Blog Update In Photos

I've had a life changing couple of weeks and I've been too busy to blog about it, so I thought I'd catch up with photos :)

001. We got engaged!! This was a complete surprise to me, but Adrian had planned the whole thing. He got down on one knee in the beautiful countryside while we were having a Saturday walk. He made some chocolate coated strawberries and got me pink glitter edged roses. In the evening, he booked a table at a surprise location, we had a cosy candlelit dinner in a beautiful country pub in the middle of nowhere. It was the most romantic day/night.

002. Pretty work clothes. I have officially left my previous job, and I'm due to start my new job next week! I'll be working in a law firm, so for the office environment, I've invested in a few key pieces. I've mainly stuck with pretty tops, plain cardigans and black trousers. It's been strange getting my own uniform, because I've always been given one in previous jobs.

003. Naughty treats. I've been to Cardiff celebrating my new job & engagement with family. While I was there, I nipped into town and went to MAC. I purchased a few naughty bits. I got a lipstick (Snob), an eyeshadow (Plum Dressing) and one of the eyeshadow duos from the Semi-Precious collection (Pink Split). I think I just about caught the Semi-Precious eyeshadow as the collection seems to be on its way out now. I regret not buying the Rose Quartz blush, although I think I'll treat myself to Dainty from the general line soon.

I also got my hands on a lovely Heirloom shadestick from the MAC Me Over collection. I felt pretty lucky as I purchased it on the 30th August, when it was due in September. The lady mentioned that the particular store was releasing it slightly earlier than other stores. It's in a beautiful beige champagne sort of shade.

If you want any swatches of these items, just leave a comment on this blog post :)

004. Owl Necklace. I got this from the Dorothy Perkins website (link here). I thought it would be tiny, but actually, it's huge compared to what I expected! At first I was a little put off by it, and I wasn't sure whether to return it. But I took it to Cardiff with me, and almost wore it every day. It's so cute paired with a nice plain top, as it's a pretty big statement piece.

005. Custom Order. After the jewellery stall, I received a custom order for someone who loves butterflies. I found these beautiful vitrial butterfly beads on Ebay and turned them into this charm bracelet. I've sent photos over, she loves it, so it'll either be collected or dropped off v.soon.

Love,

Fiona x

Jewellery Stall Day

I've been a bad blogger, very bad indeed. But, I have had a crazy couple of weeks, so I've been a busy bee.

As mentioned earlier, I was attending a summer fete today at Stonesplace in Lincoln. I've been preparing for it for weeks, so I was super excited to wake up this morning and get myself ready to go.

Sparklerose Designs Business Card

We had two tables, one for all the jewellery and the other was for my portfolio and a general packaging area. I realised I'm not very good at wrapping things in tissue, I might be best just using my paper bags!

It started out raining outside so we decided to go indoors, but later the sun started to shine, typical!

I wrote down my sales, and I did quite well. Better than I was expecting. I also have a potential repair, something to drop off tomorrow and a custom order which I need to do some research for.

I made lots of £5.00 glass beaded silver-plated sets, they seemed to have tons of interest, I sold quite a few of those. I also sold alot of £1.00 beaded earrings.

It was a lovely day in general. I sampled a chocolate fudge slice which tasted amazing, met alot of lovely people, got alot of lovely compliments on my jewellery, and I've learnt alot about doing a stall now.

I'm also hoping to go back to their Christmas fete, with lots more goodies, of course ;)

Adrian's auntie came to visit us and see the stall with her friend Christine, she won a cake in the raffle they had. I had to take a ton of pictures, it's the most beautiful cake.. ever..

It would make the perfect style for a wedding cake. Simply gorgeous.

Tonight we're off to a place called The Homestead for a general celebration/treat. Turns out that some of Adrian's family are going too, so we've turned our twosome meal into more of a get together, which should be super fun.

I promise I'll blog more, promise!

In the meantime, the Flonightingale & Sparklerose giveaway is still running, go enter now for your chance to win!

Love,

Fiona x

FEATURED: Flonightingale

I'm excited to be writing this feature, as I absolutely love Emma's jewellery. Emma is the creative brain behind Flonightingales, quirky and adorable handmade jewellery.

