Grangemouth Gala Day

History (the short version) of the Grangemouth Galaday!
In 1906 Canon Birnie at a meeting of the Council suggested a Children's Day. The proposal was accepted. A collection was made and the first Children's Day was held on a Friday in August. The procession took them to the Kerse House where Lord Dundas had given permission for the grounds to be used. 2000 children took part in that very first Childrens day.
It was such a success that everyone wanted it to continue but at the meeting for the second Children's Day some men asked if the procession could be on the Saturday so that they too could watch it and so it has right up to the present apart from the war years. They also decided to change the month to June and the route of the march to the Zetland Public Park.
My first association with the Grangemouth Galaday, apart from when I was a child and I sometimes marched in the parade and sometimes I didnt (its a very long walk if you don't like walking at the best of times).... came in 1994 when my cousin's daughter was chosen to be the galaday queen.  At the time I was at studying floristry at a part time course in Clackmannanshire.  I offered to make a comb for my niece to wear. At the time, the big film was The Neverending Story which inspired my idea, so with the help of my other niece Tina (who was more into bead work than myself) we created this lovely headpiece for Debbie to wear. I didn't get a photo of the back but it was full of lovely white silk flowers attached to a comb which went into the back of her head and the beadwork came round to the front

And of course using my floral skills I created florall headdresses for the rest of the retinue. One of the 2 occasions I created headpieces for the entire retinue. I dont remember if I did the flowergirl's headpiece...in fact I think I have only ever done the head piece for one flower girl!

The next time I was asked to help complete the galaday outfits were in 2006, the 100 year anniversary.  Unfortuneately I didnt get a brochure that year, something I truely regret as it has been nice keeping a record of what I have done.  But I am happy to say that one of the mums was very kind and sent me a lovely photo of her daughter who was one of the Maids of Honour in the 2006 galaday. Her name was Anthea. She is wearing the Alina tiara. Anthea went to Sacred Heart primary school.

After that I was truely blessed and I created tiaras for the retinues for the 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and again this year 2014.  The only other year I made tiaras for the entire retinue was in 2010.The 2007 retinue came from the Moray primary School and they wore Stephanie1 Again I didn't do the flowergirls tiara :(

The 2008 retinue came from Bowhouse Primary school and they wore the tiara called Estelle and the flower girl wore the same as the rest of the retinue! :)

The 2009 galaday retinue came from Beancross Primary school and they wore a tiara called Natalie.

 2010 Galaday

 The 2010 galaday retinue came for Sacred Heart Primary school again. This year I created Enza tiara for the Queen elect Emily Ritchie and for the Maids of Honour I made Leslie tiaras and for the Lady in waitings I made the original design of Stephanie.

The last 3 years have seen the galaday retinues go else where for their tiaras but I am delighted to say the once again the ladys in waiting for the Sacred Heart Primary school came back to me again and this year I created little tiara combs for them.  Here they are ....

And here is the comb....

Over the years I have also had the occasion to make tiaras for pupils attending the Bo'ness fair day and Linlithgow galadays and there was one year were I did all the girls for the Queen elect school in Bo'ness but again I was unable to locate a brochure as a keepsake.

Birthday Offer!

Only a week late...I am sooo sorry for that. My next birthday offer is to reflect my 50 years of age!  If you would like to place an order for any tiara or jewellery set you can buy a second one at half price (the cheapest item is the half price).
Pop over to my website to choose your  favourite tiara or jewellery set http://www.dizatiaras.co.uk
This offer ends 30th September 2013

Birthday Month

This month is dizaTIARAS birthday and my birthday.  I am going to be 50...wow half a century....I still feel like I am 21 but my body tells me I'm not especially first thing in the morning getting out of bed.  I also find that I now have to wear my glasses all of the time when working with beads and crystals or while I am on my computer, and as for reading my mobile text messages....well I am glad to say they are good glasses!  Anyway to celebrate I am offering two offers. One which started on 1st September until 15th September 2013. Place an order during this time and I will give you 15% off your total order and a free pair of earrings to say thank you.  My second offer.....well come back here on 16th September to find out!
To place an order all you have to do is go to my website at www.dizatiaras.co.uk or by making an appointment to see me on 07754763226, I am also attending a wedding fayre at Grangemouth Town Hall on Sunday 15th between 12noon to 4pm

Happy New Year from dizaTIARAS

I hope 2013 brings everyone all they wish and hope for.  I cant believe its almost 18 months since I last wrote in my blog.  My duty as a carer has kept me too busy to update my blog and for that matter to even update my website. But I am still here and I am still creating and I have very many happy brides and customers.  These days you will find me on facebook.  Yes, I have got caught up and probably slightly addicted to social networking site.  I think its because it is easier to to say what is on your mind in a very short statement.  Blogs are much more work and require a lot more thought.  Its probably one reason why I never had a diary growing up.  Diary....whats a diary I hear you ask?  Its where you wrote down all your thoughts and dreams and wishes long before Blogs were ever invented....oh and they were personal....you would never publish it for any Tom Dick or Harry to read. I have slightly cheated as well as I have linked my facebook page to my Twitter account so that when ever I post on Facebook it appears on Twitter also.
Ok so what have I been creating in the last 18 months.....mmmmm well I have created quite a few I just hope I can remember what ones they are.

