Milkwood Gallery Visit

Sparklerose Designs is getting seriously neglected lately. There just seems to be a ton of other things going on. But I promise there will be regular blog posts soon.

While I was in Cardiff, I visited Milkwood Gallery. I think I may have mentioned my intention to go there in a previous post. They're a lovely little corner shop/gallery that sells plenty of cutesy/vintage items, and they hold exhibitions etc in the back. They had some of my stock last September, and from having a chat to the owner, it seems as though my little beauties are quite popular there :)

It was such exciting news, I even popped to Starbucks for a celebratory frappuccino (and a shortbread :P). As mentioned previously, the new items I made have now gone back to Cardiff to be in Milkwood Gallery. I also included some cupcake earrings that were recently featured on here.

While I was there, I took some pictures of the rest of my stock, sitting proudly on their gorgeous jewellery stands.

Opulence Pink sitting with my first ribbon rose bracelet

Autumn Flowers necklace

Candy Pink earrings inbetween some lovely pairs by someone else (I couldn't see the name)

It's an awesome feeling knowing there's girlies out there wearing Sparklerose Designs :)

I turned 24 on the 11th March, scary stuff, I'm getting older ;) but I had a great day in Skegness with my Dad (he stayed in Lincoln for a while). But as I say, life's been a whirl lately..

I'm in the process of working on the website, and the shop is somewhat active, just containing one item at the moment.. ahem.. I'm working on it ;)

Hope you all have a fab evening :D

Love,

Fiona x

Springtime Collection

Sorry, I've barely written anything in a while. My holiday got rather busy so I wasn't online that much.

However, I did manage to get a few items made, but I was focusing mainly on my charm bracelets. These items are from the new Springtime Collection, so expect lots of pastels and flowers ;)

Cupcakes & Elegant Sparkles Charm Bracelet - £14.00

Made with plenty of sparkle, this charm bracelet is perfect for those springtime days to come.

Spring Flowers Charm Bracelet - £14.00

This is a favourite piece of mine, based around the love of flowers.

Springtime Lilac Rose Earrings - £4.50

Adorable lilac clay roses with green Swarovski hearts, symbolic of a flowery garden.

These items are 'grab while you can' pieces, so if you were interested in something, please send me an email to sparklerosedesigns@live.co.uk. In the next week or so they'll be going to Milkwood Gallery after my success in selling there :) I popped over for a chat (and a naughty browse) last week. I'll be blogging about that soon :)

I'll also be announcing the giveaway winner in the next few days, so keep your eyes peeled :)

Hope everyone's having a good weekend so far!

Love,

Fiona x

First Folksy Sale!

I hope everyone had a delightful weekend :)
We had quite a relaxing one, on Saturday we went out for lunch then had a bit of a film evening. And I work on Sundays... boo :P

But I've officially had my first Folksy sale! I was so excited by this. I've sold items that I've supplied to Milkwood Gallery, and a few pieces online through friends, but getting my first Folksy sale is wonderful :)

It was a piece I didn't even show here because I listed the item and it sold a few hours later.

But I'll definitely be exploring different designs of this bracelet ;)

Secret Garden Tea Party Charm Bracelet

I also made the 'Key To My Heart' charm bracelet, pictured below, which inspired me to make something similar but with a different theme.

Key To My Heart Charm Bracelet

I've got a few different themes in mind, one of which I'll likely end up keeping myself (ahem, naughty) but at the moment I'm waiting on supplies.

I'm also slowly beginning to prepare myself for a stall I'm hoping to do at a local residential home. There's no rush, which is making me feel relaxed about it. Although it's quite scary, I've never done anything like it before. At the moment I'm just playing around with ideas, how to set up the table, what products I'll take with me, etc.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated :D

Next time I'll be writing about some gorgeous Forever21 necklaces I've eyed up ;)

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

Polyvore Fun

I do love Polyvore, surprisingly I haven't used it in forever though!

I logged on and found some of my old things, I forgot how much I liked these goodies.

Click on picture to view details.

I adore mint and pink colours, and that skirt is gorgeous :D
I made it a while ago, so I'm not actually sure what's still available! I'll have to make some more sets soon :)

I'm officially back in Cardiff for a few days. I'm hoping to pop to Milkwood Gallery and see my items being displayed :D I'm hoping to take some photos and do a blog post about it. Milkwood is really cool, I'm keen to go to one of their exhibitions when I get the chance.

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

Long Time No Post

Time flew, eek! Sorry for the lack of posts, I've been juggling a load of things lately.

Anyway, here are some new pieces :D

Mauve Elegance flower filigree drop earrings

Pretty mauve coloured clay roses mounted onto an antiqued filigree base, finished with AB Czech glass hanging beads and glass pearls.

£4.50

Hearts & Hummingbirds charm earrings

Antiqued bronze hummingbird charms, complete with Swarovski AB hearts.

£3.50

Sweet Trinkets eclectic long necklace
Antiqued bronze long necklace dotted with pretty beads and key charms.
£9.50

The long necklace was the first one I've ever made, I wanted something scattered and random, but sweet and girly.

The items shown in my last post have been sent to Milkwood, I'm just waiting for a sale or return contract to come through now. It's all so exciting!

If you're interested in any of the items above, please feel free to send me an email at sparklerosedesigns@live.co.uk

They'll be available from my Folksy store soon :D

Love,

Fiona x



New Pieces

I've been slowly listing items on Folksy, I've been working on the new website, and I've been making lots of new items :D yay! Needless to say, I've been rather busy.

Here's a snippet of the new stock that's being sent off to a shop v.soon.

It's a really awful picture, I just needed something to show what I'd made in an email. These pieces are all heading off to Milkwood Gallery in Cardiff, which is a lovely crafts shop that sells all kinds of goodies. It also holds lots of exhibition events. When I'm next in Cardiff I'm hoping to attend some :)

The new pieces were made using new supplies, which included some gorgeous polymer clay flowers, some adorable lampwork cupcake beads, and beautiful antiqued bronze charms. My favourite piece is the charm bracelet at the top :)

Anyway, time for a nice coffee and a curl up on the sofa :)

Love,

Fiona x