On the move

I've decided to move my blog over to my new website, please continue to read you can subscribe by RSS feed and follow me on Twitter.

Here is the link to the new address

Lots of leaves

Just finished a batch of Spiraea leaves ready for some new designs, these are all from the same plant but each one is so different from the next!

Time

Well I don't know where the time seems to go lately, there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day!

I've just recently added some new earring designs to my shop, some hammered textured hoops that catch the light lovely when they move, some little round leaf imprint studs and the cutest little textured studs which is part of my new woodland range, it's meant to look like a bark texture although I can't decide if it looks more like stone. I think this range compliments the leaves really well and I've managed to find the time to make myself a woodland ring which I'm really pleased with.

New Website!

At last my new website is up and running! Hopefully it will be much easier for me to manage as it has a contact management system built in. I think it look really stylish as well, thanks to Laurel Waldron for her help with that. There's lots of new designs in there too so I hope people enjoy having a browse through.

Press!

I've been featured in Your Maidstone page 21 and My Kings Hill this month, to do with the craft cases I have my jewellery in the Hazlitt Arts Centre in Maidstone, thanks to Patsy Dixon of Liberty Gallery.

Awards

Being part of Craft & Design magazines Selected website I am entered into their competition, one of the prizes being a feature of my business in their magazine, voting ends at the end of the month, so any votes would be much appreciated. You can see their website here and my page is here, I'm listed on the makers list under Crawford Nicola. Thank you to any one who votes or has already voted.

New Design

I've taken some jewellery into the Hazlitt Arts Centre in Maidstone today which will be available for sale in there for 3 months along with other artists work. I managed to get a new design for some ivy earrings finished in time to take in, they are to match the Entwined Ivy Pendant and hopefully I'll get them available in the web shop soon.

Stall

I've just done a trial set up of my stall for tomorrows craft fair to make sure everything fits OK. The sign with my logo on was kindly donated by http://www.mister7.co.uk:80/

New Designs

Falling Leaves

Flower

Japanese Acer and Ruby

Wild Chervil

These are a few new designs I've been working on that I will be taking with me to the handmade fair in Maidstone this Saturday

Moo!

I was looking through Flickr the other day and came across these people called moo.com, they print lovely business cards and other promo material. They are eco friendly too, the cards are printed on paper sourced from sustainable forests and they come in a neat little holder made from recycled pulp. You can download your own images and have a different image for ever card if you like. I ordered a pack of business cards and some little tags for my jewellery boxes, they arrived today and I think they look really good, they were really quick too, I only ordered them 4 days ago.

Ring

This is my first ring, I'm very excited about it, it's turned out really well. I knew I wanted to do a flower but was just going to do it on a plain band, then I added some pmc paste to the top and liked the texture it created so carried it on round the whole band. I think it looks quite organic. The top photo is of the ring in progress, I had already fired the flower then put it together, this was drying ready to go back in the kiln

Bizarre Bazaar

This is a batch of jewellery all polished and ready to be made up

I will be doing the Maidstone Bizarre Bazaar this year, which is a handmade craft fair, this year it will be held in association with The County Town Farmers’ Market, and will be outside County Hall opposite Maidstone East station, on Saturday 27th June 9.00 - 1.00. So I've been busy preparing jewellery and promotional material. This is the first fair I've done so I need to think about how I will display everything, how much jewelley I will need and how many business cards etc, so much to think about!

This is a batch just out of the kiln ready for polishing.

Tiara

This is a pic of a tiara I've been working on to have as a made to order item. I've had a bit of trouble trying to photograph it, but took some more pics today, and I'm quite happy with this one, could be improved though.

Electric Blue

When I saw these lovely coloured fresh water pearls, I had to have them, I've added them to a small Spiraea leaf and think they look so eye catching.

Exhibition

A small selection of my jewellery from one of my stockists NUCLUES will be shown at the Graham Clarke Gallery in the Hazlitt Arts Centre, Maidstone for the first two weeks of May 2009. Details below:

The showcase of NUCLEUS-registered talent from Medway and beyond will be split into two 2-week blocks and will highlight a broad spectrum of creative endeavour ranging from paintings and prints to sculpture, 3D design and accessories. All work will be for sale.

NUCLEUS: SHOWCASE opens on Wednesday 6 May and runs until Saturday 30 May. The gallery is open Monday-Saturday, 10-6pm and is located next door to Waterstones in Earl Street, Maidstone Kent.

http://www.hazlittartscentre.co.uk/pages/exhibitions.html

Press

I've been busy making changes to the website, adding new pages such as bridal jewellery and giving the whole site a revamp. There's also a whole page feature running in the Kent Messenger's Focus Magazine this month all about Silver Leaves.

I've just received some lovely photos from a customers wedding which shows the ivy commission I did for her earlier this year. Photographs by Julia Ford.

Exhibition

I will be featuring in an exhibition of work by the Nucleus Artists at the NAC in Chatham, this will be running through April so if you live near by please pop along and have a look, it's situated just off Chatham High Street, see here for more about the gallery space http://www.thenac.co.uk/index.php

These are the sweet little ivy studs I mentioned previously, they measure approx 1.5 cm deep. They are now available in the shop http://www.silverleaves.co.uk/Earrings.html

Bangle

This is a picture of my first bangle. It's a sterling silver band sandwiched between two pure silver rose leaves. It will probably be going into one of the galleries that stock my jewellery once it is hallmarked, but hopefully I will be making some more for the web shop. If you would like something similar please contact me.

New Gallery Space

The Nucleus Gallery that exhibits my jewellery has now moved to Dickens World, Chatham Maritime, opens tomorrow.

Ivy

I hope you are liking using the new website. I am finding that the ivy leaves are really popular at the moment so I'm working on some new ivy designs. I hope to have them in the shop soon. I did some little ivy stud earrings for a commission recently which I thought would be quite nice to have available in the shop, I'm also thinking bracelets, so watch this space!

Wedding Competition

There's a competition running at the moment at the unique market place Not on The High Street, you can win wedding prizes worth over £4,000! This includes a pair of earrings from Silver Leaves, shown above. So if your planning a wedding have a look here http://www.notonthehighstreet.com/inspiration/Win_a_honeymoon now.

It's finally live!

Well the new website is finally live. I've kept changing things around but I think I'm happy with it now! There's a new section for men which I'm going to gradually build up, the cuff links are away for hallmarking at the moment but will be available soon. I hope you like the new layout.

Valentine

This is a new pendant I've created specially for valentines day, so ladies you might want to point someone this way! Available for sale at http://www.notonthehighstreet.com/silverleaves/products it's a tiny heart shaped leaf with a red Swarovski crystal, very sweet.

Website Preview

I been busy working on my new website design, it's not quite finished yet, but I thought I'd give you a sneak preview of what it's going to look like. There's going to be a section for pendants, earrings and bracelets with links to matching items, so I can have a bigger selection of my jewellery on there for you. There's also going to be a men's section and a link to the blog on every page. Hopefully it won't be too much longer before it goes live.

New Leaves

These are some Geranium leaves that I've finished today, they just need a polish up and the chains adding. I love the way that each leaf is different to another. I'm working on re-designing my website at the moment, so these will be added to the new site when it's done. If you would like one before this just contact me.