My newest tiara still to be named

Alice so called because it was for a wedding with Alice in Wonderland theme

Jennifer This is a combination of Grace tiara and Crystal tiara

Kara This is the original design for Karen but the bride wanted it to look more irregular

The revised Kara design called Karen

Lee This is my Grecian themed tiara

Siobhan designed for my daughters friend who was married in 2012

Tiffany so called because it is a top hat. This was also meant for the Alice in Wonderland themed wedding

There have also been new combs and jewellery as well but I think this is enough photos for one blog post.  But if you are too impatient to wait on my next blog post pop over to facebook where I add my new work more often. https://www.facebook.com/dizaTIARASbyDiana

New Makes

My recent makes were bespoke tiaras for a bride, first communions and a little ice skater.

Front View

Side View

 This tiara is called Shirley after the brides mother.  The design is based on the embroidery on the wedding dress.

This tiara has a double barrel named after the little girl it was made for. It was a First Communion tiara and the little girls communion dress had a shamrock design on it. It is called Caitlin Ciara.
My other communion tiara was designed by the grandmother and I interpreted her design using sterling silver. To make it more affordable I changed the design slightly by removing the initial E and using silver plated wire. Here are the 2 designs. The first is the sterling silver one, the second picture is the silver plated version.

Erica in sterling silver

Silver plated Erica

I designed this tiara to match Megan's ice skating dress. Here is a picture of her dress for you to see how I came about the idea.

A happy Megan

Kapusta

Or Polish Cabbage....
It has been some time since I have posted on my blog as it has been a very difficult start to the year again with my mum having 4 hospital stays, my sister having an operation, my niece suffering from viral meningitis and my 2 sons suffering from martial art injuries.
I usually write about my new makes or stories about my brides but if you are a follower of my blog you will also know that I sometimes write about things that have happened in my life and some of the stories are quite a good read, I know because I often read them myself to remind me of things that have been quite significant in my life.
Now I bet you are wondering about my title of this blog.  Kapusta is Polish for cabbage, pickled cabbage to be more accurate. For the first time in my 40 something years I had the opportunity to make it for the very first time for my family. My mum used to make it all the time when we were little because my dad was Polish and he liked cabbage.  In more recent years it was my sister who made it, I always watched on. I suspect both my mum and sister thought no one could make it as good as they knew how to make it, and to be honest I never pushed to make it as it did look a little complicated. Well anyway, I was so happy at how tasty is turned out I mentioned it on facebook.  As a result of that I have had a request for the recipe. So here it is...
1 sachet of Kapusta 500g (found with the Polish food in the chiller cabinet) or
1 jar of Kapusta (found with the Polish food section of the shop)
1 small onion
2 to3 rashers of bacon
2 pepperami
1 smoked sausage (Mattesson)
Olive oil
2 Oxo cubes
3 to 4 bay leaves
Sprinkling of fennel seeds
Pinch of salt
Open the cabbage and place the cabbage in a cauldron and run it under the cold water for a few minutes to rinse off the vinegar
Pour some olive oil into a pan and chop up the onion and gently fry the chopped onion until soft
Chop the bacon and add to the onion and hot olive oil, chop the pepperami and add to the pot. Finally chop the smoke sausgage and add it to the pot. Gently stir fry for a few minutes until bacon looks cooked.
Drain the water from the cabbage and remove the pot from the heat before adding the cabbage. Once the cabbage has been added return to the heat.
Add the bay leaves and a pinch of salt, sprinkle on a little fennel seed. Crumble the oxo cubes (it gives the cabbage a nice colour)
Finally just cover the cabbage with water then bring to the boil and then simmer.
NOW the question you will be asking is "how long do I simmer it for?"  I asked mum this question and she said "until its cooked"....."erm and that would be?", I ask  "As long a possible, the longer the better it tastes" So I will say let it simmer for a least 2 hours and make sure it doesn't dry out but neither do you want it swimming in water.
Serve with either a jacket potato or a chunk of crusty bread and enjoy!

Looking forward to the New Year

This time of year always goes very quiet for me probably because I dont push my jewellery enough. Maybe next year I will try and do something about it. SO in the meantime I have already started looking towards a couple of events for next year. Apart from all my usual wedding fayres at the start of the new year, which I might add can be quite a few, I have two other events that I am quite excited about. The first, I am hoping will bring me a little bit of business for next year, is Miss Falkirk 2011 being organised by a girl called Fiona, who's business is called Extensions by Fiona. She has asked me to design two tiaras by way of sponsorship. One for the winner and two for second and third runner up. The design was being left totally up to me. I have also offered a prize of a necklace to the winner which I have still to make. I decided I wanted to make something that said Falkirk and nothing says Falkirk more than the oldest landmark in Falkirk, The Steeple
The local football team have managed to immortalise The Steeple in a simple design to promote their club, so taking the basic shape of the design I managed to create my winners tiara for Miss Falkirk 2011. Here is my take on the design.  As you can see my drawing is not up to much but I knew what I wanted to create.

Here is the finished tiara

The next idea I had was to make the runner up tiara design on Falkirks newest landmark. The Falkirk Wheel. I used the lines and shapes from the Falkirk Wheel to come up with this design.

And here is the finished design.

The other event I am looking forward too but unfortunately I am not directly involved with is The Royal Wedding. I guess its nice to dream that maybe one day I might have the honour of being By Royal Appointment but in the meantime I consider all my brides to be Princesses in Waiting. So I designed a traditional looking tiara fit for a princess for my brides being married in 2011. Here it is and it is called Catherine.