Updated Photography

Silver jewellery can be quite tricky to photograph as it needs the right background and can be hard to light correctly. My photography style is quite simple, I always use natural light, I often use my own hand to give the item scale but I have been keeping my eye out for some kind of ceramic piece to use as a new backdrop for my designs.

I knew I would have a good chance of finding something at the Contemporary Craft Festival at Bovey Tracey. It did mean a 5 hour car journey with the husband and my 8 month old baby in tow, but it was well worth the cost of petrol and snacks! The quality of exhibitors was very high and I yearned after so many pieces, but as soon as I caught sight of the work of Wendy Lawrence I knew I had to have something!

My budget was limited to say the least so I had to buy a small piece, which was a small decorative tile. But the variation in texture and colour was just perfect and I feel that it works really well as an interesting but not overbearing background. Here are a few of my new shots . . . (more can be found on my Facebook page)

I made this - Butterfly Thank You Keepsakes

Here's one of my latest lines, a Fine Silver Butterfly Charm/Keepsake with the word Thank You stamped on the front. It comes with a pretty ribbon bow and a lovely little fabric gift pouch. On sale now at my Not on the High Street Store or at a discount if you like my Facebook page

Amazing Carpentry

Wow, check out this site. The most fantastic creations at Straight Line Designs

I made these! Elephant and House Brooches

Just launched! My new Elephant and House brooches! I've always been a big fan of elephants so just had to create one in silver for my Not on the High Street Store.

I also love this little house. I cast the silver clay as a blank house and etch in the door and windows afterwards, so each one will be different. Want to make a batch of these so I can create a little street of silver cottages!

Valentines Facebook Giveaway!

Hands up who wants to win a pair of my Silver Hammered Heart Earrings?

Here's how to win - 

1. Like my Facebook page for 1 entry to the draw.
2. Share this link on Facebook for another entry to the draw.
3. Retweet this on Twitter mentioning this comment and including @beauty_detail for another chance to win.
4. Leave a comment below the VALENTINES GIVEAWAY post on Facebook telling me about the best Valentines Day present that you have received or given for (yep you guessed it) another entry to the draw!

(maximum of four entries per person)

Once I reach 100 Likes I will use random.org to select the winner!

Good Luck
xxx


Click here to enter the competition!

Facebook Page!

Decided to join the crowd and set up a Facebook page for The Beauty is in the Detail . . . Would love for you all to join me on there. I'm planning on offering regular freebies to help drum up interest so just click the image below to be forwarded to the page and just click the Like button to join the gang!

See you there,

Shelley
xxx

I made this! - Silver Tree, Silver Pear, Silver Speech Bubble and Silver Cat brooches

I've been so inspired of late to create several new designs to sell in my Not on the High Street store that I could be making jewellery at any spare minute, which with a 16 week old baby in tow I am actually doing. I foolishly believed that whilst I was on Maternity Leave I would have so much time to dedicate to my craft, but what I have realised is how much I love making these crazy little things and love the idea of potentially making this into a full time career for me (a little way off that at the moment!) Here are four more new designs that I added to my store today -

Using Art Clay Silver allows me to create my own moulds. I start off by designing the original, sometimes using Sculpey Mold Maker, but more recently I've been using erasers which I carve my design into using lino cutting tools and scalpels. I then make a cast using a two part silicone putty which becomes the mould then for the silver clay. I love the way I can keep a sketchy look to my designs and how each carved line can become a feature. The main appeal to making these pieces is how every time each one is slightly different depending on how I cast the clay and how I sand and smooth the clay once dry before firing. I personally love the wonky, imperfect look it creates and think this is a feature and that perfection is not always the aim!

I've also tried to incorporate my brand name into my pieces which I've achieved by designing some tiny rubber stamps in varying shapes and sizes which I can press into the back of each piece (if they are big enough). I'm quite pleased with how these look - here's a photo of the back of my latest snoozy cat brooch -

Packaging is another area I am trying to improve on. I often use my Moo Mini Cards as backing cards to my brooches and earrings before I tissue wrap them, but I've started to offer a Gift Box option which has really proven a tricky exercise in finding a nice quality and colour gift box in the right size. There are so many gift boxes available but they all were either funny colours or had sateen ribbon glued to them. May have found some finally that I like and am looking into getting my logo embossed onto the lid which should look lovely. For now though, here are some of my lines on my new Moo backing cards - 

