Featured!

Just found out I've been featured in an online bridal magazine called Derinaud.

Click here to read the article.

P's been ill all this week and missed the last 3 days of school, so things have been hectic with looking after her and getting my fascinator orders done. I've also been thinking about whether to look into teaching some of my skills to art and textile students in the future, or making some PDF books that would be available to buy which would detail how to make your own fascinators, tiaras and jewellery. I think I might think some more about it and let you know. :)

I want to show you the first bits of the tiara I'm making up from the design from the client's dress... I'm LOVING doing this as it's a bit of a challenge, but I've just had a Windows reinstall on my laptop and my camera software isn't installed yet! Soon...

N x

Long time no see!

Hello! It's been a while, hasn't it?!? I don't know where the last few weeks have flown to, but the last time I blogged was on 14th June!! I do have an excuse though... I have been busy making fascinators and hair accessories, looking after my poorly sick daughter and spending a week lazing by the pool in Spain!

Yes, we went on holiday with my parents and both my sisters which was fab. We had such a great week doing absolutely nothing except for swimming, sleeping, eating, swimming, sleeping and eating! What a great way to spend a week.

Taking off...

Me and my sisters having cocktails in the bar

I had a quite a few orders to get out before I went, and have been working on orders since I got back and my blog has taken a back seat for a while, and for that I apologise. Here are some of them. The others are on my camera, but I need new batteries to upload them!


Jessica Design in black with ivory and black feathers, to the UK

Bespoke Bridal Swarovski crystal and pearl Haircomb for a client in the UK Pewter and fuscia flower and veil cocktail hat for my friend Joanna for a wedding in the UK
Joanna Design in Navy with lagoon and ozone feathers for a client in the UK


I've also finished off the lounge and hall decorating (at LAST!) and my house is now in some sort of normal state again! I'm so pleased with the way that everything's turned out, and it's like living in a new house! I love it and it really feels like home now. It's all come together better than I could have ever expected.

The lounge, before...

... and after

The hall, all finished with the radiator cabinet and the newly waxed floorboards and rugs


I've been commissioned to do a bespoke tiara for a client who has a beautiful vintage style antique lace wedding dress with an amazingly long train. She lives locally so I've had a couple of design meetings with her and have come up with an initial design based on a pattern in her material. Can you guess the design from this swatch pic? I'll show you later when I've constructed it. I'm also doing her wedding jewellery too which will use elements from the tiara so it will all match. I'm really looking forward to this project.

The other good news is that Jordan doesn't have to worry about finding a new husband now her and Peter have split... Prince Charlie loves her...


N x

Here Comes The Bride

I'm far too excited to keep these to myself, so here's a taster of a couple of my tiara photoshoot shots for my website.


Ta-daaaaa! I look better on these than I did on my own wedding day. Now all I have to do is secure a make up artist and hairdresser to primp me every day and I could look like this all the time!

I can't wait to get all of them back and get them up on my site. I am so pleased with the results.

Thanks, R, for pointing out how rough I looked on my last blog shot... :|

:)

N x

Shoots and Flowers

What a lovely week! I went down to Kent on tuesday (a 3 1/2 hr drive) to see John for my tiara photoshoot and had such a great time. He lives by the sea on the north Kent coastline so we went for lunch overlooking the sea and had a blustery walk along a little bit of the seafront.

We also went into Canterbury to see the cathedral which is absolutely enormous and we saw the Archbishop of Canterbury's house and then went back to his house and I met his wife and children and we sat and had chinese and chatted the night away. Then the hard work started!

On wednesday we went to the studio (which feels like my second home now), and Sarah our make up artist came and made me up to look all bridal with some beautiful make up. It takes SO long to get professional make up done but it's really worth it for a photo shoot. The base is really heavy and by the end of the day i'm sure it's about an inch thick with all the touch ups that are done throughout the day. On tuesday John and I got some flowers to use as props, 3 gorgeous long stemmed roses and 3 sunflowers which we used quite a lot. I also had the silk bouquet that was a mock up of my sister's wedding bouquet which was great.