As a big fan of charms, and a love for all things sparkly, Flonightingales offers plenty of both. Her Dino earrings are so cute, contrasting with the hippie look of her Violet Flower necklace, and the whimsical nature of her Birdcage Vignette necklace. You'll find all kinds of treasures at her store.

I recently purchased her Sparkle Bow Earrings, and as soon as they arrived, I fell instantly in love. I knew I had to share them with you all and talk about Emma's jewellery.

They arrived beautifully packaged with an adorable business card, pretty organza bag and the earrings were attached to a lovely dragonfly cut card. Her jewellery would make an amazing gift, if you can get yourself to part with the pieces ;)

The AB glass beads sparkle vibrantly in the light, and the glass adds a nice comfortable weight to the earrings. The antiqued bronze bows look distressed and have that vintage look. They look adorable with my floral dresses.

Please excuse the lack of make-up, I do try to give my skin a break on days off 

Nails: Rimmel 60 Seconds in Twinkle

Go grab yourself a pair of these prettyful earrings from Emma's Etsy store here, or click here to view them directly. There is also a necklace that could match, which is extremely tempting ;)

I'm also especially loving this gorgeous necklace:

Loveheart Sparkle Necklace - £7.00

Click to view.

And these beautiful studs from her Misi store:

Button Sparkle Earrings - £3.50

Click to view.

In a previous life, I was, most definitely, a magpie ;)

Emma's Blog

Emma's Etsy Store

Emma's MISI Store

Emma's Folksy Store

See what Emma's upto on her Facebook here.

What are your fave Flonightingale pieces? :)

Love,

Fiona x

PS: Stay tuned for a joint giveaway coming v.soon, where you could win some jewellery pieces from Flonightingale & from Sparklerose :)

Pretty Etsy Finds - Vintage Twist

Just a small collection of goodies with a vintage-esque theme from Etsy.com today :)

Memory Wire Beaded Bracelet - Ocean Garden

By Jacarandadesigns

This beautiful bracelet has sat in my favourites for ages, it's so pretty and autumnal :)

Click to view.

Shabby Pink Rosette Necklace

By Sophine Giam

I've featured a pair of her earrings before, her jewellery really is stunning, focusing on vintage looks.

Click to view.

Lilac Floral Cameo Necklace

By MaruMaru

MaruMaru offer plenty of gorgeous necklaces and earrings that are made with cameos, they even have some adorable owl printed lockets that are super cute :)

Click to view.

Spring Romance Handmade Lampwork & Crystal Beaded Earrings

By The Pink Martini

When I saw these, I was in awe, they are so cute! It looks like a flower covered lampwork bead, which must have taken forever to craft. They're really pretty for spring, and they're also on sale :)

Click to view.

Sparkle Twig Bracelet - Brass, Olive Green

By Sweet Findings 4 U

This is also another autumnal find, I love this particular colouring, but there are lots more different colours in their shop.

Click to view.

Scallop Swing Locket

By Dreams By The Sea

One word; cute!

Click to view.

Love Letters Vintage Envelope Locket Necklace

By Bumbershoot Designs

I love envelope pendant necklaces, but I never seem to find one that I really love. This one is really lovely though, the envelope looks worn a little, and the flower to the side really adds something to it.

Click to view.

What are your fave pieces? :)

Love,

Fiona x

The Jewellery Files (001)

I have been AWOL the past few days due to a rather unpleasant bladder infection. The weekend was particularly hurrendous, as I had alot of other symptoms as well as the actual infection. I felt terribly sick and my head throbbed. However, I am now on anti-biotics, and I'm drinking plenty of fluids, so I should be on the mend pretty soon :)

I thought I'd start my first feature post for The Jewellery Files, which is a new feature I've created for the blog. In each post, I will show jewellery that I've dug out of the inner depths of my jewellery drawer, and generally talk about it. Being the jewellery magpie that I am, I have so many pretty jewels but I seem to go for the same pieces over and over again. Sooo.. I do hope this blog feature will encourage me to wear my whole collection.

The first piece I dug out was a heart necklace. Sadly, there's only one piece being featured today, I was a little jewellery lazy this week.

It's actually really cute for a pendant necklace. It's made of glass with small daisies inserted inside. Can't believe this one has barely got some love over the past few years!