I made this! - Silver Cloud, Silver Moustache and Silver Whale brooches

Been busy lately working on some new designs! Here are three of my most recent additions to my Not on the High Street Store -

I made this! - Solid Silver Buttons

Whilst making a fabric brooch for a friend I thought it would finish it off nicely to sew a real silver button into the centre so I made a silicon mould from a nicely shaped button and then cast one in Art Clay Silver. I loved how this little button looked so decided to make these to sell. There are three sizes, which look really nice sewn as a group onto a coat or bag but I'm also selling them separately so people can either buy several of the same size for sewing projects or individual buttons as little tokens of love or friendship. Available in my Not on the High Street Store - 

Bumpy Arrived!!

Well on October the 14th at 9.05pm my little boy, Olly Anthony Weeks came into the world. All 9lb 8oz of him, ouch! Three months on I'm just about feeling back to normal (if things will ever be truly normal again!). I'll attach some photos of my little smurf below. . . (my best creation so far!) -

I made this! - Butterfly brooch

I must apologise again for being such a bad blogger. My last post was in April - when for me, the world was a much happier place. In May we discovered that my wonderful Dad had advanced Pancreatic Cancer, and we lost him in June. It all happened so, so quickly. We were all in shock. It's been 15 weeks since he passed and each day seems to get harder. My first baby is due any day now, and knowing that Dad won't be here to see him breaks my heart.

It's hard to be positive at times like this, but with the new baby on the way he will bring much needed positivity and happiness at such difficult times. I must admit that I haven't been spending alot of time crafting of late, but have made some bits and bobs for the nursery -

I really wanted to avoid the typical nursery colour and pattern themes so decided to paint it an elephant grey. All the furniture is white so it doesn't make the room too dark - just nice and cosy. I really like scandinavian patterns and bright modern colours (no pastels please!) so have tried to use a mixture of different patterns and fabrics to add colour to the room.

I've been planning to add more designs to my range of brooches which I sell on my Not on the High Street Store so I felt inspired to make a butterfly due to its relevant symbolism to me at the moment. Finally today I have managed to list it online! Hopefully in time for the christmas rush!

Once I recover from Bumpy's arrival I will let you know how it all went and put some photos up too!

I made this! - New brooches

Sorry for the absence of posts this year - I have been busy honestly - but mostly busy making a baby! Yes the hubby and I will be expecting our first baby this October!! So expect lots of baby orientated projects over the next year or so as it becomes my only subject of discussion!!

But babies aside - I wanted to talk about my silver brooches - I have been selling the silver button brooch for a little while -

And the Hedgehog -

And now most recently a smaller owl - as my original owl would have worked out far too expensive to sell - so I have kept her for myself -

So now I need to decide what to make next . .

I've been considering maybe a mouse (of course) or a cat, maybe a fox to carry on the woodland theme - hmm . . if anyone has any suggestions please comment - I welcome the inspiration!! x

Lisa Stickley

Still loving the adorable retro designs by Lisa Stickley I saw some of of her new lines at the recent Top Drawer exhibition at Earls Court and have promised myself a new handbag - at some point! My husband pointed out that my new blog background even looks like her website - didn't realise this at first, but he's right! Oops! :0)

Art Clay Silver - Mrs Owl Brooch - WIP

Thought I would share with you my new venture into making silver jewellery. Now I have always wanted to learn silversmithing, but have yet to find a suitable evening class in my county, so was more than tempted to try a much easier and accessible way of making my own silver jewellery using Silver Clay.

Some of you may ask - What is this Silver Clay stuff?? Well - it's almost magical stuff in my opinion - it is recycled silver particles bound together with an organic binder. Basically it looks like clay, acts like clay and can be moulded like clay. Once you have made your shape, you then burn off the binder (using a butane torch, in a kiln, or get this - on your gas hob!) and you are left with a piece of silver which is usually 99.9% pure silver (unlike Sterling Silver which is 92.5%).

It was invented in the early 90's in Japan. There are two main brands - Art Clay Silver (which I have been using) and Precious Metal Clay. It's not cheap though - a 50g piece will set you back around £60. And it can be a little tricky to work with as it dries so quickly (you can also buy slow drying clay though). But on the whole it is the most fantastic stuff in my opinion - and I'm sure  I will be making a million things from this! (Check out my flickr gallery for my latest creations!)