I ended up wearing the massive tulle underskirt from my sister's wedding dress with the strapless bodice of my wedding dress which I wore 7 and a half years ago... and it still fitted! (although I couldn't breathe for most of the day because it was a bit tight!) I always knew it would come in handy one day. The images looked amazing on John's laptop and I can't wait to get the final edits so that I can put them onto the website. I've now realised I have a lot of admin work to do before then though with write ups, getting the products photographed on their own and adding them all to the website... looks like the fun's over!

I'm so lucky to have a good friend like John. I just wish we lived closer so we could see eachother more often. 3 1/2 hours is a long drive, especially when you're negotiating the M25 around London!

John has some original film set props. This is me in an actual Imperial Guard helmet from Star Wars. How exciting!


It's been half term this week so P's been with her dad for the days I was away, but today we are going to see Lazy Town Live at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham and we're going with her friend and her friend's mom. We're all looking forward to it and it's been a long time coming. All P's said since we woke up is "what time are we going?" and it's not until 5pm!

I've been making this week too. I shipped a double band tiara for the UK and I have 2 fascinators to make today for Texas which will be finished and shipped later. I also finished my Crown Tiara in time for the shoot. It ended up like this.

P's also been learning to ride her bike without stabilisers with my dad, and she's doing really well! I nominated him to undertake the task as I don't think I can cope with the stress!

All good fun :)

N x

Crystals Rain!

I'm still making, making, making for my upcoming shoot for my website. Last night I started to make a pearl and crystal encrusted headband in some beautiful soft purples, pinks and creams. All my Swarovski crystals are neatly stored in acrylic boxes so they are easy to select, and most of all I can see when I am getting low on a colour to be able to reorder.

I'm not sure what happened because one minute i was beading happily, and the next the floor, myself and the cat bed were covered in crystals as about 1000 of them happily spilled all over as I knocked the box off my desk. There were a few choice words, I tell you!


Here's the result. I don't have the patience, time or energy to regroup them at the moment so they are all a multi coloured mess, but look very pretty!

This is the headband I'm making. It is gorgeous and would be perfect for bridesmaids or for a special occasion to compliment an outfit. I'm really pleased with how it's turning out but it takes ages to thread as there are so many beads in it.


I've also made a tiara crown which again is encrusted with Swarovski crystals and pearls, which is sooo sparkly and would be perfect for an up-do or to wear in front of a veil.


I've also packed up some jewellery ready for the shoot and made a set list. (John my photographer won't believe I am so organised!)


My wireless router finally packed up at the weekend so I was left without internet connection on saturday and I felt like I'd had a limb amputated! I didn't realise how much I rely on my computer and not being able to look stuff up was torture! I had to go to mom and dad's to get my fix! Luckily I have a nice spangly new one now which is all fitted (thanks Kris!) and working perfectly so hopefully all my internet problems are over!

N x

Masked

One of my nails clients dropped by last night with her daughter who is going to a masked ball tomorrow night. She'd bought a beautiful mask to wear but wanted it customised to match her dress which is navy, so I got out my HUGE box of feathers and after a quick root around and some ideas thrown about we decided to add some simple stripped coque feathers in navy onto the side to give it some height and a silver bhindi-type jewel in the centre to give some interest. She has the most beautiful red hair and will look so good in it.



This is my 60th blog post! I can't believe that I've been blogging for 60 posts now. It's such a lovely way of putting down thoughts and feelings and sharing what I'm doing with friends, family and new blog visitors. I'd never have kept a diary like this if I'd have been doing it by hand, but online it seems more real somehow.


