New Cone Design

Well things have been progressing very quickly with Sweet As Candy. I have already had bulk orders and lots of interest. I have now booked 4 craft/christmas fairs and the first one is just 2 weeks away (so nervous!).

The fanpage has gone from strength to strength and I am totally overwhelmed with its success. There is currently a competition on the fanpage to win one of the NEW cone mixes named Perfect Princess, which is full of yummy pink and white sweets.






I have done absolutely no jewellery making ove the last few weeks, which Im starting ot get unhappy about! Its my Grandads 80th birthday on the 2nd November and I am busy planning and making for this as we are having a meal with 40 of us. However I am planning that once this evening it out of the way I shall start to make some time to make some pretty things :D. I want to make some bracelets for the ladies in my family for christmas so will have to get cracking on that after the party!


Love Lily
x x x

Lily Loves.... Sweet Cones!

Hello everyone :D Well I have been extremely quiet on the blog front I know :( But there is a reason for that and that reason is.... SWEET AS CANDY!

Sweet As Candy is a new venture I have started. I was admiring Snowman Soup and have browsed sweet hampers many a time on websites and then it struck me... why not combine them?! It took me a few days to decide that I was definately going to go for it, I saved some money and then it was time for the trip to the wholesalers and to launch a Facebook fanpage! I guess I just thought, well if it doesnt work I just have alot of sweet to eat, and thats never a bad thing is it? hehe

So far I have launched 3 cone themes, but there are lots (and I mean LOTS) more in the pipeline. Here are some pictures of the current cones that are available.









I think they make great party bags, wedding favours, stocking fillers, or just little treats! Infact the list is endless as I can personalise the labels such as the cone below. In the new year I will be uploading examples of the personalised labels such as, Well Done on Passing Your Driving Test, Graduation, Exam Pass, Thank you Teacher, Sorry You're Leaving etc etc. I sell them for £2 each per cone with discounts for bulk orders which I feel is fair for the product they are recieving, the price of some novelty sweets in the shops is shocking!





I have started a Facebook page named Sweet As Candy for the sweet cones and am so surprised by the reaction and support from everyone on Facebook. It really has been lovely, and the page now has over 550 fans in just 2 and a half weeks! the link to the fanpage is http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001488970981#!/pages/Manchester/Sweet-As-Candy/150812264940660?ref=ts
Hopefully that will work :D.

Let me know what you all think :D

Love Lily
x x x

Lily Loves.... Buttons! MSE Jewellery Challenge

Over on the MSE Jewellery thread we had a new challenge this week, this time set my Crafty Juju, with the theme 'buttons.' Unlike most of the ladies on the thread I am yet to venture into other crafts such as sewing or card making so I dont have a button stash (yet!!!!). At first I thought I would struggle with this challenge due to my lack of buttons but thought I would try and drag myself out of bed to attend a bootsale to get some so I could join in. However on Thursday myself and my friend Jo decided to have a drive to Blakemere craft village as I had been told it had a good bead shop called The Bead Trail. To be honest I was quite dissappointed with the size of the bead shop and its selection (I expected it to be much bigger) but it does do classes, which Ive been told are very good, and a class to learn how to do a necklace is £20 so I think I may try this later in the year. Whilst browsing The Bead Trail I found some buttons for sale (only 2 types) so was quite delighted as they were perfect to use for the challenge (and meant I could stay in bed this morning!).

I decided to make a bagcharm with my buttons, bagcharms seem to becoming a favourite of mine recently! I love the citrus themed colours of the buttons and felt this would look really eyecatching on a bag. I originally tried to use jumprings to tie all the buttons together but I found that they were strong enough to hold everything together and wasnt confident the bagcharm wouldnt fall apart on first use, so I abandoned that idea and attached them all to chain instead. It has had the same effect and at least I have confidence in the structure of this design!





I have also attached a very small 'made with love' envelope charm to the bagcharm to finish it off. I have decided to use this as a competition prize over on the facebook fanpage. I currently have 59 fans on the Lily Loves... fanpage, so I am going to offer this as a giveaway for when I reach 100 fans! If you would like to have a peek at my fanpage just head over to http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Manchester/Lily-Loves/107740405941247?ref=ts&__a=38&ajaxpipe=1.


