Made With Love by Kat

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...

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...

Oh I'm suddenly feeling very motivated about this whole blogging lark. Perhaps it's the turning weather, perhaps it's because I've started making more items again - who knows? One thing I have leaned over the last couple of years is that a great place to find new shops and see gorgeous items is through the Folksy forums. Sadly as they are mostly ppulated by sellers, the general public don't get a chance to see some of the treats that are shown off there. This evening I decided I would right that wrong - so here are my favourite items that have been featured and discussed today. Click on each picture to be taken to the shop. If this turns out to be popular I may turn it into a regular feature - so if you like it, make sure you comment below! Chain Bracelet by Willow Wire Creations Tax Disc Holder by Lilly's Night Garden Personalised picture by Clarkie Designs Flowers brooch and card by Daisy Florence Design Owl Cushion by Handmade by Emily

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 :

...What's left is a fabulous Folksy feature! Yep, to celebrate the release of the new Sherlock Holmes movie (and the divine Robert Downey Jr) the Folksy folk have put together a Holmes/Victoriana feature... and I'm a featured seller! You can visit my shop by clicking here Of course it's not all about me. Here are my favourite of the featured items: This mini museum by comedaygoday is a bit macabre but I think that's why I love it. You can buy it by clicking here I love everything Talulahblue does, but this stole is particularly lush. You can buy it by clicking here Champignons is another shop where I could just buy everything. This reassuring raven is apparently inspired by a book called "The Buddha's law amongst the birds. You can buy it by clicking here

Earrings make the perfect stocking filler for Christmas. A well thought out pair of earrings will show how much you care, and earrings can be worn with almost any outfit, whether it's a casual vest top and pair of jeans or a knock-em-dead little black dress. I've been giving earrings a lot of thought recently. I've got lots of little vintage finds which will make fabulous new pairs that I intend to do lots of work with this weekend. But for now, here are the most recent dangly additions to my shop . A New Leaf reworked vintage earrings This Side of Paradise reworked vintage earrings Forest reworked vintage earrings Nights at the Circus reworked vintage earrings I Saw Two Ships Go Sailing By reworked vintage earrings Nightshade reworked vintage earrings And bad news for anyone who had their eye on the reworked vintage bracelet and necklace (see my last post) - they both sold about an hour after I listed them. proof, then, that if you have your eye on something you should sn...

I can't believe I haven't blogged for a month! Slack of me I know but I've just been sooooooo busy! On Friday Made With Love was featured in the Greenlife section of the Manchester Evening News - you can read the article here . I've also been busy, busy, busy creating pieces for the Royal Exchange's Fairytale Christmas sale. They're absolutely lovely items - I'm not sure I can bear to part with them to be honest. And my jewellery is also going to be part of the Christmas market at The Met in Bury - phew! There's only 93 sleeps until Santa, so you'd best start thinking about your Christmas shopping - I already know what I'm getting my boyfriend (I'm not posting it here though in case he sees!), it's just everyone else I'm stuck on. Christmas has been on my mind because believe it or not we're already starting work on Christmas features for the newspaper. Ace for me, because I get really excited, but I think it might be starting t...

I know it's a bit early to be discussing the "C" word, but imaging how excited I was to receive my Royal Exchange craft shop August newsletter today to find that I am mentioned! My jewellery will be available to buy as part of the Royal Exchange's Fairytale Christmas exhibition, which opens at the beginning of November. The jewellery on sale will be a special, fairytale-inspired collection created exclusively for the Royal Exchange, and will not have been previously available, although like all my pieces it will feature reworked vintage finds. Meanwhile, you can see the mention and pic here: I have also recently been featured on the fabulous blog, A Designed Life. You can read the full feature here . And don't forget to pick up next month's Lancashire Life to see my two-page feature! Woop!

Owl On The Sill . A little over a month ago I bought a beautiful pair of earrings from this gorgeous, gorgeous shop. There's so much more that I want to buy, but it appears those mean mortgage people need paying, so no treats for me at the moment! But doesn't mean that you shouldn't though! Buy things for yourselves! Buy things for your friends! Buy things for me! (Email made_with_love@rocketmail.com for my postal address, all presents happily received.) Just look at all the gorgeous things you could buy: Fiery Blue Moon Earrings - £17 Scarlet pendant - £14 Such a gorgeous necklace! If anyone is wondering what I would like for Christmas or, y'know, as a token of affection, this would do very nicely. Bubblegum Chalcedony and Tourmaline Earrings - £16 I think maybe these are my favourites, although it's so hard to choose. Purple Petal Hobo Bag - £25 That's right, she makes bags too. This is sooooo sweet. p.s - I've been usy working on my website which is near...