Made With Love by Kat

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?

A little while ago I sent an email to lovely Lynsey at Cuteable , because I had bought some gorgeous bird paintings/embroideries from Natalie's Nook at Folksy and I thought she should know about them. Not only did she include one of Natalie's lovely creations on her blog, she also featured my mesh rose and onyx necklace . Hurray!

Ok , ok , so I told myself I wouldn't go all out making things for Valentine's Day. But I'm a soppy old thing, and so I wasn't surprised when I found myself sitting making this Cinderella necklace: Not only do the stones look romantic, they all have symbolic meanings. Rose quartz is universally acknowledged to be the stone of love, but a lesser known fact is that Roman ladies believed that amethyst would keep their husbands' love faithful. And in Eastern cultures pink pearls are believed to work well with the heart Chakra. You can buy the necklace from my Folksy shop. I also love the little swallows I've used. After my last post I was worried about the idea of birds and bad luck, so I looked up swallows in my Wordsworth Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. It turns out that having a family of swallows living in the eaves of your house is considered good luck - so i don't see why having a couple living in your jewellery box shouldn't be lucky too! Good news fo...

In the words of those irritating Christmas text dating agency ads (anyone know the ones I mean?) I'm sad. The brass swallow charms I've ordered from New York haven't arrived yet - it's been weeks! - which means I still can't make my friend Laura's Christmas present. Laura - if you're reading this, I'm sorry. She bought me a fabulous handbag by Manchester crafters Don't Bitch Stitch , so I feel doubly guilty. But birds are a big theme - although someone told me once they were unlucky (stuff 'em, you make your own luck) - so I thought I'd show you my favourite birdy finds on Folksy. Felt birdy bracelet - £9 - PennyDog Designs Forest Bird Earrings - £6 - Paisley Chainsaw Gold Wagtail Brooch - £12 - Kate Broughton Kate Broughton also does gorgeous meercat, squirrel and deer felt brooches. I know it's more than six months 'til my birthday, but if any generous soul would like to buy me one I'd be forever grateful. A Bird In The Hand bl...

On Tuesday I published some images and thoughts about Frances Hodgson Burnett's book The Secret Garden and Englishness. I keep meaning to post some photographs of the notebooks that I keep all my ideas and inspiration in, but it occured to me that I also save a lot of pictures that I find onto my computer. Here's just a selection that I think illustrate what's going on in my head at the moment and might give you some hints what the new jewellery's going to look like... Clockwise from top left: swallow and flower sillhouettes, Victorian carnival poster, black and white photograph of Tom Waits by Anton Corbijn, Brian Dettmer book autopsy, image from The Wizard Of Oz, Image from Opera North's production of Mercy and Grand, a Venetian masked ball, image from Alice In Wonderland, promotional image for The Lowry's production of Something Wicked This Way Comes. On another note, I had my fastest sale ever this week - I completed a matching necklace and bracelet based ar...

I love fairytales. In fact, I love fairytales so much that I studied an entire module on them as part of my English degree - Romance, Ballad and Fairytale. And when I'm designing new pieces often themes and ideas from those stories come through. There could be complex cultural reasons for this, to do with storytelling traditions and deep-seated human needs, but mostly I think it's the mixture of princesses and magic that does it for me. When I was little I used to play at being Cinderella - and a scene in the Disney film that I particularly loved was when all the woodland creatures were making her dress for her: So when I was making some new necklaces with adorable tiny bird charms, something subliminal must have triggered my own desire to go to the ball. Look what I made! They're for sale now in my Etsy shop