This challenge has really made me realise how great buttons are to work with! So I really think I am going to have to get myself out of bed and off to some carboots to stock up on some buttons from now on!


Love Lily
x x x

Lily Loves.... Scrabble Tiles!

Quite a while ago I won some pre-drilled Scrabble tiles on ebay off a seller who was selling off some of her stash. It was just a mix of different lettered tiles so I cant use them to spell anything as no all the letters were there but they were a bargain price compared to brand new full sets! Infact theres a little story to go with this.... I just happened to be on a night out saying bye to a friend who was off to do camp america when the item ended. Que me 'slightly' drunk on my iPhone bidding on the item hahaha My best friend Jo was by my side ensuring I didnt bid an extortinate amount (which could very well happy after a few bevvys hehe) but luckily no one bid against my first bid so I got them at a reasonable price, and me and Jo even had a high five to celebrate hahaha

Anyway, I finally got round to using some of the tiles to create a bagcharm. They are so quirky that I didnt want to mix them with any beads, rather just leave them as the total focal point! I am quite pleased with how it turned out and I think it
looks great on the bag!







I have now added this to my facebook Lily Loves fanpage shop.

Love Lily
x x x

New bookmark makes :D

Its been a long time since I have made anything new so tonight I decided to have a play making some jewellery when watching Big Brother. I had 2 bookmarks left so I decided to use these and made the following 2 bookmarks.





The Hello Kitty charm is one of the new charm purchases I have made. I have lots of lovely beads and charms now which I havent used yet so I need to stop myself from buying more till I have used some of my newer purchases! I reckon bought a bead which I literally fell in love with because I thought it was hilarious. Im hoping to make it into a bagcharm so all will be revealed soon I hope!

Love Lily
x x x

Lily Loves.... Followers :D

I have just noticed that I have reached 10 followers on the blog!

I just wanted to say a massive thank you to all (10) of you :D. I see so many wonderful blogs that I sometimes wonder why anyone would want to follow mine!

Thank you also for all the comments you have added to posts, they really do encourage and are always so supportive :D.

I have a busy weekend ahead but hopefully I will be able to spare an hour or so to make something new. I wasnt able to participate in the last jewellery challenge over on MSE (the retro one) and thought I had missed out on the current challenge but luckily it has been extended! Its has a flowers theme and I have some wonderful beads I could use, now I just need to figure out how to use them!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone

Love Lily
x x x

Lily Loves.... Graduation!

I haven't been keeping up to date with my jewellery making and bloging over the last couple of weeks and the main reason is due to my graduation from my Masters degree. I have spent the last 18 months or do studying for a Masters Degree in Statistics from Manchester University and on the 12th of July was my graduation day. I know its not jewellery related but I couldnt resist posting up a few pictures from the day!









The middle picture is of me and my Grandad who came with me to the ceremony. My Dad was at home preparing a wonderful party for me which all my lovely family and friends attended to. I had a wonderful evening and couldnt thankthem all enough for making it so special for me. And one of my favoutire pictures from the day has to be when me and my Grandad decided to dress him up in my hat and gown for a giggle! It suits him don't you think?





Love Lily
x x x

Lily Loves.....Caravans!

At the start of July I headed off to a caravan for a few days with my partner to spend some quality time together. Luckily he let me take my jewellery making kit with me! So I spent some time relaxing and making some new items.







This second bracelet has already been purchased after I placed them on Lily Loves fanpage on Facebook. I love purple so had lots of fun making these bracelets.





I loved this bracelet when I made it but i think the beads were not right for the memory wire and so I thnk I will have to undo this bracelet. I really like the bead combination though so I am going to still use this pattern but in a different way.





This bag charm took quite a while to make as I kept deciding it needed more and more beads! Im thrilled with the result andwill definately be making some more bag charms similar to this. I need to keep an eye out for some very large beads as I think these look very eye catching on bagcharms.