So here is my run through of how I made my Mrs Owl Brooch -

1. This is the final brooch - photographed on the lapel of my grey woolly jacket.
2. I started out with an initial sketch of the owl - my first attempt looked too much like a cat so I wanted to emphasise the eyes a little more.
3. Using Sculpey Mold Maker (a professional type plasticine which you can bake in the oven to harden) I started sculpting the main shape.
4. Wings and feet are added.
5. More detail was added using whatever I had to hand (mostly pens and pen lids!) - the holes for the eyes were made using the glass head of a pin!
6. I managed to follow my original sketch quite closely (amazingly!)
7. I then baked the Mold Maker - this hardens it to a hard rubbery texture.
8. Using Silicone Rubber - in a two part mix specially formulated for making impressions of objects I made a cast of the owl.
9. Here you can see the original and the cast - this picks up the detail quite well but is tricky to work with as it hardens in around 15 seconds - so you have to work very fast!
10. Using Badger Balm I painted every nook and cranny inside the rubber mould so that the clay would release more easily.
11. Here you can see the silver clay pushed into the rubber mould. Again I had to work quickly here as the silver clay starts to dry out after a couple of minutes!
12. After about 4 hours on the radiator the clay was dry and I released it onto my wire mesh. Unfortunately I had not made the back of the legs thick enough so then broke off! :0(
13. Using another piece of clay I had attached a sterling silver brooch backing - there are much better and neater ways of doing this though!
14. With the protective cage over the clay I turned on the hob on full heat (with the extractor fan on!). After about 30 seconds the binder catches light and you see a small flame which quickly burns off. The piece will shrink a little now. I then set the timer to 5 minutes and allowed the piece to heat over the hob as it glowed salmon pink.
15. At the end of the five minutes I picked the owl up with tongs and quenched in cold water to cool it down.
16. At this point the owl looks white - this isn't clay, it is the silver particles standing up, so what you need to do is use a wire brush to smooth these particles down by brushing firmly in the same direction to reveal a silver finish. You will notice that the brooch backing has discoloured - this is what happens when you heat sterling silver and can be corrected by "pickling", but as I planned to antique it anyway I just left it.
17. You can further compress the silver particles (microscopically) to create a shinier finish by using a burnisher - I use an agate burnisher as it is less likely to scratch.
18. To pick up the detail I decided to antique the owl using Liver of Sulphur - you only need a couple drops of this in warm water. It's really stinky though - smells like rotten eggs! About 20 seconds in this solution darkened the silver nicely. You can play around with how long you "dunk" your piece to see how dramatic an effect you can create. Then using silver polish and a cloth I polished the darker finish from the raised surfaces to finish the piece off.
19. In this shot you can see the original, the rubber mould and the final silver piece. I could have tried moulding the owl directly into the silver clay, but as I am new to this I preferred to make a mould - plus it means that if I can make more exactly the same now! (Although this used 30 grams of silver clay - so wasn't cheap to make!
20. I tried attaching the feet again for this shot, but alas they don't want to stay on - so Mrs Owl is legless!

Hope you found this of interest and that it inspires you to try making something yourself!

xxx

Meringue Mushrooms!!!

Just discovered these amazing little guys - Meringue Mushrooms!

Yes, they are meringues made to look like mushrooms - held together with chocolate and dusted with cocoa - wonderful!!

http://thebakelab.com/downtherabbithole/

click here for the recipe

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lilfishstudios/5107605790/

baltimoresun

Momento Carousel from my Big Sis

My wonderful sister Zoë surprised me with this handmade carousel recently which documents everything from my engagement celebrations, Hen Do, Wedding and Reception.

It is so clear that she put so much time, thought, effort and love into it.

Every time I flick through it I notice something different. Each page has a pull out section with a little surprise on it.

Zoë is an obsessed scrap-booker and used so many pretty techniques in this piece, including sections taken from the wedding invite and even the train tickets from the Hen Do!

Thanks Zo - you're the best Sister ever!

Pom pom pom pom pom!!!

Those who are familiar with my flickr gallery may already be aware of my penchant for pom poms!

They are such wonderful little fluffy things, totally impractical most of the time, but so very happy and frivolous! I am currently in the early stages of a new pom pom related product which I will hopefully be able to launch in my Not on the High Street store before Christmas (oh no not the C word!!).

I have made so many of the little blighters I think I could make them in my sleep now!!

I made this !! Button Brooches

Slowly getting back into making bits for my Not on the High Street and Folksy stores lately.

