Crowning your Crowning Glory

Its always nice when a bride sends you a picture of herself on her wedding day wearing something that you have made. It makes you feel that the work you have produced is appreciated. But its also nice when other people host pictures of a special day and you can direct other people via the web to see these pictures. I was in the fortunate position this year of providing tiaras for 16 girls in the Deanburn PS retinue. Pictures can be viewed at the Fair Day website
Click on the link for Crowning & War Memorial. The pictures in particular that show my work are Picture 17, 27 - 29, 35, 75 - 77
Picture 17 is a design called Guilia Crystal and the rest of the girls in the other pictures are wearing Alina.

Lots of new & different stuff

Its been a strange time as I am not over worked but I seem to have work to keep me going. Thank goodness this is just a hobby and not full time as I think I would have had to supplement my income with a second job! And thank goodness for hubby who is good enough not to ask me to go out to work but allows me the luxury of a hobby business so that I can stay at home and help look after mum as well as being my teenagers taxi service! Any way what have I been up to? First of all I finished the tiara that I talked about in an earlier post for my hubby's cousin. So the finished tiara called Alison looks like this
I went out to buy a wedding outfit for this wedding and ended up getting an outfit for my nieces wedding instead. I am not sure if I can wear it to Alison's wedding as the material is quite warm to wear. Alison's wedding is in August and my niece Stephanie is not until October!
I have also had a few commissions for Rosary beads with June being the month of First Communions and Confirmations but these 2 sets are Irish and Celtic sets.


I also made one of my beaded combs in swarovski crystals and it looks quite stunning. You can see the lady wearing it on my gallery page. Her name is Janet.
Finally I took part in a challenge by a gentleman called Simon who works with wood. His website is called Wood Tattoos He asked a craft forum if they could create something in their own craft using items from his so that he could incorporate it into a book that he is writing. So I volunteered to wire wrap a wooden pendant. My choice of design was a star but Si suggested that it should be stars on a sun which sounded lovely. Well I have to admit it took me 2 attempts to wire wrap this pendant. That is the first time that has ever happened to me. It was a creative block! Anyway I was in the last throws of creating this pendant when I heard the sad news about Michael Jackson dying. My pendant that I was creating looked like a dreamcatcher but without the feathers. I thought Michael Jackson was a bit of a dream catcher. He lived the life of fame and celebrity something that everyone dreams about, and he was such a talented man. I stopped creating the pendant at that point to listen to the news. I then went of to bed but I tossed and turned all night as the dream catcher was missing something. In the morning I knew what I had to do. I search my box for suitable small feathers and added it to "Dreamcatcher". I am pleased to say that Si liked my pendant and he says he will include it in his book about Pyrography. I will add pictures of the pendant before and after the feathers were added to the end of this blog.
Finally....
When people say "What were you doing when you heard about the death of Michael Jackson?" I will always remember that I was creating a pendant called Dreamcatcher and if anyone says "When did you make that pendant?" I will reply "The day that Michael Jackson died." The two will always be linked.

New Stuff

Hasn't this weather been gorgeous the last few days. Despite all this sun worshipping weather I have still managed to find time to be creative. The first couple of pictures are of swarovski pearl and crystal tiaras. More pearl to crystal ratio. The first has been named by a customer who has decided to buy it(Louise), the other is still waiting to be named.


I have also made a wire wrapped pendant with a choker for a bridesmaid in sterling silver and 2 sets of rosary beads in fresh water pearl and African jade and sterling silver for a silver wedding anniversary present.

Honest Scrap

Thank you to Carolee from Carolee Crafts for giving me the night mare job of trying to think up of 10 things about myself that are true. I have used the heading to link back to Carolee's blog or you can go to it via my Blog List.

1. I definitely spend to much time on the computer.
2. I struggle with my weight cause I like food.
3. I get embarrassed at charging people for my work.
4. I am my worst critic.
5. My family comes before my work.
6. I worry that I will not complete a project in time for an occasion although this has not happened yet.
7. I like helping other people
8. I have difficulty in saying "no" to requests from family and friends even when I am busy.
9. I like wine although 2 glasses makes me fall asleep.
10. This list was quite difficult to come up with and I don't know 7 people to pass on the award as I have been too busy to go look for other blogs to follow.

So I am passing on the award to
Chris from Kiamyka
Dichro-Findings who is following me
I'd like to also nominate Chrissy who is also following me but I am not sure if she has a blog.
And finally ...well I don't have any other blogs I follow at the moment so you can insert a rather embarrassed smiley here

Substance Abuse Charity Event

Last evening I attended a charity event at our local Golf Club. It was the anniversary of a young man who lost his life to substance abuse and money was being raised to get young people off the streets and into sports before they get in contact with substances like cannabis. I attended this event with people and family from the table tennis association who are one of the sporting areas that these children are encouraged to take up. For quite a serious event it was absolutely fab. The were having a race night. This involves betting 50p per horse per 8 horse race to win anything from £1 to £5 back. For another £2.50 you were allowed to name a horse. Our horse was called Jammy Dodger. I don think he won. The very final race they asked people to bid on a horse. We bought a horse for £15 but some of the horses were getting £50 and £75 and this was coming from a group of young people. Amazingly our horse which ended up being the cheapest won the race! So when the prize raffle draw came and the young ones were wining them all we didn't grudge them as they deserved to win what with parting with all that money. There was also a small buffet of sausage rolls and sandwiches so bang went my diet! The evening ended with a disco I don't know what the final amount was raised as we left early, before midnight. As a house wife, mum, carer and then hobby business woman I thoroughly enjoyed my night out as they are far and few between.