Love Lily
x x x

Lily Loves.... The First Custom Order For Lily

I was asked to make a bracelet for my cousins daughter who was turning 9 last week. The brief was pink and girly! I ordered some child sized memory wire and got to work on my girly bracelet. Im an absolutely girly girl myself so already had lots of lovely pink beads to use for the bracelet. After I had finished it struck me how small the bracelet was so I decided to make a matching bracelet with the larger sized memory wire and then my cousin could choose which size she felt was best. She chose the larger size and tells me that her daughter, aptly names Lily, loved it!

Unfortuantly in my excitement at having my very first custom order I completely forgot to take a picture of the makes which my camera, luckily I had taken one with my phone but that means its not a very good quality picture.




I am off to spend some quality time with my OH this week and to enjoy some relaxing days. However I have persuaded him to allow me to bring my jewellery making kit with me so hopefully I will be able to spend some quality time making some new items too!


Have a wonderful week everyone

Love Lily
x x x

Lily Loves... MSE Jewellery Challenge Week 3

Over on MSE we are having a jewellery challenge each week (as you may have noticed from my previous posts). The challenges theme is set by a member of the thread each week and they decide on who will choose the theme the week after also. Last week Yukkibear chose me to choose the challenges theme for week 3.

After having a little think about it I decided to choose the theme...

'We're all going on a summer holiday...'

This may seem like a strange theme to choose, but there is a reason! As a child I didnt go abroad till I was around 10 years old (quite old by todays standards!), instead we would holiday in caravan parks, often with my auntie, uncles, cousins, grandparents etc hiring vans too! I have lots of fond memories of these holidays and there is a video of me, my brother and my two cousins all sat on my Grandads carbonnet singing 'We're all going on a summer holiday...' and its often something that is recalled during family conversations. This little video had been in my head that day and I thought it would make a lovely theme, added to the fact that we are currently at the start of our British summer (hopefully one that will have more sun than rain!) and many people (although sadly not me) are counting down the days to their summer holiday abroad also!


So on to my entry into this weeks challenge...






As you can see I have made a bookmark for my entry, perfect for the days lying in the sun reading a book! I have used a mix of pink beads and added a pink flipflop charm to the end. I have to say I think it looks really cute! I am going to add it to my facebook store now.

Actually I am off on holiday to a caravan next week, so heres for some sun for my summer holiday, and you never know... I might recreate that video hahaha


Love Lily
x x x

New makes for the Lily Loves...fanpage

Good evening,

As Lily Loves... now has a fanpage I decided to make some items specifically to place on the fanpage. I have made use of the necklace I bought from the summer fayre to create two memory wire bracelets in shades of brown. I think brown bracelets are very versitile and are also great for people who dont tend to wear colourful items.





I have added both the above bracelets to the Lily Loves...Fanpage for £5 each. If you would like to have a look at the Lily Loves...Fanpage (and maybe even 'like' it) then please follow the link on the previous Lily Loves....Facebook post.

I was also inspired by one of the necklaces and used the beads mixed with some brown pearl beads I had in my stash to create the below memory wire bracelet.



I loved the bead combination and for the first time I experimented with adding a charm to the memory wire coil midway through (before I have only added a charm at the end of the wire). The charms really compliment the bracelet I felt, although I do think a 3rd charm added would create a better balance. However when I had finished the bracelet I realised that the beads were too heavy for a memory wire bracelet and the wire was slipped slightly when the bracelet was worn. So I have decided to undo the bracelet, but as I love the combination so much I am going to use tigertail to create a bracelet insead. I haven't used tigertail to make a bracelet before and I think its about time I gave it a go, and now I know what my first bracelet will look like too! Now I just need to find the time (hopefully wednesday)!


Love Lily
x x x

Lily Loves...Facebook!

Lily Loves... is now on Facebook!

I have opened a fanpage for Lily Loves... and would love if anyone reading this is able to 'like' the fanpage. Just search for Lily Loves... or follow this link to the page

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Manchester/Lily-Loves/107740405941247?v=wall&ref=ts&ajaxpipe=1&__a=23


There is a shop on the fanpage where I will be adding some of the items I make. I will also be adding lots of pictures to the fanpage as I make items so should you see anything you like but would like it in a different colour or style or with a different charm you can just message me to discuss or email on lily-loves@hotmail.com.