My newest line are my colourful wooden button brooches.

Nice and cheery - even if the British Weather doesn't follow suit!

The Big Day!!!

Hi Everyone - so sorry not to have updated this sooner. Those married people who are reading this will completely understand how hectic things are in the weeks after the event! Things seem to be getting back to normal now, I have had my professional shots back, sent out my Thank you cards and caught up with my washing - so now with the blogging!!

I have decided not to add all of the images onto my blog, instead I have used my very favourite shot, which for me encapsulates the whole day. This was taken in front of the most beautiful pink barn door in a small holding across the lane from the pub where we had our sit down meal. For those interested in seeing some more photos from the day please visit my flickr gallery and check out my sets of not only the pro shots, but photos taken by our guests, processed images and also the preparation!

So where do I start? Well - it was the most magical day - this is something I'm sure every bride says about her wedding day. The sun was shining, the back garden looked amazing (after the whole week before was spent decorating it!), everything was organised and even my hair had turned out well after a last minute trip to the hairdressers to add more highlights and then having to wash my hair in cold water the night before! As the wedding was at 11am it was an early start, so my parents, sister, sister in laws and friends Jo and Mandy (who were responsible for the make up and photography respectively) all arrived bright and early.

The flowers arrived on time, and I was amazed at the unusual hydrangeas used on the bridesmaids bouquets, really wonderful! Unfortunately my peonies hadn't opened in time, so they were just buds, very pretty still, but not the big pom pom flowers I had wished for. Jo did an amazing job on the make up for myself and the bridesmaids, she's a miracle worker! We even had time to spare for a photo shoot in the garden which turned out amazingly! Then the lilac morris minor convertible arrived, driven by the fantastically named Andrew "Charlie" Chaplin - in a smashing 50's inspired outfit!

We married in our local registry office - the Archbishops Palace in Maidstone, which as registry offices go, it's pretty special. It's a very old stone building right next to the river with a herb garden and small park behind which many (including us) use for photos. After a short wait in an adjoining room, with a few last minute shots it was show time! The bridesmaids all looked so pretty in their colourful pink and lime green shrugs, and polka dot and floral dresses. They also had smaller versions of the fabric pom poms in their hair.

Dad was suited up with his lilac floral shirt and tie. And not forgetting his vintage grey converse trainers (these were the same as Wayne was wearing, he didn't know that both my Dad and his Dad were wearing these also until the day!) He looked so cool - much better than a stuffy old morning suit! I entered the Solar Room to the sound of Glenn Miller Moonlight Serenade (one of my faves). It was so touching to see all our friends and family there, smiling, wearing a wonderful mix of bright pretty colours (as I had suggested on the wedding blog). Then I saw Wayne, he looked so handsome, and nervous, but smiling still. He seemed pleased to see me too - which was a bonus!

The whole ceremony didn't take than long, and flew by. Although I did manage to start blubbing during my vows, which set everyone else off! Oh yes, I almost forgot, I did also get Waynes name wrong - much to everyone's amusement! Doh!!!

After this we all flew out the building, gave and received lots of kisses, then had some formal shots taken in the park behind. At this point I must mention my photographer. My good friend Amanda Jayne Stewart, never will you see a more hard working photographer. She has such a lovely way of dealing with the guests - who can be unruly at times! She manages to capture so many wonderful formal and informal shots, and did a truly amazing job at documenting the whole day, including all the little details I had worked so hard on. Details of Amanda's (Mandy's) website are below in my thank you list.

So then onto the pub - the beautiful Horseshoes, gastropub in East Farleigh. It's one of our locals, and was the ideal location for our informal gathering. We basically took over the back half of the pub, where we had our own bar, toilets (most important), lounge area, patio and restaurant! The restaurant section is is a lovely conservatory like building, with wonderful beams, vaulted ceiling and an eclectic mix of vintage chairs and tables. The manager Paul Stewart was most accommodating and enable us to tailor the room to our specific needs.

At this point though, I cannot go any further without mentioning the truly inspirational Haylie Harrowell - owner of Violet Weddings. Haylie is a super organised, knowledgeable, hardworking and lovely lady, without whom I couldn't have survived the day (or the run up!) I contacted Haylie early on in the planning when I realised that to have the reception in the back garden with food and entertainment meant I needed help. Like many people I'm guessing, I always thought wedding planners were for the rich and famous. Or are an extravagance nonetheless - how wrong I was! Having Haylie help plan and organise the day was completely invaluable. A good wedding planner will actually save you money! Even for the reassurance side it is money well spent! Not to go on too much about money, but our wedding was on a tight budget - the whole thing (excluding the honeymoon) came to just over 5k. Not bad I think considering what we achieved. But to stress my point, having Haylie on board was the main reason we managed to keep our costs down without compromising on anything! Details on how to contact Haylie are below.

