That means purchases must be completed by midnight on Wednesday, December 19th so I can get them to the post office on time. More advice from the Royal Mail about posting dates can be found here . The exception to this rule is with my rings - because of their size and shape they need to be sent as parcels so they can be properly packaged. As the last posting date for parcels is today, rings will probably not now arrive in time for Christmas. If you live in Bolton , contact me as I can hand deliver items.

Shhh…. I’m going to tell you a secret. Next year I will be launching Mrs Gatsby Wears, a diffusion line of vintage-inspired pieces which will complement my main, Made With Love range. While Mrs Gatsby Wears won’t incorporate vintage finds in the same was as I do for Made With Love, the pieces will be perfect for everyday wear and will provide a fast, affordable fashion fix for younger stylistas or just women who like to regularly change their look. Unlike Made With Love, I will be able to make more than one of each piece, but my dedication to design and wearability will be the same. The launch probably won’t take place until after the unveiling of my collection at the Royal Exchange theatre, as I’ll be too busy, but I have placed a sneak preview of just three items in my Folksy shop. The smaller pendants are just £12 each, and the larger one a lucky-for-some £13.  Forget-Me-Not necklace Rose Blossom necklace Winter Blossom necklace

Another new photo - my "ice sparkle" reworked vintage necklace  (click to see in my shop). Don't forget - there is still time to buy before Christmas! And if you click below you'll see exactly how the photo was made:

Sick of buying your Christmas cards in mass produced bundles from the supermarket? I've chosen some of my favourite handmade cards from Folksy - show someone you've really thought about them by sending one of these beauties instead (along with your independent designer-bought gift, of course!) Winter's Arrival papercut print card by Paper, Scissors, Stone Nifty Knits' knitted meerkats have even made it onto the TV, so it was only a matter of time befor ethey had their own range of greetings cards. Next year a calendar, perhaps? The geek in your life will appreciate this Christmas tree in binary, by Dragon Love Amazing Nordic print cards from Little Bird Press Vintage-inspired prints by Gail Griggs Finally, for those who don't really get into the Christmas spirit, how about this "Baa, humbug" card by Out Of The Shadows

I'm not sure how many of you know this, but I administer a Flickr group for people to share their pictures and to give me a constant source of material for this blog. I haven't written about it for a while, but as I was uploading some of yesterday's photo experiments I saw so many lovely things that I wanted to share. Aileen Clarke visited the Blair Castle vintage fair and took this photo. She also blogged about it for Folksy's Frankly magazine, here . Incy Wincy Stitches posted this gorgeous picture of handmade owl hand hotties. I hope she'll be adding them to her shop soon!  Amidesigns contributed this fab bracelet. She has loads of items that woudl look amazing with your Christmas day outfit - check out her Etsy shop .  I LOVE this patchwork bag by Kerry Wilkinson's Pennydog Accessories line. It's called a conversation bag and it certainly would start one, mostly along the lines of "I love your bag". She sells an ec...

Not a very wordy blog post this evening, I just wanted to share some photos I've been experimenting with. The top one is my favourite I think. Most of these items are available in my Folksy shop with the exception of the purple necklace and the blue earrings, which are part of my collection for the Royal Exchange. If you wish to purchase either item before I send them off on December 20th, please drop me an email .  UPDATE: The blue "Seafoam" earrings have been SOLD! I think it would be nice to somehow incorporate birds into this, swooping down holding the necklace. Gold leaf embellished ametrine slab with brass swallow and vintage earring - £25 UPDATE: SOLD! "Dancing Queen" earrings perfect for that NYE outfit - available here Celebrate the announcement of the royal baby with these regal earrings - available here UPDATE: SOLD! Debutante reworked vintage earrings, £15, available here ; Seafoam ear...

In Manchester we have an annual Christmas market which, while great fun, is getting steadily and alarmingly more expensive. After a couple of pints of ale in the pub last weekend we decided it would be a much better idea to host the "Christmas market" at home. And so the "Christmas Mar-Kat" (geddit? Sorry) was born. Of course, as with most things, half of the fun is in the planning and I've been gleefully pinning to my Christmas decor inspiration Pinterest board . Here are some of my favourite finds - click to see the originals: I love the idea of clusters of baubles hanging like this I don't have a bell jar, but I'll be doing something similar with a clear glass vase Love these lights against the mountains   The colours in this pic are amazing Something else I can do at home With enough blu tac I can also do something along these lines I'm feeling very excited - I promise I'll post photos of the hou...

Coral might not look like a neutral - but team it with turquoise, navy, sand, gold, chocolate... That's a pretty versatile colour if you ask me. And now the thermometer has gone beyond brisk and into the realms of downright chilly it makes sense to invest in a stylish sweater that you can pull on with trousers, leggings and skirts. Proenza Schoeler knitwear (left) is the stuff of legend, but at £405 this jumper is likely to leave you unable to pay your heating bills. Head instead to super-coll label Uniqlo (right), who have a v-neck number in exactly the same hue for a gobsmacking £19.90. Yes, you read that right. That leaves you plenty of change to treat yourself to these little beauties: Djinn reworked vintage earrings, £15 from Made With Love by Kat

Few things add glamour to an outfit like a great pair of statement earrings – Prada restarted the trend with their rose and diamante beauties... ...and net-a-porter are currently featuring this gorgeous pair by Marni: Yep, utterly stunning, but at £255 way beyond most people’s pre-Christmas purse strings, as are many (but not all!) of the selection chosen back in October by Elle magazine, which you can see by clicking here .  Luckily there is a host of independent designers out there who have created statement jewels that are far friendlier to your budget: These filigree and aqua jewel beauties are just $27 (£17.27) from Lazy Owl Boutique on Etsy. These  rhinestone and rose earrings have more than a touch of Prada about them, and would grace any Hollywood starlets ears. $57.99 (£37.10) from Queen Me Jewellery on Etsy. Add some cocktail hour glamour with these Swarovski crystal drops , $64 (£40.94) from Eldor Tina Jewellery on...