There are also lots of other jewellery fanpages on Facebook, all of which have some stunning jewellery for sale. Each month the Lily Loves...fanpage will be recommending another fanpage, so keep keep your eyes peeled :D


Lily Loves...
x x x

Lily Loves.... Summer Fayres!

Well its been another hot weekend, I hope everyone made the most of it and no-one was too dissappointed about the football!

On Saturday I went to a local church fayre. I dont usually go but this year I really want to make sure I did, I love things like this, and it was well worth the effort! We didnt stay too long as it was extremely busy and there were far too many stalls crammed into the small room (unfortuantly they didnt take advantage of the lovely weather and set up outside!), plus I had my other half with me who wasnt as enthusiatic as me (despite it being his church!). Most of the stalls were games or selling food items then I came across a jewellery stall! As you can imagine my beady eyes (no pun intended!) were scanning the stall for any items that had beads on which I could recycle to use in my jewellery makes. There was around 40 bead necklaces hung on necklace holders and they only wanted 20p per necklace, bargain! I bought 10 in total (quite a few were lovely but the beads werent reusable) and I think for a total of £2 I got a huge bargain!





I have cut most of these necklace up now and added them to my stash, although I am running out of space to store the beads! I need to go buy some more storage this week I think!


Lily Loves...
x x x

Lily Loves....MSE Jewellery Challenge Week 2

Week 2 of the challenge over at MSEs jewellery thread was set by yukkibear and was

"Think of someone who deserves a present and make them something they'll love. You don't have to actually give it to them, but it has to have a meaning" Tell us who it's for and why.


For me the idea for this weeks challenge literally popped into my head straight away! I have a wonderful best friend whom is extremely loyal, thoughtful and brutally honest! She loves to sew and has recently started getting her sewing mojo back, and she also loves to read and has farrrrrrr too many books! When I made some online purchases a few weeks ago I had also purchased some mini bookmarks, which I had yet to try out, and I had also bought some sewing machine charms with my best friend in mind. I decided to combine these two purchases to make my entry into the challenge, which you can see below






My friend has a tendency to MSE stalk me (hahaha) so I knew I had to tell her about the item before she came across it so I text her and directed her to the thread. She text me straight away telling me how much she loved the bookmark and when I took it round to her she was just as happy when seeing it in the flesh, which is good! She has also asked if I can make a charm bracelet with the sewing machine charms too! I have 4 left but I do think they are lovely and such a novelty, so I have had a search on ebay and think I will have to buy some more to put into my stash.


Lily Loves...
x x x

A special make for a special Great Auntie!

On the 15th June my Great Auntie turned 80 years old, although she doesnt look a day over 60 trust me! As it was such a special birthday I really wanted to make her something she could keep and wear. I had bought some gorgeous blue mix beads from Jillybeads (the ones I mentioned in the earlier post) and thought these were perfect. My Great Auntie is a very elegant lady and I felt these beads fit that description perfectly also!

I started off by making a memory wire bracelet and then a matching set of earrings. When admiring my make I thought how it would be lovely to have a necklace to complete the set. I hadnt made a necklace before and hadnt intending to experiment with making necklaces for quite a while yet, but well, she is only turning 80 once! I made the necklace by threading some beads onto some tigertail with a crimp at either end then attaching this to some chain using a jump ring. This is probably not the most common way of making necklaces but as I didnt want to research too deeply into the methods yet I felt it was good enough.




My Great Auntie loved the jwellery (she didnt even realise I had made it at first!) and it was a lovely evening with all the family gathered at her house laughing, arguing and eating lots of cake! Infact this is the picture of the cake I made especially for the occasion....



Lily Loves...
x x x

Lily Loves...Bagcharms.

When I have been browsing bead suppliers I have noticed that you can buy bag charm clasps, so when making a purchase from Jillysbeads I added one to the basket so I could have an experiment. Making the bag charm took alot longer than I expected but it was great practise for using headpins and I loved the end result. I am a real girly girl so it was inevitable that the first bagcharm I made would be pink and girly too!