Easter story

Last Sunday I decided to have the family over for a buffet Easter lunch. We had cauliflower fritters, pizza, cold meats, rice, salad and lots of different pickles. A cheesecake my niece made and apple pie. All washed down with either wine, beer or soft drinks. My teenagers were a bit confused by this as we haven't really celebrated Easter since my dad died 5 years ago during Holy Week. But I decided it was now time to do so. It was a lovely day. I had finished the tiara I made for my brothers daughter who is getting married this October. She had chosen the Amy tiara. Now Amy is a lovely simple side tiara suitable for brides, bridesmaids and guests. She had shown me a picture of her dress and it was also a very simple elegant design but there is a pattern on the bodice that I decided I could use to enhance this tiara. Needless to say I didn't tell my niece I was going to do this. When she saw it she was absolutely delighted with it. Now this tiara will not be available to anyone else until the Autumn and it will only be sold to brides who's weddings happen after my nieces. Here it is and my niece Stephanie has called it Anastasia.


I am also working on a tiara for a distant cousin of my husband who is getting married in August. She has requested a chunky hairband with a mixture of cyrstals and pearls. As I was making it up though I decided to take this picture as I decided that it would make a lovely simple hairband for a bride or bridesmade. Once it is complete I will post another picture of it on a future blog.
Finally my Easter story. At church today we had a Priest from Xavarian Fathers. he was there to raise money. During a service one of the things a priest says is "The Lord be with you" and the congregation answers "And also with you" Well this morning just after the welcome blessing the Priest decided to say hello to us all first. He asked if his mic was working and we all replied "Yes Father" He then continued "I ask because I don't know if you have heard this little story" "A visiting priest to another parish had started his mass and he was convinced that his mic was not working. The visiting priest said out aloud and into the mic just after the welcome blessing I think there is something wrong with this mic to which the faithful followers all replied And also with you
Needless to say we all had a wee chuckle. His sermon was quite interesting also. He was out in Sierra Leone in 1998. There was a lot of unrest with rebels and murders and children being recruited into the Rebel Army and people's hands and feet being chopped off. It sounded quite awful. The priest along with others and 6 Sisters were abducted and held hostage. During the time before they managed to get away several of the Sisters were murdered by the rebels. He said that at the time they wondered what was behind all of these terrible crimes. It was all to do with diamonds and the funding of terrorism.
It was quite a sermon. It often makes you wonder what makes a man or woman of God put their own lives in so much danger. It make you feel quite humble that they are willing to go in and help the poor unfortunate people in these third world countries.
I hope you all had a peaceful and happy Easter.
Diana

The month of March

I have never been one for keeping a diary...preferring to keep my thoughts to myself, but I started this blog to give people an insight into what I do and how I think. I am quite a quiet shy person and I don't usually have a lot to say for myself but it makes a boring blog if I don't try to keep it up to date. So needless to say, I am shocked that it's been over a month since my last posting. I have decided as I haven't had a creative epiphany that I will make this blog all about a little of everything that has happened to me in the business and as mum to 3 adult teens.
In Business
Weddings are down quite considerably for me this year. I remember being much busier this time last year. Thankfully though, I have been kept busy with an order from the girls in the Grangemouth Gala Day and the girls in the Bo'ness Fair Day. I made 8 tiaras for the Grangemouth Gala Day and 16 tiaras for the Bo'ness Fair Day. Because of the amount of tiaras ordered I was able to sell them to them with a considerable discount. My thinking for doing this, is word of mouth advertising. That is 24 mums and daughters telling their friends and family where they got their tiaras from. Friends could include friends with older sisters and family could include aunties and older cousins all near the age for marrying!
Anyway the Grangemouth Gala Day girls chose the Natalie tiara made using diamanté, light rose and light amethyst Swarovski crystals in silver plate.
The girls from Bo'ness chose Alina tiara in silver plate and all clear crystals.
The other thing that has happened in my world of business is that my bank account was hacked! Thankfully though my bank were on the ball and contacted me to confirm what transactions were genuine and which were not. Unfortunately though the first transaction that wasn't genuine did manage to go through. It was for over £300! The second though was stopped. My online bank account was suspended and my bank card cancelled. That was me officially unable to purchase any new materials until my new card was issued. I had just that day told a customer that her order would be ready for uplift at the start of the week but I had run out of crystals to complete the order. The customer telephoned me at the end of the week worrying that I was sitting with this completed order. I apologised and told her what had happened. She was very understanding and sympathetic about it. I have been reluctant to pay any bills during this time in case any cheques that I had written would bounce. I don't have an arranged overdraft >insert crying smilies here<
In Family
My twins(boy + girl) attended interviews for college and have conditional acceptances for their chosen course next year. My son is hoping to do a course on developing computer software and my daughter wants to continue her course in Media Communication. She came home this evening and told me that she has also applied to help her lecturer do some filming at Big in Falkirk This will be a good qualification on her CV. He only intends to chose people who have had good college attendance, and she feels that she will be in with a good chance, as she was only of one morning when she attended the hospital with a broken hand! I have an older son who is also at college doing a sports science degree. He will graduate this summer but is hoping to go on to university. Yesterday he was taking part in an International Tae Kwon Do competition. He won Gold for sparring and Silver for patterns. Unfortunately he did come home with a black eye!