Made With Love by Kat

Hi guys - I wanted to share this quick flip through of the mini album I made with pictures from our recent trip to Oxford. I took so many pictures in the city and at the Cotswold Wildlife Park on the way home that I'm not quite sure what to do with them all - the giraffe pic I scrapbooked and shared last week was one, and some will go into my Spring Project Life album too. I used a whole mix of papers and embellishments by Maggie Holmes, Heidi Swapp, Dear Lizzy & Docrafts - here are some more close-up pics: I love looking at other people's mini albums too - share yours in the comments section below x

Hey all, just a very quick post to share with you this gorgeous photos I took of the sunset yesterday - it's lovely to be able to get down to the yard to feed my horse in the evening and it still be light. And look how similar the colours are to Pantone's Colours of the Year! I think Pantone have made a great choice this year - so much so that I've created a Pinterest board in honour of them .

I had so much fun making my January Project Life album! I decided to make a mini album - inspired by Stephanie Bryant's awesome videos I'm going to try to make on a month... we'll see if that's a bit ambitious! But for this album I used Seven Paper's Baxter cat 4x4 album with Heidi Swapp and Maggie Holmes ephemera along with lots of other bits from my stash - I'd much rather play about and put things together myself than follow a prescribed "collection". But of course it's totally up to you how you do your scrapbooks and if you prefer to keep things simple by using collections then that's cool too! This is my intro page with a tassel made from embroidery thread, a handstamped tag and some cardstock and vellum pieces all mixed up together. The vellum "hello" and "today" are We R Memory Keepers, the cardstock is Heidi Swapp from my stash.  I started my album with some pretty simple photos in page protectors or ju...

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:

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...

For months I have been thinking about revamping the pictures in my Folksy shop – I like them but I have been using the same background for so long and I wanted a fresh start. However, while the weather has been grey and rainy it has been pretty difficult to get inspiration. Happily last week the sun was shining as golden as the British Olympic team’s medals and a glance out of the window showed me that I had everything I needed for a photoshoot right in my own back yard. The salix that stands in the corner of my garden made the perfect prop – not only could I hang earrings from its branches, I could also nestle rings in amongst the trees. A stand for plant pots that has become slightly rusty over the winter provided texture and interest for several photos, as did a worn ivory metal planter and an aluminium bucket. The stone edging to the bed provided another background for smaller items, but I was having difficulty finding somewhere to hand heavier necklaces – until my eye lit on...

I feel like my photos need to take a big step forward. Or is that backward? I’m just not really happy with the pictures on my Folksy site at the moment, particularly after I stumbled across this pic, which I love: I intend to redo quite a lot of them, and I’ve been gathering inspiration via Pinterest - you can see my board by clicking here . Incidentally, I’m becoming a little bit obsessed with Pinterest - there’s so much gorgeous stuff on there it’s nigh on impossible not to spend hours drooling covetously/seething jealously. I’ve also been experimenting with montages. This is something my fellow Boltonians Jamball do brilliantly, but I suspect their shoots must take hours. Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained. This is my first, very amateurish attempt, done just with some pics of my Ruffled necklace which I was quite happy with: Like this? You can buy it by clicking here. Anyway, I’m off to think about props. I have access to quite a lot of vintage jugs, lanterns, crystal glasse...

I know, I know, it's been a long time. It's not you, it's me. I admit it, I've been seeing other blogs. But now I'm back and I hope you'll forgive me... To make it up to you, I've picked out some scrumptious summer items to share. Ruby Spirit's Summer Pudding bracelet looks good enough to eat: This gorgeous bag from Mad Rose Designs would be the perfect accessory for a pretty dress: iLEAiYE's lightweight mohair and acrilic shrug is the perfect cover-up for warm spring evenings: This gorgeous print from Photography by Brideen evokes romantic summer days: And of course no blog posting would be complete without a little bit of self-promotion. These are from my Folksy shop :

It's a bit geeky, I know, but some of the product photography on Folksy just blows me away. So I though rather than picking my favourite items according to a theme I would pick the ones which I think have had most love put into the pictures. Inspirational for us all, I think you'll agree! William Wordswoof sock dog from Hotdog And Me. I love all of Hotdog's pics and creations, but this one is particularly cute - love they way she's used the snow to create a cool background, and William Wordswoof is at the edge of the frame, almost like a holiday pic. Ceramic cupcake candleholders by Lauren Cermics. The composition of this picture is so simple - it really suits Lauren's elegant ceramics. Plus they're a bargain. Shakesperian Valentine hearts by Bookity. I can't imagine how long it took to get everything hanging just right, but it was well worth it. Set of four owl notecards by Gooseberrymoon. There must have been some contortions to photograph these fro...