Jewellery & Watch Birmingham | Family Moments Collection | Personalised Photo Commissions
Right I thought it was about time I updated you all since I haven’t checked in on the blog since November! Before I get started on what I've been up to I thought I might let you know what’s coming up.
Reminding us the importance of appreciating the here and now with family. The show will see the launch of our brand new Family Moments collection. A range of jewellery that will celebrate the true importance of the memories we cherish and share with our mothers, fathers and children. Trade buyers and visitors can discover these new additions on stand 18DQ31 in the Design Gallery at Jewellery & Watch. After 5 years exhibiting at the show I have decided to go a little larger this year. So instead of our usual little 2x1m you can find the collection on our fabulous new corner stand next door. Hopefully the stand will go down just as well if not better than it did last year when we won The Best Things Come in Small Packages Award!
Now back to why I have gone so quite on you all! As you can imagine December was just utter madness. It always is but this year it felt more intense what with exhibiting at Country Living, Centrepiece and lots of last minute orders to make and send. The orders came in thick and fast but so many were much later than usual which was hard to cope with all at once. Each year you make a plan based on the year before but the truth is you can never know what to expect. The snow bought further challenges to the growing pile of orders but actually also exposed the benefits of how much I can achieve when I’m a little more calm and collected about fitting it all in. My proudest day was the day I solely made, engraved, individually parcelled and posted 11 orders, some with engraved messages in just 4 hours. Don’t ask me how but I did it!
We also made some fabulous commissions for surprise gifts which is always exciting. I love to delve deeper into a story and create these individual pieces you just know are going to be so special to that person. Here are a few of my favourites:
Personalised Beach Family Photo Necklace
Family on the Beach Photo Necklace
Family Memories in the Lake District
This has to be my absolute favourite. I love the photograph this customer sent me. It has so much character and finding out the story behind this moment really brought this piece to life. The customer shared a little insight with me into her day and I though you might like to hear about it too so here’s what she said.
‘Just to give you a little more background to get into the characters...Donald - my brother - doesn’t usually go hill walking with a golf umbrella...at the time he was working in London and had been out on a big night out before he came up to the lakes so was suffering the hangover of all hangovers…the umbrella is just about physically holding him up!
My sister - Mhairi - spent what seemed like years growing her fringe out and spent all her time flicking her hair out of her eyes...so this photo captures that time and action too!
Dad was a huge figure in stature and mind so again a very typical pose of him holding court! (He was a lawyer so loved an audience) but Mum would definitely have had something to say back to him!
Tara...the dog...was a lab so always on the scrounge for food!'
As if I hadn't already fallen in love with this necklace the little back story behind it only enhanced my admiration for this beautiful piece. I can't think of a more perfect piece to round off the year with!
Since then I have been making and sharing my own memories with my family. We spent New Years up in the Lake District. Tucked away in a log cabin in the woods. After a challenging start heaving our belongings up a hill after our cars became wedged in the snow we all found comfort around the fire. We climbed the hills, stopped off at the pub, played games and had a good old catch up. What a perfect way to bring in New Year.