Although I was happy with the end result my only criticism was the clasp that I used. Due to the way it operates it can not be fitted to an area that is over a certain diameter. So I wont be ordering anymore of these exact clasps but I will be putting in an order for alot more bag charm clasps as I do think they are a stunning accessory.

Infact my Auntie liked the bagcharm so much she purchased it right away after seeing the picture on facebook and has told me that lots of people were commenting on it on her holiday in Greece last week!


Lily Loves...
x x x

Lily Loves.... MSE Jewellery Challenge No.1

I am a member of the Martin money Saving Expert website and regularly post on the jewellery making thread (infact those ladies inspired me to get started!). On the 10th June we decided it would be a great idea for challenges to be set each week for those ont he thread to participate (if they wanted to!). It would not only encourage us to make some pieces each week but also broaden our creative imagination as we not only aim to fulfil the challenge but also see how other people interpret it.

For the first week the challenge was to make a memory wire bracelet with the theme of 'love' set by Nic2075. I felt this was a great first challenge as it was simple and can be interpreted a number of different way. Some simply stunning memory wire bracelets were produced by the ladies on the thread and my contribution to the challenge is shown below.



The bracelet was also a gift for my best friends Mum whose birthday it was that weekend. Unfortunatly my camera decided to not play games when I made this (I have now figured out that the settings had accidently changed!) so I was unable to get a good enough picture of the bracelet before I gave it to my friends Mum. The picture I have used is one taken on my mobile phone, which is why it isnt as clear as it could be. The mobile phone charm you can see in the picture was the other half of the birthday gift and was made at the request of my best friend as her Mum had a beaded phone charm but it snapped a few days before.


I really enjoyed the challenge as it really does encourage you to get your thinking cap on and motivate you to get the beads out!


Lily Loves...
x x x

Lily Loves...Earrings

Now that I had my new lovely purchases I was able to experiment with some other styles of jewellery and first up was earrings!





I intially wanted to wrap the wire around each head pin to finish it off nicely but this is alot harder than it looks! Plus it isnt kind to the fingers! After a few attempts I decided this was something that I needed to leave for the minute and continue to practise to I instead just created loops with the head pins.

I love butterflys so I think my favourites would have to be the butterfly earrings. I have lots and lots of these beads so I am going to have a good think about what piece I can create to really show them off!


Lily Loves...
x x x

Time to catch up!

I have been a little MIA on my blog over the last few weeks, not that I wasnt thinking of you all mind! My life has been quite busy over the last few weeks, but its not time to get the work-funtime balance back!

So be prepared for some serious catch up blogging to take place!

Having waited till I had some pennies in the bank I was then able to be 'let loose' in the bead buying world and below are some pictures of my very many purchases I have made over the last few weeks!



This first picture is my purchase from Jillybeads.com. I was really impressed with their service and the products. Plus not only did they include a guide on how to make a necklace but they also included some free beads. The blue mix beads in the middle at the bottom at used in one of my proudest makes later.



Most of the item in this picture were from an ebay seller named Sanctuary Beads, who has fast become one of my favourite sellers on ebay. They have very fair prices and p+p is always 99p no matter how much you buy, and the service is very fast too!




I have gotten into a habit of finding someone whom is selling lots of different jewellery items, it seems to be either businesses closing or people who are selling off their old craft items. Most of the item in this picture come from a seller who was doing this, I always seem to get a little carried away and just buy various mismatched items! I absolutely love the little charms in the bottom right of the picture and intend to use them on bag charms and christmas decorations (maybe thats thinking a little too far ahead!).


I just love coming home to lots of parcels and being able to inspect all your new purchases, it makes the post coming much more exciting (usually its just bills hahaha)


Lily Loves...
x x x

One success and one failure!

Evening,

I hope everyone enjoyed the sun over the weekend. I had a lovely time at the caravan and am pleased to say that my partners Nanna loved her bracelet and put it on straight away. She said it was perfect for her as she struggles with clasps, but bangles without clasps dont fit over her wrist easily, so the fact the bracelet wrapped around her wrist was perfect for her. This is something I hadnt even considered but it is worth remembering when making gifts for people, as alot of the older generation (and the much younger generation!) would struggle with fiddly clasps.

