Giveaway Reminder!

Don't forget to enter Flonightingale & Sparkleroses Giveaway! It ends just after midnight tonight, so there's a bit of time left!

Click here and comment to enter.

Good luck everyone!

Love,

Fiona x

Sparklerose + Flonightingale's Fabtastic Giveaway! *CLOSED*

*CLOSED*

As mentioned previously, Sparklerose teamed up with Flonightingales to offer a fabulous giveaway!

Following a review of Flo's lovely Sparkle Bow Earrings, we decided to create some pieces to offer to our lovely readers.

Lots of lovely goodies!

Here we have:

A beautiful handmade bracelet from Flonightingales, featuring owls and mushrooms.

A pair of cream sparkle rose studs from Sparklerose.

A cute Eiffel Tower charm necklace from Sparklerose.

Two Nails Inc Polishes in Wellbeck Street and Maple Street.

Flonightingales Charm Bracelet

Eiffel Tower charm necklace

Sparkle rose stud earrings

To enter:

1. You must be a follower of Sparklerose and Flonightingales, as this is a treat for our readers :)

2. For extra entries, you can 'like' Flonightingale or Sparklerose on Facebook, or follow Flonightingale or Sparklerose twitter pages. Just comment separately to say which of these you've decided to join :)

Be sure to leave your email address so you can be contacted if you've won, as well as your GFC name.

For the extra entries, leave your name and/or twitter name where appropriate.

This giveaway is open internationally.

The deadline for entries is Wednesday 17th August at 12:01am, the winner will be announced the following day :)

Good luck everyone!

Love,

Fiona x

*CLOSED*

Giveaway Winner!

I've finally got round to finding out and announcing the giveaway winner :)

Those who entered who also follow the blog are:

1. Samantha
2. Kiki

And the winner is....

Samantha! Congratulations :D

I'll be in touch :)

Hope everyone had a decent day back in work, good old mondays.

Love,

Fiona x

Plans

I apologise for the lack of posts lately. I'm feeling a bit out of the swing of it all. My trip to Cardiff has generally been good so far, but today is a fragile day, for reasons I won't note. Just, wherever you are and whatever you're doing, have a really good day :)

I've slowly been making pieces for Sparklerose Designs, and I've been working on the website. It's going to need a LOT of work, and I'm way behind my deadline, but I'm getting there. I also have plans for the blog, so expect some changes.

In the next entry, I'll be showing off some new pieces, promise!

Love,

Fiona x

PS. Don't forget to enter the giveaway! Ends monday :)

V-Day Giveaway - CLOSED

*CLOSED*
I'm holding a "V-Day Giveaway" as a thankyou to all my lovely readers/commenters. As I'm slowly starting to build up my jewellery business, and making general positive changes in my life, your support means the world to me.

Sooo... here are the goodies up for grabs :)

One lucky winner will receive:

♥ Soap & Glory Sexy Mother Pucker lipgloss

♥ Soap & Glory Clean On Me

♥ Nails Inc nailpolish

♥ Primark sequin hairbands, one in pink, one in gold

♥ 'Candyfloss' pearl earrings, Sparklerose Designs

♥ 'Pastel Passion' trirose sparkle ring, Sparklerose Designs

How to enter/rules:

♥ You must be a follower of this blog
♥ Just comment on this entry saying you'd like to be entered :)
♥ I'll email the winner requesting their address to send the goodies

The deadline for this giveaway is 28/02/11 at midnight, so you've got two weeks to enter :)

Good luck!

Love,
Fiona x
*CLOSED*

Happy Valentine's Day

Hope everyone's having a lovely Valentine's Day so far. I had yummy breakfast in bed made by my wonderful boyfriend, complete with a red rose sitting on this month's cosmo, I'm a very lucky girl ;)

We're having a homemade three course meal this evening, he's made the starter and main, and I'm providing the dessert. I'm planning to make some marshmallow cupcakes as the main bit, with some bits of fruit etc for dipping into melted chocolate after. Yumyum. I shall try to remember pictures.

