Handcrafted Creations Blog

As a follower of Handcrafted Creations Blog I recently asked the owner, Victoria Joanne, if she would be good enough to blog about my website.

Victoria took her time and picked out her favourite styles of tiaras and jewellery from my website and wrote about them. I really appreciate the time she spent doing this for me. Unfortunately at this moment in time I am unable to reciprocate so I have just taken a description of her work from her website and hope to in future give a more detailed description of her work. But I am sure you will see for yourself what she does by visiting her website.

Victoria's Designer Garter portfolio for her HandCrafted Creations unique wedding garters which can be custom made for you! All of her personalized custom garters are created special for each client. Your luxury garters can be personalized in any way you would like. Embroidery such as Names and/or date, a Monogram of your initials, or a personalized saying may be embroidered onto your uniquely custom made garter. You may choose to have extra charms added or Swarovski crystals sewn all over for added glitz and elegance. With Victoria Joanne custom wedding garters the possibilities are endless. See her website here http://www.customweddinggarters.com/

Please visit her blog and read what she had to say about my work and why not join Victoria's blog as a follower.

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.

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.

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

Thursday Night Ritual

Every Thursday .....ok being truthful here I shop everyday. Usually just for milk and bread and the odd treat for my teenagers. Strange how milk and bread and the few treats usually come to approximately £15 but that's another story. On entering my chosen Supermarket I head straight for the newspaper stand and pick up my favourite weekly paper. The Falkirk Herald. Now I take it home and I leave it on my kitchen table as I never read it till I get back home in the evening. After putting the rest of my shopping away. I feed my husband and see him off to work ( he works backshift) then I spend the rest of the afternoon at mums. I help look after my mum who is semi disabled. At about 5pm I return home, put on the kettle, make myself a cup of decaffeinated coffee, find something nice and sweet to eat, spread out my copy of the Falkirk Herald, find my reading glasses then loose about half an hour of my time just reading all the little and not so little stories in the Herald. I like to read from the front page on to the back although I don't spend very long on the sports pages. There is a couple of reason for that but let me start at the start. I also read all the intimations. Its sad, as the older I get, I find that there is more often someone from my past in the death columns. Also of course if I am doing a wedding fayre I like to see if it is advertised. Then my next favourite page is Letters to the Editor and In My View (usually a witty view on something that is happening in one of the reporters life). Then I like to read Family Matters to see who got married and who was born. I always get excited when I recognise the brides name and usually by checking my copy of the receipts I can confirm if the tiara or jewellery they are wearing came from me. Today was one of those exciting days. In Family Matters it tells you how the couple met, about the proposal, where the wedding was held, what the bride wore and who she would like to thank(usually parents). But for some reason they don't seem to think that the accessories are very important. So I am in a position today to let you know that the bride was wearing a silver plated tiara called Francesca (after my daughter). The central heart was rose and the rest of the tiara was a mixture of clear, light rose and amethyst swarovski crystals. It was really sweet looking. It looked a bit like this.
After the centre pages the rest of the newspaper can usually be viewed in about a few minutes. I do a quick survey of the jobs page in case there is anything my teenagers could apply for. Flick through the houses although these days not as quickly as I used to as one of my nieces is house hunting as she is getting married this year. Finally a quick shifty through the sports page to see if anything is written about my brother in law who plays table tennis but I get annoyed at the martial arts section. For some reason because the club my son is attached to is based in Alloa /Stirling region they never seem to want to write anything about them even though there are classes in this area. My niece who is 27 is a forth degree black belt and my son who just turned 20 attained his 3rd degree black belt and he often wins trophy's at competitions. But despite that I thoroughly enjoy losing myself in this large newspaper every Thursday evening.