I had a couple of spare hours last night so whilst watching Britains Got Talent I thought I would get my jewellery making kit out. I had two coils of memory wire left from my first purchase with my eBay points so thought I would use these up.

At first I was using the selection of pink/purple/white beads I have, however after stringing a few onto the coil I wasnt pleased with how it was looking so scrapped this idea and started again! My previous two bracelets have been random so I thought I would try doing a pattern for a change. I stuck with the purple and white beads with tibetan silver spacers and purple seed beads. I really like how the bracelet turned out and I finished it off with a charm off a bracelet I had broken up to use for beads.




When I bought beads at the car boot last bank holiday I splashed out a whole £1 on a brand new necklace (traders stall) as it was made from some lovely light blue beads. I thought I would use these on the final bracelet, mixed with some white beads, again in a set pattern.



Once I finished the bracelet and put it on to see what it looked like I realised that the beads were far too heavy for the wire and it was beginning to dangle away from the wrist so I am going to have to undo this bracelet and start again. I also realised that I was that happy with the pattern anyway. I still love the beads but think they need to be more of a feature in the bracelet, so I am going to buy some smaller white/matching blue beads and some seed beads too and remake the bracelet. I might even save a few beads to make some matching earrings!.... Although that might be me getting carried away!


Lily Loves...
x

First Makes

I have decided to start on one type of jewellery and then move onto others as my confidence and ability grows, rather than try and do everything at once and confuse myself! Memory wire bracelets seem to be the simplest so I thought these were ideal for a first make. At the minute I dont have enough spare cash to put in a big order for beads etc so I used my ebay plus points to purchase some round nose pliers, memory wire, a pink bead mix and some silver spacers. My Dad then donated some of his old pliers to me to use to cut the memory wire (I remembered the various warnings that trying to use other jewellery pliers rather than the specified memory wire cutters would just damage them as its tougher than you think!). I also went to a large carboot twice over bank holiday weekend and used to oppertunity to purchase quite a few necklaces with beads on that I could cut up to use, spending in total £5.50. The advantage in this was that I ended up with a large variety of beads and also had some really unusual beads in the mix as well.

As it is my Aunties birthday coming up at the end of the month I decided to make a bracelet to give to her as a gift. This became my first make and is shown in the picture below.




I was quite happy with my first make, although I did have a little difficulty with curling the ends as I didnt feel very happy with them and had a few gos. I posted the picture on the MSE jewellery thread and recieved some lovely supportive and encouraging replies (Thanks Ladies!) and that has given me the courage to give the bracelet as a gift :D


This evening I was itching to have another go. This weekend myself and my partner have been invited to go and stay at his Grandparents caravan with them so I thought it would be a nice gesture to make his Nanna a bracelet also. I had lots of the brown beads left over and initially I was going to make myself a bracelet but I thought this was a better cause :D. As you can see in the picture below I added a charm to this bracelet and I must admit I do think they look better with a little charm on the end. Unfortuantly I only had one suitable charm but I will definately be purchasing lots for future makes. I also made more use of the seed beads I had on this make, which I also think was a wise choice and something I will bear in mind in future makes.




If you have any suggestions or comments on my makes please feel free to comment. As Im very much learning I welcome any tips!


Lily Loves...
x x x

Lily Loves....Blogs

Hi everyone,

As I have decided to start making jewellery I thought I would start a blog to document my trials and tribulations as I learn and experiment in the art of making beaded jewellery.

I made the decision to try my hand at making beaded jewellery after reading a thread on the MSE website and being inspired by their creations. I have always loved being creative but this love has taken a backseat over the last few years as I have been completing a Maths degree then a masters in Statistics! You dont get much chance to be creative in Mathematics!

My main reason for making the jewellery is to be able to make gifts for family and friends. I love Christmas and love buying gifts for people, however this can get expensive and difficult (I have quite a large family and run out of ideas!) so I thought if I was to start now hopefully by Christmas I would have a nice stash of good quality jewellery to give them.

Ive never had a blog before so you may need to bear with me whilst I get to grips with it all!

Lily Loves... x x x