Here are some of the new pieces I mentioned in my previous post. My plan was to pop these to the boutique today but I'm deciding to wait a little while. I'm seemingly taking on alot lately, it's hard to keep up ;)

Garden Bird Of Paradise Charm Bracelet - On Hold

Dream In Cupcake Earrings - £5.00

Spring Showers Cupcake Charm Necklace - £6.00

I started creating my general packaging last night, for things that won't be boxed. It'll be ideal for the stall.

Isn't it cute? I love polkadots :D

If you're interested in the items above, please comment or send me an email to sparklerosedesigns@live.co.uk as they probably won't be listed on my Folksy store until after April (depending on what sells at the stall).



I'll be making another entry later today (before this evening) about my V-Day Giveaway! It's featuring some Sparklerose Designs jewellery, plus extra goodies.

Love,

Fiona x

Maybelline Volume Express Lift-Up Mascara

I've been a huge fan of my wonderous Rimmel 100% waterproof mascara for years and years now. Everytime I've decided to treat myself to something different, it's always backfired on me. I love something with a bit of volume, and some curling, plus something that isn't going to smudge all over me. The only mascara that provided me this was the above, until a week or so ago, when I found a new eyelash friend :)

I was re-buying my basics in Boots when Maybelline had a 3 for 2 deal, so I decided to pick up one of their mascaras, the Volume Express Lift-Up, which was labelled as 'new'. I'm not entirely sure how long it's been 'new' for, I live under a rock most of the time where make-up is concerned. But I have to say, expecting it to be pants, I was pretty surprised by the results.

It's in a lovely black casing with shiny pink writing, I think the packaging is lovely and girly in ways.

The brush is curved slightly to follow the curvature of the eyelashes, so it catches the end ones too. I just need one coat of this for a decent impact (I think if you applied loads it would start to clump).

It's not very clear but my eyelashes are bare in this photo, there's just some smudged eyeliner around my eyes.

Here are a few photos demonstrating the lengthening power of this mascara. I don't curl my eyelashes anymore, so the curling and lengthening properties are really useful for me. I notice a change almost immediately after applying, which is also pretty good.

I'm usually a good girl and remove make-up before bed, but I've always had a bit of a panda going onthe next morning. With this mascara, the panda is minimal. Just a bit of black smudge under my eyes, and that could be from bits of eyeliner that didn't come off the night before.

All in all, I'd rate this mascara rather highly. I've never tried anything too fancy, but in terms of drugstore brands, I'd say this is a winner.

***

In other non-mascara news, I'm hoping to show off Sparklerose Designs goodies to a boutique (hopefully on monday), so I've been beavering away making lots of new items. I'll be posting pictures of them in my next entry.

And also, as a thankyou to my wonderful readers, I'm planning to hold another giveaway (they're so fun!) It'll begin on monday, with a semi-valentine's theme ;)

Hope everyone has a great day tomorrow!

Love,

Fiona x

Giveaway Ends Soon!

Just a quick little post to say that the giveaway is ending at midnight :D
http://sparklerosedesigns.blogspot.com/2011/01/giveaway-time.html

Comment on there to enter :)

Love,
Fiona x

Shopping & Jewellery Find

I decided to get myself a bit of retail therapy yesterday. I would take pictures of my finds but I need some batteries :D

I got a lovely floral dress and burgundy wedge heels from New Look (both £5 each!), I got a couple of things in Accessorize 70% off, and I got myself some new underwear :D it was generally a successful trip.

I was very keen to browse the jewellery rails, as I usually am. It makes great research, to see what's popular, what's 'in' at the moment.

♥ I saw extra long pendant necklaces, with really small pendants. I'm not entirely sure I like this look.
♥ I noticed loads of xlarge rings, especially the ones with two rings in one.
♥ I saw plenty of charm necklaces, these still seem to be very much in fashion.
♥ I also noticed plenty of hippy-esque bracelets, which seems almost unusual to me given the time of year.

I did treat myself to two rings: one lilac rhinestone hat, and a coral rose. Apart from that, I was very good :D

********************************
Anywho, the other thing I was keen to write about, my find from the other night :)

I came across an online shop called WendyHouse, "the home of lovely and unusual things". Of course this intrigued me, so I had a little shop around, and wow, very lovely :D

They sell a range of jewellery and hair accessories, focusing mostly on jewellery though. Here's some of my faves.