I got it when I was in London for a post-birthday treat, which was my 18th. I picked it up in a market somewhere, I'm not actually sure where, and I think it cost me £7.00. It reminds me of the time where I was just about to go to Uni, the excitement and anticipation was pretty strong at that point.

I also remember buying far too many bags to go with that necklace...

Love,
Fiona x

Shopping Finds

I'm getting really lazy on the blogging front, I do apologise..

I'm also taking what seems like a small break from making jewellery, and infact, I've been thinking about the possibilities of branching out into other fields of handmade goodness. It's just ideas I'm toying with for now.

I thought I'd come and show my new purchases lately. I'm on a general shopping ban, but I have sold alot recently, so I've treated myself to a few bits.

Aside some basics, here's what I've bought the past week.

Adorable bird necklace (I think it was £1.50) from Primark

Sparkly bow necklace (£1.00 in the sale) also from Primark

I really don't need anymore jewellery, seriously. But I fell in love with this little bird, it makes the perfect little pendant and I can wear it in work too. The red was an initial put off on the bow pendant, but actually I reckon it would look awesome with a striped nautical style top I've got :) well, I'm hoping so. But for £1, I couldn't leave it behind ;)

Bird nest earrings (£5.00, half price) from Topshop

The boyfriend insists I'll never wear these, because they're quite long and dangly, but they're so cute! I tried one on and found it surprisingly comfortable, so I reckon I will wear these at some point soon.

Heart keyring (£6.00) from Accessorize

Sterling Silver lilac super sparkly studs (£5.40) from Accessorize

There's no way this beautiful creamy enamel heart will survive on my keys, so I'm going to use it as a bag charm. The studs are just so gorgeous, the colour is so pretty, and I don't tend to have many real silver studs anymore, I find they're really handy as there's no issue of tarnishing.

Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick in Latino (I paid around £4.00 for it in Superdrug, yay for sales!)

Rimmel 60 Seconds Polish in Sky High (around £3-4, also from Superdrug)

I've been wanting to try one of the Rimmel 'Moisture Renew' lipsticks for ages, but I'm not necessarily big on lipsticks, so I couldn't justify spending £6 or so on one. But when I popped into Superdrug they were around £2 off, so I picked up this gorgeous pinky colour. And this is the first lipstick I've owned in years :P The nailpolish is a pretty deep blue/green shade, I've been looking for a shade like that for some time.

Floral cotton skirt (£5.00) from Primark

This skirt is so cute! I saw it and instantly fell in love. It has button detail down the front too. I wore it out the other day with a plain blue t-shirt, matching the blue floral bits, and my long owl necklace. It's currently in stores as far as I can see, and for £5 it's a real bargain.

Where appropriate, I've provided links to things incase you fancy anything you see here.

Hope everyone's having a lovely monday!

Love,

Fiona x

Primark Jewellery Finds

While I was in Cardiff for the week I did a small amount of shopping. I popped into Primark for a browse around, and got these lovely beauties.



The earrings were £2 for the set of six, bargain! I got them because I loved the pink roses and the little floral cameos, but I'm sure I'll get round to wearing the others too. I also bought the huge floral ring, it really is huge, one of the biggest rings I own. I think it was £2.50 but I can't remember. It's not adjustable but I picked up a size large for fitting on my middle finger. I think that's the only finger that could pull off such a giant! And lastly, I got the gorgeous sparkly elasticated bracelet, I adored the purple rondelles and loved the cluster look. I'm pretty sure this one was £2.00.

I've got so many things that would go with these items, so I was very impressed :)

What are your latest Primark jewellery purchases? :)

Love,

Fiona x

Tuesday's Trinkets

Time for Tuesday's Trinkets (and I've remembered this week, hurray!)

This week's picks are from Folksy.

Key Charm Necklace by Alison Julie Designs

This is so adorable and affordable, I love the vintage style to it, yet it has a festive element with the lovely red bow.

Click to view.

Vintage Yellow Rose Stud Earrings by Hand Over Your Fairy Cakes

Can you tell I just love rose stud earrings? I think they're so cute and delicate. These in particular remind me of autumn with the deep green & mustard colouring.

Click to view.