Ok - so whilst our guests were enjoying the Pimms in the lovely sunshine, Wayne and I nipped off in the Morris Minor to the small holding across the road. It is owned by the lovely Ann Moon, who was so very kind and sweet to allow us to use her property for our mini photo shoot. The idea of this was something I'd had from the very start, I'd seen some lovely images on flickr (check out these galleries of inspirational images I gathered from the world of flickr) of couples stood "shaker style" in front of agricultural buildings and really loved the quirky, twee, arty feel, so was amazed when I caught eye of Ann's pink barn door just across the lane from the pub - perfick! So as you can see from the image above it really works with the vintage 1950's feel I was aiming for.

Then after the wonderful food and drink at the Horseshoes (amazing quality, extremely tasty by the way!) we all set off back to our house - a 5 minute drive from the pub. When we arrived the band were setting up, Waynes's ipod was on, playing his fabulous playlist (which started off with Buddy Holly (our first dance was "True Love Ways"), Glenn Miller, Billie Holliday, Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis - classics to get everyone in the mood for the band!! Even before I met Wayne, I knew two things about my wedding day (as I'm sure every girl does) at my wedding it must have fairy lights, and a live band! The band we chose after about 3 weeks of researching was Brighton based Greggi G and his Crazy Gang. A four piece jive band who were perfect for my theme. As well as the marquee we had also hired a stage for the back of the garden for the band to play from - it was a little tight (sorry guys) but it didn't seem to affect the glorious sound they made!

So to set the scene - you had the large open sided marquee, filled with bunting, fairy lights, martha stewart tissue pom poms and seating made from straw bales - we even made a sofa from them! The band at the back on their stage (of course also with bunting, fairy lights and pom poms!), the dance floor in the centre then on the left hand side trestle tables with polka dot and floral oil cloths, a plethora of cake stands, jars of sweets, punch bowls, candles and all around were scattered the assortment of vintage bottles and jam jars I had sourced throughout the months before. These were filled with either tealight candles or the mix of pretty flowers we bought from our local supermarket!

Inside the house were the main attractions - the chocolate fountain and the cake! Wedding cakes are funny things. Some people spend hundreds of pounds on them, then moan that they didn't taste very nice, or hardly anyone ate any. For a start, I knew for sure I didn't want a traditional cake, and then the only other option seemed to be a cupcake tower - but everyone does this now - as pretty as they are I wanted something else. Luckily flickr came to the rescue again as I came across the doughnut wedding cake!! Here's a link to my one. The stand was cardboard - not the most glamourous material I know - but cheap and recyclable! To pretty it up I covered it with Cath Kidston wrapping paper - alternating between polka dots and florals. Then the toppers - I spent so so long thinking about this - until Haylie suggested the obvious - mice! For those who don't know, in my crafting world I am most know for my sock mice - they have been my most successful creation by far. So it made sense to make my own mice! This time I chose not to use socks - maybe a little too much foot association considering food is involved! So I then used the linen from my wedding dress - oh the dress, I should have mentioned this already!! Will do after this section! Ok - back to the cake! Both the Wayne and Shelley mice were made from linen, and instead of the usual button eyes I used miniature black glass eyes used in toy making. My mouse had a pink chiffon petticoat and a mini pom pom sash, whist Waynes had a grey felt waistcoat, complete with pocket and handkerchief! Then the doughnuts themselves were Krispy Kreme, original glazed and chocolate sprinkled. Although you can get this type of doughnut cheaper in the supermarkets they really don't taste anywhere near as good as Krispy Kreme! I will never forget the gasps of delight everyone made when I lifted off the cover! Brilliant!