Joy Pendant - £9.00

This would look gorgeous adding some detail to a simple outfit.

Click to view.

One Flew Over Earrings - £7.00

These earrings are so cute & effective, and I love the blue & gold colouring.

Click to view.

Hey Sailor! Bracelet - £7.00

This cute charm bracelet appeals to my nautical side :)

Click to view.

Gothic Rose Earrings - £5.50

The red have currently sold out but the black are still available

They would look lovely with that little black dress

Click to view.

Don't forget to enter the giveaway! Deadline is 18th january, so there's a little while yet :)

Love,

Fiona x

Giveaway Time! CLOSED

I hope everyone's had a lovely start to the new year :)
So far I've been very busy with work and family time, but as the new year progresses I'm hoping to create my new lines. I had a quick peek around at supplies but haven't seen anything in particular for inspiration yet ;)

*CLOSED*
Anywho, as mentioned previously, I've been very eager to create a giveaway! So, without further ado..

Tadaa! :D

This giveaway is a bit mixed really, I wanted something predominently Sparklerose Designs jewellery with a dash of something else. Here we have some nice scented things, along with my handmade jewellery pieces. They include a pair of my navy blue ribbon rose studs with clear Swarovski crystals, a tri-ribbon rose ring that's adjustable and a black laced charm bracelet.

So, onto the rules :)

1. You must be a follower of this blog.

2. Just comment on this entry with your blog link and email address.

3. For extra entries, you can tweet about this giveaway, or advertise it on your blog, or be a follower/fan on Facebook :) just let me know which of these you've done so I can make a record of it :)

4. I'll collect up the names and put them through a randomiser to get the winner :)

I'll then email the winner for their address to send the goodies.

The deadline for this giveaway is on 18/01/11 at midnight and I'll be announcing it on here as well as emailing :)

Good luck!

*CLOSED*

Love,

Fiona x

Cherry & Coconut Cupcakes

I hope everyone had a wonderful christmas :D mine was very quiet & peaceful, which was perfect for me.
I also received funds from Milkwood Gallery from my sales, just intime for christmas! I sold two pairs of earrings and a charm bracelet, a total of £21.00, very exciting stuff :D

Anywho, in a previous entry, I mentioned that I was making some delightful cherry & coconut cupcakes.

This recipe is taken from the book "1001 Cupcakes, Cookies & Other Tempting Treats" by Suzanna Tee. I bought mine from Asda when it was £5 :O but you can get it from a seller on Amazon here.

INGREDIENTS
115g butter
115g caster sugar
2 tablespoons of milk
2 eggs
85g self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
85g desiccated coconut
115g glace cherries, quartered

TOPPING
225g butter
1 tablespoon of milk or cream
350g icing sugar
12 whole glace cherries for decorating

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/ Gas Mark 4. Prepare bun tin with 12 paper cases.

Beat butter and sugar together in a large bowl until light & fluffy.

Stir in the milk.
Gradually beat in the eggs.

Sift in the flour & baking powder.
Fold in the coconut.
Fold in most of the quartered cherries.

This looks a bit weird to me but still very tasty!

Spoon the mixture into the paper cases and scatter remaining quartered cherries on top (I missed this bit, silly me)
Bake in the preheated oven for 20/25 mins.
Leave to cool

For the topping, put the buttercream into a piping bag with a large star nozzle and pipe on top of the cupcake
Add a cherry to each one to finish.

Now for whatever reason they didn't turn out so great for me. The sponge was perfect, very sweet and moist, would make an amazing loaf-type cake. But the buttercream frosting didn't pipe at all and it ran off the cakes. I think I might've used a bit too much milk, eek.

But I'd definitely recommend them, the sponge was delicious :D

***
In other news, we have 10 followers, which means it's time for a giveaway :D yay!
I'll be organising it within the next few days, so keep your eyes peeled for a post detailing more info about it! :)

Love,
Fiona x