Made With Love by Kat

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!

I'm currently working on a "proper" collection. It will be around 12 pieces created along the theme of the ballet (something that is a constant fascination to me), particularly the Sugar Plum fairy. In fact, the collection is going to be called Sugar Plum. It will be available in about a week though my new website and my Folksy shop . In the meantime, just to whet your appetite, here are some pictures that I have been using as inspiration...

It's the Lancashire Life interview this afternoon - hopefully after years of interviewing people hopefully I shouldn't be too bashful and inarticulate when it comes to talking about myself. I was practicing this morning in the shower, and if they ask about my influences I shall talk about the faded glamour of F. Scott Fitzgerald novels, the pictures I get from galleries and theatres in my job - at the moment I'm particularly influenced by the ballet - and pirates. Grown up whimsy, in a nutshell. If they ask about anything else... I'll have to wing it. Fingers crossed! In the meantime, I thought I'd share this with you: It's called Wonderland and it's available at http://www.folksy.com/shops/madewithlove

OK, so I know that Folksy front page is supposed to be entirely random, but I still never see myself on there, which riles me as I see some other shops features LOADS of times. So imagine my excitement when I log on today and see my "The Loving Kind" necklace (hummingbird charm and rock crystal briolette, wrapped with goldfilled wire and hung from a goldfilled chain) right up at the top of the front page! So I saved the moment for posterity, like the big geek I am: After feeling smug for a while I refreshed the page to see what other folks were selling... and there I was again! I feel lucky, oh so lucky... So I refreshed again... and of course I was gone. Which just goes to show that you shoudl never push your luck.

I have decided to run a wee competition through this blog - you can win a pair of brass swallow and peacock pearl earrings just like these ones which are listed in my shop: http://www.folksy.com/items/30375-The-Mysterious-Gift?shop=yes All you have to do is sign up for my mailing list and confirm your subscription (sign-up form is to the right on this blog) Closing date is Friday May 1st - so go and enter quick!

I have been photographing and listing jewellery for the last four hours - really pleased with some of the new pics though. I'm also really excited because this morning I received a huge order of freshwater pearls in lovely colours - from white through peach, pink and lilac to deep peacock purple. I've teamed them up with some antique gold beads to make gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous bracelets for my new "Luxe" line. They're going to be £20 each, which is a little bit more expensive than my usual bracelets, but still much more affordable than SOME I've seen (some of the prices people charge are incredible!). And it's nice to treat yourself sometimes. Pictures and listing details coming soon - when I can bear to part with them!

Flowers, chocolates, diamonds... They'd all be appreciated, but for a really special Valentine's Day gift why not look a little off the beaten track? To start with the more traditional gifts, there are plenty of finds on Folksy incorporating hearts. This cute felt brooch is an inexpensive gift, perfect if you are in the early stages of your relationship and want to show your affection without going over the top. In fact, at just £3, why wait until Valentine's Day? You can buy it here . For a more serious gift, jewellery is always the best option. This silver heart necklace by Ali Bali Jewellery is contemporary and stylish: Or for a more vintage style, this resin heart incorporating an original print of tree branches and a vintage button is the perfect gift. You can buy it here . Of course, my jewellery also incorporates real vintage bits and bobs. I suggest this Fly Away With Me necklace , which is made from pink freshwater pearls, a brass swallow from New York, a gorgeous...

Someone on the messageboards at Folksy was discussing inspiration and people's plans for 2009, which reminded me that a couple of weeks ago I promised to post some pictures from the notebooks which I keep pictures in I like and which I think might give me ideas for new pieces of jewellery. So here's a sneak peek... Because a lot of my jewellery is made from vintage brooches, earrings, keys etc, what I make depends very much on what catches my eye when I'm rummaging through car boots, flea markets and eBay. As you can probably see from the notebooks and my previous posts, I love the idea of old carnivals, so I couldn't resist buying these multi-coloured cloisonne earrings: They reminded me of the merry-go-rounds in Victorian fairs, or of candy canes. I was also lucky enough to stumble on these gorgeous Coro enamel earrings: I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet, but hopefully it will be very special. I also found this tiny sparkling bow brooch,. It ne...

My most popular piece to date - the key necklace. Within a couple of hours of posting the pictures on Facebook, I've had two peope both ask if they can buy this particular item. What a conundrum! Currently desperately trying to get hold of another nice antique key so neither of them are disappointed. The piece in question? Look -