Made With Love by Kat

Please note - the last post for standard parcels is this Friday. This is why it was a bad idea for me to suddenly decide to start packaging items in my very own specially-made pillow boxes this week, wasn't it? So any items bought after Friday will be sent first class large letter, and will include a flat packed gift box for you to assemble yourselves (it's very easy, and only requires a bit of Pritt or double sided sticky tape). So go! Do some Christmas shopping!

I've been working on more commissions, and this is one of my favourite so far. Don't forget - if you have old jewellery that you want to be reworked into something new just drop me an email!

There are so many talented people on Folksy it can sometimes seem like you don't know where to start looking. In the first of a series of blog posts, I'll introduce you to a few - and with Christmas fast approaching, don't forget to shop handmade for the holidays as our American pals would have it! Today, meet Maram, a trained silversmith who creates gorgeously elegant jewellery. Name? Mairi Armes aka maramjewellery Where are you from? Originally Glasgow, now living just outside Edinburgh, in the shadow of The Forth Bridge. Purple bows necklace When did you start crafting? Umm, always! Can always remember being arty, trying to knit,sew and so on. Discovered jewellery making at school for a fashion show, never stopped since then! What made you open your Folksy shop? Everyone asking when I was going to start selling my work combined with a touch of free time when my youngest went to school. What materials do you work with? Silver mainly, and a lot of beads Shell blue...

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...

Still looking for your something old? Jewellery designer Kat Dibbits has just launched her winter collection, and as each one-of-a-kind piece uses reworked vintage jewellery it could be the perfect finishing touch to your bridal outfit. Made With Love jewellery features vintage finds lovingly teamed with semi-precious stones, Swarovski crystals, freshwater pearls, ribbon and beautiful chains. each piece is unique and connot be recreated. The label is the brainchild of Lancashire-based arts journalist Kat Dibbits who draws much of her inspiration from the theatre productions and gallery exhibitions she covers. “All day I see such pretty images sent to my desk - from ballet dancers at The Lowry to the elegant glamour of the Halle orchestra, and it is impossible not to want to create something that is inspired by that,” she said. Made With Love jewellery can be bought from http://www.madewithlove.folksy.com. Stock is continually being updated so keep checking the website - and if you see ...

I love fireworks. I don't know if I've ever mentioned this to you guys, I probably have, I mention it to everyone. I love them so much I cry if I don't get to see some around Bonfire Night. Luckily this year I did, in the glamorous surroundings of Radcliffe Cricket Club. They were great, though, see: That was actually my second firework experience of the weekend. The first was a bit of a damp squib thanks to the weather, but at least I spent it with the lovely boy eating hog butties and drinking mulled wine. Anyhow, watching the video back made me think about how I want to make some firework-inspired jewellery. Not just in the colours, although that's a no brainer - they're gorgeous - but also in the shapes I use. Where to start? have any of you seen any lovely firework-inspired jewellery? Share it below if you have, I'll make a blog post about the best ones.

I get asked to make commissions a lot. Often it's by people who have some jewellery that has been passed down in the family that they don't wear but that they don't want to give away - so they bring it to me to see if I can make something new for them. Recently, a friend of mine brought me a whole lot of stuff that she wants transforming. I'm slowly working my way through it - I'm going to post some before and after shots in the next few days, but for now here are the two pieces that I've completed. The "leaves" on these earrings are actually made from the petals on a flower-shaped brooch. The central flower is still in one piece - I'm not sure what I'm going to make with it yet. I turned the metal stems of each of these petals over using needle-nose pliers to form a loop through which I could wrap the wire, then I carefully attached them to 14ct gold-filled chain. The stone at the top is a garnet. I must admit, when I first saw this chunky sil...