I am still organising my new jewellery, hair accessories and tiaras for the upcoming photoshoot for my Tiaras and Fascinators.com and Etsy websites which is great, and I had an order of some fab new crystals and bits and pieces yesterday which was very exciting. I ordered in some metal and crystal ball beads this time and they have gone into making earrings and a necklace with cream coloured pearls which look gorgeous. The website should be updated mid feb with all the new stock and a new look for 2009!

N x

P.S...

...Ed did my tiara photo today and it's fab! Kerri loves it so I'm posting it tomorrow for her so that it'll go on the promtional material for the competition. I couldn't wait until tomorrow to post it, so... it went from this sorry looking thing...



To this blingtastic tiara! I'm so happy with the way it's turned out. The picture really doesn't do it justice, it's SO sparkly!


N x

Hats, Hats, Hats!

My April fascinator got featured in an Etsy Treasury by a great seller called WillowBranchJewelry. She does some fantastic resin pendants, check them out at her Etsy shop by clicking on the link to her name. P and I love this one. SO cute!!

Blue Hoot Resin Pendant, $16:


The Treasury is all about hats and I'm really grateful that she chose my fascinator as part of this great selection. You can see it live on Etsy here until Tuesday 28th October.


We're all on come down from the wedding here and can't believe it's been over a week already. Time really does fly when you're having fun!

I've been working hard on my winner's tiara for the Model of the Year competition after getting my new bling through the post that I was waiting for the other day and managed to complete it last night. It's got over 320 Swarovski crystals in it and its really heavy! A proper winner's crown. I hope the lady who commissioned it likes it. I have to take some photographs and send them to her. I'm actually really really pleased with it. It went from being something that I thought wouldn't look right at all to something I absolutely love!

I'm going to ask Ed my photographer friend to take a pic of it on my head so I'll post it when he's done that for me.

We got an extra hour in bed this morning due to the clocks going back and P slept the extra hours so I really did get a lie in, althought The Times has a really interesting article on why we shouldn't do this. See it here.

N x

Bling Bling!

I've started my Model of the Year Competition crown tiara. It's going to be very big and sparkly but going to take a lot of crystals, some of which I've run out of already, so I have to put an order in tomorrow for lots of bling! Here's the beginning of the structure obviously the crystals will be straight on the finished crown! I've wired on the two small combs at the back so that it can fit into the winner's hair easily without falling off. More pics to follow when I get my bling.

.

I finished and shipped work to the States this morning. It was a Hayley Fascinator in Buttermilk with Silver Accent Feathers:


And P and I sent Barbara, my parent's friend who came over with her husband at the beginning of the year to see us all, a couple of presents for her birthday. A trolley coin with her name on it, and a handmade flower brooch:


I have a crystal bobby pin to make for a lady in the States so I'm off to make that.

N x

I Do...

I just got accepted onto the Etsy Wedding Team today! It's a group of creative and supportive Etsy shop owners who actively promote each other and their quality, handmade, wedding items. Memebership is jury selected so I am very chuffed that I have been accepted onto the team. It's great exposure for me and there are some very talented people there.

They have a blog here that you can keep up to date with and a Myspace page here. I'm really looking forward to being part of this community of artists.

Here are some of the goodies these wonderful people are producing to make people's weddings really special.

Beautiful Bliss Collection Silk Flower by Mikiye Creations (Mikiye.etsy.com)


Custom pillow box favor by Shopbub (shopbub.etsy.com)


Alessandra - Feather White handbag/bouquet (leighannkline.etsy.com)Amazingly talented people.

I sent another double band tiara off to Pennsylvania today for another great Etsy customer. I've had some lovely feedback off people too which I've collated to put onto my T&F site and it should be up there soon.

Out for dinner now with my parents. :)

N x

Bespoke Beauties

I've been busy getting all my orders finished and thought I'd show you some pics.

These have gone all over America...

Double Band Tiara:


Jessica Fascinator:



Joanna Fascinator:


And this is the one for J's mother-in-law which I've been really nervous about making for some reason! :


These are J's pins to wear with her bridesmaid dress:


And this is my sister R's wedding tiara - only 3 and a half weeks left until the big day!!