Right then - the dress! So, as I mentioned in previous posts the idea of finding a wedding dress filled me with horror! That was until I realised I could have any kind of a dress I liked. I very quickly settled on a 1950's tea dress style, which just HAD to have a colourful petticoat underneath! My friend Sass Tetzlaff was the obvious choice to make this dress for me, she has made more wedding dresses than I've had hot dinners (!) I managed to find a roll of Irish linen on eBay for £20, just what I had wanted, then I came across Annabella Designs who can custom make petticoats in a variety of styles and colours - so I chose a pink and blue tulle petticoat - not too full, as I didn't want to look like a toilet roll holder! After just a few fittings Sass created my dream dress, which was finished off perfectly with a hot pink silk sash, and a teal blue shrug. I then added my own finishing touches with the pom pom and ribbon corsage! A bit bonkers, but fun and colourful!

So - the rest of the day went well. The drink flowed, the music was popular thanks to Wayne's tireless efforts in putting together a diverse mix of old and new songs for each stage of the evening, Haylie and her partner Andy worked so hard (and so discretely) at laying out the food (and cooking some of it too - sorry!), the flowers, the drink and making sure everything was running to schedule! The punch went down well, and even though we had the doughnuts and the extremely popular chocolate fountain even the sweeties in jars were scoffed - our lot certainly do have a sweet tooth!!

After the scrum when the bouquet was thrown, the band had packed up and DJ Wayne was in effect, the heart lantern had been lit (say no more), the evening then whizzed by in a blur of twinkling lights, dancing and laughter - our Perfick Summer Fete Darling Buds of May wedding. What a day!

So here I must thank all of our friends and family who helped us create this day, for the gifts, the crafting, the generosity and kindness, that made everything even more special than I had ever dreamed it would be.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Wedding Planner - Haylie Harrowell - visit website
Photographer - Amanda Jayne Stewart - ajsphotography - visit website
Bouquets + Buttonholes - Girlflower - visit website
Wedding Dress - Sass Tetzlaff - please contact me for details
Petticoat - Annabella Designs - visit folksy page
Morris Minor - Andrew "Charlie" Chaplin - please contact me for details
Chocolate Fountain - Chocoholics Delight - visit website
Band - Greggi G and his Crazy Gang - visit website
Wedding Rings - Charmian Beaton - visit website
Marquee - Four Jays Group - visit website
Letterpress Invitations  - Blush Publishing - visit website

And a special thanks to:-
My amazing sister Zoë for her help, support and thoughtfulness.
My dear friend Jo for her makeup, beauty and crafting skills and all round support.
Our friends Darren, Leza, Steve & Sam for their help with the preparations.
My Mum & Dad and Wayne's Mum & Dad for their generosity and help.
Ann Moon, for the use of her barn door and tractor!
Ron and Glenn for the Straw Bales
Krispy Kreme Bluewater

Papered Parlour - Hen Afternoon!!

A little later than planned, but I just had to blog about my wonderful Hen afternoon at the Papered Parlour in Clapham. To be honest, the idea of a hen party filled me with dread. I just didn't know what to do. I knew what I DIDN'T want to do (strippers, L plates, plastic willies etc), but it took me a while before finding the right thing.

I started off thinking of cupcakes and cocktails - two things I really like. There were plenty of High Tea options at fancy hotels to choose from, and the odd cupcake decorating classes. I knew I liked the idea of something crafty to do, but the local options were very limited in Kent, so realised we may have to go up town.

In desperation one day I resorted to asking my Twitter followers for suggestions and the lovely Monda-loves suggested the Papered Parlour to me - and I'm so glad she did!! I googled them and found their site - link which had everything I had wanted, craft, cupcakes and cocktails!!

We started off the day on the train - in First Class no less - drinking bubbly, eating chocolate cupcake lollies which I made for everyone, and all wearing our corsage flowers made by my lovely big sis Zoë (Zed Designs) who had also put together the most wonderful goodie bags filled with brooches, bangles, magnets, mirrors, hairclips etc many of which she had bought from the very helpful Anna from Lilies and Daisies I felt very spoilt indeed!

We were made to feel very welcome on arrival at the Papered Parlour by Claire, the decor in the Parlour section was adorable, with reclaimed doors as the bar, vintage teacups hanging from the beams and Buddy Holly playing on the original 1950's record player - wonderful!

I choose the silversmithing- ring making class, so that we could all make something we could keep forever. It was quote challenging, but every single one of us made a ring to be proud of by the end of the 3 hours. We learnt how to measure, anneal, shape, solder, file, sand, hammer and stamp a strip of silver until it resembled a real life ring!!

Here are some of the photos from the day!

Thanks Papered Parlour for a wonderful experience - and thanks to all the girlies for joining me (especially my gorgeous sis for her thoughtfulness!)

xxx