Love is the Key to my Heart Bracelet by The Vintage Jewellery Box

I'm not usually a fan of this much gold in a jewellery piece, but I really do love this, it's also themed around 'secret love' which makes it rather special.

Click to view.

If you'd like to be featured here next week please drop me a line at sparklerosedesigns@live.co.uk (or find me on Facebook/comment here) giving me a link to your product :) Product needs to be a 'trinket', which can be any form of accessory really :)

I'm due to make a trip to Cardiff on wednesday which should be fun. It's my Dad's birthday so I'm hoping we can do something like a family meal while I'm there. It's likely I'll go shopping :D Cardiff is so much bigger than Lincoln and there's so many shops to choose from. I love hunting around in Primark for the fun of it, you never know what you'll find, and the Primark in Cardiff is very big.

Time for coffee :D

Love,

Fiona x

Fredflare & Pretty Jewellery

I'm listening to fredflare's boombox (awesome little tool for listening to music) and browsing their pretties. I found this nailpolish and got all excited :D

Happy Birthday Nail Polish - $18

Shiney :D

I used to heart fredflare just for browsing, and then I found out that they didn't ship internationally :( but now, they do :D yays.

They've got the quirkiest jewellery pieces, here are some of my faves.

Hot Shot! Camera Ring - $10

This is so cute, I barely own any rings like this though, I worry about spiking people with them :D

Ladybird Watch Locket Necklace - $22

I love watch pendants lately, I bought a lovely one from River Island a little while ago. I love the detailing on this one though.

Black & Gold Bow Earrings - $4.99

These beauties are sold out, they're verrrry cute :P

Sadly I haven't been much of a busy jewellery-making bee, and I haven't been blogging either :O

To be honest, life is just flying by.

I'm due to hear from Milkwood Gallery at some point about the pieces I've sent them, I think they're due to send a sale or return contract to me before they get displayed. It'll be pretty exciting :) they generally seemed happy with my pieces, yay.

My next focus is getting the Folksy shop a bit fuller (haha) and finishing up the website.

This weekend my Dad is coming up to stay, I'm hoping to take him out for lunch somewhere nice tomorrow, and there's a big family meal planned on sunday evening. Should be goooood.. :)

Love,

Fiona x

Tuesday's Trinkets

Well hello there! :D

I had a wonderful week away, got tons of jewellery making supplies, and since I wrote I've made loads more pieces, some of which I've fallen in love with ;)

I haven't done any decent shots of the pieces yet, but when I do I will post them here :)

Anyway, as it's tuesday, here are a few of my favourite things this week. These are all from Etsy :)

Chocolate Cupcake Bracelet by MMAGDA

This is so adorable, I love cupcakes so this bracelet instantly caught my eye.

Click to view

Tutti Fruity Cupcake Earrings by Bead Passion

These polymer clay cupcake earrings are so effective, and must've taken ages to make!

Click to view

Cherry Blossom Cupcake Necklace by MaruMaru

This adorable fabric button is so cute and girly :D

Click to view

Anyway, haven't got too much time today, time seems to be flying by and I'm due in work in a few hours, argh!

Love,
Fiona x

Tuesday's Trinkets

I've decided to do a 'Tuesday's Trinkets' post every Tuesday (or when I remember, hehe) which will be filled with gorgeous handmade goodies from either Etsy or Folksy.

Here are a few of my favourite handmade things this week, all picked out from Etsy today.

Lady Grace Flower Earrings by Sophine Giam

These are so pretty and the dark bronze findings make them perfect for autumn.

Click to view

Full Of Wonder Ring by Tied Up Memories

This lovely ring is filled with colours and would look good as a focal piece with any cute outfit.

Click to view

Tiny Pink Rose Necklace by Clementines Jewelry

This sweet little rose would be perfect for everyday wear.

Click to view

Rose Flower Cuff Bracelet by Hot Pink Chick

Perfect for the autumn weather, this brass cuff and peach flower really compliment each other.

Click to view

These lovely items all have an autumnal feel to them, for me anyway. It's such a grey and wet day, autumn/winter are definitely on their way! There's nothing nicer for me than curling up in front of the tv in wintertime, hot chocolate in my hand. Yummy.

In other news, I have a collection of 'sparklebead' bracelets to show off very soon!

Love,

Fiona x