What a busy bee!

I've had 2 prospective order queries today which hopefully will turn into orders off my main website which is great and I'm just finishing off a Joanna fascinator for another American client at the moment. Better get back to rolling sinamay edges!

N x

Oooh Lots!

I have lots to tell you!

We went out to Frankie & Benny's for my birthday dinner. It was lovely. I had a cake at the end and the lights went down and they sang Cliff Richard's 'Congratulations'. It is hysterical. I got balloons too! The cake lasted approximately 3 and a half minutes...


I've finished off R's tiara... I am SO pleased with it. It's the most intricate thing I've done and it's turned out just perfect. She's thrilled with it and we've all had our hair trials this week for the wedding so it was so great to see it in her hair. I'm so pleased that my little sister will be wearing something that I've made especially for her on her big day. It really means a lot to me that she wanted me to make it and that she likes it enough to wear it.

I've included crystal and diamanté butterflies as this ties in with her theme, and the pearl and crystal flowers just look amazing. The best thing was that I really enjoyed making it. I am always a bit nervous when I make things for people close to me. I worry that if they don't like it they won't speak up so I can put it right and end up with something that they're not quite happy with, but I know R and she would DEFINITELY tell me if it wasn't right, so it must be! I will post a pic when I take a good one!

I've had lots of enquiries this week from Etsy which have all turned into orders which is brilliant! My fascinators seem to be a hit in the US and the majority of my business is there at the moment which is so cool! I love America. Rob's gone over to Florida for 3 weeks and we were joking that it would have been brilliant if he could have taken over the fascinator I'm making at the moment for a lady over there. Personally delivered by a 6ft 2 english man. That really would have been so cool!



I've been hand rolling sinamay leaves today for that fascinator, the pic shows them half done. It's a killer. First I cut out the leaf shape, then i spray the edges with water, roll the sides in then hold them tight whilst blasting them with the hairdryer. The sinamay I buy is stiffened which means it's been soaked in a solution of basically watered down PVA glue then dried. When you re-wet it, form it then dry it again, the glue softens then resets into the position you've moulded it into, hence how you get the edges of the leaves rolled so neatly. It takes ages and makes my fingers feel funny after a while but it's a really professional effect which I love.

I sent a gorgous crystal haircomb to a lovely lady in Atlanta, Georgia yesterday. I was in love with it! It just looks SO sparkly and she can wear it either as a tiara or push it into her up-doo and you just see 4 rows of the sparkle. I might have to make one for myself I love it that much! There's nearly 100 Swarovski crystals in this...


I wanted to get JoJo's hair pins done this weekend as she's back home but unfortunately the suppliers were out of stock so I can't get them until monday. She'll have to wait and get a lovely present in the post instead!

Spent the rest of the week playing on our new Wii that Kris bought for P the other day! She's scarily good...

N x

Ti-arhhhhhhhhhgh-ra

EEk. All the ingredients for my sister's tiara have finally arrived and now I have no excuse not to make it. I have to turn this...


Into a fabulous tiara for my sister's wedding which is 6 weeks away. I can't put it off any longer... I have to start wiring. We have a blueprint for a design but I'm imagining the blushing bride will want some changes to it. We went for her wedding dress fitting yesterday and she looked fabulous. I was examining the detailing on the dress so I can pick up some of that in the tiara which will be nice.

I also learnt that I have to get her dressed on the morning... along with P, in her little bridesmaid dress, and myself in my bridesmaid dress. Sounds like fun... I'd better set my alarm for 5am!

I've not felt well this week, migraines and feeling mega tired, and had a very blonde moment when I sucked up the 'C' key off my laptop into the vacuum cleaner which then got trapped and dad had to come and take it apart to rescue it. It then wouldn't fit back on so I am C-less and typing onto the metal under the key to get the letter up. It's amazing how often you use curly-C.

N x